Insights

The WHO issues a formal warning to companies and employees to manage their remote working policies – or risk burnout. Plus, salary ignorance, overwork as a creativity killer. Read this week's trends from the world of work.

What else matters this week? 

1.    Companies need to manage remote work or risk burnout, WHO warns

We're approaching the two-year anniversary of the first Covid-19 lockdowns – and the start of a new era for the world of work. Many people with desk jobs have been working remotely for almost two years, on and off, now. These workers are worn out, physically and mentally.
Work-from-home burnout is a global phenomenon, so much so that the World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a new warning for companies, lawmakers, and employees this month. If companies and employees don't collectively manage remote working, a work-from-home model can create hazardous conditions, putting employees' health at risk.
"Which way the pendulum swings depends entirely on whether governments, employers, and workers work together," Maria Neira, director of the department of environment, climate change and health at the WHO, said. 

Photo：Kristin Wilson via Unsplash

2.    The real creativity killer: overwork

Employees want flexible working schedules. Their bosses? They can't wait to get back to the office.
Knowledge workers around the globe have learned to love some of the benefits of remote work, especially the flexibility and freedom. Companies, however, have argued that remote work stifles collaboration and innovation.
Is that really the case? In one Vox piece, another argument is made: overwork is killing creativity.
As more and more people quit their jobs, the workers left behind have had to pick up the slack. That's after a growing amount of workers have already witnessed "significantly" more work due to remote working.

Photo：Andrea Piacquadio via Pexels

3. Skills-based hiring is on the rise.

How many times have you seen a job description with a degree requirement, even though some jobs didn't need them? Employers have used degrees as a proxy for assessing skills and competencies.
Organizations started to back away from degree requirements after the Great Recession, but things have shifted in the past two decades.
But when the demand for talent outpaces supply, like it has in recent years, employers will start de-emphasizing degrees, researchers found.
Researchers studied more than 50 million recent job announcements in the past several years and found that many companies have started to move away from degree requirements and instead dive into skills-based hiring. This is especially true for middle-skill jobs. This shift opens the door to a large population of potential employees who have been excluded from consideration for many jobs because their lack of degrees. 

Photo：Jeriden Villegas from Unsplash

4. Your next job interview could be with a robot.

Chat bots and AI-led video interviews are coming onto the scene to help employers assess job candidates – before a human recruiter even meets them. For years now, recruiters have been relying on AI to automate candidate searches and screen resumes.

But AI-led video interviews take the process a step further. Automated interviews will vastly expand the job candidate pool, Axios argues, and recruiters hope they can ensure consistent hiring practices by rooting out the ways bias seeps into interviews.

Candidates, on the other hand, say that these AI-led video interviews and chat bots make the process stressful, dehumanizing, and impersonal.

"You're at a tremendous disadvantage as a candidate when it's a one-way street," one candidate said. "I'm used to reading people, and there was nothing there for me to read." Read more here.

Photo：Jenny Ueberberg from Unsplash

5. Happy "work wife", happy life, happy boss

As it turns out, being happy at home means being happy at work. At least, this is what new research by the American Psychological Association reveals. The message is simple: employers should pursue a supportive and cohesive work environment as this will reflect positively on employees' personal lives - and vice-versa. They call it "the gain spiral".

Where previous studies would have put the responsibility for such an environment on a manager or a supervisor, this new study suggests immediate coworkers are more significant. It's the "work-spouses" who have the most effect on happiness in the workplace, apparently.

In essence, employers still shouldn't get involved in their employees' private lives, but limiting overtime and a culture of presenteeism can go a long way in improving the quality of work life, thereby making workers happy and setting in motion the "gain spiral". Read more on the World Economic Forum.

Photo：Nick fewings on unsplash