How will Casual Work and Multi-tasking Change our Society in Australia and worldwide?

With the realisation that contracting ourselves out for employment is the way of the future, I ponder over certain matters that may have a subtle effect at the very least on our society. With more and more people working ever increasingly odd hours, odd shifts and with no holiday or sick pay or superannuation, I wonder how this will impact on families on a whole.

It will certainly mean that Australian families will have to manage their money better, not knowing what they will be earning from one week to the next. They will have to put away each payday for a rainy day, for holidays, to cover up and coming bills and to cover their butt when they're sick.

Working unusual shifts, especially those that contradict our natural nocturnal ways, will also have an impact on sleep patterns, which in the short-term at least, may cause disruptions and negative productivity within the household, not to mention the workplace. If not monitored carefully, this could lead to family break-downs over both finances and incompatibilities that may not have been exposed had a 'normal' regime been maintained. Sleeping during the day is not as easy as it sounds; exposure to light naturally awakens us, the sounds around us in the daylight hours are also louder and not conducive to sleep. There's also other's routines to be considered, eg. Do the kids need to dropped at school at the same time a parent may need to sleep?

On the bright side though, people may be able to choose their own hours more readily. There seems to be a strong trend for employers not to replace their full-time staff and instead opt for the casual employee. If there is to be a strong enough trend in this direction then the employee may just get to pick and choose which hours and possibly which jobs he is going to work.


In my line of business, this continuing trend is only going to increase my workload, hopefully to the stage where I can sell my workload on to other businesses in the same field. If I plan things well, I should be able to work as a virtual agency, farming jobs out across Australia and even overseas, God willing. Somewhat into the future I know, but not as far as we might think. Being a virtual and on-site business support service in a semi-rural area, that of course being the Yarra Valley, I am extremely interested to see what effect this trend will have on my client base.

I did hear once a while ago, can't say where for sure now, that the coming generations will need to be able to multi-task in order to get the amount of work they need to sustain a healthy financial existence. This concept really does make sense, if employers are not prepared to take on full-time employees, then employees will be looking for more than one job. So my advice to all is to get your skills up on a variety of options in preparation for this new trend we are entering. Consider starting your own business, or several businesses, once you are properly qualified to do so.

I'm really interested to hear your feedback on this, so please, leave a comment. I'd really like to know how you think it will alter your current lifestyle. Have you already got ideas along this train of thought, and if so, what are they? Do you see it as more of a negative or positive, or just inevitable, move in our society? I'll be waiting to hear from you.