New work: de­vel­op­ment, meaning, and examples

Dig­i­tal­iza­tion continues to change our working en­vi­ron­ments. The new work concept describes how companies should deal with these changes. Greater flex­i­bil­i­ty and self-de­ter­mi­na­tion aim to help employees feel more satisfied at work, thereby boosting pro­duc­tiv­i­ty in the long-term. Read on to find out what new work is and what it means.

New work is not an entirely new phe­nom­e­non. The term has been used since the 1970s. Today, it is em­blem­at­ic of the struc­tur­al change in corporate en­vi­ron­ments.

These changes are being driven by the dig­i­tal­iza­tion and au­toma­tion of our daily lives. Existing jobs are being elim­i­nat­ed or modified, and new positions continue to be created. Ar­ti­fi­cial in­tel­li­gence and glob­al­iza­tion are in­ten­si­fy­ing these de­vel­op­ments. At the same time, the demands of Gen­er­a­tion Y – those born in the early 80s to late 90s – are changing. Job­seek­ers of this gen­er­a­tion are looking for roles with purpose; roles they can shape to some extent. Ful­fill­ment is in­creas­ing­ly taking prece­dence over high salaries and pres­ti­gious titles.

For busi­ness­es, new work means keeping up with tech­no­log­i­cal progress and, at the same time, offering employees an at­trac­tive workplace. These are chal­lenges that require visible struc­tur­al changes, but above all a change within the corporate culture or the so-called “mindset”.

There is no checklist for what new work should look like at a corporate level. Each company must define new work for them­selves and derive their own measures. The market, the customers, the com­pe­ti­tion, and the employees ul­ti­mate­ly define what a new work culture will look like. The only thing that is certain is that in the long-term, hardly any company will be able to afford to do without new work, since the shortage of skilled workers continues to grow, es­pe­cial­ly in emerging pro­fes­sions, and experts will ul­ti­mate­ly select companies that un­der­stand new work.

Ad­van­tages of new work for companies according to studies include:

• In­creas­ing pro­duc­tiv­i­ty and staff mo­ti­va­tion
• Boosting in­no­va­tion
• Higher employee loyalty
• A com­pet­i­tive advantage thanks to employees and products that are con­stant­ly evolving

At the heart of new work are employees, who expect maximum flex­i­bil­i­ty from their employer in all facets – from project and task choice, to working hours and location. In concrete terms, new work consists of the following basic ideas:

1. Staff select their tasks according to interest and skills and not according to struc­tur­al framework con­di­tions such as titles or team mem­ber­ship. The idea behind this is that people who are pas­sion­ate about an idea tend to achieve better results. In the best case, employees thus develop their full potential and advance the company with new ideas.
2. Employees are free to decide which projects they complete when, where, and how. So called agile working is as much a feature of new work as is working from home. Digital col­lab­o­ra­tion tools ensure that everyone involved in a project can easily co­or­di­nate their tasks and un­der­stands the project status at all times.
3. Tech­nol­o­gy frees employees of certain tasks but doesn’t eliminate their jobs. Nowadays, routine tasks can often be managed by machines. People have more time to devote to more exciting and new tasks. Another basic idea of new work is that work should be inspiring!
4. Work isn’t every­thing. Being mindful of oneself, others, and one’s health in general is part of the new work concept. Work-life balance, i.e. the perfect com­bi­na­tion of work and private life, is of great im­por­tance.
5. Team in focus. People are social beings who want to be part of a group and are more motivated when they feel they are working towards a common goal. Knowledge is shared as widely as possible within a team or the entire company.

If you want to introduce new work in your company, the im­ple­men­ta­tion process begins with the corporate values and with the employees because they should be involved right from the start. A sense of a common spirit or optimism, the right to have a say, and the freedom to shape things are fun­da­men­tal in­gre­di­ents for new work to be suc­cess­ful.

Examples of im­ple­ment­ing new work:

• Break up rigid at­ten­dance and work schedules. Introduce flexi-time, a four-day week, a 6-hour day or working from home. Sab­bat­i­cals and digital nomandum – working in­de­pen­dent of location – are also good examples of new work.
• Set up offices in a way that allow for col­lab­o­ra­tive creative working, but also more focused working. You could combine in­di­vid­ual office spaces with shared spaces equipped with flipcharts, white­boards, and other tools. Co-working and shared desk solutions are also good solutions.
• Introduce digital col­lab­o­ra­tion tools – from cloud solutions to platforms like Jira, Trello, or Microsoft Teams to digital white­boards and mind maps.
• Introduce agile working. There are various ap­proach­es and methods such as Scrum and design thinking. These ways of working are char­ac­ter­ized by speed and added flex­i­bil­i­ty.
• Dissolve rigid hi­er­ar­chies and tra­di­tion­al lead­er­ship styles. New work is not about leaders assigning tasks to employees and mon­i­tor­ing progress; instead, they become fa­cil­i­ta­tors, mo­ti­va­tors, and coaches. Trust and mutual un­der­stand­ing are more important than hi­er­ar­chi­cal positions in a company.

New work means struc­tur­al and cultural change that takes time and patience. It’s best to start by in­tro­duc­ing small changes and, if necessary, get support from external con­sul­tants – fresh eyes are in­valu­able. Since markets, tech­nolo­gies, and people con­tin­u­ous­ly evolve, the new work project is never finished. There is always something to improve.