This chapter analyses the changes during the past 20 years in the world of work in Russia. The Russian labour markets have changed rapidly, and the most important new element has been the growth of private services.

Job autonomy has declined in general and, for example, the core middle class has less influence on their own work than before. The decline in job autonomy is systematic and in some aspects even dramatic. The power resources of the core middle class have increased, but their power is still quite limited. There has been a systemic change in the relations between the employers and the employees, who are becoming even further disenfranchised. Organizational power is firmly in the hands of the few in the Russian work organizations.

The contemporary Russian managerial and leadership structure and processes have their roots in the Soviet era. Authoritarian paternalism has been a natural strategy to which both business management and employees could resort in the climate of uncertainty. The Russian working class has historically had strong structural power resources but the opportunities to transform this into institutional power has remained limited, as indicated by the weakness of trade unions.

Russian work life does not differ significantly from the ‘normal’ European way of organizing wage labour. There are some differences between Russia and Western Europe, but despite these differences, there are still more similarities. Contemporary Russian society is somewhere between tradition and modernity. Scientific and technical modernization is widely used; however, at the same time, society strongly supports and relies on traditions.