Are we ready to address the new expectations of work and workers in the transforming world of work?

Abstract

The world of work is transforming. Where work is performed, who performs work or has the right to work is changing. Along with these changes workers are experiencing shifts in the knowledge needed to work, the dissolving of contracted benefits, and the disappearance of traditional opportunities for work such as in manufacturing. Moreover, there are many influences that shape what workers can do, are expected to do, what they can expect from work and the types of work they can expect to do in the future. Some of these changes give rise to new meanings of work or what it means to be productive within a society or community. Currently, some of the factors shaping the world of work and its situated nature include global shifts in the economy, mandatory retirement changes, the growing number of immigrant or older or migrant workers, the offshoring of work from one country to another, and the discourses about future work possibilities (e.g. the demise of manufacturing in the western world, unemployment as a common phenomenon and the emergence and acceptance of service work or knowledge work as the norm). All of these are changing the occupational salience or valuing of goal directed activities within a community or society [1]. Shifts in occupational salience in work occupations can be changes in the jobs that are considered valued or meaningful or accessible to workers as well as aspects about the nature of working that create new meanings about participation in goal directed activities. For instance, in developed countries one of the most common problems is that global shifts in the economy and the discourse in the popular media about high rates of unemployment raise the expectation of unemployment not only for young people but, also for current workers across all employment sectors. We have even seen the emergence of disparaging or marginalizing lexicons used to describe workers such as discouraged workers [2], undocumented workers, alien workers or injured workers. Workers today can expect more periods of intermittent work disruption and disengagement as part of their employment trajectory due to the unpredictability of and unstable global economies. Unemployment is not new, however what is new is the anticipation of unemployment as an expected part of work life and the rise in the numbers of people from all employment sectors that will experience unemployment. The shift in the availability of work or lack of work has many important consequences for governments, employment insurance programs, labour organizations and for workers. For example, many workers have not previously approached employment with the view of considering and anticipating the need to plan for intermittent or prolonged periods of work disruption. In turn, more peoplewill likely use or rely on unemployment types of benefits during their working years. On the more positive side, workers today can also expect to experience

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