![]() ![]() "It wasn't a good time to deal with people face-to-face … People felt the need to go out of their way to be rude and disrespectful, coughing and sneezing in front of you," she said, explaining she didn't feel safe on the job, especially in the pandemic's early days. For her, it created an opportunity to rethink what she wanted to do. When the pandemic hit, Hanna Zahirovic had been working full-time at an escape room. "Experience everything you can," he said. "If that means changing professions, do what you need to do to really be mentally happy and mentally well, and then let the other things come after." Hanna Zahirovic: From service to completing a life goal His advice? Find work that fits with who you are as a person. "It really meshes with my personality … I'm also learning a lot about the business side of things," said Kathen. Nick Kathen didn't envision working in the food industry but he says the pandemic made him realize he needed to change careers to find work that was more fulfilling. On a whim he applied for an opening at a downtown restaurant and now works as the guest services manager there. He took what some might call a left turn. Isolation made him lonely, though, and he realized his heart was no longer in it. His family was also hesitant about the change. He says his work felt meaningful, including helping people in vulnerable and rural communities to connect with resources to help them cope with the pandemic. "I was extremely scared of leaving my job because it was good-paying, it was a research job working for a hospital, I had benefits, I had all these things." ![]() ![]() In the pandemic's early days, he struggled with whether to make a change. I love interacting with people and being at home wasn't working for me." "Staying at home all day really wasn't something I enjoyed," he said. “If we have two sets of workers who are having totally different experiences in a company, leaders must ensure they bring everyone along and explain how they give opportunities to all,” said Sethi.Before shifting to his new job Nick Kathen worked from home, which meant waking up and moving a few steps to get to his 'office' for the day. Leaders must reorganize to uplift their employees, either by increasing wages or providing training to strengthen skills that AI can’t replicate. This disparity only widens the specialization gap by discouraging prospective jobseekers from acquiring skills that’ll allow them to remain effective in their roles or to land new ones.Ĭompany leaders should also prepare themselves and their workforce for the future. A third of employees feel their company won’t be economically viable in ten years on the current course - consistent with the 39 per cent of CEOs who responded similarly earlier this year to PwC’s Global CEO Survey. Only 15 per cent of employees with no specialized training agreed that the nature of their role will change significantly in the next five years, compared to more than half (51 per cent) of workers with specialized skills. Workers coping with financial stress in the present are also slated to be the losers of the AI and automation waves in the near future. Unsatisfied office workers planning to leave their jobs in the next year will likely compete with artificial intelligence in the search for another role, making it critical to learn new skills now. “I was really surprised that so many people had a side-hustle,” said Bhushan Sethi, partner within Strategy&, PwC’s strategy consulting business. Though struggling workers were represented across most demographic categories, the economic burden was the “most pressing for minorities,” he said. Nearly one in five respondents reported taking on a second job to supplement their income, oftentimes out of necessity rather than the desire to learn new skills. This group is feeling the weight of financial pressures brought on by inflation rates and an unstable economy, with the proportion of workers who say they have money left over at the end of the month declining to 38 per cent this year, from 47 per cent in 2022. The study, which asked 54,000 workers across 46 countries and territories about their attitudes toward artificial intelligence and economic change, also identified a “specialization gap” that, if unaddressed, could leave workers who lack advanced training particularly vulnerable to joblessness and financial difficulty. The study found that more than one in four (26 per cent) office workers are looking to change jobs in the next 12 months, up from 19 per cent a year ago. Quit rates dropped to 2019 levels in April after the mass turnover of the Great Resignation, but PwC data shows that the desire to quit hasn’t entirely disappeared. ![]()
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