The future of work in a globalised economy: UK perspective - Essay Example

The Future of Work in a Globalised Economy: UK Perspective Table of Contents Introduction 3 Work and Globalisation 4 The Future of Work 5 Globalisation and Tenure 5 Globalisation and Organised Labour 6 Legislations and Employment 8 The Technological Innovations 9 Demography and Employment 10 Assessment 10 Conclusion 12 Bibliography 13 Introduction "Globalisation has become a byword in contemporary times and the term is used to describe the present connectivity of different cities of the world as a result of economic and financial activities". The global village has shrunk as a result of developments in the field of communication and technology. World capital markets throughout the globe are now interlinked via satellite, networks and technology. Globalisation has linked formerly independent economies. When a cataclysm occurs within a globally linked financial system, the entire global market feels the ripples of the event. Businesses are no longer isolated entities that operate autonomously. Globalisation has developed along two main streams namely economic and cultural. Economic interdependence is the context of globalisation for the majority. At the dawn of the 21st century, "the scale and magnitude of global economic interaction appears to be unprecedented Contemporary patterns of economic globalisation suggest the emergence of a new international division of labour." (Brahm 2005) Many would argue that globalisation has benefited the wealthier nations and pushed developing nations into disadvantaged positions. There are perceived advantages and disadvantages in globalisation. "Some would view globalisation as a factor that divides and widens the disparity between the rich and poor nations". Others would view globalisation as an instrument of peace. They argue that countries that are trading partners are less likely to wage war against each other. Work and Globalisation Globalisation has changed the nature of work across the globe. Since globalisation initiated intense competition among companies, the need to be more productive and at the same time cost effective took precedence over other essential needs to succeed in the global market place. Hence, job tenure was affected. In order to reduce cost, "companies would opt to go into fixed term contracts that effectively eliminate underlying expenditures of employment". With fixed term contracts, a company can negotiate for lower wages without the need to consider retirement and health benefits. Effectively, the scheme would save the company some money. Secure employment contracts are replaced with non-standard forms of employment (Debrah & Smith 2002, p.9) Another effect of globalisation is the apparent unilateralism in companies where the demands of unionism and organised labour are ignored (Debrah & Smith 2002, pp. 8-9). Globalisation demands that the labour market become more flexible concerning wages, functions and numbers (p.9). The social contract between employer and employee also takes on another characteristic because employers can no longer guarantee job security to their employees in exchange for the service rendered. The permanent job will soon be replaced with fixed term contracts or part-time work. Business strategies focus on performance and this has affected how people work, their drive to keep up with the times and the struggle to juggle responsibilities at work and at home. As the hours get longer and the tasks become more complex, it is inevitable that at some point, quality suffers and employee performance deteriorates. In contemporary times, absentee parent is a common occurrence. A 12-hour work schedule is sometimes imperative because employers would demand employees to produce more results to get ahead in the game. Aside from the workplace ecology, there is also a change in the characteristics of the work force composition. In recent years, more women are entering the labor sector. More workers belong to non-traditional family forms and these had contributed to more conflicts faced by these men and women between work and life requisites (Parasuraman and Greenhaus 1999, p.3). The Future of Work Globalisation and Tenure While globalisation would create opportunities for businesses, it would also pose more challenges especially in the labour sector. Auer (2006) listed these challenges to include job loss, job displacement and increase in stress at the workplace attributed to the demands of globalisation (p.22). Long-term employment is a thing in the past and is slowly being replaced by fixed term jobs. The sector most affected with these changes was younger workers. Auer (2006) revealed that in a 2001 study, the average tenure of 15 to 24 age group was two years; 25 to 44 at eight years; for 45 and older at seventeen years (p.25). Most significant to the changes in the workplace was an increase of women who are employed while at the same time more part-times jobs became available. Auer (2006) still believed that long-term employment would still be a viable option for employers who value consistency and attachment to their employees. The gaps in the globalisation-employment discourses could be found in the supply and demand side. There was an apparent mismatch between the jobs offered (demand) and the jobs preferred by workers (supply) pertaining to tenure issues (p.26). While globalisation is not entirely to blame for the changes in employment, it has heightened the fear of employees of losing their jobs. As a consequence of that fear, employees are forced to swallow unfavourable conditions just to keep their jobs (Auer 2006, p.37). Conversely, high tenure jobs do not guarantee quality jobs. It is more likely for high tenure countries to have bad quality jobs compared to countries having more flexible labour markets (p.37). Globalisation and Organised Labour Over the last two decades, the collectivist agenda British industrial relation declined. Pollert (2007) observed that from 1979, a steady decline in union membership occurred. From 55 percent to 29 percent in 2005 indicated a shift from collective bargaining strategies to individual negotiations (p.111). Private sectors do not subscribe to unionism. The current policy of the New Labour party tends to emphasize on neoliberalism than social democracy. Concessions to collective bargaining were lukewarm and were retained because they were obligatory under the EU directives (p.111). The major shift was in compliance with EU positions concerning the liberalization of markets. This had caused the political polarization between the socially oriented and the economically oriented in the British government as well