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I would like to give a short overview of the most possible changes in the close future, therefore I am not able to evaluate topics that would require major changes in human rights policy and law such as the possibility of cloning humans etc.
Decentralisation of back- office operations
It is useful for big companies that need large office facilities to relocate those departments that don\'t require direct customer contact to cost- saving office buildings in suburbs. Only the absolutely necessary front- office facilities in expensive areas should be maintained.
More work from home
It has proved to be quite useful for several large companies to employ a certain amount of people working from home. This is more and more possible due to the new media that allow us to communicate nearly as if we were having a real conference in the office. An example for this is my father who works for Quintiles and is one of several out of office- employees. Of course he has to travel on several occasions, but his \"home base\" is the office he has in our house. Work from home is especially convenient to women with children who prefer to schedule their days according to the children\'s needs and to work when they\'re at school, or also in the evenings when they sleep.
Job sharing
This term means that two persons share one job, often couples make use of this program. It is already frequently used, even though it is not as easy as it may seem. It requires a high level of co-operation from the job sharers because one may have to finish tasks the other one started to work on.
Rationalisation and Mechanisation
Due to increasing labour and production- costs, many organisations have to minimise their expenses. It is very convenient to service businesses to introduce self- service. It also implies that the supervising function- the middle manager\'s one- becomes unnecessary. This means that the hierarchy pyramid shrinks- some levels might even disappear- and that managers with multiple skills and the best possible education have better chances to be hired.
Flexi- time
Flexi- time is the oldest and most popular of all those models, most possibly because it\'s easily applicable to different kinds of organisations. A new kind of reducing work hours is Flexi- time light, a model that makes it possible to work only one day less a week.
Flexible schedules
More flexible working hours are of significant importance to employees, therefore many companies offer various schedules instead of the classical 9 to 5- day.
Holidays as a bonus
It also seems to become increasingly popular to offer more holidays instead of Flexi- time or as a bonus for working on public holidays. BMW in Munich makes it possible to a friend of mine to spend a 4- month paid holiday in Greece each year, for this he works the rest of the year without taking any days off and is available on public holidays as well as on 5 weekends each year.
Time workers
To meet the Ups and Downs in manufacturing as well as in service businesses, many companies prefer hiring people for a short time instead of \"really\" employing them. This helps to reduce labour costs and to meet the changing market demands without. In my opinion, those agencies are another part of the service industry that will grow in the next years due to increasing labour costs- I think it is a logical step for a manager rather to have few permanent employees and to make use of time workers in times of high demand instead of wasting the company\'s money on employees that aren\'t needed most time of the year.
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