Working backwards to the future

Have you noticed the increased amount of work being done over the weekends?

Over the weekend of 13-14 September, banking executives met at the NY Fed to discuss a Lehman rescue.  Shortly thereafter, Congress met over the weekend to discuss a larger $700 billion bailout package.  Granted, these actions are in response to a crisis situation and the weekend work is warranted and bit different than, say, raking the leaves off of your lawn.

Over the past couple of weekends, business has been occupying social media, too.  Motrin ran into controversy on a Sunday.  The next Sunday, Scott Monty from Ford was trying to drum up support for the auto industry.  And Frank Eliason aka ComcastCares on Twitter seems to be helping out all the time.

In the U.S., most workers have been employed for the past 80 years under a mental model of working five days a week, eight hours a day.  Working outside of those limits tends to create dissonance with the concept of work-life balance.  Most white-collar workers regularly put in more time, but use the old standard to gauge how much extra effort they're contributing.

I shared my thoughts on work with Dan Schwabel recently and believe it's most important for us to be "consciously engaged" with our work, regardless of model.  Social technologies allow us to always be on and toggle quickly between work and personal activities.  We don't work in big chunks of 5 vs. 2 days or within a block between 8 am and 5 pm anymore - we work and live our lives in much more finely sliced segments. 

Interestingly enough, it was Henry Ford who first implemented the five-day work week in 1922, so that workers could not only recover from work, but also have time to purchase goods.  Now, it appears that Ford has another opportunity to transform the world of work by trying to save itself in the process.

Social technologies and today's "always on" culture will certainly need to be factored into the transformation of U.S. automakers - and will eventually impact the way all industries function.  I wonder if this means we'll return to six- and seven-day work weeks...if we're not there already.  I imagine more telecommuting, microslicing of days, greater use of social technologies for business.  These seem to be the hallmarks of the "information revolution" to follow the industrial revolution.

Strangely enough, the cadence of our work seems to resemble life before the industrial revolution, albeit with a much higher standard of living.  And I'm not sure if things are getting better or worse.

Comments

[Andy]

The work-life model is changing so quickly due to technology for sure. But at the same time, are workers and the workplace evolving with it? I don't think it is at all. Webworkers, open-work hours, teleworking seems to finally be taking off a bit. Employers spring for blackberrys, iphones and work from home days. But are we in charge of our lives thanks to technology or is technology taking control of us?

With technology ...it can work to either end, but for most (without realizing it)they are letting technology control their work. Most managers and CEO's aren't evolving with flexible thinking. Many workers become reactive, obsessed or caught in the weeds of email and hyper-multitasking with time to stop and see the big picture for their lives or their work. In essence they apply the old industrial rules, add technology and then overwork, overtax, and cross bounds that lessens satisfaction, lessens innovation.

My wife and I
left our substantial roles at a major client side marketer and advertising agency for this very reason... now we work this disaggregated workday to our favor, but not without some very clear knowledge of pitfalls and putting very specific boundaries about when we are "on" and when we are "off".

In other words, we apply some of the old industrial rules (schedules, total hours worked, "weekends" - whether on a Saturday/Sunday or a Monday/Thursday) but apportion it differently. ...in parallel with other changing media and learning behaviors we are "time shifting" our personal and work lives. We work it to a better end for us and our clients. It's not perfect but it works better for us?

Without this not so genius epiphany, people's personal lives, connection to kids, significant others and satisfying work fails. I think you see it all over marketing, advertising and corporate american life. You see it in how "happy" we are as a nation vs. other countries.

Hopefully the auto industry will factor all employer-employee and supplier sides of this equation to break the innovation, efficiency and employee satisfaction barrier.

[Peter Kim]

Agree.

[kate]

So then do you think that negates Max's question of whether your blog is personal OR professional? Max commented on a post of mine that (to paraphrase) because of blurred identities, intentions and relationships will drive behavior more than physical locations. I think this is already the case. You?

[Peter Kim]

I agree. Like in our company.

[Peter Kim]

Scott - I'm sure there are many people pulling for you in the best interest of you & your family, your company, and our country. Best of luck tomorrow.

[kimmi8]

Hi, I'm one of the product managers here at Six Apart. I saw your recent comment on ariwriter.com's post regarding TypePad Connect. I'm happy to see that you're trying TPC on your blog. I'd love to hear feedback on your experience thus far, and what are some of your top feature requests. You can email me directly at kimmie@sixapart.com. Thanks!

[kate]

It seems like there's definitely a weaker distinction between self and company these days which, as Max suggests, might account for the blurring of time boundaries. So I completely agree- this mandates increased use of social technologies. Because we incorporate others in our definition of self, we have a need to know exactly what our collective 'self' is up to-- at all times. Likewise, we're compelled to constantly share our happenings... As Scott points out, shared purpose is enjoyable-- and when you're aware of others' progress, it can lead to greater efficacy.

[Scott Monty]

Ironic then, that we at Ford have been working through the Thanksgiving weekend to debut something next Tuesday. And I haven't yet heard anyone complain. Part of head-down and moving ahead, in the interest of doing what needs to be done, I suppose.

Scott Monty
Global Digital Communications
Ford Motor Company

[Ari Herzog]

The State of Utah recently closed all government buildings on Fridays because their 800+ online services, accessible 24x7, were serving the needs of so many residents that it was nonsensical to stay open a fifth business day. Not to mention the energy costs saved, though that was a peripheral decision.

As Dave Fletcher, Utah's CTO, mentioned last week in an interview on my blog, there are about 2.5 million Utahns and 1.1 million are visiting utah.gov every month.

Perhaps one reason why companies are working on weekends is because they're, *cough cough* not using social media to the extent they could?

[David Mattia]

..."the cadence of our work seems to resemble life before the industrial revolution, albeit with a much higher standard of living. And I'm not sure if things are getting better or worse."

Good thoughts Peter. I interpret the dissonance right now by looking at social trending issues in a few different time horizons. From the largest, longest term perspective, the changes happening now, even the dissonance, is a very positive sign. We(the collective we)see the need to reallocate our social capital so we may do even more together going forward. To me, that is what the industrial revolution was ultimately about....social momentum.

[Max Kalehoff]

Sharp thinking. But it's not just time that's blurring, it's identity as well. For example, is beingpeterkim a personal or professional endeavor? Honestly, I can't tell -- yet it's authentically one. That's where the real, fundamental sensitivity is emerging as social media infiltrate business and personal life. It's so central, yet it's rare to find people (especially so-called experts...nudge to your former employer, mine and many others) tackle the issue head on.