Tag: worklife

In another ten years’ time, who can say what we’ll find

Looking back is fun. Futurology is exciting too. Let’s mix them in a big pot of pointless predictions!

On Christmas Eve, I wrote a follow-up to my 2009 piece, ‘Looking Back 10 Years‘. So, now, if I were going to create a new list, what would I add?

Time to ring in with the new …

Video Conferencing Still Doesn’t Work

I admit it’s highly correlated with my comments on business travel, but over the last ten years, more and more of the office spaces where I have been working come pre-equipped with video conference facilities in every meeting room. And, almost universally, people find them difficult to use, difficult to hear the other side of the conversation and incompatible with the facilities the people on the other end of the call use. I’ll admit that over the last few years colleagues have become more and more comfortable with the idea of running a meeting where one or more people are on screen, but I think that’s due to how easy it is to call family on Skype, FaceTime or Facebook Messenger. The fact that most office systems are incompatible with each other means that all that expensive in-room equipment is often wasted. Currently, I work in an office equipped with Google Meet but work closely with a company that uses the BlueJeans conference service. And so, only one side can ever use the cameras in the room they are sitting in. I have worked in a company where it worked well, but they had spent a lot of money equipping the space, and it was still only useful when other people were on the same system. And don’t get me started on people trying to hook up to share a presentation.  Still, it’s better than those awful conference calls.

Music Has Vanished From The Workplace

Even in the last ten years, I have worked in places where we put music on in the background. Communal music adds atmosphere to the workplace and can create a positive mood. It’s true that you often end up with easy-listening sound (we loved Magic in one place I worked), but I find silence quite oppressive. But thanks to streaming music services, everybody now has their own music library on demand, and we all don headphones all day. That has changed the office atmosphere, and I don’t think it’s for the better.

Streaming Is Everywhere

Streaming music has changed the workspace, and I predict that streaming television will do the same. The iPlayer may be 12 years old (having launched on Christmas Day 2007), and at home, we may have more choices than ever (Apple TV+ and BritBox have arrived in the last month alone), but outside the home, I think streaming video content will change the workplace. Aside from streamed conferences, streamed training courses and streamed meetings, we will move from the above-mentioned video conferences to connecting offices and home workers via a streamed camera, always connected all day long. And where streaming video comes, it is closely followed by addressable TV advertising, so, at work or at play, brands will be able to target us more effectively.

Voice Control Is Coming

In the last decade, three new people moved into your house. Alexa, Siri and the one who only responds to the phrase ‘OK Google’. And they want to follow us into the office too. I have been surprised by how easy it has been to shout commands to the box in the corner of the kitchen or to dictate a message into my phone without having to type on the keyboard. I’ve noticed how children have taken to talking to machines without any of the awkwardness adults feel. It’s bound to come to the office at some point very soon, although I am not sure exactly in what form. But if they could take minutes in a meeting to remind us of our decisions (because in this day and age no human does), it would be a great help.

We Are All Storytellers Now

If one of the big trends of the last decade, that I didn’t really mention in the 2009 piece, involved the rise of social platforms in our personal (Facebook) and work (LinkedIn) spaces (or both, Twitter), then the rise of the Story format across platforms (and into messaging apps) is the social trend of the late 2010s. Inevitably, that will come into the workplace in some way. We’ve already seen the arrival of the work chat and social tools (Yammer, Teams, Slack and Workplace) and the visual – and temporary – nature of the Story format will invade the workplace in the next few years. As a company’s marketing team embraces the format for promotion and advertising, it will arrive as a corporate communication tool as well as a team-level tool. A fun picture of your CEO ahead of a board meeting with a flashing ‘yaaasss’ label – it’s bound to happen!

Of course, in many ways, these are fairly minor changes to the way in which we work and the spaces in which we work today. We are undoubtedly going to see more and more automation in all aspects of our lives and, I suspect, we’ve only just started to see the impact of ‘Big Data’ on all aspects of our lives. Workplaces, especially in customer-facing spaces, will finish the transition to cashless, and all of us will be working in more environmentally friendly ways over the next few years – we have no choice in the latter and, I suspect, the same goes for the former.

As I said at the end of the last one, “If I am lucky enough to remain employed for the next ten years, I wonder what changes will appear?” – hopefully, I will be around to update you.

(thanks to Abba for the title)

Looking Back on Looking Back

We’re playing the nostalgia game again. This time, looking back at the last look-back.

Life is full of repeating moments, isn’t it? This morning I got up at the usual (weekday) time. I went to the station, tapped in, and got on a train. Pretty much the same as every other working day this year. But some things repeat themselves on a lesser frequency. Say, once a decade.

I wrote these words on Christmas Eve 2009:

It’s not unknown for me to state the obvious, so here goes. Today is the last working day before Christmas. And for many, including me, it was the last working day of the year. It has also dawned on me that it’s the last working day of the decade.

curnow.org, 24 December 2009

As I haven’t written very much on this site in 2019, I thought I’d look back at my comments from the end of the last decade and see if they still ring true to me and my experience working in the last ten years. And, next week, I want to see if I can come up with any new observations on workplace trends that may see us through until 2029. 

