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Employers should focus on depression among staff members because mental health issues can and do have a big impact on employees' ability to perform their jobs.
This article was first published on January 15, 2024, by HR Daily Advisor, a sibling publication to HealthLeaders.
Depression and other mental health issues have long been considered a taboo topic of discussion, both in the workplace and in society more generally. People traditionally have not been very open about their mental health, especially with employers, both for fear of social stigma and being seen as unfit for their job.
Attitudes toward mental health issues, though, have advanced and matured significantly in recent years. That makes both the prevalence and impact of depression and other mental health issues more visible.
How Prevalent Are Mental Health Issues and Depression in the Workforce?
According to the October 2023 TELUS Mental Health Index, nearly one-in-four (23 percent) workers have a high mental health risk. Another 41 percent have a moderate mental health risk. In addition, 14 percent of workers report being diagnosed with depression specifically, while another 7 percent believe they have undiagnosed depression.
Why Should Employers Care About Depression in the Workplace?
In addition to issues of stigma, one reason discussions around mental health have traditionally been avoided in the workplace is that mental health is seen as a very personal matter, and our society values a separation between our work lives and our personal lives.
But it’s not that simple with mental health, because mental health issues can and do have a big impact on employees’ ability to perform their jobs. According to the TELUS report, U.S. workers with diagnosed depression lose 51 working days in productivity per year. Considering there are just 260 working days per year (not counting vacation time), that represents nearly 20 percent of an employee’s working days. That’s a big impact to any employer.
In addition, depression and other mental health issues can contribute to lack of engagement and higher turnover, not to mention the potential for conflict in the workplace.
What Should Employers Do to Support Workers?
Mental health shouldn’t be kept in the dark. While employers shouldn’t pry into employees’ personal lives, they need to be aware of the high level of mental health issues impacting American workers—and the organizations they work for.
This isn’t a problem that impacts just one or two employees. Statistically, according to the TELUS data, between one-in-five and one-in-four employees might suffer from depression, either diagnosed or undiagnosed. Employers should recognize the prevalence of this issue and offer resources to help employees cope more effectively. This could include greater employee outreach, employer-sponsored access to mental health resources, and greater flexibility and work-life balance, for example.
Employers have an opportunity to both recognize the prevalence of mental health issues and concerns and take steps to help employees address their mental health concerns for the wellbeing of employees and the overall health of the organization.
To be competitive in the workforce marketplace, employers must have a strong benefits package.
This article was first published on January 16, 2024, by HR Daily Advisor, a sibling publication to HealthLeaders.
Benefits can feel like one of the drier topics human resources professionals need to be experts in. After all, health insurance is a maze of complexity, forms, codes, and bills—not exactly a crowd pleaser.
But benefits are incredibly important to job seekers. Your employee benefits package shows potential employees that you don’t just see them as a cog in the machine—you’re actually invested in their long-term health and well-being.
Of course, this does support your company in the long run too; healthier employees means less turnover and better production.
But on a human level, benefits express more than a desire to earn a profit to employees. They demonstrate a care and concern for the people that work for you. When people are searching for a new job, the benefits package is of high importance—you want yours to be the cream of the crop.
Benefits aren’t just an add-on to an employee’s salary. They lead to peace of mind. Employees can rest easy knowing that even if their family situation shifts, their health takes a nosedive, or unforeseen circumstances arise in their lives, you—their employer—have their back.
Many companies right now are concerned about retention, as they should be. Quiet quitting continues to be a trend, and employees are seeking companies that really support them and value them. A terrific benefits package is one way of demonstrating that you are one of those companies.
But as healthcare becomes more holistic and society continues to morph and change, the types of benefits your employees are interested in might change as well. Your run-of-the-mill health insurance package may no longer be cutting it in a post-Covid world, and employees looking for more flexibility may also be looking for more flexible coverage in their benefits.
Here are four out-of-the-box employee benefits you may not have considered that could be an incredible asset to your company this year.
