Why Now

Thanks to the internet, how you work has changed.

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1.1

Where you work has changed.

You used to work in a beige cube farm with a framed photo of your family (or dog) on your desk.

Today:

58% of Americans work from home at least one day per week.

30% work for remote-first companies.

And over 50% of job applications go to companies that offer the flexibility and work-life balance of remote work.

Work-from-home and work-from-anywhere policies have generated a 4.4% increase in employee productivity. As a result, empowering a remote workforce is an important strategic initiative for 61% of global CEOs.

1.2

When you work has changed.

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You used to work in an office from eight until five with 30 minutes for lunch.

Today:

92 million American workers can work flexible schedules.

67% of employees regard flexibility in how you spend your time as the top benefit they're looking for.

And a new night shift has emerged, with employees sending 52% more work-related instant messages between 6 p.m. and midnight.

You now have easy access to tools for creation and editing, tools for storage and organization, tools for collaboration and management.

1.3

The tools you use to work have changed.

You used to create alone on your computer and email files to others for collaboration, feedback, and approval.

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Today, widespread use of digital tools makes it possible for you to create, organize, and manage projects in online platforms:

4 million designers share their work in Figma.

90 million engineers share code in Github.

And 2 billion people create documents in Google Docs.

You now have easy access to tools for creation and editing, tools for storage and organization, tools for collaboration and management.

1.4

But these changes to the way you work introduce friction and frustration.

The same digital tools that were supposed to give you the freedom to do more creative, interesting work weigh you down.

The average worker uses fourteen apps to do their job and has to process nearly 300 messages from their coworkers every day.

And most employees are still not collaborating more productively. In fact, up to 35% of valuable contributions come from just 3% to 5% of employees.

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65% of workers spend more than two hours per day in video meetings, even though studies have shown this causes high levels of stress and concentration fatigue.

1.5

And this friction and frustration has consequences.

Almost 75% percent of employees feel that their managers do not regularly recognize the contributions they make at work.

Burnout is rampant. The average worker puts in 47 hours per week, and 20% of workers work 60+ hours per week. 43% of office workers feel burned out at work.

Managers haven't been trained to lead remote or hybrid teams, so they resort to tracking employees’ productivity with surveillance software.

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Real average wages are actually lower today than they were in 1974. Widespread employee dissatisfaction manifests in movements like the Great Resignation.

The result of all of this friction is a deep skepticism toward work, as illustrated by the antiwork movement growing on Reddit forums like r/antiwork and r/workreform.