Robot plumbers and holograms: what will the Kiwi workplace be like in 2040?

MYOB, an accounting software company, recently released its report Future of Business report: New Zealand 2040 which detailed predictions for the workplace of the future.

The report speculates on the changes due to affect businesses and work within the next quarter of a century, analysing how technological advancements will affect New Zealanders’ jobs.

Chief technology officer of MYOB, Simon Raik-Allen predicts that holograms will be the biggest change to workplaces since emails were introduced, saying that “seminars that became webinars in the 90s will now become holonars”. 

Raik-Allen also believes that there will be a shift in workplace leading to people working within walking distance of their homes as warehouses become workplaces for staff from various organisations.

He envisages these multi-corporate workplaces to include “rooms filled with giant wall-sized screens”.

According to the report, the majority of physical work will be performed by technology, with a possibility of robots visiting homes instead of tradies.

Kim Campbell, chief executive of the Employers and Manufacturers Association (EMA), said in the report that concerns over energy sources will likely be replaced with food and water resource challenges.

New Zealand’s strength in food production will increase relations and ties with Asia, leading to a significant number of the country’s population being young Asians and Polynesians. Campbell predicts that this new workforce will be “more demanding, more focused on results in an entrepreneurial world.”

The report also said that the growing Asian population will also have this effect, while the African market will open up.

Progression in automation and 3D printing will eradicate the necessity for manual labourers, Campbell also predicted. Microsoft’s national technology officer, Russel Craig, believes this will be damaging to manufacturers.

Will you be replaced by a robot or attending work in a warehouse in 2015?