Jobs and the Future of Work

Get ready for the jobs of the future: This week's Radio Davos

Job seekers congregate to apply for jobs at assembly factories as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19)  outbreak continues in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico June 17, 2020. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez     TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY - RC28BH9YTCKJ

Job seekers congregate to apply for jobs at factories in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico June 17, 2020. Image: REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez

Robin Pomeroy
Podcast Editor, World Economic Forum
This article is part of: The Jobs Reset Summit
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  • The Jobs Reset Summit will take place 1-2 June.
  • Learn more and watch the public sessions here and follow on social media with the hashtag #JobsReset21.

Work from Home Facilitator, Algorithm Bias Auditor, Cyber Calamity Forecaster - are these the jobs of the future?

This week's Radio Davos digs into just these questions in a special preview to the second annual Jobs Reset Summit. This virtual event held 1-2 June convenes world leaders and top business executives to discuss how factors like wages, job creation and upskilling fit into an inclusive socio-economic COVID-19 recovery.

For a top-level view of these issues. the Forum's Saadia Zahidi joins this week's preview episode to discuss how the pandemic has accelerated job market transformations.

And for insights into whether new roles like 'Cyber Calamity Forecaster' will become more common, Bloomberg TV Editor at Large Francine Lacqua gives her take on an annual future of jobs list drawn up by the Cognizant Center for the Future of Work.

For a sneak peek of the event and this week's podcast episode, see collected highlights below:

Interview highlights - Saadia Zahidi

On virtual work:

With a shift towards almost exclusively virtual work for nearly a year, there has been a rise in working hours that is very different from what we've seen in the past, and it is, in part, due to the lockdowns, in part due to the pressures being faced by companies. And that is leading to a broader crisis around health and wellbeing and a need for companies to very consciously rethink what sort of work environment they're creating virtually.

Saadia Zahidi, Director, Head of Constituents, World Economic Forum
Saadia Zahidi Image: WEF

On social mobility:

Most generations believe that they can ensure that the next generation will be able to do better than they will: there has been this sort of 'social mobility escalator' that has existed for quite some time. That has fallen apart, when it comes to the technological change of the last five years in particular.

Combine that with the disruption that is currently happening due to the pandemic-induced recession. And combine that with all of the shifts that are being made in terms of a shift towards a more sustainable and greener economy. All of that together is disrupting all of those pathways that people previously had to be able to ensure that the next generation does better than them, that, in their lifetimes, they're able to do better than they had before.

On education and skills:

We don't quite have systems today that work. We have fairly archaic systems that were designed at the time of the first industrial revolution: education systems where schooling of a certain number of years was expected to carry you through to the end of your lifetime. That is simply no longer the case. And so we need one key sector or industry in the social economy which is a skilling-related sector that provides lifelong learning.

Have you read?

The 'jobs of the now'

According to the Cognizant Center for the Future of Work, new roles will emerge over the next decade and be central to businesses and employees everywhere. The firm's vice-president Robert Brown discussed the findings in a recent article for Agenda stressing that leaders should use such 'future of work' predictions and trends as a prism to help them plan ahead in their own organisations.

To get that headstart for your organisation, check out some new roles that Cognizant says will be emerging and reshaping markets:

Work from Home Facilitator

Fitness Commitment Counsellor

Smart Home Design Manager

XR Immersion Counsellor

Workplace Environment Architect

Algorithm Bias Auditor

Data Detective

Cyber Calamity Forecaster

Tidewater Architect

Human-Machine Teaming Manager

What percentage of your organization's workforce was, is, or is expected to be in each of the following categories?
Hybrid work - from home and the office Image: Statista

To learn more:

Jobs Reset Summit homepage:
https://www.weforum.org/events/the-jobs-reset-summit-2021

Podcasts mentioned in this episode:

Follow co-host Francine Lacqua on Twitter:

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Also mentioned:

The World Economic Forum's Global Risks Report 2021

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