2022 Employment and Workplace Trends

A new study conducted by researchers from the University of Warwick is dispelling one of the biggest beliefs about working overnight shifts. While many consumers think it may just take time to adjust to this new schedule, the researchers found that this isn’t the case for all overnight workers. 

“There’s still an assumption that if you do night work, you adjust at some stage,” said researcher Bärbel Finkenstädt. “But you don’t. We saw that most workers compensate in terms of quantity of sleep, but not in terms of quality during the work time.” 

Risks of shift work

The researchers conducted their study on two groups of hospital workers – one group worked the night shift for three or more nights per week, and the other group alternated between morning and afternoon shifts. All participants wore devices that tracked their sleep, circadian rhythms, and surface temperature. 

After analyzing the results from the wearable devices, the team identified significant differences between night shift workers and day shift workers. Night shift workers had poorer sleep quality, and nearly 50% of them experienced disruptions to their natural circadian rhythms. 

These findings held up regardless of how long the participants worked night shifts. Participants who had been on that assignment for years were experiencing poorer sleep, and the longer they did night work, the worse their outcomes were. 

“Nearly 20% of the night workers could not even adjust their circadian rhythms during their free time, with the severity of impairment tending to increase with the number of years in night work,” said researcher Francis Lévi. “The telemonitoring technology, and analysis methods we have set up make it now possible to objectively evaluate circadian and sleep health in night workers in real time, and design prevention measures for individual workers whenever necessary.” 

While working nights is unavoidable in many industries, the researchers say it’s important that efforts are taken to ensure that workers are prioritizing their health as best as they can. 

“I think there’s a misunderstanding that night shift work is just an inconvenience, whereas it can be linked to serious health risks,” said researcher Julia Brettschneider. “We can’t avoid shift work for many professions, like health care workers, so we should be thinking about what can be done in terms of real-world adjustments to improve working conditions and schedules of shift workers. A better understanding of the biological mechanisms helps to find answers to this question.” 

A new study conducted by researchers from the University of California explored how comparing job performances of physicians can be harmful. According to their findings, health care providers are more likely to feel unsatisfied with their roles and experience burnout when they're compared to their peers.

“Behavioral interventions such as providing peer comparison information offer attractive, cost-effective ways to promote positive behavior change,” said researcher Dr. Justin Zhang. “This research highlights the importance of assessing less visible outcomes, such as job satisfaction and burnout, when policymakers and organizational leaders implement seemingly innocuous behavioral interventions.” 

Long-term effects of job comparison

The researchers conducted a five-month experiment with nearly 200 primary care physicians to understand how being compared to others can affect job satisfaction and burnout. One group of doctors received information about their job performance compared to their colleagues, which is a behavioral method traditionally used among health care providers to improve their caregiving. The second group of doctors didn’t receive any comparative data on their performance versus their peers. 

Ultimately, the comparison among the physicians wasn’t found to be helpful. Rather than promote better preventative care, the doctors who received information on how their performances compared to other doctors experienced greater dissatisfaction in their roles and a higher likelihood of burnout. 

The researchers explained that many of the health care providers felt that this practice of comparing them to their peers affected how they viewed their superiors. They didn’t feel supported by doctors in leadership roles, and that impacted how they felt about their own positions. 

Moving forward, the researchers hope that more work is done to guide health care providers in a way that is more supportive. 

“This work also underscores the importance of attending to the way in which an intervention may inadvertently change employees’ perceptions of their managers and thus elicit negative reactions,” said Dr. Zhang. “To preempt negative perceptions, such as reduced feelings of leadership support, this research suggests that organizational leaders ought to engage employees in the design phase of an intervention, probe their feelings, and revise the design if needed. 

“Finally, this work highlights that when leaders offer the necessary context and support to accompany a peer comparison intervention, recipients may draw more positive inferences about their leaders’ intent. This can buffer against the harmful effects of peer comparison interventions on well-being.” 

A new study conducted by researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University explored how consumers can improve their relationships with their coworkers. According to their findings, practicing mindfulness may improve interactions among coworkers, which in turn can lead to improvements in their work roles. 

“An understanding of how individuals bring mindfulness with them to work, and how these practices may contribute to interaction and relationship quality, is especially relevant as work landscapes are ever-changing and interdependence is increasingly becoming the norm,” said researcher Christopher S. Reina, Ph.D. 

