Work without boundaries gives rise to new challenges

There are different ways of handling more freedom on the job, says Michael Allvin.

A few years ago he conducted a study on “work without boundaries”, based on a representative sample of the Swedish population. The study revealed that just 16 per cent of people had a traditional job with fixed working hours and duties. People with completely free forms of employment such as consultants and architects constituted 8 per cent of the workforce. For the rest we have the entire scale in-between, but a common factor for all of these was a great deal of freedom, lots of responsibility and flexible working hours.

“Those with jobs that offered the most freedom were happy; they were often highly educated and accustomed to managing their own time. But many people had difficulty adapting to the new terms. They hid their insecurity from others but felt anxious when asked to 'decide their own duties'. Many found it hard to handle the freedom and flexible hours”

Michael Allvin previously worked at the National Institute for Working Life (Arbetslivsinstitutet), which was closed in 2007. At Uppsala University, he has continued his research on the development of working life.

A lot is going on in the area, not least due to increasing deregulations. Temp agencies have been very successful in Sweden whilst globalisation and the IT development have changed the fundamental working conditions.

The service industry has grown, customer contact has become increasingly important and it is no longer sufficient to keep the office open until five. Many of the demands of working life require a high degree of social competence: big responsibilities, no long-term colleagues and colleagues on the other side of the world.

“You need to be able to spend time with people and create contact networks. Social skills are important; even jobs in industry have become service positions. As a motor mechanic, you don't just fix cars; you also have to talk to the customer. There is not one job in which you don't need to function socially.”

At the same time, more responsibility is placed on the shoulders of the individual. The new form of work without boundaries suits some, whilst others find it harder to adapt.
“What used to be part and parcel of the rules of procedure, which you could learn, carry out and get good at, isn't enough anymore. Nowadays there are so many different requirements that don't always go together.”

In his research, he has seen a number of different strategies for handling conflicting requirements.

“The most detrimental strategy, which is also the most common initially, is to work more when subjected to high demands and unclear expectations, despite this not making matters any better. This leads to problems and frustration.”

A better strategy is to contact others and try to find fundamental solutions, ask for help when there is something you don't understand, and to keep a certain self-distance.

“The third strategy is where you say: 'I don't care about any of this, I'm just going to do what I'm supposed to do' and push aside everything else. We become cynical and indifferent, which is not entirely uncommon in health care,” says Michael Allvin.

He has recently started a new project on how these new working conditions have changed organisations.

“Previously the demands came from the outside; they channelled into the organisation and were then taken care of by management, who formulated the working conditions. We're going to look into what happens when the whole thing is loosened up so that the demands, which are often contradictory, are filtered deeper into the organisation and are instead placed on individuals or groups.”