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Abstract

The way people are working is purportedly changing, yet, amidst all the buzzwords of "Work 2.0", "Industry 4.0" and "Digital Economy", even amongst experts, there is little agreement on just what the future workplace will look like, let alone how it should look like. In addition, people may also disagree in their policization concerning the future of labor, that is, how much it matters what we want from the future of labor.

We employ the Labouratory QWrks approach as a rigorous, but open-ended analytical tool to inform, structure and survey such multidimensional political subjectivity. Around 150 students and experts were surveyed during a conference and two seminars on the topic held in 2016 and 2017 in Germany. They were asked to rank order statements drawn from the related literature on the future of labor characterizing their probable and desirable future workplaces, respectively.

Using an n-mode generalisation of Principal Components Analysis (PCA), three shared viewpoints across both beliefs and values are extracted.

In a preliminary interpretation, pending additional fieldwork until the conference, viewpoints differentiate sharply between desired and probable future workplaces, implying a high degree of politicization. A "fulfilment / constrained" factor seeks harmoneous personal and professional fulfillment, but worries about probable constraints. A "live-to-work / held-back" factor rejects the separation of personal and professional ambitions, and expects to be held back by more traditional organisations. A separate "9-to-5" factor does not greatly differentiate between the two conditions of instruction, and holds an overall less ambitious outlook.