From contributors to TheConversation.com, illuminating essays on how and why working in the twenty-first century is rapidly changing.

Work has evolved tremendously over the last 50 years and even more so since the COVID-19 pandemic. In The Conversation on Work, editor Ian O. Williamson assembles essential essays from The Conversation to explore paradigmatic shifts in how people work—and what these changes mean for the future of labor. Covering diverse and urgent topics such as burnout and mental health, remote and hybrid working environments, unions, and job inequities among marginalized groups, the authors critically examine the future of the changing workplace. Essays on how artificial intelligence will affect workers and companies, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on workplaces, and other critical labor trends round out the collection.

The Critical Conversations series collects essays from top scholars on timely topics, including water, biotechnology, gender diversity, and guns, originally published on the independent news site The Conversation.

Ian O. Williamson is the dean of the University of California–Irvine Paul Merage School of Business. He is the coeditor of Doing Business in ASEAN Markets: Leadership Challenges and Governance Solutions across Asian Borders.