Transcript Ch8 The Changing Nature of Work

The Changing Nature of Work
12/02/04
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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 Productivity
Trends towards more part-time and temporary
jobs.
"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, Stressed
Tech 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, Stressed
Tech 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 rise
Employee 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. In
addition, 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 than
men’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's
impact 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 to
a 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 Site
http://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 2009
Five Tips for an Outstanding IT Resume
How to Get Paid Better in 2009
More Businesses Using Freelancers, Experts Say
The Two Websites Every Job Seeker Needs to Join
1/21/09
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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 Monitoring
Hours, 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 Work
If 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.
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