New Work

New Work

What is New Work and what are the implications?

Glob­al­iza­tion and dig­i­ti­za­tion expose the present way of work­ing to struc­tur­al changes con­cern­ing employ­ee desires. Qual­i­ty of life and indi­vid­u­al­i­ty of indi­vid­u­als are increas­ing­ly pri­or­i­tized, while the val­ue placed on ones career tends to decline.

The con­cept of “new work” orig­i­nates from the Ger­man social philoso­pher Prof. Dr. Frithjof Bergmann, who in the 1970s, focused pri­mar­i­ly on the top­ic of “human free­dom”. In the course of this, he deter­mined that work restricts us the most, which is why he devel­oped the basic prin­ci­ple of “New Work”. This con­cept is all about cre­at­ing the most pleas­ant atmos­phere pos­si­ble for the employ­ee in order to pro­mote inno­va­tion, cre­ativ­i­ty, and pro­duc­tiv­i­ty. As a result, co-work­ing spaces, the pos­si­bil­i­ty of a home office, and also self-employ­ment are becom­ing increas­ing­ly important.

Man­age­ment prin­ci­ples are also in ref­or­ma­tion: Hier­ar­chi­cal man­age­ment styles are increas­ing­ly reject­ed; instead, man­agers tend to act more sym­pa­thet­i­cal­ly as coach­es and facil­i­ta­tors, involv­ing their employ­ees in deci­sions at eye lev­el and pro­mot­ing their indi­vid­ual strengths.

In view of the pre­vail­ing short­age of skilled work­ers, New Work is more top­i­cal than ever. Flex­i­bil­i­ty in the work­place increas­es inter­est in the job and encour­ages greater com­mit­ment to pro­fes­sion­al growth and productivity.

New work ush­ers in an array of unprece­dent­ed employ­ee needs, shift­ing val­ues and pref­er­ences, and there­by impact­ing how com­pa­nies should ori­ent them­selves. Align­ing the organization’s iden­ti­ty with what is desired by the work­force fos­ters engage­ment and dri­ves firm success.
At Glasford, we have iden­ti­fied the needs most rel­e­vant in the realm of new work. First and fore­most, qual­i­ty of life assumes increas­ing impor­tance for most employ­ees. This often com­pro­mis­es work ded­i­ca­tion, as leisure time is seen as a vital com­po­nent of an employee’s time. In addi­tion, work­ers also strive for flex­i­bil­i­ty in their work flows, rather than hav­ing to fol­low strict orders. Close­ly linked is the val­ue of free­dom. In that regard, indi­vid­u­al­i­ty is also on the rise. Employ­ees want to be indi­vid­u­al­ly fos­tered and chal­lenged — the focus is on self-ful­fill­ment. The most pop­u­lar con­cept is work life bal­ance, hav­ing become a buzz word for most new work relat­ed top­ics. As a result, home office and co-work­ing is gain­ing trac­tion, along with flex­i­bil­i­ty of time and place, also fos­ter­ing self-ini­tia­tives, inclu­sion, and the con­sid­er­a­tion of one’s health.

Home office has become very prominent in times of the Corona pandemic, and we saw the need to adapt our office space to this change. Home office has many benefits for employees, but also for employers, so why not make use of it? We don’t need as many desks anymore, since most people work from home, but when someone comes into the office, we want to make them feel welcome. Now we have a cozy corner where colleagues can comfortably sit and share ideas, and a nice cafeteria-like space where we can spend our breaks together. It’s not just about working together, it’s about being together.

Ulrich Rit­ter, Geschäftsführer

Author: Glasford Inter­na­tion­al Deutschland