Workforce of the Future

    The workplace is changing rapidly. Rather than the standard working day of nine to five, employees are working more flexibly to meet their busy home lives. Advances in technology are {#blank#}1{#/blank#} the very nature of the tasks and skills required in the workplace.

    To gain a full perspective of how the workplace is set to change over the next decade, employee benefits provider Unum UK {#blank#}2{#/blank#} with The Future Laboratory to survey 3,000 workers across several industries. They also interviewed industry experts and business leaders on topics from artificial intelligence and robotics to the increase of flexible working and an ageing workforce.

    The result outlines some of the employment changes that businesses can expect to see over the next decade and predicts the {#blank#}3{#/blank#} of two worker cultures which will dominate the workforce. They are the obligated and the self-fulfilled workers.

    “Obligated workers” refer to people with dependents and the sandwich generation, {#blank#}4{#/blank#} raising children with caring for elderly parents. Therefore, they value a career {#blank#}5{#/blank#} to life stages and events and financial security. Joel Defries, 33, father of one kid and partner at London Vodka said, “A flexible employer will allow me to have a long paternity leave (陪产假) and to value my family just as much as I value my job.”

    Self-fulfilled workers are committed to life-long learning and acquiring new skills rather than {#blank#}6{#/blank#} to an employer. They actively look for personal development and want employee benefits that help them {#blank#}7{#/blank#} both their personal and professional ambitions. They treat personal commitments and pursuits as {#blank#}8{#/blank#} to professional commitments. Elly Kemp, 31, {#blank#}9{#/blank#} a full-time employee, now working part-time in a caféand also assisting with her grandmother's care said, “My approach to work allows me the freedom to {#blank#}10{#/blank#} my career at my own pace. I want my work to be fluid so I can change it when I want and do whatever makes me happy at the time.”

The Floating School

    Life on the islands can feel a bit isolated due to a lack of electricity and internet connectivity.

    Although some of the islands have primary schools, most young people must travel to the larger islands or to the mainland to attend high school. Schools on the islands follow the {#blank#}1{#/blank#} curriculum (课程). They don't teach subjects such as maritime skills, swimming or local fishing traditions, and so the curriculum isn't always {#blank#}2{#/blank#} with students' everyday life.

    So, we {#blank#}3{#/blank#} the Floating School after winning funding through a US State Department grant competition called Seeds for the Future. Before we started the school, we spoke with young people, community leaders and teachers on the islands to find out the topics young people are most interested in. We also learned about the various {#blank#}4{#/blank#} of students and young people who don't go to school. Thus, we {#blank#}5{#/blank#} our own non-formal educational programme that fits with the context of life on the islands. For example, those working in fishing have responsibility {#blank#}6{#/blank#} the marine life, so we teach environmental protection and discourage destructive fishing practices.

    The Floating School is a wooden boat that can {#blank#}7{#/blank#} up to twenty people and it goes to the students, not the other way around -- we use it to transport educational materials, tools, and teachers to young people living on the islands. Our teachers are local young {#blank#}8{#/blank#}— so far we have had journalists, photographers, computer engineers and musicians — and students who want to {#blank#}9{#/blank#} their skills.

    At first, many of the young people thought the Floating School would be the same as their schools on the islands. They had thought of the teachers to be {#blank#}10{#/blank#}. But our students learn through art, media and literature. They don't have to wear uniforms or shoes, and the teachers treat the students as equals, without judging them. This means our students can be themselves.