Digitalization will make many jobs redundant. Which professions are most affected by the change? How will the workplace of the future look? Three predictions:
SZ: Mr. Händeler, in the future, machines are supposed to be interconnected with each other and with the internet, and intelligent robots will take over a large part of human work. Is this development inevitable? Or is Industry 4.0 just a hype? Erik Händeler: Industry 4.0 will come, but in my opinion, it is overestimated. In the past decades, computers have already taken on a lot of work from humans, reduced costs, and increased prosperity. In the future, the value creation will depend more on how efficiently people handle their knowledge than on technical innovations. Which professions could become redundant? Erik Händeler: Many positions for low-skilled workers in the industry have already been eliminated, and this will continue a bit further. At the same time, we still need people to perform simple tasks. There are also simpler tasks in knowledge work. Should we expect mass unemployment? Erik Händeler: No. Work is about solving problems. And because we will always have problems, paid work will never run out. The freed resources will be used for new things. Work is not disappearing but transforming: we are less directly involved in the material world, and the economy is growing into the world of ideas. Where will new jobs emerge? Erik Händeler: Activities such as developing, planning, analyzing, observing the market, and making decisions cannot be taken over by machines. The more complex the interconnections become, the more specialists are needed, who also have the necessary general education to bring their niche knowledge here and there. In the future, economic success will depend on bringing the right experts together for a task and ensuring that these experts work together smoothly in a team. Will only highly qualified work be available in the future? Erik Händeler: No, but in the future, it will be even more important to have a very good knowledge in a specific field. I see the strongest need for qualifications in everyday work culture. Dealing with knowledge always involves dealing with other people. This means transparently resolving conflicts in the company so that the better argument wins, not wasting energies on pointless office wars, and not turning the issue into a relational level - these are the greatest reserves of prosperity. How will the everyday work of people change? Erik Händeler: Work will be organized in networks in the future, assembled based on daily competence. Each employee is more or less important at times, and hierarchies will become flatter. At the same time, bosses will be more important than ever: instead of just giving instructions, they must moderate and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of their employees to deploy them in the right place. How long will the change take? Erik Händeler: As long as people need to change their work culture - either under pressure or insight. The latter would be less painful. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Erik Händeler, 46, is an economist and publicist. As a futurist, he deals with the knowledge society and the development of a new work culture.
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