Will the world replace employees with entrepreneurs? [Infographic]

If the number of entrepreneurs keeps rising, we may well find ourselves in a world full of innovators, creators and risk-takers in the not-too-distant future.

New ideas, new ways of doing business, new clients coming in every day… sounds great right?

Well not for the regular employees of the world according to a recent infographic by Funders and Founders.

The infographic argues that not only are startups turning away from traditional employees, but so are large enterprises such as Google, small businesses and agencies.

Its basis for argument is that 30% of current large tech companies have set up seed funds with the sole objective to develop (and provide capital to) startup entrepreneurs. The main thesis is that entrepreneurs will rule the workplace, and regular employees will be left in the dust, replaced by none other than robots, outsourcing and independent contractors to name but a few.

And while the infographic gives some interesting numbers, such as the cost of “employing” robots versus human counterparts, and the fact that independent contractors cost 30% less than employees, it fails to recognise both the benefits of traditional employees as well as the possible negatives to having a company full of Steve Jobs’.

For example, the hiring of independent contractors does not save you from supervision responsibilities, nor does outsourcing. In fact, language barriers and time differences can result in more stress than if you had an employee under your wing working on a project.

And while one entrepreneur is great, many can spoil the startup-broth. Egos, conflicts of interest and stale-mates could be just some of the challenges a company full of risk-takers and decision-makers could induce. Never mind the fact that entrepreneurs are just that – entrepreneurs. The notion that they would want to work for others (for an extended period of time) and not start their own company when they are ready, is a fallacy.

Robots are a long way off replacing the majority of jobs, anything other than manual labour still has time.  We can all learn an important lesson from this infographic: keep learning and growing as employees to make ourselves more invaluable, but we don’t need to hit panic stations just yet.

Take cognisance of the future of business, and adapt with it, because this is the age of innovation, but that doesn’t have to be exclusive to entrepreneurs.