This research aims to present a synopsis of four eminent theoretical concepts that scholars have expended to help understand how digitalisation has changed the workplace as we used to know it. The research is based on a conceptual approach. It aims to critically synthesise the relevant literature as the principal methodology for analysing work in the selected four research domains where the perspective on digital work is most controversial. The study shows two central chronicles that have emerged due to workplace digitalisation - utopian and dystopian perspectives. The research sheds light on controversial discourses regarding changing nature of work in the digital era, particularly concerning work polarisation, non-standard employment, unemployment and platform work. The study also provides guidelines for change that help minimise the dark side and harm to the worker of digitalisation by developing appropriate capabilities for the new digital environment. (c) 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L.U. on behalf of Journal of Innovation & Knowledge. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)