Fertility Support
70% of millennials experiencing fertility difficulties say that they would switch employers for fertility treatment coverage in their healthcare. (source) Fertility issues are on the rise in the US, and more and more couples are turning to science to help them create their families. That means if you want to attract a wide number of job applicants, you may need to consider including fertility care in your health coverage.
Treatments such as In Vitro Fertilization or endometriosis surgeries cost couples thousands; many insurance plans don’t cover them and the cost can be quite prohibitive for employees looking to grow their families. Fertility support is a great way to bring in younger employees and demonstrate that you care about their future and home life. 40% of US companies currently offer some type of fertility coverage—consider making your company one of them (source).
Show your employers that you aren’t just pro-worker; you truly are pro-family and pro-community.
Adoption Reimbursement
Similarly, has your company ever considered an adoption reimbursement program?
Both domestic and international adoptions are incredibly expensive for adoptees—everything from legal fees to home study fees to required counseling can add up to tens of thousands of dollars. If you offer fertility support already, consider adding on adoption reimbursement to demonstrate a care for the community and yet another way to support the growth of your employees’ families.
Furthermore, if your company has a different parental leave for biological parents than it does adoptive parents, consider changing that ASAP. Although adoptive parents may not have gone through the physical labor of birth, the early emotional bonding is just as important—perhaps even more so. The trauma that comes with adoption is something that requires an immense amount of connection and bonding in early life to heal.
Also, your employees are still dealing with sleepless nights and a newborn in the house. Whether the baby came from their body or someone else’s doesn’t change that fact!
Student Loan Assistance
It’s no secret that many Americans live with crippling student loan debt.
Over 80% of employees say that they would stick with a company for five years if the company assisted them in paying off their student loans (source). That’s a huge number! By helping your employees shake off the heavy coat of exorbitant student debt, you’re freeing up their mind, creativity, and energy to focus on making your products or services the best they can be.
Another consideration to think about: offering to help finance employees’ continuing education. If one of your employees wants to get additional schooling, do you have a program where your company pays for some of it? After all, the more education for your employees, the better they’ll be able to perform for your business.
There’s usually some kind of time-length requirement as to how long employees need to work for your company if you pay for their education, and it can be a great win-win scenario.
This doesn’t even have to look like a college degree; there are many certification programs online that can help your employees grow in their skillset and further their career that your business may have a vested interested in financially covering.
Mental Health Support
More than one in five adults in the US live with a mental illness (source). Whether it’s greater mental health awareness, our always-online lives, a continued post-pandemic isolation, or some other reason, more and more adults are being diagnosed with anxiety and depression.
That means some of your employees are almost certainly struggling with their mental health.
Mental health is just as important as physical health, both for our well-being and our productivity in the workplace. The World Health Organization estimates that we’ve lost $1 trillion globally in our economy due to depression (source).
Our failure to effectively treat and prevent mental health disorders is literally costing us. Mental health coverage is becoming less of an option and more of a must for many employers these days—especially if you’re able to add telehealth coverage, since an overall therapist shortage is leading to a need for more and more creative solutions (like BetterHelp or other mental health apps used by mental health practitioners).
While most employees expect their employers to provide necessary training and education, many executives view existing learning and development programs as a waste of time.
This article was first published on January 8, 2024, by HR Daily Advisor, a sibling publication to HealthLeaders.
A recent survey conducted by edX involving over 800 C-suite executives and 800 employees reveals a significant disconnect between employees and employers regarding the value of learning and development (L&D) programs. While 84% of employees expect their employers to provide necessary training and education, 51% of executives view existing L&D programs as a waste of time.
This disparity extends to satisfaction levels with L&D programs: 65% of executives believe employees are very satisfied, but only 32% of employees agree.
The survey highlights that employees value career development and are willing to switch jobs for better learning opportunities. Over three-quarters of respondents indicate they would stay longer at their current jobs if their organizations offered better training.
In addition, 39% say they’re currently considering leaving their jobs within a year for better L&D opportunities.
Andy Morgan from edX emphasizes the need for effective L&D strategies, including providing time during work hours for courses and adopting a cohort-based class structure for deeper learning.
