MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th July, 2020) The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the digitization of work but employers will have plenty of decisions to make about their future employment parameters, International Labour Organization (ILO) Director-General Guy Ryder said on Thursday.
"It's as if the pandemic has pressed the fast forward on the digital revolution and then the world of work is going to, by preference or by obligation, be a digital future of work... look at it from a broader societal perspective. Are we going to have the dematerialization of the physical workplace? No more collective workplaces? What does that mean for the employment relationship?" Ryder posited, speaking at a virtual conference of businesses representing the G20 nations, the B20.
Ryder mentioned a number of work-related issues that may need to be completely rethought in a digital workplace.
According to the ILO chief, there is an assumption that the world of work is going to be "qualitatively different" after the pandemic, but noted that there was a still question of whether those changes would be driven by willingly making different choices or because of the circumstances that force humanity to "act in cohabiting with the deadly virus."
The ILO calculated the effect that the pandemic had on the working world by looking at the number of working hours reduced from the global market, Ryder went on to say. The calculations showed that an equivalent of a staggering 400 million jobs were wiped out from the global workforce as a result. Ryder also said that about 88 percent of all stimulus packages were given out in developed countries.
Numerous reports from international organizations have raised fears that poverty, hunger, inequality and other social ills may be exacerbated as a result of the pandemic and called for swift action from the global north to increase aid and write off debt of less developed countries.
