#BTColumn – The changing nature of the workplace

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By Dennis De Peiza

The traditional workplace as known to many, has undergone several changes within recent years. The transformed workplace has been characterised by fundamental differences to the daily operations and standards which guided behaviours and practices.

One significant change that has come about, is that the accustomed dedicated office space is now overtaken by the virtual operations. By no stretch of imagination should this be taken to mean that the traditional dedicated office space has become obsolete. What is now standard, is that technology which allows business to be conducted virtually, removes the demand in some instances, for the rental or leasing of office space. 

Some businesses operate in a remote setting, which eliminates or reduces the need for person-to-person contact. This impacts the engagement with fellow employees, customers and clients. With this comes the loss of social interaction that once existed between employees and customers. One would accept that the beauty of the traditional workplace was bringing people into physical contact with each other. This laid the platform for teamwork, co-operation and the building of relationships.

For the trade union, it promoted the concept of collectivism over that of individualism. Now that the modern-day workplace operates in the realm of cyberspace, this can negatively impact efforts aimed at promoting collectivism, unity and solidarity amongst workers. For starters, it threatens the practice of collective bargaining which would normally exist within the workplace, where 50 plus one per cent of the workers opted to become unionised, and by so doing, established a collective bargaining unit

There are some interesting things that are to be noted about the modern workplace. It brings together employees who may be working in various geographical locations. These employees are engaged as teams and are required to work efficiently to reach rigorous deadlines and timelines. The positive about this, is that productivity is potentially high. These demands certainly remove the problems associated with malingering and time wasting. From an employer’s standpoint, this is ideal.

Added to this, employers enjoy the benefit of being in a position to easily replace workers who are not meeting the standards. Employers are therefore able to exercise immense control. They have the luxury of engaging workers on short-term contracts. Whereby the pay and benefits to employees may initially appear attractive to employees, the long and short of this option, is that there are no guarantees of a job for life.

With digitization, social media platforms and even robotics in the daily process, what comes to the fore, is the notion of paperless operations. With the use of these technologies, the extensive use of filing systems are being easily replaced by electronic filing.  The overall significant change to the workplace is a more technologically-driven operation less dependent on manual functions. There is the school of thought that technology hasn’t changed the end-goal, as collaboration and communication still remain at the core of a successful business. The view is that technology just allows us to do it differently, all in an effort to deliver on the objectives set.

There is a downside to the coming on stream of the virtual office. The loss of some jobs is the number one issue. Looking at this in detail, the change to a virtual office will have implications for the need for a number of services. Suppliers of office equipment and stationery, cleaning firms, security services providers, catering and utility services  amongst others, all stand to lose or to have reduced business. When the analysis is completed, the downturn in employment stands out as a main problem with this phase of technological development. For the most part, those who are at the lower income levels are the ones to be severely impacted. Highly-trained professionals are less likely to be impacted, as this group of workers is more marketable and can be easily reabsorbed in the job market.

In the changeover from the traditional to the modern workplace, what remains a constant feature is that the success of any business operation or workplace, remains dependent on the engagement of some form of labour. Labour is almost indispensable. There will also be a need for skill sets. It is remarkable to think that man remains behind the development of new technologies, and regardless of what is developed, there is a need for employees to conceptualise, manufacture, assemble, service, promote and sell the products. It is therefore nothing short of a vicious, never-ending cycle.          

DENNIS DE PEIZA

Labour & Employee Relations Consultant

Regional Management Services Inc.

www.regionalmanagementservices.com