You have to be deeply involved in multiple forms of denial not to recognize that the world is changing. And while not all of the changes are positive, the one that makes more sense than most is the ability to create in a distributed fashion. a large-scale remote workforce that is more flexible, diverse, and resilient than ever before.
This'it's time to seize the moment
For two years, technology has supported a new era of flexibility. Many employers now recognize that working remotely can be just as, and sometimes more, productive than the in-person experience, while employees have appreciated the flexibility to work when it's most productive for them, reducing the risk of 'burnout' .
Among other things, the dark cloud benefit of the pandemic has been seen in better family relationships, much easier travel, and the ability to hire a more diverse workforce as marginalized groups gain representation. Introverts have found it easier to make valuable asynchronous contributions to their business, while talkative ones spend endless hours in Zoom team meetings. The data, experience and results speak for themselves. It is possible to do good work remotely.
For whatever reason, however, Apple has chosen to become one of the companies to place its throne in the sand at the edge of this rising sea of change in an attempt to ride the waves, arguing (among other things) that its internal collaboration culture is important to how you approach product design.
water cooler overloaded
I can almost buy that argument. Except I don't.
Is everyone at Apple involved in product design? Of course not; most of Apple's staff hold business positions like any other giant corporation. They are part of sales teams, customer service, analyst roles, regional managers, accountants, and all the other jobs that make up any business. Only a relatively small number of these people are involved in product design. To say that all of Apple is the technological equivalent of Willy Wonka's chocolate factory is to ignore the fact that for every Oompah Woompah with product development talent, there are probably a few hundred people in support roles who can be easily managed from scratch. remotely.
The argument that dissatisfied employees can simply find another job is also profoundly obtuse and somewhat unrealistic. Sure, the people at Apple are smart. But surely it is time for the company to listen to its workers, instead of seeking to oppose them. This is an opportunity to reinvent the future of work. And without a doubt, creating effective digital substitutes for informal collaboration is a product design challenge worth solving.
A recent Future Forum survey found that employee experience scores have declined overall as workers are forced to return to the office, while a Topia study tells us that 94% of employees believe that they should be able to work from anywhere as long as they do their job
That's the point, isn't it? Using technology to increase human potential, as a "bicycle for the mind" instead of ignoring technology to enslave the body.
I know of at least one large multinational telecommunications services company that used digital processes to enable 90 employees to work together effectively during the pandemic. It worked closely with staff to ensure the tools provided were what employees needed, and as a global provider of systems integration services, its employees, in turn, enabled companies with tens of thousands of employees to remain productive.
Can be done.
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky thinks so. He believes the age of the traditional office is over, urging the creation of local collaboration spaces where small groups can meet when they need to: office as a service, with a focus on employee experience design.
The inevitability of progressivity
The fact is that changing practices in the workplace are very much in line with the broader digital shift that is transforming all businesses. Automation is part of it, but by no means all of it. Industry 5.0 will have to do with digital processes that increase human capabilities. It means humans and machines working together to achieve more; the automation and digitization of these "cooler moments" will inevitably be part of this change. And are the freshest moments really that precious? Did Jony Ive, the man with the €530 Hermès tape measure, really come up with ideas for a new Mac while he was waiting in line outside this fridge with Sally from accounts?
I don `t believe.
Even my favorite iMac design, the iMac G4, was envisioned when then-CEO Steve Jobs and Ive were working remotely, in this case strolling through Laurene Powell Job's flower garden.
Numerous studies show that simply going for a walk with others is one of the best ways to stimulate creative thinking, problem solving, and collaboration. (The recognition that cooler moments are overrated is probably why Apple built a park in the middle of its headquarters.)
I just hope he lets his workers roam around, instead of forcing them to stand near water coolers desperately trying to come up with a good idea.
Throughout the pandemic, I have come across reports refuting arguments from overbearing managers that people working from home are somehow "lazy."
Has no sense
Employees worked hard to keep businesses running, people put in longer hours, were incredibly motivated, and the only widely reported issues were that not everyone had a comfortable place to work, lacked bandwidth, and many managers didn't respect work. what was being done. .
Some began to show a great lack of respect for people's work-life balance. Working from home shouldn't mean getting a 7pm call from management or having to have a camera with you at all times. The work must have clearly defined objectives, goals, achievements and recognitions. Presence, darling, is the story.
But for many workers, including those at Apple, the reward for heroically holding companies together during a global disaster is being told they're lazy and need to get back to the office.
What kind of reward is this?
What kind of motivation do you think this edict will provide? When the background seems to be that employees must comply or "find another job," no company should be terribly surprised to see loyalty dwindle, respect for authority atrophy, and productivity plummet.
Why do you work better for a company that sees you as easily replaceable?
At Apple, about 76% of employees are dissatisfied with the company's remote work plans. No wonder they want to unionize.
And those arguments go beyond technology and its ability to enhance what we can do. They go beyond the need to design employee experiences where people want to spend eight hours a day. They connect directly with a focus to help solve some of the big problems we face.
think diversity
Apple knows how difficult it is to recruit from underrepresented groups. Every HR report on this topic that I've read (and I've read a lot of these) tells me that the perception of technology as a form of boys' club is part of what keeps people from joining the industry. .
Le travail à distance stimulates diversity in aidant à briser ce cycle de masculinité toxique et permet aux aux moins moins well représentés qui ne peuvent pas nécessairement travailler dans une culture de 9 a 5 (comme les nouveaux parents ou les personnes handicapées) de rejoindre le marché from work. In other words, remote work should be seen as a tool for companies to offer more diversity in recruiting. It is about creating flexibility and breaking the power of negative perception by weakening the negative work culture and replacing it with more inclusive models. I know Apple recognizes accessibility challenges, so why this blind spot about the future of work?
Collaboration, imagination, technology-driven innovation, and thinking differently about each of these should be easy oceans for Apple, especially if it remains dedicated to its mission of helping crazy people change the world.
While FaceTime's dismal failure to define video collaboration perhaps reflects a lack of vision within the company, a company that could now help build a new future of work that encompasses both square pegs and round holes. Maybe someone else will come up with solutions for boobies in the future?
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