The Future of Office Work
AI and automation are growing, especially in the office work industry. The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) expects that 1 million jobs in administrative support occupations will be lost due to AI and automation technology by the year 2029.
The 'Future of Office Work' project is intended to provide research insights on how to design office work for the AI age based on science. This project aims to help prepare organizations and workers on how to best integrate AI into the office work domain. In the long term, this will require balancing the fulfillment that office workers experience when doing work that fully utilizes their skillsets with the benefits that automation can provide through speed and data processing capabilities.
We envision three stages to this long-term goal. The first stage would be to fine tune a research agenda. Next, we envision scientific research being conducted to develop a knowledge base for office work design in the future. Lastly, this knowledge base would be translated into design principles for organizations to implement, validate, and refine.
1,000,000
office workers are expected to be displaced by 2029 due to office automation
We must consider the cognitive components and background work of these positions before they are inadequately replaced by technology.
70 %
of office workers are female
Due to such a large proportion of women in office administrator positions, we must fully consider and understand the ramifications of this potential displacement.
Step 1: Fine tune a research agenda
Generate and refine a research agenda for the topic of Office Work in the AI age.
Step 2: Develop a knowledge base
Conduct scientific research to develop a knowledge base for office work design in the future.
Step 3: Generate design principles
The information from the knowledge base will be translated into design principles that organizations can then implement, validate, and refine.
