The Future of High-Skilled Workers by Ingrid Kofler & Elisa Innerhofer & Anja Marcher & Mirjam Gruber & Harald Pechlaner

Author:Ingrid Kofler & Elisa Innerhofer & Anja Marcher & Mirjam Gruber & Harald Pechlaner
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030428716
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

These results lead us to the next main topic of this chapter. The organization of work—which includes workplace flexibility—is an important issue for employees as well as for employers. Organization of work that is favorable for employees as well as for the company itself can be a motivation strategy and can help improve performance.

4.2 Organization of Work

Today, the organization of work, the type of working relationship and employment diverge from the full-time, permanent and secure jobs that were regarded as the norm in the mid-twentieth century. Many different and contrasting types of work and relationships such as part-time, temporary or self-employment, seasonal working, teleworking and homeworking, zero-hours and fixed-term contracts as well as consultancy work are widespread in today’s world (Felstead & Jewson, 1999). The full-time, permanent and secure employment by the mass of the workforce was characteristic of the large-scale and highly capitalized economies in the decades following the Second World War. With this organization of work, industrialized societies were able to record an economic upturn and long-range processes of economic growth (ibid.).

For today’s highly qualified people these types of work organization are no longer so attractive. What has changed and what will the work organization of the future look like? The patterns vary from country to country, but despite these differences, it can be said that changes are mainly related to global trends and developments and their impact on broader societal contexts. The main developments and drivers of change are described in detail in Chap. 2 of this book. However, some of them will be briefly mentioned here. Demographic trends including aging populations, reduced rates of mortality and declining birth rates as well as the increasing number of single households and changing family patterns have forced female labor force participation.

Next to the demographic change, skill-based technological change influences the future organization of work. The technological transformation and associated digitalization and automation of socio-economic relations change the world of work and create challenges and risks as well as opportunities. It mainly disrupts the concept of workplace and working hours. Additionally, globalization, combined with technological developments, restructures organizations and shatters the unity of the traditional workplace, dispersing work across the globe. Finally, yet importantly, the readjustment of human and social values influences the work organization of the future. This change in values leads to a change in needs and interests, including those referring to the world of work. There is a general shift from work orientation to leisure orientation. This was reflected in the Delphi study, where experts didn’t agree that a job and professional position will still be as important in the future in terms of social status.

These economic, social and technological developments are currently contributing to changes in the world of work and, in particular, to changes in the organization of work. They have a direct impact on highly qualified workers. More and more people are working part-time and shorter hours and are engaged in service contracts and temporary work as well as fixed-term contracts. People increasingly switch

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