Is the Future of Work Project-Based or Role-Based?

Polywork is on the rise—at least among Silicon Valley VC's, who pumped $28M in Series B funding into the self-styled "Collaboration Network" in September. Money talks, and the hype machine has been humming. Can role-based work models survive? Is the future of work project-based?

What Employee Demand Tells Us

These are not rhetorical questions. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a lasting shift in business practices, and these have been felt across the workforce. From the widespread embracing of remote work models to hybrid office concepts, work has changed, and so have workplace demands have changed along with it.

My company Lensa analyzed search volume trends in 2022 for 50 of the most common employee benefits and found interest in the following 3 to have grown most in the last year:

1?? Menopause leave (1,300% increase)

2?? Hybrid working (820% increase)

3?? 4-day work week (809% increase)

Combine these in-demand benefits with the 3 most-searched terms of the 50 we analyzed, and an interesting picture emerges:

1?? Remote work 1,495,000 searches)

2?? Smart office (505,800 searches)

3?? 4-day work week (500,900 searches)

Leaving aside the fact that '4-day work week' made both lists, it's also clear that terms like 'polyworking', 'project work', or 'project-based' did NOT make the list. Obviously, this is not a representative sample and you could question whether this methodology is the most relevant. As for me? I'm more interested in figuring out if the above concepts are compatible with a project-based approach to work. For the most part, it seems they are.

Where Trends and Reality Diverge

It's one thing to talk trends, though, and another to look at how workplaces actually function. I have no doubt that more people are combining multiple projects instead of working for a single employer. Digital nomads have made freelancing and contract work 'cool'—and for those who choose this lifestyle, this is a positive development! For more traditional career types who have been pushed into gig work or part-time contract roles that don't come with full benefits, it may feel more like a sham.

It seems to me that project-based and role-based approaches can co-exist. Some people work best when they can focus on one long-term role at a company that offers career advancement opportunities and a stable income. A subset prefer to juggle a range of changing projects and employers.

Project-Based & Company-Sponsored

Anyway, what's stopping employers from offering some employees a project-based experience? Can you imagine a full-time role where you can follow your interest across teams, responsibilities, and company objectives while wearing multiple hats? I can—in fact, it's exactly how most start-ups operate.

Clearly, the future of work will be decided by workers themselves. Some will polywork—and that's okay. But when we try to map workplace trends through a lens of VC funding, we need to keep in mind that what Silicon Valley and the rest of America (and the world) wants are often very different.

Links I Love

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That's it for this edition. Until the next Inside Jobs, keep up the 'good work'. ??