The world of work is changing – on this point we can all agree. But how, and why, and at what rate are all questions that consistently plague managers, workers, and business thinkers around the world. The nature of work has changed dramatically in the past decade, and will continue transforming in the years ahead as demographic shifts, technology advancements, and new economic realities settle in.
What we know is that, in general, workers today have different expectations and priorities. “The corporate ladder” and the hierarchical world it created are vanishing relics of the 20th Century. Workers today, empowered by technologies that allow them to work any time, from anywhere, are demanding more flexibility from their employers. Employers are discovering that it’s often cheaper and more efficient to have a smaller ‘in-office’ headcount. The economic crisis has forced many to re-evaluate their personal and professional goals. Sustainability and environmental conservation are increasingly driving decision-making.
Organizations are devising new ways to attract, train, and retain a productive, fulfilled workforce. Employees are getting creative about how they earn income and plan for their futures. The cost of starting a business is lower than it has ever been before, which is keeping companies large and small on their toes and on the lookout for new competitors. Business schools are revamping their curricula to focus more on strategy, ethics, responsibility, and innovation.
So what does all this change mean for you? What does the future of work look like in your organization? Ultimately, the answers to these questions are for you to decide. The new reality—the future of work—is one that you’ll create. The new reality is also one that is ripe for innovation. What’s important is that you stay on top the many ways organizations and their employees are adapting to a rapidly changing marketplace. Force yourself to evaluate what works, what doesn’t, and what might make sense for your organization or team. Most importantly, do not make the mistake of maintaining the status quo. Always consider how innovation can factor into every decision you make. Always ask yourself how something can be done more efficiently or more effectively. Always consider how new innovations in the broader marketplace might make life easier or lead to better ideas. In short—be proactive, not complacent, about designing the future of work.
What does the future of work look like to you and your organization?
futurethink's innovation weblog 
The future of work is:
1) as it has been for decades – jobs and wages, entrepreneurs working to keep existing business going – even thriving, others surviving, others diving into oblivion. Yet, for many J.O.B. means Just Over Broke, and for those without jobs, there is a growing generation who know no difference. And after recession comes expansion – and work cycles and patterns will be recreated all over again.
AND
2) the change that is coming, driven by the online community using an ever-developing and evolving Internet for business purpose (arguing also, the sustainability factors which support working from home and increasing green credentials – responding to the climate change agenda). People, including ME, will build their businesses, use social media in all areas of their lives and further develop the direct selling, network marketing opportunities which will be the answer for many who can see no better option.
AND
Such individuals and business owners will be correct in their assumptions, and successful in their businesses – building profit driven fortunes instead of earning wages, earning residual income in lieu of pensions, chasing and achieving the lifestyles they envision. This is the future – still with entrepreneurial haves and a greater worldwide proportion of have-nots – those who didn’t see the opportunities, those who are habitually living off benefits and ceasing to strive.
The Internet represents a greater evolution for mankind than did the Industrial Revolution, yet the majority don’t get this – and the politicians can do nothing but play the game of the way things used to be.
In the world of WORK, there is a better way.
Can this be shipped overseas?
Israel Chatcho said, in response to my diatribe “Can this be shipped overseas?”
This is humorous and, in the same humorous context, “YES, of course it can be shipped overseas. This is all about the way we think. We must want to change, to become better, to spread hope mixed with solutions. The global community (and the new technology which enables this sort of an exchange, will help us evolve, to use those brain cells and neurological pathways which we possess but, habitually, ignore and use all our energy on needless, wasteful activity. This is about SYNAPTIC transmission on a global basis. Think of the Internet as a global mass of fibre-optic and wireless pathways, joining us up as one – for the good of mankind and so that we, as stewards of this earth, can use to find and deliver solutions.
We will find a better way and, intellectually and systematically, we will communicate this better way of thinking. We must use that greatness within us all, work hard, duplicate and replicate what matters most, find solutions and deliver a new way of BEING.
Funny? – well it made me laugh anyway, though I had to force myself to laugh out loud.