First, I would probably learn more about time management and strategic planning skills. I'd enroll on those classes to be more efficient in the workplace (I have expounded more on this on the following paragraphs). But aside from that, (and improving my cooking skills to allow better sustenance as I would be staying home more often), learning much about how AI works, particularly in my Smarter Social company, I'd gain a better understanding on how I can properly adapt and be more productive, thus ensuring I retain my 3 day work week and not have it revoked.
Thus, allow me to provide some additional thoughts and opinions based on the above statement. Reduced workdays may have been tried and tested previously by other companies much to their success as productivity is weighed against schedules and demands. However, in an IT setup, one has to consider how core processes like customer service needs to be addressed in terms of schedules and demand (AI can provide support only in terms of resource allocation,
Adaptability of the company workforce may answer the balancing of work shifts, if management has put well in place a suitable system for the 3 day work shift. Amd, given the current setup, AI can help out in maintaining order on the employees' changing work schedules based on the work output demands, as dictated by the customer needs as well. But arguably, how well can AI and the employee workforce withstand the unpredictable growing demands of the company's customer needs?
And as much as AI can augment productivity by eliminating repetitive and unnecessary work routines, the workforce is still left with settling the complexities of strategizing and assessing the current needs of their customers. The strategizing and planning may still take up more time as demands are not sufficiently and efficiently met, and this too, may shorten the work hours allocated for actual work productivity. And working overtime then poses a threat to the 3 day work week system.
And with that, I could say that aside from lessening and eliminating work-related stress and the work dissatisfaction, the economy would get more boost not only through the direct revenue of Smart Social and other similar companies, but indirectly too, boosting revenues in other areas like entertainment (malls, etc.), learning institutions (think of vocational schools) , tourism (more vacations) as more professionals have time and money to spend.
But, at the same time, probably not all companies can avail of this setup. Healthcare and emergency services, require a 24/7 work coverage. Other companies too, esp. larger ones, given the complexities of their operations, and their multi-national and multi-cultural structures, may give up on adapting this system, since strategizing for it will be hard, even with AI and ML.
Given that these opinions (and challenges) I mentioned are hurdled, I believe that it is possible to come up with 3 day work setup. All that we need is to come up with solutions for different industries, consistently and constantly plan and strategize, making full use of AI and ML to address the diverse needs to meet productivity demands within a 3-day work week.
Thanks for this thorough assessment — you mentioned great points! I agree that it's unlikely certain industries, like emergency response sectors, could move away from 24/7 human coverage. But there might be higher-level admin work that could benefit from AI to at least alleviate workload so that human/financial resources could be reallocated to where it's needed (usually on the field). This would at least help the understaffed/overworked situation at many emergency places. You then have more staff members to take shifts so that workers could have shorter work days.
Do you think AI could be advanced enough to accurately predict and maybe solve customer needs? It seems like there's a lot of development right now in the customer service space with AI — not just anticipating a customer's problem/response but also trying to automate tasks to solve for it. I mean even the idea of an AI being a company's CEO is being explored right now through experiments like at NetDragon Websoft.
Yes, I would agree on that point. AI can always be utilized in such a way that it's immense computing power can actually make a substantial difference in terms of properly scheduling the workforce properly, vis-a-vis taking into consideration the staff work hours and the workers.
Although AI has the capability to learn from experience like us humans do, and make inferences and decisions to possibly come up with viable solutions, AI I believe, still lacks the human element that makes the optimum solution - intuition to make adaptable solutions backed by self-awareness, imagination, and the passion of motivation that prospective customers would always relate to, and in turn, be more accepting of the solution presented to them.
The immense computing power I mentioned may be advanced enough to appropriately correlate complex problems and corresponding solutions, assessing and then synthesizing the best possible solution to arrive at the best outcome. Some companies teach their AI programs the most viable methods when solving complex problems which still require some human intervention, or guidance, so to speak.
In terms of progress, AI has come a long way from simply collecting data and properly managing them, to properly analysing data and making accurate predictions and decisions. But human innovation and creativity makes for a big factor when wowing potential customers, and intuition come into play if the customer will rather make a risk with the method used to obtain the projected output or result.
