Stéphanie Nicot

Following previous essays, e.g. Nos Futurs (2020, reissue in 2022) and Nos Futurs Solidaires (2022), Éditions ActuSF recently published 'Travailler encore ?'. Again, authors and researchers joined forces around a theme, i.e. work and how it’s viewed today. Éditions La Volte published a similar document in 2017: 'Au bal des actifs: Demain le travail', which centred around the consequences (political and otherwise) of the adoption of the El Khomri Law in France.

A job today is not just a salary, but also development, exchanges, and status. There’s also the difference between paid and voluntary work. Don’t forget the work-life balance. Let’s not ignore the rapid implementation of technology (automation, AI, digitalisation) that has had a grand impact on various jobs, economies, … But what are the consequences? How does it affect the relationship between employer and employee? How’s the playing field today vs the past? And so on.

This book is the fruit of a massive collaboration and expertise, also thanks to the support of CEREFIGE (Centre Européen de Recherche en Economie Financière et en Gestion des Entreprises), the University of Lorraine, SJPEG (sciences juridiques, politiques, économiques, et de gestion), UNESCO, and the ICN Business School, all of which are presented at the end.

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Table of contents:
Stéphanie Nicot & Jean-François Stich - Préface: Travailler encore ? Sciences et fictions sur le futur de l'emploi
A little introduction on how SF has been treating work for many decades (even back in the 19th century), and how nowadays there is much talk about jobs, creating new kinds of enterprises, exhaustion, retirement, liking your work, and so on. And of course, there’s also a short explanation on each of the contributions of this anthology and how they can help to reflect on how we deal with work today (globally or personally), how we can possibly improve or change what can or needs to be changed.

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Floriane Soulas - Amour numérique
A nice story where AI has joined the administrative team. One man failed to distinguish AI from a real person, fell in love with her, but it was the AI’s human colleague who received the messages. A huge misunderstanding that had a serious consequence. With AI on the rise today, such issues could rapidly become reality, including the possible court cases.

Thierry Colin & Benoît Crasser - Un robot comme collègue : présent ou futur du travail ?
Mr Colin and Mr Crasser are specialised in the science of administration and management. They explored how robots can be used at work: co-existence (each an own task, complementing the other), simultaneous activity (collaborating on the same task), alternating activity (robot used for the heavier aspect of a task), flexible configuration (cf. alternating activity). Isaac Asimov's three laws of robots and Pierre Bordage’s little text in ‘Hypermondes: Robots’ are referenced (2021). A worthy addition.

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Sylvie Lainé - Où se niche l'ambition
As a professor specialised in the science of information and communication, Sylvie Lainé wrote about avatars. People use avatars when in the company of their colleagues. In short, a story about identity, privacy, staying out of the spotlights. This “anonymity” can be dangerous, too, in certain cases, as some adopt the behaviour of their avatar.

Patrice Adam - Le salarié, le métavers et le droit du travail
Mr Adam is an academic in the Faculty of Law. He usd Mark Zuckerberg’s Metaverse where people use avatars, a different version of their true selves? How does such a construction match with the current laws on jobs, job protection, workers' rights, contracts, …? Can an avatar be treated like a proper colleague? Can it have rights? Does it affect the rights of the human behind it? Can the Metaverse be considered a proper workplace? Mr Adam doesn't really offer any answers, as the metaverse and avatars in general are still undiscovered and uncovered territory in legal terms. There is still much to be done, discussed, worked out before anything clear comes out of this.

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Fabien Fernandez - Cadre spationaute
What does a person in charge of the maintenance of a space station do? He’ll tell it himself in this story. Procedures are key, the slightest error can mean death. A good story, though there is technical jargon, e.g. P.B.O. = Process of Burn Out. In other words, a rare event and anyone sending out such a message is directed to the exit. One does not simply have a burn-out and remains under contract. In this story, the P.B.O. has consequences for our character's marriage. A story reflecting our society and jobs: Perform more, better, faster, always "improving", vigilant, never relenting.

