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The World of Work is Rapidly Changing IELTS Essay

The world of work is rapidly changing and employees cannot depend on having the same job or the same working conditions for life. Discuss the possible causes and suggest ways to prepare people to work in the future.

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience. You should write at least 250 words.

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This essay was asked on Recent IELTS Exam 20 January 2022 India Question Answers

The World of Work is Rapidly Changing IELTS Essay – Model Essay 1

These days, people’s workplaces are constantly changing and evolving to meet the demands of modern society. Furthermore, the roles and responsibilities of jobs are also undergoing changes to adapt to new ways of working and living. This essay will discuss the possible reasons for these changes and suggest some ways that people can better prepare themselves for their future careers.

Firstly, due to the developments in hi-tech machines and artificial intelligence, millions of people all around the world are losing their jobs and being replaced by automated processes. For example, millions of factory workers have lost their jobs because they have been replaced by machines that are able to do their job quicker and more effectively. Furthermore, as a result of the ever-increasing desire to cut expenses and increase profits, many jobs are being outsourced to countries where the wages are lower. For instance, when a person calls a tech support helpline in an English-speaking country, they will most likely be connected to someone in another country, like India or the Philippines, where the wages are lower.

However, there are a number of ways that people can prepare for changes in their workplaces in the future. Firstly, students preparing to leave high school need to be advised about the sustainability of the career path they are choosing. To illustrate, autonomous vehicles are predicted to replace most delivery and taxi driver jobs in the very near future, so this is not a job that someone should expect to have for a very long time. Furthermore, while some jobs are being replaced by technology, many jobs are simply incorporating technology into their process, and therefore people will need to be able to keep up to date with these changes. To help achieve this, specific courses could be designed to help educate people on the use of modern technology in their workplaces.

In conclusion, although there are many changes in the workplace these days, educating people to carefully choose their career and to keep up to date with modern technology, is the key to avoiding any major problems.

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The World of Work is Changing Rapidly Essay – Model Essay 2

It is irrefutable that the work scenario is altering at a fast pace. Working conditions are also different and the process of job-hopping is very common. This essay shall delve into the possible causes for these changes and suggest ways to prepare for work in the time to come.

To begin with, the development of science and technology has changed the structure of work. For example, people no longer need to do some heavy work by themselves. Instead, they can use machines. Secondly, competition has become intense and people have to constantly update themselves with the latest materials and methods. Sometimes they cannot compete with the new techno-savvy workforce and so have to change jobs out of compulsion.

Furthermore, we belong to an era of consumerism. Being surrounded by so many choices, people today want to buy new things and for that, they do multiple jobs. In addition, the 24/7 society of today provides us the opportunity to work day and night. For instance, in earlier times, there were very few jobs which were round-the-clock jobs. But, today, globalization has brought in a multitude of options of working day and night. The line between day and night has become dim and people have become workaholics.

There could be many suggestions to prepare for work in the future. People should have a set goal in their mind and get training accordingly. Moreover, it is important to draw a line somewhere. The stress and strain of the fast modern workplace is leading many to nervous breakdowns. In the developed countries, a new term called downshifting has already come where after a certain stage, people are saying ‘no’ to promotions and showing contentment with less. We should also realize that if we stick to one job, then also life can be more stable and we can enjoy our leisure also. ieltsxpress

To put in a nutshell, I pen down saying that, although work conditions are different today and we have a need to update our knowledge regularly, we can plan our life in a meticulous way and have a balance between work and leisure.

Also Check:   There is a General Increase in Anti-Social Behaviour Essay

IELTS Writing Task 2 on Jobs – Model Essay 3

In today’s modern world, people tend to change jobs more often than before and don’t want to work permanently in one environment. I would like to explore the sources of this issue and suggest several solutions for future work.

Firstly, due to the global recession, many employers have to downsize and restructure their businesses. This leads to a number of redundant employees being forced to leave their jobs and find other ones. Another reason is that, as living costs are getting higher and higher, people want to earn as much money as they can to meet their needs. Hence, they seek better opportunities and well-paid jobs everywhere, every day. Some also look for new challenges. Last but not least, thanks to new technology, people nowadays are able to access information more easily, including information about job recruiting.

One of my suggestions for this problem is that if we can create a comfortable working environment and build strong relationships between colleagues; and between managers and workers. These will make employees find it harder to leave. To archive this, courses such as leadership training and communication skill training should be carried out to help supervisors lead their team efficiently without causing any stress, and help employees fit inconveniently. ielts xpress 

By the way of conclusion, I would like to state that change job is one the remarkable signs of technological times and soft skill training courses possibly help people adapt to the working environment instead of finding a way to escape it.

The Workplace is Changing Rapidly – Model Essay 4

Work culture lately has been dynamically transformed, mainly due to improvements in technology like transport and communication. Job security has become a dicey issue as employees now need to keep themselves updated with the advancements around them. This essay shall further explain the reasons and offer probable solutions. ieltsxpress.com

In the last two decades, we have seen a remarkable spread of technology in all wakes of life. With easy access to the Internet and computers, work has become faster and easier. Innovation of office tools is encouraged everywhere so as to not let anything hinder the growth of trade and commerce. With each task becoming effortless, manual intervention at many places has been reduced. Ergo, rising insecurity is seen among employees. Additionally, employees are expected to multi-task in their jobs making it more difficult for older workers to sustain.

The remedial measures for such a situation are very few as of now. First of all, state-of-the-art employee training centers to help the employees stay well-versed with the high-tech upgradations. To solve this problem from an earlier level, universities should start imparting practical training in their curriculum, with the know-how of current on-the-job scenarios to prepare potential workers better. All this needs to be done as the employees losing their jobs also lose financial security for their families, and it is very difficult to start again from ground zero.

To conclude, I’d say we should accept the ever-changing technological advancements as they’re unlikely to stop. Better would be to equip ourselves and become flexible accordingly so as to welcome such developments.

How The World of Work is Changing – Model Essay 5

It is indeed true that the world has been increasing by loops and bound for a long time and very few employees can handle obstacles in their near future. Because it has some reason. However, to my notion, employees need some specification training for it.

There are various reasons behind why it has increased, first and foremost, in globalization time every company wants to grow fast. Secondly, important roles are being played by studying on the contemporary world. that is why every employee ought to be cognizant of every field. so that he/she can do everything for their job. Moreover, technology has changed every life completely. for instance mobile, internet and computer are very prominent in the work field. it helps the employee to make their job easy. Finally, in today’s time, we can see a person living in India and working for a company located in us.

on contrary, every problem has a solution there is some way which can help employees for their job. to start with they must be taught English because English is a basic requirement for learning any new thing. Moreover, they must be friendly with their peer group members. in addition, management skills, internet, and computer knowledge must be important. these all things give help them in their upcoming time.

To sum up, I firmly believe that there are ample chances in today’s work environment. However, by following some training. we can prepare employees for the near future growth and make spectacular culture.

Ideas for World of Work

Also Check:   It is Impossible to help all people in the world IELTS Essay

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Turning Points: Guest Essay

The Big Question: Is the World of Work Forever Changed?

We asked a group of professionals from around the world to envision what working will look like in 2022 and beyond.

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world of work essay

By The New York Times

This article is part of a series called Turning Points , in which writers explore what critical moments from this year might mean for the year ahead. You can read more by visiting the Turning Points series page .

During the life-changing Covid-19 pandemic, millions of people were fortunate enough to work from home during lockdowns, while others were called upon to put themselves at physical risk to keep cities and economies from collapsing. As the world re-emerges from Covid, we are seeing renewed attention in the workplace to issues of social injustice, economic inequality, corporate social responsibility, and diversity and inclusion.

Earlier this year, we asked a small group of leaders in various professions: Is the world of work forever changed?

Their answers have been edited and condensed.

Vicky Lau: ‘People Are Looking for True Fulfillment’

Over the past two years, the food and beverage industry has evolved rapidly. Restaurants and bars have scrambled to adapt to and survive the unprecedented rules and regulations brought on by the pandemic that have ultimately led to the demise of thousands of establishments around the world. Meanwhile, Covid-19 lockdowns and new technologies have pushed workers to switch jobs or pursue entirely new careers.

There has been a noticeable shift away from the traditional career restaurant worker to one preferring to juggle multiple jobs or jump from one to the next. People are looking for true fulfillment in their lives and careers, and with e-commerce businesses easier to set up than ever, workers have become their own bosses and have even started their own enterprises. Restrictions on indoor dining, coupled with the fact that many people are working from home, have created a new pattern of habits with regard to how food is both approached (rediscovering a love for home cooking) and consumed (the mushrooming use of food delivery apps).

In Hong Kong, consumers have adopted much healthier eating habits. A new global focus on self-care means many people want to be the best version of themselves coming out of the pandemic. More business owners are also sourcing locally, connecting with regional farmers and experimenting with their own creations.

Aligning with shifting consumer needs while taking on waves of lockdown restrictions are just two of the many ways in which the industry has struggled to stay on top of the game.

In the future, our relationship with food will have to go back to the very beginning: good ingredients. For chefs, whether we’re preparing a traditional meal or adapting to a new way of dining, sourcing will be critical. The future of the industry depends on it.

Vicky Lau is the executive chef and owner of Tate Dining Room in Hong Kong.

Billy Bragg: ‘The Validation of the Crowd’

I’ve always been an itinerant worker. Some musicians earn enough money from their recordings, but most of us make our living out on the road. Since I turned professional 35 years ago, I’ve plied my trade all over the world. When the pandemic hit in 2020, I had dates booked in Australia, New Zealand, Germany, the Netherlands and the United States. As clubs and theaters went dark and my tours were postponed, I felt certain that this thing would all be over in time for the summer festivals. Then the cancellation of the annual Glastonbury Festival in Somerset, England, brought home the seriousness of the situation.

When the first lockdown in Britain was announced, like many musicians I was confronted by the steep learning curve facing any performer who chooses to work live on the internet. As a young man I’d enjoyed watching myself in the bedroom mirror, striking rock star poses while strumming furiously on a tennis racket. These days, playing an hour of songs with nothing to look at but my own reflection staring back at me from a smartphone screen hasn’t been quite so engaging, and the only discernible crowd reaction has been the stream of emojis bubbling up silently as I play.

Yet it’s not only performers who need the validation of the crowd. Music has a way of making us feel that we are not alone and gives us a sense that others also face the emotional quandaries we do. That feeling of empathy is never more powerful than when it’s experienced at a live concert.

To have a song that has fortified your resolve to rise above your problems, and then find yourself in the presence of the artist who provided that impetus, can be an energizing experience. When they sing your song, and hundreds — maybe thousands — of other voices join with yours in response, the sense of validation is euphoric. This is a moment of blessed communion, during which doubt and disconsolation are swept away. You leave the venue with your resilience recharged.

While the pandemic may transform the way we see the world and lead to long-lasting changes in the way some people work, I’m convinced that in my line of business, things will remain much as they ever were. The emotional solidarity of the live event is not something that can easily be replicated online.

