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The Changing Nature of Work

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The Changing Nature of Work

Will increased productivity lead to reduced working hours and more leisure, or fewer jobs and more unemployment?

Telecommuting will change nature of companies.

Computer monitoring can impact productivity, privacy, and morale.

Health issues such as repetitive strain Injury (RSI) and carpal tunnel syndrome.

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Impact on Employment

Do computers cause unemployment?

Clearly computers cause unemployment in some industries and job classifications.

450,000 bank jobs will be lost by the year 2000 to automation and electronic banking services.

The number of telephone operators dropped from 250,000 in 1956 to 60,000 in 1995.

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Significant Unemployment in the U.S.

The Great Depression in the 1930's was caused by a number of factors which included business cycles, the Federal Reserve Banks handling of interest rates, and greed. Technology was not a major factor. The California "depression of the early nineties" has been attributed to cut backs in defense and aerospace industries and a tax structure which caused businesses to relocate to other states. Technology might have caused the California boom but not the depression.

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Income and ProductivityTrends towards more part-time and temporaryjobs.

"Downsizing" is part of the new vocabulary.(Miller's observation is that individuals have loyalty and organizations don't.)

Hourly wages are down from 1970, perhaps by 10%. But fringe is up from 29.3% of payroll to 40.2 %.

Hours worked per week not down significantly since the end of WWII but productivity has doubled.

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Impact on Employment Different?

Eliminated a wider variety of jobs than other technologies had.

Tended to eliminate higher paying jobs (decision makers v.s. manufacturing).

Transition to new jobs more difficult due to wide range of jobs impacted.

Pace of change for this technology very fast.

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Changing Jobs

Almost all jobs will require the ability to use a computer.

More jobs for the intellectually elite and fewer for people with lower skills and education. (Impact on schools?)

Rate of change eliminates some old solutions.

"Long term net social gains from new jobs are not much interest to a person who is fired."

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The Work Environment (+)Teleworking (telecommuting) [Use computer link to work from home (or the car, etc).] + employee retention+ reduced overhead.+ some productivity increases reported.+ reduced travel expenses.+ stay with the kids (This is an advantage?).+ easier to work with strange time zones.+ could be healthier.+ allows companies to more easily meet Fed requirements (Clean Air Act, Disabilities Act, Family and Medical Leave Act, etc.)

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The Work Environment (-)

- isolation, lack of social interactions.- isolation, loss of information channels.- sweat shop environment for piece workers.- low visibility can hurt on promotions and raises. ("out of sight, out of mind")- complaints of serious weight gain.- some find it hard to discipline themselves.- different kinds of interruptions.- in tight time first to be fired.- hidden costs? zoning and labor laws.

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Networked Worker Survey 2008 (+)

Networked Workers: Connected, Distracted, StressedTech Careers (via Information Week), October 2.

(80%) the new technologies (mobile phones, PDAs and laptops) make their jobs easier.

(73%) make it easier to share ideas.

(58%) give them flexibility in the hours they work.

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Networked Worker Survey 2008 (-)

Networked Workers: Connected, Distracted, StressedTech Careers (via Information Week), October 2.

(46%) communications technology increases demands that they work more hours.

(49%) increases job-related stress.

(49%) makes it harder to disconnect from work at home and on weekends.

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Dilbert on Teleworking

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"IT Favors Telecommuting" Fifty-one percent of 1,953 surveyed IT workers said that they want to work from home half the time, 19 percent wished to telecommute full time, and 17 percent desired nine hours or less of home-based work. Thirty-nine percent of those polled were willing to work for less if it meant they could work from home. At the same time, four out of five employees noted the importance of working at the office at least one day a week.

InternetWeek (09/03/01) No. 876, P. 10; Boyd, Jade

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Worried Workers turn to Telecommuting

Telecommuting is in vogue again. Employees concerned that the workplace could be a target of anthrax-tainted mail or another terrorist attack are staying away and using technology to get the job done. This will probably be a permanent change. At a time when threats are disrupting business so much, working at home becomes more attractive. Workers also save time by not undergoing hours of security checks at the airport.

