In Franz Kafka’s famous novel The Trial, Joseph K is arrested by mysterious agents who never reveal his crime. He isn’t jailed but forced to continue his ordinary life, plagued by paranoia and confusion. After futile attempts to uncover his offence, he gives up, and one morning is executed outside his home by the same agents. This dystopian comedy highlights the absurdity of bureaucracy. I recently heard someone compare their job to it — except the execution piece!
With working from home now widespread, employees often find themselves on video calls for much of the day — sometimes up to eight hours on Teams or Zoom. What once took a quick desk chat is now replaced by back-to-back online meetings, leaving little space to think. Added to this is the isolation of working alone, with fewer opportunities for casual face-to-face connection. Alongside the loneliness comes a rise in “work about work”: chasing people for updates, scheduling follow-ups, and managing an endless stream of emails. For many, this feels more like administrative drag than productive work.
Layered on top is growing uncertainty about artificial intelligence. Headlines regularly announce companies cutting staff and replacing them with AI tools or “digital agents.” While some see opportunity, many feel insecure, worried their skills may soon be devalued.
Taken together — endless video calls, reduced human contact, rising admin, and the looming threat of AI — it’s little wonder that employee anxiety levels are climbing.
For employers, here are three things to consider as many return from a well-earned summer break and the deluge of work begins:
- Cancel every recurring meeting in your organisation and tell employees they can put them back in the diary after two weeks. Companies that have tried this found that around 40% of recurring meetings never return. A great way to give employees back some time.
- Train all staff on AI from top to bottom. But instead of framing it as employee replacement, work with teams to explore how AI plus human can improve and grow the business. The more advanced forms of AI will take longer than many expect to replace employees, Be honest — most employees already understand the potential of AI, so partner with them.
- Move the focus from where employees work to how they engage. Instead of debating hybrid versus remote or how many days people should be in the office, ask how many meaningful conversations managers are having with their employees, and how employee engagement is being measured and managed.
Kafka imagined Joseph K battling faceless agents and nameless crimes. For many employees today, it’s endless meetings, email chases, and robotic recruitment processes. The challenge for leaders is to make sure modern work doesn’t feel like a Kafka novel – although we can always do with some dark humour.
Peter Cosgrove is Managing Director of Futurewise and advises companies on how to navigate the new world of work.