Valéry Krylov - Pleine conscience au travail : quel intérêt d'éveiller la conscience des travailleurs ?
Mr Krylov is a teacher-researcher interested in human resources management. One word: Mindfulness, to awaken the workers' consciousness. Mr Krylov refers to centuries-old practices from Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, various religions, philosophy, etc. He looks at how our contemporary society with large companies like Nike, Yahoo, Facebook, Ford Motor Company, and others having implemented mindfulness to help their employees deal with stress, their work, and change. Also treated are mindfulness itself (definition, origins, benefits, effects, ...) and suffering at work (types, causes, consequences, risks, ...). It’s a two-way system: mindfulness at work, but own responsibility towards colleagues and employer.

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Anne-Sophie Devriese - Dysphorie
“A profound state of unease or dissatisfaction. It is the semantic opposite of euphoria.” I admit I had some trouble understanding what this story was about. It involves computers, pixels becoming tangible (?), and two places to dwell in: l'Envers (as Ariel Kyrou states in his postface: l'Enfer, Hell?) and l'Endroit (the Place). The girl has debts, can’t pay them on time. In that case, one's child(ren) can be used as collateral: the company in question then turns off the child's memory until all outstanding debt has been paid. But the child is just a projection? To counter her stress, she reverts to shavasana. What about the animals (avatars?)? Is this a story about being too involved in your work? Once again, a lot went over my head here, alas.

Philippe Maîtresse - Participation et co-construction : le modèle conversationnel des arts collaboratifs
This text was not that accessible to me. Something about various forms of art coming together? Like lines on a screen moving to the sounds of music (without any pre-programming, i.e. any impulsive action can make the lines behave differently), that's a first example he used. Or composing the right kind or piece of music for a film. Sadly, I didn’t understand the rest of the text, even if the book is aimed at the general public.

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Katia Lanero Zamora - Parallaxe
An important business man has disappeared: wealthy industrialist Édouard Scaramande. He is the owner of InMem (and other companies), the company our character works for. Objective: to (re)create virtual memories (not 100% realistic), with the help of implanted AI, based on keywords the user can enter into the system. In addition, everyone has a nickname after a dog species, determined by the HR department. There's no first name basis, if they even know each other's real names. Our character is interviewed about various aspects (content, colleagues, advantages, ...) of her job, which she's passionate about. However, work before pleasure (incl. family life), objectives must be reached. Until the bubble bursts and our character loses her job because of a mistake involving the project of virtually recreating Bruges. She lost everything (job, advantages, marriage, …). Working hard to regain her job, she discovered the truth about her boss: he's an algorithm. And so, our character took revenge. Saving E.S. on a microchip, blocking most of his workings, then programming a new algorithm, and flee with her daughter, begin a new life. Another great story by Mrs Lanero Zamora.

Inès Corinto & Élise Marcandella - Les arts comme médiateurs d'une coopération inter-organisationnelle au service de la résilience territoriale ?
Both researchers are specialised in management sciences, particularly in human resources and interpersonal collaborations (groups working on projects). They divided their contribution into five parts:
1) Des défis sociétaux qui nécessitent de développer les résiliences territoires: How resilient are populations when faced with crises, hunger, poverty, exclusion, etc.? It takes various participants (companies, governments, communities, ...) and their respective skills to organise projects and work together to create something new, to recreate society.
2) Des projets coopératifs territoriaux au service de la résilience: This segment deals with cooperative territorial projects. One example is a Zone to Defend or Social and solidary economy (societal needs are key), contrary to a market economy (profit is key). To make territories resilient, it is, according to the researchers, important to rely on ethics and altruism in a balanced form of collaboration.
3) Des compétences émotionnelles à developper pour gérer ces projets coopératifs: A vital advice is "Know yourself (dreams, needs, desires, aspirations, etc.) first in order to be aware/conscious of your intellectual and emotional functioning." You'll be able to handle certain situations better and not be detached from the group. This also applies to existing or managers-to-be. This kind of responsible management, as a cornerstone, will be in the interest of all beings, human and non-human.
4) Une approche basée sur l'art pour réconcilier territoires intérieur et extérieur: Art as a mediator between oneself (your interior territory) and the rest of the community, based on 4 elements: generating ideas, reflexivity, evaluation, prospective. And so the link with the last part is made. This part here is written in a typical, academic style, quite vague, fancy words. Read it a few times and see if it makes sense.
5) Un artefact réflexif: "Les Lettres Jaunes". An example of an artistic, mediating artefact, a letter in a beautiful font by the two authors, asking you about a project you're/'ve (been) involved in and how you approach(ed) it. It contains some interesting questions, which sadly can't be always answered, as time is always of the essence in projects. Standing still to reflect on things is a rare thing.

