News round-up: Job losses, overworking, pay rises and passwords

In this week’s round-up of HR news, the next few years are expected to see millions of jobs lost. Meanwhile, court action is being taken for overworking, employees want pay rises, and the passwords you should avoid if you don’t want to be hacked.

Job exodus

As reported by CNN, the World Economic Forum revealed that by 2027, 14 million jobs will be lost worldwide.

The forum revealed that while 69 million new jobs are expected to emerge, we’ll lose 83 million.

CNN said that the factors influencing the creation of jobs are renewable energy, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and cyber security.

On the other hand, AI will also cause many jobs to disappear due to automation. Slow economic growth and inflation are also expected to play a role in job loss.

CNN said that if we were to lose 14 million jobs, that would account for 2 per cent of jobs across the world.

Organisations may benefit by taking advantage of new technologies such as AI to keep their workforce relevant in the new world of work.

Overworked to the courts

The Australian Financial Review (AFR) discussed the court action that has been taken against Westpac for breaching maximum hours protections.

According to the article, a senior manager at the company revealed he was “owed more than $300,000 in back pay and damages for working up to 100-hour weeks and as long as 32 days straight”.

This manager has launched court action against Westpac, alleging the organisation ignored understaffing issues and “extreme hours in breach of the Fair Work Act’s maximum hours protections and with harmful consequences for his health and family relationships”.

When he resigned, the manager had collected 1,066 of paid leave, equalling over $100,000. Westpac reportedly has refused to pay his leave, according to his statement.

Overworking can have effects on mental and physical health. Better Up published six indicators you’re overworking:

1. You turn to alcohol.
2. You’re less productive.
3. You aren’t getting enough sleep.
4. You feel blue.
5. Your relationships are taking a hit.
6. Your body aches.

Employees and employers should make sure work hours are kept reasonable to keep engagement, mental health, and morale high in the workplace.

Employees want pay rises, but will bosses give them?

As published by SHRM, employees are expecting pay rises, despite economic uncertainty.

According to the article, some employers are responding to fears of recession through redundancy, cutting benefits, and handing out smaller raises.

However, with inflation, employees expect to be paid more. SHRM said that 83 per cent of workers expect a pay rise this year, with an average salary increase of 8.3 per cent.

Nela Richardson, ADP’s chief economist, commented: “Heightened employee expectations around pay increases is likely in part driven by the global macroeconomic environment we’re currently facing.”

“Workers everywhere are trying to manage their personal finances through high inflation and the high costs of living. Whereas US workers were once expecting pay raises between 2 per cent and 3 per cent, in line with the pace of inflation at the time, they’re now expecting pay growth over 6 per cent, which is in line with current inflation levels.”

Stay away from these passwords

Nine News outlined the easiest passwords that can be bypassed by hackers.

According to the article, hackers are cracking 921 passwords every second.

The top 10 passwords of hacked accounts were:

1. 123456
2. 123456789
3. qwerty
4. password
5. 12345
6. qwerty123
7. 1q2w3e
8. 12345678
9. 111111
10. 1234567890

Nine News said that in 2022, Australians lost $3.1 billion in scams, an 80 per cent increase from 2021. Hackers are also reportedly making 74 per cent more password attempts than two years ago.

To avoid data breaches, passwords should utilise different characters and be relevant to you personally.