Meet me in the metaverse?

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Hello everyone, and welcome to our new Working It readers 😊

This week I finally got around to rearranging the “To Be Read” (TBR) pile on my desk. Somehow a tottering pile of business books doesn’t quite capture the imagination in the same way as people boasting on social media about their bedside tower of highbrow fiction, but I’m a fan of the workplace book. Some of them are brilliantly written and far better than a lot of the turgid fiction I plough through.

Many of the best titles I read come from the shortlist of the annual FT Business Book of the Year award (Bad Blood and Empire of Pain spring to mind). The 2023 award is now open for entries.

What are your favourite business books? Can you recommend anything on my pile? Let me know.

Read on for what’s happening in the almost-forgotten workplace metaverse, where there are no piles of books (or any other reading matter) and in the Office Therapy column I advise a reader whose new recruit is unhappy at work.

Get in touch: please send your book recommendations, and Working It podcast and newsletter ideas to isabel.berwick@ft.com. Or you can DM me confidentially on LinkedIn.

Meetings in the metaverse: yes, still a thing 🍿

Mention “the metaverse” and anyone cool will think, “You’re so 2021”. Because that was the year when Facebook rebranded as Meta and everyone’s children were glued to Fortnite.

We heard a lot, at the time, about the potential for the metaverse — “a three dimensional version of the internet” as Tim Bradshaw, the FT’s global technology correspondent, describes it — to revolutionise how we gather with colleagues in a remote or hybrid working world.

In the metaverse, our avatars can move about, chat, gather in forest glades, around campfires — or in an exact replica of a lecture theatre. In fact, the latter is where I attended my first metaverse meeting last week.

Two years after the hype, I was intrigued to see how the reality is shaping up. I put on Meta’s Quest headset and joined a virtual “fireside chat” about VR and work run by Charter, a media and events company. (Possibly heresy to say, but I signed up to this because Charter publishes a great workplace newsletter.) The one-hour meeting was preceded by one-to-one “onboarding” to get us ready for action.

How was it? Here’s my just-after-the-event reaction, in authentic stream of consciousness format.

It was a mixed, weird bag but the thing I didn’t know is that you have to be totally present — you can’t check emails — plus you can’t take notes etc so it can be quite frustrating. On the plus side, people from all over the world were there and it did feel very immersive and I paid attention to what was being said.

It’s very hard to move about using the controls but it’s probably like driving. I am not good at that, either. The main thing was that I wasn’t the worst.

The Charter event took place in a virtual meetings setting called Gatherings, which is run by Mesmerise, a UK-based VR company. I asked Mesmerise co-founder Andrew Hawken for examples of what his teams are doing now for business clients. He points to an immersive experience for 100 bank interns who were in different cities, allowing them “to meet and network with colleagues and executives”, as well as training for medical undergraduates featuring a 3D model of a human heart.

What does the FT’s Tim Bradshaw think the future of the metaverse at work is going to look like? He reminds me that Meta is still investing, and highlights other pipeline developments: “Google’s Project Starline is a high-fidelity telepresence system that uses 3D cameras and screens to create a more immersive, realistic feeling — like Zoom but with holograms.” That’s going to gladden the heart of anyone who loved Star Trek’s holodecks 🖖

Back in the 21st century, what has stuck with me is the total immersion that a 3D meeting demands. You have to listen. You can’t multitask by turning the camera off to put the washing on, nor can you attend to the eight other tasks you’ve got open on your desktop or carry on with emails while other people talk at you.

The metaverse is going to create a lot of extra work.

 Office Therapy

The problem: I hired a junior colleague into the company and they’ve proved very capable. They are very unhappy in their role, due to the approach of their manager. This person is a micromanager and unsupportive etc. I know that manager and see little prospect of change. I am worried we’ll lose our new colleague. I’ve encouraged my colleague to talk to their department head and maybe request an internal move. What else can I do beyond moral support?

Isabel says: Tricky one, because none of this is in your power to change. Your idea, though, is good — internal moves are often an elegant solution to management problems, although it’s annoying that your capable new hire has to move while Bad Boss stays put.

If you are angry about it, go and see the HR director or an important boss and tell them what’s going on. Or a subversive tactic would be start talking to others about the corrosive effect of the Bad Boss. If you are a smoker (old school) or part of a wider social group at work, so much the better. “Horizontal networks” of peers in different departments are very effective information disseminators. Word will get back.

I got a second opinion from workplace counsellor and FT contributing editor, Michael Skapinker. “You might reflect together on why the difficult manager is that way. Are they under pressure from above?” As Michael points out, “difficult bosses are common and learning how to manage them is one of the vital, but under-discussed, organisational skills.”

If things don’t improve, we both think your hire is better off leaving. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. (Also, they owe you a drink — if only everyone had such thoughtful colleagues.)

Got a question, problem or dilemma for Office Therapy? Think you have better advice for our reader? Send to me: isabel.berwick@ft.com. We anonymise everything. Your boss, colleague or underlings will never know.

This week on the Working It podcast

Have you ever felt “invisible” at work, and that all of your efforts go unrewarded? 🤔 This week on the podcast, I talk to two experts on confidence and personal branding (don’t worry, you don’t have to call it that) and learn how anyone can start to get noticed without going viral on social media.

Aliza Licht is the author of On Brand, a book about building career confidence, and Viv Groskop is an author, stand up comedian and regular FT contributor. (Viv’s article on the difference between professional reputation and personal branding sparked the idea for this episode).

5 top stories from the world of work

1. Big law firms fall out of fashion with Gen Z. A new US survey suggests that aspiring lawyers are turning away from the culture of long hours that’s standard at big firms. Just 40 per cent of the young cohort said they would like to join one of the largest 200 firms, down from 60 per cent just three years ago.

2. Work and weekend wardrobes: do we need boundaries? The lasting effect of the pandemic may be to blur our work and home wardrobes, says the FT’s Emma Jacobs, in a feature that also brings us the excellent phrase “The Great Slobification”.

3. The loneliness epidemic threatens our health as well as our happiness. The US surgeon general has warned that the country faces huge issues with loneliness. Science commentator Anjana Ahuja unpicks its effects, which can shorten lives.

4. The unstoppable advance of the acronym: Pilita Clark has an email folder where she keeps the “Acronyms Gone Mad”, telling her about impenetrable job titles and sectors. (“CSI names FSI veteran Linda Fischer COO, appoints new CRO, CPO and SVPs.”) Why is this nonsense on the rise?

5. Would it be unwise to leave my well-paid job to pursue a career in film? Jonathan Black, who writes the FT’s popular career advice column, tackles an unusual dilemma. But one that many people dream about.

One more thing: I’ve been reading The Good Enough Job: Reclaiming Life from Work by Simone Stolzoff, which is published next week. If you are struggling with the oversized place that work occupies in your life — and how much of your identity it takes up, then this refreshingly different book is a good place to start.

Where I’m working from

Working It reader Vuk Radojevic Vukovic sends us his view in London. “I love the vibrant and radiant greenery, as well as occasional squirrel friends that zigzag across the decking. It all helps keep me grounded and grateful in my overwhelmingly digital day-to-day.”

We really enjoy seeing the photos of your desks and the views from your work stations. Please keep them coming and add a note on why you love working there — and we’ll publish our favourites.