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69-hour workweek and the opportunity of Zoom: Time
- Writing language: Korean
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Base country: All countries
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- Economy
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Summarized by durumis AI
- The past two years of remote work have brought about changes in the way city dwellers live, but companies are withdrawing their remote work systems citing economic downturn.
- However, employees are expressing dissatisfaction with the withdrawal of remote work, and work is no longer seen as a top priority for a good life, but rather as a lower-level subject on par with health.
- Companies need to understand the changing meaning that employees experience through work and provide their employees with opportunities to experience a sense of belonging and meaningful time.
"Zoom literally meant that people could choose where they wanted to live. So people did."
Edward Glaeser, author of ‘Triumph of the City’ and professor of economics at Harvard University, has recently revealed that the work-from-home system of the past two years has been the basis of the so-called ‘Zoomtown’ phenomenon, which has changed the way city dwellers choose to live. However, the era of remote work is now coming to an end. On the 25th, the Wall Street Journal revealed that, according to a US Department of Labor survey, 72.5% of workplaces did not implement work from home last year. Not only overseas companies like Tesla and Amazon, but also domestic companies like Naver and Yanolja, are withdrawing from the full work-from-home system that they had maintained during the pandemic, citing a slowdown in the economy. However, the employees' views on this matter are now different from before. Following the announcement of the withdrawal of work-from-home, the union membership rate of Kakao headquarters employees has surged from the existing 10% range to nearly 50%, and Yanolja management is facing fierce criticism from employees who have experienced work-from-home as part of the company's promised welfare.
When business leaders deal with phenomena related to "work," which takes up a lot of time for individuals, they need to considerthe fact that work dominates social and political imagination.
Work is a means for individuals to gain recognition in a social, political, and moral community that makes up a larger group, and it is invisibly directed by social and political norms. The recent controversy surrounding the government-led 69-hour workweek system, which is aimed at MZ generation, has been criticized for its lack of consideration for social relations, despite its original good intention of reducing the total number of working days, as it raises questions about the reality of worker representation as a safeguard. Furthermore, the phenomenon of public imagination and attention focused on the possibility of up to 69 hours of work, leading to anger, can also be explained through this.
Historically, we have accepted wage labor as a major structure of income distribution, an ethical obligation, and a means of defining oneself and others as social and political subjects. However, in the current era of low growth, it is necessary to remember that the 'workplace' has lost its traditional central position as a symbolic mediator of social value and meaning.
A study on the perception of ideal work conducted by the consulting firm Gemic on Generation Z in the United States and India confirmed that this new young generation still strives to maintain a stubborn ethical attitude towards work, but places a heavy emphasis on diet and health for a good life. Interestingly, while they prioritize diet and health in order to create a "good life" that they seek, they did not show the same level of interest in working less or not working at all.
"Spending 12 hours in the office and posting online is flexing. But spending 5 hours a day in the gym and telling everyone on Instagram and TikTok is also flexing."
The answer from a 25-year-old American woman participating in the study confirms that work is no longer the absolute priority in a good life, but is considered as a lower-level subject, on par with exercise for maintaining health. In other words,what people want is not 'freedom from work', but 'the construction of active life conditions'. That is,it is necessary to consider that there is a change in the era where an integrated theme of 'how to spend time well' now includes work and personal life as sub-themes.
'Good Life' Standards for Work: The Meaning of Time
It will become increasingly important for companies to understand the changing meaning of work that their employees are experiencing. Going to the office is not simply a matter of productivity and welfare, but only when it is expanded into a discussion of mutual expectations and roles for the time spent together between the company and its employees can a point of interaction be found. Jobs and workplaces as a means of earning money may have been pushed out of the high level of priority they once held, but the opportunity to provide a sense of belonging from a lack of social community and to provide an opportunity to spend meaningful time has grown.
Last month, Eric Yuan, CEO of Zoom, announced the layoff of 1,300 employees, or 15% of its total workforce. This comes after tripling its workforce in two years and coincides with the registration of its eighth global branch in Korea on the 8th of this month, making it seem like an ironic decision. The government's proposed 69-hour workweek bill, which mentioned the MZ generation, was temporarily put on hold by the president's supplementary instructions.This gradual change in the future of work and the reality of workers' responses to the crisis can be an opportunity for both companies and the government.
In particular, Zoom, which has announced plans to integrate email and calendar functions into its platform and to launch AI-based chatbots in the future, is already aiming to become more than just a simple video conferencing service. Therefore, from a "work"-centric perspective,Zoom can seize the opportunity to suggest a better future for working hours by focusing on the users' interest and understanding of the active construction of the life they expect. This difficult task of understanding the changed structure of life that may seem too obvious can be a starting point and a catalyst. Connections can start from here.
*This article is the original content from theElectronic Times named columnpublished on March 28, 2023.
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