The death of the full-time job, the rise of the robot labor force, and the future post-employment economy shape future employment. Technology replacing human labor is rapidly accelerating.

If you work outdoors as a contractor, construction worker, lumberjack, or farmer, these jobs are last to be replaced by robots. The biggest change in the construction industry will be stricter, environmentally friendly building codes, and the introduction of giant 3D printers. These printers build houses and buildings one layer at a time, at a fraction of the time and cost of traditional construction.

The family farm will be replaced by farmer collectives and massive, corporate-owned farm networks. Future farmers will manage smart or vertical farms operated by autonomous farming vehicles and drones. New satellite networks will make real time monitoring of forests possible, allowing for earlier detection of forest fires, infestations, and illegal logging. In factories, workers will be replaced by robots who will do packaging and loading items into trucks. Driverless trucks will deliver the goods to their final destinations. Humans whose skills are momentarily too costly to mechanise, will see their work monitored and managed by algorithms to maximise labor efficiency. Ageing workers will be kept active longer through the use of Exoskeletons that provide workers with superior strength and endurance.  Smartphones and wearables will verify your identity constantly without a login password. Locked doors will open instantly and it will instantly load your personal workstation home screen to whatever device you access. Management will use these wearables to track your in-office activity and performance. Ergonomic office furniture and software will keep workers active and healthy—standing desks, yoga balls, smart office chairs, and computer screen locking apps that force you to take walking breaks.  Super powered Siris, will manage schedules and assist with basic tasks and correspondence, increasing productivity. To attract top talent, flexible schedules and telecommuting will become common, opening up recruitment options to international employees. We will see the introduction of walls that change colour or present images/videos via smart paint, hi-def projections, and giant display screens. Tactile holograms as an office design feature will present serious cost saving and business applications. For example, digital whiteboards holographically projected on all four walls that you can scribble on with your fingers; then save your brainstorming session and transform the wall decor and ornamental furniture into a formal boardroom layout or to a multimedia presentation showroom. The only real objects in the room will be chairs and a table. Studies show working more than 50 hours a week produces marginal productivity benefits and negative health and business outcomes. Yet, the trend to longer hours will continue in order to grow income and if you can be replaced by a machine, you don’t have leverage to refuse. Competition for jobs is intensifying so working longer hours, being more visible, and producing a substantial body of work, enables workers to differentiate themselves to their coworkers, employer, and industry as an individual worth investing in. New management philosophies such as “Holacracy,” promote stripping everyone of titles, removing all management, and encouraging employees to operate within self-managed, task-specific teams. The emphasis on autonomy, performance, and minimised management is very much in vogue with future office trends. Another example is a performance-over-effort, meritocratic management style where the number of hours worked and the number of vacation days taken are meaningless; what matters is the quality and quantity of the work performed. Results, not effort, is what is rewarded. Being involved in the decision-making process, having more control over one’s career, shirking the need for employer loyalty, treating employment as an opportunity for self-growth and advancement—these are all very much in line with Millennial values. These values may also lead to the death of the full-time job.

The Bob Pritchard newsletter is distributed daily to 1.73 million business executives in 63 countries.  If you are interested in sponsoring this newsletter, please email him on bob@bobpritchard.com Bob Pritchard :- Business Consultant, Global Business Radio Host, Sought after Speaker