as in the EU (Pollert 2007, p.115). The individualist approach to labour contracts and disputes also made it difficult for slighted parties to submit their claims. The government considered the litigations of employment disputes as lengthy and cumbersome. The government would rather resolve disputes through the ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) or through the Employment Tribunal (ET). The loss of the collective bargaining voice that organised labour had contributed to labour issues had several implications to the future of labour dispute settlements in Britain. Access to Employment Tribunal (ET) is considered difficult especially when grievances are never treated as one. Pollert (2007) believed that the employment laws had undermined the rights of the workers in favour of the neoliberalist contentions of the EU. As the British makes its employment regulation more flexible in conformance to globalisation, the labour market would experience insecurity, a restructure workforce and hostile legal frameworks (p.132). In a globalised economy, businesses considered a strong organised labour as threats to their business strategies and global capital mobilisation (Pollert 2007, p.132). By limiting dispute resolution as individual responsibilities than subject to a collective voice that organised labour provides, the demands of the employees for better conditions could be sidelined by bureaucratic manoeuvres, costly procedures and essentially a weaker position for the less powerful employee. The global company cannot afford lengthy and costly employment lawsuits. Through the implementation of new laws that would effectively silence organised labour, the wind would blow in their favour in the event disputes and claims will arise. Legislations and Employment The UK government recognizes the imbalance between work and family that a section on work-life balance was included in the Employment Act of 2002. The law recommended that employees with a minimum of six months service and had children below 18 years old, can opt to avail more flexible work schedules to fulfill their responsibilities as parents. However, the requisite was not mandatory and employers had the option to comply or not (Gennard 2003, p.131). Work-life balance issues have become a primary concern for human resource management. The human resource manager of a company must ensure the total well being of employees so that they will be able to perform better and meet company goals. The incidence of employee attrition and turnover is a good indicator of work environment quality. Failure to recognize that employees also need a life beyond the place of work will have a detrimental effect on the company's bottom line. Other laws that would support the neoliberalist orientation and free market provisions of globalisation include Working Time Regulations (1998), the Part-Time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000 and the Maternity and Parental Leave Regulations 2000 (Pollert 2007, p.112). In Pollert's (2007) opinion, these legislations had many deficiencies and would require amendments. The Employment Tribunal presided over labour disputes. In recent years, individuals filing their complaints rose from 40,000 to 130,000 between the periods of 1980 and 2001 (p.112). British laws advocating employment rights were considered weak along two avenues. First, interpretation of the law remained minimalist. Second, monitoring, access to support and enforcement need to be improved (Pollert 2007, p.113). After the passage of the Employment Act of 2002, a new Dispute Resolution law came into force on October 2004. The new law required that employees comply with the requirement of the grievance procedure (GP). Failure to comply would mean that employees are prohibited from filing complaints with ET. In addition, the ET can recommend reductions to claims from 10 percent to 50 percent. The employers are obligated to follow the procedures of Dismissal and Disciplinary Procedures (DDP). Failure to comply would mean an increase of 10 percent to 50 percent to the claims of the employers. Unless, the circumstances are justified, dismissals are considered unfair (Pollert 2007, p.128). The Technological Innovations The technological innovations introduced at the workplace have blurred the boundaries between the work and private life. As people becomes highly dependent on the Internet, mobile phones, fax machines and other gadgets, the "any time-any place" paradigm that hardly makes any separation between work and family, slowly encroaches into domains considered as private. The employee's already limited time with his/her family is further reduced because work has intruded into the private lives of the employees. The technological revolution did not reduce the workload as they first were envisioned to do. Instead, they only fueled the appetite of employers for more results. The 24/7, "on call" nature of work has added more pressures to the employees to perform better (Milliken and Dunn-Jensen 2005, p.45). Whether it is due to greed or necessity, companies in their effort to get ahead of their competitors tried to squeeze in as much activities as they can into the time allocated for work productivity. Demography and Employment According to Robert Taylor (n.d.), the employee demographics had changed in recent years. About 70 percent of the women in dual-income households with children below 18 opted to join the work force. A steep rise in employment rate in the last decade was attributed to women with children aged 4 under (p.7). The aging population in most western countries also has an impact on work-life balance. The elderly also needs attention and care from their children. Managed care for the elderly is expensive and is an added pressure to income earners. The contemporary family structure is quite different from that of a few decades ago. Today, a new family structure emerges. The lack of work-life balance has serious implications on the psychological well being of employees. The need to keep a job and turning out results for the company have intruded into the non-work aspects of an employees life. Hence, family conflicts are becoming more serious and complex. Assessment Christensen (1999) pointed out that there are mitigating circumstances that changed the nature of work today. Companies focus on five key areas to remain competitive. They are: customer needs, flexibility, speed of delivery, innovation and cost-effectiveness (p.26). Management has the tendency to lump together employees into a single uniform entity without taking into consideration that different individuals do have varying needs. Applying uniform policy on work schedules