WORKPLACE WELLNESS HAS become a buzzy term in the last few years, and many companies have responded by beefing up what they offer their employees in this regard ― covering mental health therapies in benefits packages, setting up wellness spending accounts and bringing more services in-house. But are they working?

The evidence is pretty mixed. Some data has shown that wellness programs do succeed in improving employee health and lowering workplace healthcare costs. In one randomized example, where researchers randomly assigned staff members at a BJ’s Wholesale Club to a wellness program, the results were mixed.

“The only changes related to wellness programs involved workers’ paying somewhat more attention to staying in shape,” the researchers found. “Health-care costs, underlying health measures and job-performance-related data were indistinguishable.”

“I am personally not convinced that lunchtime yoga and mason jars of trail mix are the antidote to our global epidemic of workplace stress and burnout,” writes Charlotte Lieberman. “I know from both sides that it’s easier for companies to promote sexy office perks, like happy hours and kombucha on tap, than the byzantine and bureaucratic world of behavioral healthcare.”

The problem, say some, is that they are often constructed as one-size-fits-all programs. They are often not very diverse, too, argue some.

Natasha Singh and Chantaie Allick formed the Toronto-based company Re-Work in 2022 to address this, offering what they say are more inclusive ― and impactful ― approaches to wellness programs. Implied in their approach is that more flexible, personally specific wellness approaches will be better able to achieve what many of the corporate-type programs nobly aspire to, but sometimes fall short of achieving.

“Culturally, we normalize and valorize burnout and stress and overwork, and my experience of those corporate wellness initiatives and offerings [is that they are] there to make it easier for you to work harder,” Allick told the Globe and Mail. “We’re trying to shift culture and the way people think about work and [their] relationship to work.”

A more holistic approach, focusing on wellness not as a discrete category for individuals but as a larger business fundamental, might pay dividends.

“A lot of folks will say, ‘My intention is never to make people feel uncomfortable. I’m trying to be a good employer,’ but they need to understand, from the bare minimum first, before they address that bigger problem,” said HR executive Faith Tull. “That’s where we need to spend time educating. ‘If you invest in this, the results will be less absenteeism…when you start talking the language, they’re going to hear you.” Kieran Delamont

CONSUMERISM

Let’s make a deal

Hate negotiating for a price cut? If you want to save money, you’d better get over it. The old art of haggling is making a comeback

IF YOU’VE BEEN to just about any store, of any kind, at any time in the past couple of years, it was probably at least slightly painful. ‘They’re charging how much?!’ you might have asked yourself, grumbling under your breath as you tap the card. Surely there must be a better way…

Enter the slightly lost art of haggling, being taken up by some to try to get discounts and lower prices.

Haggling has all but disappeared from our economy (at least the non-yard-sale parts of it). For the most part, what you see is what you pay. But some savvy consumers, grappling with high costs and rising inflation, are reviving the age-old retail strategy and making a return to dickering on prices.

“Haggling—an ancient practice among people in almost every culture ― remains one of the best ways to save money,” writes the Wall Street Journal. “Take mattresses. Sixty per cent of people who choose to haggle for a mattress succeeded ― and saved a median of $245.”

Consumer Reports surveyed 2,000 shoppers and found that 89 per cent of those who'd haggled for a better deal in the last few years did save money at least once.

And in this economy many companies, big and small, are willing to negotiate to make the sale.

“It works so well,” said Lisa Lee Freeman, editor in chief of Shop Smart magazine. “It doesn't work every time, but my philosophy is: If you don't ask, you don't get. And when you get, you can save hundreds of dollars.”

Consumer Reports even tacked on a few tips for haggling that you can take into your daily life. (Technically these were about mattresses, but the principle is the same.)

“Before you haggle, make sure you have in mind what you’re interested in, what you’re willing to pay, and what the going rate is,” they said. “Bring up the competition or consider walking away: Fifteen per cent of hagglers said they specifically mentioned prices offered by competing mattress dealers to the seller. Of those 15 per cent, more than half ―57 per cent ― scored a deal.”

A little uncomfortable, at first? Sure. But worth it. After all, as the Wall Street Journal put it: “Things are way too expensive now to let an uncomfortable feeling stand in the way of a discount.” Kieran Delamont

TECHNOLOGY

Is AI a threat to women’s jobs?

While employees of all gender identities have reason to be anxious over the quick and ferocious advent of artificial intelligence, women may have the most reason to be concerned

THE RELATIVELY SUDDEN and rapid rise of AI technology has a lot of people worried about its impact on jobs: could it replace some workers, and if so, which ones?

A new report from Revelio Labs suggests that it may be some of the female-dominated professions that are most at risk from AI. Billing and account collectors, payroll and timekeeping clerks and executive assistants were identified as the top three areas where AI could replace workers; all three are jobs predominantly staffed by women.

“The distribution of genders across occupations reflects the biases deeply rooted in our society, with women often being confined to roles such as administrative assistants and secretaries,” said Hakki Ozdenoren, economist at Revelio Labs. “Consequently, the impact of AI becomes skewed along gender lines.”

Forecasts like this give us some reason for pause, especially as the conversation around AI turns to what kind of regulation it ought to be subject to, with many of its creators now calling for government regulation. AI is very much a product of a tech economy that was meant to improve work for the population, and warnings that it will simply exacerbate gender disparities might cause us to ask why it’s being pursued at all.

“Tech giants are desperately trying to push themselves into a beneficial pole position to have a chance to become the defacto AI-powered landing page of the internet and I’m fairly sure they don’t consider the impact of their technologies on women as a whole,” writes Michael Spencer.

Some, however, see now as the time to create sensible regulations around the way AI is deployed, if it is simply being used as a job-killing, labour-saving strategy. Erin Young, research fellow at the Alan Turing Institute, suggests that knowing AI is poised to impact women most can be an important data point as those regulations are written.

“Firstly, governments should ensure that new technologies are developed within a regulatory framework that prioritizes and protects women's rights,” said Young. “And secondly, ethical frameworks for auditing and monitoring AI technologies should put gender equality at their core.” Kieran Delamont

CULTURE

Will work, must travel

As the thick of the pandemic becomes a distant memory, employee relocations are on the rise

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