Immaterial labor refers to work that is not visible. This kind of labor is usually based on computing because most tasks are performed using computers. Organizations are adopting this new trend to save money that would have been used to cater for employees’ benefits.
It is also very cheap and efficient due to stiff competition in the job market. Federici argues that the youth and women are greatly affected by this form of labor. For instance women are not entitled to maternity leave thus they have to work without ceasing regardless of the circumstances (15).
Workers in this field use more of their mind in handling information and they have to be very dynamic to increase their chances of securing a job. The employees here work as an independent entity with their own private space. In fact this labor resembles self employment in its performance. The freelancer has all the freedom to himself because he does not have to work full time. On the other hand he is not entitled to other compliments enjoyed by full time laborers.
This because an employee works from home using his/her computer without someone to monitor his/her activities as long as the duties assigned to that employee are performed properly and within the specified time line. The advantage of this kind of labor to the employee is that although the wages or salaries are not that much the employee can save a lot of money since the job does not entail commuting.
Performance in immaterial labor can only be hindered by failure of the various networks that are directly linked to create World Wide Web. During early days the capitalists used to misuse the skills of professionals by absorbing them into manufacturing factories. The employee’s voice could not be given a chance.
Later on the increased demand of labor hiring was not influenced by level of education because production relied on equipments that were scheduled to perform a given task more than once. Later on people who were learned realized they could liberate themselves by venturing into the world of freelancing.
This meant that employees could no longer be confined within an office of a certain organization but they were transformed into social workers because their work entailed collecting details from consumers and describing commodities. The professionals then use computers to present their workloads.
The freelancer is then expected to employ scholastic cleverness, physical proficiency and private enterprise expertise because freelancing is like a sole business that requires self discipline to accomplish the set tasks on time. Social media such as Facebook has enabled companies to drive conversations through advertisements and messaging systems, hence freelance marketers (Grove, 1).
Haelt and Megri insist that the freelancer is left to perform all the duties that would otherwise been done by other people all by himself (25). He has to establish healthy relationships with clients in order to survive in the job market. This can be done by making follow up calls to find out if his clients are satisfied with his services thus he is a manager to himself.
It is somehow difficult to balance work and family life because work can be done from anywhere due to technological advancements. Companies such as Yahoo have been able to offer assistance for businesses in regards to marketing (Groove, 1). As immaterial labor, people no longer rely on physical work activities, but internet marketing.
The freelancer does not seek motivation from anyone because he is motivated by the results he achieves in his work. Mistakes are appreciated by the freelancer when they occur because they create a learning opportunity. This is because experience is the best teacher of all norms hence the freelancer will find a way of preventing the recurrence of that mistake. In a capitalistic environment workers are subjected to frequent training seminars and workshops to help them improve their performance.
Works Cited
Grove, Jennifer. More Than 250 Million People Use Facebook on Daily Basis. 16 Nov. 2010. Web.
Grove, Jennifer. Yahoo Serves 6 Million Different Home Pages Per Day. 16 Nov. 2010. Web.
Haelt, Michael and Antonio Negri. Empire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000. Print.
Federici, Silvia. Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body, and Primitive Accumulation: Brooklyn, New York: Autonomedia, 2004. Print.