New ways of working and the implications for employees: a systematic framework and suggestions for future research
Year: 2022
Type: article
Abstract: researchers and practitioners are becoming increasingly concerned with the consequences of modern work arrangements for our understanding of work.this article, alongside the four papers which are included in the special issue, explores the implications of new ways of working for employees.We conceptualise new ways of working as an ongoing transformative process, characterised by unprecedented spread, speed and depth of transformation, and highlight four major changes in work which impact employees' experiences.We critically evaluate the implications of each change for employees' attitudes, performance and wellbeing, and suggest areas where more research is needed to deepen our knowledge about how modern work arrangements affect employees.Work is an essential part of society and increased competition, globalisation, and particularly technology are changing how we define and practice it (Kelliher & Richardson, 2012).Indeed, modern work arrangements challenge existing notions about where work takes place, how it is done, who does it and even what work is.The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated existing trends such as remote work, automation and skill gaps, suggesting that an increasing number of individuals carry out work in non-traditional ways.For example, a consultancy report suggests that 20 to 25 percent of the workforce in advanced economies could effectively be working remotely, considering the type of work they do (McKinsey, 2021).Estimates further suggest that in about 60 percent of occupations, at least one-third of tasks could be automated, which fundamentally changes how workers carry out their activities (McKinsey, 2017).Moreover, the number of gig workers is expected to rise from 43 million in 2018 to 78 million in 2023 (Mastercard, 2020).Prior research has examined the potential benefits and downsides of new ways of working for firm level outcomes or customers, yet we know relatively little about their impact on employees, particularly in
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4316660964