What Do We Know and What Should We Do About the Future of Work?
- Melanie Simms - University of Leicester, UK
"An excellent summary of why and how we work." People Management magazine
What do we know about the current state of work and employment and what does the future of work look like? Professor Melanie Simms provides a far-reaching overview of paid employment in the UK, examining why we work, how we work, and what the future of work will be like with changing demographics and the introduction of modern technologies.
From zero-hour contracts, the gig economy and universal basic income, to automation, robotics and artificial intelligence, Simms analyses the most pressing issues facing traditional employment. Before outlining four priority areas where the UK should look to strengthen regulation of in order to face the coming challenges more effectively, but also, so that they benefit workers, as well as employers and managers.
The ‘What Do We Know and What Should We Do About...?' series offers readers short, up-to-date overviews of key issues often misrepresented, simplified or misunderstood in modern society and the media. Each book is written by a leading social scientist with an established reputation in the relevant subject area.
"Short, sharp and compelling." – Alex Preston, The Observer
"If you want to learn a lot about what matters most, in as short a time as possible, this is the series for you." – Danny Dorling, Halford Mackinder Professor of Geography, University of Oxford
Simms’ intelligent delve into the labour market and its economic effects is an excellent summary of why and how we work. But it also points out some unexpected truths – that most people work in the same way they would have 50 years ago, for example, or that the car wash industry demonstrates automation is far from inevitable.
Concise, precise, beautifully designed, illustrated and written. If you want to learn a lot about what matters most, in as short a time as possible, this is the series for you.
This highly accessible but scholarly series which sees leading social scientists in the UK tackle some of the key issues facing us all today is exactly the sort of publication the Academy of Social Sciences has encouraged over the years. Congratulations to SAGE on bringing it out.
Engaging and thought-provoking.