Exploring the Disconnect
The disconnect between employees’ desire for effective L&D and employers’ skepticism about its value can be attributed to two key factors:
Misalignment of expectations: Employers may view L&D as a supplementary benefit rather than a core part of employee development. In contrast, employees see it as essential for staying relevant in their fields. This difference in perspective leads to a mismatch in the investment and quality of L&D initiatives.
Ineffective implementation: Often, L&D programs aren’t tailored to the actual needs of the workforce or are delivered in formats that don’t engage employees effectively. This leads to an employee perception that these programs aren’t beneficial, reinforcing executives’ belief that they’re a waste of time and resources.
The Importance of L&D for Employers
Employers that downplay the importance of L&D could be missing out on some key benefits.
Knowledge and skill development: Training and development help keep employees up to date on industry changes and the ongoing evolution of technology and business practices. L&D helps build a workforce that’s both competent and competitive.
Engagement: Employee engagement is a must-have in today’s competitive work environment. Companies are at risk of both losing employees and failing to meet customer expectations if they don’t maintain an engaged team. When employees are supported, they’re motivated and committed to their jobs and the companies they work for.
Recruitment and retention: Offering robust L&D opportunities can be a significant factor in attracting top talent. It also plays a critical role in retaining employees, as edX’s survey results indicate.
The gap in perceptions about L&D between employees and employers highlights a need for a strategic reevaluation of these programs.
By aligning L&D initiatives with employee needs and industry trends, and delivering them in engaging formats, employers can leverage these programs not just for skill enhancement but also for boosting engagement, recruitment, and retention.
Whether employers like it or not, employees are craving flexibility.
This article was first published on January 3, 2024, by HR Daily Advisor, a sibling publication to HealthLeaders.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that the COVID-19 pandemic changed work as we know it. One of the ways it unquestionably changed the American workforce was by making flexible work situations the norm. Remote workers, completing tasks on their own hours, were everywhere—and they were getting their jobs done.
There are obviously benefits to face-to-face work. Many employers prefer having their employees in office, where workers can collaborate, get to know one another, and foster bonds that translate into customer loyalty.
It’s also nice to have more eyes on what your employees are actually doing while on the clock. The idea that a remote worker could be at the dentist or scrolling the internet in the middle of the day understandably makes employers nervous.
But workers got used to remote work in 2020, and it’s been hard to get them back in the door. Once people got used to working from home and saw how productive they could be, the idea of a commute seemed less and less appealing.
Now, many job applicants are actively seeking remote work positions.
The job market is shifting—the Great Resignation isn’t as prevalent as it’s been previously, and there probably aren’t quite as many open positions you’re desperate to fill. But it can still be tricky to find the right person for open roles in your company. And over 50% of workers are more likely to choose an employer who allows them to work from home than one who doesn’t (source).
Whether employers like it or not, employees are craving flexibility.
So how can you provide for flexible employees in the new year and beyond? Whether you’re able to offer remote work or not, there are ways you can incorporate flexible working conditions into your culture, and doing so will likely benefit both you and your workforce.
Upgrade Your Technology
For remote work to—well, work, adequate technology is required.
Sketchy internet connections or fuzzy cameras are going to add a lot more friction to your workflow. If your company has remote workers, it should also be investing in high quality video chatting and screen sharing technology.
It might also behoove you to contract with an IT service who can help remote workers in case they’re having technology issues that are preventing them from working. All of your employees should feel as if they’re able to communicate clearly, not just the ones in the office.
Scheduling technology will be helpful as well; if people can’t swing by your desk to ask a question, they may need to schedule a more formal meeting and programs like Fantastical or Calendly can help facilitate that.
If your company has flexible workers, you also might want to consider providing them with a technology budget to upgrade their own hardware. It’s going to be much easier to video chat with a brand new Macbook than a 10-year-old one they snagged on eBay.
Good technology is an absolute must for flexible working situations. Without it, you may begin to over-rely on in-person workers and unintentionally neglect your remote workforce.
Take Time for Small Talk
Many of us roll our eyes at small talk, but at the end of the day, getting to know your employees is never a waste of time.
