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Wednesday, 8 June 2022

Work is getting harder and more stressful as the years pass + Microsoft’s metaverse plans take a hit with departure of HoloLens boss

Employees across all sectors report work intensification despite new technologies: Robots, machinery AI, and the like have all been hailed as being an essential part of making work easier and faster for humans. However, the humans in question have shown that the reality is quite the opposite, writes the Financial Times, citing government surveys. People now say they are working harder to tighter deadlines while experiencing greater levels of tension and stress. The share of employees who strongly agree that their job requires that they work “very hard” jumped between 1992 and 2017, rising 16 percentage points to 46%, according to UK government surveys. The proportion who cited that they work to “tight deadlines” at least three quarters of the time also rose to 60% in 2017 from 53% in 1992. This trend of intensifying work conditions is applicable across several sectors, from employees at major multinationals to workers at small local businesses, as well as across the globe with similar figures found in the US and Europe.

So why is this happening? A number of answers have been posed by the FT. It’s possible that technology and its instant connectivity to others has led to tighter deadlines and the immediate need to address demands. Machinery has also pushed employees to be able to keep up with the faster pace while more tech is being employed to monitor and regulate their work. Another possible explanation is that workplaces have simply cut headcount to save costs without coming up with more efficient ways of doing things. It’s also possible that email and instant messaging platforms, which keep employees accessible beyond work hours and outside of the office, simply tire people out mentally as they lead to constant distractions.

What can be done? The four-day workweek could be a good solution, because if “we can’t work less hard, perhaps we should just work less.”


Microsoft’s metaverse plans take a hit with departure of HoloLens boss: The executive that led Microsoft’s augmented reality headset project — HoloLens — is leaving the company following allegations of misconduct, The Verge reports. Alex Kipman will leave the company in two months’ time, according to an internal email obtained by GeekWire. Business Insider had earlier reported that over 25 Microsoft employees have accused Kipman of misconduct and verbal abuse. Microsoft’s augmented reality team has lost some 100 people in the past year, many of them to Meta, the Wall Street Journal reports, as the company’s headset project reports disappointing sales — shipping only some 200-250k units since its launch in 2016 — despite bns of USDs in investments poured into the project by the company.

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