The Future of Work

6 hours ago
5 min read

Predictions about the “jobs of the future” often jump to automation and disappearing roles but how are Australians responding to the rapidly evolving landscape? They are adapting, experimenting and rethinking what work should look like – yet a dark cloud of uncertainty lingers overhead with many contradictions to navigate.

The Real Jobs of the Future Report 2026, commissioned by Real Insurance and conducted by MYMAVINS, shows working Australians are feeling competing pressures around what they want from work and what work is now becoming. They want flexibility, but they also want security. They are embracing AI, while worrying it will make their skills less valuable. They are interested in side hustles and multiple careers, but many are being pushed there by cost-of-living pressure rather than pure entrepreneurial ambition.

Based on a nationally representative survey of 5,011 working Australian adults, the report shows that more than 4 in 5 are satisfied with their career overall, and around 2 in 3 feel optimistic about their work and career over the next ten years.

People can see opportunity. However, this sits alongside a strong sense of unease that the ground is shifting.

Fluidity vs Stability

Australians are increasingly open to non-traditional career pathways. Around 2 in 3 expect to have multiple careers or very different types of jobs over their working life, while more than 3 in 5 are interested in starting a side hustle or small business alongside their main income. The promise that AI can help even a lone entrepreneur scale their business is a seductive narrative. On paper, this looks like a more flexible, self-directed future but the reasons behind it are more complicated.

Nearly 1 in 2 Australians who have taken on, or considered, additional income sources say they have done so to manage the increased cost of living. Similar proportions point to improving financial security or covering everyday expenses. So, for many, the side hustle is a symptom of financial pressure rather than a symbol of financial freedom.

The emerging career model may be more fluid but not always more empowering. For some, it means autonomy and creativity. For others, it means patching together income streams because one job no longer feels like enough or sufficiently secure. Increasing encroachments on job roles by AI would likely drive a trend towards more skilled workers being ‘forced’ to become sole traders and contractors ‘going it alone’.

“Work-life balance” vs “Life-work balance”

Wellbeing and flexibility are becoming central to how Australians think about work and are now a mainstream expectation. Around 4 in 5 Australians support shifting from “work-life balance” to “life-work balance”, with greater priority given to wellbeing and flexibility. Nearly 3 in 5 would accept lower pay to reduce their work hours and improve wellbeing, and 2 in 3 find a four-day workweek appealing.

This is not just a lifestyle preference and is part of a cultural shift in how people are assessing the role work should play in their lives. Work conditions promoting wellbeing and flexibility are shifting from fringe benefits to expectations.

However, while people want more flexibility, the biggest barrier to adapting to new work models is unstable income. They want career mobility, yet 44% have stayed in a job longer than they wanted due to financial pressure. They are weighing trade-offs: freedom versus security, wellbeing versus income, ambition versus risk.

Technology Boon Vs Doom

AI is already part of everyday work for many Australians. More than 1 in 5 workers are now very or completely reliant on AI tools for weekly productivity, while around 1 in 3 say information processing and administrative tasks are being automated through AI or digital tools.

Workers often report that AI frees them to focus on more meaningful or strategic work. Others feel more capable, productive or confident.

Yet the emotional response is much less settled. Nearly 2 in 3 workers have experienced at least one negative emotional impact from AI at work. Common concerns include the reliability and accuracy of AI tools, reduced human interaction, pressure to constantly upskill and feeling less secure because their skills seem less needed.

AI can help people work faster while still making them question their own value. People want to embrace AI and not get left behind, while still uncertain if one day it may replace them and do just that.

For leaders, the challenge is assimilation. AI needs to be integrated into the future of work in a way that purposefully builds capability and confidence rather than leaving workers to privately absorb the uncertainty. Presumably there will be constantly evolving goal posts and workers need to be skilled at adapting to the relentless change. Of course, it’s not just about surviving. Work needs to be meaningful.

The future of ‘meaningful’ work

Work still matters deeply to identity. Around 3 in 4 working Australians say their job feels like a moderate or major part of who they are. At the same time, around 1 in 3 believe desk jobs will become less meaningful as AI takes over more tasks.

So what will make work feel worthwhile in the future?

The findings suggest as AI becomes more capable, Australians feel they will gravitate towards work that feels more ‘human’ to find meaning (and perhaps out of necessity). These include helping or caring for people directly, human-centred or emotionally driven roles, collaboration, creativity and complex problem-solving. In fact, pervasive technology implementation may just put a premium on “human” qualities as real human interactions become scarcer.

Preparing for the future of work

Perhaps the most important finding is that while close to 9 in 10 Australian workers believe their current job or type of work will still exist in five years, close to 2 in 5 feel unprepared for major changes in the future of work.

Australians are not expecting everything to change overnight but they sense that work will keep constantly changing around them, task by task, expectation by expectation, skill by skill. The jobs of the future will be shaped by how these evolving pressure points collide with the very human needs of security, meaning, identity, wellbeing and belonging.

While most focus on technology strategy, future-readiness requires a people strategy. One that recognises the contradictions workers are navigating, and structures work that helps them adapt without asking them to carry all the risk themselves. Future-readiness is not just about forecasting which jobs will grow or shrink but about building the conditions for people to keep learning, contributing and finding meaning as the shape of work inevitably changes.

It’s obvious, but a future with increasingly redundant, insecure, and unsatisfied workers isn’t good for (anyone’s) business.