The changing world of work

Work used to be a case of finding a position in an established organisation, working a fixed number of hours on a fixed number of days and staying there for the majority of your working years. Those days are long gone however. Flextime, teleworking, virtual meetings and cyber commuting have made a huge impact on the way we work.


This article from Pick The Brain recognises that the old 8 hour day didn't sit well with normal psychology and was inefficient, and advocates employee centred structuring.


Big Ambition has lots of advice about Digital Careers, describing work at large organisations such as ITV and BT in their IT and business systems sections. There are courses on building Apps and discussions with people who have already success in the digital world. It is aimed largely at youngsters but the information will be of interest to anyone looking to move into information and technology.

http://www.the-happy-manager.com/goal-setting-tip.html

The idea that happiness should be an indicator of success as much a financial factors is moving into the world of work as well. Originally used by Bhutan alongside GDP to measure how well the country was doing, happiness is becoming a driving force in people's career choices, with some going to far as to quit their jobs to do work that has more personal meaning for them.


Increasingly work can mean spending more time out of an office environment with technology and more flexible employers enabling people to work from home, or anywhere else they choose.


For people wanting to go it alone, traditional sources of loans and capital investment are now joined by Crowdsourcing, websites that connect people with ideas to hundreds and thousands of people prepared to invest small amounts. Kickstarter is one of the largest of these, with links to Amazon, it has raised $7million for one project alone.


The Work Foundation studies the situation that work and workers are in and how policy and the economy affect and are affected by work. Their press releases summarise their findings but the site includes animated graphs of how the world of work is changing, and other tools and research.




Where will your work take you?