The global pandemic has changed what “work” looks like for millions of people, and those changes could become permanent, according to workplace and hiring experts.
In a report from Glassdoor looking at job trends in 2021 they remind people that moments of crisis, like the coronavirus pandemic, can present risks and opportunities.
Some companies have already announced long-term work-from-home opportunities, are embracing mental health and culture-building initiatives, and are scaling back in-person meetings and positions that are in-person focused.
Part of the report focused on jobs Glassdoor predicts will either not exist or will be drastically different in the future because of the pandemic.
In 2021, lower-skilled service jobs, education jobs, administrative office roles, sales roles and discretionary healthcare jobs could start disappearing. These findings are based on job listings from October 2019 to October 2020, and noticing trends of decreasing job postings during the pandemic that do not show signs of bouncing back.
Some of those jobs specifically include beauty consultants, valets, pet groomers, event coordinators, executive assistants, receptionists, sales product demonstrators, product or brand ambassadors and even sales managers.
In education, the higher ed system “is facing an overwhelming financial crisis due to falling enrollment and mandated campus closures, and these jobs may not return for a long time.” That includes college professors and instructors, according to Glassdoor.
In healthcare, while frontline workers like doctors and nurses are in high demand, other positions are not as some health needs are being postponed or canceled altogether. Jobs for audiologists, opticians and physical therapists are all down.
They do predict that jobs like nursing, warehouse worker and e-commerce sector jobs will continue to increase in number in 2021.
This lines up with a recent report from the World Economic Forum that predicted about 85 million jobs around the world would become obsolete by 2025 because of the rapid change to automation and remote work during the pandemic.
The WEF report also focused on jobs that will rise in the wake of the pandemic. According to the report, by 2025, roles and jobs that leverage human skills will rise in demand.
Machines will primarily be focused on information and data processing, administrative tasks and routine manual jobs.
The WEF says emerging professions in the next several years will be in data and artificial intelligence, content creation and cloud computing. They also say employers will be looking for these top skills among their employees: analytical thinking, creativity and flexibility.
The report from Glassdoor also looked at workplace benefits and initiatives that employees will begin to expect from an employer post-pandemic and how salaries could be impacted by permanent work-from-home changes.