The countries resisting remote work, and have working interviews gone too far?

TALENT

You want me to do what?

Work assignments during the hiring process: fair play or free labour?

IT’S BECOME MORE common in recent years for jobseekers to have to go through a “working interview”, where a candidate puts in a couple hours on-the-job or has to complete a test work assignment to demonstrate their skills before landing a position.

But many jobseekers are now reporting that those working interviews or test assignments are becoming problematic ― either because they are often going unpaid, demand an inappropriate amount of work, or both.

“The take-home assignment is growing to mammoth proportions,” writes Megan Carnegie. “Some candidates are expected to put in days ― sometimes even weeks ― towards ‘proving themselves’ fit for the job. And it’s a problem, in more ways than one.”

Some hiring managers still like the concept of the working interview or the test assignment. “The interview process itself is quite deceiving,” says Archie Payne, president of CalTek Staffing. But what is considered a reasonable ask has inflated, and it’s not uncommon to find stories of candidates getting test assignments that push the bounds of reasonability.

“I was asked to come back to do a pitch on how the company should handle their Amazon Marketplace business strategy, what actions they needed to take and the profits they should expect,” wrote one jobseeker. “This information needed to be broken down by quarter, for the next two years.” That’s a lot of work for a job you don’t even have yet.

But if you’re hiring and want to go beyond the interview format, all is not lost: just pay them for their time.

“Asking people to complete a test project or having them come in for a working interview isn’t unethical in itself ― the problem lies in not paying candidates,” says Latesha Byrd, CEO of talent-development agency Perfeqta. “No matter what term you use, asking candidates to complete working interviews without pay is simply unpaid labour.”

WORKING

Vive le bureau

We may think remote work is the future, but don’t tell these countries

HERE IN CANADA, it feels like just about everyone who could shift to remote work did at one point. And everyone has an opinion one way or another about it.

By now, we can accept that it’s here to stay in huge swaths of the market. But that doesn’t mean that’s necessarily true everywhere. In fact, in several countries outside of North America and the UK, the experience of remote work has been very, very different.

France, for instance, has remarkably low remote-work rates, especially for a country known for its strong labour laws and pro-labour culture. There, only 29 per cent of workers are regularly going remote, compared to 51 per cent of Germans. Only 11 per cent of French workers are predominantly working remote.

“While in other European countries, the proportion of teleworkers four to five days a week is higher than that using it two to three days, it is the reverse that we see in France,” analysts found.

One reason cited is that a strong labour culture means many French people don’t actually hate their jobs all that much and enjoyed the office culture.

“They were really attached to the physical office ― to the place where they were working ― because it was a sign of identity and of belonging to the organization,” said one business professor in Lille.

The other country that has really shied away from remote work is industrious Japan, but for different reasons than France, where a relaxed office culture was preferred. There, researchers conclude that corporations were slow to adapt to the possibilities of remote work, in part because white-collar work there is more unstructured, with workers moving between positions. As well, they found that age and technology played a role.

“Japanese ‘fossil’ salarymen cannot understand how to use Zoom or any other applications!” said one young worker, in an interview with Fortune. “Because they can’t do their job, and they’re afraid their employers or younger employees will find them out.”

A culture of coaching is your company’s most important ingredient for success

Taking the time to train and coach your employees is a crucial step in moving your company to the next level.

Learn More Here

CULTURE

The rise of the bleisure traveller

As air travel returns, the hybrid model of business-leisure travel is gaining steam. But blurring the lines has both positive and negative consequences

SPEAKING OF REMOTE work, one of the many things that it was expected to kill off was the business trip; why fly cross country when you can just do a video call?

But some business leaders are eager to see business trips return ― albeit with the incentive of a bit of leisure, too. The age of the ‘bleisure’ trip is approaching quickly.

“It is discombobulating to return to the office and assume our normal lives as if we hadn’t just had two very weird years,” writes Emma Jacobs in FT. “Group events mark a sense of occasion. And encouraging workers to expand their horizons after months of being stuck indoors is good for morale and creativity.”

Bleisure travel has its advantages, say proponents. “Having the opportunity to reconnect with your team over meals or gatherings is something to consider when looking at the location of your next meeting,” says the Forbes Business Development Council. “As many business travelers extend their trips to arrive a few days early, stay a few days later, or both, they may also be looking to bring their loved ones with them. After all, with over two years of almost no travel of any kind, cabin fever likely set in, and the travel bug is biting hard for many.”

Others are less sure and get anxious at the prospect of work encroaching on vacation time ― a valuable benefit that is legally protected.

“Bleisure travel may provide a boon to floundering industries and tourism, but it is the latest sign of the pandemic-induced culture of never-ending remote work,” writes Tristan Bove in Fortune. “Spending a subsidized two weeks at a cushy beachfront resort may sound like heaven, but your poolside lounging might be interrupted by a call from your boss at any moment. So where is the leisure in that, really?”

CONSUMERISM

Get ready to put a ring on it

Smart rings are the latest must-have in the wearable tech market

A FEW YEARS ago, wearable tech was all the rage ― Apple Watches, Fitbits and so on. That initial momentum had stalled for a while, but is being revived by a new, less intrusive entrant into the market: smart rings.

What’s a smart ring? At a basic level, it’s a ring with some kind of connective, tech function. Most will track vital signs, similar to a Fitbit, and most will notify you about text message or phone calls (also like Fitbits).

But with new entrants bringing more competition into the smart ring industry, analysts expect that it could be one of the fastest growing tech sectors over the next five to ten years. (A sure sign of renewed market competition: IP lawsuits.)

That competition is still in its early stages, to be sure, and consumers are likely to see new iterations of the product in the coming years. “The Oura Ring has proven that the ring form factor works, but there aren’t many smart rings you can actually put on your finger right now,” says Wareable, a dedicated site to wearable technology.

It notes that the Movano Ring, a female-focused ring, is being debuted this year. “It feels like smart rings could finally get the recognition they deserve. It seems like health and fitness tracking will be the killer features. We’ve seen patents from both Fitbit and Oppo emerge in 2021 mentioning connected rings, so it’s certainly on the radar.”