New Work: utopian future trend or revolutionary reality?

We present to you: the megatrend New Work!

Have you already had the pleasure with the phrase that, it feels like, gets thrown into the room ever more frequently, but in its meaning can't quite be grasped?

Old Work and New Work here, working world 4.0 there. Ever more frequently, such and similar buzzwords suggest to us that our general understanding of work is fundamentally changing. But how exactly?

We'll reveal to you what the concept of New Work is about and which potentials the development holds for your company.

Where does New Work actually come from?

Like many other Anglicized terms, New Work gives the impression that it's a still relatively young topic. Actually, however, the idea is much older.

The concept goes back to Prof. Dr. Frithjof Bergmann, born in Saxony in 1930. As a social philosopher, he occupied himself above all with the freedom of people and how this is compatible with work. Against this backdrop, in the years 1976 to 1979, during trips to the former Eastern Bloc countries, he gained important insights that were to be the foundation of his further theses.

Bergmann found that socialism was no future-proof solution for the working world. The classic wage labor of capitalism too would, from his view, not function much longer. He saw the reasons for this, among other things, in the fact that the era of industrialization had long found its end and ever greater attention was being devoted to automation.

So in the following years, the philosopher made it his task to develop an alternative model for the organization of work. In the main focus lay above all values like freedom and self-realization. People should no longer serve work, but work serve people.

Besides his theses, Frithjof Bergmann also created practical approaches by founding the “Center for New Work” in the American automobile city of Flint. There, mass layoffs threatened at a company, which he was able to avert with a groundbreaking proposal. The workforce was divided into two groups that were to alternate in their tasks. For six months, one half of the workforce worked, while the other visited his center. There, for the first time, workers had the chance to pursue activities that really interested them and that they perceived as meaningful.

Frithjof Bergmann thereby became, over time, the intellectual father of a revolutionary rethink. Through his alternative, he showed that work systems, as we've known them for centuries, aren't set in stone.

What is New Work?

The New Work concept according to Bergmann triggered a debate that has accompanied us since the 80s to today and increasingly gains significance. Ever more, we occupy ourselves as a society with the question of whether it's purposeful to view work only as a means to an end.

This process goes hand in hand with profound economic, political and sociocultural developments. In the 21st century, humanity has long left behind the age of the industrial revolution and its “Old Work”. Our everyday life is instead shaped by new influences, like…

• …digitalization, which, among other things, increasingly shifts trade, education, finance and also healthcare into the virtual space;
• …automation through innovative technologies and artificial intelligence, with which work and production steps are newly shaped;
• …globalization, which lastingly changes the world economy, mobility and diversity;
• …the change of the population structure, like for example the shortage of young talent through low birth rates since the 70s.

These factors lead to a radical change of the professional world, which forces companies as well as employees to rethink. This is exactly the point at which New Work comes in. It's a kind of collective term for strategies, concepts, methods and approaches that occupy themselves with the future of work.

The probably most important characteristic is that New Work isn't a rigid approach. It's much more a very multifaceted construct that comprises all efforts to reshape the working world under the new social conditions.

New Work isn't a rigid approach, but a multifaceted construct.

Particularities and significance of New Work

If it were about finding a guiding motif for New Work, then this would probably be the evaluation of work itself. For most people, their own profession is no longer the main content of life. Rather, the question of the meaningfulness of one's own doing comes to the fore. To put it in Bergmann's words: with New Work it's ultimately about organizing work such that one “can do the work one really, really wants to.”

But why is New Work not only advantageous for employees, but also offers great opportunities for employers? In times of skilled-worker shortage and the so-called „War of Talents“, no company will get around a reorganization of work structures. In addition, as paradoxical as it may sound, productivity and performance increases also result from New Work. Because satisfied and motivated employees accomplish their tasks more efficiently and contribute more to the value chain of companies. That consequently also leads to happier customers – and thus to competitive advantages.

This paradigm shift from the dull performance society to conscious, meaningful work is what makes up New Work. That brings with it profound structural changes that concern the entire working world. The change reaches from the leadership culture in companies all the way to innovative forms of work and a new definition of work.

