Arbeiten 4.0 — Folgen der Digitalisierung für die Arbeitswelt

Zusammenfassung

Die voranschreitende Digitalisierung wird die Arbeitswelt verändern und dies auf verschiedene Weise: Zum einen werden neue Geschäftsmodelle und Wettbewerbsstrukturen entstehen, zum anderen werden sich Arbeitsinhalte und die Organisation von Produktions- und Arbeitsprozessen wandeln. Was bedeutet dies für die Gestaltung der Arbeitsplätze? Dabei geht es unter anderem darum, wie die Arbeitnehmer flexible Arbeitsformen oder Homeoffice nutzen, welche Folgen Crowdworking oder andere Formen der „Entbetrieblichung“ für die soziale Sicherung haben. Letztlich muss entschieden werden, auf welcher Ebene die neu entstandenen Probleme zu lösen sind. Inwieweit ist staatliches, inwieweit betriebliches Handeln erforderlich?

Abstract

Digitalisation will not only lead to the disappearance of jobs, the creation of new jobs and changing skill requirements in many existing jobs. It also leads to fundamental challenges for existing qualification systems as well as labour law and labour relations. New digital technologies pervasively change the content and organisation of work. They may have an impact on the actual weekly working time hours and the adoption of self-managed working time systems. The consequences, however, may differ for each worker. Accordingly, economic and policy conclusions cannot be derived for the labour market as a whole. Workers‘qualifications need not only to be adapted to changing occupational tasks. Work intensification and increasing communication flows have to be addressed as well. Furthermore, adequate human resources policies can foster the proper use of new flexible work arrangements. Crowdworking as a specific form of flexible work, however, has to be primarily integrated in existing labour legislation. That is one opinion, another author considers the forecasts doomsday prophecies that call for political action or amending the regulative framework. And he suggests that the characteristics of the digital transformation of work may mainly be firm-specific. In a social-scientific perspective there is no deterministic relationship between technology and work but the development of work has to be regarded as a strategic and political design project.