Work: it doesn’t have to be this way

The media is increasingly exploring the ways in which work is being readapted to the technological and social environment in more and more companies, increasingly pointing toward consolidated and sensible trends.

How many of the jobs at your company could be redefined so as to fit in with the workforce’s preferences? Obviously, not all of them. From the need to attend to customers to issues related to the use of specialized machinery, along with a range of other circumstances it’s clear that some posts are more rigidly defined than others. But this doesn’t necessarily apply in all cases: many jobs are defined in terms of activities that to varying degrees could be adapted to criteria that take into account the needs and circumstances of those who perform them.

In addition to the usual reengineering that results from making more and more tasks independent from a particular place and enabling remote work thanks to the profusion of technologies that allow it — or even, in many cases, recommend it — there are other possibilities such as the four-day week, which is increasingly being demanded as a way for people to benefit from the use of robots. Why, despite having incorporated technology that has significantly increased productivity, do so many companies continue to see work as something that must take place in a specific place for a set number of hours? How many of the tasks that you carry out at work could be done from home under more pleasant conditions and without the need to make it look like you’re working?

At the same time, there are other ways to rethink things based on adapting the working day to our biological clock: a growing number of companies now allow people to work the hours they consider necessary to get the job done, rather than within a set period of time. Basically, if you need an alarm to get you out of bed, then it’s quite likely that your work schedule is out of sync with your body rhythms, and as anyone who struggles to keep their eyes open at work in the morning knows, you’re going to be less productive as a result. Does everybody really have to turn up at the office at the same time? How much traveling time could be saved getting to and from work if we dropped these practices, which are rooted in circumstances from more than a century ago? How many aspects of how and when and where we work can you rethink? Why do schools have to start so early, for example?

That said, some companies are beginning to radically redefine our working principles. Basecamp allows its employees to work from wherever they want and according to a timetable they set themselves. Netflix offers its workforce total flexibility in terms of vacation time, how much and when people take time off, and is doing just fine as a result, thank you very much. Virgin, inspired by Netflix, applies the same policy. The current challenge for many companies is to find ways to turn work into something that makes sense, that goes beyond being simply a means to pay the bills.

When will we start using the possibilities that technology offers to redefine jobs, grant people greater freedom and enable greater motivation and alignment with the needs of the company?

(En espa?ol, aquí)