The digital revolution of the beginning of the 21st Century has triggered one main train: the atomization of work. 💼
It spreads workers who are seduced by the idea of flexibility at work, a kind of “à la carte” and commitment-free employment. Autonomy, independence, and the explosion of remote workers are key trends. And this is what workers actually want. But isn’t this coming alongside a threat to the social link 🔗 between co-workers? What about the feeling of a sense of belonging and the survival of a common and united world? Needless to say, that “the” workplace (or the different kinds of workplaces available today) bring collective achievement, mutual recognition and social integration.
The digital revolution keeps changing workplaces, work methods and worker needs. Traditional offices are challenged while an increasing number of employees are questioning 🧐 the meaning and purpose of their profession. The economic crisis caused by the pandemic calls into question companies’ habits.
It has contributed to the emergence of new daily words: 🗣 remote, hybrid, flex office, phygital, atawad… Whether it is the fusion of the words “physical” and “digital” (namely phygital), or a sort of acronym that is used to talk about the opportunity to work 🕞 “any time”, from 🌎 “anywhere” and with 💾 “any device” (namely atawad), it looks like we are back in a state of uprooting. And this could hang over all of us the threat of isolation, loneliness, and social disconnection.
In the digital revolution area, written conversations are replacing oral ones. At work, videoconferences are mainly used for formal meetings, partner collaborations and client sales. 🙋♂️ We all use a chat platform differently today. You will probably have a dedicated channel to talk about kitchen recipes, or sport gambles, or another random channel where pictures of cute cats are sent all day long. Or even funny jokes and memes that make Margaret from accountability laugh 🤣. We all know these kinds of conversations, the ones that we have used to mainly have at the cafeteria or in our office’s chill out zone.
While being remote, are those new ways of communicating enough for workers to feel part of a community🪐? Are these new channels of informal conversations enough to transmit the corporate culture of a company, to give a sense of purpose and reconnect with the common world? Apparently, something is missing 🤷♀️. And having mostly written conversations as a way of socializing between co-workers is not enough. Here is what Dr. Michael Craig Miller, assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School statues:
“Humans are social creatures by nature, so you should use the tools you have to see a loved one’s face, to share stories, to let them know you’re thinking of them”.
That’s a fact. Virtual activities and informal video interactions are key to improve emotional health 🧘 and well-being. But will we have to schedule an “informal” videoconference for having a quick chat? What about spontaneity and serendipity then?
The global virtual work ecosystem is persistently evolving under the effect of 3️⃣ converging phenomena:
💡 The exponential technological innovation and the artificial intelligence.