In this column, we provoke fresh thinking and round up some of the weird, wonderful, quirky, surprising – and shocking – stories out there
Tinker, tailor, soldier….whalebone rosette maker
Chandelier burnisher, milliner, billiard room attendant, lift attendant, wig consultant, gun polisher and whalebone rosette maker: these are some of the jobs advertised in 1870 and 1920, which no longer exist.
And while domestic roles such as household cooks, maids, housekeepers and servants do still exist, they’re few and far between, compared to a century ago when a third of newspaper job advertisements were for such roles. By 1970, they only made up 6% and by 2020, only 2%, reveals research by the online CV builder Resume.io, which surveyed the jobs pages of newspapers from 1870, 1920, 1970 and of modern employment websites.
In 1870, more than a third of positions (36%) were available in the construction and skilled trades sector, with adverts for a mortice lock maker, French polisher and venetian blind painter. The proportion of jobs in this sector fell to 17% by 1920, 11% by 1970 and 7% in 2020.
Secretarial and administrative positions grew with widespread use of the typewriter, with copy-typists making the sector a third (35%) of advertised positions by 1970. The advent of the computer saw this segment fall to just 4% by 2020.
Menno Olsthoorn, CEO of Resume.io, said:
“Navigating the employment pages of newspapers from 150 years ago is like entering another world. I don’t think I would last long as a chandelier burnisher or a wig consultant, but I guess that modern titles like ethical hacker, chief cloud developer or scrum master would be equally as alien to a job-seeker from 1870.”
Which cities for best work/life balance?
Oslo, Helsinki or Copenhagen are the best cities for work/life balance, topping an annual index from cloud-based access control company Kisi, comparing city data on work intensity, legislation and liveability.
Kisi’s 2020 index highlights major changes in rankings for some cities due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Compared to the 2019 Index, US cities dropped furthest down the list due to the economic impact of the pandemic, most notably New York, which fell from number 21 to number 40. Seoul, Milan and Budapest, which ranked well in 2019, scored the lowest in 2020, while Oslo, Helsinki and Copenhagen topped the index.
US cities also have the highest unemployment rate, with Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New York ranking top three for lack of jobs. Bangkok has the lowest unemployment rate, followed by Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.
Hong Kong, Singapore and Seoul have the most overworked population in the study, while Budapest, Oslo and Stockholm have the least.
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Zurich ensures inclusion
The number of women applying for senior roles at insurance company Zurich in the UK leapt by a fifth after using ‘gender neutral language’ and flagging up flexible working options in job advertisements.
According to an article in Personnel Today, language insights from ‘augmented writing platform’ Textio, prompted the firm to remove ‘overly-masculine’ words such as ‘tenacious’, ‘fast paced’, ‘authority’ and ‘determine’ from its job adverts. Instead, it used words such as ‘inclusion’, ‘contributing’, ‘meaningful’ and ‘encouraged’ more frequently.
In 2019, in response to reports from female employees that they weren’t applying for promotions because of a perceived lack of flexibility, the company began to advertise the majority of its vacancies with the option of part time, full time, job share or flexible working.
Since making the change, the firm has seen a 16.4% increase in female applicants overall and a 19.3% rise in women applying for senior roles in particular. The number of women hired into senior positions as a direct result of the initiative increased by a third.
Fake commute
Homeworkers are being encouraged to adopt a ‘fake commute’, spending at least 20 minutes each morning and afternoon exercising, meditating or taking up a hobby to improve their physical and mental health.
According to health insurer, Vitality, 59% of homeworkers surveyed struggled to switch off at the end of their working day, with 40% working longer hours and 45% feeling more stressed than before.
Although the average office worker had gained 60 minutes back per day by not commuting, 42% claimed the lack of travel to and from work was negatively impacting their physical health and wellbeing. Nineteen per cent liked their previous commute because it gave them time to exercise.
Almost seven in 10 staff polled by OnePoll admitted they were not doing much with the extra time they now had. Twenty-nine per cent had replaced their commute with a walk, but 37% were spending more time in bed.
Neville Koopowitz, CEO of Vitality, said: “In the first lockdown, many of us found we had extra time in our day, taken back from the commute to work, which we were able to use constructively. However, our research shows that more recently, likely affected by winter and the longer nights, that many of us have slipped into unhealthy habits.”
- Contributions to this slot are welcome.Email: liz@coaching-at-work.com