Is technical know-how pushing flexible working down the ladder?
The early 1990’s saw the explosion, at least hypothetically and academically, in the flexible working proposition. The concept being that due to the developments in technology everyone could Work From Home. Over the last ten or fifteen years the technology and the commercial reality of Internet Business has got better to the situation it is now, not only possible to Work From Home but in some industries almost the early adopters of the flexible working classified their business persona’s as nomadic (usually sales) or semi-nomadic (generally management, sales and team leader jobs). These job descriptions found it possible to exist between the capability to Work From Home and flexible areas in the office or offices in which they still had a base. Higher up the management chain higher-ranking managers and executives found the ability to be effectual anywhere, particularly in the case of those working with National and International groups and time changes.
The mid 1990’s however, saw another sort of flexible worker starting to appear. The surge in Internet Business shaped a different profile. These people are not part of a corporate machine running their roles within the guidance of touchdown and virtual meetings but instead what would have been a small company outlet on the main street. They are small service providers and sellers now cost effective because they can work from home without the high overhead of buildings.
On the back of this second tranche comes another sort, those concerned in online jobs. These employees and entrepreneurs in reality make their living by supplying services to support the enlarging virtual market place. In doing so their contact with clients is largely via the electronic work media. This new business model changes the idea of flexible working since not only can these companies be run by people who work from home they can also be staffed by workers with the same working patterns.
Is this a chiefly new trend? Or a return to the pre – industrial revolution patterns of occupation. Are what we now see as new age Online Jobs simply a paradigm shift from the requirement to be co-located, brought about by the mechanisation of labour and the process required for high output, to the skilfulhighly skilled, craft based model of the cottage industries.