USA TODAY(10/17/01) Stephanie Armour

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Happy Homeworkers

The number of teleworkers in the United States rose nearly 17 percent to 28.8 million in 2000, according to the International Telework Association's annual survey. Almost 80 percent of teleworkers in the survey report a greater sense of commitment and loyalty to their employers, while nearly 75 percent of at-home teleworkers say they are more productive and are doing better work.

http://www.dc.internet.com/news/article/0,,2101_909591,00.html

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Telework is on the riseEmployee demand for teleworking is growing because working from home, in particular, provides a number of benefits, including more productivity, commitment, and job satisfaction. A recent forecast by the Institute for the Study of Distributed Work says the number of teleworkers will probably rise to 9.2 percent of the workforce, or 13.7 million people, within the next three years. Telework began increasing at a 3 percent annual rate after September 11.

Wall Street Journal (01/23/02) P. B1; Shellenbarger, Sue

 

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"Workers Can't Wait to Go Mobile-Study"

Over 50 percent of the national U.S. workforce will either telecommute or do their jobs remotely by 2006, according to a study from Access Markets International Partners (AMI). Company connections will be maintained by wireless data/Internet (WDI) technology that many of these mobile professionals will use, although AMI notes that issues over pricing, performance, security, commercial applicability, and implementation standards still need to be ironed out.

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"Workers Can't Wait to Go Mobile-Study“ Cont

Meanwhile, the report forecasts that the next four years will see rapid growth in the consumer availability of WDI-enabled devices; by 2006, the WDI commercial user base will comprise more than 26.4 million people. AMI expects the number of remote or telecommuting workers to reach 67 million by 2006.

Newsbytes (03/18/02); Bartlett, Michael

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Did you notice the conflicting data?

We have 28.8 million teleworkers in 2000.

Will increase to reach 9.2% of workforce or 13.7 million by the year 2005.

Will exceed 50% of workforce or 67 million by the year 2006

We need to be real careful about trusting numbers we find in the various publications.

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Men vs. Women

Women tend to view work outside of the home as providing a higher percentage of positive experiences than do men in similar jobs. Inaddition, women appear to be much better at handling negative news, such as being fired.

The only situation that was identified where women’s positive experiences were lower thanmen’s was when both brought work home to finish it.

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High-tech's Use Of H-1Bs Drops

A Department of Homeland Security study says H-1B use by IT has fallen sharply. The Senate will hold a hearing on the H-1B'simpact on the U.S. economy. Businesses push for more access. Estimated that U.S. jobs are lost to offshore workers at a rate of about 3% per year.

http://computerworld.com/newsletter/0, 4902,84897,00.html?nlid=WK

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“Congress Ups H-1B Visa Cap by 20,000”

IEEE-USA President John Steadman lobbied to leave cap at 65,000 "Because U.S. industry has been more restricted in its ability to bring overseas guest workers into the country, it has had to hire more U.S. citizens to fill open positions". High-tech business and industry organizations pressured Capitol Hill for an increase of 50,000.

Computerworld (11/22/04); Thibodeau, Patrick

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20% Fraud Found in H-1B Program

An internal report by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) examining the H-1B visa program has found evidence of forged documents and fake degrees, and even "shell" companies giving addresses of fake locations. Individuals were working out of classification and at below market wages.

Computerworld (10/9/08); Thibodeau, Patrick

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IT offshore outsourcing is expected to grow

"Offshore outsourcing is expected to grow nearly 20 percent annually through 2008,with the average enterprise sending 60 percent of its application work to low-wage countries by 2009, a market research firm said Tuesday." (November 2004)Source http://www.rttsweb.com/services/outsourcing/info_center.cfm

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Short on Priests, U.S. Catholics Outsource Prayers to Indian Clergy

