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The fourth industrial revolution will impact everyone through the innovation of new technologies by merging that which is physical, biological and digital (Hinton, 2018). More so, the Covid-19 pandemic has rapidly altered the way humans currently live. These two events are likely to set a ‘new normal’. This paper will discuss the influence of the fourth industrial revolution and the Covid-19 pandemic on the future of work.
Revolution: Job Replacement and Creation
Robot hardware and software have current limited flexibility (Wolters, 2020:13). This makes repetitive and routine tasks, including those in manufacturing and agriculture, the most susceptible to displacement by robotics (World Bank Group, 2019:18-19). Consequently, robots require the flexibility of and maintenance by humans until production systems can sufficiently adapt to changing conditions through developments in artificial intelligence (AI) (MIT, 2019:30). Additionally, job losses by big data analysts may be expected as greater reliance is placed on AI to perform those jobs (World Bank Group, 2019:21).
In contrast, the implementation of new technologies is likely to improve competitiveness of innovative firms (Schwab, 2016). Task creation may follow subsequent greater productivity gains and increased market share (Wolters, 2020:13). Advancements in technology will also directly create jobs in the technology sector, such as in data science and app development (World Bank Group, 2019:20). Furthermore, cognitive and social-behavioral skills cannot be replaced by robots (World Bank Group, 2019:23). Therefore, jobs involving creativity, unpredictability, critical thinking and complex human connections will be in greater demand. This indicates a greater shift to service sector jobs, provided workers are given opportunities to constantly retrain and upskill as new technologies are innovated.
Revolution: New Ways of Working
New ways of working are likely to be brought about where new technologies augment existing jobs, thus changing the nature of work and skills required. Firstly, the rise of platform businesses is related to the adoption of digital technology (Schwab, 2016). Firms are able to conduct business over the internet, rather than in a physical store. This lowers barriers to firm and job creation. Secondly, as new technologies become cheaper than office spaces, remote working is likely to increase (Change, 2017). Lastly, the flexibility that remote working provides may establish greater use of short-term work/contracts – or ‘gig’ work – and eliminate secure/long-term jobs (World Bank Group 2019:20).
Covid-19: Use of Technology
The Covid-19 pandemic has prompted greater implementation of robots to reduce the spread of the virus, and has accelerated the rate of innovation in AI, particularly in healthcare (Brannen, Ahmed & Newton, 2020:8). These advancements are likely to translate to all other sectors. Additionally, developments in biotechnology are stimulated by investments in vaccine creation (Brannen et al, 2020:10). Notably, this increased interest, use and innovation of new technologies should accelerate the timeline at which they are adopted. Furthermore, numerous job losses – a consequence of lockdowns – enable the easier adoption of new technologies in workplaces to replace routine tasks as workers have already been dismissed (Baldwin, 2020).
The pandemic has emphasized the need for greater flexibility in work, which can be achieved with better use of advancing technologies. Platform businesses, such as Amazon, have been resilient during lockdown (Saliola, 2020). It is likely that firms will invest in technologies to conduct business online, allowing for greater flexibility in the future. Lockdowns have also resulted in wide-scale application of remote work (Bouquet, 2020:2). Increasing access to and adoption of technologies that enable remote work has the potential to motivate a greater shift to service sector jobs. Notably, remote work has emphasized the difficulty in finding a balance between work and personal life. This brings to question whether the separation of work and personal life is still relevant in the future of work (Nedbank, 2020). Should these spheres of life blend, people may want to possess more fulfilling jobs. This can be achieved through upskilling to perform more meaningful tasks, as automation replaces routine tasks (Change, 2017). Furthermore, the use of ‘gig’ work will likely be expanded to save costs and produce greater flexibility (Baker, 2020).
Conclusion
It is evident that although the flexibility of work is a ‘by-product’ of new technology adoption, the pandemic shows that such flexibility is a necessity in maintaining work operations in today’s world. Furthermore, the future of work as designed by the revolution draws closer as the pandemic accelerates the timeline at which new technologies are innovated and adopted. The revolution may have set a certain path for the future of work. However, as human and technology work together to overcome the health crisis and job limitations, Covid-19 could reinforce that path with greater emphasis on human collaboration with new technologies.
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