Reinventing the Division of Labour? How Organisational and Micro-Level Factors Influence Work in Local Public Welfare Organisations

Abstract Many professions in the public sector, such as healthcare staff, social welfare officers and teachers are experiencing a heavier workload and an increasing number of work tasks of growing complexity. This study examines the policy tendency to introduce a stricter division of labour, by delegating lower status tasks professionals preform to assistants, as a key to reduce public sector workload. In contrast, the public sector has been subject to organisational reforms the past 20–30 years resulting in a reduced division of labour among professions. This article explores the reversibility of the division of labour within a local public sector context, and it demonstrates how different micro-level factors may promote or counteract changes in the division of labour at the workplace. A main contribution is the prospect to rethink the capacity of organisational work-related reforms in professional settings directed at processes of division of labour in local public organisations.