Could COVID Redefine What We Classify As Normal Employment?
If you’ve followed me for any reasonable amount of time, you may have noticed that I try to use traditional and social media to help me identify emerging business trends.
The most meaningful trends are rarely visible from the surface and usually require some imagination and cross-referencing.
Last week, I came across a tweet that really piqued my interest.
While I’m sure it was intended to be a light-hearted comment that was posted for entertainment, I don’t doubt that there is some truth baked in there.
In the current work environment, where doing your job remotely is allowed and in some cases required, employees now have the freedom to do more of what they want on their own schedule.
In theory, this could include doing more work for another employer.
Regardless of my initial impression, the subsequent ‘Likes’ totaling over 1,300 and over 80 people who reposted it to their broader audience could lead to more and more people asking themselves if they could do the same.
For people with part-time jobs, this may have always been the case. For individuals with a full-time job, this would likely appear challenging and in some cases in breach of contract, particularly if your employment agreement forbids it.
What gave me the confidence to write this article was what happened in the days after I read this tweet. I was on a video call with a close friend and he randomly threw out the idea that he may consider looking for additional full-time work opportunities to take on while keeping his current full-time job.
This friend, who shall remain nameless for the sake of his relationship with his employer, isn’t a regular on Twitter and had no knowledge that I read a similar post on Twitter a week earlier.
To me, this represents the permeation of an idea that is clearly gaining traction. When I notice similar ideas from disconnected places, I start to take notice.
This all comes as recent debates in California swirl around how to define the employment status for the ‘gig economy.’ This refers to drivers of Uber, Lyft, and other companies that use contracted and ad-hoc workforces.
The California bill, known as AB35, seeks to redefine what separates contractors from traditional full-time employees and is being fiercely debated right now.
In my view, this entire topic is worth a discussion.
The modern 9am to 5pm work schedule was birthed out of the Industrial Revolution and gained traction as labor unions grew. Since then, it’s just the way we’ve done things.
But does it make it the optimal way we should be working? I don’t think so.
Therefore, it’s not difficult to think that the common definitions of work hours will change?
There are a lot of companies, of all sizes, that care more about employee results and output than they do hours worked. In this scenario, it wouldn’t be impractical to think someone could manage multiple ‘full-time’ jobs as long as they are getting their work done.
What do you think? Has anyone in your network attempted something like this or would be willing to do so?