Is it time to reimagine our working lives?

Hello and welcome to Working It.

I wrote an article in the FT this week about the rising number of CEOs making short videos. (Yes, you read about the trend here first.) The story was, of course, very popular on LinkedIn. FT commenters were less excited 😕; and some worried about deepfakes. On that point, one of the quotes I left out of the feature (a mistake, in retrospect) suggested that deepfakes are potentially less of an issue when viewers are used to the look and, crucially, intonation of the CEO, so they know the real deal when they see it. Then I noticed the scarily good fake videos of Ethan Mollick, a Wharton professor and leading artificial intelligence expert. So the situation is . . . unclear.

Read on for some deep thinking on how to reimagine working life, and in Office Therapy I advise a miserable manager 😒.

As always, do send your non-fake takes on the workplace: [email protected].

A pause a day helps you work, rest and play 🍫

What happens if you step back from the relentless treadmill, and ask a deeper question: can we reimagine our working lives 🤔? Hilary Cottam did just that. The social activist, innovator and author has seen from history that times of “revolution”, including the tech one we are entering now, offer opportunities to shake up how we work and live, and to make profound societal changes.

Hilary convened diverse groups of local people at meetings she calls “Imaginings”, as she travelled from post-industrial Kilmarnock to tech-focused San Francisco. She was there to ask questions, listen and learn from residents’ ideas of what constitutes good work and a fulfilling life.

In her new book, The Work We Need: A 21st Century Reimagining, Hilary acknowledges that we may be paid well, but the “scratchy sense of discomfort that fuels the billion-dollar industry of books on ‘work-life balance’, work-coaching and work-based ‘wellness’ programmes reveals the truth for most of us. We are disenchanted with work, and we are seeking change.” 😓

Hilary’s project led her to name six principles of “a good working life, which [she] summarise as: basics, meaning, time, care, play and place”. I loved the simplicity of this prescription, and highly recommend her book — it’s practical and full of humane wisdom. I talked to Hilary about how these principles might be applied in business environments.

“I think there are two big things for corporate leaders,” Hilary said. “One is that workers need to think they have meaning in their work, which means they genuinely need to understand how what they do fulfils a bigger purpose.” In particular, leaders “can’t preach values on the one hand and not really take care of people on the other”.

The second big point is around caring. “I would say that everybody who employs people should think that every worker is also a carer 👵🏼. And if you start from that perspective, you win enormous loyalty, and you can make quite small alterations . . . to accommodate caring.” Useful actions include offering predictable work schedules and firm time boundaries.

I was also interested in how “play” as a principle of good work might fit into a corporate environment. Have we got time to play as the AI revolution sweeps over us 🌊?

Very much so, Hilary said: “Historically, play comes around as a subject when we are in technological revolutions, when people are really afraid of what the next generation of machines are going to do.” Hilary found that people she talked to would “counterpoint scrolling on phones, for example, against the quality of [real] life that is play”. Employers don’t need to provide the means for play (no need for “compulsory fun” 🙀). Rather, it’s important that leaders “make sure that staff have enough energy left for play” outside work. Play is not the same as rest (although that’s also important). But we all need to play if we are to flourish 🤾🏾‍♂️.

In a nutshell: Providing good work is more than just pay and conditions — it’s about creating firm foundations for our wellbeing as humans.

Want more? Hilary’s 2015 TED talk, “Social services are broken. How we can fix them”, has had 1mn views.

Office Therapy

The problem: I moved internally to manage a team where there are major inefficiencies. We are getting ready to roll out upgraded processes and more automation, but the sulky looks in the office and under-the-radar messaging (they are clearly having a parallel conversation on their phones when we have video calls) is getting me down. There are four main resisting people, plus some other neutral people. Should I say something or plough on? They will soon need to change how they work — and I am dreading it.

Isabel’s advice: There’s little worse for managers than knowing that the staff are talking (and probably sharing memes) about you. You can indeed say nothing and “plough on”. They will have to accept your changes, and, honestly, who can remember office politics even six months after the crisis passes? You can ride this out 🏇🏻. Lean on friends and family, and if you have a mentor, coach or therapist, even better.

Or, you can take a deep breath and allow the staff to vent. You can frame this as “active listening”, because it sounds better and everyone does it. Plus, it’s not a lie as you will of course be listening👂, and your antagonists may offer up good ideas amid the venting.