Improving workplace relationships

For the study, the researchers conducted several formal and informal interviews. They spoke with consultants, managers, and professionals that practice mindfulness about their experiences in the workplace as well as other individuals who prioritize mindfulness at work. 

The researchers learned that mindfulness can have important benefits in the workplace. They found that efforts like being an attentive listener or taking a mindful moment before the start of a meeting can have a ripple effect on workplace performance and interpersonal relationships with colleagues. 

“Interestingly, interviewees noted how other individuals around them had noticed the emotional effects of their mindful behaviors on interactions and relationships,” said Reina. “We found initial evidence that our interviewees’ efforts towards bringing their mindfulness into the workplace were seen by their colleagues as having a positive effect.” 

These improved relationships resulted in improved individual functioning and better group outcomes. 

“Mindfulness reminds us that our thoughts and emotions are complex,” Reina said. “They are contextualized by prior events experienced within a social environment, and within this social environment, individuals must be aware of both their own and others’ thoughts and emotions in order to navigate these complexities with skill and compassion.” 

A new study conducted by researchers from the University of Exeter explored how loneliness may influence employment status.

Ultimately, the team identified a link between the two; those who experience loneliness may be more likely to be unemployed down the road, while those who are unemployed may be more likely to feel lonely. 

“Given the persisting and potentially scarring effects of both loneliness and unemployment on health and the economy, prevention of both experiences is key,” said researcher Nia Morrish. “Decreased loneliness could mitigate unemployment, and employment abate loneliness, which may in turn relate positively to other factors including health and quality of life. Thus, particular attention should be paid to loneliness with additional support from employers and government to improve health and well-being. 

“Our research was largely conducted pre-pandemic, however, we suspect this issue may be even more pressing, with more people working from home and potentially experiencing isolation because of anxieties around COVID.” 

The link between loneliness and unemployment

For the study, the researchers analyzed data from more than 15,000 people enrolled in the Understanding Society Household Longitudinal Study. The team looked at survey responses from 2017-2019, and 2018-2020, while also taking into account several important factors, including age, marital status, gender, education, ethnicity, and the number of children the participants had. 

The researchers learned that loneliness seemed to be directly linked with employment. Participants who reported feeling lonely at any point throughout the study were nearly 18% more likely to become unemployed down the road. The opposite was also true – participants who were unemployed at any stage of the study were more likely to report feeling lonely. 

“While previous research has shown that unemployment can cause loneliness, ours is the first study to identify that lonely people of any working age are at greater risk of becoming unemployed,” said Dr. Ruben Mujica-Mota. “Our findings show that these two issues can interact and create a self-fulfilling, negative cycle. There is a need for greater recognition of the wider societal impacts of loneliness in the working age population.” 

Moving forward, the researchers hope more work is done by employers and legislators to help employees who may be struggling with loneliness. 

“Loneliness is an incredibly important societal problem, which is often thought about in terms of the impact on mental health and well-being only,” said researcher Atonieta Medina-Lara. “Our findings indicate that there may also be wilder implications, which could have negative impacts for individuals and the economy. We need to explore this further, and it could lay foundations for employers or policymakers to tackle loneliness with a view to keeping more people in work.” 

A new study conducted by researchers from Northwestern University explored the value behind scientific conferences that are often both expensive and time-consuming.

Whether the conferences were held virtually or in person, the study findings suggest that they have proven to be valuable ways for scientists to collaborate, share ideas, and meet new people. 

“Scientific conferences are a very expensive industry,” said researcher Emma Zajdela. “People often talk about whether or not we should rethink conferences. Our results suggest that the way organizers design conferences can have a direct effect on which scientific collaborations are formed and, by extension, on the direction of scientific inquiry.”

The power of collaboration

To get a better understanding of the value behind scientific conferences, the researchers created a mathematical model that predicted how well attendees made connections at these events. They then compared their results with data from Scialogs, which are scientific conferences designed to promote collaboration. 

The study showed that these efforts to get scientists talking to each other were valuable. When participants were assigned to specific groups, they were more likely to collaborate with their fellow conference attendees and also keep in touch with them after the conference. Additionally, those who joined small groups were eight times as likely to work with those same conference attendees in the future. 

“Today, science is conducted by teams, so the formation of new teams is especially important,” said Zajdela. “Science isn’t done by individuals anymore. It’s more interdisciplinary and multi-institutional. We need these conferences because scientists can meet other researchers who they might never have met otherwise.” 

