As the economy slowly opens up, there is a growing consensus that the world of work will not return to the pre-pandemic practices and there will be a ‘new normal’ in employment practices as a result of the changes in everyone lives since March 2020.
That view is backed by a recent report from accountancy giant PWC which surveyed over 2000 workers in the UK about their hopes and fears for this year and found that they wanted new skills, flexible working options and jobs that make a difference. Whilst this seems like good news for the economy, it is not all positive with only 37% of UK workers feeling positive about how the future world of work is likely to affect them as against 50% globally.
Most UK workers also believe that the jobs that are around today will still be here in the future although they understand that the very nature of work is changing with greater flexibility and more purpose-driven jobs. For example, the majority of UK workers are demanding a mix of home and in-person working in the future and over half have a preference for a job that makes a difference over maximising their income. In fact, only 9% of those who can currently work remotely want to go back to a traditional commute and work environment full time.
While UK workers are the least concerned globally about their jobs becoming obsolete in five years, the survey shows that nearly half of the UK workforce are worried that many jobs are at risk through automation.
This reflects other studies which have shown that could be a risk of a so-called jobless recovery if jobs across a range of industries that have been threatened by recent economic lockdowns are replaced by robots or algorithms.
On the other hand, with areas such as big data, cloud computing and e-commerce remaining a priority for most firms as areas of growth for new technologies, there are also opportunities for new jobs although 35% of all respondents said that they lacked the access to technology which then limited opportunity to develop skills. This is despite the fact that there is a broad agreement that digital competency amongst the workforce has be a priority as the economy looks to reopen.
With companies globally looking to accelerate the digitisation of work processes over the next few years, it is vital that UK businesses also invests in this area to avoid a loss of competitive advantage. And organisations such as the World Economic Forum (WEF) have indicated that jobs such as data analysts and scientists, robotics engineers and software developers are likely to be those most in demand from employers.
Bridging this gap between existing and new jobs will not be easy as a lower proportion of UK workers are ready to learn new skills to remain employable in the future. This is a worrying trend given that the WEF has also indicated that five out of ten workers will need reskilling over the next few years.
Finally, the study found that there are still worrying levels of discrimination within the workplace with employees from ethnic minority backgrounds more likely to think that their jobs will no longer be there in five years’ time (although it is also worth noting that they are also more optimistic about the future than white workers). Whilst a higher proportion of minority ethnic employees think that technological developments will improve their job prospects in the future, 43% of minority ethnic employees say a lack of technology access is limiting upskilling opportunities (vs 33% of white workers).
There is also evidence of gender inequalities with women more nervous about what the future will hold whilst men generally feel optimistic about how the future world of work is likely to affect them. This is not surprising given that women have suffered higher levels of unemployment during the pandemic, mainly because of the sectors in which they currently work. In addition, there could be growing income inequalities between men and women as the latter are less likely to focus on jobs with high salaries and will instead prioritise purpose driven jobs.
Therefore, the study from PWC has shown that whilst there are some real changes to the UK workforce and their attitudes towards work, there are still major threats to ensuring that the economy comes out the pandemic stronger than before and, more importantly, creates opportunities across the whole of society.
It also suggests that whilst there has been a focus on infrastructure development at both national and devolved administrations, the real focus has to be on improving the skills of the workforce for the future, especially in getting the digital opportunities of the new economy. That must be a priority going forward if the UK economy is to recover from this pandemic and more importantly, build back better for a very different digital world.