Thoughts About Work and the Future
How we think about work is fundamental to almost everything else we do. Over the past few weeks, most recruiters have spent time thinking about their employment situation and assessing its relative security, engagement, and continuity. They have also had to deal with reluctant candidates and fearful employees.
Do you have a strategy for a good life? Can you offer prospective employees a path to develop their own strategy? Have you decided what part work plays in your life and what engages you?
I have been noodling over work/life balance and remote work for quite some time. The pandemic significantly changed our relationship with work and what part it plays in our lives. I can’t think of any organization that has not had to change policies or at least address its employees regarding remote work and work/life balance.
Now with layoffs and economic uncertainty, we are more aware of the precariousness of employment and how quickly a company can swing from breakneck hiring to layoffs.
The issues involved are core to whether people accept offers, stay with an organization, or decide to work for themselves.
The pandemic allowed us to think about work and decide what lifestyle works best for us. We often make certain assumptions about work that may or may not be accurate. These may influence how a candidate thinks about work or accepting an offer.
Our assumptions & beliefs Drive Our Decisions. Here are several.
#1. Work is something we do for money and financial security, but it is often not enjoyable and interferes with family. Many now realize that there is little security and that they can be laid off anytime. Perhaps freelancing is not so bad, especially if you have marketable skills.
#2. Work can be pleasurable and provides a sense of self-worth. It motivates us to use and develop our skills. But often, working for a corporation stifles our creativity and limits our self-expression. Working for yourself allows you to use your current skills and develop new ones.
#3. Working in a corporation enables us to have social interactions and builds networks but is limited in reach to a small number of usually not very diverse people. And the people at work may not be the ones you choose to include in your network. Perhaps, you can build a broader network on your own.
These assumptions create challenges for leaders, recruiters, and candidates. The Internet, technology, the changing nature of work from physical to cognitive allowed us to experiment with a new lifestyle during the pandemic. When almost the entire world was locked down, and everyone was working remotely, all our work assumptions began to change. Many workers are finding a new lifestyle more reminiscent of past ages.
For centuries work and life were co-joined. People toiled in fields, small shops, bazaars, and at home without paychecks, labor laws, or a day off. Women and men often shared skills and work. And children were almost always part of the working and life equation.
Work might not have been fun in our modern sense, but it was a family activity, and it was the fabric of life. Most people chose to do something they were good at and provided them with food and shelter. Even learning was a family activity, and parents and siblings often co-invented things or passed their knowledge to each succeeding generation.
The modern separation of work from family life has only been normal since the industrial re,volution which led to the physical isolation of work from families.
Many of us, as well as candidates, are asking whether returning to those days might be better than working for a corporation. The answers we give will form the basis of our work/life strategy. Many will choose to return to the physical office full-time, some will opt for the hybrid work that is now common, but perhaps more will decide that their work/life strategy will be to work remotely, as a contingent or contract worker. Here are the pros and cons of both choices.
#1: If I can do whatever I am now doing now remotely, what does a physical workplace offer me that is better?
This is the most commonly asked question that firms struggle to answer. Candidates may ask you this question, and it is hard to answer in a convincing way. Perhaps the greatest advantage to working in a corporation is that it offers them a way to experience a more diverse world of people and ideas. Yes, as a freelance worker, you can develop a wide, global, and diverse network. Working in a firm constrains you to a limited network of people and saps creativity.
#2: How do I build a network or develop friendships when I work remotely?
Networks are hard and slow to build. They require informal time with fellow workers over lunches, at parties, and in social interactions at work. While it is possible to create connections and meet people on LinkedIn or other social networks, developing close connections or friends is very hard. As a freelance worker, you can develop friendships through clubs, associations, and by meeting with fellow freelancers. There is no need to rely on a somewhat artificial network created at your workplace. There are no limits to the breadth or scope of a network that you develop on your own.
#3. How do I learn my job if I cannot spend time both formally and informally with my colleagues?
Much of what we do we learned from fellow workers, often informally and privately in discussions, or by asking them to show you what to do. This is hard to do remotely, maybe impossible. It is these personal interactions that are missing from cold, formal monitors and Zoom meetings. These media are fine for formal conversations, meetings, and formal instruction. They are very poor at the informal side of life. Learning at work is usually limited to those things that make you successful at work, and may not be useful outside of your firm. Freelance workers have an entire world as their classroom.
#3: What opportunities are there for me to fulfill my life ambitions here?
Work is no longer all about the employee doing things only for the organization. It is also about what the organization is doing for the individual. Some corporations offer employees college programs in areas that have nothing to do with work. For example, some pay for things like nursing school or law school while the employee is doing some totally different type of work.
Others offer cross-functional movement and provide the training and coaching needed to make the person successful. And they make this a significant part of the employment experience, not just a perk for the privileged few.
This is the out-of-the-box stuff that will keep the best people, at least for a while, and improve the productivity and engagement of everyone.
The days of specialization, physical separation, and mental isolation are ending. I believe that work will continue to be primarily driven by freelancers entrepreneurs, small shops, and small organizations, but we will see the larger firms offer more and more integration between work and life. More spouses will work together, and more children will be part of that work.
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