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Ketty Steward - Tomies
This is about a job interview and preparing for it, whilst not having enough money or credits to sustain yourself or apply to the full package of a special service that can help you get through it all. The company's conditions are all-or-nothing, involving: sale of personal data, creation of virtual double, personal recommendations (also for the double), undergoing medical surgery to be equal to the male employees (they are the standard), etc. Benefits are possible, as are holidays, but how much is accessible depends on your status, experience, and so on. Retirement still exists, but there's no pension money, so many hold on to their jobs. The story is broken up into pieces, interspersed by extracts from a fictional guide: 'Éléments pour une histoire contemporaine du travail et de l'emploi', M. Royer, 2067. This document describes how to conduct a job interview, how the employee should behave and what to agree to, etc. In short, the employer is always right, the employee has (almost) no rights. And the title? One of the potential obligations for future employees (as in hysterectomie, so as to not get pregnant). Beautifully written, but presenting a dark and horrific future.

Corinne Gendron - Les promesses avortées d'une société d'abondance. Technologie et progrès social dans 'La Nuits des temps' de René Barjavel
A dissection of René Barjavel's novel 'La Nuits des temps' regarding its views on technology and social progress. I haven't read anything by Barjavel, but this dissection/analysis was very interesting in itself. The title roughly translates as: Aborted promises in a society of abundance. Technology and social progress would make life easier, yet the promises of the past haven't all been fulfilled, not in the book, not today. The story revolved around a perfect society, ruled and governed by a computer that decides and knows all. People have a number that gives them rights and access to various services and goods. No number, no rights. Consumption is key, but the population must not increase, and no one is to stand out (looks, skills, gender, ...). You are only "free" in what you buy, all else is determined for you. Abide by the rules and all's well. Fail to abide by the rules, and you'll be the scum of the earth.

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Aurore Dandoy - Bienvenue à Galaxité
One of the better stories of the pack, truth be told. It takes place in space, as Earth has been destroyed. Mankind therefore had to colonise other planets. However, as the survivors started a new chapter in their lives, they decided to also change their hairstyle (shaved heads), whereas those who chose a squared hairstyle were genetically modified. In this new environment, and particularly on the planet Éléments, babies are born as CRISPR. Éléments is not the best place to live, only a small part of the planet is habitable. Water needs to be filtered, and food isn't totally like on Earth. On Galaxité, the population is more varied. A year is +600 days long, but everyone gets (collectively) a few days off: "Beautemps". People are then free to chose what they want to do: e.g. join a group (pottery, theatre, philosophy, ...). Carla joins a group that will test a new alcoholic beverage, but she is more interested in love and the group's leader than the group's purpose. And so she joins the young ones, like the leader. The drinking doesn't go as planned, makes her sick and fade. Afterwards, she's transported to Galaxité, where she has to undergo a complete overhaul: shower, new clothes, leave old stuff behind. The entire environment is white: clothes, furniture, doors, walls, etc. Galaxité was formed by two Chief Happiness Creators, a title that reminds me of Karim Duval's funny video. Everyone starts as "newbie" and gets a new label as one integrates better and better. The test consists of 3 steps: empathy, stress management, and conflict management. How? By deciding whom to accept as new member of Galaxité. There are various people, refugees, who seek a new haven. There are also fake refugees. Carla is to distinguish one from the other. Alas, it isn't a test. Or maybe it was, as she had the required skills to join the fold on Galaxité, despite (because of?) the mistakes she made, despite (because of?) her anger over injustices. A story showing the importance of complementarity and empathy, a skill hard to develop, especially in this modern age.

