Liquid Life-The New Century

Work=No Life?

The moment we are born, tons of challenges and obstacles that we are bound facing it no matter what and there is no way that everyone can avoid  a "task" if they want to be successful in life is which is call "working". Everyone work in order to live and enjoy our life even better. Some would make their life even more meaningful with a great family and some men would be a breadwinner to take good care of his family.... it is all the need of working in order to get earnings in order to sustain your life better....but, when you think of your working environment, do you think is great place to work at? or does your company provides you the privilege for instance good facilities for the workers during work or just basically sit on a chair from the moment the work starts until you finish the task for whole day long? How would you think the way you being treated when comes to working?

However, speaking of this week lesson that covered one of the most unheard term by many people is called "Liquid Life".... So what does it means actually?...it also can be simply explained in a very straight forward meaning:

You and your personality+your task+ your personal leisure=work

or a much simpler way

*Spending your personal leisure time at the same time without neglecting your task in the place you are working at...and I only can recall Google (Googleplex).

People these days tend to look better offers from companies especially those requires alot of task and flexibility time of working would be added advantage as it is a part of working trend these days.

This even reminds me that during the lecture session, we do discussed about Google is one of the best place to work at and some say people that work with Google are one of the luckiest and best opportunity to work with Google. Google workplace contains most of the facilities like Cafes, Beach Volley ball, Pool table, TV cables for watching movies, A bathroom and its NOT TOILET where you can have your sweet shower in the middle of working, gymnasium and many more.... Cool isnt it? Enjoy+Work=Perfect combination. I am sure you do want to sit for the rest of the day facing your computer during working hours or constantly focusing your task until end of the day. It would be stressful as well..and that's why Google Corporations provides these facilities for their worker to have a better freedom and let them enjoy their leisure activity during working hours. The reason Google implement this concept because they want their workers to enjoy their leisure activities and at the same time serious when comes to work because. when providing best facilities to the workers, they would feel appreciated and work even better.

Things you might able to see in Googleplex

• Bicycles or scooters are used for efficient travel for meetings
• Googlers sharing cubes, yurts and huddle rooms – and very few solo offices.
• Laptops everywhere for easy use of sending mails and managing programes
• Foosball, pool tables, volleyball courts, assorted video games, pianos, ping pong tables, and gyms that offer yoga and dance classes.
• Grassroots employee groups for all interests, like meditation, film, wine tasting and salsa dancing.
• Cool cafes with all kinds of food & beverages for staffs
• Break rooms packed with a variety of snacks and drinks to keep Googlers going.                 (credits to Google.com/culture)***

 I am sure you would hope to work in one of this kind of company in future right? 

 Other than Google, companies like Volkswagen Pheton Plant, Germany, Who says you will get dirty when work in factories? or Noisy? or Feel Stress Up? Sit Back & Relax as most of the machines assemble the car and you only need to check for the quality to see any defects and there you go...

 

Clean and No worries.... you can even relax and let the robots do their job =)

Redbull? Yes Redbull, London.....is another great place to work and can be categorized  under one roof.....check it out..!

Ping Pong in the Meeting room? You got to be kidding me...but have fun why not?

Cafeteria and Relax area...Now you can even rest and enjoy your meal in style..forget about those stuffy and noisy cafeteria at your office...=)

Say no to stairs..just sit the slide and there you go..the next floor! Fun and relaxing

These companies mainly Google, completely change our way of the new era working style... Forget about those 9-5 jobs, Forget about your nice bath at home, Forget about going back just to watch your favorite movie,..you can have in these companies anytime you want as long you COMPLETE YOUR WORK!...no worries on the bosses that saw you watching and laughing in front of the TV anymore..! or flirting with some hot chicks in the office because all its yours..!

Mark Deuze claimed that "work and life are increasingly indiscernable in the play of the everyday, the key institutions linking their practices to modernity". Everything is moving in the fast paced condition these days..even with a single slacking off..you will be left behind lot....working these days is not like we use to listen from our grandparents time where go to market and just setup a stall and start selling...but nowadays, it becoming more competitive and the roles of every task assigned is important for a economy and the company. As a fact, people would work harder in order to get their earnings but at the same time, we have to think forward and modernize the meaning of "working" better. Working is not about seriousness on the job but also there must be some relaxation and fun towards it that will only produces a good quality piece of work... AND the worker's satisfaction too....