Billy Bragg is a British singer, songwriter, activist and social commentator.

Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers: ‘A More Humane Labor Market’

Before the pandemic, most of us tried to maintain a boundary between our work lives and our lives at home. Children were seen rarely, and then mostly in desktop photos. Parents quietly adjusted their schedules without drawing attention to their caregiving obligations.

The pandemic shredded these porous boundaries. Suddenly, kids were in full view on Zoom; a barking dog or dancing cat might provide a moment of levity. Employers adjusted to scheduling around our caregiving responsibilities.

Pulling back this curtain on our personal lives has transformed our relationship with work. The results are reflected in both our actions and our intentions. Job resignations hit an all-time high in 2021, and workers are changing industries and occupations more frequently than they did before the pandemic. Surveys show that more than half of U.S. workers have an eye toward new employment. Only a quarter of U.S. fathers and a third of mothers surveyed said that they plan to keep on working as they did before the pandemic — the rest aspire to change the number of hours they work, or look for a different type of job.

Necessity has forced change, and led each of us to reimagine what’s possible. And that reimagining has led workers to see more control for themselves, and better opportunities ahead.

For some this will mean not returning to the office full time. The typical worker whose job can be done there is likely to continue working from home at least part of the time. The time saved (in billions of collective hours) and convenience (say, throwing in a load of laundry between meetings) generated benefits too great to give back.

Beyond working from home, many people are looking for something new. They are negotiating where and how much they choose to work, and are walking away from low-paying, high-risk jobs. Some want to strike a better balance by working less or finding a less stressful or demanding position. Others are seeking better opportunities to build the career they truly want. The shifting pandemic economy, in which there are a record number of job openings , has given workers the bargaining power to demand — rather than merely hope for — these changes.

Every economic upheaval needs a name. Call this one The Great Reallocation. It might be disruptive for a little while, but the result just might be a more humane labor market.

Betsey Stevenson, an American economist, and Justin Wolfers, an Australian economist, are professors of economics and public policy at the University of Michigan. They are experts on the economics of marriage, divorce and child-rearing.

Tina Brown: ‘People Felt Profound Digital Burnout Long Before Covid’

The more the virus refuses to go gently into the night, the clearer it becomes that a post-Covid world is simply an illusion.

The workplace is less a place than an elusive, shape-shifting locus of professional self-doubt; even more of a mirage for bosses than it is for employees. The boss may think she has a staff, but what she’s got are ghost soldiers — push them a little and they melt away. This leaves managers powerless in the face of demands for a hybrid office, a creature which only works if employees come in to work simultaneously. If they don’t, it’s impossible to hold a meeting without critical gaps at the table. It means having a sprinkling of nominal participants who log in and are forgotten about, and a no-show or two who later explain, “I’m sorry I missed that one — the Wi-Fi in Vermont is really bad.”

And let’s not forget Facebook’s virtual reality technology , in which absent co-workers appear as avatars, forcing the others to wear clunky headsets just to see the assistant marketing director as (perhaps fittingly) a nodding cartoon.

One misbegotten takeaway from the “new workplace” discussion is that many employees prefer to stay at home because they are more productive. Uh, no. People felt profound digital burnout long before Covid. If there is one common denominator in the elusive post-Covid mood, it’s that most sane people don’t want to work much at all. They prefer to do just enough to keep the wolf from the door and uphold a dash of professional relevance.

Old-school human resources departments are a thing of the past. Ghost soldiers don’t want to share their work problems with a suit whose role is to pacify you on behalf of government. Work and personal life have been irretrievably blurred in the Zoom world. I predict a growing use of pastoral care agencies like Sarah McCaffrey’s Solas Mind , which provides mental health support to freelancers in the creative sector.

Lockdown life revealed how fragile we all are — and how much we want to talk about it. The answer to office work in the future is clear: Employees should commute to the office for the same three-day week, then melt away to their newly treasured secret worlds.

Tina Brown is a journalist and author and the former editor of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker magazines.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter: ‘Tech Enables, but Humans Make the Rules’

Covid disruption could be the turning point for adopting — finally — quality work-life practices proposed for decades. Flexible schedules, equal opportunity for women and minorities, a good balance between work and family, and socially responsible companies have long been on the horizon as distant hopes.

One driver is technology. Tech contributes to change by enabling work from anywhere. It transforms institutions and makes services more accessible, whether education online or health care through telemedicine, robotic surgery or home health monitoring. Labor shortages in poorly paid rote jobs make room for robots, such as the robotic restaurant in my tech-heavy neighborhood. Goodbye, wage slavery.

But tech won’t create a workers’ paradise without bigger reforms. In-person face time is still an advantage for workers who can get to a workplace, which means that they need accessible child care and transportation, which have yet to materialize on a large scale. And a tech-dominated world carries troubling possibilities for control through increasingly sophisticated surveillance techniques, unless worker autonomy is protected.

Another potent driver of change is worker activism, led by younger top talent. Emboldened by competition for their skills and fueled by a mistrust of establishments, they protest undesirable customers, environmentally unfriendly products, rigid work requirements, discriminatory treatment and serial harassers. They seek greater participation in decisions, self-organizing to act directly rather than waiting for permission. They reinforce external pressure groups in holding businesses to ever-higher standards, and thus help corporate social responsibility programs and environmental, social and governance reporting become mainstream expectations.

That’s not enough. Unless workplaces better help workers realize their family priorities and personal values, jobs will cease being a central source of identity. The Great Resignation could continue, especially if entrepreneurship becomes a viable path for women and racial minorities — when they can break through the white male hold on venture capital. Without workplace transformation, paid work will be purely transactional, a loyalty-less survival necessity with loose ties akin to gig work. Even for the well-paid, jobs will be a sidetrack, dispensed with quickly so that the real business of living can begin. The charity road race will replace the rat race. The best work situations will offer opportunities for community service.

Work won’t morph from wage slavery into a workers’ paradise without a culture and public policies that require accessible child care, flexible schedules, a voice in decisions and social responsibility. Tech enables, but humans make the rules.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter is a professor of business at Harvard Business School who specializes in change leadership and innovation. Her latest book is “Think Outside the Building: How Advanced Leaders Can Change the World One Smart Innovation at a Time.”

Become a Writer Today

Essays About Work: 7 Examples and 8 Prompts

If you want to write well-researched essays about work, check out our guide of helpful essay examples and writing prompts for this topic.

Whether employed or self-employed, we all need to work to earn a living. Work could provide a source of purpose for some but also stress for many. The causes of stress could be an unmanageable workload, low pay, slow career development, an incompetent boss, and companies that do not care about your well-being.  Essays about work  can help us understand how to achieve a work/life balance for long-term happiness.

Work can still be a happy place to develop essential skills such as leadership and teamwork. If we adopt the right mindset, we can focus on situations we can improve and avoid stressing ourselves over situations we have no control over. We should also be free to speak up against workplace issues and abuses to defend our labor rights. Check out our  essay writing topics  for more.

5 Examples of Essays About Work

1.  when the future of work means always looking for your next job by bruce horovitz, 2. ‘quiet quitting’ isn’t the solution for burnout by rebecca vidra, 3. the science of why we burn out and don’t have to by joe robinson , 4. how to manage your career in a vuca world by murali murthy, 5. the challenges of regulating the labor market in developing countries by gordon betcherman, 6. creating the best workplace on earth by rob goffee and gareth jones, 7. employees seek personal value and purpose at work. be prepared to deliver by jordan turner, 8 writing prompts on essays about work, 1. a dream work environment, 2. how is school preparing you for work, 3. the importance of teamwork at work, 4. a guide to find work for new graduates, 5. finding happiness at work, 6. motivating people at work, 7. advantages and disadvantages of working from home, 8. critical qualities you need to thrive at work.

“For a host of reasons—some for a higher salary, others for improved benefits, and many in search of better company culture—America’s workforce is constantly looking for its next gig.”

A perennial search for a job that fulfills your sense of purpose has been an emerging trend in the work landscape in recent years. Yet, as human resource managers scramble to minimize employee turnover, some still believe there will still be workers who can exit a company through a happy retirement. You might also be interested in these  essays about unemployment .

“…[L]et’s creatively collaborate on ways to re-establish our own sense of value in our institutions while saying yes only to invitations that nourish us instead of sucking up more of our energy.”

Quiet quitting signals more profound issues underlying work, such as burnout or the bosses themselves. It is undesirable in any workplace, but to have it in school, among faculty members, spells doom as the future of the next generation is put at stake. In this essay, a teacher learns how to keep from burnout and rebuild a sense of community that drew her into the job in the first place.

“We don’t think about managing the demands that are pushing our buttons, we just keep reacting to them on autopilot on a route I call the burnout treadmill. Just keep going until the paramedics arrive.”

Studies have shown the detrimental health effects of stress on our mind, emotions and body. Yet we still willingly take on the treadmill to stress, forgetting our boundaries and wellness. It is time to normalize seeking help from our superiors to resolve burnout and refuse overtime and heavy workloads.

“As we start to emerge from the pandemic, today’s workplace demands a different kind of VUCA career growth. One that’s Versatile, Uplifting, Choice-filled and Active.”

The only thing constant in work is change. However, recent decades have witnessed greater work volatility where tech-oriented people and creative minds flourish the most. The essay provides tips for applying at work daily to survive and even thrive in the VUCA world. You might also be interested in these  essays about motivation .

“Ultimately, the biggest challenge in regulating labor markets in developing countries is what to do about the hundreds of millions of workers (or even more) who are beyond the reach of formal labor market rules and social protections.”

The challenge in regulating work is balancing the interest of employees to have dignified work conditions and for employers to operate at the most reasonable cost. But in developing countries, the difficulties loom larger, with issues going beyond equal pay to universal social protection coverage and monitoring employers’ compliance.

“Suppose you want to design the best company on earth to work for. What would it be like? For three years, we’ve been investigating this question by asking hundreds of executives in surveys and in seminars all over the world to describe their ideal organization.”

If you’ve ever wondered what would make the best workplace, you’re not alone. In this essay, Jones looks at how employers can create a better workplace for employees by using surveys and interviews. The writer found that individuality and a sense of support are key to creating positive workplace environments where employees are comfortable.

“Bottom line: People seek purpose in their lives — and that includes work. The more an employer limits those things that create this sense of purpose, the less likely employees will stay at their positions.”

In this essay, Turner looks at how employees seek value in the workplace. This essay dives into how, as humans, we all need a purpose. If we can find purpose in our work, our overall happiness increases. So, a value and purpose-driven job role can create a positive and fruitful work environment for both workers and employers.

In this essay, talk about how you envision yourself as a professional in the future. You can be as creative as to describe your workplace, your position, and your colleagues’ perception of you. Next, explain why this is the line of work you dream of and what you can contribute to society through this work. Finally, add what learning programs you’ve signed up for to prepare your skills for your dream job. For more, check out our list of simple essays topics for intermediate writers .

