Future of Work, Globalisation, Technology, and Work-Family Satisfaction in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR)

Introduction

The uncertainties around the future of work have engendered and continue to provoke stimulating discussions amongst scholars interested in the dynamics of the world of work, and other allied researchers. While the construction of these uncertainties is not far-fetched, scholars have somewhat reached a consensus, that the emergence of globalization spanning over four decades ago, has further exacerbated the magnitude of these uncertainties (May, Peetz & Strachan, 2013). To be sure, the apologists of globalization have argued that the emergence of globalization, rather than prospering the future of work, has provoked several threats to the continued relevance of work, rather than progression (Kahn, 2017)

While this contention continues to make the round, the literature on globalization and work exudes that, the threats entrenched in the uncertainties and progression of globalization to work cannot be neatly exhumed to arrive at a threshold of which outweighs the other. Slightly the discourse should be positioned concerning their peculiarities. Importantly, this discourse leads us to two sides of view. First, the emergence of globalization has attracted copious of gains for the global north, while it has rendered many nations of the global south redundant (De Cuyper et al., 2008). However, for the global south, the effects of these uncertainties have become so evident in the structure and arrangement of work (Samuelsson et al., 2012). Individually, the previous traditional standard work is being exchanged for non-standard work employment, devoid of work complacency (May, Peetz & Strachan, 2013). To be sure, what used to be known as work-family satisfaction derived from the outputs of work, are now being replaced (Jawando & Adenugba, 2014). To make a case, the uncertainties around the future of work has birthed a new form of work arrangement that has somewhat incapacitate the individual work to relish a fuller work-family satisfaction with the spread of all forms of atypical work types. This, among others, is the few uncertainties that are being promulgated by the recent changes in work.

The nitty-gritty of this chapter is to explain how globalization has exposed different cog of uncertainties to the world work, the individual worker, and the future of work in general. Specifically, the narrative sought to establish how these uncertainties on many fronts have affected the work-family satisfaction of the working population. In other words, the chapter aims to expose readers for the need to appreciate the globalization discourse, specifically through the lens of its many structural changes and uncertainties that have been engendered on the future of work, which to a greater extent has lessened what use to be conceived as work-family satisfaction.

The book chapter is divided into three sections. Section A will appraise the discourse of globalization and the future of work. To establish a fuller picture of this theme, the section will establish the progression and retrogression of globalization to work. Accordingly, this will enable the reader to appreciate the uncertainties around the future of work, specifically with the emergence of globalization. Arguments for and against this discourse will be well examined. Section B will trace the current challenges of uncertainties through the lens of globalization and labour market flexibilities to the future of work. The chapter will appreciate the various structural changes that the world of work has witnessed with the fast growth and influence of work. The section will further explore how technology and robots have been replaced for human work. Section C will be an appraisal of how the many uncertainties around the future work have constrained the work-family satisfaction. The narrative in this section will be mirrored through how the emergence of globalization has birthed several uncertainties for the world of work, such as the replacement of traditional employment patterns with non-standard employment, and how this has affected the work-family satisfaction of the working people. Individually, issues in this section will be examined through the different temporary employment types that have reduced the satisfaction derived from work, such as those lacking social securities and other employment benefits.