This week wraps up another year of teaching at the University of Oxford. Summer is here, and my work with the Digital Capabilities team takes a break over the summer, before Michaelmas Term starts again in autumn.
For the first time since I started this year had more in person components, including two days of fully in person sessions with cohorts from across the university. Getting to work with such a diverse range of people in a unique institutional context whilst exploring all aspects of hybrid working is great fun.
Last year, I was focused mostly on Digital Wellbeing in my reflection at the end of the academic year, and although this remains relevant there are now other dimensions of hybrid working that have come to the forefront:
AI in the workplace: AI-enabled tools and platforms have spread widely and quickly in the workplace. With such a strong commercial motivation, every major tech player has quickly incorporated enhancements designed to improve digital productivity for the user, whilst collecting data and increasing prices for providers. Across the range of responses to the arrival of this type of technology, from enthusiastic early adopters to skeptically cautious users, I have yet to meet the professional who feels less busy, less time-poor or less stressed as a result of using AI. Instead what I have observed is that the pace of digital productivity, increased by time-saving AI applications in particular, is causing overwhelm, burnout and a frantic sense of having to keep up with the pace set by technology.
Medium term consequences: Also emerging are the now medium term consequences of hybrid working at scale. With the pandemic moving further away and workplace practices and policies becoming more stable, we are able to observe what the impact of hybrid working at scale is for the first time. Even across just one institution, the picture is mixed: some groups have mostly gone back to the office, offering flexibility on certain days, whilst others have gone mostly remote, with a common anchor day to be present on campus. Some groups of staff love working from home, whilst many struggle with overwork and lack of work/life balance. A common complaint is that it now feels like one is “living at work” (instead of working from home) and the accompanying (perceived or actual) expectation of having to be available all of the time.
Hybrid leadership capabilities: More and more institutions identify staff (and also student) hybrid working capabilities as a strategic priority, and quickly realise that leaders have little capabilities to effective manage and support staff in such a context. This is the area I am most interested in, and where my work is most focused at the moment.
It’s been a joy to work with Emma Procter-Legg and her colleagues for another year, and I am excited to pick things back up for the start of the next academic year.
