by
Adam Havakook
Design Management and Innovation track
Mentor —
Dr. Elad Persov
Alongside the worldwide improvement in living standards, recent decades have seen a deterioration in employment conditions and employee rights. New forms of employment emerged: individual contracts, platform economy such as Wolt, and freelancer employment. At the same time, a growing class of workers is coping with unfair employment practices, lack of representation, reflected in Israel by the decrease of trade unions that have shrunk from 70% to 25% of the workforce, hostile work environments, and wages insufficient for dignified living.
Moreover, accelerated technological progress intensifies the disruption in the markets and increases the likelihood of being pushed out of the labor market every few years, affects the trust between employees and employers, and intensifies the demand for constant employee availability. The result is the emergence of the precariat class, which experiences employment instability as a constant situation, and in which injurious employment practices are accepted as normative.
The research and development of this project included systemic and design thinking methodologies. They deconstructed the employment domain and examined the various configurations of the emerging problems. The project creates personal-systemic solutions for problems and needs arising from the field and offers practical opportunities helping both employees and employers to cope with the challenges of the disrupted labor market.
Adam is a digital optimist, entrepreneur and consultant who helps companies and organizations build digital presence and marketing strategies. In the past, he worked as a user experience strategist designing government services, products, and initiatives. He holds a B.Des in Visual Communication from Bezalel. As a lifelong learner (LLL), Adam sees life as a continuous learning process. He is driven by constant curiosity and a thirst for knowledge in his quest to understand the world and create processes, services, and solutions that benefit and empower individuals, businesses, populations, and social groups.