regardless of employees' capability to fulfil those requirements has put additional strain on workers' ability to keep up with company policies. This policy was a consequence of the need of global companies to streamline their operations to manage costs and maximise profits. While work-life balance reduces the workload of the employees to attend to other concerns, it also has repercussions on career advancement. Often, employees availing of less work hours are placed in tasks that are less critical to the company's overall productivity. Dick and Hyde (2006) observed that compared to full-time workers, the reduced-load workers had limited access to promotions and trainings because most of these scheduled programmes did not coincide with their schedules. Moreover, when promotion time came, reduced-work load received cold reception from employee performance evaluators (pp.346-347). The mindset of people about employees putting in more time at work deserve rewards is still the prevailing practice. The work-life balance incentive that should have done wonders to the employee's psyche has become another unwanted pressure. The management still views part-time work or reduced load work as "marginal activity" and they generally consider "part-time" work different from full work loads (p.347). The social contract established between employers and employees takes on a more complex relationship in this technology-driven business environment. A new paradigm illustrating the relationships among family, work and community must form the basis of a new social contract between employers and employees. People must strike a new social balance that will contravene the prevailing practice of arranging family and life around work (Wohl 1999, p.18). Today's work does not guarantee tenure and former agreements involving long-term arrangements are no longer plausible. Long-term commitment is a thing in the past as mobility at work is encouraged. However, many employees still would prefer the stability of a permanent tenure to support their families' growing needs. They also made it clear that there were compelling needs that needed attention at home and they would be impossible to ignored. Priorities also have changed regarding work and family. While employees consider having a permanent job as advantageous to their families, there was a need to address issues about balancing quality life at work and at home (Wohl 1999,pp.18-19). Contemporary workers are torn between "performing at a high level at work, while maintaining a strong commitment to one's family at the same time" (Wohl 1999, p.20). Conclusion Globalisation has caused several changes in the regime of trade and employment. While it is difficult to predict future outcomes, it is important to consider the negative impact of globalisation particularly to issues pertaining to employment. Several mitigating factors will affect the future of work. In the previous sections, some of the impacts of globalisation were discussed. Tenure and organised labour are two aspects of employment that experienced change. Job tenure is no longer secure and employees are forced to accept the unfavourable conditions because the avenues that were previously available to employees to lodge their complaints had disappeared. The role of organised labour as a negotiator on behalf of the employees has been devalued. Individualism rather than collectivism would be encouraged in industrial relations. Since negotiation is left to the discretion of individual employees, each employee looks out for himself. Tenure would still be important to all employees and this issue may form the core of their negotiations with potential employers. In the future of work, one could also see that an aging population of workers would inevitably fill the positions. Coupled with the issue of an aging population is the conflict between work-life issues. The worker is also facing the challenge of juggling family responsibilities with the demands at work. Family responsibilities have expanded to include care for an elderly parent. Managed care has become more expensive and ordinary employees could hardly afford it. Finally, legislations in support of globalisation are already in place. The British government, in compliance with EU directives to make labour markets more flexible, is prepared to face the challenges of globalisation. Legislation in the future would aim for less litigation and the application of alternative resolution to labour grievances would be actively pursued. Bibliography Auer, P. 2006. Protected Mobility for Employment and Decent Work: Labour Market Security in a Globalized World. Journal of International Relations, Volume 48, No.1; pp.21-40. Brahm, E. 2005 Globalization [Online] Available at: http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/globalization [Accessed 18 April 2007] Christensen, P.M. 1999. Toward a Comprehensive Work/Life Strategy in Integrating Work and Family: Challenges and Choices for a Changing World. Saroj Parasuraman and Jeffrey H. Greenhaus (eds). Westport, CT. Praeger. pp.25-36. Debrah, Y.A. & Smith, I. (eds) 2002. Globalization, Employment, and the Workplace: Diverse Impacts. London, Routledge. Dick, P. and Hyde, R. 2006. Line Manager Involvement in Work-Life Balance and Career Development: Can't Manage, Won't Manage British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, Volume 34, Issue No. 3; pp.345 - 364. Gennard, J. 2003. Editorial: The Employment Act, 2002: A Further Advance in Employment Rights. Employee Relations. Volume 25, Issue no.1; pp.129 -131. Milliken, F.J. and Dunn-Jensen, L.M. 2005.The Changing Time Demands of Managerial and Professional Work: Implications for Managing the Work-Life Boundary in Work and Life Integration: Organizational, Cultural, and Individual Perspectives. Ellen Ernst Kossek and Susan J. Lambert - (eds) Mahwah, NJ, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, pp.43 - 57. Parasuraman, S. and Greenhaus, J. (eds).1999. Integrating Work and Family: Challenges and Choices for a Changing World. Westport, CT. Praeger. Pollert, A. 2007. Britain and Individual Employment Rights: 'Paper Tigers, Fierce in Appearance but Missing in Tooth and Claw' Economic and Industrial Democracy, Volume 28, no.1; pp, 110 - 139. Taylor, R. n.d. The Future or Work-Life Balance [Online] Available at: http://www.esrc.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/Images/fow_publication_2_tcm6-6060.pdf [Accessed 18 April 2007]. Wohl, F. 1999. A Panoramic View of Work and Family in Integrating Work and Family: Challenges and Choices for a Changing World. Saroj Parasuraman and Jeffrey H. Greenhaus (eds). Westport, CT. Praeger. pp.15-22 Read More