In times of crisis, we always want to reflect on whether technology and automation are in some way negative. Robots are the visible “face” that we associate with the concept, but the invisible one behind all this is Artificial Intelligence; two technologies that have come to stay and revolutionise the current economy.

We don’t have to be politicians, basing our campaign on creating more and more jobs. Instead, we have to ask ourselves how all this technology is changing current economic norms, and reflect on working hours, where we work from, and how we can transform our society.

LET’S REFLECT

The first reflection is what’s known as “job crafting” – the new work models that some companies are implementing in order to attract and keep talent. The dream of working at a large company disappeared years ago. Big consulting firms lost their appeal after Lehman Brothers’ collapse in 2008, when university students shifted their focus to big technology companies. Everyone wanted to work at Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft, just to name a few of the companies that still seem to be leaders, based on their market cap. Right now, however, people are looking for other types of companies to make their dreams come true.

The pandemic has shown that people can work and perform well from home. Flexible schedules, and even work weeks of only 4 days, are the points on which we should focus. Why are we constantly talking about sustainability and the carbon footprint and, at the same time, saying that everyone should go back to their offices in their cars, filling our cities with CO2 again?

The second reflection can come in the form of proposing that people be trained to levels aligned with existing demand. If we’re thinking of changing cities to avoid the use of vehicles, if we’re talking about taxis being replaced by driverless systems, if Artificial Intelligence will be able to navigate the stock market better than any broker, why do we keep training young people for these types of jobs, which are going to disappear?

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

Universities are beginning to change classic degrees for more specialised ones related to the demand stemming from new companies. Big Data, quantum computing, Artificial Intelligence, robotics, and Augmented Reality are the cornerstones of the new economy. Robots aren’t going to take away our jobs. In fact, we may not even be able to put them to work because there aren’t enough programmers and experts to prepare them to take on the toughest and most unpleasant professions. New career opportunities can create thousands of jobs for professional development trainers, changing the way of thinking of those who believe that they aren’t prepared to study.

QUALITY AT WORK

But, beware of the new economy and taking steps backwards. The shared work economy – what we have dubbed the “gig economy” – has become a new form of exploitation and slavery for many people.

The idea seemed perfect: “You can be your own boss and work whatever hours you want, and whatever way you want”. Or, “You just have to register as a freelancer and, with the help of our app, you’ll be able to deliver food to go, get some exercise on your bicycle, and even get a little sun”.

The reality turned out a bit differently, and laws governing these types of services have brought technology back down to earth. Marathon shifts, no holiday periods, salaries that change from one day to the next based on the algorithms that the application itself sets to maximise the delivery company’s profits...

As with everything, the solution has been to create laws that are flexible enough to give the new ways of working through apps a roadmap to follow, so that, in the end, workers’ quality of life prevails over an almost abusive way of obtaining profits.

The new economy should not be about three founders creating a start-up that garners them millions in profits while they provide jobs paying just one euro per hour. All this has to help make inequalities disappear in terms of salary levels, which will, in turn, makethem disappear at the social level.

NEW WAYS FORWARD

We must help to develop ecosystems that are attractive for entrepreneurs, but with new rules. Robots have to do repetitive and tedious jobs – the types of things about which we will say, in a few years, “How could we make people do things that a robot is capable of?”

Workdays shouldn’t be approached with the classic frameworks. Rather, they should be based on productivity and a clear goal in terms of profit. If we’ve proposed a three-month project with a profit of X, if our team is able to complete it in two, we should give them that month off, not put them back on another project to earn X+100, only for the extra profits to go to top management.

Cities can be more sustainable without cars, and rural areas can resurge if we provide them with 5G infrastructure and services that make it attractive to work from this type of setting.

NO, robots are NOT taking jobs from us – it’s the rules of the game that are changing, and the sooner we accept that fact, or even cooperate to help things along, the better. Ways of life will be very different from those we know now. Look at how people lived and worked in the Roman Empire, and how things are done today, and just think about what the work and cities of the future will be like, thanks to technology.