New Work models aim to find an answer to the question of how work can be shaped in times of globalization and digitalization. The coronavirus pandemic has also shown how important it is to rethink and revise traditional working models. The term "New Work" is not a contemporary invention. It was coined back in the 1980s by sociologist Frithjof Bergmann, who wanted to find a sustainable alternative model to socialism. Today, New Work means finding ways to meet the needs of employees within the framework of a culture of change. Leadership in the hybrid world of work poses new challenges and requires a willingness to adapt and resilience from everyone involved.
New Work can literally be translated as "work of the future". The terms Work 4.0 or Next Work are also used synonymously. This term covers all developments that are shaping, changing and helping to shape the world of work in the 21st century. Everyone is affected by these developments - from traditional wage earners to freelancers and leaders who bear responsibility in a global corporation. A key aspect of the New Work approach is the perception of people in the working environment. Whereas in the past an employee was seen solely as a service provider, in the New Work cosmos the focus is now on people. It is no longer just about doing work, but about realizing oneself through work.
In New Work, work is closely linked to these three components:
The world of work is increasingly geared towards these values in the 21st century.
In the new understanding of work and its significance in one's own living environment, New Work focuses on the individual's personal responsibility. This is the only way to enable employees to develop their potential and contribute it to the company with entrepreneurial responsibility. Employees and team members are increasingly involved in decision-making processes in the New Work environment - their status is changing from mere recipients of orders to co-decision-makers. They no longer carry out tasks according to the instructions of their superiors, but actively and creatively help to shape them.
Traditional hierarchies are being broken down in New Work and replaced by a culture of trust. Appreciation and empathy are the core values. The decision-making criteria that people use to select their jobs today are also different to those of a few years ago. Instead of choosing a job based on salary and working hours, values such as the hierarchies in the company, family friendliness and personal development opportunities count in New Work.
The term "New Work" was coined by the social philosopher Frithjof Bergmann, who developed a new theory of the world of work in the mid-1970s. In it, he describes the extent to which the industrial revolution shaped the traditional concept of work. The basic idea of work was to complete tasks while being as efficient and economical as possible. A classic example of this is assembly line work. Here, people stood or stood at the assembly line and completed their work in a constantly repetitive routine. In contrast to this definition, New Work appears to be the exact opposite. While work on the assembly line was probably far removed from freedom, flexibility and a sense of purpose for most people, this is precisely what is now the focus. To put it in a nutshell, work is no longer a necessary evil in order to earn money, but exactly what people want to do, what fulfills them.
Bergmann himself traveled to various Eastern Bloc countries between 1976 and 1979 and had various experiences with socialism there. During these trips, he decided for himself that socialism had no future and therefore tried to find a counter-model. The aim of the new model of work was no longer to focus on work, but on people themselves. Frithjof Harold Bergmann lived in the USA until his death in 2021.
With the advent of industrial society, people were judged as workers according to their status. Who has reached what career stage and what salary? Today, life is seen more as the sum of all activities - including those that are voluntary or serve to educate and support children. The younger generations in particular have realized that unchecked economic growth is no longer possible if the planet runs out of resources.
New Work means that work is no longer strictly linked to income. Even those who actively work to preserve the environment, raise children or bring joy to the lives of senior citizens through voluntary work are working in this sense. In New Work, identity is no longer created by what ends up in the bank account each month, but by what each individual does for themselves, their family, society and the environment. Accordingly, New Work should not be seen as a short-term trend, but as a long-term change of course.
Not so long ago, working life consisted of fixed attendance times, the pursuit of rapid career advancement and overtime, which was naturally subtracted from private and family life. The digitalization push has given rise to new working structures . Instead of being on site around the clock, team members can collaborate remotely around the world and have lunch with their families after a meeting. Companies are becoming more agile and are responding more individually to the needs of their employees.
In order for New Work principles to be introduced in practice, various areas of the company need to be rethought or reorganized. This applies in particular to the design of the workplace, working time models and work structures. In addition, a new management culture must be created, which requires trust, empathy and knowledge of human nature. In the New Work environment, leaders are no longer commanding but rather visionaries who can act as role models and inspire employees.
