The 2008 financial collapse was a tipping point for most workers in countries transitioning from Industrial to Information economies. Jobs have returned to a good extent, but the wages and conditions have, at best, flatlined. As we move deeper into an age of automation and one in which gigantic companies need software but few FT workers (e.g., Uber), living has become difficult for many and retirement off the table. 

In a Financial Time article, Michael Skapinker considers five possible future scenarios in a world where the whistle never blows, the workday never truly ends. An excerpt: 

Companies go for the Carlos Slim option. In 2014, the Mexican telecoms magnate, said that, instead of retiring, older workers should cut back to three days a week.

Everyone gains. The company holds on to older workers’ skills while cutting the cost of employing them. The workers have more leisure.

This scenario appears to have more to recommend it than any other, although it does depend on older workers being able to afford the reduction in working hours.

Older people working shorter weeks could step back from senior positions. They could also do different jobs for the company.

The Financial Times reported this week on a former manager at Nissan in Sunderland, in the north-east of England who, at 67, conducts tours of the plant. He does not work for Nissan. He has retired and works for an outside agency that runs the tours.•