Episode 15: The Future of Work

Hello and welcome to the 15th ever episode of Speak Slowly English for Everyone. My name is Ariana Larvey and I'm your host. And in today's episode, we are going to be exploring a very exciting topic, which is the future of work. Now, before I start detailing what this lesson is going to be about, I would just like to apologize for not having created any episodes for, I think, over six months.

I understand that it can be very frustrating if you are getting into a podcast and the person recording it has not recorded an episode in a very long time. It has happened to me and I know it can be very annoying. and frustrating so I apologize. I hope that I can be more consistent in the future but considering I'm quite busy with my studies I'm not sure if that's possible.

Also, if my recordings sound a bit different, that's because I have moved houses. Every room has a different... sound to it and so this is what my new room sounds like um now I think there's enough of that we can get back to that later but um going back to the episode So in this episode, you'll learn important vocabulary related to work, technology and changes in how we work.

These words will help you understand discussions on automation, remote work and what jobs might look like in the future. Now, if you don't understand any of those words, that's fine. I'll get back to it in a second. And by the end of this episode, you will not only have learned new words, but you'll also be able to talk about big changes happening in the world of work. So...

Before we jump into the episode, here's a quick overview, a quick discussion of, not discussion, sorry, introduction of what we will discuss. So the first thing we're going to discuss is automation, which is how machines and computers are changing some jobs. And artificial intelligence comes into that, but we'll go into that as well. The second thing we'll be discussing is remote work. So that's working from home and working from not...

Not where you would usually work from. Not from an office, pretty much. Now, if you haven't listened to my second episode, which is on digital nomadism and remote work, I encourage you go and listen to that. It might give you an insight on this topic, but it's not essential. It's not that important. I'll go into it in this episode as well. And the fourth thing that, sorry, the third and final thing that we'll look into is what the future of work could look like, including some new jobs.

And the need for continuous learning. You know, learning is not something that ends after school. You should be continuing learning into your career as well.

Now, since that introduction's out of the way, let's just dive in. So we're going to begin by talking about automation. If you've ever used a self-checkout machine at the supermarket, you've experienced automation. It's when machines or computers do tasks that were once done for humans. So there's that example of the grocery store. I remember when I was younger, people would, it was always people that would scan your items. But nowadays, it's more and more common to see.

self-checkout machines which are machines where you scan your own groceries you pay for them at this one kiosk this one machine Now, I'm not sure if they're popular in other places in the world, but in Australia, they are very, very popular in grocery stores, in... I wouldn't really call them department stores, but stores that sell clothes. And I guess that kind of is a department store, but usually lower end stores like Kmart.

Target, I know Americans would know. But yeah, so self-checkout machines are very common in those kinds of stores. Another example of machines or computers doing tasks that. could be done by humans or were done by humans, is in factories, robots are used to build cars or packages. I think Tesla is very famous for making cars using their robots. Overall...

Using machines to replace people saves time and makes things cheaper for the companies. So you've got a bit of an idea of what automation is, but simply put. It's the process of using machines, software or robots to replace human work. So let's take a deeper look of automation in different fields of work. In manufacturing,

which is when products are made in factories. Automation is very common. Robots can assemble cars faster than human workers, and they don't make as many mistakes as human workers would. And if they do make mistakes, it's due to whoever has code them. It's a very traceable mistake. Any mistake that's made can be traced back to someone. Whereas... A human making a mistake is not as easily traceable because there's many human workers. They are all different. In customer service.

Chatbots are replacing human workers. These are computer programs that can talk to customers online. You've probably seen them when you visit websites and they can help answer questions about products or help you solve any problems that you're having, especially with... advances in artificial intelligence or AI. It has these... chatbots have become more and more reliable and used more commonly by businesses because they are able to solve issues which maybe humans...

would not be able to easily solve by themselves. And they may need to go ask other people that they work with. Again, this makes it cheaper as they do not, as a business does not need to have... Someone being paid 24 hours of a day or eight hours of a day just for responding to problems online. I think there's also automated email responses. That is an artificial intelligence bot which sends you a response via email, through email. Even in healthcare, robots are helping doctors in surgery.

Robots can do very precise movements, which can be very useful in operations, in surgical operations. So why is automation growing so rapidly, so quickly? Now there's a few reasons, but there's two main ones. So the first is efficiency and the second is cost. So in terms of efficiency, machines and robots don't get tired and they can work all day and all night without needing a break. In terms of cost.

Using robots and machines can be cheaper than paying human workers for long hours. Some of these robots work on a subscription basis. I'm thinking of chatbots. Their artificial intelligence may be rented on a subscription basis. But others may be purchased and with a one-time payment, you won't need to pay any workers again. But there is a downside. Automation can cause job displacement.

meaning that people lose their jobs because machines take over. Some jobs like cashiers or factory workers are especially at risk. However, Automation can also create new types of jobs. For example, there will be a need for robotics engineers who design and build robots. Other new jobs include software developers, and data analysts. But here's an important question. Is automation good or bad for society? The answer is very complicated though. On one hand,

It helps businesses grow, but on the other hand, it can leave some people without jobs, leaving to inequality. This means that some people may not have the same opportunities as others.

Now let's move on to the second topic of this episode, which is remote work. Remote work means working from home or anywhere other than the office. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many people started working remotely, and now it's still a very popular way of working. But why do so many people prefer remote work? Now, there's three main reasons to this. The first is there's no commute. And this is one of the biggest advantages.

