Going to work in the future might not be like going to work at all. Look at what office work is like today: your coworkers probably already have standing desks, there’s that company gym membership you may or may not be taking advantage of… If your business is really on the cutting edge, perhaps your building has something as innovative as this design firm, which turns into a company yoga space after 6pm. And let’s take a moment to collectively fawn over this revolutionary Dutch workplace.
What We’re Dealing With
Conventional workplaces and workflows are the problem child. Although we’re making progress (see those beautiful links above!) businesses are often designed not for how well they compliment the way we work, but often for short-sighted economic (or even political) reasons. Rigid corporate climate still centers around people at desks, clicking computer mice mindlessly. But these are our jobs—what we do all day. Workplace standards shouldn’t be the result of strong-arm manipulation into a one-size-fits-all mold.
The Light at the End of the Tunnel
It’s all finally about to change. No really—we mean it this time. And it’s all thanks to AI. Automation technology learns from you and adapts to you. It doesn’t require constant supervision. It can figure out how and where to help us. The introduction of AI into the digital transformation is not just a software upgrade— it’s a change that will shake the foundations of how we work. Blue collar workers aren’t automatons anymore: we have hardware for that now. White collar workers aren’t analyzers anymore: we have AI software for that now. We’ve fought many battles in the past for the workplace rights we today take for granted. Let’s continue to do that as we strive to strike a perfect work-life balance in the workplace of the future.
Humans Before Computer Chips
Traditional output is now the job of automation. Our new job is creativity, humanity, and empathy— taking that output and working human magic. We’ll raise the bar for what companies can do, and leave the grunt work to the robots. All the living, breathing, culture-creating, network-optimization work is our domain. We need to define our work not by our output, but by what we do with it. We have new spaces; we aren’t going to be cubicle slaves anymore. And with all this new tech, more change awaits us in the wings. Our companies either need to redefine what they expect from employees or they won’t have employees anymore at all.
