Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER March 20, 2017 NEWS 9 "Work takes up a significant chunk of our time and is a signifi- cant part of our identity," she said. "It's important that people have access to meaningful work, and I don't think that many employers see their employees as anything more than a cost." As menial jobs disappear, so does the middle class — the group Trudeau chose to champion, said Duxbury. "e reality is those people are redundant," she said. "Business doesn't hire for moral reasons. Business is in business to make money." "When we automate all these jobs, we have winners and losers. e losers are people who used to do the jobs and only have the skills to do the jobs that are no longer there. at leaves jobs without people and people without jobs. It's a huge trend." We've automated and focused on doing more with less, said Duxbury. "Knowledge workers and people who have information skills that can't be automated be- come increasingly valuable in the workplace. However, the middle has gone." Employee uncertainty has sparked the rise of populist move- ments in the United Kingdom and United States, making this a crisis worthy of national attention, said Mallika Banerjee, professor of or- ganizational behaviour at McGill University in Montreal. "The pace of technology is changing so fast, it has re- ally caught a lot of middle-class, white-collar workers by surprise," she said. "People may not to be able to pin down whether or not their job is going to be washed away, but it's about the next gen- eration, too." Until someone steps forward to take responsibility for reskill- ing workers for the future, uncer- tainty will remain, said Banerjee. "Because the jobs that will be created are very high-skilled, it may be difficult to train some of the people who are displaced. So I think there is kind of a tide to re- strain the pace of this technologi- cal change and globalization." e link between societal un- rest and worker anxiety is very real, said Beverly Beuermann- King, a resiliency, stress and well- ness strategist in Little Britain, Ont. "When we look at the top sourc- es of stress for people, it is things such as the kinds of changes that are taking place, and then the un- certainty around those changes — not knowing what it's going to look like for the future," she said. Everything is interconnected, said Beuermann-King. "When- ever there's unrest or uncertainty, it certainly has an impact on all aspects of our life." Helping employees cope One of the reasons there has been a backlash is people were not pre- pared, said Banerjee. "ey were not told what was really happening and now sud- denly, after 20 years of global- ization, people sort of figured out that 'Oh, we have lost out,'" she said. "I feel there needs to be some kind of public-private part- nership in this between employers and government, not to resist the change, but 'How can we keep you informed and help you?'" Keeping workers informed about potential changes can be helpful, said Banerjee. "Part of the anxiety and stress comes from the lack of informa- tion," she said. "Even if employ- ers can have a much more open discussion with their employees about changes that are going to happen… ere is a lack of in- formation exchange and sharing. at's where part of the anxiety comes from." Employees need several factors in place in order to be at their best, said Beuermann-King. ose include: knowing what's expected of them and how they're connected to the larger organiza- tion, the ability to speak up and be heard, non-hostile environments, support and belonging. Workers require adequate resources to complete their job, and want to use their talents to the best of their abilities, she said. "We spend an incredible amount of time at work," said Beuermann-King. "Most vision statements, mission statements, benchmarks for companies have people as their most important re- source, yet they may not be mak- ing decisions that support that." Business success entails a num- ber of different factors — it's not just about the bottom line, she said, and Trudeau's comments show leaders and employers have awoken to this issue. "It's also longevity. If you have a great bottom line but are wasting money on job turnover, or train- ing and retraining people because you've always got new people coming in, then you're not being as effective and efficient as pos- sible. Success is not just money. It's also about 'Are we as efficient and effective as we can be?'" In the face of a troublesome eco- nomic climate, employers need to continue cultivating a workplace culture of openness and respect, said Beuermann-King. "A lot of what Justin Trudeau was talking about comes under that category," she said. "We want to respect (workers') time, their talents, their energy and commit- ment, and we want them to know it matters that they're there or they're not. I think that's really big — how do we show that respect and appreciation?" Additionally, employers need to ensure workers aren't being over- worked at the expense of short- term success, said Duxbury. Some employees continue to be worked off their feet, while others remain out of a job — both "incredibly unhealthy" mental- health scenarios. "Employers have to start mea- suring the cost of understaffing, which up to now was kind of in- visible," she said. "ey have to start tracking the fact that they don't have enough people to do the work that's being expected to things like absenteeism levels, turnover rates, prescription drug use, mental health issues in the workplace." "We're seeing a lot more de- pression, anxiety. Where's the cost there? We have to start looking at this much more broadly, and I think the government is going to have to maybe legislate things — which is not going to be popular." Worker uncertainty sparks populism TRUDEAU < pg. 1 "e pace of technology is changing so fast, it has really caught a lot of middle- class, white-collar workers by surprise." Available Risk-Free for 30 Days Order online: www.carswell.com Call Toll-Free: 1-800-387-5164 In Toronto: 416-609-3800 Has your workplace met all requirements under the new Bill 132? New Edition Pocket Ontario OH&S Act & Regulations 2017 – Consolidated Edition © 2017 Thomson Reuters Canada Limited 00243CP-A86353-CM Your peers rely on this best-selling pocket resource for invaluable guidance on workplace safety law. 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