In a nutshell - New Work

This development has continued to gather pace and take shape in recent years. We explain exactly what New Work is, what it can mean for companies and how it can be implemented.

New Work was founded by the social philosopher Frithjof Bergmann
The concept is multifaceted and varies greatly in practice
The adaptation of New Work is still uncharted territory for many companies
Successful implementation requires trust and clear rules
Good communication and digital tools are essential components

What is New Work? Definition of the term

New Work as a concept describes a fundamental change in the world of work. According to the New Work idea, the work of the future must be more employee-centered. The focus is on a healthy work-life balance, meaningful activities instead of purely compulsory tasks and personal development in the workplace.

The core idea goes back to the social philosopher Frithjof Bergmann. He coined the concept of “New Work” in the 1970s. The main drivers were originally digitalization, globalization and demographic change.

At the same time, increasing automation made many traditional jobs redundant at the time. According to Bergmann, existing social models such as socialism or capitalism did not provide a satisfactory answer to the questions and challenges that arose.

Bergmann therefore saw the idea of New Work as an important alternative to the reality of work at the time - people should no longer just be a means to an end in order to do a job. On the contrary: work should serve people to develop creatively and achieve personal fulfillment (source: see New Work Hacks, Nils Schnell, Anna Schnell, 2019).

In Bergmann's words: “New Work is the work you really want to do!”

The most important features of the New Work concept

New Work is not a rigid model in itself, but a blueprint for a modern working world in which employees and their needs play a significant role in the company. The central pillars of this model are the following points.

Self-determination

Employees should have the opportunity to work in a more self-determined way. The autonomy of employees is promoted, they are allowed to make independent decisions and take on more responsibility overall. They can choose to complete their tasks alone or as part of a team.

Flexibility

The office has become obsolete as a fixed center of employment - according to New Work, work will take place flexibly in the future in a way that is optimal for employees. They will largely decide for themselves where they work and their working hours. What is important is a good result and not where this result is achieved.

Meaningfulness

Good work is more than the sum of its parts. The focus is on activities that are perceived as meaningful and fulfilling. To this end, companies should define an overarching “purpose”, a common goal that employees and employers work towards. According to New Work, such a vision and mission (e.g. sustainability or social responsibility) offers employees orientation and motivation.

Since the origins of this idea, New Work has been continuously developed and modified over the past decades. Modern New Work concepts also include aspects such as a culture of trust, teamwork, co-determination, open communication and continuous development as key components of the basic idea.

It should be noted that New Work as a concept, just like Industry 4.0 or the “Future of Work”, is not a blueprint for individual companies. Economic players must decide for themselves which aspects can be sensibly transferred to their own company structure and at what cost - and to what extent this is desirable.

The current importance of New Work

Against the backdrop of a working world that is becoming ever more digital and global, constantly intensifying demographic change and the freshly developing possibilities of artificial intelligence, it is imperative to talk today about how we want to work tomorrow.

GFOS.Workforce Management

The world of work is changing ever faster and traditional work structures must take this change into account. This trend has been increasingly fueled in recent years - particularly by the significant impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the world of work. Even in sectors where models such as working from home or mobile working previously seemed unthinkable, established patterns have been turned upside down overnight. Remote work and hybrid working have become established - and are here to stay.

For example, the Gartner research group lists upheavals such as the four-day week or the adaptation of AI in everyday working life in its annual “9 Future of Work Trends” list for 2024. A further study entitled “9 Trends That Will Shape Work in 2024 and Beyond” concludes, among other things, that the majority of employees (60%) now regard things that used to be taken for granted, such as working on site in the office, as an effort with no real added value. At the same time, new demands are being placed on managers and supervisors to act as a permanent point of contact and to be able to resolve conflicts professionally at an interpersonal level in the workplace.

By actively embracing these changes, which are already affecting them today, and translating them into a company's own New Work concept, managers have a good chance of positioning themselves as a modern and attractive employer for the future. A change of course towards agile structures, flexible working models, appreciative management styles and creative development opportunities will create new potential for your own company. The “Future of Work” is already taking place today.

New Work – advantages for employees

As New Work places a particular focus on employees, there are a number of advantages for them as a result of the change in the company:

Increased motivation

If employees have the feeling that their work has a clear meaning and makes a real difference (keyword: purpose), this has a positive effect on their satisfaction and commitment to the company.

Flexible working arrangements

Thanks to working from home, flexitime and other flexible working models, employees can decide more freely how and when they work and from where. This helps with work-life balance and creates time for leisure, family and hobbies.

Creative freedom

In the creative sector in particular, New Work approaches can help open, interdisciplinary teams (mixed teams) to develop valuable and innovative ideas by exchanging ideas with each other. In this way, new ideas do not remain crammed into old structures.

Healthy working

By focusing on a good working environment and culture, employees are less stressed, which has a positive effect on their health and well-being. At the same time, employees often have the opportunity to work at ergonomic workstations.

Infographic showing the benefits of New Work that can evolve for business and employees.

New Work – advantages for companies

Companies that embrace the changes to common New Work concepts can also benefit from numerous advantages in the process:

Increasing attractiveness

If New Work is practiced in the company, employees enjoy more freedom and leeway than employees in comparable companies. This increases the attractiveness of the employer, especially for open-minded, creative and young employees.

Positive corporate culture

Flat hierarchies and open communication at eye level promote a positive working environment. Employees feel heard and, ideally, valued. This strengthens loyalty to the company and increases personal commitment.