It’s also important to note that these findings held up regardless of whether the events were virtual or in-person. In fact, virtual gatherings were more effective at helping scientists create long-term collaborations. While those who attended in-person events were 1.6 times more likely to interact with their new connections after the conference, those who attended a virtual conference were twice as likely to engage with their new networks. 

“We interpret these results as coming from the fact that scientists did not have the same opportunities for formal interactions (during breaks or meals) in the virtual conferences as they did in the in-person conferences,” Zajelda said. “Therefore, the sessions they were assigned to were the only place that they could meet people to form teams with; hence the greater importance of interaction in these sessions for team formation.” 

Regardless of the setting, the researchers hope these findings emphasize the importance of attending these kinds of sessions.

It was nearly two years ago, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, that offices across America closed and employees began working from home. It set off a number of wide-ranging changes in the economy.

Rents plummeted as people moved out of apartments in the cities and purchased homes in the suburbs, sending home prices skyrocketing. Because people could work from anywhere, real estate markets in secondary cities like Boise and Des Moines boomed.

Now that COVID-19 is finally in retreat in the U.S. and many restrictions have been lifted, many businesses are trying to coax employees back to the office. But it’s not that easy. 

The “Great Resignation,” which began last year with millions of Americans quitting their jobs, has shown no sign of letting up. Nearly 4.3 million people quit their jobs in January, according to a Labor Department report issued earlier this week.

Bill Catlette, a  director at the National Foundation for Transplants, says we won't know how the current “Great Resignation” trend plays out until it collides with a recessionary economy. Right now, he says employees have a lot of leverage.

“Most companies have already made concessions in the form of pay, benefits, work schedule, and location flexibility,” Catlette told ConsumerAffairs. “The ones who don’t will pay a price, one of which involves being forced into the shallow end of the talent pool.”

Many employees want to continue working remotely

Employees cite a number of reasons for wanting to continue working from home. Near the top of the list is avoiding the daily commute. But there are many employees like Keren Gifford, an information technology worker in Pittsburgh, who hopes to continue working remotely for social reasons.

“There’s not much point in returning to the office if we’re just going back to the old boys’ club,” Gifford told the New York Times. “What a relief not to have to go in day after day, week after week, and fail at making friends and having fun.”

Piotr Majchrzak, co-founder and co-CEO of Boldare, says remote work was more successful than many business leaders dared hope. But he says there are downsides as well, which is why CEOs are encouraging a return to the office.

“Switching to a dispersed model can often put team working under stress: communication suffers, people aren’t sure what their colleagues are working on, and previous levels of information-sharing aren’t enough in a remote business environment,” Majchrzak told ConsumerAffairs. “The result is declining efficiency.”

No going back to 2019

Ira Wolfe, president of Success Performance Solutions, also weighed in on the issue. He notes that most of us long for a return to the normal of 2019, but so far it seems elusive and serves as a warning for CEOs. 

“Even as pandemic restrictions wane, an inflation crisis, fallout from the Ukraine crisis, economic volatility, and perpetual uncertainty will be the normal environment,” Wolfe said. “Leaders need to adapt their approach to work and how things get done to the environment which will be fluid. For those organizations with a vision to get ‘back to normal,’ it will likely turn out badly.”

Michael Alexis, CEO at teambuilding.com, believes a hybrid combination of office and remote work could become the new norm, at least in the short term. Smart companies, he says, will use it to attract and keep top-shelf talent.

“The volume of remote (work) is still very high, and I believe that top-performing employees who value this flexibility will move towards companies that provide a remote option,” he told us. “In order to stay competitive, other organizations will need to follow suit.”

With many consumers now working from home, it can be difficult to differentiate between working and non-working hours. However, a new study conducted by researchers from Cornell University found that this may be the key to long-term motivation. 

According to their findings, consumers who work outside of designated working hours – whether late at night or on weekends – may be less likely to stay motivated during working hours. 

“Even if you’re still working 40 hours a week, you’re working during time that you’ve mentally encoded as time off, or as time that should be for a vacation, and that can make you feel suddenly that your work is less enjoyable,” said researcher Kaitlin Woolley. 

