Better Work: The Impact of Automation, Flexibilization and Intensification of Work (Research for Policy) - Hardcover

Kremer, Monique; Went, Robert; Engbersen, Godfried

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 3030786811 ISBN 13: 9783030786816

Publisher: Springer, 2021

Synopsis

This Open Access book provides a thorough analysis of the quality of work in the Netherlands, and suggests policy proposals to promote and facilitate good work for more people. New technology, flexibilization and the intensification of work will have significant consequences for all those who will still have jobs in the future, and – much less studied so far – for the quality of their work. Good work is essential for general well-being: for the individual’s quality of life, for the economy and for society. Good work for everyone should therefore be seen as an important aspiration for companies, institutions, social partners and governments. An essential read for an international audience of academics in the field of the sociology of work, labor economics and social policy, as well as for policymakers and researchers of trade unions, and representatives of other social movements.

About this title

About the Author

Monique Kremer is a professor of active citizenship, department of sociology, University of Amsterdam, chair of the migration advisory board, and was previously employed at the WRR. She has published numerous books on a variety of topics, such as How welfare states care (2007, Amsterdam University Press), People, Policy and the New Pofessional (2006) and Vreemden in de verzorgingsstaat (2016, Strangers in the Welfare Sttate).

Robert Went (1955) works at the WRR since 2007. He has attained a doctorate in economics with a dissertation on globalization (Routledge 2002). Before he joined the WRR, he has worked among others at the Dutch court of audit (Algemene Rekenkamer) as a project manager. He has written a lot about economic issues for the general public, and is very active on twitter (@went1955). He is also a member of the board of Rethinking Economics in The Netherlands. 

Godfried Engbersen, is a professor of sociology at Erasmus University Rotterdam and acouncil member of the WRR. Key themes in his research are social inequality and international migration. He published numerous books, among which (with others) A Continent Moving West: EU Enlargement and Labour Migration from Central and Eastern Europe (Amsterdam University Press 2010); Beyond Networks. Feedback in International Migration (Palgrave 2016), and Cultures of Unemployment (Routledge 2019).

From the Back Cover

This is an Open Access book. How can we make work better? It is an important question, one that the Dutch government, employers’ organizations and trade unions have been grappling with. People work to make money. But work also inspires self-respect, shapes our identity and gives us a sense of belonging – especially when the work we do is good. Good work is essential to prosperity in the broadest sense: to the quality of life we experience as individuals, to the economy and to society as a whole. 

Work in the Netherlands could be better. In Better Work. The automation, flexibilization and intensification of work, the Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy offers nine recommendations to help all workers gain more control over their money, their work and their lives – the three basic conditions of good work. While the primary responsibility for good work lies with employers, the government can help through legislation and regulations,supervision and subsidies, and through its tenders. 

Edition details

• Publisher: Springer
• Publication date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3030786811
• ISBN 13: 9783030786816
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 214