The competing forces shaping 2030
CREDITS
PWC
About the report
We are living through a fundamental transformation in the way we work. Automation and ‘thinking machines’ are replacing human tasks, changing the skills that organisations are looking for in their people. But what will the future look like?
This isn’t a time to sit back and wait for events to unfold. To be prepared for the future, you have to understand it.
Our ‘Workforce of the future’ study looks at four possible Worlds of Work for 2030 to help you kick-start your thinking. You can also take a closer look at the views of 10,000 people in our survey findings summary.
The four worlds of work in 2030
THE RED WORLD
Innovation rules
- The Red World is a perfect incubator for innovation with organisations and individuals racing to give consumers what they want.
- Digital platforms and technology enable those with winning ideas and allow for specialist and niche profit-markers to flourish. Businesses innovate to create personalisation and find new ways to serve these niches.
- But in a world where ideas rule and innovation outpaces regulation, the risks are high. Today’s winning business could be tomorrow’s court case.
THE BLUE WORD
Corporate is king
- In the blue world, capitalism reigns supreme, it’s where bigger is better.
- Organisations see their size and influence as the best way to protect their profit margins against intense competition from their peers and aggressive new market entrants.
- Corporations grow to such a scale, and exert such influence, that some become more powerful and larger than national economies. It’s a world where individual preferences take precedent over social responsibility.
THE GREEN WORLD
Companies care
- This is a world where corporate responsibility isn’t just a nice-to-have but it’s a business imperative.
- It’s characterised by a strong social conscience, a sense of environmental responsibility, a focus on diversity, human rights and a recognition that business has an impact that goes well beyond the financial. Workers and consumers demand that organisations do right by their employees and the wider world.
- Trust is the basic currency underpinning business and employment. Companies have to place their societal purpose at the heart of their commercial strategy.
THE YELLOW WORLD
Humans come first
- This is a world where workers and companies seek out greater meaning and relevance in what they do. Social-first and community businesses find the greatest success and prosper.
- Crowdfunded capital flows towards ethical and blameless brands. It’s a world where workers and consumers search for meaning and relevance from organisations, ones with a social heart.
- Artisans, makers and ‘new Worker Guilds’ thrive.
- It’s a world where humanness is highly valued.
