Workquake: Embracing the Aftershocks of COVID-19 to Create a Better Model of Working

The future has never been more uncertain for both employers and employees. They face the same profoundly unsettling dilemma: neither knows what skills they need to develop for the future. Futurists and the media tell us that over 50 percent of jobs today will soon be replaced by automation and AI. Turnover is higher than it has ever been. The percentage of the workforce that is actively disengaged has never been higher. The shelf lives of certain skills are diminishing rapidly. Longstanding industries and industry leaders are being disrupted. These staggering changes are challenging our concepts of what a career really looks like today and how we should build organizations going forward. We are facing a Workquake. It's time we change the conversation. It's time to talk about how being human has never been more critical and how we have more agency in applying our talents than at any other time in history. We need to have more real and honest conversations about how to build a better model of the future of work, one in which both employers and employees feel safe and energized. COVID-19 has presented us the ideal opportunity to tackle this important challenge. Workquake is an attempt to articulate a compelling vision for the future of work through a number of stories, case studies, and author Steve Cadigan's own experiences.