The exciting thing about this process is that it's less a controlled renaissance that can be traced back exactly to a certain point in time or trigger. Actually, there was never an official starting signal among workers, companies and the economy to begin with the new work. Rather, the New Work concept is alive and has been influencing our professional everyday life for years already. Working world 4.0 is long since lived reality:

• Talented employees of Generation Y and Z can no longer be lured by high wages or status alone, but increasingly wish to be able to unfold in their work.
• Companies see their employees as their greatest potential, which it's worth fostering;
• Existing organizational structures for work processes dissolve, procedures are increasingly handled digitally and thus become more flexible, faster-paced and location-independent;
• Work and free time can no longer be strictly separated, which is why a new symbiosis is needed;
• The departure from the classic nine-to-five week advances and new models like home office and coworking spaces find great resonance.

Examples for the implementation of New Work

The sustainable transformation process becomes even clearer with the innovative work models that can be assigned to the New Work concept. These forms of work have in common that they're based on digitalization, require modern organization and leadership and newly define working. Some examples of this are:

• Working-time flexibilization: Rigid time structures and shift systems are broken up and adapted to modern needs. Examples of this are the 4-day week and the 6-hour day as alternatives to the nine-to-five week.
• Remote Work and Freelancing: People can work from anywhere and no longer have to necessarily do that for only one company. Organizations in turn have the chance, with their permanent staff, to plan cost-efficiently. They can, as needed, specifically consult external experts or react flexibly to short-term bottlenecks with crowdworkers.
• Innovative and interactive work environment: Office concepts are increasingly to be shaped such that employees feel comfortable and can freely unfold their creative potential. Possible forms of implementation are coworking spaces and desk sharing.
• Agile working: To be able to go with the times, short decision paths, fast internal procedures as well as active fostering and development of new ideas are needed.
• Home office: Home office is an important instrument when it comes to the work-life balance of employees. Used correctly, it can foster productivity, reduce stress and costs and increase motivation.
• Virtual teams: Thanks to digitalization, employees as well as processes are no longer necessarily location-bound. Teams can by now successfully work on projects without ever having met in person. That opens up many new possibilities for companies, but equally requires corresponding technical, communicative and organizational prerequisites.

Besides increased interaction and dynamics, above all possibilities for flexibilization are components of the New Work approach.

The introduction of these and similar innovative approaches for work processes ran, in the past years, especially in larger companies, still rather hesitantly. The deliberate use of modern and flexible structures was mostly ascribed rather to the start-up scene.

With the corona pandemic, these cards were redealt. Within the shortest time, nearly all companies were forced to face a new work reality. Home office, virtual teams and digital meetings suddenly became the new standard.

Even if the occasion was no positive one and this abrupt switch caused numerous difficulties, the unexpected reshaping of many procedures also brought positives with it. The debate over what the work of the future looks like is more active than ever.

grandega's House of New Work

Bear in mind, everything we've reported to you up to just now is only a very superficial introduction to the topic of New Work. So it's no wonder that there's frequent talk of a megatrend. New Work comprises all factors of the working world, from the mindset of people through strategies to the right tools for accomplishing tasks.

This broad spectrum, however, makes it a challenge for companies to adjust sustainably to the new circumstances. On top of that comes that the transformation process is a very individual one for each organization and requires different impulses.

Against this backdrop, grandega, as a management and technology consultancy, has developed the model of the House of New Work. Here, our experts elaborate a concept tailored to you and your needs for the New Work transformation of your organization. That's based on 4 dimensions:

The grandega House of New Work

1.) People: The people who form the foundation of your company. These include both motivated employees and trained leaders who can implement New Leadership measures

2.) Structure: All structural conditions in your organization, like organizational procedures or the office and work design.

3.) Cooperation: The shaping of the collaboration of all involved, by newly forming rankings and teams and creating shared free spaces.

4.) Tools: The implementation of digital solutions and processes with whose help your workforce can optimally realize everyday work.

On this basis, we support your company in actively living New Work in order to be equipped for the future.

Would you like to learn more about New Work and our integral competence approach? Then feel free to contact us for a conversation about your transformation.