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Written by Kieran Delamont, Associate Editor, London Inc. | |
WORKPLACE
Holiday burnout?
Last-minute projects, time-off requests, office parties ― is it any wonder the festive season generates significant stress for employees
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IT MIGHT BE the most wonderful time of the year in song, but in working world, the leadup to the holidays turns out to be a stressful, anxiety-inducing time of year.
“While December is filled to the brim with holiday spirit at home, some employees don’t see that festivity reflected at work. One in every three respondents say that the holiday season makes them feel more stressed,” reported a study from Workhuman. “Sixty-four per cent cited the financial burden of the holiday season as a core stressor, while 33 per cent reported an increasing workload and another 29 per cent said that meeting their KPIs and end-of-year goals had their cortisol pumping.”
Working parents, especially mothers, have it particularly hard. And all of that takes place in the wider context, where holidays themselves are seen as stressful by nine in 10 people.
Workplace experts suggest that managers need to be cognizant of this and have protocols in place specifically for the season. Now is not the time to start squeezing your employees, they advise.
“Developing a strategy for recognizing employees at the end of the year is especially important,” said head of people experience at Canva, Charlotte Anderson. “Showing genuine appreciation during this period can help re-energize teams, foster a sense of belonging and close out the year on a positive note.”
Experts also suggest being more flexible for the season. Some people need more time off. Others might not be leaving town and might want to pick up extra shifts to pad out the holiday budget. “Even though you should have fair processes all year round, it’s especially important at this time of year to make sure you’re handling annual leave and requests for flexible working as fairly as possible,” wrote Thea Watson.
“It’s important to make sure employees feel appreciated and supported during the holiday season,” advised Workhuman’s Trace Pesch. “Whether it’s work-related stressors or something personal going on in the life of an employee that makes this time extra difficult, leaders need to make a concerted effort to celebrate what makes those people such valuable contributors to their organization.”
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CULTURE
Brotox and beyond
More men are turning to cosmetic procedures in a bid to stay competitive. Just don’t ask them to talk about it
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MEN IN THE corporate world have been harbouring a secret: they’re getting plastic surgery, botox and all manner of cosmetic procedures, often in secrecy, and often for one purpose ― getting ahead in their careers.
“Ten years ago, it was just a topic that wasn’t discussed among men,” one plastic surgeon in New York told Business Insider. “It was usually quite secretive, discreet. They were very nervous about coming in, nervous about seeing others.”
But that has started to change ― last year, there was an eight per cent jump in the number of men getting cosmetic procedures, and some even say it is essential to get ahead in certain sectors.
“I play in the high-tech and startup world, where older individuals will be passed over,” one guy, who paid $25,000 for a nose job, told the Robb Report. “The software wars take a lot of energy and commitment. I simply aligned my outer appearance with my inner perspective.
It’s grown common in the tech sector, especially. “In Silicon Valley, it’s commonly believed that if you’re over the age of 35, you’re seen as over the hill,” said San Francisco-based plastic surgeon Larry Fan, speaking to the Washington Post. “In meetings, middle-aged guys will notice that everyone around them looks fresh-faced and youthful, and they’ll tell me that they feel like they stick out, and not in a good way.”
Does it work? Maybe. “The more confident a person is, the more successful they will be,” said Gabby Garritano, founder and CEO of medical spa JECT. “So yes, I believe doing aesthetic treatments can help make people feel more confident in their own skin and therefore empower them to seek more leadership potential in the workplace.”
But will men start being honest about it? That’s way less likely. Plastic surgeons say that corporate men make up as much as 30 per cent of their business, but won’t talk about it openly, fearing that admitting to the practice will damage their reputation.
“There’s swagger that often defines how people want to appear at work,” said career coach Roy Cohen. “You can’t have swagger when people think you’ve been artificially enhanced.”
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Terry Talks: Have no fear. How HR can help build a better organization
| While modern HR has emerged as an organizational leader for things like talent acquisition and retention, employee experience and learning and development – all functions that most employees recognize and benefit from – HR struggles to overcome several reputational obstacles, including a lack of trust and even fear. Making sure the HR function executes at a higher level and is driving meaningful organizational outcomes, while being connected to the needs and perceptions and employees, will go a long way toward changing the misperceptions about HR. | | | |
TECHNOLOGY
Artificially inequitable?
