Is the metaverse the future of the workplace?
In September 2021 I wrote about the reaction within Apple to the company’s evolving remote working policy. At the time, Apple mandated more on-site presence from its workforce. Over 2000 Apple employees wrote back to CEO Tim Cook requesting more flexibility on an ongoing basis. In the last few months, several other high profile companies including EY, Disney and Starbucks have made headlines as they mandate more on-site presence from their employees.
While some companies are pushing to return their employees to physical workspaces, others are exploring how to enable collaboration in digital workspaces. Examples include BMW’s digital twin factory where the global workforce can collaborate anytime, anywhere on an end-to-end factory simulation. A Japanese chain of convenience stores, FamilyMart, is trialling employees stocking shelves remotely using virtual reality technology.
Organisational priorities change over time. At Twitter, the ‘remote forever’ policy announced in 2020 was reversed with Elon Musk’s takeover of the company last year, who cited productivity as a reason to require employees to return to the physical workplace. Since then, reports suggest Twitter is closing some of its offices and asking employees to switch to remote work to reduce overheads
Deloitte’s Human Capital Trends report, published in January 2023 highlights that ‘in the relationship between work and workplace, work has to lead’. Ultimately, productivity is the strongest incentive for employers. From an occupational health perspective, we know that as well as flexibility and autonomy, support and positive workplace relationships reduce work related stress and contribute to workplace health and wellbeing. As more companies explore work based in digital environments, a trade-off may emerge between these factors.
Seamless remote collaboration may be made possible in digital workplaces by new technology but the importance of face-to-face contact for mental health is one of the lessons learned across settings from the covid-19 pandemic. Bringing digital workplaces into non-work surroundings comes with blurring of boundaries between work and life, which can also have negative consequences. If the future of the workplace is the metaverse, organisations investing in these technologies have a responsibility to consider the impact holistically, rather than focussing on strategy driven by productivity alone. The relationship between our work and our health is evolving in digital workplaces. Occupational health must be a part of the dialogue at an organisational level and beyond.