What we all hate about change is not the change itself, but the lack of agency when it is imposed upon us. Anything you can do to restore the team’s feeling of control will be very welcome. (They won’t thank you, though; don’t get your hopes up 💐.)

PS If you go down the venting route, do not allow ✋🏽 the group of four to do this together. Ask them for one-to-ones. If you can stretch to a coffee/lunch for each disgruntled person, even better. (You will have to do the same for the neutrals, though. Fair’s fair ⚖️.)

Got a problem or dilemma for Office Therapy? We anonymise everything: [email protected].

US workplace insights from Charter: Does AI give a bigger boost to skilled workers?

Is AI a bigger help to workers who are very skilled at their jobs? An influential MIT study of material scientists who were using AI tools provided striking evidence that was the case, finding that top scientists made more discoveries, while the least-skilled saw little improvement. This week, Kevin Delaney, editor-in-chief of Charter, the future-of-work media and research company, alerted me to an announcement from MIT saying it no longer had confidence in the landmark AI research, and its author was no longer at the university 😮.

With that paper withdrawn, what can we say about the role of experience and skill? Kevin notes that “a number of studies indicate that AI tools help low-performing workers more, narrowing the productivity gap between the best- and least-skilled workers, in settings such as customer support call centres.”

Other studies, involving college debaters and Kenyan entrepreneurs, conversely point to greater gains from using AI tools to the most skilled. The conclusions diverge probably because of the nature of the tasks being studied, Kevin suggests.

Five top stories from the world of work

1. Professionals are losing control of their work: Sarah O’ Connor looks at the long-term drop in the amount of “task discretion” workers have, meaning the control over what we do in our day-to-day jobs. Professionals are reporting it, too — is tech to blame?

2. Would you work 32 hours, Monday to Sunday? The idea of spreading our working hours across a whole week has been around for a long time, but some firms are doing four-day workweeks over seven days — Pilita Clark talks to some of them.

3. McKinsey sheds 10% of staff in two-year profitability drive: The consultancy has lost more than 10 per cent of staff in the past 18 months — including via an “unusually tough” mid-year performance review, report Stephen Foley and Ellesheva Kissin.

4. Wall Street vs private equity: can anyone stop the grad recruitment creep? In a tough employment market for everyone else, private equity firms are going after elite graduates who have investment banking jobs. A wild story from Ortenca Aliaj and Sujeet Indap.

5. Prisons minister James Timpson: ‘This is not a quick fix’ Emma Jacobs does Lunch with the FT inside a prison with the businessman known for employing ex-prisoners in his family’s chain of repair shops and dry cleaners. He is now installed in the government to oversee prison reform.

One more thing . . . 

Many of you will know Rachel Botsman as an expert on trust and the author of the wide-ranging Rethink newsletter. Next month, Rachel’s interpretation of the world’s first “org chart” (New York and Erie Railroad Company, 1855) is being transformed into an installation called “Roots of Trust” at the London Design Biennale (June 5-29). Intrigued? I am definitely going. Rachel wrote about the project for the FT.

A word from the Working It community 🌏

Last week’s newsletter mentioned workplace terms from China, and I asked for examples from other cultures. We will return to this (please keep sending them in). I especially like these two:

Uwe Wissenbach writes: “In German, when people are so frustrated with their career prospects or work environment that they see no progress, they resign or quit internally. ‘Innere Kündigung’ basically means that you hand your resignation letter just to yourself, continue going to the office, but have no motivation to give it your best or even your interest. The equivalent, I suppose, of quiet quitting.”

Here’s an FT colleague, Elodie O’Rourke: “In France, ‘la pause déjeuner’, aka lunch culture, is sacred. Lunch breaks are often longer than in some other countries, reflecting the importance of meals and social interaction in French culture.”

And finally . . . this week’s office view 📷

Thank you to Rod Hutchison at KPMG in Edinburgh, who writes that he is “very lucky to have an up close view of the castle”. I’ll say. This is going to be hard to beat, but take Rod’s view as a challenge, Working It readers. Please send photos of castles, cathedrals, the local Tesco or your blooming backyard to [email protected].

Everyone whose workplace (or “work from anywhere 🏖️”) view is published will receive a “lucky dip” of new management and career books 📚.