ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I try to make sense of the fundamental changes that are occurring in the world of work and employment relations (ER) and what they mean for researchers in the field of human resource (HR) studies and ER and, more generally, for policy-makers. I argue that underlying the different dimensions of the new world of work is a fundamental change in the logic of capitalist organisation – from a managerial business model to a financial one. Globalisation is one dimension of this new order, but not its primary independent cause. New technologies are a powerful tool for the new order, and ‘millennials’ preferences are one of its justifications. By beginning with a reconceptualisation of the firm and how corporations make money, we are more clearly able to scrutinise what the concept of the ‘employment relationship’ means in the current period, and in turn what kind of research our field should be pursuing. An analysis of the financial model of the firm points to why many employers don’t want or need a relationship with employees in order to make money. This in turn suggests that a policy focus on the labour market alone is insufficient to achieve the kind of lasting reform needed to build a sustainable economy. Instead, labour market reform needs to be coupled with financial reform and industrial policy.
