As our world rapidly becomes more technologically advanced and our ideas transform in a similar fashion, the workspace as we’ve come to know it is slowly starting to change. With this transformation imminent, it is only right to identify some possible problems that this future could hold.
First and foremost, I am going to identify the possibility of our workplace becoming even more anti-social than it already is. I would like to use my parents’ jobs as examples. When I was in my younger years, both of my parents worked 5 days a week in the same office. My father’s closest friend is a co-worker that he met in that very office. As a child, colleagues were always at our house for dinner and barbecues. The office was seemingly a home away from home. As time has progressed, however, the company has ordered employees to work 3 days a week from home in an attempt to minimize office space needed and maximize productivity. There is no longer a desire or need to form relationships with colleagues. I think that this definitely has to be viewed as a problem. Our workforce and our nation in general is becoming more anti-social as a result of companies’ desires to maximize productivity at any cost. By putting employees on telework, all we are doing is isolating our workers and promoting an anti-social lifestyle. Being in an office with co-workers and friends promotes relationships that can be essential to a company’s success and a person’s happiness and well-being. It seems as though many companies are moving away from this through technological advancement and it can be detrimental in the long run.
Additionally, with an increasing number of freelancers and contingent workers available to companies, the job security and availability of the traditional permanent worker is in jeopardy. According to Intuit, a Silicon Valley based software company, it is predicted that by 2020, more than 40% of the workforce will be made up of contingent workers. The effect that this has on the permanent employee is that he/she may look disposable to an employer. For employers, it is worth it to hire contingent workers. In 2005, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 18% of contingent workers had employer-provided health benefits compared to 56% of permanent workers. Because of the unstable economy of recent years, companies may lean towards contingent workers. They act as a buffer of sorts. Following a recession, contingent workers will always be the first ones hired and in times of trouble, will be the first ones laid off. With these facts presented, it must be said that the job availability and security of permanent employees are surely to be put into question in future times. Freelancers and contractors just appeal more to employers than a permanent worker does on many occasions.
From an educational standpoint, the great young minds of our society are obtaining more schooling than ever before. However, a report released, “The Multi-Generational Job Search” states that of 2,978 employers surveyed, only 27% of these employers believe college has adequately prepared college graduates for employment. With tuition rising annually and college debt up above $1 trillion, we must question the effectiveness of our education system moving forward. School is supposed to prepare us for work but as this report suggests, it clearly is not. Currently, our students are spending time and money in school ineffectively. These students should be learning practical skills and techniques that would increase effectiveness straight out of college. What this means for the future of work is that companies will continue to be forced to train post-grads more than they should be required to unless our education system makes an adjustment. This essentially hinders the effectiveness of our nation’s future of work.
References:
- http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2014/12/what-we-give-up-when-we-become-entrepreneurs.html
- http://www.cornellhrreview.org/making-cents-of-temps-the-costs-and-benefits-of-contingent-workers/
- http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2014/05/20/is-college-adequately-preparing-students-for-workforce/
Companies complain that college graduates lack the necessary experience to perform jobs, but I think that this indicates a shift in the mentality of employers rather than a decrease in the quality of higher education. Liberal arts education has never been about vocational training, and I don’t think that colleges should be tasked with teaching students how to operate fax machines. A few generations ago, college graduates did not struggle to find jobs directly out of school. Granted, this was in part due to the fact that fewer people attended college, so having a degree was a distinguishing characteristic among job applicants, whereas today a degree represents the bare minimum qualification for most jobs. However, another factor that I believe contributes to the declining employability of recent grads in the eyes of employers in recent times is that companies have moved away from training newly-hired employees to only hiring those that already have the necessary skills. So, it’s not that colleges have gotten worse at preparing students for the job market, but that employers want to shift the burden of training employees away from themselves.
I agree with you in the fact that today’s world has become increasingly more anti-social and this is why I believe the structure of workplace deserves a facelift. As I addressed in my problems, employees spend endless hours each day pushing paper and filling out spreadsheets with minimal interaction with other coworkers. Employees sit behind their desktops and concealed by their cubicles and crunch all day with so little social interaction, only in the form of a lunch break and perhaps one other smaller break. This is clearly not healthy for the growth of a social network and obviously does not allow human interaction to grow. This sort of working environment will certainly bring developing ideas and innovation to a plateau. When new ideas are not being born and cycled about by colleagues we as a society ultimately stagnate. Without innovation and the desire to advance our knowledge or thinking what do we become? Perhaps ignorant to the anything that might better our lives, which is the direction the world must move in order to continue to innovate. So in this regard, I agree with your point that today’s workplace is terribly anti-social and desperately in need to renovation.
I think one of the reasons that people in work place have stopped interacting as much is because they have no need to actually interact with one another. A simple email could suffice to request assistance form another co-worker. Before all this, one would more likely approach his or her fellow co-worker and ask for help. The reduction of this face-to-face interaction is probably what is causing the decline in relationships in the office space. The emails that are being sent between people have no emotion, and people in the office will never be able to connect with one another. I also agree with you when you say that education in college is not enough anymore. A lot of employers look for extra experience outside of school. This is because the schools do not teach practical skills for the work place. Our school system works in a way where the ability to memorize various facts is what is being tested in schools. Employers need their employees to be able to know these facts while using them to solve various problems. I feel like a lot of schools do not realize this and is partially why testing is so big in college.
I never looked at the situation of moving away from offices as a problem involving the social lives of the workers. While I agree that the office space nurtures a social environment between coworkers; I believe there are other ways to promote a social life between coworkers. With all the extra free time that workers have from working at home, they can in turn spend more time with friends and family, generally living a happier and rewarding life. I believe the real root of the anti-social problem that you’re describing is technology and social media. Everyday situations on the subway where people used to start up conversations between each other are being replaced by cellphones and music. Generally as a trend society is moving towards being social through technology rather than socializing physically between each other. Like the transition from office work to freelance contract work and working from home, we are currently in a period of uncertainty. I see teleworking as an opportunity to spend more time with friends and family, setting your own work hours, and a more lax environment to work, things that can’t be found in an office cubicle.