*By Patrícia Araújo de Oliveira
With advances in technology, the world of work has already undergone significant changes and is likely to continue to change rapidly in the coming years. These changes can be seen from two perspectives: the first is from the perspective of those who use technology as a means and the second is from those who use technology as an end.
The technology used as a means can provide facilities for workers, such as the automation of processes/tasks, tools to assist in remote work (even the very possibility of working remotely), and solutions for freelance workers or independent contractors, which have become alternatives in the lack of traditional jobs, constituting new work relationships, which can bring facilities such as flexibility in relation to working hours.
However, the same technology that brings facilities also brings issues that may be a cause for concern and open the way for important discussions. There are those who say that with automation, many jobs will be (or are already being) replaced by technological solutions, especially those jobs that are repetitive and predictable; that the remote work (placed as a trend in the Covid-19 pandemic) can affect productivity and socialization; and that solutions that change work relationships can lead to financial insecurity and lack of social protection.
On the other hand, there are those who say that the increasing use of technology in everyday life, automating tasks, brings new job opportunities in the area of Information Technology (IT); that remote work makes the location of employees less important, enabling greater diversity and inclusion in the workplace, opening up the possibility of hiring talent from different parts of the world, creating opportunities even for those who live in more remote or difficult areas displacement; and, finally, the new work relationships can bring many benefits such as freedom and autonomy, as long as basic rights are preserved.
Problems related to the use of technology as a way of innovating ways of providing services and working relationships make us reflect on the limits of those who use technology as an end. Responsibilities in the innovation process of proposals for new technological solutions open the discussion about who is producing technology and proposing innovations in the software development market. It is known that the IT area is (still) made up of mostly male labor. Several initiatives have emerged with the aim of changing this scenario, with the inclusion of women, black men and women, people from different classes and regions of the country.
In 2019, the Brasscom (Association of Information and Communication Technology and Digital Technologies Companies) presented a study that warns about the shortage of labor in the IT sector, and one of the solutions pointed out was precisely the investment in diversity in the area. This diversity would not only be beneficial to overcome the gap in vacant positions in the market, but also to create innovative solutions that represent and respect everyone. For this, diverse development teams in relation to socioeconomic and regional origin, with representation of different genders, ethnicities, races and disabilities are essential, so that solutions are built by people with different experiences, characteristics and origins.
Only with effective policies will it be possible to make this insertion full and effective. Changing such a deep-rooted scenario does not happen overnight. Barriers start at the base, creep into training courses and reach the day-to-day work of these minority groups within organizations. Cultural and posture changes in the face of diversity are necessary so that we can have an area as important as IT, which produces solutions for everyone and everyone, is also the area of effective action for everyone, without exception.
*Patrícia Araújo de Oliveira holds a PhD in Computer Science, Researcher at the ABES Think Tank and Professor at the Federal University of Amapá
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