New Work: from the 8-5 model to the 'à la carte' workday

The labour market has changed radically in recent years. Growing employee demands for flexibility and work-life balance, especially in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, have led to the emergence of new working models. One of the most prominent of these is the New Work movement, which advocates for a smart work approach that adapts to each employee’s preferences and needs. 

The traditional eight-hour day, Monday to Friday, has fallen out of favour, with even frontline workers increasingly rejecting this approach. According to Michael Page’s report Talent Trends 2023: The Invisible Revolution, professionals consider flexibility to be a key factor when choosing a company to work for, second only to salary. In fact, 42% of candidates admit that they would not apply for a job if it did not offer a working model that matched their interests, according to the 2023 Greenhouse Candidate Experience Report. 

As a result, both companies and professionals need to be prepared for this new revolution. If the former fail to embrace the New Work philosophy, they could lose a large proportion of their talent and hinder their competitiveness. For professionals, on the other hand, the à la carte workday is already very much a reality. 

What is New Work?

To stay on top of things, it is important to understand what New Work is. Developed in 1970 by the Austro-American philosopher and anthropologist Frithjof Bergmann, this approach seeks to personalise the workplace. The model takes into account the individual preferences of each employee and allows them to take control of their time and workspace. 

Rather than adhering to the traditional 8-5 schedule, New Work promotes an individualised workday. This equates to people setting their own working hours and choosing where they want to work from, leading to greater flexibility and a better work-life balance.

What are the pillars of this labour movement?  

New Work is not synonymous with teleworking, nor does it revolve around more flexible start and finish times. It is about giving people the freedom to choose when they work according to their routines, and about giving people the freedom to choose where to work, removing the constraint of a fixed or predetermined physical location. 

This working philosophy is therefore based on a management by-objectives style. On the one hand, each employee must be responsible for carrying out their tasks efficiently. On the other hand, the company must develop a culture of trust in the teams, providing them with autonomy without the need for constant supervision. New Work leadership styles should therefore be less authoritarian. 

Another pillar of New Work is its emphasis on vocation. In other words, it encourages employees to choose their positions or areas of work according to their interests and aptitudes. The logic behind this is that if you are passionate about something, you will perform better in that area than in another role for which you may be more qualified but less motivated. “Decide what you want to do because you believe in it”, noted the New Work founder in his book New Work New Culture.

Why is the New Work model gaining popularity?

Above all, this movement advocates making work meaningful, reinforcing the idea of ‘working to live’ rather than ‘living to work’. When this mentality first emerged in the 70s, many dismissed it as a utopia. However, today it is only growing in strength thanks to the convergence of several factors.

In this respect, today’s workforce has different goals than the baby boomers of the past century. In the 21st century, Millennials and Generation Z place a higher value on work-life balance and want their work to have a positive impact on society. 

The business mindset has also shifted towards an employee-centric approach. Employees are now at the heart of business strategy, not only because a happy workforce is more engaged and delivers better results but because, in a market with a shortage of talent, companies need to look after their employees and find other ways to integrate candidates from around the world to ensure they recruit the very best. 

Nor can the role of digitalisation in the current New Work boom be ignored. New technologies are the driving force behind this flexible working environment, meaning that it is no longer just a question of wanting to find a new way of working, but of being able to do so thanks to these digital tools.

Implementing the New Work model in companies

What can organisations do to adapt to these new requirements? New Work means changing the way things are done. Simply allowing people to work from home or installing a ping-pong table in the staff room is not enough; flexible working policies and new office designs are a direct effect of this philosophy, but its implications go much deeper. 

In other words, for the New Work philosophy to succeed, an appropriate organisational structure and culture must be put in place. New Work means saying goodbye to outdated corporate hierarchies and hello to new flat organisational models such as holacracy and democratic leadership. To ensure performance, it must go hand in hand with Agile methodologies that enable rapid response in complex environments. 

Communication and digitalisation are therefore also fundamental pillars of the New Work model. With human capital dispersed in time and place, constant direct vertical and horizontal feedback must be encouraged so that guidelines, insights or warnings can be conveyed in due time. Likewise, companies must have the means to ensure that this dispersion does not hinder performance. This means providing the necessary technological tools as well as ensuring that staff are trained in the use of these new technologies.

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