The world has changed rapidly in the past 2 decades, subsequently so has the world of work, where employees cannot depend on having the same job or the same working conditions for life.
One of the reasons why we have observed such frequent changes is portability of work, and availability of employees. Back in the 90s, most work was done on desktops, laptops were introduced, but not as advent. Today, the first day of work entails getting your profile set by IT; workers and their laptops become indistinguishable. The portability of our work enabled us to work from anywhere. Consequently, the concept of employee work hours transformed from a 9-5 structure to an urgency-basis approach. Despite the fact that most contracts encourage adhering to the 40-hour work week, the reality is contrasting. Later, with the turmoil of COVID, work from home was declared a norm. Companies realised working from home was cost-efficient and time-efficient, destabilizing the concept of an office. Consequently, work is not part of our lives, rather our lives need to be worked around our office-hours. Additionally, the arrival of AI, led to further destabilisation, passing off redundant work and creative work to AI, leading to mass-layoffs.
The only way to combat the ever-evolving scene of work and its culture, is to be ahead of it. Primarily, we need to start segregating our lives, putting up boundaries to establish an intentional work-life balance. Separation of self and work is essential in the current scenario where the world is on the brink of burn out. Secondly, Human Resource departments globally need to ensure that no one works more than the required hours. Work-life balance needs to be mandated, else we would be at risk of perpetual burn-out in workers and a global brain-drain. Finally, employees need to upskill, not just what they’re good at, but utilise AI to enhance it. Considering the push from industries to go pro-AI, employees need to be proficient at AI to boost their work, or they will be supplanted by it.
At the end, employees as a collective need to realise that companies aren’t driven by being employee-sentiment centric, but rather by gross profit. We need to find a way to evolve with the world if not ahead.