Post-digital culture shock

Digital wellness

In a world where mobile devices allow always-on connections, the boundaries between work time and personal time have eroded. Workers’ personal domains—family, social time, time alone—are being impinged upon by constant work.

As physical boundaries disappear, companies risk work culture becoming 24/7. Workers are having to put up psychological boundaries to protect their well-being, to keep company demands from becoming all-consuming. Those boundaries are not consistently being respected. Studies abound showing people regularly check work e-mails at the dinner table, as well as in bed.

Worker benefits

The pervasive adoption of digital technologies and broadband internet allows for more workers, in more types of roles, to switch employers with the same ease that they switch service providers as consumers. More and more workers are in alternative work arrangements, versus traditional employee relationships. Cultures need to accommodate for this, moving from a design that favors only traditional full-time employees.

Recognizing the fluid nature of work and careers in the post-digital economy, companies and governments are considering a benefits safety net. Several U.S. states—California, New Jersey, New York and Washington among them—have also introduced portable benefits legislation. In the European Parliament, legislation introduces more predictable hours and compensation for cancelled work, applying to vulnerable workers on non-traditional contracts and in non-standard jobs.

Safety that spans worlds

Traditionally, workers have required a safe physical environment. But, in the post-digital world, they also need a safe cyber environment. As the physical and digital worlds merge, employees will exist more often in an extended reality (XR) where the two worlds converge at work.

Industries are heading into XR at varying speeds, but all show a quickening pace. It’s important that companies begin to put well-being and safety at the center of their design for any technology service or product, as well as at the heart of their operations and culture.

Digital doesn’t just create new worker needs. It also spurs an urgency around some traditional worker needs, like transparency, relevance and inclusivity.

Transparency and trust

With digital analytics, companies can not only better gauge how on board their people are, they can also see more clearly how work is being done. From which teams to assemble for top-notch innovation to how to better support workers for better outcomes, leaders are afforded a window into what makes their company tick.

In the most advanced companies, culture supports workers helping to shape a strategy, rather than just being participants in making it a reality. This radical level of transparency ensures they are not passive recipients of something handed down from “on high” and instead, feel ownership of where the company is headed and their part in helping it get there.

Relevance

From workers to executives, companies will need to create a culture that embraces “new skilling,” helping workers learn the competencies that will take them into a post-digital future.

Beyond any one competency, companies will need to partner with governments, educational institutions and workers themselves to better enable lifelong learning—a must in a new world where business changes quickly. Middle-skill workers—those who have more than a high school diploma but less than a university degree—are at a particularly high risk for displacement. Globally, we’re seeing a hollowing out of middle-skill jobs already.

Inclusivity

From accessibility to working styles, cultural preferences to avoidance of stereotypical norms, workers who feel respected are able to commit more fully to delivering value. As companies serve an increasingly diverse consumer base, their employees need to reflect that consumer base. Studies show that companies with policies that encourage the retention and promotion of diverse workers across race, sexual orientation, and gender, are more innovative and release more products.

Digital technologies allow formerly disenfranchised groups of workers to do things and contribute in a way not previously possible. More than one billion people need assistive products to be independent and productive, but only one in 10 have access. Adults with disabilities have twice the unemployment rate of those without, but technology—and enlightened leaders—can change this situation.