If you aren’t physically running into people in the break room or at someone’s birthday gathering, you’ll have fewer opportunities to learn about their family or hobbies. Take time at the beginning of a video call to casually chat so that every employee feels like you want to get to know them as a person.
It’s easy to accidently slide into preferential treatment if you know one employee better than another, and getting to know people virtually takes a little more work. That work, however, will pay off in terms of company culture and employee retention.
Finding a way to incorporate your remote workers into social activities can be a good idea as well. Are you able to fly them in for major milestone events? Or would you consider shifting some of your social activities to Zoom so they can participate?
Finding a way to incorporate remote workers into your social settings can go a long way in terms of company culture.
Offer Other Flexible Measures
If your company is unavailable to provide a remote work situation, are there other ways you could be flexible?
There are some industries where someone working in a remote locations simply isn’t feasible. But try and get creative with other flexible measures.
Could a person keep their own schedule, or do they have to be in the office 9-5? Could they have flex holidays, or do they have to utilize the ones your company provides for them even if they aren’t holidays they personally observe? Are they able to occasionally bring their kids or pets into the office? Can they use their own technology? Do they have the freedom to experiment on their own projects during work hours?
Some of these will be a good fit for your industry and company culture; some of them won’t. But the point is to think outside the box when it comes to what a typical employee’s working life looks like.
The more flexibility you can offer, the better, even if it isn’t a remote location.
Focus on Outcomes
Lastly, try not to lose sight of what’s most important—outcomes.
You can always test and change situations to see what work scenario provides your business with the best outcomes. If your company is hyper focused on keeping employees in the office, ask yourselves why.
Is it really because collaboration and contact help you create better products or services? Maybe.
But it might be because you want to recoup your real estate investment or believe the old school way is simply the best way to do things. Try to keep in mind that your company is about providing a service, and turning a profit. If you’re able to do both of those things with remote workers, why not give it a try?
For employees, significant life transitions such as the birth of a child can have a profound impact on performance and confidence.
This article was first published on Dec. 28, 2023, by HR Daily Advisor, a sibling publication to HealthLeaders.
In today’s fast-paced business world, stress in the workplace is more prevalent than ever. A recent Gallup survey revealed a startling trend: 44% of employees experience high levels of stress at work, a figure that has been steadily climbing over the past decade.
With a growing awareness around the threat of burnout and the impact of stress, supported by initiatives such as National Stress Awareness Month (April in the U.S.) and International Stress Awareness Week (October/November), we are now shining a brighter light on this escalating issue and exploring innovative solutions to combat this challenge in the workplace.
Tackling Workplace Stress
One such solution comes from Cameron Yarbrough, co-founder and CEO of Torch, who brings a unique blend of clinical, operational, and mindfulness expertise to the table. Yarbrough introduces the concept of “moments that matter” in the workplace, a philosophy that recognizes the profound impact of significant life transitions on employees.
These transitions, whether they are personal milestones like the birth of a child, challenging periods such as going through a divorce, or professional shifts like becoming a new manager, can profoundly affect an individual’s performance and confidence.
Yarbrough emphasizes that these are not just dates on an HR calendar; they are pivotal moments in an employee’s life that demand new skills and introduce uncertainty and stress.
The Role of Coaching
The role of coaching in these scenarios cannot be overstated. Providing coaching to employees during these critical moments does more than just equip them with new skills; it signals that the organization is committed to their growth and well-being. “Many of these moments involve issues that the employee will want to keep private, so a company should establish access to coaching without asking questions,” Yarbrough advises.
This approach is not just about supporting employees through tough times; it’s about fostering a culture of care and understanding. Such a culture helps employees feel less isolated during personal crises and major life changes. It also provides an emotional safety net during tumultuous global events, which can add to the stress and anxiety employees face.
Yarbrough’s perspective is a call to action for businesses to recognize and support these “moments that matter.” It’s not just about avoiding discrimination in what constitutes a significant moment but about creating structures that genuinely bring humanity to the forefront of the workplace experience.