First, out with the old …

Internet Access Is Ubiquitous In The Workplace

The first one is not really worth discussing: almost every job has been impacted by the internet, not just those who work in offices. Is there an industry in 2019 that is not, somehow, connected? And who would have predicted that I’d be walking around with access to 25GB of mobile data every month? Also, how do I end up using most of it?

Digital Connectivity Hasn’t Cut Travel

I stand by my comments that travel hasn’t been cut; I probably travelled more for work in the second half of the decade than in the first. The planes were marginally more energy efficient – but not that much more comfortable – but that ubiquitous connectivity I mentioned isn’t ubiquitous in the sky, thankfully. Nobody really needs to answer emails 35,000 feet up in the air, but when you do, it is kind of fun.

Business Travel Still Sucks

Even when I wrote those words ten years ago, I had a disclaimer: “But, as long as you know it sucks, then it’s still a great deal of fun”. And, as I travelled more for work, I really did enjoy it more. My general travel mood was improved by my self-imposed rule that 4am starts should be avoided at all costs and – at the very least – travel to arrive the evening before you need to start rather than on the day itself, even for short distances. For work, this decade, I travelled further than I ever had before for a business meeting (11,400 miles) to Auckland, New Zealand, where I really did have to avoid travelling all that way for just one meeting.

Constant Connections Means No Off Time

We have even less downtime than we did. Who’s answering Slack messages at 10pm? Now, that is a sentence that would not have been written ten years ago, but the development of more of these productivity tools has meant we can answer questions everywhere. If you’re in the right job, that can be empowering, but, anecdotally, I know people who feel their employers abuse it. So, nothing changes here, and maybe improved connectivity has made it worse. Still, it’s acceptable to use emojis in work messages now.

Companies Haven’t Embraced Remote Working Opportunities

Of all the items on my 2009 list, this is probably the one that has changed the most. I think many more companies are embracing some kind of flexible working, even if it’s not totally remote. I did spend about 18 months working from home in the last decade, and I thought I would enjoy it, but in the end, I didn’t. I found it isolating and, at times, quite lonely. When the staff of my local Starbucks started to become my only connection to other people during the working day, I knew it was time to find an office again. In doing so, I ended up working in some incredible office spaces for people less concerned about the 9-to-5 than getting the job done (although they all adored instant messages, so my previous point stands). I think many workplaces have improved over the past ten years: I learned that stand-up desks are one of the most productivity-enhancing improvements for office-based workers, but I also learned that almost no companies want to pay for them. A desk that could be raised really did work for me when I had access to one. Maybe I should talk to my current boss (but maybe a raise of the pay type is a better first ask in a new decade).

So, I think my Big Five from ten years ago have more or less continued and have become workplace norms. Perhaps they were already quite well embedded in the way we had been working by the time I wrote that piece. I didn’t talk about the rise of social platforms in our personal lives and the impact they would have on our professional lives, but they did impact working life, and I think there’s a lot more to come on that.

I’m going to save my thoughts on trends from the last ten years until after Christmas. I won’t be working on Friday, but it’s officially a working day, so I’ll aim for then. They say you should always tease your audience, don’t they?

In the meantime, Happy Christmas.

Looking Back 10 Years

It was the last working day of the year and, as it turns out, the last of the decade. So, let’s play the looking-backwards game. You know, the one where we all try to find something interesting to say about the last year, or, in this case, the decade.

It’s not unknown for me to state the obvious, so here goes. This was/is the last working day before Christmas. And for many, including me, it was the last working day of the year. It has also dawned on me that it’s the last working day of the decade. I guess, therefore, I’ll play the looking-back game. You know, the one where we all try to find something interesting to say about the last year, or in this case, decade. So, what have I learnt about working in the twenty- first century? Firstly, it isn’t different to my working life at the end of the last decade/century, but I’ll skip that marvellous observation and present the top five things I’ve seen change – or not – in my last ten working years.

Internet Access Is Ubiquitous In The Workplace

I ended the last decade having just left an organisation where you had to have special permission to have online access. Ironically, I was part of the team building their web content. And although my worldview is biased by the industry I work in, I think access is fairly ubiquitous. Of course, that’s led to the rise of personal blogging, Facebook, instant messaging and shopping in your working day. I do see a trend the opposite way: corporate filters and blockers are in place in more and more organisations to restrict access. Sorry, chaps, it’s a losing battle. You should trust your employees more.

Digital Connectivity Hasn’t Cut Travel

I’ve spent a decade in industries supposedly working in ‘new’ media with organisations you would hope would embrace virtual conferencing to reduce their employees’ carbon footprint. It simply wasn’t the case because the need to actually sit face-to-face with prospects – for them to shake your hand and know if they can trust a word that you’re saying – remains. It’s only the economic climate that’s cut travel budgets, but I don’t believe it has cut the need. In fact, digital connectivity may have facilitated more travel because you can be connected everywhere, so why not send somebody off to cement the deal?

