Upwork Newswire: Robot Bosses and the Agile Workforce

This biweekly column features the latest freelancing trends and Upwork’s role within them.

Chicago Tribune | The workplace of the near future will be agile, with robot bosses

Freelancers represent 35 percent of the U.S. workforce, a number expected to grow to as much as half of U.S. workers over the next few years. It’s what staffing company Randstad calls an “agile workforce,” something that appeals to many workers, whether employee or independent contractor, and companies alike.

“This preference for working in what we’re now calling this agile model, it continues to gain steam, gain strength and gain preference with all classifications of employees, though predominantly among young workers,” said Jim Link, chief HR officer for Randstad North America.

The mobility of such a workforce dovetails with another emerging model, Chicago Tribune reporter Rex Huppke points out: The case for artificial intelligence (AI) in management.

“Workers attached to a company for only a short time will be less concerned with building relationships with managers, opening the door for management via artificial intelligence,” Huppke said.

Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, a professor of business psychology at University College London, agrees. In a recent article for the Harvard Business Review, he points out that managers frequently have shortcomings that AI lacks.

“Computers and algorithms already have a lot of data on us,” he told Huppke via email. “Imagine turning that data into accurate insights about us: who we are, what we want, how we are feeling, and what we need to do. Then imagine that system giving us instructions: to buy, to sell, to e-mail someone, to work on something.”

Read more about robots and the agile workforce in Huppke’s full column >>

The post Upwork Newswire: Robot Bosses and the Agile Workforce appeared first on Upwork Blog.

from Upwork Blog http://ift.tt/2jUmOiB