Flexible and Remote Work in the Context of Digitization and Occupational Health

摘要

An outline of the problemSpeculation concerning the risks and opportunities of digitization yields a variety of scenarios, ranging from factories devoid of workers to offices reachable around the clock and service employees under permanent stress. It is probably safe to assume that these are exaggerations. What is clear, though, is that in the interest of an intelligent labour policy the opportunities and risks should be recognized, identified and assessed. Digitization certainly has many advantages. Robotics, for example, can make work that is physically demanding or monotonous easier or more efficient, in production as well as in health care. Digital information and communication systems also enable new and enriching possibilities, in both work content and work organization, which ideally could also lead to an improved balance between private/family and working life. Viewed historically, the growing options for freely choosing when and where to work represent enormous progress for many employees. Self-determined work is a good match for today's more educated employees, the desire for self-realization at work and the growing importance of knowledge work. It is important, however, to ensure that these options are used in ways that are appropriate and fair to employees and are anchored in legislative and regulatory frameworks.At the same time, digitization leads to concerns about job security, partly because its inherent potential for rationalization puts an unknown number of jobs at risk. It is also giving rise to new, flexible forms of employment (e.g. crowdworking), which often lack the social safety net that accompanies more traditional forms of employment, and which add complexity and hence confusion around the concept and design of paid work. This confusion extends to questions concerning professional and vocational qualifications. No one knows what kind of challenges and demands on workers will be brought on by digitization in the years ahead. Various studies show that, despite the benefits of greater freedom and opportunities, many working people also feel they are under greater pressure and are concerned that they will not be able to cope with the growing demands of work in the long term (e.g. Menz, Dunkel and Kratzer, 2011). The pressure resulting from work-related demands is already alarmingly high and will presumably worsen as a result of increasing digitization (Institut DGB-Index Gute Arbeit, 2016). Moreover, occupational safety measures have thus far failed to adequately deal with psychosocial stress factors. The new, largely unforeseeable developments in digitization and flexibilization, along with newly arisen forms of work and employment, make it vitally important to critically assess the current state of occupational safety and health (OSH).For these reasons, this article examines the challenges facing OSH, focusing on psychosocial hazards and risks. Based on results of recent representative surveys of works councils, it identifies trends in digitization and health observed in the workplace and the impact these have on employees' working conditions.The WSI Works Council Survey is an instrument of the Institute of Economic and Social Research (Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftlichen Institut - WSI) of the Hans Bockler Foundation; data on workplace codetermination and other information have been collected since 1997. The fields covered by the survey include staffing situations, collectively bargained pay agreements, the employer's economic situation and recent restructuring activities, current activities and problem areas for the works councils, and working time arrangements. The survey includes responses from approximately 2,000 works councils and is representative for workplaces with works councils in Germany.Working conditions todayThe complex interplay between digitization, flexibilization and OSH has received little research attention thus far. As yet, little is known about the extent to which companies