Future of work, but make it Chingona
Written by: Divya C. Reddy
As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds further, its impact will continue to ripple out and change the way we think about the future of public health, connection, and work. We’re living in a world where any job that can go remote is going remote. Companies are adapting their roles, technology, and expectations around remote work — a strong, though unwelcome, leap into the “future.”
As a whole, we hadn’t prepared for this, and because of that, we’ll likely see a strong pushback until the right tools, benefits, and supports are in place. Startups in those areas are getting attention (very deservedly so). Still, here at Chingona Ventures, we think that’s just a part of the puzzle to bring us to the next future.
When the future becomes the new normal
While we expect many companies to revert to their former state, there will be some that use this COVID-19 catalyst to move forward. Thinking back to day 1 of working from home, who among us didn’t envy our colleagues with a second screen at home? Sidenote: did anyone else try a TV for a minute, only to realize it’s a woefully different experience? Companies need a better way to keep track of their equipment if they’re lending it out, a specialty of our friends at Rheaply. Or, if you use your own, they need better assuredness that it is secure.
Still, we think there are potential tools even more potent than that monitor. With new work arrangements, how can employers maintain employee engagement and reduce burnout when the lines between work and home become more blurred? If there’s a silver lining to COVID-19, it’s that employers are becoming more empathetic to burnout and employee well-being. This includes empathy towards parents who are consistently wearing somewhere between let’s say 2–10 hats at any given time. Understanding aside, burnout runs the US over $100 Billion in healthcare spending, especially salient for self-insured companies. Fast forward a few months, years, and health crises; voluntary turnover can cost a company ~33% of an employee’s salary to find a replacement.
With that in mind, it’s becoming increasingly important for companies to understand their employees on a deeper level and to assess fit for a role via qualities like grit, resilience, and flexibility. It’s time to retire the age-old “airport test” or similar tools. Those qualities are also getting an opportunity to come to the forefront in Illinois schools, giving even more credence to the long term importance of developing and understanding these skills. We wonder if there are ways to combine insights from systems like Anthill or those that provide tools to drive empathy like our portfolio company Vantage Point. That combination could be notable as today’s existing management and workers need to retune. We also worry that without a thoughtful approach, the shift to more remote could disproportionately impact sponsorship and mentorship for minorities and women. Assumptions and biases are mental shortcuts, and in a world where building connections is harder than ever, we need tools to lighten the burden to see positive strides here.
Lastly, this experience has taught us how much geography matters — both in terms of customers and employees. While companies are more distributed and global, we need companies like Mistro to help localize benefits meaningfully (beyond changing out reward dollars for reward euros…).
Reimaging employment as sector dynamics change
Between the current unemployment rate nearing 20% and the gig employment rate continuing to grow, we’re expecting the widespread shift in the workforce spurred by COVID19. For example, we expect companies to move towards cashier-less checkout and other “digital employees.”
Individuals in some of the most harshly impacted sectors will seek out retraining. Shout out to our portfolio company, Career Karma, for helping here! We also want employers to have more insight into the core skills required for their jobs and find employees who are outside their traditional profiles. We love the work Stellar Employ and Daughters of Rosie are doing in this area. We often hear that you want to be able to show that you’ve done the work before you actually get hired to do it, and we need more creative ways to do that as a whole.
We’ve also learned just how essential the gig worker is and need to find better ways to support them. The push for gig employee benefits (ex: healthcare) has been a top of mind topic for some time now. However, we now see additional pressure to get tracking and systems in place to unlock unemployment benefits, for example. As it stands, without a simple record of employment, it’s incredibly tough to ensure you can get a portion of your old wages.
What else are we wondering about in our spare time?
This experience has been wildly humanizing; we’re all letting our hair down a bit. But, for some of us, virtual Zoom backgrounds are a godsend to keep some of our private life, and corresponding hints about our socioeconomic conditions, private.
There’s an acceptance that working from home comes with cameos from loved ones (Samara’s definitely gotten to know my cats much better through this experience), which has us wondering about the future of family. And of course, analyzing the future of work leads to thinking about the future of retirement.
There’s so much more to explore here as we reflect on what types of business can support the shifts in society we’ll see, as well as the ones we want to see. But we’ll save that for another day.
