Round-up of HR news: Disengagement, burnout, and scams

This week’s round-up of HR news is pretty varied. The economy is feeling the effects of disengagement, the link between unlimited leave and burnout was discussed, and job scammers have made their way to LinkedIn.

Disengagement hits hard

As reported by AHRI HRM, disengagement is costing the Australian economy a whopping $211 billion each year.

According to a Gallup report mentioned in the article, around 80 per cent of employees are feeling disengaged and disconnected from their work. Meanwhile, two-thirds of the workforce is passively disengaged, and 13 per cent is actively disengaged. Just one in five reported being engaged and thriving.

“There are millions of workers all over the world who are emotionally detached from work, and that largely isn’t improving,” said Gallup chief executive Jon Clifton.

“There is a rising detachment from many institutions. And I think one of the reasons that that’s taking place – this is true in America, and I think this is true in many OECD countries as well – is that there is a loss of trust in institutions, and that [can] create a great deal of apathy.”

Stress is reported to be the main driver of this disengagement. It’s up to leadership to turn these statistics around. Gallup asked disengaged employees what would help fix these issues, and the responses included:

• For everyone to get recognised for their contributions
• Clearer goals and stronger guidance
• Giving everyone a fair chance in getting promoted
• I would like it if the managers were more approachable and we could talk openly
• I’d like to learn more things, but the work I do is quite repetitive
• They should grant more autonomy in the work to stimulate everyone’s creativity
• I just wish they respected me more

More annual leave won’t solve the burnout crisis

SmartCompany discussed the current burnout crisis and how some organisations are fighting this by offering unlimited annual leave. However, the article claims this won’t solve the issue.

Some companies have begun offering unlimited leave, such as Netflix, Cliniko, and Goldman Sachs. While this may seem like the dream, SmartCompany highlighted that those who are offered these benefits aren’t taking advantage of it, meaning it’s serving as a distraction rather than a solution.

More tangible ways to address these issues are to increase awareness of mental health, wellbeing, and burnout. With the article claiming burnout has doubled in the past year, more needs to be done in the form of education and training to help solve these issues, and no number of tokenistic gestures will solve that.

LinkedIn scams

Reports have revealed that job scams have seen a 1,000 per cent increase in 2023. Now, LinkedIn is being used as a platform to conduct these scams, as reported by BBC.

According to BBC, 100 job applications are submitted per second on LinkedIn, making it a prime target for scammers to operate.

“You get a job offer with some basic information that sounds very interesting, and there is a link where they say that if I click, I’ll see a presentation with details of the organisation and the job role,” said Jedrzej Pyzik, recruitment consultant at fTeam.

“Then, after clicking through the link, there’s usually some kind of landing page where they require you to download something and log in and give personal details – this is the most common one I’ve come across.”

The personal data given can be used to steal identities and funds. Some are even asked to hand over money up front and told it will be paid back.

LinkedIn is working hard to mitigate these issues, with 99.3 per cent of detected scams caught by automated defences and 99.6 per cent of detected fake accounts are blocked before members even report them.

BBC noted that jobseekers should double-check that the organisation exists and make sure the contact details are genuine before sharing information.