Investor Special: The Future of Work experiment

This #VocTechPodcast episode of The Edtech Podcast (@podcastedtech) looks at the #FutureOfWork experiment that is 2020. It interrogates some of the forecasts for the future of work now that many of them have come true. 

For example, the office of national statistics here in the UK stated that 46.6% of people in employment doing some work at home as of April 2020 was largely because of COVID. 

But how many of them were happy about the shift?

Who is paying their home, lighting and heating bills?

What unfair distribution of success is homeworking having by function, i.e. depending on the level of human interaction needed?

What about the people that can’t work from home, and what about the economy dependent on commuting?

Our guests on this episode are both investors but are coming at this conversation from two very different angles. One funds and supports ambitious ideas for using technology to improve the lives of low wage workers or ‘worker tech’, whilst the other is General Partner at an early-stage fund investing in workplace technology companies that have a strategy to sell to and through employers. Enjoy the episode. It’s a great listen!

You can follow the conversation using #voctechpodcast and #edtechpod.

People

• Cansu Deniz Bayrak, Senior Partner, Bethnal Green Ventures | Twitter: @cansudb
• Allison Baum, General Partner, SemperVirens Venture Capital | Twitter: @ABaumGates
• Sophie Bailey, Founder and Presenter of The Edtech Podcast | Twitter: @podcastedtech

References from this week’s episode

• Ufi Voctech Trust – website, homepage
• Ufi Voctech – Twitter
• Ufi Voctech Trust – LinkedIn
• Ufi Week of Voctech – website link
• Allison Baum Gates – LinkedIn
• Allison Baum Gates – Twitter
• Sempervirens Venture Capital – Website 
• Springhealth – Website
• Springhealth – Twitter
• Brightside – Website
• Brightside – Twitter
• The 100 Year Life – Website for the book Allison references
• A Hitchhiker’s Guide To Permanently Flipping The Workplace – Medium Article
• The Future Of Work Becomes Work – Medium Article
• Cansu Deniz Bayrak – LinkedIn
• Cansu Deniz Bayrak – Twitter
• Bethnal Green Ventures – Website
• Bethnal Green Ventures – Twitter
• The Resolution Foundation – Website
• The Resolution Foundation – Twitter
• Workerbird – Website
• Workerbird – Twitter
• Organise – Website
• Organise – Twitter
• Tendo – Website
• Tendo – Twitter
• Breakroom – Website
• Breakroom – Twitter
• The Resolution Foundation Publications – Direct link to The Resolution Foundation’s publications page
• What is Worker Tech– BGV blog post with their podcast episodes

Thank you to the Ufi Voctech Trust

The Voctech Podcast Series is produced by The Edtech Podcast and supported by Ufi Voctech Trust.

Our aim is to help improve vocational skills in the UK’s workforce by funding digital solutions for vocational learning. We only fund activity that is ‘scalable’ through technology, ie projects that use digital methods to widen access to vocational learning. While digital learning solutions are potentially open to all, we are especially keen to assist digital projects which involve post-school age vocational learners that have failed to be engaged by the education system. Contact: [email protected], Head of Communications, Ufi Voctech Trust.

Tell us where you are listening in from

We’d love to hear about innovative technology or approaches you are developing or using in adult education. Leave your stories in the comments below. Alternately, record a quick free voicemail via speakpipe for inclusion in the next episode. Finally, you can post your thoughts or follow-on links via twitter @podcastedtech or via The Edtech Podcast Facebook page.