Building the companies of tomorrow

Thoughts on the future of work this May 1st from Quidli

Image taken from “Coders of the world, unite,” The Guardian, October 2017

Born from the labor movements of the early 20th century, May 1st has become a day to commemorate workers worldwide. But with social and technological advances come new challenges to labor dynamics in the 21st century.

For some in the next-gen workforce, there’s little interest in pursuing lifelong careers if they can’t spend money earned.

Benefits of industrialization and capitalism have been arguably plentiful. With greater distribution of wealth and access to technologies, qualities of life and labor have improved for many. Yet, happiness hasn’t increased. In the 21st century, it’s apparent there’s diminishing returns to how much happiness money brings. And for some in the next-gen workforce, there’s little interest in pursuing lifelong careers if they can’t spend money earned; today’s working people desire meaning over money and flexibility over stability in jobs.

Technology has historically been a tool to improve workers’ lives. But it’s increasingly apparent the tech industry is, well, an industry — profits and obligations to investors come first, but the earnings rarely trickle down to workers. In 2017, TripAdvisor’s CEO earned $48 million in 2017, 500 times the average for an employee; despite 60% revenue growth, Amazon opts to raise the price for Prime in 2018. Tech, with its images of t-shirts instead of suits, is clearly no longer aligned with the modern workforce.

Workers are turning to freelancing or joining startups with visions they believe in, regardless of profitability. Such trends are the bricks for the companies of tomorrow.

So it’s not surprising that even workers in the tech industry are no longer happy-go-lucky. With more and more murmurs about technological unemployment from the rise of AI in labor and decreasing trust in Big Tech over privacy and personal data, workers may turn to freelancing or joining startup companies with visions they believe in, regardless of profitability. And such trends are shaping to be the bricks for the companies of tomorrow.

Quidli believes a growing number of workers are no longer satisfied with jobs just to earn salary. Instead, they’ll choose to be entrepreneurs or pursue work in passion projects in exchange for ownership equity. Companies will be built by communities and ‘crowdstorming’ (for both ideas and funding), unobstructed by fixed working hours or geographic borders. All contributors will take part in exits based respective efforts in cases of success.

A growing number of workers are no longer satisfied just to earn salary. Instead, they’ll choose to be entrepreneurs or pursue work in passion projects in exchange for equity.

Work-for-equity certainly isn’t a widely adopted compensation model; there are many challenges today, including ensuring basic income for working people to survive, establishing fairness in equity, finding balance between risk and trust, etc. But in the spirit of May Day, we at Quidli wanted to share our thoughts on the future of work. After all, we’re going to help drive it.

Happy International Workers’ Day! Let’s rework work together!

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