Goodbye to strict hierarchies, hello to more freedom and responsibility: new work describes a fundamental change in working environment 4.0 and a way of working where flexibility and self-determination take center stage. We highlight these aspects and the effects of new work on ways of working, working methods and management. Above all, employees’ need for meaningful work is paramount.
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If we had to describe new work in the form of a scene from work, it might look like this: you have employees at an interactive touchscreen table working to come up with ideas in real time for a new project. They are preparing a video meeting that employees from various disciplines will be taking part in, even employees working from home. That’s because new work broadly allows them to tailor their working hours to their own preferences. The team then jointly decides what ideas to pursue. But why is new work growing increasingly important?
New work predominantly looks at how work can become something that empowers people, makes organizations more resilient and solves social issues. When it comes to new work, its very purpose is not just about making money, but doing something we actually enjoy and that is meaningful. That need for a sense of purpose and the desire to develop and have influence is something that is highly valued in the workplace. This is why “good work” is also a common term in this context, i.e. work that is good for people, the organization and the environment.
New work helps meet the needs and requirements of the working environment 4.0. Rigid hierarchies and processes are dismantled in favour of flexibility and a productive working environment. The focus is on employees. As a result of new work, working hours, place of work and the type of collaboration and management are reevaluated and redefined. Flexibility, self-determination and a new management style play a vital role in new work.
New work has an impact on working models and working environment. Both are becoming more flexible.
Globalization and digitization mean that many of the rigid working models of the 20th century are no longer up to date. Companies offer employees ways to plan their day more flexibly and personally, to work when they are at their most productive, and to strike a better work-life balance.
Employers have many ways of offering flexibility. These include:
Offices become the company’s “cultural mile”. This is where the company’s values are visible, where team spirit is built, and where you find collaboration and co-creation. This means the working environment must also become more flexible. Flexible workspace concepts should help promote communication, teamwork and knowledge sharing between employees. The goal is to replace the silo mentality with interdisciplinary teamwork. Last but not least, an appealing working environment is what makes a company an appealing employer, especially for Generation Z.
The perfect working environment for new work is co-working spaces. They allow people to work outside conventional office structures. Flexible workspace solutions promote openness, collaboration and accessibility, across individual areas and disciplines. Additionally, co-working spaces have a positive effect on creativity and innovation, as they bring together people from all walks of life and industries, which leads to new ideas and fresh perspectives. Co-working spaces are primarily external office solutions for digital nomads. However, co-working spaces can also be implemented within companies themselves.
PostFinance aims to provide its employees with working environments that are tailored to the different needs of the individual units or teams. Controlling, for example, has very different requirements compared to a team responsible for web application development. Depending on the individual needs of each unit, there can be different zones for various types of work and activities:
In addition, PostFinance also offers remote working opportunities, such as the co-working spaces at the PostParc in Bern or Zurich Oerlikon. Other places of this kind are set to appear all over Switzerland.
Moreover, the way people work (together) is also changing with new work. When it comes to developing new products and services, for instance, agile working methods are replacing conventional ones. Agile working methods are fast, foster creativity and produce more innovations. They are based on short development cycles known as sprints that allow teams to deliver working products faster and to continue tweaking them on an ongoing basis through feedback loops. This results in products and services that are better tailored to customer needs, which makes them more successful. This, in turn, enables companies to react quicker to market changes and technological developments. Last but not least, agile working is also enjoyable, as everyone can make a greater contribution.
A core tenet of new work is giving employees more autonomy and self-determination. This means companies giving their employees more responsibility and trust, and encouraging them to take the initiative and to make their own independent decisions. Employees enjoy more freedom of design and of choice, which helps increase job satisfaction and motivation. As a result, new work can lead to a more fulfilling working life. This is where lifelong learning plays a central role. Lifelong learning is not just a professional need, it also responds to the desire and need of many people to develop in a variety of ways throughout their lives and to acquire future skills.
Consistent implementation of a self-organized team is called holocracy or sociocracy, which you find at VNTR | Innovation and Venturing by PostFinance and the Data Science Team, to give a few examples. Sociocracy is all about consistent self-determination and personal responsibility, something far removed from hierarchies: everyone involved is equal, and they make decisions based on the principle of consent. An idea is rejected only if someone raises a serious, well-justified objection.
Holocracy is an extension of sociocracy. Probably the most important difference is that a majority can also make a decision.
As mentioned, new work involves people working on their own initiative and enjoying a high level of personal freedom. Managers are not exempt from this new working environment, either. New work requires a new type of management: management 4.0. Management is evolving from purely managerial functions to managerial roles. When it comes to management 4.0, management tasks are not down to one person, but distributed amongst roles. Management roles give guidance in answering “Why?”, “What?”, “Where?” and “Who?”, and deal with the basic conditions so that the “How?” can be taken care of. Bernd Oestereich, thought leader for cooperatively managed organizations, sums this up as follows: “Management is too important to be left solely to managers.”
New work managers are not bosses who give instructions and want to scrutinize and control every single work step, but rather they are coaches who support their employees in self-organized work. “Servant leadership” is also a term you might hear: servant leaders promote a collaborative approach within the team by providing inspiration. The focus is on empowering team members to be their sparring partners and on establishing the basic conditions that will help the team succeed. At the heart of all of this is each employee and the task of harnessing their potential and promoting their development.
Servant leadership requires the following attributes:
Models such as co-leadership, shared leadership and part-time leadership arrangements, under which the managers of a department or a company share leadership responsibility or manage on a part-time basis, are also in line with this type of management 4.0. Responsibility is shared, decisions are made jointly.
| Conventional leaders | Servant leaders |
|---|---|
| Conventional leaders Set targets |
Servant leaders Create the basic conditions that allow teams to work independently and set their own goals |
| Conventional leaders Make decisions by themselves |
Servant leaders Support their team in making decisions and take decisions with the team |
| Conventional leaders Give instructions |
Servant leaders Coach and inspire |
| Conventional leaders Are interested primarily in results |
Servant leaders Help their team achieve their goal |