I believe too, that AI and humans still need to work together and learn from each other. An AI CEO devoid of human compassion and human understanding may not necessarily choose the right words when letting a team go because of lost of revenue. A CEO may be replaced by Ai if one knows how to mitigate and address financial risks and boost the marketing sales, but one has to consider the human factor pf accountability to its motivated, hard-working employees, and how to negotiate and sell a vision to its customers. But, then again, if given the right constructs and programming, maybe even the CEO can drive home a vision, and rake in potential customers (but still, we have the "human touch" of administrators and developers/programmers to thank for that).
Apr 14, 2023·edited Apr 14, 2023Liked by Ruth Guerra (Moderator)
I'm all for work-life balance. Having more time to recharge physically and mentally will relax our neurons :) to make them productive again, capable of more creative and strategic thinking. I don't think I'm a workaholic when I think about work while I stir fry my weekend veggies or while I'm taking a long warm bath. But those moments of feeling relaxed physically and freeing my mind of unnecessary stress at work, in the office, doing "tasks" and attending meetings, give me the mind space to think strategically about long term project plans, think futuristically, think systemically, envision roadmaps and my larger audience and stakeholders. It is in the quiet and thoughtful times that you really allow yourself, your mind, to really think about things. Be it about work or otherwise. Having more time also to manage your personal life will give you the peace of mind and the focus you need when you are at work, thus, you become more productive and effective (in both areas).
On the other hand, I'm a bit concerned about how technology is taking over my work, our work... our jobs? Classic concern. Organizations need to determine the extent of how technology can deliver the services and outputs expected from the company. Employers need to identify what part of the organization's service to the customer can be delivered by technology and what part can only be effectively delivered by their human resources. Employers also need to develop their workforce to enable them to support the technology they are using, and support their customers that are now interfacing with the technology. In the same manner, employers need to let technology empower their employees to be more productive and innovative since technology is supposed to simplify processes and make work more efficient. Shifting to AI enabled processes at work is more than just a technology and process change but is, to a great extent, a culture change and needs to be managed accordingly with the lens of empathy.
First, I would probably learn more about time management and strategic planning skills. I'd enroll on those classes to be more efficient in the workplace (I have expounded more on this on the following paragraphs). But aside from that, (and improving my cooking skills to allow better sustenance as I would be staying home more often), learning much about how AI works, particularly in my Smarter Social company, I'd gain a better understanding on how I can properly adapt and be more productive, thus ensuring I retain my 3 day work week and not have it revoked.
Thus, allow me to provide some additional thoughts and opinions based on the above statement. Reduced workdays may have been tried and tested previously by other companies much to their success as productivity is weighed against schedules and demands. However, in an IT setup, one has to consider how core processes like customer service needs to be addressed in terms of schedules and demand (AI can provide support only in terms of resource allocation,
Adaptability of the company workforce may answer the balancing of work shifts, if management has put well in place a suitable system for the 3 day work shift. Amd, given the current setup, AI can help out in maintaining order on the employees' changing work schedules based on the work output demands, as dictated by the customer needs as well. But arguably, how well can AI and the employee workforce withstand the unpredictable growing demands of the company's customer needs?
And as much as AI can augment productivity by eliminating repetitive and unnecessary work routines, the workforce is still left with settling the complexities of strategizing and assessing the current needs of their customers. The strategizing and planning may still take up more time as demands are not sufficiently and efficiently met, and this too, may shorten the work hours allocated for actual work productivity. And working overtime then poses a threat to the 3 day work week system.
And with that, I could say that aside from lessening and eliminating work-related stress and the work dissatisfaction, the economy would get more boost not only through the direct revenue of Smart Social and other similar companies, but indirectly too, boosting revenues in other areas like entertainment (malls, etc.), learning institutions (think of vocational schools) , tourism (more vacations) as more professionals have time and money to spend.
But, at the same time, probably not all companies can avail of this setup. Healthcare and emergency services, require a 24/7 work coverage. Other companies too, esp. larger ones, given the complexities of their operations, and their multi-national and multi-cultural structures, may give up on adapting this system, since strategizing for it will be hard, even with AI and ML.
