As we talk about the future of work, subconsciously we also talk about the digital revolution. Though the revolution took place, not over a night but years, the onset of the pandemic was a sudden nudge to all the industries to undergo sudden changes. 

In a masterclass at the India edition of the People Matters Futurist Forum 2022, John spoke about the changing operating systems and work structure. In the session titled “Masterclass Session on Work Without Jobs: How to reboot your organization's work operating system”, John said that citing the changing work culture, leaders have to strategise well on hiring the right people with the right qualifications.

Talking further about the hiring mechanism, he referred to his book, written in collaboration with his colleague Robin J.C Dawson, John said, “That's a signal that maybe we need to think outside the confines of a job and to fully qualified individuals.”

According to John, the era belongs to AI and automation. He struck the note that while elaborating on the future of work, people talk about both automation and hiring. Though these are contradictory, it is beyond denial that recruitment still needs to be done to maintain parity with the emerging technologies. 

Talking about the operating system he mentioned, “Start with the work rather than starting with the job.” Referring to the example of the gig workers, John stressed that to sustain the evolving work culture today, people should “consider work coming from all kinds of different engagements, not just traditional jobs and employment contracts.”

Concluding the session, John explained that the difference between the traditional and new modus operandi is vividly clear. According to the traditional method, the jobs were melted into job holders but today, jobs are melted into several elements called functions. This automatical calls for a change in the hiring process as every function needs a particular set of skills that define the hiring needs. 

“There were hints of this need to think about and melt the work melt,” said John.

Finally, John said, “So it's not just the capabilities to hold this job or a series of jobs. It's the entire person and all the capabilities that exist in them.”