348. The Enshitification of Work

Enshitification happens when companies over-optimize for profit and sacrifice humanity in the process.
What happened to Amazon, Facebook, and airlines is now happening inside workplaces—speed, scale, and efficiency are replacing meaning, connection, and culture.
As leaders prioritize productivity, they unintentionally drain creativity, purpose, and human connection out of the work experience.
Symptoms include always-on communication, fake urgency, tool overload, and automation taking over the wrong parts of work.
Without intervention, workplaces risk becoming soulless, disconnected, and disengaged.

Create connection: Bring back meaningful human moments—real breaks, real conversations, real community.
Respect boundaries: Use “send later,” stop the 24/7 pings, and protect people’s off-hours.
Slow down: Normalize thinking time and reward quality over frantic busyness.
Celebrate humanity: Acknowledge collaboration, curiosity, and non-transactional wins.
Measure what matters: Prioritize trust, connection, and emotional harmony—not just output.

Identify one area where your team is slipping into enshitification—always-on behavior, too many tools, “everything is urgent,” lack of connection, or automation overload.
Choose one practice this week that rehumanizes work for your team.