AI Could Reboot Productivity and Culture – So Let's Do ItAI Could Reboot Productivity and Culture – So Let's Do It
The push to include AI in workflows is another redefinition of how we work. The duration of the workweek is entirely up for grabs, too.
We've been exploring the question, "Why not move to a four-day work week?" for a few years here at No Jitter. There was already a growing body of research in 2022 showing that four-day workweeks are great for everyone – they help retain talent and reduce burnout while productivity remains unchanged, if not higher.
As 2022 slid into 2023, evidence continued to pile up arguing for the benefits of the four-day workweek; there was a financial case for keeping workers happy because it reduced the turnover costs associated with finding new workers or bringing them up to speed.
In October 2023, Robin Gareiss argued that employees should reap the benefits of generative AI via shorter workweeks. She wrote:
When employees are super-productive, we just keep raising the bar. And at what expense? Employees are stressed, tired, and anxiety-ridden because they spend too much time working and not enough time enjoying life.
Can we start hiring and managing based on productivity vs. hours?
Yes, and generative AI may be able to help us do just that.
As Gareiss wrote, generative AI could reduce the time required for tasks, boosting employee efficiency – and shifting the work focus from hours logged to tasks accomplished.
Six months later, we reported on whether or not AI would actually affect how workplaces define employee roles and employee productivity levels. As Muddu Sudhakar, CEO and co-founder at Aisera, pointed out, "It’s important to note that in prior technological revolutions – say with agriculture, industrialization and information – there have been dramatic productivity gains but never a situation where people work less. The irony is that there is often more work that needs to be done."
Also, as Gartner Analyst Emily Rose McRae pointed out, rethinking the workweek would require rethinking how people collaborate:
The bigger shift is that in a four-day work week, employees are more productive, but employers have less time with them.
"Employers will need to shift the cadence of the work week, thinking through what activities happen when," she says. "When will collaboration happen, when will independent work happen, and how can executives help managers make better decisions about how employee time is spent?"
AI already affects employee collaboration: it schedules meetings for maximum participation across time zones, it boosts transparency across teams, it takes care of reminders, it provides transcripts that help get people on the same page, it sends managers messages about employee working patterns so managers can nip work-life balance issues before they take root – is it really too hard to imagine how AI could help shift the workweek cadence to solve any work pattern issues that result when people shorten their workweeks?
We argued earlier this year that using AI to rethink workweek duration would address the ongoing employee permacrisis. And the topic is timely right now as Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) went on the Joe Rogan podcast to start drawing a connection between AI's productivity promises and the cultural choice employers face:
“Technology is gonna work to improve us, not just the people who own the technology and the CEOs of large corporations,” Sanders said. “You are a worker, your productivity is increasing because we give you AI, right? Instead of throwing you out on the street, I’m gonna reduce your workweek to 32 hours.”
[ …]
“Let’s use technology to benefit workers,” Sanders said. “That means give you more time with your family, with your friends, for education, whatever the hell you wanna do.”
As No Jitter has been reporting since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we're in a time of profound change in the workplace, aided by enterprise communications and collaboration platforms. The push to return to "normal" led a lot of talent to ask why we can't redefine "normal" to encompass remote and hybrid work. The push to include AI in workflows is another redefinition of how we work. The duration of the workweek is entirely up for grabs, too.
Editor's Note: The WorkSpace Connect Newsletter will not be going out on next week as part of the Independence Day holiday weekend. We will resume publication mid-July.
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