Why are women less likely to use AI?
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WHEN WE THINK of AI in popular culture, it’s often overtly gendered ― think of Scarlet Johansson’s voice in Her, for instance. Or Siri, or Amazon’s Alexa. But beyond its public face, AI is an exceedingly male technology, with more men using it than women.
“You take two software developers, or you take two paralegals or two teachers ― on average, there’s a 20 percentage point difference in the use of ChatGPT,” said University of Chicago economist Anders Humlum. “That was just a really stunning and very surprising find from my perspective.”
A new paper looked at all the data and found that “this gender gap in adoption is nearly universal,” and that all else being equal, “women are still less likely to use AI even when presented with the opportunity to do so.”
What’s the cause? Experts say it’s a bit hard to determine. “Maybe women identify less with it, feel less interested, or feel like they don’t belong,” said co-author of the paper Solene Delecourt, speaking to Charter. “Maybe women are more time constrained. A third possibility is something about guilt ― that women may feel like it’s cheating to use ChatGPT. Maybe this is something that women are more susceptible to than men.”
This leads to all sorts of knock-on effects ― men feel more worried about how AI will impact their job, for instance, while women are less concerned about it.
Experts generally agree this is a gender gap worth closing. “We focus on a simple solution: equalizing access,” they wrote. “If the gender gap is rooted in women being less likely to stumble upon, hear about, or be invited to use new AI tools, then equalizing the opportunity to engage with an AI tool should close the gap.”
But still, experts acknowledge that you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. Women may have all sorts of social reasons for not flocking to AI in the same way that men do, and that could have long-term ramifications on how much impact AI really has on productivity.
“Women make up just under 50 per cent of the workforce,” they conclude. “A persistent 25 per cent usage gap could result in hundreds of billions of dollars of lost productivity and output gains. Policy must go beyond simply equalizing access to AI and must wrestle with and address the social and behavioural barriers to AI use.”
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RESOURCES
You didn’t just succeed, you Exceled
Toronto’s Michael Jarman throws down in Vegas to claim the 2024 Microsoft Excel World Championship
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THE TROPHY IS coming home. The Stanley Cup? Ah, no. World Series champions? Well, not that one either. It’s the Microsoft Excel World Championship ― and the new king of the Excel world is Michael Jarman, a 30-year-old guy from Toronto who is really, really good at spreadsheets.
“It is a weird niche, I’ll give you that,” Jaman told The Globe and Mail. Jarman took home the belt at the 2024 installment of the tournament, first held in 2020. For his efforts, Jarman took home a US$5,000 ($7,033 Cdn.) cheque, and the event's signature pro-wrestling style championship belt.
The world of competitive spreadsheeting has grown over the last few years ― this year’s finals was held in the HyperX Arena in Las Vegas and was even broadcast on ESPN 3. Twelve finalists progressed to the finals, which was predicated upon a familiar, nerdy game: World of Warcraft. To win the title, Jarman dethroned Australian Andrew Ngai ― dubbed “The Annihilator” ― for the first time, after finishing as the runner up for the last three years.
What is competitive Excel, you might ask? Basically, it asks competitors to solve challenges and puzzles using the spreadsheet tool. A lot of it is based on speed ― how quickly can you get Excel to do what you want rather than solving something complicated.
“This is a flashier, faster, deliberately more arcade-y version of spreadsheeting,” wrote David Pierce, an amateur who enrolled himself in a competition over the summer. “More like trying to win 10 simultaneous games of chess on easy mode rather than painstakingly taking on a grandmaster.”
What does it take to become a champion? According to The Globe and Mail, Jarman spends “a few hours a week” practising old cases, plus the day-to-day time he puts in on Excel ― he’s the head of model development for a financial modelling firm in Toronto. The other thing it takes is a real love for Excel ― it’s the thing that really sets guys like Jarman apart.
“[Most people] use it because they have to,” said competitive Excel commentator Giles Male. “But there’ll be five per cent or 10 per cent of people at most companies that do start using it and love it.”
Could this be the basis of a new craze, sweeping the nation? Probably not, but organizers do believe there’s plenty of room to grow, and for champs like Jarman to gain a real stature in this subculture.
“To get the students really excited about this, they will be looking up to Michael Jarman now as a kind of e-sports hero,” Male said. “Which is brilliant.”
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