Globalisation and digitalisation have dramatically impacted the world of work in the last decade. The OECD reports that almost 14% of jobs in OECD countries are likely to be automated, and more than 32% of jobs are likely to be partially automated. Low-skilled workers and young people are the most at risk, but high-skilled jobs are exempt. The 2018 MNC Trends Report produced by the LRS with the support of the FES TUCC focused on the future of work and what it could entail in a developing context, and more specifically, Africa. The past two years have brought new developments.

Along with a massive international public health crisis, the covid-19 pandemic has ushered in an economic crisis akin to the Great Depression of the 1930s. The pandemic has fast-tracked some of the predicted changes in the world of work. It has disrupted economies and societies, and exacerbated the gap between ‘the most privileged and the most vulnerable‘. The pandemic has forced businesses to change their way of working in a very short time. A lot of businesses have had to shift to remote operations and changing schedules. We have to ask whether these changes will become permanent in a post-pandemic world. Many of the changes were predicted – but the pandemic has accelerated the uptake of these new technologies. Will COVID-19 permanently change the way we work?

During the pandemic so far, millions of people have lost their jobs. Despite promising vaccines, the future remains uncertain for millions of workers across the globe. People around the world have shifted to working from home (around 39% of workers on average), enabled by fast-growing technology and the internet. However, this is not an option for many workers, especially in Africa. These jobs, often in the retail, manufacturing and transport sectors, are most likely held by lower-skilled workers. In addition to these changes, workers have been laid off in many non-essential sectors, companies have enforced hiring freezes, and put many workers on ‘hold’.

Furthermore, the gig economy has grown exponentially over the last year. However, the concerns about the quality of jobs in the gig economy have grown alongside the industry.

Countries have responded to the pandemic at an unprecedented rate, including debilitating lockdowns and severe constraints on human movement. This article (extracted from the 2020 MNC Trends Report) will focus on some of the trends already visible in the world of work due to the dramatic impact of the pandemic.

Trends in the labour market 

We saw a lot of trends emerge throughout the first eight months of the pandemic.

• There has been a significant increase in remote working, with white-collar workers setting up offices at home and connecting via technologies like Zoom, Slack and Skype.
• There has been an increase in the way that employers monitor workers, especially with regards to tracking productivity. Some workers are expected to virtually ‘clock’ in and out, while other employers such as Amazon have increased ‘data collection’ on worker productivity.
• The uncertainty that the pandemic has caused in the economy has caused dramatic job losses, and also the dramatic changing of traditional work models. Previously permanent workers are now flexible, non-permanent, part-time or temporarily furloughed.
• Some companies have prioritised the well-being of employees, while other companies have pushed workers to continue working in high-risk environments and often without adequate personal protection equipment.

Gender and covid-19 

The crisis has brought to light gaps in the labour market and highlighted the most vulnerable workers. Low-paid workers, women, self-employed and temporary workers have been hit the hardest: ‘the burden of the pandemic has been shouldered disproportionately by the most vulnerable.’

Lower income workers are the least likely to have been able to work from home, and particularly part-time workers have been exposed to job and income losses. Women are disproportionately represented in precarious jobs, which has meant that women have been more vulnerable to the effects of the crisis than men.

This has meant that women are more likely than men to have lost their job. One study estimates that women were 1.8 more likely than men to have lost their job due to the pandemic. And that only refers to paid work, not unpaid work like cooking, cleaning and childcare. Women already did most of this kind of unpaid work before the pandemic, and the pandemic has increased the disparity.

However, the paid and unpaid economies are interrelated. While paid work is more visible, it cannot exist without unpaid, behind the scenes work. According to Melinda Gates, ‘the unpaid work women do is one of the biggest barriers they face to reaching their potential in the workforce.’ Women account for half of all entry-level employees, but only a third of senior managers. This is often because women prioritise family responsibilities over their work life.

Longer-term effects of remote work 

For some workers, the change to home working will have some positive effects like limiting commuting time and a better work-life balance. However, the 60% of workers who are not able to work remotely may be adversely affected by this change. One in four workers is in cleaning, retail, food service, transportation and personal care – and the lack of commuting workers and workers concentrated in cities will have a knock-on effect on these jobs.

Flexible workforces 

Employers are, more often than not, looking for ways to reduce labour costs. The pandemic has increased this trend when companies operating in a difficult economic climate are looking for innovative ways to reduce costs. Companies are harnessing the power of the gig economy to make this happen.

Technology enables ‘widespread, flexible and on-demand work opportunities’. This kind of work makes workers more vulnerable to exploitation. These workers are often not protected and don’t have any of the benefits of permanent employment like sick leave, medical aid, life insurance and retirement plans. This has not stopped companies from ‘casualising’ work. As established in the LRS study conducted with the support of the FES TUCC, work is starting to take on a more flexible form in which workers are not protected and jobs are not secured (Omomowo, 2011). The pandemic has worsened this trend.

A voice in the workplace 

According to Anna Stansbury (Inequality & Social Policy Scholar, Harvard University), one of the biggest effects of the pandemic has been to ‘illuminate the utter lack of voice and influence most people have in their workplace.’ The below quote illustrates: