Do we control technology

Do we control technology, or does it control us?

by Digital Work

In general, the narrative around mobile technology use is either non-existent or cast in a negative light. Some see technology as a tool to be used, while others view it as a disruption or mechanism for addictive behaviours. 

Theoretical concepts around the impact of technology on human behaviour have two distinct opposing perspectives.

The first is a social constructivist view. This is where technology is neutral and useful for achieving specific tasks. The user engages with devices within their own personal technical abilities and focussed on how technology and people interact over time.  This view focuses on the dynamic interactions between people and technology and includes how the people use and adapt to technology, at home and work. The socially constructed nature of the use of technology by humans is premised by the view that ‘we make tools, and tools make us’.

The second is a deterministic perspective. This is where technology is given the ability to change and shape human behaviour and social structures. This viewpoint suggests that technology and human behaviour is ‘mutually dependent, integrative, and co-evolving over time’ (for more information on this perspective, see Orlikowsi & Scott’s work on Sociomateriality p. 443).

These two theoretical concepts have a direct impact on what is called ‘Boundary Theory’. This is where workers subconsciously or actively create and maintain barriers between their work life and home life. We can either think of technology as a way to accomplish our life and career goals or we can think of technology as a type of master that we are a type of slave to. Boundary Theory has become a lot more important since its first conceptualisation at the turn of the 21st century, with the now ubiquitous use of laptops, tablets and mobile phones that allow constant access to workplace files and communication.

Remote working has gone even further in highlighting how important it is to manage the right level of workplace technology use during time traditionally allocated to private pursuits and homelife. When remote working, some people have no choice to and some people prefer to integrate their family and work lives. ‘Integrators’ generally use the flexibility that technology allows them to manage home demands while still fulfilling workplace demands. Working while children are in bed or at school and being available in late afternoons for home-based responsibilities.

Other workers prefer to have distinct boundaries between work and home life. This is not so easy to do when remote working from home. Unless there is a separate space within the home to conduct work, it can be really difficult to mentally, physically and emotionally separate out the two life-realms. ‘Segmenters’ tend to get really frustrated and can become quite exhausted when they are not able to create these strong boundaries between their various responsibilities.

A few hints and tips:

If you prefer to segment than integrate different life-realms, but feel forced to due to remote working from home, below are a few potential ways you can create psychological boundaries between the two:

  • Use different technology for home and workplace activities
  • Try not to upload work emails onto your personal mobile phone. Some people use two different phones (one for personal and one for work use) so that they can switch off the work phone at the end of the working day
  • Have a ‘for work only’ notebook that you can leave somewhere easily accessible, so if you have a work-based idea/thought or you remember something you forgot to do, you can jot it down and tackle it the following working day
  • Walk around the block at the beginning or end of the working day. This can create a sense of ‘leaving home’ and ‘leaving the office’. It may not be quite the same as transporting yourself to an alternative location, but it can create a more definitive boundary between the two realms.
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Zoom Video Fatigue

Zoom Fatigue and Non-Verbal Overload

by Individual Differences and Impact

Video conferencing has become a major part of remote and hybrid working. The term ‘zoom fatigue’ quickly caught on during the early stages of the first 2020 lockdown. Being in meetings most of the day in the office had shifted to being in meetings most of the day on video calls. Some of us potentially increased the number of meetings they had each day. As someone recently commented to me “you’re now only 1-click away from the meeting, so it feels easy to be involved in every one of them”. 

As we know, video meetings are different from in-person meetings. There are no opportunities to have a quick whispered conversation about a point with someone, it is difficult to interrupt the speaker with questions, and you aren’t always able to see everyone who is in attendance at the meeting. In an academic article from Technology, Mind, and Body, Jeremy Bailenson highlights four potential (although hypothetical) causes of Zoom Fatigue. Below is a brief summary of the four points suggested by Bailenson in addition to some hints and tips on how to potentially manage zoom fatigue. 

Gazing up-close for long periods of time *

In face-to-face meetings, attendees spend a limited amount of time staring directly at the speaker or at every person in the room. In zoom meetings, attendees spend the majority of the meeting looking into the face of all participants on the screen for extended periods of time. The up-close, intense, and direct eye-gaze, normally reserved for family and close friends, but is now being employed for colleagues and strangers for extended periods of time each day.

Extra subconscious mental processing *

Non-verbal behaviour, such as body language, is a subconscious, complex and integrative part of face-to-face communication. With video conferencing, we need to make an intentional effort to both read and communicate these otherwise effortless non-verbal cues. Viewing only a face and upper body means we have to work harder to read and translate the reduced body language cues. Moreover, more mental work has to go into interpreting eye and body movement that may differ on a video-grid screen to that in face-to-face interactions.