For your essay, look deeply into how your school prepares the young generation to be competitive in the future workforce. If you want to go the extra mile, you can interview students who have graduated from your school and are now professionals. Ask them about the programs or practices in your school that they believe have helped mold them better at their current jobs.

Essays about work: The importance of teamwork at work

In a workplace where colleagues compete against each other, leaders could find it challenging to cultivate a sense of cooperation and teamwork. So, find out what creative activities companies can undertake to encourage teamwork across teams and divisions. For example, regular team-building activities help strengthen professional bonds while assisting workers to recharge their minds.

Finding a job after receiving your undergraduate diploma can be full of stress, pressure, and hard work. Write an essay that handholds graduate students in drafting their resumes and preparing for an interview. You may also recommend the top job market platforms that match them with their dream work. You may also ask recruitment experts for tips on how graduates can make a positive impression in job interviews.

Creating a fun and happy workplace may seem impossible. But there has been a flurry of efforts in the corporate world to keep workers happy. Why? To make them more productive. So, for your essay, gather research on what practices companies and policy-makers should adopt to help workers find meaning in their jobs. For example, how often should salary increases occur? You may also focus on what drives people to quit jobs that raise money. If it’s not the financial package that makes them satisfied, what does? Discuss these questions with your readers for a compelling essay.

Motivation could scale up workers’ productivity, efficiency, and ambition for higher positions and a longer tenure in your company. Knowing which method of motivation best suits your employees requires direct managers to know their people and find their potential source of intrinsic motivation. For example, managers should be able to tell whether employees are having difficulties with their tasks to the point of discouragement or find the task too easy to boredom.

A handful of managers have been worried about working from home for fears of lowering productivity and discouraging collaborative work. Meanwhile, those who embrace work-from-home arrangements are beginning to see the greater value and benefits of giving employees greater flexibility on when and where to work. So first, draw up the pros and cons of working from home. You can also interview professionals working or currently working at home. Finally, provide a conclusion on whether working from home can harm work output or boost it.

Identifying critical skills at work could depend on the work applied. However, there are inherent values and behavioral competencies that recruiters demand highly from employees. List the top five qualities a professional should possess to contribute significantly to the workplace. For example, being proactive is a valuable skill because workers have the initiative to produce without waiting for the boss to prod them.

If you need help with grammar, our guide to  grammar and syntax  is a good start to learning more. We also recommend taking the time to  improve the readability score  of your essays before publishing or submitting them.

world of work essay

Meet Rachael, the editor at Become a Writer Today. With years of experience in the field, she is passionate about language and dedicated to producing high-quality content that engages and informs readers. When she's not editing or writing, you can find her exploring the great outdoors, finding inspiration for her next project.

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Five key trends shaping the new world of work

An office filled with workers

Job seekers in companies in regions most affected by high unemployment rates must broaden their horizons beyond a search for employment opportunities to exploring work opportunities. Image:  Alex Kotliarskyi for Unsplash

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world of work essay

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Stay up to date:, future of work.

Listen to the article

  • There is transformation happening in the world of work, both as a result of the pandemic, and underlying structural shifts.
  • Companies are restructuring for efficiency, and recruiting for skills rather than potential, while talent is highly mobile.
  • Digital skills are increasingly central to workers' employability.

From the phenomenon of " quiet quitting " to the great resignation , the post-pandemic reluctance of workers to return for the office has been well documented . There are other changes happening as a result of the subsequent economic slowdown: employment offers have been rescinded amidst layoffs in technology companies often seen as beacons of growth, and a STEM skills shortage has led to calls for upskilling and re-skilling programmes in the workplace and a global scramble for talent . But many of the trends we are currently seeing in the world of work predate the COVID-19 pandemic. Here are five shifts that look set to endure:

1. Restructuring companies for efficiency

Changes to industry structures and disruptions to business models have encouraged companies to restructure for relevance and competitiveness. Companies such as General Electric have split while others have responded with mergers, as in the case of Tata Group . Holding companies that have been able to do without job cuts, like Alphabet, are calling for an increase in employee productivity .

Have you read?

Hybrid entrepreneurship - 5 reasons to build a venture while still working , what is the optimal balance between in-person and remote working, a new study shows just how beneficial remote working can be.

Despite capital flow to many emerging markets, several industries remain informal, fragmented, and dominated by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) , which create 7 out of 10 jobs. Irrespective of the market, industry and approach, the pursuit of efficiency in companies prioritise retention and hiring of employees with skills and competencies that contribute directly to the bottom line.

2. A shift to skills-based hiring

Faced with the need to deliver short to medium-term results, companies are increasingly hiring for skills backed with experience, and less for potential. This has led to a decline in graduate recruitment . Many employers are eliminating degrees from their hiring criteria in favour of skills assessment. Only 11% of business leaders “strongly agree” that students are graduating from higher education with the necessary competencies. This has led to calls for higher education reform .

Young people entering the world of work have to embrace work-integrated learning opportunities available as internships, placements, and apprenticeship programmes to provide relevant experience in developing their skills. More than four in five employers believe internships can prepare graduates to succeed in their companies.

Digital skills are increasingly central to workers' employability.

3. The mobility of talent

The global war for skilled talent has led to massive opportunities for some workers to move across jobs, industries and countries. The normalization of remote work accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic and powered by digital technologies for collaboration has made it possible for top talent to glide across jobs or be in multiple jobs at a time. Research predicts that today’s youngest workers will hold twelve to fifteen jobs in their lifetime .

Therefore, individuals and companies must evaluate their work opportunities from a broader and global lens, shifting to a mindset of career mobility and the development of transferable skills for a lifetime of numerous job opportunities. At the same time, the future looks likely to hold higher trade tariffs and tighter border controls, and we have yet to see what this means for worker mobility.

Global talent shortages work skilled talent opportunities

4. The rise of 'work' and the decline of 'employment'

The rise of platform companies has fundamentally changed the rules of employment . Companies such as Uber have created work opportunities for around 5 million drivers worldwide without signing a single driver employment contract. The gig economy has opened up opportunities for individuals and companies to access a diverse and global pool of talents to get tasks done on demand - as well as undermining many of the structures that have underpinned employment security.

This has changed how organizations approach recruitment, with a move away from human resources departments managing employees, and towards talent strategy teams exploring how to meet human resources needs. Analytic tools to measure performance enable a holistic view of talent management in the workplace. Job seekers in companies in regions most affected by high unemployment rates must broaden their horizons beyond a search for employment opportunities to exploring work opportunities. Regulators in industries dominated by platform companies need to push for benefits to be tied to work opportunities, not just employment, to protect the interest of workers.

The rise of platform companies has fundamentally changed the rules of employment in the workplace.

5. The central importance of digital skills

The digital transformation of industries has brought about massive shifts in the world of work. Organizations across all sectors, from agribusiness, finance and manufacturing to media, are evolving into technology companies . In this context, 'employability' is not just about 'soft skills' such as communication, collaboration, critical thinking and emotional intelligence. As digital platforms in AI applications, robotics, and the Internet of Things make inroads into the workplace, employability skills will be increasingly centred around using these digital technologies at work.

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Technology, jobs, and the future of work

The world of work is in a state of flux, which is causing considerable anxiety—and with good reason. There is growing polarization of labor-market opportunities between high- and low-skill jobs, unemployment and underemployment especially among young people, stagnating incomes for a large proportion of households, and income inequality. Migration and its effects on jobs has become a sensitive political issue in many advanced economies. And from Mumbai to Manchester, public debate rages about the future of work and whether there will be enough jobs to gainfully employ everyone.

The development of automation enabled by technologies including robotics and artificial intelligence brings the promise of higher productivity (and with productivity, economic growth), increased efficiencies, safety, and convenience. But these technologies also raise difficult questions about the broader impact of automation on jobs, skills, wages, and the nature of work itself.

Many activities that workers carry out today have the potential to be automated. At the same time, job-matching sites such as LinkedIn and Monster are changing and expanding the way individuals look for work and companies identify and recruit talent. Independent workers are increasingly choosing to offer their services on digital platforms including Upwork, Uber, and Etsy and, in the process, challenging conventional ideas about how and where work is undertaken.

For policy makers, business leaders, and workers themselves, these shifts create considerable uncertainty, alongside the potential benefits. This briefing note aims to provide a fact base on the multiple trends and forces buffeting the world of work drawing on recent research by the McKinsey Global Institute and others.

Table of contents

Developments in employment, income, and skills

How automation and technology are affecting work, the challenges of digitization—and possible solutions.

world of work essay

Challenges in labor markets are growing, household incomes in advanced economies have been stagnating, and there are increasing skill gaps among workers.

Labor markets are under strain, and talent is underutilized

Unemployment and underemployment are high around the world. In the United States and the 15 core European Union countries (EU-15), there are 285 million adults who are not in the labor force—and at least 100 million of them would like to work more. Some 30 to 45 percent of the working-age population around the world is underutilized—that is, unemployed, inactive, or underemployed. This translates into some 850 million people in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Brazil, China, and India alone. Most attention is paid to the unemployed portion of this number, and not enough to the underemployed and the inactive portions, which make up the majority of untapped human potential.

Almost 75 million youth are officially unemployed. Women represent one of the largest pools of untapped labor: globally, 655 million fewer women are economically active than men. In a “best-in-region” scenario in which all countries match the rate of improvement in gender gaps (in labor force participation, hours worked, and sector mix of employment) of the best-performing country in their region, $12 trillion more of annual GDP would be realized in 2025 , equivalent in size to the current GDP of Japan, Germany, and the United Kingdom combined.

Household incomes in advanced economies have stagnated or fallen, fueling public disgruntlement

The vast majority of people derive incomes from jobs. In the United States, Western Europe, and across advanced economies, market incomes (from wages and capital) stagnated or fell for about two-thirds of households in 2005–14, a period marked by deep recession and slow recovery after the 2008 financial crisis. This was the first time incomes stopped advancing on such a scale since the stagflation era of the 1970s, and it may have helped stir popular opposition to globalization. The recession was a leading cause of the abrupt end to income advancement, but other longer-run factors also contributed, including a decline in the share of national income that is paid to workers, the so-called wage share. This has fallen across advanced economies despite rising productivity, suggesting a decoupling between productivity and incomes.

The decline is due in part to the growth of corporate profits as a share of national income, rising capital returns to technology investments, lower returns to labor from increased trade, rising rent incomes from home ownership, and increased depreciation on capital. Policy makers in the affected countries took action during the downturn to compensate for the income squeeze, in the former of lower taxes and higher transfers, but these were largely one-off measures to buoy disposable income in response to the recession, and not sustainable.

Globalization has brought numerous benefits, including lifting millions of people in emerging economies into the consuming class. But it also has had an impact in some sectors like manufacturing in advanced economies, with some jobs moving offshore. Better support could have been provided to help affected workers build new skills and transition into new sectors or occupations.