Taking time off can help motivation

The researchers conducted three studies – one on college students and two on full-time employees. The researchers surveyed the participants on either a holiday or a weekend and asked the group to rate their level of interest in their work, how satisfied they were with their roles, and how engaged they were with what they were doing. In each of the trials, half of the group was reminded that it was either a holiday or a weekend, while the other half carried on with their work. 

Overall, it was clear to the researchers that working during what should be non-working hours greatly affected the participants' motivation and satisfaction. In each of the trials, when participants were notified that it was a holiday or weekend, their work wasn’t as enjoyable and they weren’t as satisfied in their roles. 

The college students reported that studying and doing homework was 15% less enjoyable when they knew it was President’s Day, while full-time office employees said their jobs were nearly 10% less enjoyable on Martin Luther King Day. Similarly, workers reported lower levels of job satisfaction when working on a Saturday versus a Tuesday. 

“The real benefit of time off on the weekend or on holiday is that it’s not just that I have time off, but my family and friends have time off, too,” said Woolley. “And so one thing we suggest for managers is, can you create a ‘weekend shift’ so people feel like they’re in it together with other people?” 

Moving forward, the researchers hope these findings help employees find a greater balance between work life and personal life. 

“It’s hard sometimes for workers who aren’t in a position of power, whereas I think managers have the responsibility to create that environment for their employees,” Woolley said. “I do think people are becoming more aware of the importance of that, and shaping their jobs and their life choices to allow for it.” 

A new study conducted by researchers from the University of Bath explored how support in the workplace may benefit consumers’ relationships at home. According to their findings, having friends in the workplace may help employees be supportive of their partners and encourage them to think more creatively to solve problems both at home and at work.  

“Employees take the support they receive from co-workers home with them, and in a loving relationship they transfer this support to their partner,” said researcher Yasin Rofcanin. “This might mean they encourage them to open up about stresses, seek to resolve issues, or make improvements to the juggle of work-life arrangements that benefit the family. 

“The result is that both members of a couple benefit,” Rofcanin said. “Spouses pass on support received from co-workers and partners will be more creative at work, in what is termed a ‘gain spiral.’ So it pays for employers to recognize the value of caring co-workers.” 

Wide-reaching benefits of workplace support

For the study, the researchers analyzed diary entries from over 200 full-time employees. All of the participants were in dual-income relationships, and 80% of them had children. Participants reported on their experiences at work, their relationships with their spouses, how workplace experiences affected relationships at home, and vice versa. 

The study showed that there was a positive correlation between support from co-workers and greater support in spousal relationships. The more supported the participants felt at work, the more likely they were willing to share those feelings with their spouses at home. Participants were more likely to get creative in their problem-solving with their partners, and they generally felt a greater sense of balance between work and family responsibilities. 

The researchers also found that this trend correlated with performance at work. When employers felt more supported at work, which translated into better relationships at home, they were also more likely to be more creative in their roles at work. 

The researchers explained that this relationship between workplace support and stronger spousal relationships was most effective when co-workers helped with problems related to home life. This included feeling supported through dealing with a sick child, general life challenges, issues with caregiving responsibilities that may affect work performance, or any other personal issues that may come up. 

Moving forward, the researchers hope these findings prove to be beneficial for employers. While co-workers aren’t guaranteed to be friends, creating a supportive work environment can benefit employers’ personal and professional lives. 

“So much research points to the stresses of being in a dual-income couple, it’s refreshing to see a win for loving relationships alongside work,” Rofcanin said. “While we’re not suggesting employers should meddle in relationships, they may be able to positively contribute to the quality of relationships at home by putting policies and procedures in place to minimize work-family conflict, such as limiting overtime and expectations to respond to emails outside of hours.” 

A new study conducted by researchers from the University of California Davis explored how many businesses are falling short on compensating their hourly employees.

According to their findings, several states have a law in place that is designed to compensate employees when they show up for work and their shifts are cut short; however, the study revealed that many employees aren’t receiving these funds and are unaware these laws are in place. 

“Shift cuts undermine the well-being of workers and their families,” said researcher Savannah Hunter. “The law may not be enforced consistently. We really need better support of labor in this country, generally.” 

Employees are missing pay

To better understand how well these laws are being implemented, the researchers surveyed over 1,000 hourly workers from across the country. Participants were asked if they knew about the laws regarding shift cut compensation, in addition to their general work experience, how often their shifts were cut short, and general awareness of local wages. 

Currently, the states with this mandate in effect are: New Jersey, Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Oregon, California, Rhode Island, and Washington D.C.

