How work will change is a quite provocative topic, especially in today’s ever-changing business world.  This discussion should provide us all a better understanding on how work will evolve, how job structures and processes might be changed, and how we can better prepare ourselves and our organizations for addressing and facilitating these changes.

Key evolving changes include working from home, shared office concepts, employees vs free-lance workers, temporary worker pools for projects, automation, and artificial intelligence.

The talk will spur questions and trigger many thoughts.  For instance:

• What is “work” and the role it plays in people’s lives and society?
• How has work evolved in the last few centuries?
• More important – how will work evolve because of massive changes in multiple technologies, globalization and shifts in economic strength?
• What are the roles of government, educational institutions, industry, etc. to ease the transformations work?
• What are the essential needs for transitioning work processes?
• What are the social components involved in the future of work?
• How will ethics be applied to AI and changes in work approaches?
• What are the primary risks?  For instance, further expansion of economic inequality, periods of work interspersed with time off, etc.?
• If some have less income, how can this be balanced?
• Work gives meaningfulness and purpose to people’s lives. If it diminishes, what are the substitutes?
• What are the best survival strategies for individuals – young and old?

More about the participants:

Alexander Bösl – Alex is Key Account Direktor, ORACLE Deutschland B.V. & Co. KG (Nürnberg) – Alex is working on Future of Work concepts with the Bundesagentur für Arbeit.

Sharad Gandhi – Sharad has worked for Intel, IBM, Siemens, and Tata. At Intel he was a senior manager in business development, marketing, and strategy.  Sharad is an engineer, physicist and business strategist specialized in digital technologies and co-author of “AI&U: Transforming Artificial Intelligence into Business.”

Andrea Hirzle-Yager – As is an experienced international change agent committed to increasing technology value by improving efficiency and effectiveness in operations, Andrea manages change and prepares for the future.  Her recently focus has been on agile transformation – she implemented the first cloud environment at Allianz Germany and set up the team to manage and maintain this platform.  Now she is leading another transformation which includes people, processes, and technologies at a critical, central interface within Allianz Germany.  Andrea holds an MBA from the University of New Hampshire.

Eric Lynn – Eric facilitates Culture Change as the creator of cultureQs.  For more than 30 years, he has been working worldwide as an Organization Development Consultant, Facilitator, Executive Coach and Provocateur for Cultural Integration, Change and Leadership with emphasis on (Re-)Shaping Workplace Culture.

Hendrik Purwins – Hendrik is AI Lead in Accenture’s ASGR Emerging Technology & Growth Group.  Previously he worked in industry, has taught at Aalborg University Copenhagen and Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, and has been a senior researcher at TU Berlin (Machine Learning), Stanford University, McGill University, and IRCAM, Paris.

Sabina Wolf – Sabina is a widely recognized investigative journalist who most recently has focused on cyber, artificial intelligence, economic crime, and extremist content on the internet. She prepares TV and radio reports plus interviews and moderates talks on her primary topics.  She works for Bayerischen Rundfunk and ARD.