The 'mirror effect' *

Although there is always the option to ‘hide self-view’ on zoom, the default for video conferencing software is the ability to constantly see your own reflection during a call. Research has show that this self-focus and evaluation of their reflection, can lead to more pro-social behaviour, but can also lead to higher stress levels and can prime women (more than men) to experience depression.

Physically less mobility *

In face-to-face meetings it is acceptable to move in the chair, stretch, get up or even refill a glass or cup. In these meetings participants can generally see everyone else in the room. In a zoom call, there is a very narrow ‘cone’ of view that participants need to remain in for the duration of the call. Being forced to sit in a camera’s view reduces movement. Additionally, excessive movement does encourage visual attention from others, so it is often ideal to remain as stationary as possible.

A few hints and tips:

Individuals:

  • Try turning on the ‘hide self-view’ option on your camera once you have positioned yourself in the correct place in front of the camera.
  • If you use a laptop, use an external keyboard, allowing you to distance yourself from the faces on screen.
  • Blocking out sections in your diary that allow for breaks between zoom meetings can give you time and opportunity to move around more. 
  • Attending only the meetings you need to, rather than attending just because you can, will reduce the possibility of you being expected to attend more meetings than you really need to participate in. 

Teams: 

  • Allow participants to turn off their camera’s (in addition to muting themselves) if they are not actively talking. This will give them the option of getting up, moving around and writing notes without feeling ‘watched’. 
  • Setting out explicit video conferencing norms and keeping track of changes in implicit norms will help employees and managers to create a much healthier relationship with video conferencing tools. 

Although there are some behavioural norms around video conferencing that will naturally evolve and become part of how we do remote working going forward. Some of these norms have become nuances across various business cultures, depending on company and team policies. It will take time to develop a uniform video conferencing culture. In the meantime, it may be that teams (or even companies) need to develop and implement explicit ‘rules’ and norms that help to manage video meetings and reduce employees’ resulting fatigue levels. 

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‘Remote Fatigue’ may become a systemic business issue of the future

by Individual Differences and Impact

A recent article in the WSJ showcases how Big Tech is adapting their work-based tools to help workers carve out breaks and manage work time around remote working. We’ve heard a lot about Zoom Fatigue over the past year, but this doesn’t quite encapsulate the level of fatigue that comes from working remotely. I suspect that ‘Remote Fatigue’ is going to become a much bigger focus in workplace conversations going forward. Although Big Tech are responding to some of the issues around digital exhaustion, the changes seem to be more beneficial to companies than to employees.

Using technology to work remotely from the office has a number of positive and negative psychological implications. On a positive note, it can be easier to manage home and work commitment (especially for working parents) and allows more time for physical and personal improvements; there can be fewer physical interruptions from colleagues, which can lead to more focus time; for introverts, engaging less with others can be less emotionally exhausting.

On a less positive note, working remotely means we spend more time ‘signalling’ to colleagues and managers that we are online and productive; we can use our traditional commuting time for catching up on work (rather than using that time as a physical and mental transition between work and home); it is easy to slip into working longer hours, becoming more and more tethered to our work technology; it’s difficult to maintain a team culture, resulting in feelings of isolation and loneliness; lower levels of managerial and co-worker communication can lead to lower levels of motivation and anxiety; longer hours spent stationary at a desk is not good for our physical and mental wellbeing. These factors can all contribute to ‘Remote Fatigue’ and need to be acknowledged and addressed by managers and business.

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What Does Flexible Working Really Mean

What does ‘flexible working’ really mean?

by Hybrid, Remote & Flexible Work

On 30 June 2014, the UK introduced the right to request flexible working for anyone employed in a company for longer than 26 weeks. This means that even if you don’t have childcare or caring responsibilities, you have the right to request the ability to work flexibly, potentially allowing workers to juggle home and work-based responsibilities. Employers have the right to refuse any flexible working requests (for business reasons). Flexible working means that some workers can stay in employment longer and businesses are able to hold onto talent and potentially increase the geographical reach of their talent search. 

Now that restrictions are easing, a few companies are starting to get staff back into the office with differing forms of working practice. Even Big Tech companies in the US are differing in the type of Hybrid Working Model they would prefer to implement, coming out of the Lockdown restrictions. 

It will take some time for us to understand what bespoke working model works well for each individual company and industry. It will also take some time to understand how various forms of remote and hybrid working will impact businesses, managers, leaders, teams, and workers going forward. What we can guess, is that remote and flexible working arrangements will become a bigger part of the benefits package negotiations for those in more senior positions, those with a higher demand for specialist or expert skillsets and in industries where demand far outweighs supply.

