6 Minute English / What is the future of work?

Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript.

Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I m Neil.

And I m Beth. Smell-o-vision, a television which allows you to smell things as well as see them; and a miracle pill which cures all diseases. These predictions for the future were made in the 1930s, but so far they haven t come true.

Making predictions for the future isn t easy just ask tech billionaire, Elon Musk, who recently predicted that artificial intelligence will eventually mean that no one will have to work. In fact, there have been many predictions about the future of work, for example that robots will take over most jobs, and that everyone will work from home.

During Covid, one of these predictions came true. Millions were forced to work from home. So what will work be like in the future? That s what we'll be discussing in this programme and, as usual, we'll be learning some useful new vocabulary too.

But first I have a question for you, Beth. Another idea for the future is the 'four-day working week' where employees work four days for the same money as five. After Covid, many British companies gave the idea a go, but out of the sixty companies taking part in a four-day working week trial in 2023, how many said they planned to continue with a shorter work week?Was it:

a) 52%?b) 72%? or,c) 92%?

Hmm, I guess 52% of the companies plan to continue with a four-day week.

OK, Beth, I ll reveal the answer later in the programme. Now, whatever Elon Musk thinks, as we ve seen, it s difficult to make your predictions accurate. Here s Shaun Ley, presenter of BBC World Service programme, The Real Story, asking University of Cambridge professor, Brendan Burchell, what he thinks about predictions for the future of work:

Brendan Burchell, when you look at all the predictions that have been made, certainly in your working lifetime, do you take some of the things that are being predicted now with a large pinch of salt?