Mark Dueze also pointed out that the meaning of Liquid Life

Especially today in the 21st century,  A liquid life as mentioned by Mark Deuze,The Liquid means the work and consumption (life) have converged in to a newer lifestyle...!

Office vs Home

Come to think of it....do we work mostly in office or home which is your personal preference place?.... The way of people working these days changes dramatically where you can even operate your business at home with the help of internet like social networking and forums.... talk about Lowyat.net for instance, many people post up their businesses in forum and once you are credible seller...people would come to you.. why worry?

Work vs Leisure

Speaking of work and your leisure time...have you think of hitting the gym these days are less often compare last time? or no time to watch your favorite movies? or even spending time with even a cup of coffee just to relax yourself?... workload is getting more competitive these days but still we are humans after all, we need some rest and enjoyment... Google flex is what I am talking about.... all fun activities under one roof during working hours.!


Fixed vs Flexible

With the advancement of technology these days, people would prefer flexible working environment and time... we can just reply emails or have a video call to our bosses whenever there is something to be delivered. Adding to that, most companies these days would prefer hiring short-term staff instead of contract workers because firstly its cost saving and only need them whenever they want.. this also added an advantages for people who love to work a few jobs at the same time and trying out different kinds of job..in other words freelance working job is everyone talking about nowadays. This gives people the flexibility in working at the same time find their earnings from various sources of work..rather than sitting whole day long from 9-5pm or 9-9pm just to work for one company.Even Facebook these days are one of the social networking sites that every companies sign up and promote their company and products to reach out easily to their potential customer. This also can be a cost saving for companies who are in tight budget too... These people, can work at home and whenever they want without fearing losing 1 single customer as everything is online and stay there....

Centralized & Decentralized

Speed is the key for today's world...everything must be fast and speedy... with the latest technology and hot new gadgets in town... staying connected is not an issue anymore... imagine while you were away from your office and you need to reach out your boss or superior or even your client.... Here comes the Iphone, Ipad, Blackberries, Smartphones, Laptops that would keep you connected by just sending an email to the reciepient... as easy as that... With these we do no need to depend anymore on receiving letters, going post office just to drop a letter in a postbox, waiting weeks just to get confirmation from other party..... You only need an email and call just to make an agreement...cool uh?

Certain vs Uncertain

If we relate back to the olden days... every task is all pointed out and well defined..but now? i would say employees today have to be prepare with all kinds of uncertainty in their work place. Everything are all computerized and once a data recieve we need to take note carefully before start out task... imagine you receive an order from your customer about buying 10 sets of McDonalds burger set lunch..but you deliver 9 sets only... how you will think your customer react? or even a huge server break down in your office and you were in the middle of saving an important data....what is your next step? So employee these days need to prepare well when uncertainty strikes because a slight change or misinterpretation will affect the whole output.

One Place vs Mobile

I am sure you do not like to sit 1 corner to finish up your task for whole day in the office right?... everything is mobile these days where with our superb smartphones and tablet pc, we can get our works done even we not in the office, you can finish up your reports in Starbucks by just using your net books and smartphones... Employee these days have the privilege to travel about to meet with different clients be it in locally or overseas and get their job done immediately. Company can keep in track with them by getting connected through high tech networking line available today.

A Single Tool vs Multiple tools

With these kind of changing, and just look at how our technology changes so fast even lets say comparing mobile phones with 10years or even 5 years back... smartphone term is only for storing personal data.... with now, smartphone must comes with social networking capabilities otherwise its not a smartphone... The way people do things now are so much different from last time... things like email, video call, blackberry messenger, MSN, Facebook, Twitter changes the way of people working and the lifestyle very much. People can simply post up their online shopping portal and just wait for customer to visit their webpages when interested in buying stuff from them.  Businesses works even efficiently these days thanks to the E-mail system that can be access not only from computers BUT smartphones and your tablets like Ipad, Playbook, too... just flip out your devices and there you go... These is very good improvement as we do not need to sit constantly in front of computers to check for emails where the smaller mobile computers can do so... this helps us to get communicate better whenever we go...without worrying losing a single business at all.....

I can conclude that, with the flexibility of working environment that ties along with leisure and work together, it changes the way of working definition and we wont not see time, comfortably and etc as an issue..but we feel appreciated when things are done with these kind of manner....