The Future of Work

This episode, we're turning our attention to the deskless worker—those who work in manufacturing, front-line support, health care and so many other areas. Their job does not require them to be at a desk or in a traditional office setting. They're on the go, in the field, working in environments that demand mobility and flexibility. How do we accelerate the learning and upskilling of the deskless worker? Is it through AI, advanced communications, introduction to new opportunities? How do we incorporate more inclusion for this majority group of workers? Learn more about UC Berkeley Extension @https://bit.ly/458bo3e Read this episode's transcript @https://bit.ly/454D4pn

Demand for mental health benefits has grown. In a 2023 NPR article, psychologists say they can't meet the growing demand for mental health care—whether it's not having enough open positions or three-month-long waitlists. There is a growing market for apps to fill the gaps, as well as platforms that connect people with licensed therapists or a number of AI-powered solutions that emulate a therapist. All this has an impact on workers and the workplace. And as we heard from Daniel Zhao at GlassDoor in our earlier episode, newer generations of employees are expecting employers to address these needs with benefits. Let's talk about what employees are seeking from companies and how companies are responding. Learn more about UC Berkeley Extension @https://bit.ly/43HKoXj Read this episode's transcript @https://bit.ly/3U0uaVX

Job listings mentioning AI have doubled on LinkedIn, and demand for AI skills is appearing across a wide range of industries and sectors. Job seekers are jumping on the bandwagon and adding AI skills to their resumes. But what does this mean? What are employers looking for, where can you learn these skills, and how do you talk about (and use!) AI in meaningful ways.  We turn to Dr.Michael Wu, who is a leading authority on artificial intelligence and behavioral economics. He's currently the Chief AI Strategist at PROS, an AI-powered software solution provider, and was recently appointed as Senior Data Science Research Fellow at the Ecole des Ponts Business School. A popular adviser and lecturer for UC Berkeley Extension's AI programs, Michael has triple undergraduate majors in Applied Math, Physics, and Molecular and Cell Biology, and earned his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley's Biophysics program. He will be presenting his “Demystifying AI: What Business Leaders Need to Know About AI” course at the upcoming Outperform With PROS conference. Learn more about this event @https://bit.ly/3uO78YH Learn more about UC Berkeley Extension @https://bit.ly/42TyCJ4 Read this episode's transcript @https://bit.ly/3OY6P4A

Are you making any career or professional development resolutions? To help you envision the future, let's explore trends and new directions for career growth. To shed light on the jobs that are in demand and growing sectors, we need to dive into data from employees and employers. Fortunately for us, we are going to get a peek behind the glass door. We're excited to have Daniel Zhao, lead economist and senior manager data science at Glassdoor, who has been doing research on trends in the job market and workplace.  Learn more about UC Berkeley Extension @https://bit.ly/3Uw9BRY Read the transcript @https://bit.ly/3w4UkgV

As we look toward 2024, we'd like to take this time to remind each of our listeners that it's important to invest in your future of work goals. So let's call this episode the Future of Work Gift Guide. What can you give yourself to upskill? How can you help someone achieve their career goals? To unpack and highlight insights from this past year, we've brought back Michelle Hector from our first episode on overcoming barriers and Barry O'Reilly from our third episode on unlearning.  Learn more about UC Berkeley Extension @https://bit.ly/3RsFPL3 Read the transcript @https://bit.ly/3RpOvBR

With the advent of generative AI and large language models and chatbots, we need to take a look at the skills you will need, the jobs that are impacted and the opportunity to increase productivity—not only for yourself, but for an organization as a whole. With AI evolving at lightning speed, are we quickly entering the age of adopt or perish? To take a deeper dive, we have invited Chalenge Masekera to join us. Chalenge is a data scientist currently working at Faros AI, a company dedicated to enabling enterprises to get invaluable insights into their engineering operations.  Learn more about UC Berkeley Extension @https://bit.ly/49gI9gg Read the transcript @https://bit.ly/47bv3ip  

This month, we're taking a look at collaborative intelligence. Collaboration is essential but often times invisible. It can either contribute to the success or lead to the downfall of a project. We collaborate in a number ways, using a number of different tools and in different places, but do we really understand how to collaborate effectively? What is the difference between collaboration and coordination? How does can collaboration inspire innovation? When does collaboration become overkill and lead to employee fatigue? What can individuals and leaders do to cultivate a collaboration community? To answer these many questions, we turn to Rebecca Hinds. Rebecca is the Head of The Work Innovation Lab by Asana, a first-of-its-kind think tank that conducts actionable research to assist businesses in adapting to the ever-changing challenges of work, both today and in the future. Read the transcript from this interview @https://bit.ly/3LEmTH3 Learn more about UC Berkeley Extension @https://bit.ly/48rMqgm

