Abstract:

In the age of globalization, the working environment is undergoing a change. A safe, normal employment contract situation is in opposition to new demands and lifestyles. People need to be flexible and mobile – both job-related and geographically, need to learn lifelong and to react quickly to changing work situations. A modern man should be his own employment agency, self-manage, found a “me-plc” (Ich-AG) and think more in terms of projects than in fixed work situations. Companies employ their workers on a short-term basis and release them when profits fall. New forms of work schedules in the context of liberalization of work schedules demand spontaneous availability. Qualifications must be continually renewed, if not even freshly attained. In addition to all this are precarious employment, fixed-term contracts, temporary employment, low-paying jobs, fake self-employment, people working in projects world-wide, self-employed in cultural and media professions, childminders, self-employed nursing staff Europe-wide and unemployment. These changes have their effect on employment and family life. This article analyses the current problems of the working environment in the age of globalization in Germany. The aim of this article is to identify the consequences of globalization such as the gradual disuse of the eight-hour working day, the flexibility of working contracts and the growth of atypical labor relations, an increased risk of poverty due to low wages. This article also mentions some alternatives for the consequences of globalization of the working environment.