Imagine A Workplace With No Jobs Outsourcing Likely To Increase 60 Percent By Turn Of Century

Author Bill Bridges was talking about a “de-jobbed” future, a time when there will be lots of work but no “jobs” as we know them. Paychecks are not disappearing, he says, just those hard lines that we draw around traditional jobs.

The uncomfortable topic mildly intrigued the lunch crowd of business managers. Then he started talking specifics, and a hush went over the room.

“Jobs in human resources are in most danger of all,” he said. “We’re on the crest of outsourcing everything in HR. That doesn’t mean there isn’t work for you to do in the company. But I’m not sure you should count on it in the form of a ‘job’ next year, or in the next five years.”

Bridges, a consultant and author of the book “Job Shift,” concluded his speech and immediately the question came: You don’t mean that companies will shift all their work outside, do you? You wouldn’t parcel out work such as purchasing, for example?

“Why not?” Bridges said, pointing to examples.

The nation’s largest kayak manufacturer has one employee; the owner outsources everything else. Executives at Sam Adams Beer contract their core competency - brewing. And Lotus got its “Notes” concept from a project worker, Bridges said.

Bridges forgives those who have a hard time grasping the concept. After all, he has seen it work since the late ‘80s when he worked as a consultant at Intel. At the same time, he urges individuals and companies to prepare for this inevitable shift in the historical cycle of work.

At Intel, he said, the computer and software company was swamped with work - but had few jobs. The constant change in technology demanded that Intel be organized differently from traditional companies, from hiring to managing to training. Bridges helped Intel compress old job categories, learn to cross-train and challenge policies. Some policies were replaced, and some workers were recycled.

“If you’re fighting for job protection, you’re doing 19th-century work,” he said. “That only slows things down. Who’s looking ahead?”

Bridges isn’t the only employment leader advocating this idea, which incorporates more outsourcing, consultants hired for projects and temporary workers. The fastest-growing temp areas are in professional fields.

An estimated 90 percent of Fortune 500 companies outsource at least one function; nearly half of those outsource payroll. International Data Corp. predicts that outsourcing will increase 60 percent to $121 billion by the turn of the century.

At Harvard Business School, career-development specialists say the modern career is “like surfing, constantly looking for waves, checking the water.” Sometimes the projects will roll in like a set of predictable waves, and sometimes there won’t be any more work, says the recent issue of the school’s newsletter, Management Update.

The career-coaching industry is booming today because of this shift. Coaches are helping workers buy into the concept, then they’re showing them how to sell themselves. Bridges calls this thinking of yourself as a mini corporation, “Me & Co.”

“We’re all going to need to think of ourselves as entrepreneurs, and develop those skills,” said Vance Caesar, a Seal Beach, Calif.-based coach who is president of the Professional Coaches and Mentors Association.