Articles
70% of Workers Are Considering Shifting Careers Due to Covid-19
by James P. Outreach & PR ExecutiveThe current situation has led many of to
assess our futures and the potential risks our careers could be facing, with
pandemics and automation causing some of us to lose our jobs. This begs the
question: how can I future-proof my profession? 612,000 UK workers lost their jobs during
lockdown over the last two months, as well as the Office for National
Statistics (ONS) reporting that 1.5 million people are at high risk of losing
their jobs to automation.
A loophole in the government’s Job Retention scheme is allowing employers to pay their furloughed staff reduced wages
during their notice period if they are made redundant, with almost
nine million workers being furloughed and most having to accept
at least a 20 per cent pay cut. Employment tribunals may be
sympathetic, however there’s no guarantee that disputes will be processed.
Here, we’ll discuss how you can look
after yourself in the event of another crisis in the future and panic-proof
your profession.
Important things to consider
Firstly, try to avoid zero-hour contracts. Of course, for
some, decisions like these may not be possible with limited choice or needing a
job immediately to foot the bills. According to the latest figures from ONS,
there were 974,000 Britons on zero-hour contracts in December 2019 — the
highest figure yet. However, many of us on these contracts don't earn enough
money to be eligible for sick pay, putting us at risk of being abandoned and
penniless in times of crises or illness.
Try to get a job with contracted hours to protect yourself
in the face of another crisis.
Resilient industries
According to research by Totaljobs, 70 per
cent of workers are considering working in a different sector that has proved resilient
in light of Covid-19. Although a sector in particular that sustained and even
took on more employees — supermarket store assistants — this role has a high 72 per cent risk of automation in the
future due to the routine and repetitive nature that can be automated through
algorithms.
So, what jobs will be safe? In a digital
age, we must understand and accept that a change is happening in order to
protect our futures. Although automation will also create new kinds of jobs,
that will require a global shift in training.
Human experience
Doctors and nurses remained vital in the
pandemic to look after sick people and will likely be safe from artificial
intelligence in the future. Although technology will likely be used alongside
workers to enhance treatment, diagnosis accuracy, delivery, and general
support, machinery won’t ever be able to provide a service that requires
connecting with humans and understanding them on an empathetic level. Helping
people heal and being emotionally supportive can only be given by someone based
on social intelligence and shared experience, rather than data and algorithms.
Teachers also survived lockdown, albeit transitioning
to an unconventional and new way of work by delivering lessons online. Even
though schools are shut for the time being, there have been no major job losses
reported so far, as education will always be required and children will
eventually return. Software for meetings and productivity such as Zoom and Microsoft
Teams have facilitated digital learning for schools and universities as a
one-stop shop for all communication, including messaging, voice and video calls
with large groups of people, file storage, and document sharing. Is this the
future of education?
Teachers are given important roles with
high responsibility — nurturing the growth of children and helping those who
are vulnerable requires emotional intelligence similar to health professionals
which robots cannot mimic or replicate effectively enough to entirely replace
humans. Like caretakers, people likely wouldn’t feel comfortable trusting
children and vulnerable individuals to be looked after by robots.
Rage against the machine
What is one thing Covid-19 proved? That technology prevails
— so think digital. As mentioned previously, education is delivered online as
well as certain jobs that can be done remotely. Meetings are
happening on Zoom and so on, making many digital jobs possible when you have
the right technology in place. Although there will likely be some element of
automation expected in sectors like digital marketing, the human knack for
creative flair will always be required, something which robots aren’t capable
of.
STEM sells
Similarly, a 2019 report by McKinsey
forecasts that STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) careers
could show strong growth despite automation. Highly skilled jobs will likely be the most protected. Tesla CEO Elon Musk agrees that automation will need humans to
oversee and manage them — skilled scientists, mathematics, and engineers will
be required to make sure things are running smoothly and to help keep technology
developing. Advanced jobs that will be created by technology in the future will
need like-minded individuals.
Likewise, in crises such as pandemics,
STEM industries will be essential in keeping the world moving forward and
progressing to combat challenges such as creating vaccines and developing
technological solutions. For example, new solutions will be needed in the
future to facilitate social distancing and resilience to disease.
Catherine Noakes, professor of
environmental engineering at University of Leeds, said: “From an engineering perspective the
need to make buildings resilient to future pandemics must be combined with
meeting environmental resilience.
“The current response is focused on the
here and now, but we need to look at the future and consider how to prevent
disruption during future pandemics.”
While it is hard to predict what the
future holds for the global workforce, the best advice is to keep on developing
transferable skills and research which industries are doing well.
Sources
https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/11088710/zero-hours-workers-sick-pay-coronavirus/
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About James P. 
Outreach & PR Executive
1 connections, 0 recommendations, 27 honor points.Joined APSense since, September 17th, 2019, From Newcastle, United Kingdom.
Created on Aug 10th 2020 11:28. Viewed 272 times.
