Today I Will Do Absolutely Nothing - calendar note

Every day you come to work is a day of your life that you trade. Is it worth it?

The future of work isn’t merely about hybrid models, remote work, or artificial intelligence. It’s about power—who controls work, how much of it gets done, and under what conditions.

For decades, organizations dictated not only when and where people worked but blurred the lines between personal and professional lives. Now, employees are rewriting the rules. The rise of the gig economy, the surge in independent work, and the trend toward portfolio careers all point to one reality: people want to work differently, and they have the options to do so.

For many, the pandemic wasn’t just a disruption—it was an awakening. Remote work and technology-driven flexibility led people to question the traditional rules of work:

These questions are reshaping the very essence of work in people’s lives. Employees now expect more than just a paycheck; they want control over how, when, and where they work, and even what they work on. Whether it’s knowledge workers seeking remote options or retail employees looking for flexible shifts, flexibility, personalization, and autonomy have become baseline expectations.

When companies like Amazon double down on return-to-office (RTO) policies, they risk misunderstanding the true post-Covid shift, assuming it’s merely about enabling remote or hybrid work for knowledge workers. But the change runs far deeper. It’s no longer about whether you think employees can........

© Forbes