The objective of this article is the examination of some derivations that transcend and affect the classic employment relationship as a result of the aforementioned changes.
Undoubtedly, technology has important consequences on traditional salaried workers, who hardly escape the anxiety of an atypical job, with alternative places of work, with a labor market that tends to be flexible, as if it were a kind of condition. so that technological change does not generate unemployment, all of which gives them an acute feeling of insecurity, to a greater degree due to the probable hazardous fate of conventional salaried work in the Technological World that is occurring.
In this way, the need arises to analyze the metamorphosis of work and employment, as well as the unprecedented institutions that the new global economy requires, in addition to the political responses that must be studied in the face of the ongoing transformations and their consequences on work and the society.
It is convenient to highlight, firstly, that all these changes alter, in one way or another, the Contractual Labor Psychology, which I understand are all individual beliefs regarding the implicit terms and conditions of the reciprocal exchange of the agreed labor agreement. They are not expectations, but convictions of the existence of certain promises implied in reciprocal obligations, or, put another way, the confidence that some promises have been made and certain conditions of the contract have been accepted by both parties. It is a subjective concept.
In this sense, technological changes are leading salaried labor relations towards a New Contractual Labor Psychology, different from the one that accompanied employment contracts in the era of the manufacturing industry, thus generating in the dependent worker the fears that I made reference above, among other reasons, and only to give an example, because both, employer and salaried worker, are not implying nowadays, when entering into an employment contract, the existence of a long-term occupation, and, in On the other hand, what they do understand that it will be permanent is the continuous preparation and training of the worker, who thus becomes solely responsible for the development of their own career.
Likewise, the impact of ICT, Technology, Information and Communication is not only on workers but also on employers, who are forced to abandon the old bureaucratic organizations in the face of new and greater opportunities to use codified knowledge.
For this reason, ICTs facilitate the geographical dispersion of work and the continuous provision of information and service functions, which, in turn, allow salaried workers to perform tasks outside of normal hours.
It is as if there are no longer defined boundaries of the workplace for the dependent worker.
It is that, unlike the technological innovations of the last century, which favored the integration of production systems and the characteristic labor relationship typical of factories, current innovations tend to a more fragmented system of work.
Many of the explanations for the rise of networked organizations, for example, are based on the fact that such organizations, unlike traditional bureaucratic structures, tend to be smaller and offer more limited career prospects, which will force probably the salaried worker to move from one network to another, rather than following a traditional path within a single network.
This trend towards fragmented organizations impregnates repercussions on the traditional labor relationship, and what, if it is a factual situation, where the facts and reality were those that ultimately defined the existence of a subordinate worker, beyond the contracts that were established. Whether or not they have signed between the parties, it will become a contractual situation, that is, to employment contracts with more detailed conditions, where the employment relationship will no longer be based on trust in the worker but on his performance.
The hierarchical conformations of traditional management are also being dismantled, as the needs to monitor the trained salaried worker diminish, reducing the levels of employment and creating a kind of invisible lines of authority and power, very different from the hierarchical internal ladder of the factories. It is a type of diffuse authority, which is structured within this New Contractual Labor Psychology.
At the same time, computers are replacing the time-consuming and aging communications of the legendary chain of command of the industrial age.
Added to this are new strategies, which arise almost out of necessity, such as the decentralization of decision-making, which is a system completely opposite to the integral vertical structure of the 20th century manufacturing industry.
All these issues necessarily lead to an evolution of the deep-rooted concept of Labor Subordination, as a binding mechanism between the business organization and the worker, since nowadays some of the bases on which this idea of dependence rested are questioned, especially Because, in the light of modern training, great autonomy is granted to the worker, which in turn corresponds to fulfilling the objectives assigned to him, thus evolving the Labor Relationship into a kind of exchange, where the worker is commits to perform given tasks or achieve a specific objective. It is interesting to note at this point how the term tasks is replacing the traditional word work.
On the other hand, through the use of computerized technology, companies are even implementing alternative workplaces, changing how and where the salaried worker does their work, moving the task towards the worker instead of the worker towards the place of work. occupation, thereby altering the specific concept of the workplace, as mentioned above.
More than 40 million salaried workers in the United States, for example, are telecommuters or homeworkers based in their own home.
When that happens, the idea of a kind of remote wage labor then comes to mind. And when we ask ourselves how this remote subordinate work would influence or impact employment contracts, we would then be moving within the aforementioned New Contractual Labor Psychology.
In short, we can safely affirm that a change is taking place with fundamental consequences in salaried labor relations, as a result of the Technological Revolution in full swing, and that, if an individual does not have the sufficient degree of education and permanent training, it is very likely to be relegated to the New Economy.
Success under the rules of the New Contractual Labor Psychology requires, then, that the salaried worker manage his own career through stable and constant training and will only be successful within this new regime if he has the opportunity to chronically develop his technique, and we must be aware, at this point, that we are facing the occupational danger of the creation of an unprecedented dualism among salaried workers, that of knowledge.
Consequently, continuous training throughout the active life of citizens should be the fundamental objective of any State microeconomic policy, since there is no greater protection than this training against insecurity, due to the fundamental importance that the Human Capital in the nascent world economy, which is based on incessant innovations, with a labor mobility that is a direct consequence of the spectacular technological transformation, which explains the successive abandonment of old and static structural forms of factory industrialism, such as I have been detailing.
The impressive transformation of the economy thus justifies a serious and programmatically structured study of the Information Society, because, in the social fabric, salaried work is decisive, and, furthermore, it is one of the main areas where it is most directly manifested. structural change. Not elsewhere.
The recent Argentine law of March 2004 can be used as an example of what should not be done. It was badly titled Labor Reform, since it does not contain a single reference to these situations of change. It totally ignores the reality of the new economic circumstances. The serious thing is that it does not foresee or respond to any long-range comprehensive labor policy.
The road is arduous, but states cannot continue to enact laws that only look to the past. The new workers, who are in the majority, and usually young, are not represented in these legal messages.
I believe that the States should abandon the paternalistic attitude of the 20th century and adopt a different attitude that I define as facilitating solutions, and that I characterize it as an action aimed at seeking the ways in which a Social Dialogue can take place with a deep analysis of these new realities.
Only then could positive net balances be expected, since these results are closely linked to the normative and institutional reforms that are drawn up in the labor markets, as well as the measures that are arbitrated to integrate new technologies into society.
It is very uncertain to predict, at least tentatively, the specific derivation that the Information Society will eventually bring to salaried employment, whether this significance is in the level of occupation or in its composition by sectors, but without any These effects will undoubtedly drive the pace of structural changes in the Company.
Work, in its broadest sense, will always accompany us in this world, since it is the only conventional mechanism for the distribution of well-being.
However, the essential problem today is the fate of the salaried worker in the face of lack of training, given that a community with the absence of adequate laws in that sense, fatally leads to a division of workers according to whether or not they are trained.
I fully agree with the idea that in the global economic framework technological change will lead to greater welfare, better wages, more growth and better jobs, but for this, and with the objective of adjusting macroeconomic asymmetries and making time and space technological results of this new economy, it is necessary that there is a good combination of realistic connections between Technologies, Policies and Institutions.
