What will the future of work look like in 2027?

Futurists, experts in different fields imagine how future work environment will be

By Yun Suh-young

Scenario:

Sam is a designer based in San Francisco. He designs mainly transportation, ranging from self-driving cars to inter-city rockets. He travels every day across the world to meet and collaborate with colleagues in different branches of the company. It only takes 30 or so minutes on the BFR (Big Falcon Rocket) to travel from one side of the globe to another. It has been a couple of years since SpaceX launched the new transportation available for commercial use. Physical collaboration between workers is now easier. They can set up a meeting in the morning and get together in a certain city in the afternoon. Scheduling is managed by his AI assistant, Cynthia.

In between those meetings, he collaborates virtually with colleagues across the globe using a VR headset. They set up a virtual meeting room to showcase and test the prototypes they've built. When they want to see a specific part of the product - for instance, the side mirror - they simply enlarge it in virtual 3D to check errors, and experiment with different colors with just a touch on the transparent floating screen. It's like a simulation game where everyone participates. Work doesn't feel like work. It's so much fun.

There are no specific working hours for Sam, as work times fluctuate and are continuously flowing. There is no specific designated workplace either - unless they choose to be in one place - since anywhere can be an office these days. Sam prefers to work at a co-working space because he likes to meet people and interact with them. Human connection is so valuable these days, despite being able to connect ubiquitously. Work is flexible for anyone who prefers to work remotely. In fact, the word "remote working" seems remote now because this is the norm.

Since productivity at work has exponentially increased, Sam has more free time to spend on personal time. He enjoys music and art so he goes on weekday excursions by himself to various exhibitions and performances (sometimes across cities) as well as participating in band practices in which he is a guitarist.

Sam also has several jobs. He's an art collector and seller who has his own online auction platform. Having double-majored in science and design in college, he continues to pursue his passion for science as well - from time to time he works on institutional projects with neuroscientists to research the brain and human behavior. As much as it's important to develop technology, it's important to explore humans, because in the end, it's people that use it.

He also has his own podcast where he discusses science and technology. He enjoys doing what is meaningful to him in work and in his personal life, and hopes that it makes a meaningful difference in the world as well.

Sam speaks multiple languages. As he works in different jobs, he uses different languages for different occasions. People expected artificial intelligence to take over translation at this point in the future, but it still can't replace the speed, accuracy and nuances of humans if they speak the language fluently. Since communication is rapid and complex, multilingualism is ever-more valued.

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Sam is an imaginary worker of 2027 whose work environment was created based on the imaginations and projections offered by seven professionals interviewed by The Korea Times - three futurists and four business professionals.

When the media talks about the future of work, many have voiced concerns and fears about the future, painting a bleak picture of the world we will live in, surrounded by AI and robots taking away our jobs. Not many have projected a positive but feasible scenario to imagine, perhaps because fears overpowered their hopes. Consulting companies are disgorging reports on the future of work and how to prepare for it, laden with "solution spaces" for the problems which are mostly based on fears.

But interestingly, none of the professionals interviewed by The Korea Times projected a bleak outlook of the future. In fact, their responses were generally, or most entirely, positive, laden with hope and excitement. Also, despite all the speculation about technology overtaking human jobs and workers becoming helpless, they were more positive about the use of technology by people and tech going hand-in-hand with physical interaction. The future they imagined was more human-centered and humanistic than ever before.

Here are 7 groups of keywords extracted from the interviews, and quotes corresponding to them:

1) communication / collaboration / humanizing work / interaction / engagement

Renaud Visage, co-founder at Eventbrite & venture partner at Index Ventures

"Future workplaces will need to be a transparent company with a lot of communication."

Matt Shampine, general manager of WeWork Korea

"Humanizing what work is, is the direction that we believe work is going globally. It's something that you see every day and progressing that way. Tech itself will help it be easier to do more stuff together. It's important to remember it's people that are actually making it happen. Doing things in person - that is what's going to lead to future collaborations. Physical spaces will be set up to accommodate humans' need for wanting to learn and interact with, and to have fun."

"People are really trying to get the most out of the space they work in. Virtual versus physical collaboration will balance out each other. If they sit at home from 9 to 5, they're not going to feel that. They want to meet people, have friends. Something where there's a better balance of professional and personal life. People will continue to seek human interaction and connections."

Lee Seung-yeon, senior communication manager at Microsoft

"Virtual tools will make travel less necessary but meeting face to face will become more important. And when people do, the ergonomics will be an important part of how companies design their offices. Already forward-thinking global companies are purposefully designing their offices so that employees bump into each other often. The combination of a virtual and physical environment will enhance work productivity. Virtual tools will be used to facilitate physical collaboration. In the end, technology is for humans."

2) flexible / remote working / efficiency/ productivity/ ergonomics

Lee-Sean Huang, futurist and design consultant, co-founder and creative director of Foossa

"We have seen the pendulum swing back and forth in terms of corporate attitudes towards remote working. The future will have to embrace hybrid models of working face to face and remotely. Perhaps advances in AR (augmented reality) could help improve the experience of working with remote colleagues."

Renaud Visage, co-founder at Eventbrite & venture partner at Index Ventures

"Companies need to empower people that don't necessarily fit into the system who don't work full time or those who want to move. Workplaces have to adapt and become more flexible about this type of arrangements - not having to come to the office necessarily. "

3) virtual reality / technology / data / artificial intelligence

Lee-Sean Huang, futurist and design consultant, co-founder and creative director of Foossa

"Considering how much time and intimacy we have with our smartphones, and increasingly, with smartwatches and other devices, in a way, we are already cyborgs. My company uses an AI scheduling service to help us manage our calendars. The AI is actually backed by real humans in the background. It's just a matter of time before our scheduling assistant can take on more human tasks."

Lee Seung-yeon, senior communication manager at Microsoft

"Some companies are already using hololenses at work which allow workers to interact virtually when wearing the head-mounted displays. If an architect wants to see a real-sized model of a structure, they can make immediate changes in virtual reality. The scope of what people can do, will be expanded exponentially and hence, people's satisfaction will increase. Technology will enhance productivity to a another level, which means, it will be a matter of how fast you adapt to it and use it."

4) personal life / work-life balance /meaningful work / enjoyable / play

Renaud Visage, co-founder at Eventbrite & venture partner at Index Ventures

"Work shouldn't feel like work"

Trevor Haldenby, imaginative futurist and orchestration director at business orchestration solutions Syntegrity

"The future of work will look very similar to what we used to call 'play.' Immersive simulation games, room-escape brainstorm sessions, and well-orchestrated creative workshop activities will amplify the engagement and alignment between tens of millions of people as the former iterations of their jobs are aggregated and automated by neural networks and artificial intelligence."

Matt Shampine, general manager of WeWork Korea

"The world is moving in the direction of where people are looking for universal things. They're not just looking to make a lot of money - that too - but they're looking to do things that are really impactful. People's approach to what work is, is changing. What people consider success is everyday being enjoyable. I think you see that more and more. A lot of them in this building will say that's more important than making money."

Lee Seung-yeon, senior communication manager at Microsoft

"It will be a matter of how people use their resources. Of the resources, time will be the most important. How much you can do in the same given amount of time, how productive and efficient you are will determine success. Since humans will have more time on their hands, they will have time to spend more on personal activities."

5) radical hybridity / convergence / interdisciplinary / creative / science and arts / art and business

Lee-Sean Huang, futurist and design consultant, co-founder and creative director of Foossa

"If I could encapsulate my thoughts about the future of work in two words, they would be "radical hybridity." The mascot for this future is the chimera. I see strategy consultancies buying or building their own design practices. We have seen and will see more convergence (and competition) between industries we thought were separate. This will require leaders to become even more interdisciplinary in their education and approaches."

Caitlin Burns, fururist and vice chair of Producers Guild of America New Media Council

"Thinking creatively and entrepreneurially, exploring new ideas in art and business is going to be the single most important skill for humans working in the next century."

Trevor Haldenby, imaginative futurist and orchestration director at Syntegrity

"For glimpses of this future world, look to the densely connected fringes of the arts, academia and the arcades. Listen for people (and smart systems) telling exciting new stories about uncharted paths to value creation. In a world "incepted" by pre-hearsals of scenarios and interactive adaptations of business problems, new maps actually will open up new territories."

6) multiple careers / entrepreneurship

Lee-Sean Huang, futurist and design consultant, co-founder and creative director of Foossa

"We can expect to see more people like me working multiple careers, perhaps in multiple industries, at once."

Trevor Haldenby, imaginative futurist and orchestration director at Syntegrity

"Entrepreneurship will finally burst out of the shackles of its century-old definition - someone who runs a startup company - and will swell to encompass creative moves made with a mindset informed by the newest (and oldest) techniques in the design, ecology, and the wonder zone created at the intersection of science and the arts. It won't matter where you sit in the workplace of 2027 - what will matter is what you stand for."

7) multilingualism/ multinational enterprises

Kat Borlongan, co-founder of Five by Five, innovation consultancy

"What we're experiencing, at our company, is the issue of multilingualism. You have to develop specific efficiencies within the company that allow French speakers to work in English and English speakers to work in French. We need to communicate quickly and efficiently and develop a common language on how we're going to work together. It has less to do with AI and jobs and profiles. More and more, workplaces have to adapt."

Renaud Visage, co-founder at Eventbrite & venture partner at Index Ventures

"In companies that I look at for investments, I see a trend of (them) becoming multinational very quickly. Having two offices, even with 10 people, will not be uncommon."