What is the future of work? ⏲️ 6 Minute English

Hello. This is 6 Minute

English from BBC Learning English.

I'm Neil. And

I'm Beth. Smell-o-vision,

a television, which allows you to smell things as well as see them;

and a miracle pill which cures all diseases.

These predictions for the future were made in the

1930s, but so far

they haven't come true. Making predictions for the future

isn't easy. Just ask tech billionaire Elon Musk, who recently predicted

that artificial intelligence will eventually mean that

no one will have to work. In fact,

there have been many predictions about the future of work. For example,

that robots will take over most jobs, and that everyone will work from home.

During Covid,

one of these predictions came true.

Millions were forced to work from home.

So, what will work be like in the future?

That's what we'll be discussing in this programme

and, as usual, we'll be learning some useful new vocabulary too.

But first I have a question for you, Beth.

Another idea for the future is the 'four-day working week' where

employees work four days for the same money as five. After Covid,

many British companies gave the idea a go,

but out of the 60 companies taking part in a four-day working week trial

in 2023,

how many said they plan to continue with a shorter work week?

Was it: a) 52%?, b) 72%? or c) 92%?    

Hmm, I guess

52% of the company's plan to continue

with a four day week.

OK, Beth. I'll reveal the answer

later in the programme.

Now, whatever Elon Musk thinks, as we've seen,

it's difficult to make your predictions accurate. Here

Shaun Ley, presenter of BBC

World Service programme, The Real Story,

asking University of Cambridge professor, Brendan Burchell,

what he thinks about predictions for the future of work:

Brendan Burchell, when you look

at all the predictions that have been made,

certainly in your working lifetime, do you take some of the

things that are being predicted now with a large pinch of salt?

I do. I think we have to be sceptical. I think the track record for economists

and other social scientists isn't good when we

look… you know, for hundreds of years, a hundred years now,

people have been predicting

that they'll be really quite dramatic reductions in working time,

like Elon Musk has just made, and previously those predictions -

although we're heading very gradually in that direction -

those predictions of very, very large changes in working time

just haven't come to pass.

Shaun asks if we should take predictions

with a pinch of salt. To take something with a pinch of salt

is an idiom meaning to doubt that what you've been told is accurate

or likely to come true.

For example, if your friend always lies,

you take what they say with a pinch of salt.

Professor Burchell thinks predictions

for the future of work

have a bad track record. A track record means all the achievements

or failures that someone has had in the past. When it comes

to predicting the future of work,

most predictions simply haven't come to pass, an old-fashioned way

of saying saying ‘happened’ or ‘come true’.

So, are predictions for a future of leisure, relaxing by the pool

while robots do all the work

just a dream?

Let's hear from Andrew Palmer,

business editor for The Economist magazine, talking to BBC

World Service programme,

The Real Story:

I'm not a tech dystopian,

I don't think that machines or AI are going to get rid of all jobs,

but I do worry about a sequencing risk.

So, there will be some disruption from AI.

Some jobs,

some professions are at risk.

And, although economists like to say new jobs will crop up,

they won't necessarily be aligned at the same time –

there won't be coordination. Andrew

is not a dystopian, someone who imagines a nightmarish future

of suffering and injustice. He doesn't think

AI will get rid of all jobs. To get rid of something means to remove it

because you no longer want it.

Andrew predicts that AI Will replace some jobs,

and those workers will need support,

but he also thinks new jobs will crop up,

they will appear unexpectedly. And that's exactly the problem –

the future is hard to predict because it's so unexpected!

Anyway, I reckon a shorter working week is something

we can all agree on, right Neil?

Absolutely.

I think it's time to reveal the answer to my question about

the 60 companies trying out a shorter working week in 2023.

I asked how many of them planned to continue a four-day week

at the end of the trials. And I guessed 52%.

So, was I right? That was...the wrong answer,

I'm afraid, Beth! Actually, a whopping 92% of the companies plan

on keeping a four-day week

because it was so popular, with bosses as well as workers!

Right, let's recap the vocabulary

we've learned from this programme, starting with the idiom

take it with a pinch of salt,

meaning don't completely believe what you're told is true.

A track record means the achievements

or failures of someone's past performance.

Come to pass is an old-fashioned way of saying take place or happen.

A dystopian is someone who foresees a nightmarish future

where there's great suffering and injustice in society.

If you get rid of something, you remove something that you no

longer want. And finally

if something crops up,

it appears or happens unexpectedly.

Once again our six minutes are up.

Join us again soon for more trending topics and useful vocabulary here

at 6 Minute English.

Goodbye for now!

Goodbye!