A survey we conducted in France, the United Kingdom, and the United States showed a significant proportion of those whose incomes stagnated are worried about their children’s economic prospects—a sharp departure after many decades in which it was an article of faith that every generation would enjoy higher living standards than their parents. Middle-income households have been the most affected, and young and less educated people are especially vulnerable. Across all age groups, medium- and low-skill workers have done worse than those with a college education. Many blame governments, global institutions, corporations, and establishment “elites” around the world, and the principles of free trade and open borders are under attack.

Getting practical about the future of work

Getting practical about the future of work

Skills, jobs, and locations do not always match, limiting income-earning opportunities for many.

Educational systems have not kept pace with the changing nature of work, resulting in many employers saying they cannot find enough workers with the skills they need. In a McKinsey survey of young people and employers in nine countries, 40 percent of employers said lack of skills was the main reason for entry-level job vacancies. Sixty percent said that new graduates were not adequately prepared for the world of work. There were gaps in technical skills such as STEM subject degrees but also in soft skills such as communication, teamwork, and punctuality. Conversely, even those in work may not be realizing their potential. In a recent global survey of job seekers conducted by LinkedIn, 37 percent of respondents said their current job does not fully utilize their skills or provide enough challenge.

Some of the mismatching is locational: where there is demand for work, there may not be available and qualified workers to be found. This geographic mismatch can be seen across regions within countries, and between countries.

Cross-border migration fills some skill gaps but can create tensions

Cross-border migration has been a natural consequence of a world in which people do not find attractive work opportunities in their country of origin, at a time when other economies are not adequately filling their skills gaps. Migration boosts global productivity , but its consequences are often feared by native workers, who face labor market disconnects and a lack of well-paid jobs.

In 2015, approximately 247 million people lived in a country not of their birth—a number that has almost tripled in the past 50 years. Most have gravitated to places where they believe they will find better jobs . More than 90 percent have moved voluntarily, and about half have moved from developing to developed countries. In the period 2000 to 2014, migration has provided about 40 percent of labor force growth in Canada, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Most migration consists of people moving to another country in the same part of the world.

Migrants made an absolute contribution to global output of roughly $6.7 trillion, or 9.4 percent of global GDP in 2015. However, migrant workers, on average, earn wages that are 20 to 30 percent lower than those of comparable native-born workers. More effective integration approaches could lay the groundwork for economic gains of up to $1 trillion globally, benefiting both economies and individuals.

In the context of challenging labor market conditions, popular sentiment has moved against immigration. Surveys conducted by MGI suggest that a significant proportion of middle- and low-income groups in advanced economies who are experiencing flat or falling real incomes are pessimistic about the future and likely to hold particularly negative views about immigrants.

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world of work essay

New technologies have the potential to upend much of what we know about the way people work. But disruption is an opportunity as well as a challenge—given the promise of digital talent platforms and new options for independent work, for example.

Many activities that workers carry out today have the potential to be automated

Technological change has reshaped the workplace continually over the past two centuries since the Industrial Revolution, but the speed with which automation technologies are developing today, and the scale at which they could disrupt the world of work, are largely without precedent.

MGI research on the automation potential of the global economy, focusing on 46 countries representing about 80 percent of the global workforce, has examined more than 2,000 work activities and quantified the technical feasibility of automating each of them. The proportion of occupations that can be fully automated using currently demonstrated technology is actually small—less than 5 percent. An additional important finding is that even if whole occupations are not automated, partial automation (where only some activities that make up an occupation are automated) will affect almost all occupations to a greater or lesser degree. The impact will be felt not just by factory workers and clerks but also by landscape gardeners and dental lab technicians, fashion designers, insurance sales representatives, and even CEOs.

We find that about 60 percent of all occupations have at least 30 percent of activities that are technically automatable , based on currently demonstrated technologies. This means that most occupations will change, and more people will have to work with technology. Highly skilled workers working with technology will benefit. While low-skilled workers working with technology will be able to achieve more in terms of output and productivity, these workers may experience wage pressure, given the potentially larger supply of similarly low-skilled workers, unless demand for the occupation grows more than the expansion in labor supply.

On a global scale, we calculate that the adaptation of currently demonstrated automation technologies could affect 50 percent of the world economy , or 1.2 billion employees and $14.6 trillion in wages. Just four countries—China, India, Japan, and the United States—account for just over half of these totals. There are sizable differences in automation potential between countries, based mainly on the structure of their economies, the relative level of wages, and the size and dynamics of the workforce.

As machines evolve and acquire more advanced performance capabilities that match or exceed human capabilities, the adoption of automation will pick up. However, the technical feasibility to automate does not automatically translate into the deployment of automation in the workplace and the automation of jobs. Technical potential is only the first of several elements that must be considered. A second element is the cost of developing and deploying both the hardware and the software for automation. The supply-and-demand dynamics of labor are a third factor: if workers with sufficient skills for the given occupation are in abundant supply and significantly less expensive than automation, this could slow the rate of adoption. A fourth to be considered are the benefits of automation beyond labor substitution—including higher levels of output, better quality and fewer errors, and capabilities that surpass human ability.

Finally, regulatory and social issues, such as the degree to which machines are acceptable in any particular setting, must also be weighed. It is for these various reasons that go beyond purely technical feasibility of automation that our estimates for “whole-job” automation are lower than other estimates. Our scenarios suggest that it may take at least two decades before automation reaches 50 percent of all of today’s work activities, taking into account regions where wages are relatively low.

Technology can help labor markets: Digital talent platforms improve matching between workers and jobs

Digital talent platforms have the potential to improve the ways workers and jobs are matched, creating transparency and efficiency in labor markets, and potentially raising GDP. They can raise labor participation and working hours; evidence from around the world suggests that some people would work more hours if they could. A US survey, for example, reports that three-quarters of stay-at-home mothers would be likely to work if they had flexible options. Even if a small fraction of inactive youth and adults use these platforms to work a few hours per week, the economic impact would be significant.

With their powerful search capabilities and sophisticated screening algorithms, online talent platforms can also speed the hiring process and cut the time individuals spend searching between jobs, reducing unemployment. By aggregating data on candidates and job openings across entire countries or regions, they may address some geographic mismatches and enable matches that otherwise would not have come about.

Finally, online talent platforms help put the right people in the right jobs, thereby increasing their productivity along with their job satisfaction. They can draw people who are engaged in informal work into formal employment, especially in emerging economies. Both of these effects could increase output per worker, raising global GDP.

Digitally-enabled independent work is on the rise

While independent work is nothing new (and self-employment is still the predominant form of work in emerging economies), the digital enablement of it is. MGI research finds that 20 to 30 percent of the working age population in the United States and the European Union is engaged in independent work . Just over half of these workers supplement their income and have traditional jobs, or are students, retirees, or caregivers. While 70 percent choose this type of work, 30 percent use it out of necessity because they cannot find a traditional job at all, or one that meets their income and flexibility needs. The proportion of independent work that is conducted on digital platforms, while only about 15 percent of independent work overall, is growing rapidly, driven by the scale, efficiency, and ease of use for workers and customers that these platforms enable. Such platforms include Uber, Etsy, Didi, and others. While those who pursue independent work (digitally enabled or not) out of preference are generally satisfied; those who pursue it out of necessity are unsatisfied with the income variability and the lack of benefits typically associated with traditional work. Policy makers and innovators will need to grapple with solutions to these challenges.

Not to be forgotten—technology creates new jobs and income possibilities

Even while technologies replace some jobs, they are creating new work in industries that most of us cannot even imagine, and new ways to generate income. One-third of new jobs created in the United States in the past 25 years were types that did not exist, or barely existed, in areas including IT development, hardware manufacturing, app creation, and IT systems management. The net impact of new technologies on employment can be strongly positive. A 2011 study by McKinsey’s Paris office found that the Internet had destroyed 500,000 jobs in France in the previous 15 years—but at the same time had created 1.2 million others, a net addition of 700,000, or 2.4 jobs created for every job destroyed. The growing role of big data in the economy and business will create a significant need for statisticians and data analysts; we estimate a shortfall of up to 250,000 data scientists in the United States alone in a decade.

Digital technology also can enable new forms of entrepreneurial activity. Workers in small businesses and self-employed occupations can benefit from higher income earning opportunities. A new category of knowledge-enabled jobs will become possible as machines embed intelligence and knowledge that less-skilled workers can access with a little training. In India, for example, Google is rolling out the Internet Saathi (Friends of the Internet) program in which rural women are trained to use the Internet, and then become local agents who provide services in their villages through Internet-enabled devices. The services include working as local distributors for telecom products (phones, SIM cards, and data packs), field data collectors for research agencies, financial-services agents, and paratechnicians who help local people access government schemes and benefits through an Internet-based device.

world of work essay

We have yet to reach the full potential of digitization across the global economy. Making sure that digital gains are accessible to all could provide significant value. And though other challenges, too, remain, they could be addressed by exploring several solution spaces—for instance, through evolving education systems or by pursuing public-private partnerships to stimulate investment in enabling infrastructure.

We are only starting to capture the opportunities from digitizing economies at the sector and company level

Digital technologies are creating major new opportunities for workers and companies, in both advanced and developing economies, but there are significant variations within and across countries and sectors. Our use of the term digitization (and our measurement of it), encompasses:

  • Digitization of assets, including infrastructure, connected machines, data, and data platforms;
  • Digitization of operations, including processes, payments and business models, and customer and supply chain interactions; and
  • Digitization of the workforce, including worker use of digital tools, digitally skilled workers, and new digital jobs and roles.

In measuring each of these various aspects of digitization, we find relatively large disparities even among big companies Based on these measures, a few sectors are highly digitized—for example, financial services, media, and the tech sector itself. These tend to be among the sectors with the highest productivity growth and wage growth. Many others are much less digitized, including healthcare, education, and even retail. These tend to be the largest share of the economy in terms of GDP and the lowest-productivity sectors. Similarly, companies are digitizing unevenly.

Companies that are digital leaders in their sectors have faster revenue growth and higher productivity than their less-digitized peers. Their profits and margins can increase three times as fast, and workers within these companies enjoy double the wage growth. Digitization will continue to change how companies organize work, as well as the mix of work in any given sector. All this will require ongoing adaptation and transition by workers in terms of skills, activities, companies, and even the sectors they work in.

Clearly, we are still in the early stages of how sectors and companies use digital technologies, and there is considerable unevenness. From country to country, too, there are significant divergences. Overall, for example, we estimate that the United States has captured only 18 percent of its potential from digital technologies, while Europe has captured only 12 percent . Emerging economies are even further behind, with countries in the Middle East and Brazil capturing less than 10 percent of their digital potential.

More than half the world’s population is still offline, limiting the potential to benefit from digital

Rapid technology adoption can unlock huge economic value, even as it implies major need for retraining and redeployment of labor. In India, for example, digital technologies provide the foundation for many innovations that could contribute $550 billion to $1 trillion of economic impact per year in 2025. However, the value of digitization that is captured depends on how many people and businesses have access to it.

