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Work culture changes in the future
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Hey guys. :wave:
First of all, apologies if this thread comes across a bit stupid, but it's something that's interesting to me - a lot of it is taken from patches of ideas I'm picking up in my course, so I'm probably plagiarising in this post but I cba
. Anyway.
In the past, firms have tended to be run for profit. If there was a profit to be made, a firm would fill the gap in the market, and then the employees would be found to satisfy the needs of the firm. However, the problem with this is that of capitalism - a large disparity in the distribution of the proceeds, with 'entrepeneurship' being very heavily rewarded vs. back breaking work.
The law of any firm really with regards to it's employees is that if it's paying you £10 an hour, they're making at least that out of you, in almost every case however it's probably more. So by definition we are kind of underpaid.
I'm wondering though - first looking at areas where volunteers have set up work schemes to help those who need a livelihood - what happens if this is turned the other way around? Lets look at the needs of workers, and then give them the work, make the firm work to give them their income. It's like... a family owned business not expanding because they don't need to - except bigger.
When people become more focussed on the social wellbeing of others (which I believe is a social change that is taking place worldwide, others may disagree) than money, then money becomes a secondary objective - even to entrepeneurs.
It becomes a sensible choice to start a small business that can provide the livelihoods for several people, even if it's not as profitable as a mcdonalds franchise. Because the entrepeneur feels good about helping people, rather than making money.
Do you think this could ever happen? Where human society can shift away from being fundamentally selfish to fundamentally... perhaps not selfless but socially aware? Just look on here, at all the people who contribute to charity or work for charity. Not because they necessarily get paid the highest wage in the world, but because they make a difference.
And to those sceptics, before you shout me down, it is already occuring in many areas - my question is whether this is going to increase and become the norm? Certainly as a guy who may well start up his own business one day, I don't think I could do the hoover-dam tactics of employing people until their fingers fall off. Maybe it's because we live in affluent times we can afford to be frivolous, but I like to think it's because the way we are socialised now. From a young age we are exposed to the injustices and inbalances in the world, and I think it makes many more people think these days than in the past. While the world is a big machine, with lots of cogs and takes a long time to catch up - I would say in general people care more about others than they're given credit for these days.
First of all, apologies if this thread comes across a bit stupid, but it's something that's interesting to me - a lot of it is taken from patches of ideas I'm picking up in my course, so I'm probably plagiarising in this post but I cba
. Anyway.In the past, firms have tended to be run for profit. If there was a profit to be made, a firm would fill the gap in the market, and then the employees would be found to satisfy the needs of the firm. However, the problem with this is that of capitalism - a large disparity in the distribution of the proceeds, with 'entrepeneurship' being very heavily rewarded vs. back breaking work.
The law of any firm really with regards to it's employees is that if it's paying you £10 an hour, they're making at least that out of you, in almost every case however it's probably more. So by definition we are kind of underpaid.
I'm wondering though - first looking at areas where volunteers have set up work schemes to help those who need a livelihood - what happens if this is turned the other way around? Lets look at the needs of workers, and then give them the work, make the firm work to give them their income. It's like... a family owned business not expanding because they don't need to - except bigger.
When people become more focussed on the social wellbeing of others (which I believe is a social change that is taking place worldwide, others may disagree) than money, then money becomes a secondary objective - even to entrepeneurs.
It becomes a sensible choice to start a small business that can provide the livelihoods for several people, even if it's not as profitable as a mcdonalds franchise. Because the entrepeneur feels good about helping people, rather than making money.
Do you think this could ever happen? Where human society can shift away from being fundamentally selfish to fundamentally... perhaps not selfless but socially aware? Just look on here, at all the people who contribute to charity or work for charity. Not because they necessarily get paid the highest wage in the world, but because they make a difference.
And to those sceptics, before you shout me down, it is already occuring in many areas - my question is whether this is going to increase and become the norm? Certainly as a guy who may well start up his own business one day, I don't think I could do the hoover-dam tactics of employing people until their fingers fall off. Maybe it's because we live in affluent times we can afford to be frivolous, but I like to think it's because the way we are socialised now. From a young age we are exposed to the injustices and inbalances in the world, and I think it makes many more people think these days than in the past. While the world is a big machine, with lots of cogs and takes a long time to catch up - I would say in general people care more about others than they're given credit for these days.
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I've not a huge amount more I can contribute at the moment, but this is one thread I'll be keeping an eye on.