Observations and More Lessons Learned from the New Normal
It’s odd how companies have always had rules to which they had strictly adhered, but the lockdowns and behavioral changes brought several other necessary changes and issues to light, and always important for founders to observe and find that white space in the landscape that need that needs to be filled. In terms of the current work landscape, for example, employees are not only working from home, but presently, sometimes from a home that might be thousands of miles away from the office. Suddenly, we can not only work remotely: it has been more or less mandatory for months and considering that 500K+ residents have already permanently left NYC, that trend may well continue. No worries: we’ve proven that we can work for a NYC-based company, even if we’re in, say, Ohio. Zoom is the new normal and the stock price, yes, zoomed.
Not surprisingly, tracking devices on employees’ computers are also becoming the new normal. Just because you’re working from home doesn’t mean your boss isn’t watching you, Vox reported. In fact, “Software that monitors remote employees is seeing a sales boom.” Speaking of Zoom, “The videoconferencing software, for example, used to allow hosts on its paid service to turn on something called “attention tracking.” This feature let them see if meeting attendees navigated away from the app for longer than 30 seconds during a meeting, which served as a good indication that they were looking at something else. It couldn’t see what they were looking at instead, and it could only be activated when the host was in screen-sharing mode… the company disabled the feature after widespread outcry, which demonstrates how much people dislike features like these and why employers should exercise discretion if and when they use them.”