We’re Entering a World Without Work — What Does a Post-Work World Even Look Like?
At the end of 2023, Spotify’s CEO released a memo outlining his rationale for executing another round of layoffs. In the memo, he argued that companies like his had to start becoming “relentlessly resourceful” with their human capital allocation.
To be more resourceful, Spotify’s CEO argued that employers need to eliminate “work around the work.” This entails administrative support work — like managing projects or scheduling meetings — that doesn’t directly contribute to growing the bottom line. With employers facing rising labor costs, eliminating non-revenue-generating work is becoming vital to sustaining operations.
This does not bode well for workers. While many workers believe the elimination of jobs due to automation is still years away, the reduction of the workforce in the short term signals the phasing out of non-critical jobs has already begun.
A surplus of redundant and unnecessary workers is emerging in sectors like tech. While some of these workers have skills, what these workers don’t realize is that many of their skills are now obsolete. ChatGPT is now good enough at writing lines of code or developing savvy marketing campaigns that average workers who previously performed these tasks aren’t in high demand. While you still need humans to…
