Philosopher’s Café - 劇變中的職塲, 劇變中的生活方式
職涯管理人員的哲學家茶座(Philosopher’s Café)在十一月五日舉辦第二次聚會, 繼續由余松彬(Michael Yue)主持, 與會的有黄正心(Louis Wong), K.C. Chau 和本人. 這次的主題是" 轉變中的職塲, 轉變中的生活方式" (Changing workplace, changing ways of life), 會中有熱烈的討論, 我的一些看法如下:
1. 職塲型態有巨大轉變, 但目前有關的服務形式和內容, 並不能追上這劇變,
2. 但, 工作形式卻比很多未來學者所描繪和鼓吹的"自由工作人" (free agent) 的時代來得慢. 絕大多數的勞動者還須依賴公司企業機構謀生.
3. 然而職塲型態轉變大部分工作變成非正規工作(non-standard job), 控制工作機會的人會有更大生殺之權:
- 職塲欺凌, 斗爭將更慘烈
- 目前的勞工例多保障全職工人, 非正規工作者得不到保護
4. 全球化促成工人, 工作, 自由在全世界流動, "全球職涯管理" (Global Career Management), 日益重要.
5. 工作壽命長, 職涯計劃須延至八十歲.
以下是討論的記錄, 由黄正心筆錄, 余松彬整理:
Topic : Changing workplace, changing ways of life (for Oct 2007)
Date : 5 November, 2007
Participants : Ronald Ma, KC Chau, Louis Wong, Michael Yue
One participant began the discussion by reflecting on the changes in employment service programming, pointing to his observation that new programs tend to be more flexible and respond more directly to individual needs, instead of using the conventional model of a packaged job club. He felt that these changes were the result of a more fluid and unstable labour market, as job seekers moved in and out of the market faster and more frequently than before. Another participant built on this reflection and made the point that programs generally changed more slowly than the market, so as practitioners often had to fill the gaps between our programs and the needs of the clients. As the labour market continued to change rapidly, the gap between programming and client needs might widen.
From programming, we moved into a discussion of the “new economy”, which has become the common description of the changing labour market. Trends such as globalization, corporate downsizing, outsourcing, etc. were considered to be at the core of this new economy. But a point was made that labour market (or economic) transition was never 100%. At any one time, some workers might be flourishing as independent and entrepreneurial knowledge workers while others might still be stuck in minimum wage employment without seeing a possible way out. As practitioners, we work with the whole spectrum of workers and need a broad range of skills and knowledge in order to support them.
We also observed that a significant development in recent years was the displacement of experienced, mid-career workers due to corporate restructuring. These mature workers (45+) found it hard to make the transition. One participants suggested that we should help these clients see their career development beyond the confine of age (i.e. retirement). Once they were able to conceptually overcome the limitation of age concern, they could plan for the rest of their life, instead of seeing retirement as the end of their career.
Perhaps the real meaning of the “new economy” is the borderless, timeless, and lifelong development and utilization of one’s talents. Where is the workplace? The workplace is everywhere. One participant commented that “career development” in the 21st century is by nature “global career development”, and practitioners had the responsibility of coaching their clients (especially immigrant professionals) in considering career options from a global perspective. He went on to suggest that it would be OK for immigrant professionals to leave Canada to pursue for better career options. Another participant was concerned that such a global orientation would drain Canada of its talents and that immigrant professionals should fulfill their commitment to Canada before they would consider globally-based career opportunities. Are there inherent conflicts between a global career and the well being of the local economy?
