How futurists think we will be working after the coronavirus … · 2020-04-20 · How futurists think we will be working after the coronavirus pandemic is over By Rebecca Turner

How futurists think we will beworking after the coronaviruspandemic is overBy Rebecca Turner about 9 hours ago

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Photo: Gerd Leonhard says the pandemic has led to the widespread adoption of remote workpractices. (Supplied: Gerd Leonhard)

The speed with which the world of work has changed since theintroduction of coronavirus restrictions has been breathtaking, evenfor futurists whose job it is to anticipate developments ahead of thepack.

Key points:

Even futurists are having to adapt to the changes brought on by

COVID-19But they say those changes will create an opening for a raft of newjobsBlack swan scenario planners and privacy guardians are twoexamples

Technology futurist Shara Evans is used to travelling the world to deliverkeynote speeches at slick corporate conferences and governmentevents, but has just spoken at her first online conference from herSydney home office.

"Transformation has been brought on by things beyond our control," shetold her global audience, including viewers from Istanbul to Tokyo.

Even futurists are having to adapt, as noted by her fellow presenter,Swiss-based futurist Gerd Leonhard, who joked that it had taken theirteam three hours to perfect the technology to deliver their Zoomconference on the future of work.

Mr Leonhard, whose clients include big companies like Google, Sony andVisa, runs a company which specialises in providing futurists to speak atconferences, something which travel bans have made impossible.

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So his business has now shifted fully online to offering remotepresentations and digital conferences, joining a webinar marketplacewhich is becoming crowded as businesses seek information to deal witha fast-changing environment.

Photo: The use of technology is accelerating the digital economy. (ABC News: RebeccaTurner)

The role of a futurist is to look broadly at today's trends and data todescribe what could happen in the future. They can include weatherforecasters, economists, political commentators and even science fictionwriters.

As Mr Leonhard explained to his audience in the webinar, he believed thebiggest trends to have emerged from a world dealing with a pandemic,economies in crisis and many citizens in lockdown were:

Increased global collaborationA widespread adoption of remote work practices, from home officesto Zoom meetingsTravel bans and an acceptance of remote working crippling thetravel industryThe use of technology for remote work accelerating the digitaleconomy

Photo: Gerd Leonhard says the old way of presenting at conferences has been eclipsed bycircumstances. (Supplied: Gerd Leonhard)

Although some workers were busier than ever in the new environment —for example, those in healthcare, delivery supply chain and onlinecollaboration businesses — Ms Evans said others were suffering,including her own events and conferences industry, as well as tourismand spectator sports.

These may be the jobs to watch out for

A former technology consultant, Ms Evans also believed dramaticchanges in the way the developed world was now living and workingwould create an opening for new jobs.

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Take the example of a black swan scenario planner, someone who helpsgovernments, businesses and organisations plan how to deal with so-called black swan events.

These are unpredictable events which have the potential to devastatesociety, such as pandemics, a meteor hitting the earth or a solar flareknocking out our electricity grids.

Ms Evans said the coronavirus pandemic, with worldwide shortages ofmedical supplies and crippled economies, showed there was a need forpeople who could help to anticipate unexpected consequences of blackswan events.

"I don't think anyone gave any thought to having to shut down all but veryessential businesses," she said.

Photo: Shara Evans believes black swan scenario planning could be a job of the future.(Supplied: Shara Evans)

As governments around the world roll out tracking apps to monitor theincidence of COVID-19, Ms Evans said there could be strong demand forprivacy guardians, who could monitor whether citizen data was beingused appropriately.

"Because we've reached a global pandemic that is having the worldteetering on a massive health crisis as well as economic crisis, this couldbe the reason to force almost every person in the world to update theirphone's operating systems and allow government tracking for health andsafety," she said.

At a more grassroots level, Ms Evans speculated about the potential fornew jobs to help with our new ways of living such as:

Personal economic recovery specialists to help people who hadfallen behind on their mortgages and other debts as a result ofcoronavirus-related economic restrictionsVirtual reality real estate specialists who could use high-quality

virtual reality tools to conduct remote property inspectionsImmunity booster consultants to help people keep their immunesystems in peak condition in a bid to prevent infection

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Topics: work, unemployment, community-and-society, lifestyle, covid-19, disease-outbreak, infectious-diseases-other, respiratory-diseases,perth-6000, wa