To modern workers everywhere,
If the forecasts are right, technology will render redundant the skills and occupations of hundreds of millions of workers around the world over the next decade or so. The result will be a reskilling of the workforce that can only be compared in epicness to when the world’s advanced economies shifted from agricultural work to manufacturing.
These kinds of projections rarely feel tangible, though. So perhaps it’s worth considering what changes we’ve seen in the workforce just in the past three months.
In response to Covid-19, workers from all kinds of sectors are using technology in new ways. Teachers are lecturing via Zoom; plumbers are giving video consults for sink replacements. Businesses are also quickly repositioning, and retraining, employees to better suit the moment. In April, amid a flood of calls from customers, Bank of America reportedly converted 3,000 employees from across the bank to roles in the consumer and small-business divisions.
The sudden need to adapt amid a pandemic could have permanent effects. A recent survey by PwC found that “40% of CFOs say they will accelerate automation and new ways of working as they transition back.”
In a return to normalcy, “we run a very real risk of a bit of a jobless recovery,” says Ravin Jesuthasan, managing director at global advisory company Willis Towers Watson.
Whether that happens or not, it is clear that traditional education will no longer fully prepare us for the future. The World Economic Forum estimates that at least 54% of all employees will need reskilling by 2022; good thing workers stuck at home are turning to online courses in droves in a bid to stay relevant in a fast-changing economy. Employers like Amazon and Walmart, meanwhile, are committing to wide-scale retraining programs, and partnerships between universities and employers for ongoing learning are becoming more prevalent.
For all of the divisions being exposed in the global economy, today’s workers are bound by a common issue: the need to adapt.—Michelle Cheng
Five things we learned this week
The US unemployment rate includes stark differences by race.
China is worried enough about jobs that it’s making nice with street vendors.
Managers need to change their measures of success during Covid-19.
In a twist, workers might have to make the case to work from an office.
The Trump administration’s proposed curbs on visas contradict research on the most effective protections for US native-born workers.
30-second case study
Alexis Ohanian—venture capitalist, dadfluencer, husband of tennis star Serena Williams, and co-founder of Reddit—announced last week that he’s stepping down as a Reddit director to make room for a Black voice on the currently all-white board. “I believe resignation can actually be an act of leadership from people in power right now,” he wrote on his personal website.
Ohanian said he made the decision “as a father who needs to be able to answer his black daughter when she asks: ‘What did you do?’” He also pledged to use future gains on his Reddit stock to support the Black community, and announced a $1 million donation to Know Your Rights Camp, the racial-justice nonprofit founded by football quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
The takeaway: Relinquishing a job isn’t feasible for everyone, nor is it the only way to create more diverse leadership teams. But Ohanian’s decision fairly raises the question of how far others will be willing to go to bring about the equality they claim to seek. Quartz at Work’s Sarah Todd explores the issue further here.
It’s a fact
Lacking autonomy at work may literally kill us. Having a high-stress job and low control over one’s work were correlated with higher mortality rates, in a newly published study tracking 3,000 Americans over 20 years.
An upcoming workshop
So you’ve promised your colleagues you’re committed to racial equality. As an organization, how do you carry that forward into meaningful and transformative action? Join us this Thursday, June 11, at 11am US eastern time for a Quartz at Work (from home) workshop on what it will take and how to get started. The live event is free and open to all; a recording and detailed recap will be available to Quartz members.
+ Sign up for the workshop here.
A quick poll
If you were asked to work in an office tomorrow, would you show up?
🙂 Yes, I need to get back to normal.
😷 Yes, but only with the desks spaced six feet apart.
🤔 I would have mixed feelings.
🤯 Why are you even thinking about this right now?
And here, all you formerly frequent flyers, are the results of last week’s poll:
We hope you can resume your exploring soon.
Words of wisdom
“As a leader and a white male, racism is not a subject that I’m as comfortable speaking about as many others. But my comfort level and my vocabulary can’t limit the amount that I speak to it, and can’t limit the action that we take.”—Neil Blumenthal, co-founder and co-CEO, Warby Parker
+ Blumenthal recently spoke with Quartz’s Jenni Avins about building actively anti-racist workplaces. Read the full story here.
✦ Special to Quartz members ✦
China is not letting the coronavirus pandemic crisis go to waste. It’s reading the events that unfolded this year as part of an inevitable evolution toward a new world order. Read more in our field guide to China’s changing influence. Subscribers to The Memo can get 40% off the first-year Quartz membership price of $99 by using the code QZFLASHSALE. Sign up for membership here.
ICYMI
The problem with Harvard Business School case studies. The HBS dean who popularized the case method did not believe it adequately accounted for the needs of labor and society. How might the corporate world look different today, had a global beacon for business education followed a different path? Quartz at Work’s Lila MacLellan considers the history, and what might have been, in this gem from our archive.
You got The Memo!
Our best wishes for a productive and creative day. Please send any workplace news, comments, board resignations, or intriguing b-school histories to work@qz.com. Get the most out of Quartz by downloading our app and becoming a member. This week’s edition of The Memo was produced by Heather Landy and Sarah Todd.