Why should companies and employers now engage with the New Work concept or integrate it into their corporate structures? A key feature of this new guideline is employee satisfaction. Employees who find meaning in their work, can organize their time freely and reconcile their career with family life are more closely connected to the company. They work out of personal motivation, which is also reflected in the quality of their work. Identification with the employer reduces the willingness to change jobs. Attempts to entice them away from the competition are then less successful. The opportunity to actively participate in decision-making in New Work provides further incentives for employees. In employer branding, the implementation of the New Work approach is a decisive argument for an employer.
In addition, home offices, co-working spaces and cloud working offer great potential for savings in the design of the working environment. Companies no longer have to set up a separate office for each employee, which is unoccupied during sick leave and vacations, but can save these resources. Travel distances are eliminated and cross-departmental collaboration is also significantly simplified. This creates a new space for innovation, creativity and productivity.
All New Work benefits at a glance:
What sounds promising in theory can also have risks in practice. The New Work approach cannot be implemented overnight. When existing structures are broken up and called into question, this requires a rethink from everyone involved. Experience shows that changes are not always met with enthusiasm. If new working models are introduced too quickly, this can also turn productivity in the other direction. Companies need to keep an eye on the necessary investments. The implementation of flexible working models requires an appropriate IT infrastructure. Occupational health and safety and data protection laws must also be taken into account.
Not every employee has sufficient self-organization to be productive. Furthermore, not everyone has the opportunity to create a distraction-free space in their home where they can concentrate on their work. Those who are unable to deal with new New Work models in a structured way quickly fall into a maelstrom of overtime and dissatisfaction. The feeling of constant availability can cause pressure and stress. There are employees who can cope better with a physical separation between work and private life than with working independently from home. The older generation of employees in particular quickly reach their limits when they have to log into clouds and take part in digital team meetings. The fact that compliance with working hours can no longer be directly verified is a change for employers in particular. The scope for decision-making and action in the new work model must therefore be clearly defined .
New Work models are still practiced very differently in companies. Some have set up home office workstations for their employees. Others organize cross-team work in the cloud, have set up open spaces or introduced the 4-day week. The lowest common denominator is probably that something fundamental is changing. Start-ups or companies in the tech environment in particular have the least conflict with embarking on new paths.
However, not every company is in a position to offer its employees the desired flexibility due to its operational processes. This is particularly true for manufacturing companies. However, this is not an argument for not even putting New Work on your own agenda. The focus is on ensuring that people enjoy coming to work in the morning and find meaning in what they do. This is also possible outside of flexible working time models.
Traditional companies are often still skeptical about new working models. While the HR department used to pay strict attention to compliance with digitally recorded attendance and break times, this control instance is no longer necessary. The lack of control requires a great deal of trust - and there must be a corresponding willingness to do so.
Many traditional companies are still very cautious here, not wanting to take any risks and keep the reins in their hands. They are often only forced to rethink when they run out of applicants at some point. Time is probably a decisive factor. Even if New Work concepts are not yet suitable for every employee and every company, the New Work concept will gradually establish itself as a new form of work in Germany.
Openness to new working models has grown in tandem with digitalization - perhaps the one even causes the other. The implementation of New Work approaches in many companies was accelerated primarily by the coronavirus pandemic. From one day to the next, home office workstations had to be set up and teams brought together across local borders . Once the New Work concepts had been established and proven over months, they continued to be implemented and expanded beyond the period of lockdown and strict hygiene regulations. There is no doubt that digitalization is one of the strongest drivers of New Work.
Digital technologies make it possible for employees to work alone or as part of a team from anywhere in the world at any time. This alone is dissolving existing structures and hierarchies. Working environments are also changing, with employees not only having access to company data from a PC in a fixed office. New technologies are creating the conditions for flexible and self-determined working in New Work.
The central feature of the work process in the New Work environment is independence. Employees must be able to organize themselves and set their own learning and work goals. They must (and often want to) allow the boundaries between work and leisure to become increasingly blurred. In this environment, independence also means that everyone is responsible for creating a balance between work and private life. The structure that used to be dictated by fixed working hours must be created by each individual in New Work.
Digitalization has rapidly accelerated the speed at which changes occur in the world of work. The phrase "lifelong learning" has now become an everyday reality. Employees need to become familiar with new technologies and work processes. Companies that want to increase efficiency and productivity must invest in the education and training of their employees. This in turn leads to an increase in innovative strength.