As we navigate through an era of heightened workplace stress, businesses need to adopt a more empathetic and supportive approach to employee relations and management. Recognizing and aiding employees through significant life transitions is not just a matter of good business practice, it’s the hallmark of caring and responsible employers.
By embracing the human side of business and providing necessary support during these “moments that matter,” companies can foster more productive, engaged, and loyal employees.
A new study provides insights on virtual meeting fatigue.
This article was first published on Dec. 29, 2023, by HR Daily Advisor, a sibling publication to HealthLeaders.
Why is it that remote meetings can feel so exhausting? After all, many meeting attendees these days are literally able to simply roll out of beds and log in. That’s in sharp contrast to the “old days” of spending an hour getting ready for work and taking a long commute just to make it to the meeting on time.
A new study, though, helps shed some light on the cause of virtual meeting fatigue.
Why Are Remote Meetings So Exhausting?
Recent research from Aalto University, led by Assistant Professor Niina Nurmi, challenges the common belief that virtual meeting fatigue stems from mental overload. Instead, the study, published in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, suggests that sleepiness during virtual meetings is often a result of mental underload and boredom.
The research involved measuring heart rate variability among 44 knowledge workers across nearly 400 meetings, in both virtual and face-to-face settings. Findings indicate that workers who were less engaged in their work, or not enthusiastic about their work, found virtual meetings particularly tiring. Researchers attributed the fatigue to limited cognitive cues and sensory input attendees get in virtual settings, especially when cameras are off. This can lead to under-stimulation and a tendency to multitask, which can be taxing for the brain.
Tips and Strategies for Less Tiring Virtual Meetings
Fortunately, there are some things organizations and meeting leaders can do to help minimize the drain that virtual meetings may cause.
Be aware. An important step is simply being aware and acknowledging that, yes, virtual meetings can be taking.
Encourage active participation. Plan meetings to include some kind of interaction and active participation among attendees. This might include small group discussions, interactive Q&A or the use of pools and quizzes.
Limit meeting times. Keep virtual meetings short and to the point. Shorter meetings reduce the likelihood of participants’ attention wandering, helping to maintain focus, energy levels, and engagement.
Take breaks. If a meeting must be long, split it up and schedule in a few quick breaks. This can help participants rest their eyes and move around a bit to renew their energy.
Have a camera-on-policy. Yes, it’s controversial and many may not like being on camera, but the visual engagement this provides can help keep participants more engaged while mimicking the interactions of a face-to-face meeting.
Vary your presentation techniques. Don’t just “talk at” meeting participants. Mix it up with varying presentation styles—slides, videos, live presentation, etc.
Don’t multitask! Discourage multitasking during meetings. Ensure that the meeting agenda is engaging enough that participants don’t feel the need to focus their attention elsewhere.
Make it personal. Maximize engagement by using participants’ names and interacting personally with attendees. This creates a sense of involvement and reduces the feeling of being just another face in the virtual crowd.
Virtual meetings don’t have to be a source of fatigue. By recognizing the potential to drain your audience and taking explicit steps to keep them engaged, you can get more out of your meetings—and your team members.
Employees try to avoid failure but knowing how to deal with failure is an essential skill.
This article was first published on Jan. 2, 2024, by HR Daily Advisor, a sibling publication to HealthLeaders.
We all want to avoid failure whenever possible, but the reality is nobody’s perfect, and we’re all bound to fail repeatedly over time. In a world that often celebrates success while shunning failure, understanding how to constructively deal with setbacks is crucial, and it’s a key ability employers should seek to empower their staff with.
The Reality and Psychology of Failure
Failure is a complex experience, often met with reactions that hinder our growth. The “sour-grape effect” and the “ostrich effect” are common psychological responses often seen from employees.
“In the past decade, a wealth of psychological research has shown that most people struggle to handle failure constructively,” writes David Robson in an article for BBC Worklife. Instead of addressing failure constructively, he says, “we find ways to devalue the task at which we failed, meaning that we may be less motivated to persevere and reach our goal.” This, he says, is the “sour-grape effect.” Or, employees might take an “ostrich effect” approach.
