Changing Nature of Work Settings

Work settings and the very nature of work have changed dramatically in the last several decades. Work settings continue to evolve and transform as the result of changes in society, employee preferences, cost cutting initiatives, technological advances, among other reasons. Let’s examine some of the most common workplace setting approaches that have emerged.

Job Sharing

An interesting development to come to workplaces has been the idea and process of job sharing. This is a situation where at least two employees share the assigned responsibility of one complete position. This means that one full time job might now have two part time employees who share those responsibilities.

Examine how job sharing has benefited employees at Unilever:

Self-Managed Teams

Another example of changing workplaces is the presence and reliance on self-managing teams. These are organizational work groups that are accountable for their own directions, responsibilities, and overall actions. They are not directly overseen or directed by a specific manager or supervisor. These types of teams work best in industries where there is natural separation of employees based on product or service groupings. Apple, for example, has a large self-managed team that directs and oversees all aspects of the iPhone product line.  

Alternative Work Schedules

Alternative work schedules are also often referred to as variable work hours. In this type of a work setting, an employee's working hours doesn’t follow the typical Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm routine. Hours of work become flexible, and alternative arrangements are made to accommodate different working hours. Some possible examples:

1. Employees working on the weekends and having 2 weekdays off.
2. Employees starting their workday at 7am and finishing their work day at 3pm.
3. Employees working regular hours, but deciding on their own best times to take their lunch break and other daily break periods.
4. Compressed work week - a situation where employees work 10 hours a day, for 4 days in a row, and have the 5th day off, including the weekend. This creates a 4-day work week, rather than the traditional 5.

Off-Site Work

Another emerging trend in workplace settings is the process of actually working off site. More and more organizations are allowing certain employees to work off site, and that can typically mean from their own home. Technology and the digital nature of many jobs, means as long as the employee has access to a computer and the Internet, they can complete their entire job duties from anywhere in the world.

Digital Nomads

There is a growing community of digital workers that are sometimes called Digital Nomads. These people are able to travel and work from anywhere in the world due to the digital and electronic nature of their work.

Contract Work

With contract work, workers apply for advertised work contracts posted by individual organizations to complete a particular project/service/task.  The organization then awards the contract to whomever they think will do the best work.  The contract worker is not considered an employee of the organization. They work for themselves. They create their own schedule so they can organize their work contracts with various organizations at the same time.  This type of work arrangement is dramatically growing in popularity due to the flexibility and freedom it offers. 

Alternative Job Design Approaches

Successful organizations have come to understand that employees need some variety. Doing the same job, day after day, year after year, can lead to an employee that is unmotivated, bored, and just simply in a rut of monotony. Managers can accommodate changes in actual job designs to breathe fresh life into employees and keep them motivated and happy. Let’s explore the most common job design approaches.

Job Rotation

A job rotation is a situation where an employee is permitted to complete a different job for a specific period of time, and it is usually temporary. Often, this type of arrangement is done to break up the monotony of some routine jobs, to help keep employees engaged and avoid excessive boredom. This happens quite often in manufacturing facilities where employees are rotated through several different jobs on a consistent basis. This provides variety and reduces employee boredom.

Job Simplification

A job simplification design is done to make an employee's job easier and hopefully less stressful. It is not about taking away job tasks or giving an employee less responsibility. It is really a process of studying the current job design, and making well-advised changes in order to simplify processes and work tasks.  

A common situation where job simplification works extremely well is in the manufacturing industry. Employees usually have physically demanding work environments, so making the process of actually completing the job tasks easier, can lead to more productive and efficient employees.

Job Enrichment

Job enrichment is a process where an employee is assigned additional duties and responsibilities. It also gives the employee some additional authority that might be required to complete those duties and responsibilities.

Job Enlargement

Job enlargement is also a job design where the employee is assigned additional tasks and duties. The main difference from job enrichment is that the employee does not get any additional responsibility or authority.  

Individuals and Organizations

Even though organizations and workplaces are constantly changing, one important element will always stay the same - organizations must continue to treat their employees well. No matter what industry, or what a workplace arrangement looks like, employees are the lifeblood of organizations. It is the people who allow organizations to meet their goals and objectives.

Psychological Contracts

Read this article, What is a psychological contract – and the benefits of employee engagement in creating one from HR News.

Examine the following graphic to get a better feel for common psychological contract factors from an employee’s point of view and the employer’s point of view.  As noted in the article you read, a psychological contract “refers to the shared expectations, beliefs and obligations between an employer and their employee and is based on a sense of trust and belief that the other is honouring the ‘deal’ between them.”

On the surface, or what is often described as external factors, employees provide work, and employers provide pay for that work. Psychological contracts run deeper than that though. Both employees and employers hold internal beliefs, opinions, and rational thoughts regarding what they provide the other. These are called the internal factors. Examine the list in the diagram to get a sense of some common internal factors provided by employees and employers.

PsychologicalContracts

Long Description

Other Important Individual/Organizational Considerations

The other important areas that changing organizations must consider and consistently monitor are: creating meaningful work for employees, ensuring a high quality work and life balance, and making sure that employees are ultimately satisfied with their jobs and the work that they do.

Questions

Please review your understanding of the content from this activity by completing this small practice quiz.

1. This is an employee internal factor within a psychological contract.
   1. Workspace
   2. Ownership
   3. Recognition
   4. Education
   5. Commitment
   Answer

   e. Commitment

2. In this type of alternative work design, the employee is given added tasks and duties, but not additional authority.
   1. Job enlargement
   2. Job simplification
   3. Job rotation
   4. Job enrichment
   Answer

   a. Job enlargement

3. Allowing employees to change jobs consistently and routinely is an example of:
   1. Job simplification
   2. Job variety
   3. Job enrichment
   4. Job rotation
   Answer

   d. Job rotation

4. A worker that is able to work from any location in the world, and usually does freelance work, is called a:
   1. Freelancer
   2. Off-site worker
   3. Digital nomad
   4. Global Manager
   Answer

   c. Digital nomad

5. An example of an alternative work schedule might be:
   1. Sharing one job with another employee.
   2. Rotating through various jobs in a manufacturing facility.
   3. Working from within in a country where the organization’s home office is not located.
   4. Working a condensed 4-day work week
   Answer

   d. Working a condensed 4-day work week

6. An employee who is hired to complete a specific task for a company but isn't a full time-employee is an example of:
   1. A digital nomad
   2. A contract employee
   3. A part-time employee
   4. Job-sharing
   Answer

   b. A contract employee

7. A company designs automated robots to perform specific technical tasks. This is an example of:
   1. Job enrichment
   2. Job sharing
   3. Job simplification
   4. Job rotation
   Answer

   c. Job simplification

8. Which industry does job simplification work extremely well?
   1. Agriculture industry
   2. Energy industry
   3. Manufacturing industry 
   4. Health care industry
   Answer

   c. Manufacturing industry

9. What are Self-Managed Teams?
   1. A collection of CEOs from the top companies in a specific industry.
   2. Organizational work groups that are accountable for their own directions, responsibilities, and overall actions.
   3. A representative from each department in a company that comes together to discuss company issues.
   4. Groups of individuals in a similar industry who decide to start their own business and share resources
   Answer

   b. Organizational work groups that are accountable for their own directions, responsibilities, and overall actions