What will your daily work life look like in 2053?
16 January 2014
Read by 2265 persons
How will a workday be organized in 2053? Several experts have asked themselves this question, and explain in particular that retirement will have potentially disappeared, as will hierarchy in companies, while job rotation will have become the norm.
Imagine: it is 2053. The notion of "office" has almost disappeared, factories are only populated by robots, which have eliminated the notion of arduous work, manual jobs have become a minority... On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the National Agency for the Improvement of Working Conditions (Anact), celebrated on Tuesday, experts, union representatives and employers' representatives played the game of projecting themselves forty years into the future and trying to imagine what will potentially change in our daily work lives. For Jacques Froissant, founder of the recruitment firm Altaïde, the observed predictions are rather realistic. "At the speed at which technology is accelerating our daily lives, it is legitimate to think that work, too, will have to adapt," he explains.
• Working longer, but in shorter periods. In 2053, "we will work longer but in shorter periods," Hervé Lanouzière points out to AFP, in reaction to the increase in life expectancy. "Some scientists claim that it is not absurd to think that children born today could live well beyond 100 years... This simple observation makes us think about how the very notion of work will be disrupted!" explains Jacques Froissant.
• "Retirement" will no longer exist. The concept of "retirement" will have completely fallen into disuse. At the CGT, Maryse Dumas emphasizes that the notion of retirement, which "covered an idea of withdrawal from social life," has disappeared and that beyond 60 years old - because the biological rhythm requires it - people are free to participate."
• Robots will have taken control of manual jobs (and will have eliminated the notion of arduous work). Robots will not have rid us of all our tasks, but at least a good part of them. Many manual jobs will have disappeared. "We were already saying 30 years ago that robots were going to take our jobs, it's nothing new. But now, it's becoming a reality. Robots that will be on sale in five to ten years will be able to reproduce exactly the same movements as a human... And already today, there are many factories that are simply populated by robots, without any human presence," observes Jacques Froissant. A "significant" part of production is "handled by robots, computers or even avatars," which has "eliminated the concept of arduous work."
• The notion of "office" and physical company will have disappeared. In 2053, we will no longer "go" to work. Philippe Durance, a researcher at the Conservatoire national des arts et métiers (Cnam), explains that "the disappearance of the workplace (...) affects almost all professional categories." We will work from home, in co-working spaces, in transport, in restaurants, in parks... The "old-fashioned" office may still exist, but it will mostly be empty. It will be a workspace as ephemeral as the others. "Why bother going to a place to perform tasks that can be done in any other place?" asks Jacques Froissant.
• "Bosses" will no longer exist, and everyone's opinion will be taken into account. Let those who aspire today to become small - or large - bosses come to terms with it: managers will no longer exist, and the complex organizational charts of companies will have disappeared. "Hierarchical levels will be a maximum of two!" predicts Christian Leroy, representative of the Medef in Nord-Pas-de-Calais, who also explains that the employees' opinions "will be systematically taken into account," with employee representatives having "been integrated into the governance structures of companies."
• "Alternating" jobs will have become the norm. According to Maryse Dumas, professional careers will no longer be linear and will allow "alternating jobs, functions, and different sectors," with new rights "attached to each person" and "implemented throughout professional activity." A trend whose beginnings are already visible today. "The explosion of training offers and the encouragement to retrain are already very popular elements! Similarly, combining several professional activities is now within everyone's reach!" insists Jacques Froissant.
• Technology at the service of surveillance. Some Anact officials imagine cases where "skills are validated by genetic tests," neurosciences "having reinforced the idea of the difference between men and women," or a world where technology is at the service of surveillance. Thus, in some assumptions, "telework could only be possible if the operator accepts an implant integrated into the forearm to monitor their movements in real time," and computers allow "deducting from the salary the time when the employee manages their emails and personal affairs."
Quentin Périnel.
Lefigaro.fr
Posted online January 16, 2014.
Imagine: it is 2053. The notion of "office" has almost disappeared, factories are only populated by robots, which have eliminated the notion of arduous work, manual jobs have become a minority... On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the National Agency for the Improvement of Working Conditions (Anact), celebrated on Tuesday, experts, union representatives and employers' representatives played the game of projecting themselves forty years into the future and trying to imagine what will potentially change in our daily work lives. For Jacques Froissant, founder of the recruitment firm Altaïde, the observed predictions are rather realistic. "At the speed at which technology is accelerating our daily lives, it is legitimate to think that work, too, will have to adapt," he explains.
• Working longer, but in shorter periods. In 2053, "we will work longer but in shorter periods," Hervé Lanouzière points out to AFP, in reaction to the increase in life expectancy. "Some scientists claim that it is not absurd to think that children born today could live well beyond 100 years... This simple observation makes us think about how the very notion of work will be disrupted!" explains Jacques Froissant.
• "Retirement" will no longer exist. The concept of "retirement" will have completely fallen into disuse. At the CGT, Maryse Dumas emphasizes that the notion of retirement, which "covered an idea of withdrawal from social life," has disappeared and that beyond 60 years old - because the biological rhythm requires it - people are free to participate."
• Robots will have taken control of manual jobs (and will have eliminated the notion of arduous work). Robots will not have rid us of all our tasks, but at least a good part of them. Many manual jobs will have disappeared. "We were already saying 30 years ago that robots were going to take our jobs, it's nothing new. But now, it's becoming a reality. Robots that will be on sale in five to ten years will be able to reproduce exactly the same movements as a human... And already today, there are many factories that are simply populated by robots, without any human presence," observes Jacques Froissant. A "significant" part of production is "handled by robots, computers or even avatars," which has "eliminated the concept of arduous work."
• The notion of "office" and physical company will have disappeared. In 2053, we will no longer "go" to work. Philippe Durance, a researcher at the Conservatoire national des arts et métiers (Cnam), explains that "the disappearance of the workplace (...) affects almost all professional categories." We will work from home, in co-working spaces, in transport, in restaurants, in parks... The "old-fashioned" office may still exist, but it will mostly be empty. It will be a workspace as ephemeral as the others. "Why bother going to a place to perform tasks that can be done in any other place?" asks Jacques Froissant.
• "Bosses" will no longer exist, and everyone's opinion will be taken into account. Let those who aspire today to become small - or large - bosses come to terms with it: managers will no longer exist, and the complex organizational charts of companies will have disappeared. "Hierarchical levels will be a maximum of two!" predicts Christian Leroy, representative of the Medef in Nord-Pas-de-Calais, who also explains that the employees' opinions "will be systematically taken into account," with employee representatives having "been integrated into the governance structures of companies."
• "Alternating" jobs will have become the norm. According to Maryse Dumas, professional careers will no longer be linear and will allow "alternating jobs, functions, and different sectors," with new rights "attached to each person" and "implemented throughout professional activity." A trend whose beginnings are already visible today. "The explosion of training offers and the encouragement to retrain are already very popular elements! Similarly, combining several professional activities is now within everyone's reach!" insists Jacques Froissant.
• Technology at the service of surveillance. Some Anact officials imagine cases where "skills are validated by genetic tests," neurosciences "having reinforced the idea of the difference between men and women," or a world where technology is at the service of surveillance. Thus, in some assumptions, "telework could only be possible if the operator accepts an implant integrated into the forearm to monitor their movements in real time," and computers allow "deducting from the salary the time when the employee manages their emails and personal affairs."
Quentin Périnel.
Lefigaro.fr
Posted online January 16, 2014.
