New Work: Opportunities, challenges and policy recommendations
In a recent study commissioned by Junge Wirtschaft, EcoAustria shows that new forms of work have the potential to trigger economic effects and important impulses for the domestic economy in the coming years. Specifically, New Work enables more efficient "matching" between employees and employers. The working hours of existing employees will become more productive. People who were previously unavailable to the labour market due to caring responsibilities can be mobilized. "Overall, New Work offers the prospect of an increase in operational and systemic competitiveness, higher employment, better export opportunities and easier integration of Austrian companies into international value chains," says EcoAustria Director Monika Köppl-Turyna.
Young people demand better compatibility and more flexibility
New work solutions are already a reality for many young companies in Austria. In the latest JW Business Barometer, 45% report corresponding changes in the past three years. For half of the companies, New Work is applicable in their own company. The most important fields of action are flexible instead of fewer working hours (44%), working from home (34%) and new technological tools (32%). In addition to a better work-life balance (49%), Austria's young entrepreneurs also expect policies relating to New Work to make working hours more flexible (37%). "New Work does not mean working less, but more flexibly. For us, New Work is not a fashionable topic, but an approach to sustainably strengthen the competitiveness of our companies through more flexibility and new technologies," says JW Federal Chairwoman Bettina Dorfer-Pauschenwein. This requires a modern and flexible legal framework, but certainly not retro overregulation, according to the JW Federal Chairwoman.
Relief and less regulation also needed for New Work
The fact that positive incentives are needed for New Work is also underlined by the results of the EcoAustria study on the New Work topic of "digital nomads". Of around 4.3 million people in employment in Austria, almost 1.7 million could also continue their professional activities in the form of ICT-based remote working from anywhere in the world. "If only 5% of those workers were to emigrate to work as digital nomads because they pay less tax and find better living and working conditions in other countries, for example, the Austrian budget could lose almost 500 million euros a year in wage tax," explains Köppl-Turyna. Conversely, Austria can become a more attractive location for digital nomads. Dorfer-Pauschenwein: "The topic of new work also shows that a future-proof business and work location must focus on relief and flexibility instead of new taxes and overregulation."
