Better Work: The Impact of Automation, Flexibilization and Intensification of Work

ISBN-13: 9783030786847 / Angielski / Miękka / 2021 / 212 str.

Monique Kremer; Robert Went; Godfried Engbersen

Spis treści

Chapter 1 Introduction

1.1  Three major developments: automation, flexibilization and intensification

1.2 Better work as a societal mission

1.3 Concerns about the quality of work

1.4 Better work and well-being

1.5 In this book

A day at work: the truck driver

Chapter 2. The importance of better work

2.1 The meaning of paid work

2.2 Good work: insights from the social sciences

2.3 Conditions for good work

2.4 Consequences of good work for the individual, the economy and society

2.5 Conclusion: good work means control

A day at work: the primary-school teacher

 

Part 1.  Good work: development and current status

Chapter 3. Control over income

3.1 Insecure work

3.2 Social security and insecurity

3.3 Repair or revise

3.4 Security of employment and professional development

3.5 Wage development

3.6 Conclusion: control over income requires more security and less inequality

A day at work: the order picker

 

Chapter 4. Control over work

4.1 Busier than ever? The intensification of work

4.2 Autonomy as Achilles’ heel

4.3 Camaraderie at work

4.4 Differences in control over work: education and occupation

4.5 Who is responsible for control over work?

4.6 Conclusion: control over work requires more autonomy and camaraderie

A day at work: the IT worker

 

Chapter 5. Control in life

5.1 Part-time work, or looking after number one

5.2 Paid leave

5.3 Control over working hours

5.4 Blurring boundaries

5.5 Conclusion: control in life requires more than just part-time work

Part 1 – Conclusion: work could be better

A day at work: the retail floor manager

 

Part 2. Work for all

Chapter 6. Everyone into work

6.1 Technological developments

6.2 Flexible labour market

6.3 Intensification of work

6.4 Policies to help people into work

6.5 Conclusion: new vulnerabilities, new policy challenges

A day at work: the chartered accountant

 

Part 3. The new societal mission

Chapter 7. Room to choose good work

7.1 Globalization with policy space

7.2 Technology does not just happen

7.3 Investing in good work

7.4 A task for government

7.5 Conclusion: room for choice?

A day at work: the homecare worker

 

Chapter 8. Better work: conclusions and recommendations

8.1 Good work is under pressure

8.2 Security of income

8.3 More control over work

8.4 Work-life balance

8.5 Better work as an objective of public policy

 

Bibliography

O autorze

Monique Kremer is a professor of active citizenship, department of sociology, University of Amsterdam, chair of the migration advisory board, and was previously employed at the WRR. She has published numerous books on a variety of topics, such as How welfare states care (2007, Amsterdam University Press), People, Policy and the New Pofessional (2006) and Vreemden in de verzorgingsstaat (2016, Strangers in the Welfare Sttate).

Robert Went (1955) works at the WRR since 2007. He has attained a doctorate in economics with a dissertation on globalization (Routledge 2002). Before he joined the WRR, he has worked among others at the Dutch court of audit (Algemene Rekenkamer) as a project manager. He has written a lot about economic issues for the general public, and is very active on twitter (@went1955). He is also a member of the board of Rethinking Economics in The Netherlands. 

Godfried Engbersen, is a professor of sociology at Erasmus University Rotterdam and a council member of the WRR. Key themes in his research are social inequality and international migration. He published numerous books, among which (with others) A Continent Moving West: EU Enlargement and Labour Migration from Central and Eastern Europe (Amsterdam University Press 2010); Beyond Networks. Feedback in International Migration (Palgrave 2016), and Cultures of Unemployment (Routledge 2019).

Blurb

This is an Open Access book. How can we make work better? It is an important question, one that the Dutch government, employers’ organizations and trade unions have been grappling with. People work to make money. But work also inspires self-respect, shapes our identity and gives us a sense of belonging – especially when the work we do is good. Good work is essential to prosperity in the broadest sense: to the quality of life we experience as individuals, to the economy and to society as a whole. 

Work in the Netherlands could be better. In Better Work. The automation, flexibilization and intensification of work, the Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy offers nine recommendations to help all workers gain more control over their money, their work and their lives – the three basic conditions of good work. While the primary responsibility for good work lies with employers, the government can help through legislation and regulations, supervision and subsidies, and through its tenders.