What make Fridays such happy days? One obvious answer is how close we are from the weekend and all perks it brings like relaxation, parties, family and friends and "me" time. For a big number of employees in Corporate America, it is also about getting relief, a break from the workplace. I have always enjoyed crossing people in the office, and provoke them with a sincere smile on my face - "Happy Friday!", and listen to the insights thrown back at me. A great measure of a company climate. With few exception periods, the common replies were - "we made it another week" or "finally freedom." Sound familiar?
OFFICE LIFE
Workplace environments seem to be deteriorating everywhere, and employees have never felt as crushed, bullied and undervalued than before. That appears to be a massive changing agent underlying other trends forming the new future of work.
In fact, employees and especially millennials, are suffering an increasing level of stress. That is what a new survey from Udemy found out this year, check the slide below. The stress level is up 44% among millennials and 33% in the case of the X generation. Check the root causes according to the study.
Millennials and "X-Gen-ies" really fear that new automation and AI technology will get them out of their jobs. And the threat is real 47% of American jobs are at risk in a decade or two. Get prepared.
NOT A REASON TO LAUGH
The second reason pointed out are "bad managers." Not a surprise as 61% of bullies are bosses, shows a 2017 research about bullying in the workplace. Of course, "bad managers" are a big umbrella that covers from ethical issues to poor judgment and decision making. It seems that even though companies have made progress to improve their ethical standards and the ethical employee behavior, two areas are not showing progress - both the number of workers who reported the bad conduct they saw and the number who experienced retaliation after they reported showed no improvement, according to NBES 2013.
Regardless of the many different causes feeding that fear and behavior, the result where those malpractices are found is a toxic and crushing environment. So toxic, that humor can be a good escape valve from reality. Dilbert creator Scott Adams made millions with the cartoon and its many hilarious office stereotypes - check the front-page strip in the link, and try not to laugh. Another insightful while funny joke can be found on ranker.com. Check the rank of "back stabbers, the suck-ups and others" - at least, it will make you laugh again.
GOOD TIME TO CHANGE
Toxic environment, bad managers, and unjustified stress are good calls for change. It seems that not only jobs will be eliminated, but many will not want them back. The perfect combination of supply and demand is forming as we deepen into those disruptive days. More and more people, especially millennials, are looking for different ways to make a living. NGOs, Start-ups, social causes, small digitally disruptive companies, the gig economy, and others are proliferating and inspiring others to do the same - to find a more meaningful reason, a real motivation beyond the paycheck.
HAPPY FRIDAY!
Join us at collectivebrains.org on our search for real solutions and good projects to invest on. Or just to share your thoughts. We believe every day should feel as good as Friday, and it does when we actively build our future.
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