Complexity Is the Enemy
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Complexity Is the Enemy

The Consumerization of Work (Part 2)


One thing consumer brands understand extremely well is that people are naturally drawn to experiences that feel easy to use.


Nobody wants to read instructions before making coffee, ordering a product, booking a flight, or using a new app. The best consumer experiences feel intuitive almost immediately. People can usually figure them out without much explanation.


The workplace often works very differently.


Employees still spend a surprising amount of time trying to figure out how processes work, where information lives, which approval path applies, or who owns a particular decision. Even simple tasks sometimes require navigating systems and workflows that have grown more complicated over time.


What’s interesting is that complexity tends to build gradually.


A new approval gets added here. Another system gets layered in. A process changes, but the old process never fully disappears. Teams create workarounds that eventually become permanent operating procedures. Over time, the workplace becomes harder to navigate, even though each individual change originally seemed reasonable.


Eventually, employees stop expecting things to feel simple. That’s when friction becomes normalized.


People start saying things like:


  • “That’s just how the process works.”

  • “That system has always been difficult.”

  • “You’ll figure it out after a while.”


But complexity has a cost.


It slows decision-making. It increases training time. It creates inconsistent experiences across teams. It forces employees to spend mental energy navigating the workplace itself instead of focusing on the actual work.


I think this is one reason consumer experiences have become such an important comparison point.


Companies like Apple, Amazon, Airbnb, and even IKEA built loyalty partly because they reduced effort. The experience felt understandable. People knew what to do next. The design removed confusion instead of adding to it.


The workplace benefits from the same mindset.


Employees shouldn’t need tribal knowledge to navigate basic workplace processes. They shouldn’t need separate instructions for every conference room setup or multiple conversations just to understand how to complete routine tasks.


Some of the most effective workplace improvements are surprisingly simple.


Reducing unnecessary approvals. Standardizing technology setups. Making information easier to find. Clarifying ownership. Simplifying onboarding. Removing outdated processes that no longer add value.


None of these things are especially flashy. In many cases, employees may barely notice them happening.


What they do notice is when work starts feeling easier. And increasingly, that feeling of simplicity and ease is becoming part of what employees expect from the workplace overall.


People should be successful because of the workplace, not in spite of it.

Nathan Bricklin

Senior Consultant, Global Workplace Experience


Helping enterprise leaders close the gap between executive intent and lived employee experience at scale.




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