The Big Question

Increased use of ICT has led to changing patterns of employment due to the increased use of ICT

I partially agree with the statement because teleworking has now became an important part of employment for many companies and profesions such as jounalism. Teleworking allows for people to work from home exactly the same way they would work in an office, teleworking can benifit both the worker and the company as it saves the worker money on transport to work and allows them to be more creative in an area they feel comfortable in. However some workers may not be as productive without any supervision and may get easily distracted in their home so will be less productive. This shows that ICT has changed the way people can be employed and the role they can play in the company as ICT allows for more flexibility in both hours worked and the type of job a worker can do.

In addition ICT has improved workforce skills as when a new ICT system is implemented into the workplace to replace an out dated system the staff must be trained in how to correctly use the system so that the ICT system is benificial for them, and does not hinder their performance. Furthermore if a company already has an ICT system then before hiring someone they will make sure that the worker will have the correct qualification, therefore this will encourage more people to achieve qualifications in an effort to improve there skills with ICT which will allow them to excel at work.

Employers can now monitor the workforce using their ICT system this can be a great benifit to the company as they can keep this a secret and find out which workers are not being productive with the use of computers, this then enables the company to disiplin them of find another employe. On the other hand if the company informs the workers of the capability to monitor the work done, this may encourage the workers to be more productive as they feel feel pressured into working as they know they could be being watched, also it will limit the use of personal internet use which can be a major problem.

In conclusion ICT had led to many changes in emplyment and in the workforce as ICT enables simple tasks to be carried out more efficiently and also allows a lot of flexibility in the workplace as ICT allows workers to work for home and share documents with other workers on the ICT system. Finally ICT has changed the patterns of emplyment due to skills being needed to operate the system and the ability to work from home which means you do not need to look local when hiring someone.