Find that job: Lesson 72. The age of free agents
Would you change places with your grandfather who used to work eleven brutal hours a day in a factory somewhere? Or with your father, who laboured in a white-collar sweatshop, in the same company and the same building for 40 long years? In his influential business book 'Free agent nation' an American author, Dan Pink described the dramatic and shifting nature of today's employment and what it means for us.
A workplace revolution is under way. The No.1 private employer in the United States, by body count, is no longer General Motors. It's Manpower Inc., the temporary work mega-agency. The reason is that more and more of us are working as freelancers or independent contractors. There are now millions of temps: including temp lawyers, temp engineers, temp project managers and even temp CEOs! Micro-businesses, defined as companies that employ four or fewer people are home to millions of us. It is estimated that around 51 million Americans are already occupying non-traditional job slots. Job slots whose very nature would horrify your father's generation.
What lessons can we draw from this? That lifetime employment is over; that stable employment at large corporations is gone too; and that you will probably spend sustained periods of your career in some form of self-employment. You too will become a free agent.
But what does it mean for you? It means that you will have a fantastic opportunity to change your life. But it also means that in order to be successful you will have to be special and distinct.
a Słownik
free agent - wolny strzelec, osoba prowadząca niezależną działalność gospodarczą
to labour - pracować, mozolić się
white-collar - (o pracowniku) umysłowy
sweatshop - zakład wyzyskujący siłę roboczą
shifting - tu: zmieniający się
workplace - miejsce pracy
to be under way - odbywać się, mieć miejsce
employer - pracodawca
body count - tu: liczba osób
Inc (Incorporated) - (o spółce, firmie itp.) zarejestrowany, posiadający osobowość prawną
temporary work - praca dorywcza
freelancer - wolny strzelec, osoba pracująca na umowy zlecenia
independent contractor - niezależny kontraktor
temp - skrót od: temporary - dorywczy; również osoba pracująca dorywczo
CEO - skrót od: Chief Executive Officer - dyrektor naczelny
to employ - zatrudniać
job slot - stanowisko, miejsce pracy
lifetime employment - stałe zatrudnienie, aż do emerytury
stable employment - stała praca
sustained period - dłuższy okres
self-employment - prowadzenie niezależnej działalności gospodarczej
distinct - wyróżniający się
extinct - martwy, wymarły, wygasły
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