Weekly round-up: Death at work, layoff turnarounds, and NT’s labour shortage

This week in HR news, a Thai employee was fatally overworked, a silver lining to the tech industry turmoil, psychological safety, SEEK’s resumé tips, and the Northern Territory’s plea for more workers.

Worked to death

As seen in Human Times’ 13 February bulletin, Bloomberg reports that a worker in Thailand passed away at his desk, reportedly from being overworked.

Thailand has begun an investigation after the media worker had a heart attack from working up until three in the morning, six days a week.

“Currently, the media industry still has a work culture that is vulnerable to many cases of violations in labor laws,” said Teeranai Charuvastra, vice president of the Thai Journalists Association.

“This is a problem that people working in the media industry have always known about. But it still happens all the time.”

According to Bloomberg, employees in Thailand shouldn’t work over 36 hours of overtime in a week, and they are entitled to a rest day. If organisations break these rules, they can be fined 100,000 baht ($4,221) and spend up to six months behind bars.

Light at the end of the layoff tunnel

As covered by HR Leader over the last couple of weeks, tech companies have been reducing headcount by tens of thousands.

There could be a silver lining to this, however. Reuters reported on 14 February that the Silicon Valley layoffs have been great for farm equipment and automotive manufacturers.

Offering remote working arrangements, or a chance for a sea change to rural areas, companies like Deere and Co, General Motors, and CNH Industrial have taken advantage of the unrest in the tech industry.

“They were sucking so much oxygen out of the air because of their significant budgets … Now, they’re not hiring and they’re firing — so it just means we’re getting a much larger pool of potential candidates that we can call upon,” said CNH Industrial chief executive Scott Wine.

Psychological safety

Harvard Business Review (HBR) explained psychological safety on 15 February.

HR Leader discussed psychological safety and its benefit for employees in August last year. However, this new perspective offers some additional insight.

The term relates to the mindset that it’s OK to take risks at work. Speaking up, offering ideas and discussing issues you may be having, you should be able to do these things without the fear of being vilified for it.

Harvard Business School Professor Amy Edmondson said to HBR: “This is a group level phenomenon — it shapes the learning behavior of the group and in turn affects team performance and therefore organisational performance.”

“The relationship between psychological safety and performance is stronger in situations where the results or work aren’t prescribed, when you’re doing something creative, novel, or truly collaborative.”

Resumé tips

A recent article from SEEK discusses how to craft a great resumé that “will get you an interview”.

The five tips, as listed by SEEK, are:

• Focus on your achievements
• Speak the same language
• Only include relevant roles
• Spend time on the look of your resume
• Respond specifically to the key selection criteria

SEEK said that taking the time to craft a concise, relevant, and flattering resumé will help you to land that interview.

NT worker shortage

According to a 15 February article by ABC News, the Northern Territory is experiencing extreme talent shortages.

The government is responding to this by pumping $12.8 million into attracting workers from across the world, specifically the UK and Ireland.

Industries struggling to hire staff include hospitality, mining, and construction, with the state struggling to compete with other Australian states in attracting migrant workers.

Hospitality NT will lead the initiative, supported by the government, and aims to connect overseas candidates with struggling businesses.

“We do need a large workforce, and an overseas workforce is part of that,” said Business, Jobs and Training Minister Paul Kirby.