Aurore Dandoy - Après les dérives du coworking, une pratique anarchiste pour une société viable et durable ?
Management studies cover various disciplines: HR, entrepreneurship, quality of life at work, processes, finance, institutions, strategy, work practices, ... And so you link them up with domains like philosophy, sociology, physics, biology. Her essay is set up into three aspects: What are co-working and possible work alternatives?; humanist anarchy, based on a study about collective futures of working; finally, a possible future for work communities. The last few years there has been a large increase in co-working places, also due to digitalisation. The goal is to bring together various skills in the same location or through common technology, for example. This concept also leads to the creation of different kinds of communities (with their own rules), where each member plays a(n adapted) role. What with legitimation, power, structure, authority, …? Such groups are a means, not the end solution, to bring people together, where happiness reigns and burn- and bore-outs are (to be) avoided.

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Pierre Bordage - Hauts et Bas
People underground working hard to support/help their comrades who decided to remain above ground. Two children, though, seeking to find out what's underground, as the boy found his comfortable life a little too comfortable. While following the theme (and showing the contrast), Mr Bordage has written better stories.

Yann Moulier-Boutang - La lune de la grande démission, le doigt de la valeur-travail
An interesting text with historical references, about quitting your job for a better one, or one that offers more satisfaction. During the corona pandemic of 2020-2021, people in the USA, Europe and Asia (Hikikomori in Japan, Tangping in China) quit their jobs because they didn't feel valued any more or saw no sense in keeping those jobs. It was a statement to show that employers can't consider their workforce as a simple tool and/or because the current economic/political situation isn't favourable to a healthy work situation. However, such cut-offs can lead to serious mental health problems (see Japan).

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David Bry - Et demain
It’s a story about a city that’s being threatened by regular storms, and their arrival is timed. The entire population is to work together to avoid the dam breaking, and help repair where floods damaged something. However, each time a storm comes up, everyone hides into their shelters. The minister-president, also responsible for ecological affairs, addresses the people via screens in the city, smartwatches, and more. One guy, William, has a second job: imagining scenes where the city can be free again, with life returning to normal. These images are also transmitted to the screens. However, not everyone agrees with the way of working and protests against the minister-president. This creates division between them and those working hard to keep the city safe. William is addressed to use his imagination to show what’s really behind the constant storms, the regular floods. But he’s tired, wants to see his family. His wife and child left the house; she was tired of having to shelter for the storms and sought a way out, away from the city. It’s a bit like in Pierre Bordage’s ‘Métro Paris 2033’ trilogy, the underground controlled by people with bad intentions. But William manages to rejoin his wife and child, and most of the other refugees/survivors, who, in a cave, set up a society where equality rules, free from the oppressive rules of their former lives, where resources were also used to keep the people at work.

Davy Athuil - Quand l'écologie rencontre le travail
It starts with a little historical introduction about the post-war period (communism eradicated, for example) and how the next generation stands up, blames the previous for the problems in the world, while the “new” (political) solutions tend to repeat the past. Key questions: Should we work to live or live to work? Salary’s no longer the first priority, work conditions are, and the ecological impact. The relationship between employer and employee has its place, too. However, it’s mostly those privileged enough who can protest for a “better” future. But which future will we have? The balance between work and social life, the inequalities in salaries, in work conditions, etc. need tweaking in many other places, even if a lot has changed over the years.

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Ariel Kyrou - Postface: Le travail dans un entre-deux-mondes
Mr Kyrou provides an overview of not only the contributions, but also, per theme, what has been and what could be. References to demonstrations of the past and the present, with those protesting were of mixed classes in the past, whereas nowadays, they come primarily from upper-class households. Work or having a (paid) job is no longer of the essence, does no longer define one. Change the system or get another job. However, as written above: Why are certain kinds of work/jobs not considered proper jobs?

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‘Travailler encore…?’ is a worthwhile, important document today, with the rise of digitalisation, and workers still under pressure to always perform better. Work (in any form) is vital in everyone's lives, at least if you're capable of working. The priorities have shifted over the years, from salary to work-life balance, the latter not always well worked-out. This leads to stress, illness, layoffs, etc. A lot of food for thought, though I found the tone in many stories a little too dystopian, when there are real life examples of loving your work (and the conditions).

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I was sent this book by Éditions ActuSF for review. Many thanks to them for the trust.… (plus d'informations)