Why Jobs Of The Future Won’t Feel Like Work
We’re sharing 4 reasons why jobs of the future won’t feel like work and what that means for your remote career. Get excited & prepare for these shifts now:
A few years ago, innovation expert David Lee gave a TED Talk on why jobs of the future won’t feel like work.
Lee helps large companies integrate new technologies, so he’s constantly scouting the latest workplace improvements. Though people often worry about robots taking our jobs in the future, Lee says we should be excited by the freedom this advancement would offer humankind.
With technology pulling more tasks off our to-do lists, workplaces of the future will feel less like a job we have to show up for and more like video games we’re excited to play.
We’ll have more opportunities to flex our innovative, creative muscles; make time for meaningful professional and personal development; and achieve the ideal work-life balance.
We’ll get to do all this more without breaking a sweat, as you’ll learn when we explore:
4 Reasons Why Jobs of the Future Won’t Feel Like Work
The speed at which technology is advancing means the future workplace might be here within the next 10 to 15 years.
While that may not be enough time for roles on Mars to appear in your job searches, it’s certainly long enough to witness giant leaps forward.
After all, we had hundreds of years to progress from working on farms and in factories to swanky high-rises and monster tech campuses. But it only took a few months for the world to normalize working remotely during the Covid-19 pandemic.
So considering where the technology currently stands and where it’s heading, experts agree jobs of the future won’t feel like work because:
1. Remote Work Will Be the Norm ( + Make More People Happy)
According to Prithwiraj Choudhury, a Harvard Business School professor who specializes in the future of work, we’ll probably stop calling it “remote work” and just call it “work” in the next 10 years [*].
The differences between working from home and the office are too numerous to ignore and too hard to resist.
Most remote workers knock out tasks on their own schedule, bypassing sunrise alarms and focusing when it’s most productive for them. They can also take breaks the right way to better manage stress and be more efficient.
Perks also include the chance to travel while working remotely or become a digital nomad, which is way more fun than a hectic commute.
Plus, remote workers can literally work from their happy place. Hanging with their fur babies also improves workday vibes.
So it’s no surprise a Tracking Happiness survey of over 12,000 people revealed that [*]:
- Employee happiness decreases as commute times increase.
- “Back-to-office" mandates post-pandemic tanked employee happiness.
- Employee happiness increases as much as 20% when working remotely.
- Millennials are the happiest generation to work 100% remotely.
The researchers learned that happiness at work is significantly correlated to overall life happiness. In fact, “27% of someone’s life happiness can be explained by their happiness at work.”
So when it comes to having more fun at your job, working remotely may be the best place to start.
💪 Don’t wait for your company to fully embrace WFH. Learn how to find legit work-from-home jobs today.
2. Your Robot Assistant Will Automate All the Boring, Tedious Tasks You Hate Doing
In the next few years, your workspace Siri will take over many, if not all, your repetitive tasks, regardless of your role.
Automation software will sort and reply to your emails, schedule the best time for meetings with teams in different time zones, and streamline your day-to-day operations.
Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) will also enhance the quality of analysis and decision-making in the workplace. You’ll be empowered to make faster, better, data-driven strategies with a single click rather than stress about the right move for days.
Single-task robots and automation software are easy to build and implement, according to Lee. They’re also usually better at performing repetitive tasks than humans — and they never get bored or feel the signs of burnout.
The result? When automating parts of their job, 69% of remote employees decreased wasted time during the workday. A whopping 59% scored six more hours to spare every week [*].
So the researchers in that study believe “the productivity of remote teams is directly related to the nature of tasks they handle.” Dull and boring tasks negatively affect productivity, whereas creative and brainstorming jobs boost it.
Just think about how doing the tasks you least enjoy affects your work day. Most people would groan and stress less about work if they could outsource these chores. Then there would be more time to put your brainpower to better use.
3. You’ll Be Encouraged To Use Your Creative Talents Rather than Perform a Series of Tasks
As automation and AI/ML free up time at work, employees will have more room in their schedules for challenging, creative tasks.
Lee believes that future jobs will focus on unlocking our hidden talents and passions. We’ll need to rediscover what makes us human and create human-centered jobs that leverage those talents best. This meaningful work is valuable to employers because it’s something computers can’t do yet.
Lee says:
“Start asking people what problems they’re inspired to solve and what talents they want to bring to work… When you invite people to be more, they can amaze us with how much more they can be.”
He goes on to describe our “Saturday selves.” When not working on the weekends, people find the self-motivation to dabble in all sorts of interests unrelated to their weekday roles. They may bake a new recipe, handle a plumbing issue, coach their kid’s sports team, live stream about a hobby, etc.
All those Saturday activities are less task-driven and more about picking up or improving skills. So employees will be encouraged to re-envision what they bring to the table.
Those monotonous feelings ala Groundhog Day or Office Space will be replaced by days that hold a bit of surprise and never look the same. Our future selves will flex their creativity, curiosity, and emotional intelligence to solve problems in ways robots can’t.
That excitement will keep work interesting and people eager to learn more.
4. Working in the Metaverse Will Gamify the Work Day
Working in the metaverse is the next step in the global adoption of remote work. Teams will meet up in their organization’s customized virtual reality space to socialize, brainstorm, and learn via their personal avatars and augmented reality headsets.
Drop into your company’s metaverse portal, and you’ll get to explore your virtual workspace just like a video game. You might also receive quests to complete to level up, like taking diversity awareness classes or learning new skills to put on your resume.
Open, engaging spaces will allow real-time collaboration and organic conversations with your coworkers to sprout up during the day. This might lessen feelings of loneliness and isolation to help people find community when working remotely.
There’s also the potential for organizations to better support mental health in the workplace. Leaders can create safe metaverse spaces for employees to speak with a therapist, take a guided meditation, or play an online team-building game with their peers.
With wins like those, working remotely in the metaverse might not feel like work at all. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to its limitless possibilities.
🤖 Check out our guide on How Remote Working Will Change with the Metaverse next!
Now that You Know Why Jobs of the Future Won’t Feel Like Work, Let’s Talk About Today
The future workplace will allow humans and robots to thrive together, drive progress, and advance innovation. These workplace shifts will create environments where people love showing up and using their brains to perform meaningful work.
The best news? You don’t have to wait 10 or 15 years to capture these benefits.
You’ll find tons of automation tools online to help you ditch repetitive tasks in your day and make room for higher-level challenges. You can also start exploring the virtual reality world, familiarizing yourself with how it works before a company recruits you in the metaverse.
Most importantly, you can start applying for remote jobs on We Work Remotely today.
Rack up all that experience, and you’ll be a standout candidate for remote companies now and well into the future. 🙌
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