The Real Future of Work – Part 1

I’ve recently returned from Vancouver, where I presented a session at the American Board of Vocational Experts  annual conference.  My session was called THE NEW WORLD OF WORK FOR PAY: IT ISN’T ALL ABOUT JOBS ANYMORE. 

What do I mean, it’s not about jobs?

Work has been with us forever.  Jobs have not.

Jobs as a configuration of work for pay really began with the Industrial Revolution in the mid-18^th century.  Factory jobs (and later, office jobs and service jobs) were the basis of a long-term (potentially lifelong) agreement between an employer and an employee involving tasks to be done, skills required, hours, compensation, benefits, performance expectations and a job title.  With title came status.  Upward mobility became possible for workers for the first time.

But now that model has been disrupted. Jobs are no longer the single gold standard of work for pay.  Employment by a single organization or having the same career over a lifetime is becoming the exception rather than the rule.  A college degree no longer guarantees a good job with a good salary.  At the same time, we’re seeing an explosion of work for pay that doesn’t meet the traditional agreement conditions. You can see this change reflected in language: entrepreneur, freelancer, self-employed, contractor, project-based, part time and casual labor.

Freelancing/contracting is becoming increasingly common in sectors that might surprise you–like health care.  And I don’t just mean the administration part of health care.  I’m talking about physicians and nurses.

Another trend is that few, if any, jobs are going to be very long term, much less career-long, because the work to be done and the need it meets will change.  Telephone operators. Stenographers. Teams of manufacturing welders. The corner mechanic who could fix your car as well as the dealer. Thirty years ago, these kinds of jobs were plentiful.  A generation later, they don’t exist. Brand new technologies took their place, and more are on the way. It’s possible that very soon bank tellers, truck drivers and human resource professionals will be on the list of obsolete professions, too.

What does that mean for you? Life Planning (of which career and retirement are segments) MUST include:

• The possibility that, given longer life spans, many of us will outlive our money
• The probability that there won’t be traditional jobs for us, especially much later in our lives
• The reality that we won’t be able to save our way to safety; we’ll have to find some way(s) of generating ongoing income in addition to savings
• The likelihood that rapid change will enter our lives without notice, with or without permission
• The ability to build multiple income streams earlier in our lives which can be sustained later.

The bottom line: We need to be the CEOs of our own professional lives, making and adjusting our life plans as needed.  That means short term planning, acknowledging long-term expectations and intentions, and regular reality checks and course corrections.

Putting our career trajectory wholly in the hands of our employers is simply too risky.  Putting our life planning primarily in the hands of others is not stepping up to responsibility. Professional career advisors are useful, but they can’t ultimately tell us what to do.  Don’t get me wrong: I believe in loyalty to our employers and professional advisors.  I just don’t believe in loyalty at any cost.

Your thoughts?