Who are the " slashers " ?

Slashers are a modern tribe of workers who work two or three jobs (or even more), navigate in varied and sometimes radically different environments, dare to take the wrong path, practice wide gaps and juggle with cultural codes as much as with professional identities... In the age of agility, are these adaptation pros who seize every opportunity pioneers of the work of the future ? Zoom in on the " slashing " trend that is shaking up the lines of the professional world as well as those of our relationship with work.

I slash, you slash, he/she slasshe ...

The word " slasher " refers to the slash " / " to refer to people who combine several functions and several professional identities, like Marci Alboher, the author/journalist/speaker who popularized the term in her book " One person / Multiple careers " (2007).

However, the phenomenon of pluriactivity is not new, far from it. Indeed, it was already a feature of medieval societies, recalls Thomas Pfirsch, a lecturer at the University of Valenciennes. At a time when the seasonality of a mainly agrarian economy and the general precariousness of working populations forced low-skilled workers to multiply their activities to secure their livelihoods, while urban elites ensured their enrichment and social stability by employing multiple skills. The break came towards the end of the eighteenth century when, at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, Adam Smith introduced the concept of the division of labor, later inspiring Ford and Taylor.

By fragmenting tasks, this division of labour specialises individuals and gradually structures the conception of work, until it is transposed into social organisation. Social status then becomes largely conditioned by the professional function, indicative of a whole range of identity markers: the level of education, the income bracket, the registration in a social " class " and all the cultural habitus that are supposed to go with it.

Slashing as a challenge to the division of labour

Slashing calls into question this system of association between professional function and social status as much as it challenges the pyramidal organization. The emergence of slashers is in fact at the crossroads of several contemporary societal trends:

• The evolution of the world of work. Since the 1970s, " special forms of employment " (or FPE) have multiplied, responding to the advanced need to make the labour market more flexible in order to face economic challenges. According to Bruno Ducoudré, an economist in the Analysis and Forecasting Department of the OFCE, pluriactivity " would make it possible to get out of economic dependence and multiply the possible employment trajectories, while the single-asset-single-employer model would carry, in the long term, the risk of obsolescence, and therefore of the disappearance of employment and the difficulties associated with professional retraining".

• The development of new information and communication technologies promotes the emancipation of so-called ATAWAD (any time, anywhere, any device) individuals. Benefiting from a constant connection, these mobile workers manage to bypass traditional employment circuits by equipping themselves with autonomous digital visibility. At the same time, the possibilities offered by the internet now allow a form of self-learning to develop useful skills as the needs of the job market arise.

• The quest for meaning of individuals wishing to project themselves into a life project is made up of multiple interests, more than in a career project. And this is well understood by organizations, which see a strong reason for commitment in the possibility left to employees to create a tailor-made career path.

The variable geometry of the slash

Just as in the pre-industrial era, the population of multi-hatted workers nevertheless reveals a contrasting reality.

On the one hand , there are the forced slashers, who accumulate part-time work to try to make ends meet. These precarious workers, who nevertheless meet the criteria of slashing, are generally not the ones that the enthusiastic literature on the phenomenon puts forward the most...

The spotlight is rather on volunteer slashers, with a more " urban/cool/graduated " profile. Among them are :

• The "weasure" slashers (a contraction of work and leisure) who have a main remunerative activity and another, stamped " pleasure ". Didier, an engineer during the week, can thus realize his dream of being a designer or leather craftsman at the weekend.

• The so-called " cautious " slashers, who prepare themselves before embarking on the entrepreneurial adventure.

• To this can be added the " opportunity " slashers, who seize on rising subjects in the company that employs them who have not yet found their operating model and/or their organizational model. Between overtime hours dedicated to a mission they are passionate about and requests to adjust their working hours to free up the time necessary to experiment with a project, they are betting on the pioneers to accelerate their professional development.

Does slashing have an age and gender ?

Digital natives, known for having an easy time zapette, seem to have their heads made for multi-employment. Moreover, according to the SME study, 22% of young workers under 30 have at least two activities, which is more than the average of 16% of active slashes. Ultra-connected thirty-somethings are also sensitive to this, as are seniors who want to ensure better days for their retirement. Slashing meets some of their needs, such as that of benefiting from a substantial income or prolonging a social life.

Is slashing particularly suitable for women ? Over-represented among part-time workers, they are also said to be predisposed to multitasking. Assigned to a " double day ", aren't women/mothers/employees slashers before their time ? Far from essentialist considerations , women are well and truly educated to develop multi-activity... But they don't necessarily benefit from it... And accumulate mental load when slasher requires, by definition, to have several irons in the fire and as many to-do-lists to manage.

Is not a slasher who wants to switch  

Indeed, slasher requires subtle gymnastics, not necessarily easy ! The perfect solution for slasher slashers : organization ! Would this core competency really be enough? Solo slasher when the rest of the world is focused on a smaller set of missions and functions could also be worth a ticket to burnout. Because when those who don't slash often have the same level of demands on the slasher as on anyone else, starting with a certain availability that the slasher can't guarantee all the time... unless you are endowed with the gift of ubiquity !

To slash in good conditions, you must therefore have a structured (prioritize...), concentrated (being fully present at the time T, then just as present at the time T+1) and assertive (knowing how to say " no "...). It also requires a knowledgeable environment that understands what to gain by interacting with an agile professional, without asking them to be part of the traditional codes and rhythms of collaboration at the same time.

The recognition of multi-potentialism in a siloed world

The first step of questioning the principle of a plurality of possible life experiences and futures seems to have been taken. The slashers have heard Michel Serres ' call: " You never stop sewing and weaving your own Harlequin coat, as naked or colorful as the map of your genes. So don't defend, tooth and nail, one of your belongings, on the contrary, multiply them...  ".

The multipotentiality of the slasher is undoubtedly a smart skill of the future. But how can it be identified and rewarded in companies ?  The development of intrapreneurship programs is one way. But more generally, it is the whole value of the skills acquired or in the process of being acquired outside the strict mission sheet of employees that is being asked today. Tomorrow's performance is certainly in terms of the ability to reinvent oneself as quickly and as often as environments change. All that remains is to give as many people as possible the means to develop this ability and to experiment with it in a safe context.