IDoes the conflict over pensions also reveal a life at work that lacks meaning and does not respond to individual expectations or to contemporary collective issues? This diagnosis of the state of the workforce is now confirmed by the recent Labor Conferences, an initial report of which outlines the major reforms to be carried out (“Re-considering work”by Sophie Thiéry and Jean-Dominique Senard, National Council for Refoundation, April 2023).
For its authors, restoring the meaning of work requires in particular a “managerial revolution”, which involves increased staff autonomy and consideration of individual aspirations. These orientations are seen as a logical continuation of the Pacte law, which introduced, on a voluntary basis, the raison d’être of companies and the notion of “company with a mission”.
However, the report notes that malaise at work affects both the private and public sectors. Shouldn’t we extend the model of the mission-based society to everyone if we want to guarantee a reorganization of work? Clearly, the public sector and the private sector have been shaken by the same shocks: acceleration and intensification of technical breakthroughs, extension of global competition, rise in environmental and climatic threats. And, despite their differences, the same shift in management models has eroded the relationship to work.
Overhaul of governance
Shareholder capitalism has reacted to these shocks with exclusively financial and often disproportionate objectives. In addition to the neglect of environmental impacts, this has led to two antagonistic managerial injunctions: on the one hand, the multiplication of standards and work control processes; on the other hand, the incessant restructuring of companies and professions.
In the public sector, it is the interplay of budgetary constraints, staffing limitations and statutory changes that have constituted the recurrent response to the technological and competitive tsunamis. Hence the simplistic and quickly obsolete specifications which, for lack of autonomy of public enterprises in defining their mission, have led to standardization of activities and performance, sometimes unrelated to the meaningful horizon of these institutions.
Thus, both in the public and in the private sector, the combination of inadequate standards and ephemeral organizations eroded the meaning of work, before becoming toxic for the most vulnerable. The work revolution therefore requires the overhaul of the governance of private companies and public bodies.
You have 24.56% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.