The Nature of Work

Work can be paid or unpaid. Paid work can be defined as activities that provide a product or service that can be sold to others for an income. Voluntary work, such as charity work, is performed willingly by someone offering time, service, products, or skill with out income through an organization of group.

There are many different types of work including permanent full time, permanent part time, casual, contract temporary, seasonal, voluntary, and self-employed. Occupations have traditionally been categorised as either white collar; clean work, such as sales manager and blue collar; trades, such as builder. Occupations are further classified into industries such as mining, agriculture, retail, education, information technology, hospitality, tourism, ect.

The purpose of work includes social contact, financial independence, status, networking, personal satisfaction, belonging to an organisation, completing goals and expanding skills. Personal relationships can be developed which otherwise would not have occurred. Working also has down sides including less leisure time and responsibility.

The impacts of globalisation on work have made it possible to travel to another country with in the same business and made it easy for businesses in less skilful countries to find skilled workers elsewhere. Workers may also be sent to another country to upgrade there skills.

Globalisation helps countries seeking rapid development seek out large corporations to create large amounts of employment. The main down side of globalisation is large corporations moving into disadvantaged countries where labours are cheaper.

A business moving into a country must comply with legal variations in the host country. These include variations of superannuation, health rules, safety rules, type of leave, contracts, and benefits.

The increase in technology across the world has charged the skills required by the workforce. Low skilled occupations have been affected from technology. Technology continues to make new occupations such as data entry clerk and Information Technology professional.

The number of women entering the labour force has increased steadily over recent years, while the participation rate of men has decreased. The decline of the male participation rate is a result of the aging population, early retirement, an increased unemployment rate and a decrease in the number of unskilled jobs.