More than four billion people, or over half of the world’s population, is still offline . About 75 percent of this offline population is concentrated in 20 countries, including Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Tanzania, and is disproportionately rural, low income, elderly, illiterate, and female. The value of connecting these people is significant, and as they enter the global digital economy, the world of work will transform in fundamental ways and at an unprecedented pace. Access to the technology alone is not enough; even in countries where a large majority of the population has access, the literacy and skills needed to capture digital gains are sometimes limited.

How to positively affect the future of work: Solution spaces

The disruptions to the world of work that digital technologies are likely to bring about could pose significant challenges to policy makers and business leaders, as well as workers. There are several solution spaces to consider:

References and further reading

McKinsey Global Institute research reports are available on www.mckinsey.com/mgi . For this briefing note, we have drawn on the following reports:

“ A future that works: Automation, employment, and productivity ,” McKinsey Global Institute, January 2017

“ People on the move: Global migration’s impact and opportunity ,” McKinsey Global Institute, December 2016

“ Independent work: Choice, necessity, and the gig economy ,” McKinsey Global Institute, October 2016

“ Where machines could replace humans, and where they can’—yet ,” McKinsey Quarterly, July 2016

“ Digital America: A tale of the haves and have-mores ,” McKinsey Global Institute, December 2015

“ The four fundamentals of automation ,” McKinsey Quarterly , November 2015

“ The power of parity: How advancing women’s equality can add $12 trillion to global growth ,” McKinsey Global Institute, September 2015

“ A labor market that works: Connecting talent with opportunity in the digital age ,” McKinsey Global Institute, June 2015

“ Offline and falling behind: Barriers to Internet adoption ,” McKinsey & Company, October 2014

Other reading:

Autor, David, “ Why are there still so many jobs? The history and future of workplace automation ,” Journal of Economic Perspectives , Summer 2015

Autor, David, David Dorn, and Gordon Hanson, “ Untangling trade and technology: Evidence from local labor markets ,” The Economic Journal , May 2015

Brynjolffson, Erik and Andrew McAfee, The second machine age: Work, progress, and prosperity in a time of brilliant technologies , WW Norton, 2014

Furman, Jason, “ Is this time different? The opportunities and challenges of artificial intelligence ,” remarks at AI conference in New York, July 7, 2016

Milanovic, Branko, Global inequality: A new approach for the age of globalization , Harvard University Press, 2016

Sundararajan, Arun, The sharing economy: The end of employment and the rise of crowd,   MIT Press, 2016

  • Evolve education systems and learning for a changed workplace. Policy makers working with education providers (traditional and nontraditional) could do more to improve basic STEM skills through the school systems, put a new emphasis on creativity as well as critical and systems thinking, and foster adaptive and life-long learning.
  • Determine how the private sector can drive training. Companies face gaps in skills they need in a more technology-enabled workplace. They could benefit from playing a more active role in education and training, including providing better information about needs to learners and the education and training ecosystem, and proving better learning opportunities themselves.
  • Create incentives for private-sector investment to treat human capital like other capital. Through tax benefits and other incentives, policy makers can encourage companies to invest in human capital, including job creation, learning and capability building, and wage growth.
  • Explore public-private partnerships to stimulate investment in enabling infrastructure. The lack of digital infrastructure is holding back digital benefits in many economies, both developing and developed; public-private partnerships could help address market failures.
  • Rethink incomes. If automation (full or partial) does result in a significant reduction in employment or greater pressure on wages, some ideas such as universal basic income, conditional transfers, and adapted social safety nets could be considered and tested.
  • Rethink transition support and safety nets for workers affected. As work evolves at higher rates of change between sectors, locations, activities, and skill requirements, many workers will need assistance adjusting. Many best-practice approaches to transition safety nets are available and should be adopted and adapted, and new approaches considered and tested.
  • Embrace technology-enabled solutions. Such solutions, including richer information signals, can be used in the labor market to improve matching and access and bridge skills gaps. Policy makers will need to address issues such as benefits and variability that these digital platforms can raise.
  • Focus on job creation. Accelerate the creation of jobs in general through stimulating investment in businesses, and accelerate the creation of digital jobs in particular—and digitally enabled opportunities to earn income—including through new forms of entrepreneurship.
  • Innovate how humans work alongside machines. Greater interaction will raise productivity but require different and often higher skills, new technology interfaces, different wage models in some cases, and different types of investments by businesses and workers to acquire skills.
  • Capture the productivity benefits of technology. These can be harnessed to create the economic growth, surpluses, and demand for work that create room for creative solutions and ultimately benefit all.

This briefing note was originally prepared for the Fortune + Time Global Forum in Vatican City in December 2016; it was updated in May 2017.

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James Manyika is director of the McKinsey Global Institute and a senior partner in McKinsey’s San Francisco office. MGI partners Michael Chui , Anu Madgavkar , and Susan Lund contributed to this briefing note.

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World of Work

The world of work comprises several things that most people resonate with, for instance, employers, promotions, occupations, and jobs, among others. In other words, in most cases, people tend to label all these aspects based on their understanding of the nature of workers and the nature of the organization; for instance, in as much as we all resonate with these things, everyone has a different experience while interacting with them. In as much as various opinions and theories help understand work, why people work, and the motivation to work, various factors motivate employees to work. With the daily hassle and tussle that comes with the little activities around work, workers face frustration and irritation while at work. For instance, having a heavy workload, conflicts with colleagues, and lack of support from supervisors, among others, while working in a particular role. Nonetheless, there are daily uplifts in the workplace that promote positive experiences, which also help promote good performance for the employee and the organization. Employees need motivation for better performance while working in various positions in the company; thus, this essay will expound on employee attitudes to work, focusing on various factors of motivation as well as employee experience in their roles.

An employee’s attitude towards work is very important for the effective production and performance of the organization; in other words, attitude motivation comes from employers motivating their employees by influencing how they think or behave towards various employment activities. In other words, motivation and attitude to work are closely linked to the success of an organization. With strong motivating factors in the organization, the team will be able to work in unison and achieve the objectives and goals of the organization effectively. Moreover, with a positive attitude, the career trajectory can be channelled towards work motivation, further contributing to the organization’s performance and success (Sitopu, Sitinjak, & Marpaung, 2021, p 77). All employees working within a particular organization aim to achieve satisfaction and appreciation for the work and energy they put into the organization. The feeling of acknowledgement, appreciation and respect are a measure and drive to enhance production for better results and increase the company’s chances of attaining its goals. The primary motivator to work for most employees is survival; in this case, the employee is motivated to work based on the necessity for food, shelter, educating their children and accumulating enough savings for a better future. Nevertheless, motivation out of survival has a different impact on the employee’s attitude, in that most employees motivated out of survival have no appreciation for the work. They do the work out of necessity, not with the zeal or morale needed.

Based on Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, a person’s behaviour can be influenced by the nature of their unsatisfied needs; thus, an employee’s need can be motivated by social needs, self-actualization, safety needs, physiological need and esteem needs (Cui, Wang, Chen, Wen, & Han, 2021). One factor that motivates employees is appreciation and recognition for work well done; in this case, it helps satisfy Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs for esteem and boosts the employee’s ego. Recognition not only makes an employee feel good but also helps improve their attitude towards work and feeling of accomplishment in the workplace. In other words, recognition triggers better performance by recognizing good behaviour or efforts, and there are chances of consistency and repetitive action of significant impact on the organization’s success. Nonetheless, this also applies in the disciple process of employees because it helps discourage certain behaviour that doesn’t add significant value to the company, thus influencing the employee’s attitude.

Similarly, the other factor that motivates employees is being involved in decision-making and making additional input to the company’s matters. In this case, the company can show employees they are valued and that the organization’s success is a collective and team effort. This measure is highly effective as it helps paint a clearer and bigger picture of the firm’s objectives, and it helps shift attitude from reporting to work for the paycheck to coming to work to help steer the organization to great heights in the market. In other words, people desire to know the performance and direction the company wants to take; they are interested to know if the direction suits their career inspirations, desires and security. Nevertheless, the company also gets a boost of in-grown ideas that can be highly effective in improving competitive advantage and market share; with such growth, the employees get a positive attitude toward their work.

The management and leadership approach of the company also plays a huge role towards motivating employees to work. For instance, an understanding supervisor pays heed to how employees receive information, correction, instruction and discipline. In other words, the supervisor should be one with social skills to understand the moods and emotions of the employees. In addition, this improves the attitude of employees as they are guaranteed to be in a workspace that is concerned about their well-being; this motivates them since the relationship between management and employees is conducive to better performance. Moreover, having management that considers career growth and development by considering the strengths and abilities in assigning work also improves attitude to work. In this case, the management delegates duties to sharpen leadership skills and groom an employee for a promotion. Therefore, this motivates employees, improving the organization’s performance (Basalamah & As’ad, 2021, p 99). The management also ensures that the working conditions are improved and offers social amenities like a nursery for mothers with young ones, totally shifting the attitude of employees. In this case, female employees feel valued and are guaranteed job security as their separate family lives can’t affect their job in any way; this is also competitive and makes employees work harder as not many companies offer such facilities. In addition, to ensure employees stay motivated and maintain a positive attitude to work, the management has to be responsive to staff problems and challenges in their respective workplaces; how they approach complaints and concerns reflects highly on an employee’s attitude. If they respond quickly and ensure employees are comfortable, there is guaranteed improvement in productivity due to the feeling that they can be heard; thus, they are obligated to perform accordingly.

Lastly, monetary rewards also help motivate and improve attitudes to work, for instance, good wages. If the employer works for survival, in that the money they get isn’t enough to meet basic needs, the attitude of such an employee will always be down. Nonetheless, wages were to be paid based on performance and not seniority. In that case, remunerations should reflect the level of appreciation for performance and effort put into the organization’s success. The management should not hold on until employees have gotten better proposals before they are willing to do that. In other words, to promote a positive attitude towards work, give them the respect they deserve (Alrawahi, Sellgren, Altouby, Alwahaibi, & Brommels, 2020). Ultimately, the management ought to expect to give employees something other than just a paycheck. If all your business implies just a paycheck, any tantamount paying position and offers will come their way. Therefore, the leadership team should give employees challenges, recognition, opportunities for improvement and advancement, praise, and an environment where they can feel pleased to work.

Job roles also influence attitude and motivation regarding work in the organization. In this case, there are usually positive and negative factors employees experience due to the various job roles they perform. Job roles impact occupation fulfilment and satisfaction in the workplace, thus impacting the expansive nature of the organization as well as the career development of the employees. Job roles have a positive experience for employees, allowing for growth opportunities and skill development. No employee desires to stay trapped in a similar job, doing the same activity and tasks for the rest of their workdays without development and growth. Job roles offer a positive factor to the employees’ experience as it helps bring out the potential of an employee through the proper utilization of their talents; in most cases, job roles offer an opportunity for one to explore interesting and unique abilities that should be sharpened and utilized (Lambert, Keena, Leone, May, & Haynes, 2020, p 407). Thus, the management of any organization should offer training programs to keep every employee up to par with changes within their fields. In addition, job roles allow employees to contribute to the organization’s growth by putting their knowledge and skills to work. In other words, assigning job roles to employees help in the in-house training of employees. Thus, these learning experiences for employers and employees help build trust, reduce apathy, and develop deep connections with the workforce. Employees develop positive attitudes and feel more motivated because their high-level knowledge or experience is utilized for the organization’s success and self-actualization – excelling in their professions.