With Roman Catholic clergy in short supply in the United States, Indian priests are picking up some of their work, saying Mass for special intentions, in a sacred if unusual version of outsourcing.American, as well as Canadian and European churches, are sending Mass intentions, or requests for services like those to remember deceased relatives and thanksgiving prayers, to clergy in India.By SARITHA RAI Published: June 13, 2004

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IT offshore outsourcing is expected to grow

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Speaking of Bangalore

“Bangalore and its environs account for a third of India's software services exports. India's IT firms derive 40 percent of their global revenues from financial services clients, with 61 percent of total sales from the U.S. and 30 percent from Europe.”“IT firms are betting that short-term pain will give way to long term gains” because the need for U.S. companies to reduce cost should result in more outsource work for India.Erika Kinetz, AP Business Writer “Wall Street woes has India outsourcing on edge”

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400K+ High-Tech Jobs Lost

Associated Press (September 2004)

"The U.S. information technology sector lost 403,300 jobs between March 2001 and April 2004, and the market for tech workers remains bleak, according toa new report.”

Source http://www.rttsweb.com/services/outsourcing/info_center.cfm

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Survey Stephen Swoyer (October 14, 2004)

Enterprise Systems Journal

"Love it or hate it, outsourcing is here to stay. In fact, it’s likely that outsourcing will become even more pervasive over

time: With costs savings pegged at between 20 and 55 percent, it’s a strategy

few CEOs can afford to ignore.”Source http://www.rttsweb.com/services/outsourcing/

info_center.cfm

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Information Technology and Outsourcing

When there is someone overseas who can do the same job as a worker in the US and do it cheaper then that job is in danger of moving overseas. Some jobs are harder to move than others but for simple code production advances in technology such as the Internet have made that type of job easy to move.

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Information Technology and Outsourcing

A Brookings Institute report predicts jobs lost to offshoring in 246 U.S. metropolitan areas between 2004 and 2015. Silicon Valley was shown to have the highest potential for job losses. The predictions where that 20 to 24 percent of its computer programming, software engineering, and data-entry jobs that existed in 2004 would be loss to offshoring. (ACM TechNews 2/12/07)

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Work Visas May Work Against the U.S.

Information from the federal government suggests that the H-1B temporary visa program appears to be doing the most good for Indian outsourcing firms rather than U.S. companies. The firms often recruit workers from India to train in United States for jobs waiting for them back home. It is the opinion of some experts that although the H-1B program may have been set up to help U.S. companies hire workers with much-needed skills, what it is actually doing is helping the offshoring of domestic jobs. Business Week (02/08/07) Elstrom, Peter

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H-1B Visa Use Cuts U.S. Programmer, Software Engineer

Wages by Up to 6% A new study from professors at New York University (NYU) and the University of Pennsylvania found that the use of H-1B workers by U.S. companies has decreased wages for computer programmers, system analysts, and software engineers by as much as 6 percent. The report's authors say their research dispels the myth that globalization generates no losers.

Computerworld (04/17/09) Thibodeau, Patrick

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Information Technology and Outsourcing

A positive response to the problem can be found in an article entitled “How Information Technology Professionals Keep From Being Outsourced or Offshored” There will be jobs that won’t move “because companies will always retain some proprietary strategic or critical business knowledge, and because more jobs will be infused with an IT component.”Source: Fulbright and Routh SIGITE’04 11/28-30, 2004, ACM.

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Surprise! Tech Is a Safe Career Choice Today

The technology profession is proving to be one of the safest careers available during the current economic crisis, providing good pay and solid job security. "The reality is there's still a very healthy job sector in information technology," says Stanford professor Mehran Sahami. "If more people were aware of how strong the demand is in computing, I think there would be a healthier pipeline of students." Unfortunately, the problem is self-perpetuating, as the skills shortage drives the need for more H-1B workers, which further dissuades students. InfoWorld (02/04/09) Kaneshige, Tom

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A New Graduate needs:

• A solid understanding of computer technology.

• The ability to communicate.

• The ability to apply computer technology to a variety of different kinds of jobs.

• Diversity in skills and the willingness to learn new positions.

Source: Fulbright and Routh SIGITE’04 11/28-30, 2004, ACM.

