Working Alone

The Labor Extension Program is launching a research and training program on the increasing isolation that workers are experiencing on the job as a result of new technologies and new forms of work organization. We have identified nine trends in the changing nature of work that have particular impacts on isolation on the job and in turn on the development of social connections and solidarity. These include:

• Downsizing of workplaces through automation, speed-up and distributed production
• Restructuring /Intensification/Lean
• Standardization of work
• Job combination
• Increased monitoring
• Digitalization
• Changing schedules
• Contracting out/Use of contractors/Use of temps
• Reduction and Elimination of networking jobs

Watch this page for updates on isolation at work and our research efforts.

If you have a story about increasing isolation at work, please send it to Charles_Richardson@uml.edu.