Employee flexibility in operations in the era of digitalisation: Implications for social sustainability

Paper in proceeding, 2017

The paper provides a perspective on why employee flexibility is critical to manufacturing in the changing industrial landscape, how this links to efforts of digitalisation and automation in operations, and what opportunities and constraints this may have for achieving social sustainability. First, employee flexibility should be regarded at both horisontal and vertical dimensions. Second, responding to digitalisation of manufacturing requires both horisontal and vertical type of employee flexibility. Third, digitalization should relate more firmly employee flexibility, and too even greater extent to social sustainability. Employee flexibility can bridge the gap between digitalisation and social responsibility.