Business Travel Still Sucks

Business travel has an air of glamour. Lunch in Amsterdam, dinner in Milan sounds fun. How wonderful it could be. Generally, it isn’t. Unless you’re the boss, you’re on cheap, last-minute tickets with early starts and late finishes. Fly in, taxi to an office, meeting, taxi to the airport and home by midnight to do it all again tomorrow. It’s generally bad for your sleep patterns, bad for a social life, and it’s really, really bad for your waistline. In the last ten years, the relative reduction in the cost of flying has meant business meetings abroad are really more affordable than they were. But, as long as you know it sucks, then it’s still a great deal of fun. I’ve been lucky enough to travel to a lot of places over the last ten years that I probably wouldn’t have gone to if my boss hadn’t sent me. And I would not have changed that opportunity for anything. I’ve eaten cuisines of the world and seen – albeit often from a taxi window – many amazing places. It may be unpleasant, but it’s unpleasantness worth enduring.

Constant Connections Means No Off Time

This is one that I think most employees find themselves powerless to fight. Now that the last ten years have connected us, we’re always connected, and so we’re always at work. Wasn’t the digital future meant to give us all more leisure time? But now, we’re answering emails when we get home and on the train heading into the office in the morning. We can answer calls from the boss while waiting in the doctor’s surgery and speak to an overseas office while sitting in the pub (I don’t recommend that). Digital connections and a mobile infrastructure mean we have an expectation of immediacy, and I, for one, remain unconvinced that it’s a good thing.

Companies Haven’t Embraced Remote Working Opportunities

I’ve established that the last ten years have connected us and thus allowed us to work all the time from anywhere. But I think employers as a whole – large and small – are failing to embrace remote working. There are many jobs – and I know it’s a long way from being all jobs – that are not so time-sensitive that the 9-to-5 has to apply. Few jobs need to be done in the same office during those hours. But organisations – or maybe it’s the boss – fail to embrace the flexibility this could offer them. With many of the companies I have worked with (rather than for), I hear tales of how working from home is frowned upon and the thought of working from a holiday villa for a week is a no-go zone. Now, I believe workplace culture is important because employees need to belong and interact with colleagues. But we don’t need to be there all the time; we can work 7-3 or 12-8 and be just as productive. We can work from our houses, a friend’s house, the local coffee shop and, in some cases, at 35,000 feet above the planet and still reply to your email. Remember, it’s results that count.

And so, those are my random five observations. I could have noted how tools like Twitter are changing the way we interact with customers or how they’re replacing industry-centric publications by connecting you directly to people. I could have noted that smartphones mean office workers aren’t carrying laptops as much, but you still see far too many laptop bags on those overcrowded commuting trains (why haven’t we solved that dilemma?).

If I am lucky enough to remain employed for the next ten years, I wonder what changes will appear. I suspect that the idea of remote working will be embraced by more and more offices where there are huge overheads in central office space that could be removed if people spend part of their time working remotely. I know it doesn’t apply to everybody, but I suspect increasing broadband penetration and cloud computing make it increasingly feasible. I’m looking forward to the next decade. In technology terms, I really believe it will be the decade of the cloud.

Email At Work

Why do I appear on email lists a few days after meeting somebody from a new company?

If you read any of what I write, you will be aware that I don’t talk about work a great deal. This is supposed to be an outlet separate from anything to do with my working life, but today I wanted to solicit your opinion on a trend I am seeing emerging at work.

Like all companies, we deal almost daily with new customers, prospects, or organisations related to our business. Often we will have meetings and presentations and start to build – what we hope will be – a good business relationship. Like most people who meet others in their sphere of work, I hand out business cards to new contacts.

Three or four times in the past month, I have found that a few days after meeting somebody new, my email address will be subscribed to their company mailshot/newsletter, etc. I know this is a reaction to the new UK spam rules, where there has to be some kind of business relationship before you can receive arbitrary messages from a company, but I don’t like the trend. When you’re on the lookout for new business, it’s a little hard to say ‘stop this’. Perhaps we should start doing something similar.

Office Alone

I’ve been in the office alone all day today – with Radio Four as my only company.

Today has been a very strange day. I have been alone in the office; all of my colleagues are on the road or on holiday. Despite previous thoughts of working alone and/or from home, I can categorically say that I like the stimulation of the office environment, and I am pretty certain that I won’t be looking for employment from home in the future. I currently work in a small four-person office space, and even that gets very difficult at times. Since early 2002, I have worked with three other people in two different jobs. I think next time I will be looking for something larger. If you work alone or from home, how do you manage it?

While sitting alone this afternoon, I started listening to Radio Four for a little bit of company and was reminded how good PM was as a news show. I don’t believe there was anything that stood out today – apart from the obvious talents of Eddie Mair – but I can recommend it if you’re in need of company! Also, while I was working through my tasks earlier, I got a call, which means I will be attending a hastily organised meeting in Rome on Friday morning, so I will be spending this evening trying to get as many of my belongings into the smallest possible bag that I can. It is at times like this that I wish my employer had purchased a lighter laptop for me.