Thought-provoking stuff, as ever, from Charlie Grantham and Jim Ware in the Future of Work Agenda.
While their focus is on the United States, the same will be true for the UK and elsewhere – particularly their prediction that "sometime before 2010 we're going to see an utter collapse of the pension system for public sector employees; that will open the floodgates and erase any doubt that this sacred perk of white collar work is gone for good."
We are convinced that sometime before 2010 there will be a major transformation in the way white collar knowledge workers in the United States conduct their business activities.
The current relationship between these kinds of "workers" and their employers is as outdated as the apprenticeship model of office workers was in England during the early industrial revolution. Those relationships changed radically with the advent of child labor laws, safety regulations, and the re-emergence of professional guilds and liberal educational programs.
The Future of Work | [PDF] Transforming the Business of Work