Sometimes someone will ask “do you foresee any problems with your implementation plan?” Of course, there are many problems we must solve when creating Copiosis. But we also believe problems come with solutions baked-in. We just need to know how to connect with them.
Which we do.
Connecting with them is what got us where we are right now, with lots of progress underway and many problems already solved. As such, we’ve created a pretty strong case for us as problem solvers.
One problem, however, I’m really eager to see resolve itself. It has to do with what people today call The Great Resignation.
It’s a phenomena where huge numbers of people quit amid the raging pandemic, leaving companies of all kinds with drastic employee shortages. Some media outlets characterized why people quit as having to do with not wanting to work demeaning jobs, for low pay, or for butthead managers/bosses. I celebrated such stories as evidence of people waking up to a new way of living. A way of living where earning a living wasn’t the only option.
But then I got an email from Pew, a national research company. Their survey looking at why people quit their jobs told a much different story.
That different story
While it’s true record numbers of people quit their jobs in 2021, why they quit represents a more complex story. They didn’t all quit because stimulus checks gave them an option. Nowhere near a majority quit for that reason.
The vast majority of people quit because they saw other opportunities to earn an income as Pew’s table below shows:
The vast majority of those who quit – more than there-fourths of respondents – quit in pursuit of better earnings opportunities. These numbers show the majority of people still feel earning a living is the top priority of living.
Of course, that makes sense. Earning a living affords everyone what they want and need in life. Meanwhile, as I’ve mentioned in this blog before, humanity pays a huge cost for prioritizing earning a living above all else.
Still, the numbers show earning a living ranks among the biggest reason people work, choose to work or change work. What happens when that reason goes away?
When shit gets real
Some argue Copiosis won’t work, or even get adopted, because too many people won’t want to work. I think this is a real issue. At least until people realize doing things we need done will make them rich.
As you likely know, critical jobs often pay the worst or least today. Meat packers, drone operators, prison guards…these jobs, current society needs because society puts a high priority on what such jobs create.
And, in Copiosis some of these jobs go away. Automation takes care of many. New ways of creating those things society still wants takes care of others. Those remaining jobs requiring humans, in Copiosis, make those people working those jobs very rich.
But a gap exists between here and that point. And in that gap a lot of turmoil may happen. We’ve already seen shortages of things like microprocessors, certain foods and certain services post-COVID. Infected and quarantined workers, workers leaving to care for an ill relative and other COVID-related issues created those shortages.
Shortages we experienced during the pandemic may pale in comparison when workers discover that in Copiosis, they get the equivalent of income by just being, taking care of family, enjoying their passions and doing good. Many of those critical workers aren’t going to do that shitty work anymore given this alternative.
What kinds of shortages of things might we face while we rapidly re-tool our systems to accommodate people leaving jobs they don’t like? Can a nation handle such an evolutionary shift? How can we help them?
There are some ideas
One solution, as mentioned above, is enriching those who remain in shitty jobs. The thinking goes as people see such people get rich, they will be willing to do them too.
Another obvious one is improving working conditions in those jobs. Those working such jobs have been asking for such improvements forever. But cost and efficiencies as well as stubborn leadership in those industries has made changing such workplaces very slow.
What would happen, though, in an environment where a manager can’t prevent such things from happening?
In Copiosis organizational workers are as empowered as their managers. Line workers, who usually know best how the line performs, are empowered to do things which increase Net Benefit Value (NBV) of the line. Increasing worker safety is highly NBV worthy. So is creating a workplace where more people are eager to work there.
And, since capital goods such as new processes, equipment and supplies come at no cost to organizations or the people working in them, no barriers at all exist to these improvements happening. Other than resource owners refusing to offer them. That isn’t likely since such owners make bank when their resources get used.
So while people on the forefront of such organizations get more rewards doing work society wants them doing, they also are empowered to do that work in ways more NBV-worthy. Or change the work – with innovative ideas and equipment – that makes that work and its output more NBV-worthy.
Seems like the odds…
Some employers are likely to point to shortage fears as a reason for not moving forward with Copiosis. I have faith though that enough employers, influencers, common folk and society at large will see its benefits as outweighing risks naysayers may claim make Copiosis not worth implementing. So long as we offer salient solutions.
Seems like the odds of Copiosis happening are low, but I don’t subscribe to odds. One thing I know is problems, as with solutions, help move forward an idea whose time has come.
And Copiosis is an idea whose time has come. I’m eager to see how solutions we connect with in the future dovetail nicely with our implementation plan. It’s a fun time being alive.
Let’s eagerly focus on solutions, instead of worrying about problems!