Chapter 5: Four Big Ideas for the Future of Work
New avenues for creating workplaces where all people can thrive.
This video offers four big ideas to spark new collaborations, new pathways and new programs for redesigning work:
- Experimentation
- Inclusive work environments
- Adding value to hourly work
- Building communities.
These ideas can help lay the foundation for creating a workplace where people thrive and companies win in the global marketplace.
Four Big Ideas for the Future of Work: Resources
- Fear of Being Different Stifles Talent: This article pinpoints the cost of "covering" for individual workers and the workplace at large. It also presents the business case for uncovering in the workplace.
- Uncovering Talent: A New Model of Inclusion: This white paper explains the concept of uncovering as well as its results, and gives recommendations for implementing this strategy in the workplace.
- The Future of Collaboration is About Looking Backwards: Glen Hiemstra, founder and owner of Futurist.com, offers tips for work redesign that focus on fostering collaboration through facetime, technology, and new collaboration applications.
- Innovative Practices: Flex Strategies to Attract, Engage, and Retain Older Workers: The Sloan Center on Aging & Work at Boston College reports on best practices and pilot programs for incorporating and retaining older workers in the workforce.
- What Happens When Low Wage Workers Suddenly Get a Living Wage?: Resorts World Casino struck a deal with its employees union for a wage increase from $10 to $20/hour, plus benefits. This article shows the transformation in the health and wellness of five employes due to the increase in pay to a living wage.
- Seattle's Bold Minimum Wage Experiment: This opinion piece shows the importance of pilot programs and experimentation in the context of the City of Seattle's recent minimum wage increase.
- Warning: Your Workplace Can Improve by Adding Joy: Author, speaker and business advisor Guy Kawasaki offers a short list of innovative and practical steps to increase happiness in the workplace through creativity and experimentation.
Four Big Ideas for the Future of Work: References
Redesigning Work for Gender Equity and Work–personal Life Integration
Bailyn, Lotte. 2011. "Redesigning Work for Gender Equity and Work–personal Life Integration." Community, Work & Family 14(1): 97-112.
Work-life Initiatives and Organizational Change: Overcoming Mixed Messages to Move from the Margin to the Mainstream
Kossek, Ellen Ernst, Susan Lewis, and Leslie B. Hammer. 2010. "Work-life Initiatives and Organizational Change: Overcoming Mixed Messages to Move from the Margin to the Mainstream." Human Relations 63(1): 3-19.
Passing the Buck: Labor Flexibility Practices that Transfer Risk onto Hourly Workers
Lambert, Susan J. 2008. "Passing the Buck: Labor Flexibility Practices that Transfer Risk onto Hourly Workers." Human Relations 61(9): 1203-27.
'Opting in' to full labor force participation in hourly jobs
Lambert, Susan J. 2012. "'Opting in' to full labor force participation in hourly jobs." Pp. 87-102 in Women Who Opt Out: The Debate Over Working Mothers and Work-Family Balance, edited by Bernie D. Jones. New York: New York University Press.
Schedule Flexibility in Hourly Jobs: Unanticipated Consequences and Promising Directions.
Lambert, Susan J., Anna Haley-Lock, and Julia R. Henly. 2012. "Schedule Flexibility in Hourly Jobs: Unanticipated Consequences and Promising Directions." Community, Work & Family 15(3): 293-315.
From ‘Work-family’ to the ‘Gendered Life Course’ and 'Fit’: Five Challenges to the Field
Moen, Phyllis. 2011. "From ‘Work-family’ to the ‘Gendered Life Course’ and 'Fit’: Five Challenges to the Field." Community, Work & Family 14(1): 81-96.
Uncovering: the Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights
Yoshino, Kenji. 2007. Uncovering: the Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights. New York, NY: Random House.