This month, we're taking a look at the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that essentially struck down four-and-a-half decades of legal precedent that allowed higher-education institutions to consider race as one of the many factors in their admissions evaluations. While California has been grappling with this challenge since Prop 209 passed in 1996, now across the nation universities are seeking new ways to define college admissions that will help level an uneven playing field. Beyond admissions, we have questions about the domino effect this ruling will have not only on the makeup of incoming university students, but also the pipeline of college graduates entering  the workforce, the ripple effects on DEI in hiring and the makeup of that workforce.  We turn to Dr. Monica Cox to help us unravel what this ruling means for our Future of Work. Read the transcript from this interview @https://bit.ly/45z1ze5 Learn more about UC Berkeley Extension @https://bit.ly/3snBZd9    

This month, we continue our conversation on Artificial Intelligence and how it might change your job and create wholly new jobs. ChatGPT, a generative AI chat bot from OpenAI, and Bard from Google are changing how we see AI's role in how we do our jobs. From drafting speeches to writing and debugging code, AI can remove some of the grunt work. But as Sam Altman, OpenAI CEO, said to Congress, "AI is a tool. It's not a creature." AI can help with tasks, but not jobs. So if AI could replace many tasks but could also lead to much better jobs, how should we be thinking about AI in our own careers? What do we need to be wary of? And what should we embrace to leverage the power of AI?   Read the transcript @https://bit.ly/43DscfY   Learn more about UC Berkeley Extension @https://bit.ly/3KaJMku

This month, we're taking a look at Artificial Intelligence and how it is changing the way we educate and the way we work. When we first started hearing about AI, there was a lot of conversation about automation, job displacement and up-skilling. Then this year, ChatGPT set the record for the fastest-growing user base with more than 100 million users as of February 2023. AI is changing how we think about teaching, what we are teaching and how we assess learning. Governments are asking how we maximize the good that can come of artificial intelligence, but minimize the bad. From a full embracing of the technology to having a healthy level of skepticism, how will you adapt to the power of AI?    Read the transcript @https://bit.ly/3JRkvMh   Learn more about UC Berkeley Extension @https://bit.ly/3qXkn7h

A few episodes back, we talked about hybrid work and the growing strength that employees have in shaping the how and when of their work. This month, we're putting a spotlight on a trend that is picking up steam—the idea of a four-day work week. This experimentation is revealing pros and cons when implemented in countries such as Japan, Spain, the UK and South Africa. While a four-day work week may help boost employee productivity and mental health, not every worker can participate. So who chooses the when and how to introduce a four-day work week?  To answer this question, we turn to Stela Lupushor, a thought leader, speaker, educator and futurist who is on a mission to humanize the workplace. She advises startups, venture funds and mature enterprises on the use of design thinking, technology, analytics and future thinking to create inclusive workplaces. Stela teaches at NYU, imparting her knowledge on to the next generation of HR leaders. Previously, Stela transformed workplace practices at the intersection of technology, analytics and HR at organizations such as Fidelity Investments, TIAA, IBM, Price Waterhouse and PwC Consulting and their clients. She is the co-author of "Humanizing Human Capital: Invest In Your People for Optimal Business Returns” and "Humans At Work: The Art and Practice of Creating the Hybrid Workplace.”   Read the transcript @https://bit.ly/3O6Lrdn   Learn more about UC Berkeley Extension @https://bit.ly/3BMnLUv 

We're taking an inside look at employee resource groups, better known as ERGs. ERGs provide a safe space for employees to meet with others like themselves, and develop community around those shared traits and needs. Normally employee-led, ERGs also provide inherent value to organizations small and large—from increasing employee retention, providing opportunity for professional development or boosting recruitment efforts. They are a win-win for both the employee and the employer. So to find out why every organization should cultivate and encourage ERG creation in their own workplaces, we turn to Anisha Nandi. Anisha is the CEO and co-founder of Verbate, a startup focused on helping companies build best-in-class employee communities.   Read the transcript @https://bit.ly/3pE0YrH   Learn more about UC Berkeley Extension @http://bit.ly/41iXuYT  

We ended 2022 with a bit of an upheaval in the job market. Mass layoffs at big-tech companies were splashed across the headlines. And more organizations are speculating that layoffs may be part of their fiscal plan in the coming months, reacting to the possibility of a looming recession. So in this episode of the Future of Work, we're bringing the workplace a little closer to home—making sure that you have a financial contingency plan if you don't already have one in place. To get some tried-and-true advice on weathering any potential upheaval in the future, we turn to UC Berkeley Extension instructor Richard Lehman.    Read the transcript @https://bit.ly/3pAqL47   Learn more about UC Berkeley Extension @https://bit.ly/3BYUdTW  

Who is steering the ship? Today's workforce is more empowered than ever with many finding that maintaining a work-life balance is an important part of how we work. The pandemic opened the door to enabling greater flexibility around when and where we work. Job-seekers are prioritizing company mission, values and participation in DEI when they evaluate a potential role. Employees have shown that work can be done and done well remotely. So why the call back to the office? Why are products like an automatic mouse mover hitting the market? Where and why did the trust go? To kick off the new year, let's talk about going forward, not backward. Let's help managers and leaders of all types shift from driving productivity through force and move toward inspiring and motivating this empowered workforce.   Read the transcript @https://bit.ly/3JS9qKR   Learn more about UC Berkeley Extension @https://bit.ly/45x5NTA

This month, we chat with former guests Barry O'Reilly and Vaneese Johnson to future-cast what's in store for 2023!  They look back on 2022: Did we learn anything new? Did any of our systems or practices change? They look forward to 2023: Will there be new ripples or upsets in the work place? What should leaders and employees do to prepare and succeed in 2023?

