What the numbers say about work now

They tell the stories of a country where women were at least surface-catalyzed by the death of George Floyd, and someone was fired in quarter homes. They point to the future, where there is no need to go to the office, at least not every day. In terms of numbers, the working year is here.

Production at a cost

We are doing our job, but we feel so pathetic. In a September survey of the conference board’s 330 HR leaders, 47% of respondents reported an increase in productivity in their companies, while only 13% saw a decline. But 60% said their employees work overtime and 63% say their employees spend too much time at meetings. Four in 10 reported high levels of mental health problems among workers.

Part of it is definitely work We are tired of back-to-back video calls, without even a trip between work and life. We are afraid of losing our livelihoods. Then there is the health crisis: 78% of those surveyed by the American Psychological Association for 3,409 adults reported that epilepsy is a significant source of depression, so it is not surprising that bleeding occurs in our working lives.

What might help? Some employers say they plan to discount mental health services next year. Some employees say it’s time for a change. A study by public relations firm Weber Sandwick in November found that 66% of those polled planned to make changes such as changing jobs, moving out of town or part-time work due to infection.

Realizing the needs of diversity

The Black Lives Matter movement certainly talks a lot about corporate executives race and inequality. The share of organizations whose leaders and employees claim diversity and content as a value or priority has risen from 72% in 2020 to 65% in 2019, according to a series of PricewaterhouseCoopers survey. At the same time, one-third of respondents agree that diversity is an obstacle to progress in their organizations, up from 28% in 2019.

Companies have taken steps such as appointing Juneteint pay leave in 2021 (10% of those surveyed by ExpertHR, the online provider of compliance guidance) and developing formal guidance plans for less representative staff groups (compared to 42% of those surveyed by the HR organization WorldWorks) Many said their company “says all the right things about diversity, equity and addition, but they don’t do what they say.”

Employees seem to be hungry for real action. Weber said three-quarters of those surveyed in the Shandwick survey said their employer should fight racism, discrimination and nepotism, and that 82% wanted to be paid a fair wage. Let’s see if 2021 brings more than just words.

Job news, for the most part, is bad

The economic crisis continues to affect our paychecks. Nearly a third of companies surveyed by the convention board have postponed a pay rise or bonus for workers, and 8% plan to do so by the end of this year. A similar number of companies have carried out permanent layoffs. A quarter encouraged workers, and a fifth hired all.

The unemployment rate rose to three percent in February from 3.8 percent in February to 13 percent in May, according to government data from the Pew Research Center. This is 6.7%.

Another Pew survey of 13,200 Americans in August found that one in four may have been laid off or that someone in their home had lost their job. However, the conference board study found that it is difficult to find workers, especially in industries such as construction and transportation. Some of those calculated in the unemployment figures are not actually looking for work, the business research team considers. Instead, concerns about exposure or childcare responsibilities prevent them from taking the job.

Tests for working parents

Remote school and day care closures have placed a heavy burden on parents. The solution that many families have landed: Mom quits her job. According to data from the National Women’s Law Center’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 865,000 women lost their jobs in September, the beginning of the school year. That’s up from 216,000 men.

Although nearly half a million women rejoined the workforce in October, women held 5.5 million fewer jobs that month than they did in February, according to a study by the Women’s Policy Research Institute. The unemployment rate is especially high for black and Hispanic women.

Employers are reluctant to provide substantial support to working parents. Many reports allow for flexible hours, but are more generous with benefits such as paid leave. U.S. According to a Chamber of Commerce Foundation survey, 4% of the 790 companies surveyed said they provide financial assistance for childcare, with the majority not wanting or equivalent to increasing their company’s investment in childcare.

Remote work always

For many years, this was either a afterthought or a secret in many corporate jobs. Long-distance work is a quick arrangement for a new parent to return from vacation, which is a negotiation for long-term co-workers moving to California.

Now, it has become a staple. According to Nicholas Bloom, an economist at Stanford University’s graduate school business, the number of working days Americans spend at home has increased eightfold with the epidemic. According to a Stanford survey of 2,500 people, nearly 34% of Americans work from home in November.

Once the threat of the corona virus subsided, we might not go back, at least things never happened. According to a series of Stanford surveys, the average employee prefers to work from home twice a week after an outbreak. Workers and employers have invested in new ways of working, from buying furniture to learning to use video conferencing software.

The stigma associated with a once distant job is disappearing. We all see that this is not just what Netflix sees when it occasionally shoots an email. Forced to try something new, we realized that some changes were not so bad.

Write Rachel FindSeek at [email protected]