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The changing world of work

If you have ever read Cosmo Girl or Nuts you have read a magazine printed by Polestar – the UK's leading independent printer. Polestar operates in a fast moving industry where new and existing employees must continually develop their skills. This case study shows how Polestar people prepare for the future Polestar want to help you too, that's why they have paid for this information.

Work and workplaces have changed radically in the last twenty years. For example, today:

Contrast this with when your parents or grandparents were as old as you are. Working life then involved far less change. An individual might do the same or similar work for the whole of his/her working life.

The printing industry is a great example of the changing world of work. Before the age of the computer, printing was carried out by hand in print shops. It was a highly laborious job involving hand setting of individual pages using individual letters. It was hard to get a job in the industry and involved a long period of apprenticeship before any responsibility or a really interesting job. The same processes of mixing inks and creating printing plates were repeated decade after decade.

All that changed with the arrival of computers, computer-assisted technologies and modern printing techniques. Today, printing is still a highly skilled business involving superb training . However, printers have to continually learn new skills. Printing is now dynamic and exciting.

Polestar aims to be Europe's most innovative and customer focused printing company.

To achieve this it needs to constantly:

• improve customer service
• develop better products
• introduce innovative techniques

Polestar's employees are critical to this - they need to be highly motivated, enterprising and well trained. They have to be keen to learn new skills (such as how to operate high-tech digital equipment ) and to dream up new ideas.

To achieve this goal Polestar has developed an exciting new training package called printdynamics™. This is available to all schools, because Polestar wants to help young people understand more about printing. Simply email hannah.ceely@polestar-group.com

This innovative training programme enables employees to become multi-skilled. In the past workers specialised in particular skills. A multi-skilled worker can do lots of different tasks on their own or as part of a team. Variety is the spice of life – doing lots of different tasks makes jobs more interesting. They therefore need to understand the whole printing process.

printdynamics™ is an interactive multi-media training package. It shows printing workers how all the processes involved in printing work. It also shows them how the tasks that they do fit into the whole process. Because they understand their work and printing in great detail they are much better placed to:

• come up with exciting new innovations that benefit themselves and Polestar
• contribute better to teams
• solve problems on their own
• produce excellent work
• enjoy their day

Glossary of business concepts

Computer-assisted technologies – a way of applying ideas and science to practical processes. Computers can be used to support technology in a wide range of industries e.g. checking on colour mixing in the print industry, checking that bottles are correctly filled in a lemonade factory etc.

Customer focused – meeting the needs of customers. Putting the customer first.

Enterprising – taking a risk to come up with and try out new ideas.

High-tech digital equipment – equipment based on number based instructions (digits) and which is highly complex involving up-to-date ideas and processes.

Independent – a company that is free to strive for what it wants because it is not owned by another company.

Innovative – able and willing to come up with new ideas and solutions to problems that are exciting and original.

Interactive – applications were the user is able to have interactions with a device or piece of technology e.g. interactive television.

Multi-media – using a range of different media applications e.g. voice and sound, pictures and other images, moving images etc., rather than just text.

Multi-skilled – able to carry out a range of different skills as part of a job, rather than being restricted to a specific skill.

Training – the process of acquiring new knowledge and skills which improve job performance and enjoyment.

Worksheet Activities

  Here are a number of activities related to the changing world of work. Carry out the activities on the sheets provided.

1. Study the following statements about your own attitudes to work, choose the six that you most strongly agree with:

1. When I leave school or college I want to train for a job which pays well and where the skills I require will remain broadly the same throughout my working life.
2. I am looking for job opportunities which challenge me to keep learning new skills.
3. I know that many of the skills that I learn after school/college will become outdated so that I will constantly need to retrain.
4. I would like a steady job, where I am told what to do and where I don't have to do much training.
5. When I leave school or college I am likely to have lots of jobs. The chances of not being able to stay in the same job for long periods are much greater than in the past.
6. I would like to do a similar job to that of a parent/relative or friend. They have been doing the same work for many years and although the work hasn't changed they still get a lot of pleasure from it.
7. I believe in lifetime learning – having an open mind and always developing new knowledge and skills, particularly in relation to work.
8. People that I know who work have often had to change what they do several times, and to learn new skills such as those involving new ICT systems. I welcome this challenge because I like learning and improving myself.
9. I am frightened of change. I feel uncomfortable when something that I am familiar with changes. I like routines and patterns.
10. I don't think people should have to change their work patterns when their skills become out of date. Why should people be put on the scrap heap when they are good at doing something which involves high levels of skill?
11. I think people should be rewarded for being flexible. When I leave school or college I will be prepared to adapt to changing work patterns by regularly going on training courses and learning new skills.
12. I don't adapt easily to changing routines. I want to a job which involves a settled pattern of working.

Fill in the grid below:

The statements that I most strongly agree with are:

2. Set out a table showing how work was organised 30 years ago, and contrast it with the modern world of work. Put the following statements where you think they should go on the table.

1. Training involves a process of lifelong learning in which new skills are learned.
2. Employees need to be multi-skilled.
3. Many jobs involve computers and computer based technology.
4. Jobs typically involve the use of traditional technologies.
5. Many employees expect a job for life with the company that first employs them.
6. Men dominate the workforce.
7. Employees learn specialist skills which they use for many years.
8. Training typically takes place at the start of working life when new skills are learned.
9. More and more temporary and part-time contracts exist.
10. Half of the workforce is female.

3. Write down a job that you would be interested in doing when you leave school. You need to be familiar with some aspects of that job. Produce a table explaining how that job requires flexibility and the willingness to learn among job holders. Have a look at the Polestar case study link to find out more. Explain how the job might require you to:

4. Look at the printdynamics™ website and consider the processes for producing an attractively printed coursework assignment e.g.

• making a first draft
• writing the copy
• editing the copy
• adding pictures and other graphics
• printing the copy.

The same sorts of processes that you will describe have revolutionised the way the printing industry operates. In the old days printing involved setting printing blocks to create individual letters. Using examples from printdynamics™ describe three processes involved in printing a magazine, newspaper or book that have been dramatically changed with the development of computer based technology.

5. Give three examples of ways in which you would expect jobs in the printing industry to have changed as a result of the development of computer based technology. Remember to use the printdynamics™ website to help you.

6. Match the words below with the descriptions of qualities required in the modern workplace.

7. List four ways in which a company like Polestar will benefit from having enterprising and well trained employees.

8. Polestar's excellent training package is called printdynamics™. Explain how it will help Polestar employees to make a better contribution in a modern workplace. You can view it at printdynamics ™ and there is more information available at www.tt100.biz/polestar/printdynamics .

9. The world of work is changing the lives of employees. At the same time employees are changing their workplaces. Explain what you think is meant by these two statements.

10. List four ways in which adult workers that you know have had to update their work skills and knowledge. What has been their attitude to making these changes? Have they welcomed them or resisted?

11. What do you see as being the eight main characteristics that you have which will enable you to be successful in the modern workplace? Why?