This, writes Robson, is when we “simply fail to notice our errors and blithely continue as if nothing has happened, something that prevents us from learning a better strategy to improve our performance in the future.”
Case Studies and Research Findings
As Robson reports in the BBC Worklife article, Hallgeir Sjåstad’s research on the “sour-grape effect” reveals our tendency to abandon goals prematurely, while Lauren Eskreis-Winkler and Ayelet Fishbach’s exploration of the “ostrich effect” shows our inclination to overlook negative information. It’s really nothing new.
We can all likely recall situations where we turned a blind eye to bad news or a negative outcome. That’s a tendency, though, that can have a negative impact on our ability to learn from these situations.
Strategies for Learning from Failure
To combat these tendencies, two strategies stand out. “The first is a process called ‘self-distancing’, in which you adopt a third-person perspective,” says Robson, a technique that helps soften negative emotions and allows for more objective self-evaluation.
Second, advising others on similar challenges can boost our confidence and engagement with our own experiences.
The Importance of Embracing Failure
Understanding and embracing failure is essential for growth.
As Sjåstad notes, “If you never fail, you’re probably aiming too low.” From this standpoint, those experiencing failures should view setbacks not as endpoints but as steppingstones to greater achievements.
Learning from failure is an art that takes practice and requires understanding our psychological responses to failure and actively employing strategies to overcome those responses. Employees and organizations that can master this art will give themselves a valuable advantage over others who only appreciate the negative side of failure.
Job search burnout is characterized by emotional exhaustion, diminished motivation, and a sense of frustration and cynicism about the job search process.
This article was first published on December 15, 2023, by HR Daily Advisor, a sibling publication to HealthLeaders.
In the current job market, job seekers often find themselves in a relentless cycle of applications, interviews, and rejections. This process, while necessary, can lead to a phenomenon increasingly recognized as job search burnout.
This type of burnout is characterized by emotional exhaustion, diminished motivation, and a sense of frustration and cynicism about the job search process.
Drivers of Job Search Burnout
The root of job search burnout often lies in the repetitive and sometimes impersonal nature of the application process. Many job seekers spend hours tailoring resumes and cover letters, only to be met with automated rejection emails or, worse, no response at all.
This lack of personalized feedback can leave applicants feeling undervalued and invisible in a sea of candidates.
The digital age has also made job applications more accessible—and more competitive. Platforms like LinkedIn and Indeed allow job seekers to apply for dozens of jobs with just a few clicks, leading to an overwhelming sense of needing to apply to as many positions as possible to increase the chances of success.
This “spray and pray” approach can be mentally exhausting and often less effective.
Goals Drive Added Stress
The emotional toll of job searching is compounded by the pressure to find not just any job, but the right job. The desire to find a position that aligns with one’s career goals, values, and skills can make the search even more daunting, especially in a competitive job market.
All of these factors are combining to create a gloomy outlook for many job seekers. “Researchers for LinkedIn’s Workforce Confidence Index recently surveyed more than 30,000 US professionals about how confident they felt about their prospects of keeping or finding a job, on a scale that ranges from +100 (most confident) to -100 (gloomiest).
For workers actively seeking jobs, the overall response in January 2023 was +36. In May, it slipped to +27,” writes Lauren Brown West-Rosenthal in an article for BBC Worklife.
Employers might take these findings as positive news—more desperate job seekers might give employers greater leverage among a vast pool of candidates. But that desperation also leads to people leaving the job market entirely, and employers might be missing out on great applicants who’ve just given up.
Savvy employers should consider strategies to proactively seek out candidates, such as targeted social media recruiting on sites like LinkedIn or active participation in job fairs and similar events.
Attorneys could be the next class of highly educated and highly paid professionals at risk of losing jobs to artificial intelligence.
This article was first published on December 19, 2023, by HR Daily Advisor, a sibling publication to HealthLeaders.
Rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) have scientists, journalists, business leaders, policymakers, and other observers scrambling to take stock of the implications of this revolutionary technology. One of the biggest concerns is the potential impact on the labor market. People are afraid of losing their jobs to a technology that has the potential to be vastly superior to human intellect in terms of speed, efficiency, and overall intelligence.
Skills AI Is Likely to Replace
While many observers assume low-skilled positions like gas station attendants, grocery store cashiers, and call center workers will see the greatest amount of skills displacement, AI actually has the potential to displace even highly educated and specialized human workers.
For instance, earlier this year, CNN reported that AI-powered mammogram screening improved cancer detection by 20% compared with human doctors. The implications of faster, cheaper, and more effective breast cancer screening for America’s notoriously expensive and inefficient healthcare system are appealing—unless you’re a doctor, of course.
Could AI Replace Attorneys?
Now, it seems as though attorneys could be the next class of highly educated and highly paid professionals at risk of losing jobs to AI. As Sean McManus reports in an article for BBC Worklife, Luminance, an AI company that specializes in developing solutions for the legal profession, is in the process of rolling out a beta version of its Luminance Autopilot application. As the name suggests, Luminance Autopilot is designed to fully automate the often lengthy process of contract review. This is a step up from its previous copilot version that assisted human attorneys in conducting reviews.
“The Luminance system is built on a large language model (LLM), which is also the foundation of popular text generation tool ChatGPT,” says McManus. “The major difference is that Luminance’s tools have been trained using more than 150 million legal documents, instead of public internet content. Luminance users create knowledge banks containing their signed documents, so that the software can learn what contract terms the company usually agrees to.”
Time Will Tell
It’s important to note that this technology is still in its early stages, and for the time being, most companies will still need to rely on human lawyers for their contract drafting and negotiation needs, perhaps with the assistance of tools that fall into the copilot category. However, the use of AI in fields like medicine and law demonstrates this technology’s potential to displace workers in even the most specialized fields of the global economy.
These developments are important to monitor as organizations consider the steps they may need to take to reskill or upskill their employees for other roles. The robots are coming!
Inflation and other cost-of-living pressures are impacting employee retention.
This article was first published on December 11, 2023, by HR Daily Advisor, a sibling publication to HealthLeaders.
Across the country and around the globe, people are facing historic inflation and other cost-of-living pressures, adding significant financial strain and concerns for their future financial security. Given the enormous media attention to these trends, this is hardly surprising.
What is surprising, however, is how these conditions are impacting employee retention.
Financial Strain May Lead to Turnover
One could be forgiven for assuming that employees facing financial strain would hold onto their jobs for dear life. After all, primary employment is where the vast majority of Americans receive the lion’s share of their income.
But recent data suggests that financial strain might actually be causing many employees to consider leaving their jobs.
“In a June 2023 survey of 53,912 global workers by PwC, 26% said they intend to quit their jobs in the next year,” writes Alex Christian in an article for BBC Worklife. “Much of this is driven by the cost-of-living crisis, which is especially acute in the UK: 47% of UK workers said they had little to no savings left at the end of each month, with a further 15% also stating their household struggles to pay its bills. Contrary to some past patterns, this financial precarity is pushing workers to move around the labour market – and in some cases, leave it entirely.”
What’s Different These Days?
So what’s different today than in years past? One significant contributing factor is likely the still-strong labor market and the high demand for workers. Workers who quit their jobs due to financial strain aren’t simply choosing to stay home and bemoan their situations.
They’re looking for other, better-paying jobs. And many are having success finding them.
Another factor is the cost of core services, particularly childcare, faced by many workers. “In some cases, the price of care exceeds many parents’ salaries, meaning it becomes more financially savvy to leave a job and move into a full-time carer role,” writes Christian.
This trend puts employers in an interesting position.
On the one hand, there’s a risk of losing staff who can find better-paying jobs elsewhere. On the other hand, it’s an opportunity to attract quality people away for jobs that don’t pay as well.
Of course, most employers don’t have an endless budget for payroll. Many will need to find creative ways to help employees deal with cost-of-living challenges. This might include employer-provided childcare, inflation bonuses or more flexibility to work from locations with lower costs of living.