Job Security is Dead. What will take its place?
This generation has to negotiate a new contract with society
The bargain is straightforward. You work throughout your 20s, put a deposit on a starter home and contribute towards your pension. In times of uncertainty, risk is shared between you, your employer and the government. Your reward for being a reliable worker is economic security.
Except, it doesn’t work like that anymore.
Most developed countries are already taking steps to combat the looming pensions crisis. People of working age no longer vastly outnumber retirees, and the ratio is getting worse. Put simply, it’s because people are living longer but fewer babies are being born. Some potential solutions would put the burden on retirees, like raising the retirement age or decreasing the amounts paid. Naturally many people view such ideas as unfair; after all, why should anyone be denied the comfortable retirement they were promised after a lifetime of hard work?
The most obvious alternative is to increase the amounts paid into the system by young people working today. This too raises questions about fairness — especially with the economic challenges faced by Generations Y and Z, such as a higher cost of living and a volatile job market. Europe’s approach has been to welcome a significant number of migrants in order to plug the deficit of young workers. This solution has also attracted criticism, particularly from the leaders of the Eastern European countries that have lost a significant proportion of their productive workforce. It seems clear the problem can’t be fixed by attempting to go backwards and reverse globalisation; the answer will require outside-the-box thinking and it will have to be international in scope.
Young professionals living in dynamic hubs of business and digital innovation like London, Toronto and San Francisco face serious obstacles around housing. Affordable rents are available to those who are willing to bear long, stressful journeys to and from work every day; actually buying property is out of the question for all but the highest earners. University degrees — once almost certain tickets to lucrative employment — now offer very little in terms of improved prospects and bring with them a mountain of debt. Even the most talented millennials are faced with a question of whether to sacrifice savings (and risk being hit by the brunt of the pensions crisis in their later years) or quality of life.
As telecommuting moves from a niche startup trend into the mainstream, we can expect to see even more digital workers move out of these expensive cities — in many cases, to live abroad.
But telecommuting is simply one tendril of the huge and mysterious beast we might call the digital disruption of the workplace. Yes, many new business models, tools and changes to corporate policies have made work easier than ever; but as with any dramatic societal change, there is a dark side. The gig economy has transformed the relationship between employer and employee, in many cases putting downward pressure on workers’ capacity to negotiate with their bosses. Some companies have circumvented regulation by legally recognising their staff not as employees but service users; Uber’s ‘fine print’ suggests that drivers are independently selling their services to customers and simply paying the company a cut of the profits.
It’s not hard to criticise the gig economy, but it would be ludicrous to ignore the incredible opportunities it has generated for its participants.
Governments tend to either turn a blind eye to dubious services, or push regulation so hard that they outright ban disruptive companies. Meanwhile, the workers themselves are finding ways to organise without having to wait for politicians to finally understand the situation. As for highly skilled digital professionals, the transition from employment to freelancing is largely positive — the freedom to set one’s own schedule and work from anywhere might not provide a gateway to independence and entrepreneurship for everyone, but combined with a good salary it actually starts to deliver on this promise! With any luck, gig workers will organise successfully in coming years and find an arrangement that allows digital innovation to proceed with fair terms and economic security for everyone.
Digital workers with reasonably high earnings have a much simpler challenge ahead of them.
Home ownership and investments might be out of reach in their home cities, but the opportunities abroad are numerous.
In Thailand, for instance, a very low cost of living combined with the availability of high quality amenities is an attractive proposition for internationally-minded professionals. Just as there are organisations in the Western world fighting for the interests of low-paid gig workers, digital expat organisations can provide professionals with visas, access to healthcare and a seamless transition to life abroad. For example, Iglu serves as a base for freelancers, entrepreneurs and employees alike — even negotiating mutually beneficial arrangements with employers back home when necessary. This environment has become a magnet for digital innovators; the opportunities for collaboration and learning — not to mention finding new clients — have enabled many digital expats to launch their own businesses, save money and buy homes that are likely to skyrocket in value in the coming decades.
