It isn’t the changes that do you in, it’s the transitions. Change is not the same as transition. Change is situational: the new site, the new boss, the new team roles, the new policy. Transition is the psychological process people go through to come to terms with the new situation. Change is external, transition is internal.
William Bridges – Work Transitions Writer
Job growth throughout the world post COVID is non-existent, uneven or even spiky. However, certain patterns are beginning to emerge. More work will involve tech. Process work in the middle ring of the Handy model will evolve or decline due to automation. Project work in the middle circle will offer less wages, move offshore, or disappear. Many new jobs coming at the outside circle will be low-wage at the bottom of the economic pyramid.
Handy Work Model is real and offers significant upside and down side risks:
“… corporations across America have flocked to a new management theory: Focus on core competence and outsource the rest. The approach has made companies nimbler and more productive, and delivered huge profits for shareholders. It has also fueled inequality and helps explain why many working-class Americans are struggling even in an ostensibly healthy economy.”[i]
While COVID work disruption rules, global work reality can suck. VUCANs are challenged. The struggle is real. VUCANs are not keeping up. It’s estimated that about 2 billion of today’s youth will be left behind due to emerging tech. These VUCANs want to improve their lives. But, they don’t have the basic skills and opportunities. And, many live at the wrong place at the wrong time.[ii]
Work Lesson Earned: American Psychological Association regularly conducts surveys of the workforce to check satisfaction of the work environment. Not good! Big reason is companies can’t or don’t want to pay for retraining. Why? VUCANs can take the company’s’ investment in training and go elsewhere. This results in two outcomes: 1. Workers don’t have the skills (Practices) necessary to succeed and 2. Workers are not mentally ready for COVID and tech disruption (Principles).
[i] ‘Understand Rising Inequality Consider the Janitors’, New York Times, September 3, 2017.
[ii] ‘2 Billion Youth At Risk of Being Left Behind in Future Due to Emerging Tech’, Indian Technology News, September 21, 2018.