Worknow_Aotearoa_NZ

It seems that deriding Gen Y has become a marketing tool in itself. Repeat something negative about Gen Y and you’ve instantly attracted an audience.

Some readers will flock in order to have their personal points of view validated. But how many more will read because we’ve learned the importance of “…know thy enemy…”

Everyday we learn more about why the entrenched workforce fears us but more importantly the negativity provides us a challenge to rise to.

It seems, my entire generation now has a point to prove and the best way I can see to do that is to overcome the negativity, choose life and community over career, step around the square box and do exactly what we are disliked for.

Be different, challenge the status quo and find better new ways to get work done.

Although people continue to highlight our flaws a growing number of people are beginning to realise that these traits which appear as weaknesses may indeed be indicators of our strengths.

As one onlooker notes:-

“It is quite likely that some sizable percentage of these [Gen Y] workers will never work in a steady job on the payroll of a single employer. And an equally large segment may never know a career different from that of a ‘permanent part-timer,’ contractor, or consultant.”

Gen Y’s fierce independence will accelerate the nation’s evolution from a corporate economy of worker bees to an entrepreneurial one of innovative thinkers and rapid change, one where a majority of the Gen Y workforce is self-employed or even part of an ever-widening proprietary class.

The Gen Y group will be fiercely start-up oriented, and “by 2013, perhaps two- thirds of all adult Americans will be classified as entrepreneurial.” Source

Gen Y Entrepreneurs

So while this article talks of our US counterparts perhaps we should take note. More than any previous generation Gen Y has a more flexible and entrepreneurial approach to work.

Our entrepreneurial spirit makes us increasingly willing and able to take risks, our education has armed us with knowledge and insight and today’s technology allows us to connect, share and collaborate in new, more effective ways.

The traditional dependency on employment has begun to weaken as more and more of us recognise the potential we have to connect with others in order to create our own forms of work.

While our entrepreneurial and flexible approach to work demands of us greater self-reliance in return we capture the ability to shape our own future rather than “comply” or “conform” to the expectations of a workforce that often fails to utilise our talent or understand our work ethic.

Worknow

At Worknow we support a more entrepreneurial work ethic and are developing tools to help people find, connect and work together in new ways

Green Jobs of the Future

Governments including the USA and Australia are touting “green collar” jobs as a way to create new forms of work and aid economic recovery. The ever expanding Green sector encompasses industry and fields from engineering and planning to science and management, from construction to manufacturing and retail of alternative energy sources such as solar, wind and wave energy.

Copenhagen Climate Summit 2009

This year the environment will receive some serious attention with the international effort to address climate change culminating with the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, 7-18 December.

Already campaigns supporting environmental reform are in full swing. Global Environmental, Humanitarian and Animal Welfare organisations are taking a united stand to raise awareness on climate change.

Celebrities encourage people to Sign on with slogans from the likes of Ex NIWA Jim Salinger stating “The Science is bloody obvious”.

And with a ground swell of support, grass-root movements such as 350Aotearoa freeze sees people of all ages and backgrounds taking a statue like stand, to raise awareness and get people to question “what’s all this about?”

Growth of Contract Jobs in Green Market

Indeed, increased environmental awareness bodes well for the emerging Green industry which is already proving that it can create new jobs. Not only is the expanding industry creating “employment” but contract work too.

The green market has historically been one of permanent job placements…However, as the field broadens we are seeing more opportunities for contractors as engineers become more involved in the space, innovation creates short-term opportunities and many organisations opt for a more flexible workforce in light of the uncertainty of economic downturn. Source

While the UK is heralding the flexibility  and creativity, for which contractors are known, as the potential savior of UK economy the benefits of outsourcing and contract work are also being recognised here in Aotearoa. Hence, it is likely that with the growth of Green Industry, we too will experience growth in the number of contract opportunities.

Contractors Marketplace

At Worknow we support  and encourage a more flexible, entrepreneurial work ethic and are here to help contractors find, connect and collaborate on project work opportunities.

