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The future of work has always been a hot topic for HR leaders, and in past months we’re all trying to keep up with a rapidly changing landscape in the workplace and in the talent marketplace. With technology rapidly evolving, contract and remote work becoming the new normal, and fallout from a global pandemic, workplace leadership is looking to HR for answers. And we’re trying to formulate them!

Episode 243: Why the End of Jobs is Near with Jeff Wald (@JeffreyWald)

Jeff Wald is the Co-Founder and President of WorkMarket, an enterprise software platform that enables companies to efficiently and compliantly organize, manage, and pay freelancers (purchased by ADP). Jeff has founded several other technology companies including Spinback (eventually sold to Salesforce). He is an active angel investor and startup advisor, as well as serving on numerous public and private Boards of Directors. His latest book, The End of Jobs: The Rise of On-Demand Workers and Agile Corporations, came out in June.

Is the Job Apocalypse Upon Us?

With Jeff’s book title about predicting the end of jobs, I wanted to ask him what it was really all about. Obviously, Jeff’s book was written pre-COVID, but the data tells the same story that work is moving more towards more flexible work environments. What we need from our jobs or clients is changing as contractors or freelancers. Jeff says the world is shifting to a more fluid market where freelancers and contractors like me are more common and HR needs to take responsibility for managing the experience of our freelance and contract workforce.

Jeff’s book looks at the history of work and really dives into data and the trends. Jeff share that the only time labor statistics move very slow so this end of jobs trend and work changes are happening at a very slow and predictable pace. That is unless of course you experience a mass economic dislocation like we are now. He says the last time we saw this kind of economic slowdown was the Great Depression. He says the legislation passed after the Great Depression, specifically FLSA, and the changes to the creation of Social Security and and a host of other social welfare systems had a big impact on what we are experiencing now in terms of creating stead slow growth or decline. This is why labor statistics don’t move which is why he’s confident what he’s predicting now.

Remote Work Predictions

Because of Jeff’s background and his unique perspective as a CEO of a company that works in the on-demand labor force, I wanted to get his take on the bold predictions I’m seeing about we will never get back to in person work. Jeff has an interesting take that you must listen to the podcast episode. His prediction factors in labor models and past history. In fact, it’s important to remember that the labor market moves very slowly as well as incrementally. Jeff’s experience and perspective in this area is invaluable for HR leaders and business executives who are planning workplace re-entry and reimagining the new workplace into 2021 and beyond.

[bctt tweet=”It’s important to keep in mind that the natural limit in the US is 42% meaning if every single person that could work remote was working remote, 42% of the #workforce would be remote. – @jeffreywald #podcast #remotework ” via=”no”]

Conclusion

Technology is such an integral part of our work landscape and the current state of the labor market. We went from wondering whether or not robots would replace humans to trying to close a talent gap for positions that cannot be replaced with AI – and we’ll continue to see technology drive this evolution. I appreciate being able to sit down with Jeff Wald to hear about his book – The End of Jobs: The Rise of On-Demand Workers and Agile Corporations – and how HR leaders should be responding to changes in the workplace.

Thank you for joining the Workology Podcast sponsored by Workology. This podcast is for the disruptive workplace leader who’s tired of the status quo. This is Jessica Miller-Merrell. Until next time, visit Workology.com to listen to all our episodes of the Workology podcast.

Connect with Jeff Wald on LinkedIn