Rapid workforce change is increasing workload. Managers should ask ‘What do we need to subtract?’

From the Globe and Mail in a recent article.

Few generations have seen the workplace revolutionize as drastically as it has in the last four years. The pandemic scattered some work forces, increasing their reliance on technology as networking at the water cooler was swapped for doughnut dates on Slack. Then, another curve ball: artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT forced employers and staff to quickly assess whether teams should use these emerging technologies on the job.

While change is something workers should expect throughout their careers, studies show that the recent rate and scale of change is increasing workload by adding tasks and causing fear of job replacement. Experts warn employees are feeling overwhelmed and the trend is going to get worse as employers aren’t looking at what tasks they can shed.

A recent PwC survey shows 45 per cent of respondents have had to learn new skills or technologies in order to do their job. The same percentage of people report their workload has significantly increased. 

“In the past, there would be time between learning and applying, and now many are doing both at the same time,” says Duygu Biricik Gulseren, an assistant professor at The School of Human Resource Management at York University. “There’s more to learn, and also not enough time to learn because of the rate of change.” 

The responsibility of managing employee wellbeing in these moments will naturally become a consideration for company management, says Ms. Gulseren. They’re tasked with overseeing the implementation of new tools and ensuring the happiness of their team members during deployment.

“In the past, managing workload and knowledge management were the bulk of the leaders’ job,” Ms. Gulseren explains, reflecting on what her and her students would focus on in lessons and research. “Now, most of our time is actually spent on emotional management instead of workload management because we have technology to help us with workload management. So I think counselling skills will be needed in workplaces in the future.”

Concern about employee mental health is relatively recent, as the very concept of burnout wasn’t coined until 1979. In 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) recognized burnout in the International Classification of Diseases. Speaker and workplace cultural strategist Jennifer Moss feels it’s particularly important to note that WHO explicitly linked burnout to the workplace, as opposed to linking it to stressors in other parts of peoples’ lives.

“Burnout is defined as workplace stress left unmanaged. After 40 years of debate around which term to choose for burnout, they decided to land on this because they wanted to change the way that we think about that term, and workplaces needed to be made accountable for their role in this,” says Ms. Moss, whose most recent book is titled The Burnout Epidemic.  

When it comes to the adoption of new technology, Ms. Moss says even those who are up for learning new skills can wind up feeling penalized for their aptitude in workplaces where management hasn’t taken the time to redefine what success looks like in the wake of adopting tools that improve efficiency.

“Employees are saying they finished work early, but they don’t want to let people know because [their managers will] pile on more work.”

Kathy Gersch of Kotter, which supports organizations through transformation and change, says Kotter’s research shows that “organizations aren’t stepping back and looking at what they need to shed from what was done before, they’re just adding to it. If you ask those people who are feeling overwhelmed, they’d probably say ‘these are five things I’m doing that aren’t value added anymore.’ "

Kathy Gersch, chief commercial and growth officer at Kotter Inc., says companies need to look at what to stop doing to protect workers from burnout and overwhelm.SUPPLIED

“That’s a dynamic we’re seeing that will continue to get worse,” Ms. Gersch continues. “People articulate it as a need for prioritization. It’s also a need to build this constant learning muscle into your organization so you’re consistently revising. As the rate of change accelerates, it requires managers to take time to look at the big picture and say not only what do we need to add, but what do we need to subtract? They should be engaging their people in that discussion.” 

Ms. Gulseren from York says another strategy for leaders is the implementation of the systems method. This encourages iteration and creating a workplace where companies aren’t simply focused on output, but also the design of the employee experience. 

“In our research and in work design research, the system method is more effective. Not teaching employees how to adapt but changing the work conditions so that change [in general] is more natural and easier for them.”

Ms. Gulseren says in practice, this looks like flexibility on where and when employees work and how they are paid. It may also include changing the tools workers use on a daily basis, while other parts of the system run well, then people have an increased capacity to adapt, she adds.

Ms. Moss says that offering to reskill employees goes a long way toward making them feel less gloomy about the adoption of new tech tools, since 45 per cent of respondents to a 2024 Microsoft survey said they’re worried artificial intelligence (AI) will take their jobs.

“We need to step back and have a compassionate integration and adoption strategy,” says Ms. Moss. “If we did that, we’d think, ‘how is this going to make people feel? How can I communicate with the people I’m leading to make them feel safe and optimistic?’ The only way people will be open to this is if you are able to reassure them.”