by The tour on the road to after capitalism stops today at Unilever, prompted by an outstanding Cold Call podcast that had Patrick Hull and Bill Kerr talking about company’s approach to the future of work. I admit to a few goosebumps moments, where they so right on, and overall it sure seems to be an amazing initiative.
They take the position that they “really want to redefine new models of working, so it’s not just you’re either fixed or you’re a gig worker, but how can we find some flex in the middle that helps people transition out of this traditional life cycle of work, the kind of 40-hour, 40-week, 40-year traditional employment pattern, and help get them future fit for a hundred year life, where they may want to slowly move into retirement, where they may want to spend some time looking after their kids, where they may want to set up their side hustle.” Okay, so The Non-Workers Paradise image of After Capitalism is a post-work future. But how we get to post-work from work won’t be easy. The quote above to me sets the table in the sense of how do we re-think. Granted, they aren’t thinking post-work per se, but they are helping us get on that road.
They also talk about rethinking what a job is, i.e., it is a collection of tasks. And they see that certain tasks will be taken over by the machine and require less human input, as the technology gets more advanced.
An interesting tidbit here – fear is not a good motivator. YES! They observed that “one of the things we know is, the way not to motivate people to learn new skills is to tell them, “You better re-skill or the robots are going to take your job away. So we’ve taken the view that if we can help people to discover their purpose, what makes them unique, how do they approach work in their own way…” Wow! The fit to a post-work After Capitalism future is that we see traditional jobs going away, but there is still “work” to do, but it’s more along the line of pursing interest than doing some drudgery bullshit job to eek out a living.
One more thing – and maybe my favorite! The U-Workers as a responsible alternative to the gig economy. “U-Workers no longer have a job title. They work on gigs and projects in Unilever, but they are still 100% Unilever employees. They are not gig workers, so they’re not contractors or anything. In fact, they’re an internal pool of contractors, if you like, but they remain Unilever employees. They get a guaranteed retainer. They get a package of social care, pension benefits, healthcare benefits. And they get a learning stipend. But in return for that, they then only need to work on projects. They can set up their own business on the side. They can look after their kids or aging parents, or they can gradually move into retirement.” Pinch me. This sure sounds like a big advance on the road to After Capitalism. Good work on work, Unilever! And kudos to Brian Kenny for a great interview! — Andy Hines
Leave a Reply