“New Work” has become a kind of buzzword, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, which has now lasted one and a half years. But what exactly does this stand for, what does this phenomenon entail and what challenges do companies and employees face in view of the new working age? This is part one of a series, in which we will take a closer look at the individual theses of the “New Work” trend, and in the third part we will discuss the implementation of this trend within Coredat .
“New Work” is a so-called megatrend, which above all questions the question of the meaning of the work to be done and calls for flexible working models . Creativity and empathy should be in the foreground, the goal is to solve future-relevant tasks. Monotonous tasks are gradually dying out in the digital age and are gradually being replaced by machines or automated processes.
By focusing on creativity and reducing monotonous tasks, the 30-hour week is also to become the norm, and some forecasts even suggest that it could become the new full-time model. In this way, the work-life balance should also become something feasible bit by bit.
Harmonization of work and private life
For work-life balance, however, the “New Work” concept has its own name, which fits even better with all the innovations that digitization brings with it: Work-life blending is the name here and describes the perfect mix of leisure and work. In the work-life balance, which is always discussed, one of the two sides always comes up short. In addition, the clear line between the two worlds has blurred or even disappeared since most people have the option of working from home and take their work with them into their own 4 walls. Work-life blending is intended to give people the opportunity to work flexibly and thus get the perfect mix in which neither of the two worlds is neglected.
Attractiveness of the “remote work” model
The possibility of working from home is probably the biggest aspect of the “New Work” megatrend at the moment. For this purpose, so-called collaboration tools were purchased in a very short time , i.e. video conferencing platforms, as well as the necessary steps in the general IT infrastructure . Although this required the effort of certain resources, it has also been possible to hold customer appointments online since then. This results in savings on business trips. These are often associated with higher costs than, for example, the one-off payments for the Home office equipment, which must also be provided by the employer.
It is clear that this is not possible in all areas, but the development is definitely going in the “right” direction, because at the same time the trend of a company’s environmental awareness can be carried to the outside world.
This makes an employer all the more likeable, especially for Generation Y and Z, as working hours are flexible, and companies are now increasingly using flexitime models.
