Paolo, you reject the 9-to-5 office model, but how do you see fluidity working for restaurants, shops, and service industries?

Ah, that’s the big question, right? People often think that fluidity—the freedom to work when, where, and how you want—only applies to tech workers or freelancers. But the truth is, every industry can embrace fluidity in its own way, even restaurants, shops, and service offices. It’s just that the model needs to evolve to match the realities of those industries.

Here’s what I mean: the traditional 9-to-5 or five-day workweek assumes that everyone functions best in the same rigid structure. But look at industries like hospitality, retail, or service—these businesses are already operating outside of that traditional schedule! Restaurants don’t follow a typical office schedule; they’re open at night, on weekends, sometimes 24/7. Shops and service businesses already have shifts, different working hours, and rotating staff. They’ve always had a different rhythm, but they still tend to follow the old-school mindset of clocking in and out, following set shifts, and basing work on time spent rather than value created.

So, how can these industries embrace fluidity?

It’s about rethinking what work means in these spaces. In restaurants, for example, fluidity could mean empowering teams to have more control over their shifts—letting staff rotate based on preferences, energy levels, and personal schedules. It’s about creating flexible, shorter shifts, or allowing people to trade shifts in a more dynamic way that fits their lifestyle. Why lock someone into five days of long shifts when you could offer more flexibility and still meet business needs? You have to remember: happy, engaged employees create better customer experiences. Fluidity doesn’t mean chaos—it means freedom within a framework.

Take shops and retail, for instance. These spaces are customer-focused, but that doesn’t mean employees need to be tied to rigid hours. Why not offer part-time, dynamic scheduling where workers can choose shorter blocks of time, or split shifts that allow them to balance personal commitments with work? You can also embrace job sharing, where two or more employees share the responsibilities of one full-time role, giving them more flexibility and avoiding burnout. The key here is to listen to your employees—figure out what works for them and create a more adaptive structure around it.

In service industries like offices, banks, or even healthcare, fluidity can come through hybrid models or telecommuting for some roles. Not every employee needs to be on-site every day. Service offices can implement systems that allow workers to spend some time in the office and some time working remotely, based on what makes sense for the task at hand. For example, front-line workers who deal with clients directly may need to be physically present, but administrative tasks, marketing, planning, or even customer support can be handled remotely.

Here’s the big shift: fluidity is about mindset, not just scheduling. It’s about trusting your workers to do their best work when they have the freedom to design their schedules in a way that fits their life. That could mean shorter, more focused shifts, rotating days, or staggered working hours. It’s not just about where or when people work, but about how they work, how energized and engaged they feel, and how you can structure their roles in a way that lets them thrive.

For these industries, it’s not always about remote work—it’s about autonomy within the job. Give people the tools to swap shifts, adjust their hours, or even work in task-based models rather than time-based. Fluidity could look like compressed workweeks where employees work longer days but fewer of them, or seasonal shifts based on the highs and lows of the business cycle, allowing workers to rest during slower periods and hit harder when the business peaks.

The industries you mentioned already have the seeds of fluidity built into them—they just need to reimagine how they’re applied. If restaurants and shops can adopt more worker-driven scheduling and service offices can embrace hybrid work models and flexibility in how tasks are accomplished, everyone can benefit from this sense of fluidity and freedom. The key is rethinking the relationship between time, value, and work. It’s about moving away from the idea that more hours = better results, and realizing that happy, empowered employees will always create better outcomes, whether they’re waiting tables or managing a store.

So yes, fluidity isn’t just for white-collar jobs—it’s for anyone willing to rethink the old models and create more human-centered approaches to work. It’s about making sure work fits into life, not forcing life to fit into work.