Furthermore, job roles help employees trust and appreciate leadership decisions and choices. Job roles help develop and improve workers’ trust and respect in their leaders, thus straightforwardly influencing their performance. Managers should assign roles based on the skill set, experience and competence of an employee; on the other hand, through delegation, they can assign supervisory roles as well (Wang, Xu, Zhang, & Li, 2020, p 19). In this case, they get to satisfy career goals for being in charge as a supervisor and understand the need for managers to be fair and impartial and treat employees as people with unique considerations and opinions. In other words, while putting an employee in that spot of making decisions, they understand their supervisors’ decisions and respect them accordingly.

Nonetheless, job roles have also negatively impacted employees’ experience. For instance, being assigned to a role that aligns differently from one’s skills and abilities has resulted in low occupation satisfaction. Moreover, this covers a broad issue within the organization since it affects the performance and productivity of the company. If Employees are not content with their roles, a couple of areas of their work are impacted, which may also affect other employees. Based on a review by the “Worldwide Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health” they found out that employees who report low fulfilment and satisfaction were due to the lack of morale in the job roles they are assigned to do (Duan, Ni, Shi, Zhang, Ye, Mu, & Wang, 2019, p 9). in line with low satisfaction from the poor assignment of roles, the other negative factor is the lack of resources under the assigned role. When someone feels hopeless and is forced to work without the necessary tools, they lose focus and don’t consider their tasks carefully. In other words, they find various activities that truly do not make them euphoric, simultaneously dismissing the occupation they should do. When one’s role is faced with challenges that make the work of the employee hard, there will be low productivity, it is ordinary for various groups within the workforce to feel frustrated therefore, and the profits of the organization start trickling down. Employees who are unhappy with their roles are fundamentally more inclined to experience and report issues at work. Thus, employees who are satisfied or happy at work are obligated to report finding out about learning in their business. Moreover, job roles and responsibilities give employees more pressure to perform and be productive in delivering the assigned tasks, resulting in job stress among employees.

In a nutshell, In as much as various opinions and theories help understand work, why people work, and the motivation to work, various factors motivate employees to work. With the daily hassle and tussle that comes with the little activities around work, workers face frustration and irritation; job roles also influence attitude and motivation regarding the position in the organization. In this case, there are usually positive and negative factors employees experience due to the various job roles they perform. Job roles impact occupation fulfilment and satisfaction in the workplace; it has also helped appreciate the organization’s leadership and helped in employee career development and growth, thus impacting the expansive nature of the organization and the employee’s career development. Employees need motivation for better performance while working in various positions in the company; such factors include good wages, the satisfaction of their esteem through recognition, allowing and offering opportunities for career growth and paying keen attention to social interactions and relationships while handling employees.

Alrawahi, S., Sellgren, S. F., Altouby, S., Alwahaibi, N., & Brommels, M. (2020). The application of Herzberg’s two-factor theory of motivation to job satisfaction in clinical laboratories in Omani hospitals.  Heliyon ,  6 (9), e04829. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844020316728

Basalamah, M. S. A., & As’ad, A. (2021). The Role of Work Motivation and Work Environment in Improving Job Satisfaction.  Golden Ratio of Human Resource Management ,  1 (2), 94-103. Retrieved from https://goldenratio.id/index.php/grhrm/article/view/54

Cui, L., Wang, Y., Chen, W., Wen, W., & Han, M. S. (2021). Predicting determinants of consumers’ purchase motivation for electric vehicles: An application of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs model.  Energy Policy ,  151 , 112167. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0301421521000367

Duan, X., Ni, X., Shi, L., Zhang, L., Ye, Y., Mu, H., … & Wang, Y. (2019). The impact of workplace violence on job satisfaction, job burnout, and turnover intention: the mediating role of social support.  Health and quality of life outcomes ,  17 (1), 1-10. Retrieved from https://hqlo.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12955-019-1164-3

Lambert, E. G., Keena, L. D., Leone, M., May, D., & Haynes, S. H. (2020). The effects of distributive and procedural justice on job satisfaction and organizational commitment of correctional staff.  The Social Science Journal ,  57 (4), 405-416. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1016/j.soscij.2019.02.002

Sitopu, Y. B., Sitinjak, K. A., & Marpaung, F. K. (2021). The Influence of Motivation, Work Discipline, and Compensation on Employee Performance.  Golden Ratio of Human Resource Management ,  1 (2), 72-83. Retrieved from https://www.goldenratio.id/index.php/grhrm/article/view/79

Wang, C., Xu, J., Zhang, T. C., & Li, Q. M. (2020). Effects of professional identity on turnover intention in China’s hotel employees: The mediating role of employee engagement and job satisfaction.  Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management ,  45 , 10-22. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1447677020301728

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Photo essay: Changing world, changing work

Date: 28 February 2017

Thailand, 2015. UN Women/Pornvit Visitoran; Kenya, 2016. CIAT/Georgina Smith; Lebanon, 2015. UN Women/Joe Saad

The world of work is changing fast, through innovation, increasing mobility and informality. But it needs to change faster to empower women, whose work has already driven many of the global gains in recent decades.

Women still predominantly occupy jobs that pay less and provide no benefits. They earn less than men, even as they shoulder the enormous—and economically essential—burden of unpaid care and domestic work.

Realizing women’s economic empowerment requires transformative change so that prosperity is equitably shared and no one is left behind. The international community has made this commitment in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Every woman should enjoy her right to decent work. As a global champion for gender equality and women’s empowerment, UN Women asks: What do we need to get there?

Timor-Leste, 2013. Photo: UN Women/Betsy Davis.

EQUAL PAY FOR WOMEN

It doesn’t matter where they work or what they do. Women globally are paid less than men for the same work.

Why does the gender pay gap persist? In many countries, disparities in education have begun to close. But that’s not enough to knock down gender-based discrimination in the world of work. It keeps women out of some jobs and segregates them into others—often the lowest paying ones.

Many constraints stem from balancing paid work and family responsibilities. Inflexible working hours and limited parental leave are among the factors forcing women into part-time employment or even out of the workforce for long stretches. Some countries still mandate women to retire earlier than men.

What can we do? Call for passing and enforcing laws and regulations upholding the principle of equal pay for work of equal value. Ensure that businesses do their part to close the gender pay gap.

Jordan, 2015. Photo: UN Women/Christopher Herwig.

CLOSE THE PARTICIPATION GAP

Record numbers of women are being paid for work. But labour force participation rates lag those of men .

Three-quarters of working-age men are in the labour force, compared to half of women, and in some regions, young women are unemployed at much higher rates than young men.

These gaps suggest that not all women who want to work can do so . Some are discouraged by gender bias. Others find no way of surmounting barriers, such as the lack of parental leave, and child and dependent care. Whatever the cause, women have a right to participate equally. The economics are compelling too—a potential boost of 28 trillion USD to global annual GDP by 2025.

What can we do? Enact paid parental leave and flexible work policies, provide child care, and encourage public and private employers to aim for gender parity at all levels of hiring.

Seychelles, 2017. Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown.

SHARE UNPAID CARE!

Women make a huge economic contribution that fills gaps in services. Why is it unshared and uncounted?

Cooking, cleaning, caring for children and the elderly—economies depend on such work, valued at between 10 and 39 per cent of GDP. It can contribute more to an economy than manufacturing or commerce.

Unpaid care and domestic work fills gaps in public services and infrastructure—and are largely provided by women. That’s an unfair burden and an unfair barrier to equal labour force participation and pay. Reducing these requires shifting norms around who does this work, and investing in decent, paid work in the care economy.

What can we do? Pass policies that reduce and redistribute unpaid work, such as through more paid jobs in the care economy, and encourage men to share care and domestic work. Invest in systems to provide water, electricity, transportation and other essentials that reduce household labour.

Colombia, 2015. Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown.

FOR EVERY WOMAN: DECENT WORK

Far too many women labour in informal work with little pay or protection of their rights.

Gender discrimination unfairly concentrates women in jobs as street vendors, domestic workers and subsistence farmers, among other informal occupations. For women with few skills or knowledge of their rights, or who have migrated to another country, informal jobs may be the only option to earn a living.

Informal employment typically is poorly paid. Falling outside the reach of labour laws, it can be unsafe and bereft of social benefits, such as pensions, sick pay and health insurance. Globally, 57 per cent of domestic workers have no limitations on their working hours.

What can we do? Extend social protection and minimum living wages, promote the transition to formal employment in line with ILO Recommendation No. 204, and ratify ILO Convention 189 on Domestic Workers.

Seychelles, 2017. Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown.

ANY JOB IS A WOMAN’S JOB

Work is rapidly transforming. Ending occupational segregation must be part of the shift.

Technology and the greening of economies provide new opportunities for women in the world of work. But gaps need to be closed, with women over-represented in lower-paid jobs and under-represented in leadership positions, and in science and technology. Half the global working population is in the service sector, dominated by women; their share reaches as high as 77 per cent in East Asia.

Gender barriers in work are embedded in discriminatory laws, social norms and policies. Trade policies may take advantage of a cheap female workforce, for instance. Fiscal policy may limit spending on services that could help women better balance work and family.

What can we do? Take urgent policy action to eliminate barriers that discriminate against women workers. Provide education and training for women that open opportunities for women in the changing world of work.

Philippines, 2016. Photo: UN Women/Norman Gorecho.

ORGANIZING: IT’S A WOMAN’S RIGHT

The nature of women’s work often keeps them outside the reach of labour organizing and union protections.

Women’s ability to organize in workplaces and communities is indispensable for upholding labour rights. Women’s collective voice is a pathway to ensuring decent work, and to influencing public policy priorities. In trade unions, women members have driven achievements in organizing and collective bargaining, including among highly vulnerable groups such as domestic workers.

Yet many barriers remain to the right to organize, including repressive laws . Women working part-time or isolated in homes may have fewer opportunities to learn about, form or join protective networks, self-help groups or organizations such as unions.

What can we do? Aim for gender parity in decision-making positions in trade unions, worker and employer organizations and corporate boards. Urge governments, employers and organized workers to jointly promote the human and labour rights of all women workers.

Lebanon, 2015. Photo: UN Women/Joe Saad.

STOP HARASSMENT AT WORK!

Violence against women is a violation of their rights. In the workplace, it imposes high costs.

Going to work presents risks of violence and harassment for women across all ages, incomes and job types. A boss may link advancement to sexual favours. A taxi cab might become a source of income and a risk for rape.