Better employee retention

A good working environment and a vibrant corporate culture increase employee satisfaction. This reduces the likelihood that they will change jobs. This retains talent and saves on resource-intensive application processes.

Advantage through innovation

The integration of New Work puts companies in a favorable position to take up or quickly respond to changes in the market thanks to flexible structures, new working models and innovative processes. This increases their competitiveness.

Challenges posed by New Work

However, introducing New Work as a concept in companies is not a sure-fire success - quite the opposite. In many areas and sectors, a number of obstacles need to be overcome in advance and potential risks need to be kept in mind.

Willingness to change

For many companies, the implementation of New Work means effectively breaking up old and established structures - a process that is often accompanied by skepticism and resistance. In the worst-case scenario, this also reveals a mistrust of the company's own employees as to whether they might exploit the trust placed in them.

Technical boundaries

In order to be able to use the flexibility of New Work effectively, employees must be willing and able to use digital tools and technologies correctly and efficiently. This also includes accurate recording of working hours - in electronic form in the future. This can pose a problem for older and less tech-savvy employees in particular.

Flexibility vs. structure

It is important for companies and employees alike that flexibility in everyday working life still follows a fixed structure and clear guidelines. This allows a good balance to be struck between creative freedom and economic efficiency. Care must also be taken to ensure that work does not become too “unbounded”.

Data protection

The more employees work remotely and flexibly from anywhere, the more important it is for companies to address the issues of data protection and information security. However, with appropriate security measures and good employee awareness, the risks to company and customer data can be reduced to a minimum.

The potential benefits of the New Work megatrend are enormous. At the same time, there are a number of challenges that companies must not ignore. However, many of these hurdles can be effectively addressed with suitable training programs and intuitive technical solutions.

How companies can introduce New Work

First and foremost, New Work requires the right mindset and the will to change. If the fundamental introduction is clearly desired, the practical anchoring of the concept in everyday company life can be supported by the following means:

Training / communication

Training of employees (technical means / new methods)
Training for managers (new management image / support for employees)
Coaching programs around New Work
Open communication on changes

Tools / technology

Collaboration tools (e.g. Microsoft Teams / Slack / other messengers)
Project management tools (e.g. Trello / Jira / Notion)
HR management systems (e.g. GFOS.Workforce Management)
Cloud services (e.g. Google Workspace)

The consistent use of such tools offers opportunities for rapid exchange, helps to create transparent processes and offers both teams and managers additional flexibility. From legal requirements such as the electronic recording of working hours to the automation of HR processes, suitable tools can be used to implement everything that is needed for the workplace of the future.

Businesses & New Work – practical examples

New Work - what is it? Taking it one step further: the concept is no longer just of theoretical relevance. Various companies have already gained practical experience and proven that an open, flexible corporate culture can already offer real added value today.

Unilever – Four-day-work-week

In 2022, Unilever Australia & New Zealand (ANZ) extended an 18-month pilot project on the four-day week to its Australian subsidiary due to good results. Employees were expected to complete 100% of their work in 80% of the time, while continuing to receive 100% pay (100:80:100).

The results in New Zealand showed strong growth in revenue, a 34% reduction in absenteeism, 33% less stress among employees and a 15% increase in wellbeing.

Spotify – Work from Anywhere

During the coronavirus pandemic, Spotify introduced a “Work from Anywhere” program. This enabled employees to work from home, on site or hybrid - practically from anywhere. According to the company, this not only enabled it to retain many employees, but also to recruit new talent away from its main locations.

At the same time, the company also states that clear rules are needed for good collaboration. These rules were clearly communicated in workshops, for example. Teams should also meet in person every six months at the latest, as this should have a positive impact on team loyalty, among other things.

Work in the future – new forms of work

The new working world in the New Work style offers several alternatives to the traditional 9-to-5 job, which seamlessly tie in with already proven models of flexible working hours. The following forms of work are particularly common:

Agile work: Team-based work in short sprints (see: Agile process management)
Remote work / hybrid work: Employees work from home (home office) or any other location
Co-working spaces / desk sharing: Employees from different companies and freelancers share office space without fixed workstations
Job sharing: A single full-time position is filled by two or more employees
Work-life blending: Rigid boundaries between work and private life are dissolved, giving employees more autonomy in their work planning

All of these and other “new” forms of work aim to make the world of work more flexible, more autonomous and, at best, more meaningful. However, which of these are adapted by companies depends heavily on the current structures and the willingness of management to embrace the overall concept.

Leadership in transition – new management styles

In addition to the forms of work, leadership styles are also undergoing a clear change with New Work. The trend is towards a sense of community, inspiration and positive reinforcement of employees in their roles.

The following leadership styles are good examples of this:

Transformational leadership: Managers act as inspiring role models for their employees and “lead by example”
Empowering leadership: Managers actively encourage employees to act independently, make decisions and take responsibility
Shared leadership: Managers relinquish their leadership role (in part), other employees and teams participate in important decisions
Servant leadership: Managers act from a “servant” position, consciously prioritize the needs of employees and help them to achieve their goals

New Work – implementing concepts with GFOS

If you are planning to introduce New Work in your company, you need staying power, the right mindset and the right tech stack. HR software is an integral part of this. Discover our software solutions for flexible workforce management, HR planning and much more.

Enabling New Work with software from GFOS

Take advantage of our non-binding consultation offer and receive professional support during implementation. Our software helps you to take the path towards New Work, take employee wishes into account and better master new challenges.

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