A new world of work
The pandemic has changed the world of work as we know it. Reducing human contact has led to the mass adoption of working from home and accelerated reliance on digital technology. Meanwhile, thousands of workers have been forced to move to new industries and recession has highlighted the need for mental health support at work. So what jobs are likely to be in demand in the economy of the future? The FT asked experts and companies for real life examples:
Head of health and wellbeing
Rachel Warwick, global head of culture and engagement at Ocado, says the pandemic shone an “additional spotlight” on employees’ health and wellbeing. The UK online grocer is creating a new role to unify the approach across the business. “The pandemic has made people more aware of the human that is behind a role,” she says. In any company, data savvy individuals with expert communication skills will be needed to manage these concerns across the organisation. “Actually how we gather data to inform what this role will focus on is so important,” Warwick says. “How do we proactively communicate — whether you are working remotely or you are on the front line — how do you proactively give information to people at the right time so you can support their health and wellbeing?”
Chief bias officer
As the pandemic pushes companies towards technology, artificial intelligence is likely to spread even faster — and it will need to be managed. “Wherever you have a marketplace model that is powered by AI, you will always need to be proactively thinking about bias and where it can emerge,” says Brian Hershey, head of enterprise strategy at Gloat, an employee network for businesses. He says this will lead to the emergence of “chief bias officer” roles, a job that will help mitigate against potential bias in AI but also be used to reach business objectives, such as diversity metrics.
Head of remote
The transition to flexible working is creating demand for roles that help manage the move, as well as the future hybrid workforce. “The head of remote is probably an operational title, someone who oversees this organisational change to the remote world,” says Raj Choudhury, professor at Harvard Business School. Choudhury says the individual will have to set guidelines on what knowledge is “codified”, or written down. “The head of remote can convince people this is necessary and make sure everyone has the tools to do this.”
Data scientist
There is a huge opportunity for data scientists to create tools to replicate what human beings were doing in face-to-face interactions before. Choudhury says the push to reduce human contact and social distance is likely to increase demand for tools that replace human interaction. “The fact that the world is going remote creates a huge opportunity for data scientists to create tools to replicate or replace what human beings were doing in face-to-face interactions earlier on.”