Digitalization has brought about decisive changes in all areas of life. Processes that used to require a lot of manual work are now automated. Employees need different skills and have to adapt to new working models. They no longer sit opposite their colleagues face-to-face, but work together across locations. New Work deals with this transformation and is characterized by the following points:
Flat hierarchies are necessary to keep up with the lightning speed of developments. If all decisions have to be made across a desk beforehand, this noticeably slows down a company's agility. Leaders must now create new scope for self-realization. It is important that you offer this freedom without forcing employees into decision-making roles.
Not least the pandemic has shown how important it is for companies to consider flexible working models. Technical structures must be created in which these models can be implemented. However, as a manager, you should always keep the individual in mind. Not everyone has the right conditions for concentrated work at home. Older employees in particular often need support in using tools & co.
It was nice when colleagues were the same age, had the same hobbies and could talk about the same destinations on vacation, wasn't it? Times are changing. Today, many companies rely on mixed teams to promote a company's innovative strength. People from different areas of expertise, backgrounds and influences now work together. This also brings together very different points of view, which leads to discussions. Your job as a leader in New Work is to lead these discussions constructively so that added value is created for the future.
The days of long corridors with individual offices off to the left and right are long gone. Desk sharing is a trend that is becoming increasingly popular. Instead of one employee having a fixed workstation, the offices are shared by all employees. In addition to saving space, this allows the needs of the individual to be addressed more individually. In addition to communal areas, there are also individual offices for those who want to concentrate on thinking or telephoning. Employees are in much closer contact with each other in coworking spaces and open desk offices.
New Work requires a completely new culture of trust in companies. Employers need to show their employees the necessary trust that they will not use their working time for private matters. Attendance checks can also be implemented digitally, but in some respects, these kinds of control instances run counter to the New Work concept. One solution could be target agreements concluded between employees and employers. If the targets are achieved, it is irrelevant how the employee structures their day and how much time they have spent completing the tasks at the end. Important: The target agreements should be concluded jointly and not dictated from above.
Agility and flexibility play a major role in the New Work principles at various levels. Employees are more flexible in the way they organize their working day and their working environment. In many industries, work is no longer 9-to-5, but is integrated individually into the day as a component between leisure and family time. Flexible working time is a generic term for various models ranging from preferred working hours to part-time and trust-based working. Flexibility also affects the place of work and the organization of work in New Work.
New Work does not only affect the interests of employees and employers, but also has a significance for society as a whole. Digitalization in the New Work concept has created the conditions for decentralization. This avoids having to travel to work or to the next meeting, and production at different locations is also possible in order to save on transportation. One indication of this positive New Work effect is the fact that global CO2 emissions fell significantly more in the coronavirus year 2020 than in previous years.
The sabbatical originated in the USA and describes a type of special leave that can be taken flexibly. This usually takes the form of a sabbatical of at least 3 to 6 months and is becoming increasingly popular in Germany as part of the shift towards New Work. Employees often use the time off to travel, for professional development or for private matters. The sabbatical year can be freely organized in the New Work concept. There are various models for financing. For example, employees can forgo part of their salary each month in advance and save their salary. This means they receive their salary regularly during their time out. An unpaid leave of absence can also be applied for.
This is just a small excerpt of the changes that New Work models bring with them. The implementation of New Work models creates freedom, perspectives and opportunities. However, it is important not to implement everything that is possible straight away. As a leader, you should always keep the individual in mind and create opportunities to approach the changes at your own pace.
A basic prerequisite for New Work in practice is the creation of structures for implementation. Only then can New Work concepts be successfully established in a company. This includes a well thought-out IT infrastructure that enables employees to work independently of time and place. This starts with every employee having their own laptop. In addition, certain tools should be selected to enable decentralized communication and real-time collaboration. If new hardware and software is established, appropriate training should also be offered to employees.
Smart office organizations save costs and bring teams closer together. Anyone who wants to introduce a home office as part of the transition to New Work should work closely with data protection. Both company and customer data must be protected and protected from unauthorized access. Ultimately, companies need to decide how they can implement agile working methods.
As a leader in a company that has internalized the New Work concept, you no longer perceive yourself primarily as a controlling and directive authority. Your role is more that of a coach and mentor who accompanies changes in the company with empathy and trust. You have the important task of empowering your team to take responsibility and establishing cooperation on an equal footing. To ensure that your team is not overwhelmed in the midst of all the changes, it is important to walk the path to New Work together and to take each individual with you.