SLASH WORKER: CHI SONO GLI ACCUMULATORI SERIALI DI PROFESSIONI E PERCHE’ LO FANNO.

SLASH WORKER: WHO ARE THE SERIAL ACCUMULATORS OF PROFESSIONS AND WHY THEY DO IT.

(Scroll down for English version)

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Versione in italiano

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Sesto appuntamento con le “NEWS & (RE)NEWS”, che poterete trovare raccolte nella pagina “CONTENTS” del blog “FAR FROM BEING JUST FM” (https://farfrombeingjustfm.com) e nel gruppo LinkedIn dedicato alla Community (https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8948117/).

Lunedì 13 Luglio 2020, su FAR FROM BEING JUST FM, nella rubrica editorials ho pubblicato un mio articolo inerente il ruolo del Fractional Manager, applicabile anche alle attività di facility management, quale declinazione alternativa della posizione professionale, atta a favorire una migliore competitività ed appetibilità in aziende che si trovano ad affrontare le difficoltà di questo periodo storico causa pandemia.

Mi sono imbattuto in un articolo di Amalia Verzola, pubblicato su Forbes.it, che tratta un tema interessante, che fa capire in modo inequivocabile come il mercato del lavoro stia effettivamente cambiando, abbandonando i vecchi principi del posto fisso per una maggiore autonomia e flessibilità, ognuno di noi avrà probabilmente una visone diversa del problema, ma indipendentemente questo avvenga per necessità od opportunità rimane comunque un dato di fatto che il modo di pensare al lavoro sta cambiando.

Questa settimana vi propongo quindi un interessante articolo pubblicato sul sito “www.forbes.it”, scritto d Amalia Verzola, inerente coloro che vengono definiti “Slash Workers”, ovvero persone che collezionato titoli professionali differenti in ambiti professionali differenti.

Qui trovate il link alla pagina web su cui è pubblicato il contenuto originale.

Nel dettaglio, l’articolo pubblicato sul sito di cui sopra, a cui vanno tutti i crediti per i contenuti, ci offre uno spaccato di questa realtà interessante, che però, mio giudizio, dovrebbe essere presa in considerazione solo nel caso si disponga di competenze specifiche così trasversali da dare contenuto oggettivo alla professionalità all’interno di ruoli differenti.

Un interessante articolo per capire l’evoluzione del modo del lavoro, un po’ per volontà ed un po’ per necessità.

Buona lettura.

English Version

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Sixth appointment with the “NEWS & (RE)NEWS”, which you can find collected in the “CONTENTS” page of the blog “FAR FROM BEING JUST FM” (https://farfrombeingjustfm.com) and in the LinkedIn group dedicated to the Community (https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8948117/)

On Monday July 13th/2020, in FAR FROM BEING JUST FM, in the editorials section, I published an article about the role of the Fractional Manager, also applicable to facility management activities, as an alternative declination of the professional position, aimed at fostering a better competitiveness and attractiveness in companies that are facing the difficulties of this historical pandemic period.

I came across an article by Amalia Verzola, published on Forbes.it, which deals with an interesting topic, which makes it clear how the labor market is actually changing, abandoning the old principles of the fixed position for greater autonomy and flexibility, each of us will probably have a different view of the problem, but regardless of whether this happens out of necessity or opportunity, remains a fact that the way of thinking about work is changing.

So this week I propose you an interesting article published on the website “www.forbes.it”, written by Amalia Verzola, about those who are defined “Slash Workers”, i.e. people who collect different professional titles in different professional fields.

Here you will find the link to the web page on which the original content is published, you will find a free translation of the article for all those who do not speak Italian.

In detail, the article published on the above site, to which all credits for the contents go, gives us a glimpse of this interesting reality, which, however, in my opinion, should be taken into consideration only if you have specific skills so transversal as to give objective content to the professionalism within different roles.

An interesting article to understand the evolution of the way of working, partly by will and partly by necessity.

Good reading.

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Article freely translated, published by forbes.it, original version written by Amalia Vezzola:

SLASH WORKER: WHO ARE THE SERIAL ACCUMULATORS OF PROFESSIONS AND WHY THEY DO IT.