The consequences are many . Damages to physical and mental health can lead to absenteeism, lower earnings and job loss. Women may feel unfairly constricted in their choice of employment or freedom of movement.

What can we do? Enact and implement laws and policies to criminalize all forms of workplace harassment and gender-based violence. Work with unions, employers and advocates for informal workers so all women know their rights and can seek redress for violations.

Moldova, 2010. Photo: UN Women/Janarbek Amankulov.

EQUALITY IN LAWS AND BENEFITS

Discriminatory legal provisions and social protection gaps increase the chance that women will live in poverty.

Only 67 countries have laws against gender discrimination in hiring practices, while at least 155 have one or more gender-based legal restrictions on women’s employment and entrepreneurship. Discriminatory laws and inadequate legal protection compound gender inequalities and disempower women workers.

Women also lack social protection benefits—they are over- represented among the 73 per cent of people with only partial or no access to pensions, unemployment compensation and even health insurance. This renders them more vulnerable to poverty—on top of earning less than men.

What can we do? Remove all discriminatory labour legislation in line with CEDAW. Enact well-designed social protection schemes that reduce poverty and reach all women, including those who are working, retired or providing unpaid care.

Photos: Vidura Jang Bahadur, Vidura Jang Bahadur, UN Women/Ryan Brown, Andrei Dolghier, UN Women/Ryan Brown, UN Women/Ryan Brown, UN Women/Joe Saad, UN Women/Joe Saad, UN Women/Joe Saad, UN Women/Dragana B. Stevanovic, UN Photo/Marco Dormino, UN Women/Ryan Brown, UN Women/Christopher Herwig, World Bank/Maria Fleischmann, Abbie Trayler-Smith, UN Women ECA/Rena Effendi, UN Women/Janarbek Amankulov, UN Women/Janarbek Amankulov, UNAMA/Fardin Waezi, UN Women/Janarbek Amankulov, CIAT/Georgina Smith

ECONOMIES THAT WORK FOR WOMEN WORK FOR ALL

The future envisioned for humanity and our shared planet, across all of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, rests on fully freeing women’s power and potential. It is time to act on the high ambitions of the 2030 Agenda and guarantee that every woman can thrive and contribute, including through decent, dignified work.

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School for Cross-faculty Studies Global Sustainable Development

World of work: global perspectives on labour and livelihoods, principal aims.

This module introduces students to key concepts and debates about the role of work and labour in processes of global sustainable development. SDG 8 on ‘Full productive employment and Decent Work’ serves as a jumping off point to explore a number of issues and debates about the changing nature of work in the global economy and the possibilities for sustainable, dignified livelihoods. Students will engage these topics through class discussions focused on concrete case studies. Cases will be selected and presented by students themselves in most weeks.

Principal Learning Outcomes

By the end of this module, students will be able to:

  • Understand key concepts in the study of work (i.e. employment and unemployment, free and unfree labour, informal work, global production networks).
  • Critically assess major debates about the changing nature of work in the global economy.
  • Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of cross-disciplinary perspectives on the relationships between labour and global sustainable development.
  • Undertake independent research and writing.

Employability Skills

Through this module, you will develop a number of different skills that are sought by employers which will support your professional development. We have highlighted this to enable you to identify and reflect on the skills you have acquired and apply them throughout your professional journey including during the recruitment processes whether this on an CV/application form or at an interview.

  • Research - the main piece of assessment is a research assignment requiring students to design and conduct their own research project, students are supported in developing this project through the submission of a preliminary 'proposal' as an assessment
  • Written communication - main assessment is a piece of written work, students are offered support in developing their writing skills to target a specific audience
  • Group work - students will work in groups in seminars throughout term, and one of the assessments is a group presentation
  • Oral communication - students develop presentation skills through an assessed presentation.

Week 1 - Introduction: Work, Labour, and Global Sustainable Development

Part 1: ‘Full and Productive Employment’

Week 2 - Labour Markets and (un)Employment

Week 3 - Skills and Productivity

Part 2: Thinking Globally About Work

Week 4 - Global Production Networks

Week 5 - Labour Migration

Part 3: Making Work ‘Decent’

Week 6 - Global Labour Governance

Week 7 - Unfree Labour and Modern Slavery

Week 8 - The Informal Economy and the Dilemmas of Formalization

Part 4: The Future of Work

Week 9 - Green Jobs and ‘Just Transitions’

Week 10 - Automation: Towards Jobless Growth?

Preparation and Engagement (10%)

Case Study Presentation (Group) (20%)

Research Paper Proposal (20%)

Research Paper (50%)

  Please note: Module availability and staffing may change year on year depending on availability and other operational factors. The School for Cross-faculty Studies makes no guarantee that any modules will be offered in a particular year, or that they will necessarily be taught by the staff listed on this page.

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Band 8+: The world of work is changing rapidly and employees cannot depend on having the same job or the same working conditions for life. Discuss the possible causes for this rapid change, and suggest ways of preparing people for the world of work in the future.

In recent years, numerous dramatic changes have occurred for different jobs, leading to difficulties for employees. While there are many factors contributing to this trend, some reasonable approaches can be adopted to tackle the problem.

The way employees work and their prospects have been significantly influenced by recent advancements in technology. These improvements not only have put some jobs in danger, but also have obviously altered the method of working. Following the aforementioned process, many tasks, entirely or partially, rely on computers and machines. For example, many factories are excessively using robots to produce their products, resulting in the loss of jobs of many former workers. In addition, digital technology has offered remote working for many employees, leading to a more competitive atmosphere for such careers, and subsequent feeling of job instability and insecurity.

However, employees can foster their skills in new in-demand jobs to enhance their opportunity to cope with the new situation. Providing such a pragmatic strategy will substantially diminish the detrimental effects of the phenomenon. Various types of work, including management, web designing and art are only a few examples of those abilities that will not be adversely affected by digital and technological advancements. The proficiency in such work heightens a prosperous future for employees, and makes their minds free of ordinary tasks, which will be properly done by machines, encouraging them to explore their innovative ideas.

In conclusion, although an inevitable changing process has occurred in many jobs, the side effects for the workforce can be alleviated by utilizing sensible policies.

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Once, home tasks had to be done by utilizing physical labour. But presently, majority of these works are done by machines. I perceive this development as to be advantageous. The advent of technology has surely brought evolution in various aspects of human lives, exemplified by office, industry, medicine, engineering etc. It has also blessed the […]

some people think that in order to produce a happy society it is necessary to ensure that there is a small difference between the earnings of the richest and poorest. to what extent do you agree or disagree?

Happiness of society depends on different factor. Few individuals believe that income should be almost same for every person in the society regardless if he poor or rich.I completely disagree with this notion and give my reason in the below paragraphs in to support my point. Firstly, it’s a common myth that happiness relies on […]

The gap between the rich and the poor is getting wider. What are the causes of this problem and what measures can be done to improve the situation?

The wealth disparities are becoming wider. While there are several reasons for this phenomenon, some solutions can be taken to improve this situation. One cause of this problem is that the disparity in educational opportunities based on socioeconomic status. There’s no ticket out of poverty other than a solid education, but education cannot be affordable […]

Global warming is one of the most serious issues that the world is facing today. It is a global issue. What are the causes of global warming and what measures can governments and individuals take to tackle the issue?

Nowadays, one of the threatening problems that we have is global warming. There are several reasons why this is the case and of course with relevant solutions that nations and each person can do to deal with this issue. Evolution of people created several problems for the Earth. There are so many reasons caused to […]

Some people think that a person improves their intellectual skills more when doing group activities. To what extent do you agree? Use specific details and examples to explain your view.

In recent years, some schools have adopted a team-intensive style of teaching and learning in their classrooms. In my opinion, I contend that group activity, at some extent, does contribute to the improvement of an individual’s intellectual abilities. To begin with, several group activities, like sports, require a large amount of mental effort in a […]

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Work Life Balance Essay

Introduction, importance of work-life balance, strategies for attaining work-life balance, reference list.

Choosing what kind of job to take is perhaps the most challenging task that everyone faces. Numerous college students have found themselves being victims of wrong decision-making as far as this choice is concerned. Specialists are usually attracted to monetary benefits, failing to consider other important aspects of jobs like non-monetary advantages.

These benefits include the number of hours that a person is expected to commit to the job. However, only the employee themselves determines their work-life balance. This essay explores this issue in particular.

The more time passes, the harder it becomes to consider options regarding the hours spent at the workplace. So, the sooner people realize the importance of work-life balance, the easier it will get to deal with any problem.

In this essay on work-life balance, the author examines its importance and provides tips on how the balance can be achieved.

Work-life balance can be defined as arrangements employers make to enable their employees to live full lives. This implies that as much as they give their best to the job, the employees will have a chance to do other things in their lives. Work-life balance is a very important aspect of any working environment. Among its advantages is that employees are more motivated to perform their duties since they do not get overworked. This is advantageous to both employers and employees.

The employees benefit in that they develop healthy relationships with their employers, and at the same time, they get time to build non-professional aspects of their lives. This way, they can develop their careers positively and engage in productive activities as they build their careers. On the other hand, employers are able to achieve greater productivity in their firms since employees are greatly motivated to work.

Employees give their best to the job due to motivation; thus, quality and greater production volume are guaranteed (Clayton, 2005, p. 27). The employers also benefit in other ways since the benefits they give their employees enable them to gain good publicity that attracts more productive workers and customers if the firm is in the hospitality industry.

From the above discussion, it is apparent that work-life balance is of utmost importance in organizations. Firms should therefore know how to appropriately establish appropriate measures to enable their employees to live a full life. On the other hand, employees should strive to live a balanced life even in conditions that are seemingly unfavorable. The following paragraphs explore how employees and employers can achieve work-life balance.

Even though the relationship between a person’s professional life and his/her personal life is indubitably rich, it may prove to be tricky to attain and keep a healthy work-life balance. The following are some of the strategies that employees can use to live a full life. First of all, it is of utmost importance for an employee or employer to keep calm in challenging situations.

For instance, if a person is experiencing personal problems like problems of marriage, he/she should ensure that the same does not affect his/her professional life. If the person is an employer, he/she should not, for instance, fire an employee due to his/her personal problems. On the other hand, an employee should ensure that he/she does not let his/her personal life affect his/her professional performance.

For instance, if the employee is experiencing family problems, he/she should maintain the same level of performance as when he/she does not have such problems (Gordon, 2003, p. 1). Likewise, stress in the workplace should not affect the personal lives of the employees. Employees should ensure they live their personal lives to the fullest while ignoring any problems that may have occurred in the working environment.

An employee should also ensure that he/she engages in important bodily activities to live a well-balanced life. He/she should thus engage in physical activities and ensure that he/she sleeps and eats well.

It is thus apparent that any job that gives an employee time to engage in the aforementioned activities can be considered to be offering work-life balance. It is also important for the employee to set boundaries for both professional and personal activities. This will ensure that both lives do not clash (Clutterbuck, 2003, p. 112). This way, the employee will be able to achieve enviably in both realms of life.