Given that these opinions (and challenges) I mentioned are hurdled, I believe that it is possible to come up with 3 day work setup. All that we need is to come up with solutions for different industries, consistently and constantly plan and strategize, making full use of AI and ML to address the diverse needs to meet productivity demands within a 3-day work week.
Thanks for this thorough assessment — you mentioned great points! I agree that it's unlikely certain industries, like emergency response sectors, could move away from 24/7 human coverage. But there might be higher-level admin work that could benefit from AI to at least alleviate workload so that human/financial resources could be reallocated to where it's needed (usually on the field). This would at least help the understaffed/overworked situation at many emergency places. You then have more staff members to take shifts so that workers could have shorter work days.
Do you think AI could be advanced enough to accurately predict and maybe solve customer needs? It seems like there's a lot of development right now in the customer service space with AI — not just anticipating a customer's problem/response but also trying to automate tasks to solve for it. I mean even the idea of an AI being a company's CEO is being explored right now through experiments like at NetDragon Websoft.
Yes, I would agree on that point. AI can always be utilized in such a way that it's immense computing power can actually make a substantial difference in terms of properly scheduling the workforce properly, vis-a-vis taking into consideration the staff work hours and the workers.
Although AI has the capability to learn from experience like us humans do, and make inferences and decisions to possibly come up with viable solutions, AI I believe, still lacks the human element that makes the optimum solution - intuition to make adaptable solutions backed by self-awareness, imagination, and the passion of motivation that prospective customers would always relate to, and in turn, be more accepting of the solution presented to them.
The immense computing power I mentioned may be advanced enough to appropriately correlate complex problems and corresponding solutions, assessing and then synthesizing the best possible solution to arrive at the best outcome. Some companies teach their AI programs the most viable methods when solving complex problems which still require some human intervention, or guidance, so to speak.
In terms of progress, AI has come a long way from simply collecting data and properly managing them, to properly analysing data and making accurate predictions and decisions. But human innovation and creativity makes for a big factor when wowing potential customers, and intuition come into play if the customer will rather make a risk with the method used to obtain the projected output or result.
I believe too, that AI and humans still need to work together and learn from each other. An AI CEO devoid of human compassion and human understanding may not necessarily choose the right words when letting a team go because of lost of revenue. A CEO may be replaced by Ai if one knows how to mitigate and address financial risks and boost the marketing sales, but one has to consider the human factor pf accountability to its motivated, hard-working employees, and how to negotiate and sell a vision to its customers. But, then again, if given the right constructs and programming, maybe even the CEO can drive home a vision, and rake in potential customers (but still, we have the "human touch" of administrators and developers/programmers to thank for that).
I'm all for work-life balance. Having more time to recharge physically and mentally will relax our neurons :) to make them productive again, capable of more creative and strategic thinking. I don't think I'm a workaholic when I think about work while I stir fry my weekend veggies or while I'm taking a long warm bath. But those moments of feeling relaxed physically and freeing my mind of unnecessary stress at work, in the office, doing "tasks" and attending meetings, give me the mind space to think strategically about long term project plans, think futuristically, think systemically, envision roadmaps and my larger audience and stakeholders. It is in the quiet and thoughtful times that you really allow yourself, your mind, to really think about things. Be it about work or otherwise. Having more time also to manage your personal life will give you the peace of mind and the focus you need when you are at work, thus, you become more productive and effective (in both areas).
On the other hand, I'm a bit concerned about how technology is taking over my work, our work... our jobs? Classic concern. Organizations need to determine the extent of how technology can deliver the services and outputs expected from the company. Employers need to identify what part of the organization's service to the customer can be delivered by technology and what part can only be effectively delivered by their human resources. Employers also need to develop their workforce to enable them to support the technology they are using, and support their customers that are now interfacing with the technology. In the same manner, employers need to let technology empower their employees to be more productive and innovative since technology is supposed to simplify processes and make work more efficient. Shifting to AI enabled processes at work is more than just a technology and process change but is, to a great extent, a culture change and needs to be managed accordingly with the lens of empathy.