The Changing Nature of Work: 30 signals to consider for a sustainable future

SIGNAL 18. Public versus private jobs

There have always been gaps between work models in the public and private sectors. In the early industrial age, government jobs were leading progress in new work models by pioneering standards such as fixed working hours, weekends, work standards and training by applying scientific methods and rigid bureaucratic procedures.

However, in the 20th century, technological advances changed the 31 .The Changing Nature of Work paradigm of work and tilted the balance in favour of private sector companies in industrialized capitalist nations. While much of the private sector has transformed over the past two decades, the public sector, for the most part, has not.

We are moving towards a future model of work that is truly adapted to the social, technological and economic influences of the 21st century. These multidimensional influences will diminish the current stark differences between work models in the government and the private sector.

As governments rush to close the technological gap and harness the benefits of the fourth industrial revolution, the need for modernization will be high on the agenda. In light of technological advancements, there are three dimensions to the future of government work:

• the work itself, such as the way public sector work will be conducted, the benefits of automation, AI and cloud technology;
• the workforce, which is related to more varied work arrangements, new staffing and career models;
• the work environment, which is related to the physical workplace, progressive human resources policies, learning and development, etc.

In many ways, we will see a convergence of current government and private work models, i.e. an amalgamation of best practices and their application in the public workplaces. Use of technology, flexible arrangements, promotion schemes and user-centred workplace standards will be adopted from practices in the private sector and adapted in the specific context.

The socio-economic aspects of the influences focus on the ‘normalization’ of government jobs and moving away from the concept of the public sector as a ‘leviathan’ and the civil servant as a servant of the monarch, the state, the government, etc. as it is slowly being replaced by the concept of the civil servant as a servant of the citizenry. This will be accompanied by the diminishing monopoly of government even in performing its most fundamental functions.

The convergence will lead to comprehensive and fluid complementarity of public and private sector work models, such as public-private partnership (PPP) models, intertwined government-private career paths, shared infrastructure and ecosystems.

Check out the next signal, #19: Reskilling and upskilling.

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The Changing Nature of Work: 30 signals to consider for a sustainable future

Work helps sustain livelihoods and largely determines the quality of life. Its changing nature is at the frontier of development. This report is the result of a broad horizon scanning by six UNDP Accelerator Labs across Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States.  They reveal 30 signals that shape the “where, who, how, and why” of the changing nature of work. From the impact of COVID-19 on the workforce to new work models and entrepreneurial ecosystems, the authors explore opportunities and threats, as well as solutions from local contexts that can be scaled up into positive answers to the challenges people around the world are facing.  Download the full report here.