"Zoom literally meant that people could choose where they wanted to live. And people did."
Edward Glaeser, author of 'Triumph of the City' and economics professor at Harvard University, recently revealed that work-from-home for the past two years has been the basis of the so-called 'Zoomtown' phenomenon, which has changed where urban residents choose to live. However, the era of remote work is now coming to an end. The Wall Street Journal reported on the 25th that, based on 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 they maintained during the pandemic, citing the economic slowdown. However, employees' perspectives on this matter are now different from before. Following the announcement of the withdrawal of work-from-home, the union membership rate among Kakao headquarters employees has surged from the existing 10% range to nearly 50%, and Yanolja's management is facing criticism from employees who have experienced work-from-home as part of the company's promised benefits.
When business leaders deal with phenomena related to 'work,' which monopolizes a significant portion of an individual's time, they need to consider the fact that work dominates social and political imagination.
Work serves as a means for individuals to gain recognition within social, political, and moral communities that form a broader group, and this is subtly directed by social and political norms. The recently controversial government-led 69-hour workweek policy targeting the MZ generation is criticized for its lack of consideration for social relationships, as it deviates from the original good intention of reducing the total number of working days and faces questions about the practicality of worker representation as a safeguard. Furthermore, the phenomenon of public attention and outrage focusing on the possibility of working up to 69 hours can also be explained through this lens.
Historically, we have accepted wage labor as a primary structure for 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 'workplace' has lost its central position as a symbolic mediator of social value and meaning.
In a study on Gen Z's perception of ideal work conducted by consulting firm Gemic in the US and India, it was found that this new generation of young people still maintains a rigid ethical attitude towards work, but they place a strong emphasis on diet and health for a good life. Interestingly, while they prioritize diet and health for building their desired 'good life,' they showed less interest in working less or not at all.
"Spending 12 hours in the office and posting about it online is flexing. But working out at the gym for 5 hours a day and telling everyone on Instagram and TikTok is also flexing."
The response from a 25-year-old American woman who participated in the study confirms that work is no longer an absolute topic that prioritizes a good life, but rather a lower-level topic on par with exercise to maintain health. In other words, people desire not 'freedom from work' but the 'construction of active living conditions.'That is, we need to consider that we are in a period of change where the overarching theme of 'how to spend time well' now encompasses work and personal life as sub-themes..
'Good Life' Standards for Work: The Meaning of Time
It will become increasingly important for businesses to understand the changing meaning of work experienced by their employees. When considering the act of coming to the office, going beyond a simple perspective of productivity and welfare, and extending it into a discussion of mutual expectations and roles regarding the time spent together between companies and employees, we can find points of interaction. While jobs and workplaces as means of earning money may have fallen from their previous high priority, the opportunity for them to play a role in providing a sense of belonging in a society that has become lacking in community and offering opportunities for meaningful time has increased.
Last month, Zoom CEO Eric Yuan announced the layoff of 15% of its workforce, about 1,300 people. This action follows a tripling of its workforce in two years and coincides with the completion of registration for the establishment of its 8th global branch in South Korea on the 8th of this month, making it seem like an ironic decision. The government's proposed 69-hour workweek bill, which was mentioned in relation to the MZ generation, has been temporarily suspended following the President's supplementary instructions. These somewhat differing perspectives on the future of work and the actual responses of office workers to the crisis can be an opportunity for both businesses and governments..
In particular, Zoom, which has announced plans to integrate email and calendar features into its platform and launch an AI-based chatbot in the future, is already aiming to become more than just a simple video conferencing service. By shifting from a focus on 'work' to understanding and addressing users' desire to actively shape their lives, Zoom can seize the opportunity to propose a better future for working hours. I hope this article serves as a starting point and a stimulus for the difficult task of understanding the changed life structures that seem too obvious to notice. Connection can begin here.
*This article is the original content published in the Electronic Times named column on March 28, 2023.
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