There are used to be a strong narrative around ‘finding a job you love doing, as it will bring you the greatest level of life-satisfaction’. I think this mindset no longer applies. I think better advice for future workers is to work out what lifestyle they would prefer to have and then find a career or job that they will gain some satisfaction from, but that will suit their lifestyle, and become as skilled as they can within that career, so that they can enjoy the lifestyle they prefer. Technology has certainly made this reality a possibility and will continue to make it even more so in the future. It may be that companies who want to attract the best talent, and be the most efficient, productive and profitable by doing so, may need to embrace this as a potential reality going forward. If you want to attract the right talent into your working teams, you may need to revisit your flexible, remote and hybrid working practices, along with the cultural norms that surround those practices. 

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Combating Remote Fatigue

by Hybrid, Remote & Flexible Work

We’ve heard a lot about Zoom Fatigue over the past year, as is highlighted in a recent Wall Street Journal article that talks about ‘Digital Exhaustion’. Being exhausted by engaging in digital technology doesn’t quite encapsulate the level of fatigue that comes from working remotely. I suspect that ‘Remote Fatigue’ is going to become a much bigger focus in workplace conversations going forward. 

Using technology to work remotely from the office has a number of positive and negative psychological implications. 

On a positive note, it can be easier to manage home and work commitments (especially for working parents) and allows more time for physical and personal improvements. There can also be fewer physical interruptions from colleagues, which can lead to more focus time. For introverts, engaging less with others can be less emotionally exhausting. 

On a less positive note, working remotely means we spend more time ‘signalling’ to colleagues and managers that we are online and productive; we can use our traditional commuting time for catching up on work (rather than using that time as a physical and mental transition between work and home); it is easy to slip into working longer hours, becoming more and more tethered to our work technology; it’s difficult to maintain a team culture, resulting in feelings of isolation and loneliness; lower levels of managerial and co-worker communication can lead to lower levels of motivation and anxiety; longer hours spent stationary at a desk is not good for our physical and mental wellbeing.

These factors can all contribute to ‘Remote Fatigue’ and need to be acknowledged and addressed by managers and business.

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Just over 10% of workers want to return to ‘the old normal’

by Hybrid, Remote & Flexible Work

According to The Guardian, many of those working at home during lockdown want to change how they work going forward. Many only want to go into the office 3 days a week, believing both their productivity and work-home balance will improve.

This has implications for the way businesses recruit new employees, in addition to what employees are looking for both in their current roles and future roles.

This lockdown period has been tough on working parents, who have to juggle work and chores with childcare and home-schooling. Once their children are back at school, they should experience even greater benefits in remote working.

New employee soft skills and leadership skills will need to be developed to manage the new emerging combination of virtual and office-based teams.

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How work is shifting

by Hybrid, Remote & Flexible Work

Current necessity may have sped up the inevitable trend towards remote and flexible working practices. Our perceptions and narratives may need to change as we (re)discover the benefits of working-from-home and companies may need to change their working practices and benefits to attract key skills and future talent.

There is no doubt that the working world is shifting for knowledge workers. The intensity of that shift is still to be determined, but what this first day of UK lock-down is showing us, is that it is possible for employees to operate remotely and (to a greater or lesser degree) successfully. There have been a number of compromises and disruptions involved in this rather rapid scramble to get as many people set up to work from home as quickly and effectively as possible, but most people have managed to find a (semi-)workable solution. 

What the next few weeks (or potentially months) may reveal, is how many companies may view flexible and remote working going forward, and how employees may change their perspective of, and requirements around, their work-life balance. Although there are some negative aspects of remote or flexible working, there are also many benefits: 

  • For staff: working from home, and less time community, allows for more personal and family time, more time to improve sleep, fitness and nutrition, more time to engage in the local community, hobbies or spending time with the kids and greater opportunities to live anywhere in the world and still do their job.
  • For companies: recruiting those outside of a natural geographic remit could provide a wider pool of more or higher-skilled workers to manage projects. Fewer people working at HQ means lower fixed costs and potentially lower rents if HQ doesn’t have to be based in larger conurbations. 
  • For the environment: less commuting reduces carbon footprint and lowers peak-hour travel congestion.

For remote or flexible working to be effective, we are going to need to challenge workplace culture and workplace narratives around productivity from that of job success = time spent on work, to job success = output delivery. There will also need to be some training around: 

  • strategies to effectively manage working time vs non-working time
  • managing mental wellness when working alone 
  • balancing work and personal technology use and demands
  • cyber-security and how to mitigate attacks on personal and company resources 

It is impossible to predict the future, especially around so much uncertainty, but this systemic upheaval in our working lives may have a number of profound effects on the way we work going forward than we can really imagine at this point.  

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