I have often mentioned my love for Tim Ferris’ 4-Hour Workweek and how much I agree with him when he argues that the 40-hour work week is essentially pointless in today’s day and age.
Here are five predictions I have for how work will change over the next decade or so:
1) Working with others worldwide will increase
Companies will be forced to leverage cheap labor abroad, as we will see skilled labor become more readily available. While we have already seen manufacturing move abroad, we will also see companies taking advantage of cheap accounting, programming, and analytic labor. I also think there will be more professionals specialize in coordinating this movement of labor.
2) Jobs that can be done from home, will be done from home
An estimated 1.35 billion gallons of gasoline could be conserved annually if every U.S. worker with the ability to telecommute did so 1.6 days per a week. Imagine if every U.S. worker who could telecommute did so full-time. There would be a number of benefits:
- We’d save a ton of energy, both as individual consumers and a country as a whole.
- Employees lives would be more efficient as they’d have all that time spent commuting available for working more, exercising, leisure activities, or however else they would like to spend their time.
- Companies would save money because they don’t have to pay for the real estate to house these employees each week.
- Employees can create their optimal work environment. If they want silence, they can create a completely silent work area. If they work best with music playing, they would be able to play their music without having to have headphones on all day. I think at minimum we can agree that cubicles are the ideal workplace for pretty much no one.
3) Salaried employees won’t be tied to 9-5 life as much
Unfortunately, right now employers try to pile on as much work as possible to their salaried employees. We have already seen the work week increase from a forty hour work-week to fifty or sixty hours. Still, employees feel the need to be physically at work at least forty hours even if they are not doing anything productive.
How much better would it be for those who are stuck in hurry-up-and-wait jobs be if they could spread their work throughout the day? I know multiple times I have had busy afternoons and evenings yet was still stuck sitting around waiting in the mornings. What if we were less tied to the 9-5 time frame and I was able to sleep later, get a work out in, and do work when I actually had it?
Even further, there are employees who do their best work in the evenings but this is hardly an option for employees who work for companies who abide by the almighty 9-5 schedule. Even worse is employees who try to work on their own schedule and are thought of as lazy for rolling in at 9 or 9:30 in the morning, even if they do stay late.
4) Employees will be measured by what they produce, not how long they work
Employers are quickly realizing the world is changing. More work can be done anywhere there is an internet connection, and the need to be physically present at most offices is decreasing. For some people, it’s easy to pull long hours.
But what if the same work could be done in twenty hours a week from an employee who is more efficient than the one working sixty-plus hours? This leads me to prediction #5…
5) There will be a surge in freelance/contract work
As companies try to lower their expenses to stay competitive in an environment of lower prices and increased regulation, they will start looking at freelance/contract work as a viable alternative to full-time employees who require health insurance and other benefits.
Workers who have a skill, such as database management, web design, or app development, who are the best at what they do will likely make more money as a contract employee who service multiple organizations. Instead of sitting on their hands or becoming bored at their “9-5” job, they could be working on a project from one of their other contracts. This will keep workers engaged, help companies keep costs down, and allow skilled labor to make more than they would as an employee.
How do you think work will change over the next ten years?
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Photos by Dan Zen.
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I hope you are right DC. There are so many jobs that could be done from home. Unfortunately, I don’t see companies letting people do this any time soon. There are so many people that need constant supervision. For those who don’t, I hope our society moves in this direction. (I love that book as well!)
@GregatClubThrifty Unfortunately, it probably won’t happen quickly. It’s definitely going to be a slow transition, but the energy and real estate savings alone that individuals and company’s would see should be a motivator.
Some great points. All makes sense in theory, but as we know things aren’t nearly as simple. There are far too many jobsworths out there that are rewarded for long, unproductive days as opposed to the actual benefit they provide.
@Money_Angels Here’s to that changing!
Good post DC! I agree that we’re going to continue to see a shift in this, especially as boomers leave the work force and younger generations enter as I believe the latter want more of the freedom and say that can come with something like this. We’re already seeing #5 as the economy has sort of forced it and if you can work from home, then why not?
@FrugalRules Absolutely agree! The only reason more people don’t work form home is because it takes more of a “department/company shift.” Would you want to be the one person who isn’t in the office? I know that is something that has made people at my work feel the need to come in.
I totally agree DC and I can’t wait to see how the traditional job world changes over the next few years! I think it’s exciting stuff! People will become more productive, happier and healthier since they aren’t wasting time. Especially for those of us that work better at night or early in the morning. You make some excellent points here!
@Carrie Smith Thanks so much for the kind words, and I definitely agree that the changes are exciting to think about!
I agree with everything you say, but did you see that the CEO of Yahoo has cancelled all working from home and so now everyone has to go into the office. It seems like it is a little bit backwards to me.
