Long before coronavirus appeared and shattered our pre-existing normal, the future of work was a widely discussed and debated topic. Weve watched automation slowly but surely expand its capabilities and take over more jobs, and weve wondered what artificial intelligence will eventually be capable of.

The pandemic swiftly turned the working world on its head, putting millions of people out of a job and forcing millions more to work remotely. But essential questions remain largely unchanged: we still want to make sure were not replaced, we want to add value, and we want an equitable society where different types of work are valued fairly.

To address these issuesas well as how the pandemic has impacted themthis week Singularity University held a digital summit on the future of work. Forty-three speakers from multiple backgrounds, countries, and sectors of the economy shared their expertise on everything from work in developing markets to why we shouldnt want to go back to the old normal.

Gary Bolles, SUs chair for the Future of Work, kicked off the discussion with his thoughts on a future of work thats human-centric, including why it matters and how to build it.

Work seems like a straightforward concept to define, but since its constantly shifting shape over time, lets make sure were on the same page. Bolles defined work, very basically, as human skills applied to problems.

It doesnt matter if its a dirty floor or a complex market entry strategy or a major challenge in the world, he said. We as humans create value by applying our skills to solve problems in the world. You can think of the problems that need solving as the demand and human skills as the supply, and the two are in constant oscillation, including, every few decades or centuries, a massive shift.

Were in the midst of one of those shifts right now (and we already were, long before the pandemic). Skills that have long been in demand are declining. The World Economic Forums 2018 Future of Jobs report listed things like manual dexterity, management of financial and material resources, and quality control and safety awareness as declining skills. Meanwhile, skills the next generation will need include analytical thinking and innovation, emotional intelligence, creativity, and systems analysis.

With the outbreak of coronavirus and its spread around the world, the demand side of work shrunk; all the problems that needed solving gave way to the much bigger, more immediate problem of keeping people alive. But as a result, tens of millions of people around the world are out of workand those are just the ones that are being counted, and theyre a fraction of the true total. There are additional millions in seasonal or gig jobs or who work in informal economies now without work, too.

This is our opportunity to focus, Bolles said. How do we help people re-engage with work? And make it better work, a better economy, and a better set of design heuristics for a world that we all want?

Bolles posed five key questionssome spurred by impact of the pandemicon which future of work conversations should focus to make sure its a human-centric future.

1. What does an inclusive world of work look like? Rather than seeing our current systems of work as immutable, we need to actually understand those systems and how we want to change them.

2. How can we increase the value of human work? We know that robots and software are going to be fine in the futurebut for humans to be fine, we need to design for that very intentionally.

3. How can entrepreneurship help create a better world of work? In many economies the new value thats created often comes from younger companies; how do we nurture entrepreneurship?

4. What will the intersection of workplace and geography look like? A large percentage of the global workforce is now working from home; what could some of the outcomes of that be? How does gig work fit in?

5. How can we ensure a healthy evolution of work and life? The health and the protection of those at risk is why we shut down our economies, but we need to find a balance that allows people to work while keeping them safe.

The end result these questions are driving towards, and our overarching goal, is maximizing human potential. If we come up with ways we can continue to do that, well have a much more beneficial future of work, Bolles said. We should all be talking about where we can have an impact.

One small silver lining? We had plenty of problems to solve in the world before ever hearing about coronavirus, and now we have even more. Is the pace of automation accelerating due to the virus? Yes. Are companies finding more ways to automate their processes in order to keep people from getting sick? They are.

But we have a slew of new problems on our hands, and were not going to stop needing human skills to solve them (not to mention the new problems that will surely emerge as second- and third-order effects of the shutdowns). If Bolles definition of work holds up, weve got ours cut out for us.

In an article from April titled The Great Reset, Bolles outlined three phases of the unemployment slump (were currently still in the first phase) and what we should be doing to minimize the damage. The evolution of work is not about what will happen 10 to 20 years from now, he said. Its about what we could be doing differently today.

Watch Bolles talk and those of dozens of other experts for more insights into building a human-centric future of work here.

Image Credit: www_slon_pics from Pixabay

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A Human-Centric World of Work: Why It Matters, and How to Build It - Singularity Hub