This page has an average rating of %r out of 5 stars based on a total of %t ratings
Reading Time 3 Minutes Reading Time 3 Minutes
Created on 10.06.2020

Digital transformation: are you already a “new worker”?

What form should the world of work take in order to help us progress through digitization while simultaneously meeting our individual needs? New work is an answer to that question.

New work is... ...when flexibility prevails over rigidity. ...when new situations are seen as an opportunity. ...when teamwork is based on appreciation and trust. ...when a boss becomes a coach. ...when we have an agile mindset. ...when the customer is the focus. ...when personal talents get their chance. ...when you make progress individually and as a team. ...when work creates meaning because it is future-oriented.

Digitization and social change require a new world of work in which more and more traditional structures will disappear, new working methods will replace the old ones and trust will take the place of control. This transformation of the working world is referred to as “new work”. “The main new thing about new work is the focus on flexibility – be it in terms of the content, time, location or form of the work,” explains Taru Koch, Head of Staffing at PostFinance. And this flexibility affects all areas of work, so not just the way of working together but also the management and recruitment of employees, the tools used and the working conditions. 

Working to provide a sense of purpose

New work must fulfil both the challenges of digitization and the individual expectations of employees with regard to their work. “Most people aren’t just looking for a mundane job that pays their wages; they want to do something meaningful that makes a difference,” the Head of Staffing says. New work will offer this sense of purpose, in part because it is forward-looking and enables both the teams and the individual employees to progress. 

How to integrate flexibility into working life

Fundamental change is required to bring new work to life in companies. It begins with transforming the culture and the management and also includes promoting those skills that are needed for new work, such as courage, creativity and self-responsibility. The transformation results in specific approaches for integrating the desired flexibility into working life. They include

  • Working conditions that enable individuals to structure their job flexibly, such as part-time work, flexible working hours and working from home. These options have been available at PostFinance for some time, but for the purposes of new work they will be supported more actively wherever possible and desirable. 
  • Agile practices that make it possible to react to changes quickly: PostFinance launched the “Transformation into an agile, project-based operation (TAP)” project with this in mind. TAP stands for the agile way in which the financial institution develops, implements and operates products and services. In the future, around 1,000 employees will work in TAP Solution Groups.
  • New forms of organization such as sociocracy that are used in the VNTR | Innovation & Venturing, PostFinance’s innovation lab, or the Data Science team. Sociocracy focuses on systematically giving teams autonomy and self-responsibility. 

New work breaks down rigid structures everywhere to gain as much flexibility as possible. This creates a vibrant working environment. 

This page has an average rating of %r out of 5 stars based on a total of %t ratings
You can rate this page from one to five stars. Five stars is the best rating.
Thank you for your rating
Rate this article

This might interest you too