Global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas released its “Top 10 Workforce Trends of the Future” this week at the annual SHRM conference in Chicago, and the list is a mix of the obvious, the speculative and the odd.

But predicting how the future workforce might operate is one of those things that is guaranteed to get people talking —and thinking—about how they might better operate their own workforce. And anything that gets people to think more strategically about how they work is a good thing.

So, here is the list. It’s guaranteed to spur some pretty intense debate:

• The rise of teleconferencing; the end of much business travel. Increasing airfares, along with pressures to be more environmentally responsible, will push businesses to replace business travel with teleconferencing.

• Social networking: the only recruitment tool. Over the next 10 years, recruiters will increasingly shift their recruiting efforts away from traditional print ads and online job boards to the rapidly expanding world of social networking sites.

• No health benefits for you. Unable to compete with foreign companies that do not provide health benefits to their employees and retirees, more and more U.S. corporations will join the movement to eliminate employer-paid health benefits and create a national, single-payer alternative.

• Four-day workweeks: the new corporate standard. With rising gasoline prices, the availability of increasingly portable and affordable technology, and the desire for more work/life balance, four-day workweeks will become the new standard for corporate America.

• Companies will mandate wellness programs in response to health care costs. Until companies can find a way to excise the burden of employer-paid health insurance, more and more will institute corporate-backed wellness programs and mandate worker enrollment.

• Corporate degree programs will mold potential workers. More and more jobs will require advanced technology know-how, creative problem-solving abilities and superior communication skills. In response, employers will create their own degree programs to develop future or potential employees.

• Globalization will lead to an exodus of specified workers to job-rich locations. The expansion of the global economy will lead to a global talent pool, where companies will aggressively recruit the best available workers, regardless of where they reside.

• Say goodbye to the cubicle. In an effort to improve employee collaboration, productivity and efficiency, U.S. employers will replace cubicles with open community spaces.

• Say goodbye to the corporate headquarters. In an effort to cut real estate costs, become more eco-friendly and attract the growing number of workers who want increased work/life balance, more companies will adopt policies that let workers do their jobs wherever and whenever they want.

• Free agent workers will take over the workforce. Free agents are the fastest-growing worker segment in the U.S., and their number will continue to increase rapidly over the next decade as companies look to hire the best talent on a project basis and workers take charge of their own careers.