The change is in a constant change. Digitization is always advancing and technical change knows no bounds. Of course, this also creates space for change. Sometimes there is also room for changes that can be very serious and, especially in the world of work, have almost revolutionary features. Examples here would be especially New Work to name.

What is New Work?

New Work is a trend that should lead to the rapid development of a new world of work. New Work serves as a kind of collective term for a way of working that is not only forward-looking, but also meaningful. New Work is a concept that aims to ensure a way of working with more freedom and more self-determination. New Work and its thesis have many supporters, but equally many critics.

What does New Work mean in concrete terms?

More precisely, New Work is about an alternative work model. This model was developed by the social philosopher Prof. Dr. Frithjof Bergmann. His topic at the time was the philosophical question of human freedom. He came to the conclusion that work makes people unfree. His theoretical conclusions were finally put into practice in the New Work project. Bergmann is of the opinion that with regard to work, the previous system has come to an end. For him, the New Work approach focuses on freedom, community and self-determination. In short, New Work means a world of work that should apply to the future. Terms such as the world of work 4.0 or digital transformation play an important role .

Significance of New Work for the present day

It must be said that this theory found its origin in the late 1970s. But what does this theory of New Work mean for today? That is easy to answer, because it is becoming more and more evident that New Work can be implemented. A change is beginning to take place in both society and technology. Frithjof Bergmann’s approach can be understood in three different spheres.

1. The structure of work: A permanent position is still important for an employee, but no longer the central and most important principle. There is no longer a career path that has to follow a strict hierarchy. Rather, working in networks plays a greater role today for workers and management alike. This significantly minimized competitive thinking. Freedom, independence and individuality actually play a very important role for employees today.
2. The attitude to work: Less and less concern yourself with what a satisfactory path in life should look like, also in terms of career. In the past, loyalty to the company continued to apply for many decades, often from apprenticeship to retirement age, but this is no longer desirable today. More and more employees are questioning the relationship between work and leisure . It is also very important for many to question for themselves what sense their work actually makes.
3. Digitization and technology: You may have already felt the big changes in this area. In this context, just think of the paperless office . There used to be countless filing cabinets with files in which lots of papers were filed and stored. Today the internet is available to you and there are numerous cloud solutions. Innovative forms of work are spreading further and further, for which there is a multitude of new devices.

How does New Work affect the current world?

The three spheres described above have the consequence that a new working model is created. Many of the values ​​Bergmann described can be found in the lives of many workers in the current world. You strive to break down hierarchies and make important and strategic decisions together. There are many people in the world of work today, especially young people, who see themselves as digital work nomads. They move from job to job, wherever they can find the opportunity to develop and implement their own ideas. This current generation of employees also ensures that the values ​​described by Bergmann find their way into more and more companies. There are demands regarding the meaningfulness of the work, but also a certain one Work-life balance established . You can understand it to mean that a kind of personal branding is started. It can be seen that more and more older workers are also enjoying these ideas. You help ensure that the idea of ​​New Work can continue to spread.

What does New Work mean for the world of work?

The term New Work is still understood to be a work theory for the future. But that’s no longer true. This concept has already been adopted in many companies, perhaps also with you as a young entrepreneur. This would not be surprising, because young startups in particular, with their modern way of thinking, are considered pioneers. Gradually, more and more companies are following this development. However, this should not only be confused with digitization in almost every area. With New Work there are many changes with which the way of working is renewed.

Changes	Description
Decentralized work	Traditionally everyone sits in the same office or in the office next door. This spatial proximity is no longer necessary with New Work. You can be productive together without this closeness. Nowadays it is no longer uncommon for a team to be formed for large projects that is spread all over the world. A good example is the home office , which more and more companies are making their employees possible.
The workplace is being rethought	Mobile, decentralized and therefore location-independent work leads companies to rethink their workplaces. Why still have an open-plan office when they can also work at home? That does not mean that jobs will be cut, because they are still needed in order to identify with the company. Rather, modern office landscapes are very popular, which also offer the employee a lot of great framework conditions for efficient work .
More independent work	Increasing the ability to work independently plays an important role in New Work. Independence and initiative replace rules and hierarchies. For the employee himself, however, this also means that he has to take on more responsibility and is not just a mere recipient of orders.
Work-life balance	While there used to be clear boundaries between working hours and free time, New Work has made these boundaries less clear. However, this does not have to have any negative effects, as many critics always like to claim. With a greater work-life balance, the employee no longer perceives his work as a burden and does it with more energy and joy.