If Associate Professor Penny Williams had a dollar for every time someone asked her to recommend a ‘future-proof’ job – for them or their kids – she’d probably only need a part-time job herself.
As one of Australia’s top researchers into how technology is impacting our careers and workplaces, the QUT expert is inevitably drawn into conversations on the big choices we all make about what we do with our lives in a fast-changing world.
The gig economy and automated work platforms have revolutionised casual and contract work, robotics innovation has challenged blue collar work, and now generative AI is threatening white collar jobs that were previously deemed ‘too creative’ for computers to take over.
Professor Williams said one thing is for sure: the days of a ‘forever’ career are gone.
“When we look at career paths, I don’t think it’s about necessarily choosing something that is always going to be there, because we don’t know what will always be there,” she said.
“You have to go into your career with a continual learning mindset.
“You have to choose what you are interested in and what you love doing, but you have to be ready to adapt and embrace new technologies that come along. And you have to think carefully about the ways you can use technology to improve your work and upgrade your skills.
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“Some of the safest jobs at the moment are active, high-human-touch jobs where the need for human skills and human interaction remains important.”
Professor Williams said these included roles in sales, health care and personal services, such as policing, nursing, psychology or counselling, and aged care or childcare, and also skilled trades work such as electricians, plumbers and hairdressers.
“Other complex specialist work that requires judgement and creative problem-solving will remain, and some jobs such as cyber and data-security specialists will be in more demand,” she said.
As director of the Centre for Decent Work and Industry and a lecturer and researcher with the QUT School of Management, Professor Williams investigates how to foster fair and decent work, while still encouraging economic growth and profitable technology.
“Technology has always changed work … what is really different now is the breadth and the pace with which it is changing,” she said.
People are complicated
Professor Williams has worked in human resource (HR) management for more than 20 years – first in industry and then in academia.
She said she was attracted to the field because she was fascinated by people and how much work is a central part of our lives.
“Work is such a fundamental part of who we are,” she said.
“It can really make a person feel like they have accomplished something and that they have value in the world.
“I came from quite a working-class background. For me, education and work were a means of getting a greater level of financial security and a stable future for myself, yet my work also provides me with a sense of purpose.”
Professor Williams said working in human resource management was often a balancing act between supporting the growth of an organisation and being a champion for its employees.
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“Business decisions are more difficult when they involve people because people are complicated,” she said.
One of the areas she is passionate about is flexible work arrangements – which was the focus of her PhD research when she transitioned from industry to working at QUT.
It was a topic close to her heart, having spent years working remotely as a HR consultant after having children.
“I was doing it long before COVID made flexible working cool,” she said.
“I really didn’t understand why it wasn’t common practice. I found it a really productive way to work and a really rewarding way to balance the different parts of my life.
“Then COVID came around – and now I think hybrid work is here to stay.”
The rise of digital platforms
One of the fundamental changes in the Australian workforce in recent years has been the rise of digital platforms such as Airtasker and Uber.
These web or app-based platforms provide on-demand services and flexible work for thousands of people who are usually paid per task.
Key findings from a 2023 national survey
- The top five platforms used by workers in 2023 were Airtasker (33.5%), Uber (26.6%), Doordash (19.8%), UberEats (17.9%) and Amazon Flex (17.1%)
- People currently or recently doing platform work doubled between 2019 and 2023, from 7% to 14%
- People who’d done platform work at some stage of their careers rose from 13% to 24%
- Young people aged 18 to 34, males, and students were most likely to do platform work
- Income from platform work supplements other income, with 82% saying their platform earnings made up less than half of their total income
- Most platform workers (70%) work on more than one platform.
- Digital Platform Work in Australia
Professor Williams has been involved in two major studies assessing the scale of platform work in Australia – one released in 2019 and a new report released in July 2024, based on a 2023 survey of 14,000 people.
She said the rise of digital platforms had contributed to the Australian economy and given many people a new, flexible way to earn additional income around other jobs. But platforms like Uber were not considered employers and their workers weren’t employees.
She said people in this grey area of ‘employee-like’ workers had not previously been covered by dispute resolution, insurance and other protections afforded to employees.
That’s in the process of changing however, partly thanks to advocates like Professor Williams and fellow QUT researchers Professor Paula McDonald, Professor Robyn Mayes, and Adjunct Professor Andrew Stewart (QUT and University of Adelaide).
Their widely cited research has led to a greater understanding of the gig economy and informed a major inquiry into on-demand work and the development of the Fair Conduct and Accountability Standards for digital platforms.
New laws that came into effect in Australia in August 2024 – the Closing Loopholes No. 2 Act – now regulate digital platform work in ways that address some of the issues that their research has highlighted.
A specific section of the Act covers ‘employee-like workers’ and gives them new legislative status as ‘regulated workers’.
It provides the Fair Work Commission with the power to set minimum standards and guidelines in areas such as payments and insurance, and opens the door to collective bargaining.
Workers will also have protections against ‘unfair deactivations’ and ‘terminations’ from platforms, similar to how employees are protected from unfair dismissal.
“Our research on the gig economy has contributed to changes that have provided greater protection and support for gig workers – I find that incredibly rewarding,” Professor Williams said.
Eye spy the future
One of Professor Williams’ current research projects is a three-year investigation into automated people management.
Funded by an Australian Research Centre DECRA grant, it’s looking at how employers are using technology to manage and track their workers. The research is also informing government inquiries into workplace surveillance and automated decision-making.
Professor Williams said ‘algorithmic management’ was the new buzz word for systems where an algorithm, rather than a person, allocated and managed workloads and monitored worker performance.
“Amazon is the case everyone talks about, but we are now also seeing it in traditional employment relationships because of the rise in remote working since COVID,” she said.
“There is now technology where, as your employer, I could monitor if you are sitting at your computer, I could track your keystrokes, and I could automate the distribution of your tasks and get notifications when you’re done.
“And if I thought you weren’t working quickly enough, I could take control of your laptop and look at your emails and see what you’ve been searching and generate a report on your productivity. These technologies can operate in stealth mode … they can be loaded without employees knowing.
“But there’s been very little research on the use of these technologies in Australia or elsewhere.”
Professor Willams’ ARC project is particularly looking at technologies that monitor and manage desk-based workers, and have a surveillance element.
“There are reports that the sale of these technologies grew something like 300 per cent during COVID, so that suggests that more workplaces are using them,” she said.
“We need to understand how this impacts work, the rights of workers, and conditions of work.”
Professor Williams said there were advantages to AI, algorithmic management and the rise of automation at work.
“It’s going to be interesting but it’s not all doom and gloom,” she said.
“The great thing is that AI has the potential to make our jobs more efficient and to do tasks that sometimes we find boring or time consuming.
“There will definitely be shifts in the labour market, but as humans we adapt.
“My hope is that we can use technology to do different work, more creative work, more productive work, and more meaningful work that contributes to a better society.”
