The challenge of change
The way companies are hiring and employing staff within their organisations is changing fast, impacting the work people do and the service brands offer to consumers. Mere mortals — aka you and me — are increasingly being squeezed by economics, technology and the march of progress. But what’s the end goal?
Out with 9–5
Brands we use every day — like Deliveroo and Uber — have given birth to the gig economy, where instead of a salary, employees get paid per job. Meanwhile, industries from retail to healthcare are increasingly using zero-hours contracts, giving employees (and businesses) greater flexibility, but less job security and fewer benefits.
This new wave of brands, at first, heralded as disruptors in both the technology and job sectors, are now coming under pressure from government to safeguard workers’ rights; those on zero-hours contracts typically earn £1,000 a year less than permanent employees, according to research by the Resolution Foundation.
The Department for Business is holding an inquiry into a range of new business practices, including the gig economy.
The new guard
If that weren’t enough, at the same time robots are taking over the world. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is now embedding itself at pace within a wide range of industries, replacing human workers as it goes. The World Economic Forum predicts that robots will take 5 million jobs over the next five years.
Meanwhile, tech pioneer and founder of Sun Microsystems, Vined Khosla, has predicted that AI will potentially take over 80% of all IT jobs — and that this is just the tip of the iceberg, with doctors, lawyers and accountants also in the growing list of ‘replaceable’ jobs.
The trend is hitting some industries particularly hard, with a study by the Center for Business and Economic Research (CEBRE) finding that 85% of job losses in US manufacturing were down to technological change — largely automation.
Shop and go
And automation is set to reach lofty new heights in 2017. At the end of last year, Amazon showcased a new concept store, Amazon Go, which uses computer vision and sensors in place of human cashiers. Shoppers can just take the items they want off the shelves and leave, and the order gets charged to their Amazon account afterwards.
Innovations such as these are fuelling fears over mass job losses and Bank of England boss Mark Carney has been vocal in his belief that, alongside its great benefits, every technological revolution “mercilessly destroys jobs and livelihoods — and therefore identities — well before the new ones emerge.”
However, speaking at Davos yesterday, IBM chief Ginni Rometty said that whilst AI will have an impact on jobs, it will also create employment opportunities.
While countries such as the U.K. have improved unemployment rates, Brazil’s is at a record high, and youth unemployment in Italy currently stands at a whopping 37%. It’s therefore important that our technological advancement be considered against this socio economic backdrop.
You can’t stop progress. Nor would we want to. But, in our race to beat the competition when it comes to product and service innovation, some brands may be overlooking the whole point of it in the first place — to make the lives of humans better, both in the short and longer-term. Isn’t it worth taking some time, getting it right, to make sure we make a difference in the world — for the right reasons?
By Michael Gonzalez (@Gonzalez01), Head of Influencer Relations & Lou Cooper (@loucooper1), Content Director, Bite