The commute is how much time it takes to travel to work from home or from home to work. If you work from home, you save time. energy and money that you would have spent on traveling. For example, I remember before the pandemic, I would spend 30 minutes commuting to... my school every day but then when the pandemic happened and we were doing school online I didn't have to leave my house at all.

The second reason people prefer remote work is because it's more flexible. Flexibility means being able to change your schedule. Working from home often means you can choose the hours that work best for you. You might start working earlier and finish earlier, or you might start working later and finish later, depending on your needs. For example, some people who had kids through remote work were able to drop their kids off at school, do work during the day, pick up their kids.

Do some more work and then call it a day. But... If you had to go to the office from nine to five, you might be able to drop your kids off at work, but it's unlikely that you would be able to pick them up and... Take them home and stay with them. You would get paid less. Now, the third reason people prefer remote work is because it allows a better work-life balance.

Work-life balance is when you manage your time well so that work doesn't take over from your personal life. And remote work allows you to be at home with your family, take care of your house. While also working. It allows you to do those things during your breaks. I find that when I have breaks. A lot of them.

feel very useless I'm not doing anything whereas when I study from home I am able to do so much more spending time with my friends and my family, taking care of the house, doing the gardening, making healthy meals for myself while also studying. However, there are some challenges and remote work isn't perfect for everyone. One problem is feeling isolated or lonely. Without colleagues to talk to in person, it's easy to feel isolated which means you feel separated from others.

Now, I understand why some people may have this problem. I like to spend that time with my friends, but I understand that that's not possible for everyone. Another issue is work-life boundaries. When you work at home, it's hard to separate your work from personal time and you might end up working late at night. or during weekends because you don't leave an office. Your office is at home, and so whenever you're at home, it feels like you're at the office. The third main challenge is...

technological problems. Some people don't have good internet or the tools they need to work from home. In some countries it can be very difficult to work remotely because of poor internet connection or lack of a quiet space. For this reason, or I should say for these reasons, many companies are using a hybrid model.

In this model, employees spend some days working from the office and other days working from home, and they have an option of how many days they would like to work in the office and how many days they would like to work at home. This way they get the best of both worlds, flexibility and the opportunity to see co-workers in person. Now let's look at the future of work.

What can we expect in the next 10, 20 or say 30 years? One important trend is lifelong learning. This means that to keep up with the fast changes in technology, people will need to keep learning new skills throughout their lives. For example, if you're a teacher you may need to learn how to use new online teaching tools. If you work in marketing you might need to learn new social media strategies. Now, why is lifelong learning so important? Because technology changes so quickly. New tools...

New apps and new machines are coming out all the time. And so if we don't keep learning, we might lose our jobs to people who know the technology better than we do. Another big change is the gig economy which is an issue or not so much an issue as a change which I've talked about in I believe the 10th episode of my podcast. So this means that many people will work short term jobs instead of having one long term job. For example.

You might drive for Uber, write freelance articles or help a company for a few months. Freelance means doing jobs here and there. The gig economy gives people more freedom, but it can also mean less security. If you would like to know more about this, I suggest listening to my 10th podcast episode. Governments and businesses

need to help people prepare for the future. And one way they can do this is by offering training programs. These programs would teach people the skills that they need to work with the new technologies coming around.

Now, before we finish off our episode, let's just go over some key vocabulary and phrases from today's episode. After I say the word, I will leave a pause. Say it again. And then say what it means. I suggest after I say the word that you repeat after me. The first word is automation. Automation. Now automation is using machines or software to replace human work. For example, automation is helping factories work faster and cheaper. Automation.

The second word is commute. Commute. Commute is travelling to and from work. An example of this could be, I don't have to commute anymore. because my office is now my home, commute. The third word is flexibility, flexibility. Flexibility is the ability to change things easily. An example of this used in a sentence could be remote work gives me more flexibility to decide when to work.

The fourth word is isolation. Isolation. Isolation is feeling lonely or separated from others. An example of this could be... Working from home can be isolating, especially if you miss talking to your co-workers. Isolation The fifth word is hybrid. A hybrid is a mix of two things, like working both from home and from the office. Hybrid. The sixth word is lifelong learning.

Lifelong learning is the idea of continuing to learn new skills throughout your life. An example of this in a sentence is lifelong learning is important to keep up with technology. Lifelong learning. Lifelong learning. The seventh and last key vocabulary is gig economy. Gig economy is short-term jobs instead of one long-term job. An example of this is the gig economy is growing and many people are becoming freelance workers.

Gig economy. Really gig economy is a bit more complex to describe so I would... really suggest listening to my 10th podcast episode if you are interested in hearing more about that gig economy. But that's it with our vocabulary.

To wrap up, we've learnt a lot about how the world of work is changing. From automation to remote work, technology is reshaping the way we work and new jobs are emerging. But we also need to be prepared for these changes by learning new skills and understanding how these shifts can impact society. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Speak Slowly, English for Everyone. I hope you feel more confident discussing the future of work and all the exciting changes ahead.

If you enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to follow this podcast and rate it on whatever platform you listen to podcasts to to be notified when a new episode is uploaded. I will do my best to be more consistent with episodes. I will aim for at least one. episode released every two weeks and I think after this if I do have time I will record a 16th episode just to be ready to publish. Thank you all for joining and I hope to see you guys next time. Take care. Bye.