WORK HOURS, TECHNOLOGY, AND FLEXIBILIZATION: FROM TIME CONTROL TO PERMANENT AVAILABILITY
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17058/rdunisc.vi78.21188Abstract
This article analyzes the transition from the “body-space” work metric — focused on the physical presence of the worker in a productive space during continuous periods — to the “connectivity-goals” metric, characterized by permanent availability and goal achievement. The study assumes the hypothesis that this shift allows high technological productivity to coexist with intensified labor exploitation, approaching pre-Fordist patterns. A qualitative, theoretical-analytical approach was adopted, based on bibliographic and documentary research in Labor Law, sociology of work, and political economy of labor. The analysis shows that the logic of permanent connectivity shifts the control of working hours to diffuse forms of availability management, reconfiguring the legal protection of labor time and expanding unpaid microtimes of work, as exemplified by intermittent contracts and “zero-hour” arrangements. It is concluded that, without normative and cultural updates, technological modernization tends to coexist with the silent intensification of labor exploitation.
