The future of work.
The fourth industrial evolution is seeing workplaces transform faster than ever before. In 2019 it is the norm for technologies to be superseded by newer, more advanced technologies, processes to be automated, artificial and virtual experiences to be created, and to have gadgets monitoring every movement and activity to produce reports. Workplaces are in overdrive and experiencing change that some might say is unsustainable and burdening employees. Employers are having to work hard to sustain these changes and to support their people to effectively manage a new way of working.
What is the future of work? There are differing interpretations of this. Put simply, the future of work refers to the global change in the employment landscape through:
· Technologies flooding workplaces, the creation of products that monitor everything we do.
· Expanding age demographics – people are living longer and therefore working longer. Some workplaces employ five generations from baby boomers to millennials.
· Reduction in tasks and jobs through automation. People are being replaced with computers and machines. In a report prepared by PWC, they estimate that 45% of manual work can be digitised.
· Evolution of workplace resources – technologies and automation are making some jobs redundant while also creating new jobs. Additionally, the skill set of employees is changing. Forbes has reported that a “skills” life has dropped from an average of 30 years to about an average of 6 years. Further to this, the skills that we have may not necessarily be the right skills to thrive successfully in the future of work.
What does all this mean for the construction industry?
1. It means that the way we build will evolve. We have already started to see this with “off site” and “modular” construction. We need to determine the right amount of off site vs on site construction and how to coordinate the two.
2. Technology is changing the way we build, providing live time data, tracking and insights.
3. Our people are our biggest asset. If we are changing the way we are building, automating processes and introducing new technologies, as organisations and as an industry, we need to make sure we have the appropriate support and education in place for our people to understand the new ways of working.
Traditional education.
Over the last century, traditional forms of education have provided the construction industry with the necessary skills. People within the construction industry have acquired these skills through:
· Trade school
· TAFE and University
· Industry specific training courses.
These institutions and training providers continue to be important. They educate and provide the technical skills required to design and construct buildings. These courses are primarily theory based, conducted in a class room over a long period of time. The education provided through these courses has shaped the industry.
Typically, courses are bound by a specific curriculum which is audited by an independent body to ensure conformance. This can be challenging when trying to incorporate a new curriculum that focuses on the emerging skill sets required to accommodate the future of work.
Looking into the future of construction workplaces, we need more than the traditional approaches to education to support people and organisations to adapt to the future way of working.
The future of education.
Some organisations have been trailblazing, revolutionising the design and delivery of training, which is helping to build the capabilities of people and meeting the ever growing demands of workplaces. Moving away from traditional classroom-based learning and assessment, training organisations have been creating learning environments that mimic working environments. Here are some examples of how the future of education is evolving to help us adapt and be prepared for the future of work.
Building Learning and Simulation Centre (BLSC)
Applying an approach from aviation and medical industries, an Australasian first simulated learning centre is now available specifically for the building and construction industry.
Learning by doing, simulation education involves immersing participants in a realistic scenario, created within a physical space (simulator) that replicates a real environment. This type of training replaces the classroom with a construction site. Contained within the BLSC there is a site induction shed, smoko rooms, site office, and a virtual construction site. I am fortunate to have attended the BLSC where I “walked” through a construction site, viewed the traffic management arrangements and operated the tower crane Check out an online virtual tour here.
More recently I attended a workplace harassment and bullying course at the BLSC. Actors are incorporated into the training with whom I tested my newly acquired skills in a live construction environment. I was provided with feedback from the actors, and able to repeatedly test and refine my skills. This simulation exercise has been invaluable as it mirrored some real life situations I later experienced.
Incorporating actors and virtual simulation is the hallmark of all courses delivered at the BLSC. Moving beyond the standard courses, employers can work with the BLSC to create tailored courses and customised solutions as they relate to their workplace.
Multiplex Centre of Excellence
The way we build is changing, from methodologies to products and so we must understand these methodologies and products as they relate to safety, building regulations, and delivering quality products.
Multiplex has taken the lead creating a protoype learning centre, known as the Centre of Excellence. Located in New South Wales, the Centre is a training facility for employees, subcontractors, consultants, clients and industry-wide bodies to bring together a knowledge base on a particular product and construction methodology.
Actual prototypes exist in the Centre of Excellence and training modules are created around specific products and construction methodologies.
This keeps employees’ skill base current and enables them to understand new products. Extending the knowledge skill base of the organisation’s community through subcontractors and consultants, the Centre of Excellence is improving the skill base of the wider construction industry.
I see this model is a scalable version of trade school, not just for those who are “on the tools”, but for those who select products and oversee the construction process.
This type of learning is crucial and contributes to a reduction in incidents and defective products while educating the construction community.
Centre for Workplace Health and Safety
Just last month, SafeWork NSW launched the Centre for Workplace Health and Safety. With an approach focused on communicating openly and sharing information, the Centre provides opportunities for people to learn from others knowledge and experiences. Bringing together industry experts and academic professionals, the Centre aims to leverage off research, creating awareness to smarter approaches to health and safety and behaviour change.
Rather than reverting to standard health and safety solutions, the Centre researches health and safety challenges and develops and tests innovative solutions and strategies to then share with industry.
What I find unique at the Centre is that while it isn’t only training focused, it is a modern approach to research and breaking the traditional mould. This enables more industry specific solutions and provides insights on how to use these capabilities in the workplace. A current example of this is working towards finding the best solution to manage and prevent silicosis. Other examples include learning from our failings, examining incidents that have occurred, why they have occurred and what we can do to learn from these and prevent them.
The Centre will assist the workplace health and safety industry with creating solutions that are fit for purpose, contribute to saving lives, and are relevant to our future workplaces.
On a larger scale, the University of Melbourne has just submitted plans for a new campus that brings together, innovation, education and industries. As part of the Melbourne Business School, the world class building is designed to keep businesses at the forefront of education through collaboration with global leaders. The Melbourne Business school pioneered the development of business education in Australia, with a spirit of innovation and a pursuit for excellence. The School offers degrees, executive education, short course professional development and undertakes research projects.
This new building will provide a central location to building local and international relationships with organisations, leaders and communities. With an aspiration to grow leaders and businesses for the future, the long term plan of the Business School is to create a facility that diversifies what they can deliver and who they deliver it with. Included within this is a hub where businesses, academics and the community can work together to solve business problems. Looking at these organisations, the key theme which comes to light for me is collaboration. In some way, each of these organisations is delivering education through partnering with others. On the surface the partnerships appear to be between different entities that have a shared focus on an outcome.
It will be interesting to see what the future looks like to traditional training methods, and if there is the opportunity to redesign this so that foundational learnings are more reflective of the modern day workplace. I await with anticipation the new training products which appear to help us with adapting to the future of work.
Looking at these organisations, the key theme which comes to light for me is collaboration. In some way, each of these organisations is delivering education through partnering with others. On the surface the partnerships appear to be between different entities that have a shared focus on an outcome.
It will be interesting to see what the future looks like to traditional training methods, and if there is the opportunity to redesign this so that foundational learnings are more reflective of the modern day workplace. I await with anticipation the new training products which appear to help us with adapting to the future of work.