Social media manager, life coach and architect. Event organiser, in-company trainer and project manager. The world of work has become more and more liquid, due to a structural crisis that does not seem to be fading and that will become more and more severe because of the COVID-19. The myth of the fixed workplace has collapsed and linear work paths are now crumbling. If the world of work is in a warlike state, accumulating seemingly irreconcilable jobs becomes tactical. Conjunctural phenomenon or conscious choice?

They are called slash workers, they accumulate different jobs, and they do so by choice. Eurostat data show that in 2018, 5% of people in the EU-28 with a higher education qualification had more than one job. According to the research carried out by ACTA on a sample of 900 Italian freelancers within the project funded by the European Commission I-WIRE, the interviewees became autonomous by choice, to be independent, to give space to their creativity and to have more grip on their work and their lives. A significant cultural change, if we consider that most of the interviewees are willing to pay the price of precariousness in order to be able to decide their professional path independently. The research shows that interviewees are globally satisfied with their working condition: 11.8% are always satisfied, 51% are often satisfied, and only 7% are never satisfied. A new paradigm of work that deserves interest, and which represents an opportunity to rethink the relationship between employees and the company, declining it in terms of agility.

Fluid profiles, characterized by multiple professional identities and an apparently irreconcilable mix of skills, often linked to personal passions. Analyses show that 31% of respondents have 4 or more different professions. While very often it is the need to make ends meet that forces one to commit oneself on several fronts, even more often this hybridisation is a conscious choice. “This phenomenon affects several generations, and not only the Millennials – says Marielle Barbe, author of Profession Slasheur (Marabout, 2017) and coach/trainer/consultant/keynote speaker – These professionals are driven by curiosity, the desire to learn, but also and above all by the desire to make sense of their work activities. And what emerges from the data is that it is a deliberate choice”. To the rarefaction of stable jobs, slash workers react with a positive narrative, turning precariousness into opportunity. Hybrid paths that, on the one hand, represent a strategic response to the crisis in the world of work, and on the other a real challenge for companies, which thus find themselves having to review their managerial models in order to adapt them to a more flexible work culture.

Digital transformation, obsolescence of skills, increasingly problematic overlapping of work and personal life, nomadic work and smart working. The labour crisis is a multiple crisis, and there are many elements that need to be taken into account. In the ATAWAD era, an acronym that stands for AnyTime AnyWhere AnyDevice, it is precisely the work-life balance and continuing education that are becoming increasingly relevant criteria for career guidance. “Companies must consider the individual as a whole, and propose new models of human resources management, more agile – Barbe suggests -. We must accompany this cultural change to prevent demotivation at work”. The attractiveness of a company is also and above all in the attention it pays to the well-being of its employees. “But there is no single model,” says Barb. “The enhancement of talent and the exaltation of multiple skills, internal mobility, flexibility, creativity and innovation. It is necessary to invest in a strategy that aims to preserve the psycho-physical well-being of employees and that recognizes the added value of atypical profiles”.

The French giant BNP-Paribas has understood this for a long time. As early as 2015, the #tribudesagiles initiative was launched, aimed at enhancing employees’ multiple skills internally through short-time missions in the service of other teams, but spread over working time. An innovative project that not only embraces the principles of the sharing economy, but also represents a new, more agile, simplified managerial model. However, innovation is not only a prerogative of the private sector. The Canadian government launched the Canada’s Free Agents initiative in 2016, an experimental model that allows civil servants to build their careers by engaging in periodic projects. And in accordance with the aspirations of the moment. An agile experimentation that has a dual objective. On the one hand, to accompany the professional development of employees, ensuring a constant alignment of work missions with personal interests. On the other, to test a more flexible approach in order to be able to mobilize expertise on punctual projects, in a logic oriented towards innovation and problem-solving.

The current health crisis has accelerated the process of transformation in the world of work that had already been underway for several years. The main challenge today is that of agility. Staying listening, deconstructing, trying, innovating, adapting quickly. In the future, work performance metrics will increasingly be based on the ability to reinvent oneself. And slash workers, often looked at with suspicion, seem to have all the cards in order to effectively face the challenges of a society in continuous evolution.

Original content in Italian written by Amalia Verzola.