Father, forgive me, work has become work. It's no longer my religion.
"Erosion of employer power." That's how The New York Times journalist Neil Irwin describes the seismic shift in working. In response, employers are getting it that they have to provide employees not only with more money but a higher quality of life. But they still have to a long way to go on the learning curve about how to navigate this new era. Bluntly put: Employees have the upper hand.
The reality has just played out at Apple. When the head Tim Cook foisted on employees a hybrid arrangement of three days back in the office, the workforce has revolted.
In the elite circle of large amazingly prosperous law firms the leadership has been raising entry-level salaries and paying non-seasonal bonuses. As in a growing number of fields, there is a shortage a talent. All this at law firms could come to a time when those tactics are no longer effective. The talent will exit to settings which meet their needs for what's beyond the big bucks. As at Apple, a trigger issue could be the terms and conditions of the Post-COVID where-work-will-be-done.
Underlying this trend could be a current heretical breakaway form the ethos of work as a religion. Way back in 2019 - before burnout became standard - in The Atlantic Derek Thompson picked up on how workism wasn't paying off in "transcendence" for the college-educated. Instead it was either simply a career or for those who didn't enjoy their jobs a necessity for paying the bills.
Without the aura of a vocation, work could be approached on more of a business-like basis. This could mirror the dynamics of the coming of unionism in American labor.
Instead, though, unlike unionism it would be not about a fair wage, job security or employee safety. Instead it could include an expectation of the kinds of professional experiences workers recognize as essential for marketability and upward mobility.
That could take the form of demanding the employer provide X or Y developmental opportunities. Willis Towers Watson envisions the end of careers and the coming of professional life as continuing to upgrade a portfolio of skills and experiences.
For example, at law firms, junior lawyers need to have client interaction, currently restricted to partners. That's a prerequisite for learning how to present strategies to clients/prospects and bringing in new business. In my field of communications it would be access to the complex assignments in branding.
It is premature to project that Post-COVID would be Post-Work. Too many in all generations have been socialized to "need" work, especially emotionally and as a way to fund the good life.
Right now, some law schools are overbooked in enrollments for fall semester. That's despite the prospect for $160,00 student loan debt and a glutted job market in 2024. New college graduates are willing to jump through so many hoops to get a shot at a career on Wall Street.
But, if Universal Basic Income evolves into providing more than just enough to get by, there might be a growing number of takers. Meanwhile, since automation had accelerated during COVID it's not far into the future that values have to reconfigured to create atheists who don't associate working with a spiritual high.
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