Reducing Barriers to Productivity

Social networking tools will play an important role in the future of work organisation by helping us to create, connect and collaborate as project teams, regardless of time or place.

As workers move toward contracting and business’ take the opportunity to outsource work to increase productivity new methods of organising and facilitating work will arise.

Institutional “containment” as we know will cease to exist and with it the barriers to productivity that stalled the growth and development of our people and businesses.

Networking Tools & Platforms

Today’s social media tools and network platforms have created an environment where communication, collaboration and coordination are already in use. They need simply be applied in business to make it quicker and easier to get work done.

No longer limited by time or place or disadvantaged by the costs of travel, the concept of using networking tools to facilitate projects begins a paradigm shift in the way we think about and accomplish work.

IT and business technology will take center stage in the post-recession economy. The crisis…will sweep away organizations that do not grasp the importance of and utilize social network technologies.

Innovation will be defined by networks, [collaborating to] work with partners or competitors or customers using social technologies. George Colony, CEO of Forrester.

The way we work is changing and with it comes a shift in power, away from the corporate hierarchy that directed and controlled productivity in the past towards the innovative, more flexible contract workers that are ready and able to work, as needed.

Connect & Collaborate with Worknow

Networking tools and platforms give individual contractors and dispersed project teams the ability to compete with institutions at an unprecedented level. At Worknow we support this more flexible, entrepreneurial work ethic and are here to help contractors find, connect and collaborate on project work opportunities..

Innovation in a recession

The UK is heralding the flexibility & creativity, for which contractors are known, as the potential savior of UK economy.

UK organisations start to appreciate the benefits of a flexible contractor workforce, and …the positive impact interim executives and IT contractors are having in achieving technology innovation within large organisations, despite reduced budgets.

“The UK workforce has demonstrated unprecedented flexibility during this recession,” comments Keep Britain Working founder James Reed, “allowing organisations to explore a whole range of cost-cutting responses, other than relying solely on redundancies.”

The benefits of outsourcing and contract work are also being recognised here in Aotearoa as 63% of White-collar New Zealander’s look to sacrifice the security of nine-to-five salaries in order to head out on their own as private contractors.

As companies continue to let staff go and struggle to contain costs in the face of falling profitability both workers and employers are beginning to recognise that full-time permanent employment is not necessarily the most effective or efficient way to get work done.

The Benefits of Outsourcing Projects & Contract Work

By outsourcing work to private contractors businesses can get work done and maintain productivity while minimising payroll expense. While “employment” may by comparison seem safer, more secure, working as a private contractor also promises better pay and the flexibility to live a more balanced, family orientated lifestyle.

Future Models of Flexible Work

At Worknow we support a more entrepreneurial work ethic and are developing ways to help people find and connect with project contract work opportunities.

Contract Work New Zealand

New Zealand’s workforce is showing our ability to adapt and do things differently by considering contract work in favour of taking on the lower paid, less fulfilling full-time roles on offer. According to the online survey conducted internationally by recruitment firm Robert Walters:-

White-collar New Zealander’s are preparing to sacrifice the security of nine-to-five salaries to head out on their own as private contractors – in unprecedented numbers.

Nearly two out of three professionals (63 per cent) say they would be happy to take on a contract role, a new survey shows. That is higher than anywhere in the world except in Britain. Read Article NZ Hearld

As companies continue to let staff go and struggle to contain costs in the face of falling profitability both workers and employers are beginning to recognise that full-time permanent employment is not the most effective or efficient way to get work done.

The Benefits of Outsourcing Projects & Contract Work

By outsourcing work to private contractors businesses can get work done and maintain productivity while minimising payroll expense. While employment may offer security of income and contract work is comparatively higher risk, working as a private contractor also promises better pay and the flexibility to live a more balanced, family orientated lifestyle.

Future Models of Flexible Work

At Worknow we support a more entrepreneurial work ethic and are developing ways to help people find and connect with project contract work opportunities.