The Prince Update - the Future of Work

Our writer Richard Prince shares his regular horizon scan of the sector news, flagging up developments, new funding and opportunities in the social sector for portfolio careerists and others to be aware of.

NPC debate: The future of charity

Everything we had planned for is different now. Many of us have good risk registers, but none had a pandemic like this on it.  Crises have a tendency to shake things up. Both good and bad are uncovered as what appeared immutable begins to crumble.

We will undoubtedly lose good charities; the survivors are not necessarily the ones we needed most or those that were best managed. Our sector doesn’t work like that (as I have written before). Instead, many of the worst hit will be community charities serving people most affected by coronavirus.  But as the dust settles, many good things are emerging. The immediate focus on need, on getting things done and getting them done fast, had led to adaptation that would take decades in normal times. 

There are three broad scenarios, largely based on the charity sector’s appetite for real change, its ability to create a new relationship with government, and the actions of funders.  Read more at: https://www.thinknpc.org/blog/the-future-of-charity/

The Prince’s comment:  well worth a read

Guardian article: The next wave of coronavirus disruption? Automation

New technology tends to be difficult to implement. Unfortunately for many workers, difficult is the new normal.  Here then is the horrible choice coronavirus will spring on us as the working world creaks slowly back to life: between lingering fear of infection on one hand, and the relentless march of automation on the other. Recessions don’t so much change the world as speed it up, accelerating trends already rippling beneath the surface.  What has saved many jobs until now is that new technology tends to be expensive and disruptive, annoying customers. But disruption is the new norm, and if lockdown has intensified a craving for human contact it’s also left both businesses and customers strapped for cash.

There are no easy answers here, only the grim certainty that if politicians don’t start grappling seriously with the question then once again they risk being overtaken by events. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/30/coronavirus-disruption-automation

The Prince’s comment:  a good thought provoking article.