Ultimately, just 4% of the participants were aware that there were laws in place in their states that required them to be paid when their shifts were shortened. However, nearly 40% of the participants reported experiencing shortened shifts. Of those who knew of the law, just 25% said they were compensated for shortened shifts most of the time. Additionally, just 17% of employers reported being aware of such laws. 

“Places like San Francisco, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Oregon recently implemented similar policies to improve the predictability and regularity of workers’ schedules,” said researcher Ryan Finnigan. “But we found that the enforcement process for these kinds of policies really needs to improve for them to be effective.” 

The researchers explained that when employees aren’t given these funds after shortened work shifts, it’s their responsibility to report it. While each state handles the specifics of the law differently, most are required to pay employees their full hourly wage for each hour of work they missed. 

Hourly workers are losing money when their shifts are cut short, while also missing out on the opportunity to be fairly compensated because they are unaware these laws exist and their employers aren’t carrying them out. Moving forward, the researchers hope that these findings bring awareness to this nationwide concern. 

A new study conducted by researchers from the University of Arkansas explored an interesting connection between consumers’ personalities and their job performance. They learned that workers’ dominant personality traits may predict their success in certain occupations. 

“Although past studies made statements about the effects of personality traits on job performance in general, the specifics of these relationships really depend on the job,” said researcher Michael Wilmot. “More interesting findings exist when we take a deeper look at performance within the different jobs.” 

What traits best align with different industries? 

For the study, the researchers analyzed 15 earlier studies that explored the Big Five personality traits – conscientiousness, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and neuroticism. They then looked at how those traits fared across nine industries – law enforcement, clerical, customer service, health care, military, professional, sales, and skilled. 

The researchers learned that workers’ success in certain roles could be predicted by their personality traits; however, the most important factor was the complexity associated with the occupations. The study also showed that certain characteristics are better suited to specific fields. For example, openness was associated with great success in professional occupations, whereas emotional stability was linked with better performance in law enforcement or the military. 

One trait was consistent across all of the fields: conscientiousness. Workers with high levels of conscientiousness are likely to perform well across the board, regardless of what field the job is in. 

Moving forward, the researchers hope these findings can be of use to both consumers on the job hunt and employers looking to fill roles. 

“These findings should prove useful for scholars pursuing a richer understanding of personality – performance relations and for organizations honing employee talent identification and selection systems,” Wilmot said. “They should also benefit individuals trying to choose the right vocation and, really, society-at-large, which would reap the collective benefits of better occupational performance.” 

Less than a month after voting to form a union, employees at a Starbucks store in Buffalo, N.Y., have gone on strike over grievances about working conditions. Six employees on the schedule to work instead formed a picket line in front of the store. Three other employees reported to work as scheduled, but Starbucks closed the location for the day.

The striking employees stated that the surge in coronavirus cases and illnesses among the staff had created “unsafe working conditions.” In recent days, Buffalo area Starbucks locations have been operating on a take-out-only basis.

“Pressure to go to work is being put on many of us when some of us already have other health issues,” Starbucks Workers United said in a statement. “The company has again shown that they continue to put profits above people." 

Company response

Starbucks spokesperson Reggie Borges told NPR that the company has taken significant steps to protect its employees and has offered compensation when employees test positive and must isolate.

"Over and above that, all leaders are empowered to make whatever changes make sense for their neighborhood, which includes shortening store hours or moving to 100% takeout only, which is the case in Buffalo," Borges said.

The Starbucks employees announced plans to form a union at the end of August. At the time, they said the move was not motivated by grievances. The employees, which Starbucks refers to as “partners,” said they wanted to be real partners with the company.

While Starbucks is a respected brand among ConsumerAffairs reviewers, earning 3.1 stars in a 5-star system, some reviewers side with the employees.

“Starbucks is taking advantage of their devoted customers and great employees,” Karen, of Sparks, Nev., wrote in a ConsumerAffairs review. “Prices roll out higher and higher every couple of months. Starbucks keeps taking customers’ money but will not pay their employees well.”

Starbucks has said it will raise wages for its U.S. baristas at least twice in 2022, bringing its minimum wage to $15 an hour by the summer. Meanwhile, the unionization effort that began in Buffalo could spread.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported this week that employees at a Starbucks location in the Loop have requested a union certification election to affiliate with the Service Employees International Union.