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Good Career Sitehttp://www.acm.org/membership/careernews/

This is an ACM site opened to both members and non-members. The following sample of what you could find there is taken from Volume 5, Issue 2, January 20, 2009.

Recruiter Reveals Hot Jobs for 2009Five Tips for an Outstanding IT ResumeHow to Get Paid Better in 2009More Businesses Using Freelancers, Experts SayThe Two Websites Every Job Seeker Needs to Join

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Management and Hierarchies

Trend is to smaller businesses with more independent consultants and contractors.

Should anticipate additional reduction in company loyalty and identification.

Flattening hierarchies.

Empowerment of the workers.

The need for middle managers is decreasing and the nature of their job is changing.

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Employee MonitoringHours, pieces produced, delays monitored by supervisors, surveillance cameras.

Detailed surveillance can lead to loss of sense of dignity and independence. Stress increased in the "electronic sweatshop".

Pushes quantity over quality. Could have negative productivity effects. We do see some assembly line jobs (from clerical to building cars) being redesigned to introduce variety in tasks.

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Monitor that e-mail

“The way the law reads now is that the company is responsible for employee actions at work.”

If an employee sends sexually explicit messages using the company’s e-mail the company becomes liable for a lawsuit. (Or downloads pornography or racist materials or copyrighted material). Also problems with disclosure of trade secrets or anything which impacts value of stock.

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Limited Privacy at WorkIf companies are going to be held responsible they have every right to monitor e-mail and web usage. The push to protect your privacy while you are using the web has pretty much gone away if you are doing it while at work.

In surveys the majority of the respondents have consistently supported the employees acceptability of employer monitoring. In one study, 50% said it’s fine for their boss to occasionally peek in their desk drawers.

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Health Issues

Repetitive Stress Injury (Carpal Tunnel Syndrome one type). Not just a computer keyboard problem.

By 1990 more than half of the workplace injuries in the US were RSI.

Australian epidemic (eighties) at peak up to 50% of workers reported problems.

hysteria = a phenomenon where the physical symptoms are real but the causes are psychological.

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Radiation Hazards

Does radiation from computers and computer monitors cause miscarriage and cancer? A special concern with radiation is that nearby colleagues could be affected as well, since radiation is emitted from the backs and sides of some terminals. The most recent NIOSH study is reassuring, but some caution still seems prudent.

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Radiation Hazards

Earlier fears about ionizing radiation, such as X rays, have been laid to rest, since these rays are blocked by modern glass screens. Also well below exposure standards are ultraviolet, infrared, and ultrasound radiation.

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Radiation Hazards More recent controversy surrounds very low frequency (VLF) and extremely low frequency (ELF) electromagnetic radiation produced by video displays' horizontal and vertical deflection circuits. Researchers have reported a number of ways that electro-magnetic fields can affect biological functions, including changes in hormone levels, alterations in binding of ions to cell membranes, and modification of biochemical processes inside the cell. It is not clear, however, whether these biological effects translate into health effects.

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Don’t Over-react

Over-reaction to ELF and VLF radiation can also compromise ergonomics. In a campus computer lab, for example, all displays and keyboards were angled thirty degrees from the front of desktops to reduce the radiation exposure of students behind the machines. The risks of poor working posture in this case appear to be greater than the radiation risks.

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Light and Glare

Eyestrain, headaches, and impaired vision are often a product of improper illumination resulting in glare, which is light within the field of vision that is brighter than other objects to which the eyes are adapted. Both direct glare from sunlight and lighting fixtures directed at the user's eyes and indirect glare due to reflections from video screens or glossy surfaces are common problems for VDT users.

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Breaks and exercises Working in the same position for too long causes tension buildup and is thought to increase the risk of repetitive motion injuries, such as carpal tunnel syndrome. Remedies include changing postures frequently, performing other work interspersed with computing (some studies recommend a 10-15 minute break from the keyboard every hour), and doing exercises such as tightening and releasing fists and rotating arms and hands to increase circulation.