What was once considered side hustles, the gig economy has become so much more. In fact, it's quickly becoming a trillion-dollar industry that offers more choices and opportunities. Whether it's partaking in the rideshare business as a driver or working as a consultant in the project economy, are we seeing the demise of the full-time employee? What does this mean for organizations who need employers—or contractors—with hyper-specialized skills in order to remain relevant? What are the pros and pitfalls of this new gig landscape and who is able to thrive?

Across the globe, people have created effective remote working environments for themselves. Statistics vary, but the majority of employees say that working remotely will be important to them in the future. Not all workers have the option, but more than half do, and when offered, almost everyone takes the opportunity to work flexibly. So with more staff solely interacting through digital means, does the loss of face-to-face interactions mean less networking, creative collaborations and impromptu hallway meetings? Does it also mean more realistic work/life balance, flexibility and increased productivity? Remembering that it's still humans doing the work, even if you can't physically see them, how do we need to design work and the workplace? What is the impact as more employees return to an office, but in a hybrid schedule? Who is getting left behind or forgotten?

There's no ignoring it: Data is driving business forward. Data informs good decision making. And as a result, companies are empowering their employees to explore, understand and communicate with data. As we look at the future of work, every role at every level of an organization will need data-literacy skills.

Specialized digital skills are becoming increasingly important and yet jobs are not becoming hypertechnical. Instead, they are becoming increasingly hybrid, mixing human and technical skills—and employers and workers alike are still struggling to keep up. For example, job postings are cropping up with qualifications in data analytics, project management and critical thinking. But those same postings are also requiring excellent communication skills, problem solving and time management. How do you balance the hard with the soft? In this second part, we talk about those people skills and how to use them to build your personal brand.

Specialized digital skills are becoming increasingly important and yet jobs are not becoming hypertechnical. Instead, they are becoming increasingly hybrid, mixing human and technical skills—and employers and workers alike are still struggling to keep up. For example, job postings are cropping up with qualifications in data analytics, project management and critical thinking. But those same postings are also requiring excellent communication skills, problem solving and time management. How do you balance the hard with the soft?

AI and automation are making some jobs obsolete or creating new jobs. We're also witnessing the great resignation, brought on by myriad reasons. In a McKinsey Global Institute report, “In the United States, we project there are about 17 million people in jobs that may see less demand. Over the eight countries we study in our report, 100 million people may need skills to perform different occupations in growing fields.” So if you're thinking about or perhaps in the midst of a career change, you need to get up-to-speed quickly. Or are you being redeployed into a new role at your organization? Here's how and why to build your capabilities.

The World Economic Forum recently declared a reskilling emergency as the world faces more than one billion jobs transformed by technology. No longer an ideal but an expectation, executives and employees must continually refresh their skills to keep up. To do so, continuous professional education is the key. But are you learning with intent? Intentional learners are experiencing all the same daily moments anyone else might, but they get more out of those opportunities because everything—every experience, conversation, meeting and deliverable—carries with it an opportunity to develop and grow. Here's how you can learn with intent.

If anything positive can come out of this COVID-19 pandemic, it's that the importance of health care professionals is seen as paramount—especially those who were furiously working to develop a vaccine. From understanding how the virus worked, how to mitigate its transmission and how to protect our global population against it, the biologists in the labs became the unknown celebrities of 2021. Their behind-the-scenes work quickly became front-page headlines. And with that flux of attention came a surge of open positions in the biological sector. Jobs in specific occupations—such as epidemiologists, medical scientists, biochemists and biophysicists, and biological technicians—are expected to see strong growth. What is the future of work in this surging area and what does it take to fill the jobs gap?

According to recent McKinsey research, women-held positions in tech has largely declined in the U.S. during the past 25 years. And yet, companies are reporting a shortage in tech skills as businesses across the spectrum are ramping up their tech capabilities. So what can companies do to not only fill empty positions, but fill them with women and women of color. What can women already in the field do to advance not only their own careers, but that of other females wanting to enter the field? What leadership skills are needed to break those barriers?   We talk with Michelle Branner, an expert in helping people build leadership skills, create effective teams and expand their emotional intelligence. She started climbing the corporate ladder in finance and later large tech firms and has been a small-business leader. Now, Michelle is teaching full time at UC Berkeley Extension about workforce development, leadership and making power moves.