What does work mean to your workers? Understanding how significance differs across occupations

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

Design/methodology/approach

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

Findings

Talk of blue-collar and white-collar workers will seem faintly outdated for many HR managers. For some, blue-collar workers will conjure up images from the 1970s and 1980s of striking mineworkers, some of the terrible conditions in steel works or in car factories in the pre-robot era. And as for white-collar workers, again this term seems a little anachronistic, albeit it has recently been adopted when referring to computerized “white-collar” crime. And as for pink-collar workers, this surely was left for dead in the 1970s along with bell-bottom flares and male perms.

Practical implications

The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world’s leading organizations.

Originality/value

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

Citation

(2017), "What does work mean to your workers? Understanding how significance differs across occupations", Human Resource Management International Digest, Vol. 25 No. 5, pp. 15-17. https://doi.org/10.1108/HRMID-05-2017-0082