Sustainable human resource management: The good, the bad, and making it work

Over the last five decades, the way we work has undergone a profound transformation. Full-time, and often life-long, employment within the same company has morphed into a very different reality. Workforce participation has expanded, the provision of flexible work schedules has become the new norm, work can seemingly be performed from anywhere, and there is a strong trend of individuals willingly switching jobs as they please. The rise of remote, part-time, and flexible work arrangements is a defining feature across myriad industries. While such changes have brought about advantages such as better pay, flexibility, autonomy, and physically safer working conditions for some, they have also negatively reshaped the employee-employer relationship for others. There has been a move away from the traditional standard employment relationship based on mutual loyalty, permanence, and job security to more flexible, temporary, and often precarious work arrangements. This shift has gained momentum due to changes in work and organizational design, technology and its mediation of communication, societal attitudes towards work-life balance, and the rise of digital platforms. A very clear example of this shift to hyper-flexibility can be seen in gig work, where workers engage with multiple ‘employers’ simultaneously through an online platform or ‘app’ based on algorithmic technology. This rapidly growing form of work has created new paths to employment but has also introduced uncertainties about its long-term viability and precariousness when compared to more traditional and stable forms of employment.