As evidenced in the discussion above, work-life balance is a very important determinant of professional performance. It is thus of essence for employers to ensure that they give their employees adequate time to engage in personal activities. On the other hand, employees should ensure that they use the free time they are given by their employers wisely.

They should ensure that they engage in productive personal activities and, at the same time, avoid taking their professional problems home. It is thus of essence that people evaluate prospective employers keenly to make wise choices as they choose between jobs. This will ensure that they do not take jobs and regret them later.

Clayton, D. (2005). The Work-life Balance Program . University of California.

Clutterbuck, D. (2003). Managing the Work-Life Balance . Journal of Management, pp. 101-120.

Gordon, M. (2003). 9 Strategies For Regaining Your Work Life Balance. Web.

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The world of work is changing rapidly. Working conditions today are not the same as before and people no longer rely on taking one job for life. Discuss the possible causes for these changes and give your suggestions on how people should prepare for work in the future.

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  • technological integration
  • enhanced productivity
  • job requirements
  • globalization
  • the gig economy
  • freelance work
  • traditional employment models
  • work-life balance
  • lifelong learning
  • adaptability
  • soft skills
  • hard skills
  • transferable skills
  • professional relationships
  • digital literacy
  • technological proficiency
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American film actor John Wayne said: "Tomorrow is the most important thing in life." How is it important for individuals and countries to think about the future rather than the present?

The use of social media, such as facebook and twitter, is replacing face-to-face contact in this century. do you think the advantages of this outweigh the disadvantages, nowadays many people complain that they have difficulties getting enough sleep. what problems can lack of sleep cause what can be done about lack of sleep, many criminals re-offend after they have been punished. why do some people continue to commit crimes after they have been punished and what measure can be taken to tackle this problem., nowadays online shopping is extremely popular. discuss the impact of it on the environment and on people who lost their jobs because of it. these days internet shopping is increasing getting popular. discuss the impact on climate and on the individual who lost their employment.

world of work essay

Mother’s Day Essay In English (2024): Short and Long Essay Ideas For School Students

img src="https://img.jagranjosh.com/images/2024/May/952024/mothers-day-2024-essay.jpg" width="1200" height="675" />

Mother’s Day 2024: Mother’s Day is a special occasion that is celebrated in various parts of the world to express love and respect towards mothers. It will be celebrated on 12 May, 2024. The day is an event to honour the sacrifices and hard work of mothers in our society. It is a day that makes people remember the importance of mothers in the world. This Mother’s Day, make your mothers feel special by reciting these beautiful lines in front of them to show how much you love them and how much you care for them. In this article, we have included the best essay formats that can help students prepare for Mother’s Day. 

10 Lines On Mother’s Day For School Students

  • Mothers are the one who gives us life, care for us, and guide us through the path of life. 
  • God cannot be everywhere so they sent mothers to take care of us and our family. Mothers are the precious gift of god.  
  • We should appreciate our mothers for their affection by celebrating Mother's Day.
  • Mother's Day is an opportunity to express gratitude to our mothers and to know about their importance and significance in our lives.
  • Mother’s Day honours the core of motherhood. It is a day to show love and care to the mothers that they give us always.
  • Mothers only need care, love, and respect, which serve as the true meaning of celebrating Mother’s Day.
  • Mother’s Day serves as one of the best days to convey our heartiest respect and regards to mothers. On this day, people should thank the mother for everything she does.
  • The place of a mother is irreplaceable in the life of a child, and her contributions are endless. This day serves as a perfect example to appreciate her for growing up as a better human being.
  • Mother's Day is a beautiful celebration of motherhood to express our love and gratitude to the special women in our lives. A mother's love is pure and selfless which cannot be expressed in words. 
  • My mother is my greatest teacher and supporter. She has always been there for me to guide me through life's challenges and teach me valuable lessons along the way.

Mother’s Day Essay In 150 Words

Mothers are the epitome of beauty with brains. We should shower our mothers with love and respect every day and let’s not forget the sacrifices they made for us to protect us in every possible way. 

On this day, we should help our mothers with the daily household chores and also make special arrangements for them. Give her a card by writing down your feelings for your mother. Make handmade cards for her and bring her the utmost happiness by getting a surprise. 

Spend the day pampering your mothers by taking her out shopping, making her a delicious cake, and also going for a movie night. 

Mother’s Day Essay In 200 words

Mother’s Day is all about being grateful for the presence of this amazing human in our lives that god has given us. Always be grateful for your beautiful mother and express your heartfelt gratitude. 

Mothers are the most powerful creatures on this earth. Mother’s love is very precious. A bond between mother and child is one of the most beautiful bonds that one can cherish. Mothers make a lot of sacrifices for their family that is why we should always respect our mothers. 

To honour the importance of mothers in our lives, we celebrate this remarkable day as Mother’s Day. Mothers are extraordinary human beings who take a lot of pain to bring their children into this world. From raising the children to teaching them manners, a mother goes through it all. 

On Mother’s Day, special arrangements are being made for the mothers in schools and students become a part of it by participating in it. A mother’s selfless love and unwavering faith are the foundation of a family’s life that lasts through generations. It is time to reflect on their tireless efforts and show them the appreciation they truly deserve. Happy Mother’s Day! 

Additional Lines For Mother’s Day Essay Writing

  • A mother's love knows no bounds, she provides us with a blanket of warmth and comfort during every storm. 
  • Finding solace in a mother’s arms is all a child needs to make themselves the happiest. 
  • A mother’s laughter is the melody of music that fills our home with joy and sunshine. 
  • A child never forgets the life lessons that are being taught by a mother. A mother’s love and compassion know no limits. 
  • Mother’s guidance helps the children shape their lives by providing all the love and comfort to them. 
  • A Mother’s hug is a cocoon of love that turns beautiful moments into precious future memories. 
  • T his Mother's Day, let's not just celebrate her, but let's honour her, cherish her, and express our gratitude for all she does and all she is.
  • A mother’s love holds stories of resilience with her heart overflowing with dreams and ambitions.

Also, check 

Mother’s Day Speech in Hindi 2024: मदर्स डे पर छोटे और बड़े भाषण हिंदी में

Mother’s Day Speech in English for School Students (2024)

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  1. Defining the World of Work

    Just like the word world, the term world of work is both simple and complex. The world of work is made up of things most of us recognize, like occupations, jobs, employers, employees, paychecks, promotions, etc. We often give these things different labels, like workers and organizations, for example. Although we all recognize these things, we ...

  2. The World of Work is Rapidly Changing IELTS Essay

    The World of Work is Changing Rapidly Essay - Model Essay 2. It is irrefutable that the work scenario is altering at a fast pace. Working conditions are also different and the process of job-hopping is very common. This essay shall delve into the possible causes for these changes and suggest ways to prepare for work in the time to come.

  3. The Big Question: Is the World of Work Forever Changed?

    Surveys show that more than half of U.S. workers have an eye toward new employment. Only a quarter of U.S. fathers and a third of mothers surveyed said that they plan to keep on working as they ...

  4. Essays About Work: 7 Examples And 8 Prompts

    5 Examples of Essays About Work. 1. When The Future Of Work Means Always Looking For Your Next Job by Bruce Horovitz. "For a host of reasons—some for a higher salary, others for improved benefits, and many in search of better company culture—America's workforce is constantly looking for its next gig.".

  5. Facing the new world of work

    It's commencement season for high schools and colleges in many places around the globe. Here's a primer on what new grads need to know about the working world. Explore our special graduate's guide or take a closer look at topics like: The future of work after COVID-19. The most fundamental skill: Intentional learning and the career advantage.

  6. The changing world of work

    The changing world of work. Essay. freelance labour, which increased after 1989 from 30% number of self-employed rose from just over 7% of total to 60% in 1996, led to a reduction of investment in employment in 1979 to around 11% in 1984.

  7. Five key trends shaping the new world of work

    The rise of platform companies has fundamentally changed the rules of employment in the workplace. Image: Li Jin. 5. The central importance of digital skills. The digital transformation of industries has brought about massive shifts in the world of work.

  8. Technology, jobs, and the future of work

    The world of work is in a state of flux, which is causing considerable anxiety—and with good reason. There is growing polarization of labor-market opportunities between high- and low-skill jobs, unemployment and underemployment especially among young people, stagnating incomes for a large proportion of households, and income inequality.

  9. Rethinking Work Essays on Building a Better Workplace

    This collection of brief essays by thought-leaders, scholars, activists, psychologists, and social scientists imagines new workplace structures and policies that promote decent and fair work for all members of society, especially those who are most vulnerable. The world of work has been deteriorating for decades and the very institution of work needs to be systematically understood, critiqued ...

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  13. Conclusion

    In particular, three aspects of these changes and continuities have recurrently emerged throughout the chapters. These are: (i) creativity and changing skills; (ii) the time and space of work; and (iii) the changing nature of the employment relationship and beyond. In this concluding chapter, we reflect further on these themes.

  14. The Effects And Importance Of Work

    "Work is at the root of a meaningful life, the path to individual independence, and a necessity for human survival and flourishing. It is also the distinctive means by which men concretize their identity as rational, goal-directed beings." - Edward W. Younkins. Discuss. Work has a common human practice since the beginning of civilizations.

  15. Essay on The Changing World of Work

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  16. Photo essay: Changing world, changing work

    Photo: CIAT/Georgina Smith. The world of work is changing fast, through innovation, increasing mobility and informality. But it needs to change faster to empower women, whose work has already driven many of the global gains in recent decades. Women still predominantly occupy jobs that pay less and provide no benefits.

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    SDG 8 on 'Full productive employment and Decent Work' serves as a jumping off point to explore a number of issues and debates about the changing nature of work in the global economy and the possibilities for sustainable, dignified livelihoods. Students will engage these topics through class discussions focused on concrete case studies.

  18. Band 8: The world of work is changing rapidly and employees cannot

    The essay addresses the prompt by discussing the causes for the rapid changes in the world of work and suggesting ways of preparing people for the future. The position is clear and well-developed, providing relevant examples to support the ideas.

  19. The world of work is changing rapidly

    IELTS Writing Correction Service /. Writing Samples /. Band 6.5. The world of work is changing rapidly. Working conditions today are not the same as before and people no longer rely on taking one job for life. Discuss the possible causes for these changes and give your suggestions for how people should prepare for work in the future.

  20. Another essay about the future of work

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  21. Work-life Balance Essay

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  22. 5 Things You Can Do To Prepare For The World Of Work

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  23. The world of work is changing rapidly

    IELTS Writing Correction Service /. Writing Samples /. Band 8.5. The world of work is changing rapidly. Working conditions today are not the same as before and people no longer rely on taking one job for life. Discuss the possible causes for these changes and give your suggestions on how people should prepare for work in the future.

  24. 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup

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  25. Mother's Day Essay In English (2024): Short and Long Essay ...

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