@MonsterPiggyBank Yep I heard that and realized the irony of my post going up the next day : ) But I definitley think it’s backwards, though I do understand her pressure to do something different and get Yahoo in the news.
I agree with you! I think everything is definitely going to change within the next 10 years, and for the better.
@SenseofCents I agree!
I just saw that too about Yahoo… not sure millennials are ready to have so much freedom, work from home, have Xboxes in the cafeteria, etc I know I would have a hard time doing a good job. I like working from home but need to do it on my own projects or I would procrastinate the whole day.
@RFIndependence People might procrastinate, but company’s would just hire/keep employees who DON’T procrastinate ;) I think that would motivate quite a few people in the work force.
I am a huge proponent for number 2 on your list. I just can’t see the reason for most “white-collar” workers to work in an office every single day when they can just as easily work from home. I know a lot of employers are worried about their employees not working while at home, but it seems like it would be pretty easy to weed out the people who didn’t actually do an work.
@ayoungpro Yeah, which is why I’m shocked at the news about Yahoo. Why don’t they just weed out the ones who don’t’ produce? It can’t be that difficult!
Interesting post David. Having worked from home for 12 years my experience has been the time I safe, from not having to commute, is turned into more sleep. Which in-directly makes me more productive!
@KyleJames1 I would kill to gain an extra hour or so of sleep each day…I’d be so much more productive.
Much more mobility thanks to technology. I think internet businesses will grow faster than the brick and mortar stores.
@krantcents1 I definitely agree with you on this.
I too figured that more companies would allow their employees to work from home as a way to save money and make employees life easier. I was surprised to see this headline today from the new Yahoo CEO: An internal memo at Yahoo Inc introducing a ban on working from home.
@TacklingOurDebt Yep I saw that announcement on the news yesterday morning and I definitely felt the irony that I had just written this post the day before : ) I think they are making a mistake, though, and should start weeding out the producers and those who do not produce….regardless of where they sit when they work.
@DC @ Young Adult Money I agree that they are making a big mistake. In any company it is always the slackers that ruin it for everyone else. If you hire self-motivated independent people they will work very well on their own, sometimes even more so since they do not have to commute back and forth. My husband works online from home and even people on the team he works with find ways to take advantage of the fact that know one sees what they are doing when they should be working.
@TacklingOurDebt I think I would be much more effective if I could work from home. It’s more about my personality than anything. I like being able to control my work environment, and when I can do that I work more efficiently and get things done faster. I’d be upset that employees who were slacking off cost me a work at home setup at Yahoo….I’d have trouble staying at the company, to be honest.
Although I agree with what you’re saying, I’m not sure that establishments are willing to change. It would take a real innovator who succeeds to start a new wave. I remember a few years ago when gas spiked and employers were discussing a four day work week. I haven’t really anything new since.
@JustinatTheFrugalPath If employers could just monitor output better they wouldn’t have anything to worry about. The savings from real estate costs alone should motivate them to get their act together and figure out a modern work from home option for any employee who is able to do their job from a laptop and phone.
I am a fan of working from home, but doubt it would catch one and become the mainstream. There is too much collaboration to be done within the office. This is the same thing going on at Yahoo. They no longer get to work from home on a daily basis. There are some positions that will be allowed to work from home, but some need to have that collaboration. Also, not everyone can be responsible when working from home. There are too many distractions for some to deal with.
@DebtRoundUp I think things got out of hand at Yahoo. Management is weak and didn’t hold employees accountable. I just find it slightly hilarious that employees drive 20+ miles each way to sit at a desk at a computer, go on conference calls, and MAYBE have one “live meeting”….where they have people calling in from out of state. Collaboration can be done without physically being present, as I collaborate with coworkers in India on a weekly basis despite the fact they are literally across the globe.
This model works for some professions, but if you work with the public and sell products or services in some way, you still have to have set business hours. Customers would get pretty angry if they showed up for a hair cut and you’d met the quota and closed for the day.
@Eyesonthedollar I definitely agree with you and hope you didn’t think that was what I meant in this post : ) Some jobs, such as eye doctors, require a physical presence. Not surprisingly these jobs are the LEAST likely to be outsourced. That is definitely a benefit. Pros/Cons to every job.
I think that companies that primarily do business electronically will transition to a non-traditional workday more swiftly/readily. However, working for a company that makes tangible products, I just don’t see the workday drastically changing. I think this would be the case for most of the manufacturing industry. While we still do business overseas, I have learned time and again that nothing beats face to face interaction. I think it would take advancements in virtual meeting software to shift the paradigm for the more traditional companies.
I agree wholeheartedly. The world’s changing and employers (yes, I’m looking at you Yahoo) and employees need to be ready. There is still a lot of old school mentality about working for home – yes, there are people who take advantage of it, but companies need to do a better job of weeding those people out and training managers and employees how to maximize their productivity, etc.