Work: Killer App or Achilles Heel?
London 19 March 2025
3.5 billion people work or seek work every day around the world. The only thing people do more is search on google. Work unites us.
By the way - I mean "Work" as a generic - like "Health".
Five years after we went into Lockdown (California on 19 March, the first US state; UK on 23 March and in fact all the world stopped working in one month five years ago) Work is a mess - especially in the UK:
* 20% of the working age workforce is economically inactive - that's 10 million people.
* According to the Institute for Employment Studies, the UK is the only country in the EU15 where working chance decrease over 55.
* The UK is in top 3 of nations developing and spending on AI but ranks 53 in the world on broadband connectivity.
* Despite overwhelming evidence that flexible working is desirable but complex, there is precious little other than a @UKHouseofLords committee which is looking at Working from Home assessing or addressing the overall synthesised picture: how the vast and simultaneous changes to the economy of work, the technology of work and the culture of work should be addressed.
We need a united strategy of work and the UK needs to build one to replace its current atomised and disconnected one.
If ever there was a moment to reframe Work globally it's now. For all of its opportunities AI has swept through the vulnerable world of work and is heaping pressures on every single workplace.
Our new report sets out six interconnected areas for action which unite the world of work: every country and organisation.
We’re in pilot phase now with these six to see how a workable plan can emerge which adapts to the universal pressures which include:
All generations feel differently about work (and differently from each other) and the university -led era of incubating a professional class is likely to be over as we know it.
AI is here and training and skills are currently insufficient to keep up with the pace of implementation.
The global supply chain of people, products and services is being massively disrupted by politics and geopolitics (trade tariffs, wars and nationalism and anti immigration) so that there isn’t enough workers in the right place at the right time.
BUT: there’s room for optimism. Why?
Because there is a new emerging group of us who want to tackle the institutional failings head on which have left “Work” without a base or framework.
We're working on what success looks and feels like workplace by workplace. Shareable data you can use.
Let the work begin. There’s a lot to do.
Download the free report now if you would like to know more.
https://www.workathon.io/
