This chapter proposes a reconsideration of the importance of dignity at work and its effects on organizational culture from multiple perspectives. Through a literature review, specific connections between dignity at work and the future of business are identified. Special attention is given to the notion of workplace dignity (WPD) and to organizational cultures that promote dignity and respect. Distinctions are made to identify specific criteria of dignity at work in face-to-face, remote and hybrid working environments. WPD has acquired relevance because of different social movements that reflect a general discontent of the workforce, including the great resignation. Other constructs that can be linked to workplace dignity have been included, particularly joy, happiness, and hope at work, which can lead to more meaningful and inclusive organizations. Inclusive organizations that foster human dignity provide employees with a sense of having made an important contribution to the organization but also to society at large.
TopIntroduction
Changes that have taken place in the world of work, including new ways of work where human activity has ceased to be predominantly manual due to mechanized work, industrial development, and new technologies such as information technology, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic, have called for a reconsideration of dignity at work.
The workplace is one of the main areas of human life in which dignity can be either achieved or put at risk (Sayer, 2007; Hodson, 2001) because dignity is a quality of interactions. Dignity can be experienced, felt, perceived, realized, pursued, and even lost or found; it can be protected, defended, and respected, but it can also be violated, denied, or damaged (Lucas, 2015). Furthermore, people may or may not be treated with dignity, carry themselves in a dignified way, or act with dignity (Lucas, 2015).
Dignity in the workplace plays a crucial role in working life since it constitutes a facilitator or inhibitor of human development. To treat someone in a dignified way is to consider their vulnerabilities and, beyond all, to trust them. Workers gain dignity when recognized as trustworthy.
The impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on employment and employee well-being has accelerated the need to promote what has been called “good work” (Manktelow, 2021). The idea of good work is mainly linked to security, dignity, fair pay, and motivation. Since the proliferation of remote work has generated new opportunities and also new challenges for individuals and organizations, it has resulted in a reconsideration of good work and dignity at work. Interest in analyzing labor well-being in the context of the new ways of working has increased, particularly since at least a third of adult life is spent in working environments, which can now be on-site, remote, or hybrid.
Dignity at work has been threatened by conditions such as the permacrisis (or the sense of a permanent crisis) and changes in employment conditions that have led to the creation of different anti-work movements and the fight for human dignity in the workplace. Before and during the pandemic, work was organized in ways that did not necessarily serve particular interests or satisfy personal needs (Rayman, 2001), exposing the demand for reconsidering dignity at work, particularly when changes, disruptions, and new global movements such as a great discontent and in some countries a great resignation have come into play.
Dignity at work is a universally applicable concept. Work is much more than just a contract to perform buy or sell labor. It is a fundamental part of life, and our lives are shaped by it. Dignity at work has intrinsic value for the employee, as it serves to mediate the constraints of low salaries, job risks, and physical and emotional strains that often accompany paid jobs (Stacey, 2005). Quite often, the conditions in which people work can make a difference between dignified and undignified jobs.
This chapter analyzes dignity at work through a literature review that encompasses the changing conditions in the workplace, including remote and hybrid working arrangements, and the relevant role that organizational cultures, especially those that foster inclusivity, play in creating better working conditions.
The literature review was conducted using the Web of Science and EBSCO primarily, although research was complemented using Google Scholar and additional sources such as the International Labor Organization and the United Nations, among others.