Tomorrowmind: Thriving at Work—Now and in an Uncertain Future

The tech-driven workplace “threatens our well-being in its own unexpected new ways,” according to this convincing if gloomy look ahead. “Alarmed by people’s inability to rise to” the “mounting challenges” of modernity, Seligman (Flourish), former president of the American Psychological Association, and Kellerman, founder of the research organization BetterUp Labs, characterize historic shifts in labor, including the agricultural and industrial revolutions, as coming “at a wrenching human cost.” They cite data suggesting that 800 million global workers will lose their jobs to automation by 2030, and “as many as 80% of us will see our wages reduced” in the same time frame for the same reason. To reverse the harm done by automation, they write, organizations must take behaviorial sciences into account when making business decisions and place more value on human well-being. Contending that “there is no precedent for either the pace or the type of change we face at work today,” the authors call on companies to create an “Employee Thriving Team” that is “responsible for the well-being, personal growth, and professional growth of each individual employee.” Readers who fear the worst about where the workplace is headed will find little comfort here. Agent: Chris Parris-Lamb, Gernert Co. (Jan.)