key: cord- -rr xua authors: nan title: news date: - - journal: aust vet j doi: . /avj. sha: doc_id: cord_uid: rr xua nan photo: istock adelaide vet speaks out against dog anti-vaxxers an adelaide vet has taken to the air to address a growing number of pet owners who believe that vaccinations cause autism in dogs. speaking to the fiveaa radio station, dr derek mcnair expressed concern that certain areas of adelaide had low vaccination rates as a new trend of using herbal remedies instead of vaccines grows in popularity. "i'm not anti-holistic treatments and helping for some things, but to use it in place of vaccines is totally ridiculous and stupid." the trend comes as "anti-vax" material floods the internet, with the british veterinary association recently forced to publicly deny that dogs can get autism. similar discussions have been across the media throughout australia. the avas president, dr paula parker, has been responding to the media with a clear message that it is dangerous to forgo pet vaccinations. shipments of australian and new zealand dairy cows to sri lanka have been halted after a large number of the imported livestock have died on-farm. the sri lankan government has ordered an inquiry into the high mortality rates, along with reports of poor milk yields, low conception rate, stillbirths, and unrecognised diseases. queensland country live reports that , holstein-jersey heifers have been shipped to sri lanka under a government program to increase the country's fresh milk production. local farmers say the cows are unsuited to sri lanka's hot and humid tropical conditions, despite the same australian-bred cows have been performing well in indonesia. the ava is monitoring the story, particularly additional disclosures on the compliance with the nutritional, veterinary and animal husbandry recommendations made. woolworths over price rise news report a number of pet food brands have recently gone missing from supermarket shelves following a pricing dispute with manufacturer mars petcare. coles and woolworths' customers will have to go elsewhere for their pet's favourite brand after mars pulled the plug on distribution to the two supermarket giants following a price rise disagreement. mars produce different pet food brands globally, including royal canin, pedigree, whiskas, dine and my dog. representatives from the supermarkets said they expected a deal to be brokered soon. you can't be what you can't see i spent much of january and february of this year buried in research and thinking about women, leadership and the future of our profession. social media is littered with quotes and catchphrases about leadership. one that stuck with me through the data and the papers is 'you can't be what you can't see'. if you can't see someone that seems similar to you in a position of leadership, then it can be difficult to believe that that role, or one similar to it, is possible for you, or although it might be possible, the cost of forging a scarcely trodden path may be too great. there is some veterinary specific data that outlines this well. in the november report 'motivation, satisfaction and retention: understanding the importance of vets' day to day work experiences' from the bva and the university of exeter, two of the key findings included 'feeling like one fits in with those who have been successful before you, and having role models' as being important to motivating veterinarians, facilitating their professional satisfaction and retaining them in the profession. of the myriad of issues that our profession faces and cares deeply about, the financial security of veterinarians, and particularly of women, is the one closet to my heart. i have seen several members of our profession profess that as a natural consequence of more women in the profession, there will be increasing gender representation in leadership positions overtime. this is an alluring proposition, but not one supported by the data. vertical segregation describes the phenomenon where there is predominance of men in more senior positions, and a predominance of women in more junior positions. vertical segregation occurs across every aspect of the australian economy, and even in female dominated professions, women are under-represented in leadership roles. the reasons for this are a complex interaction of unconscious bias, structural and cultural factors that require more discussion than can be accommodated in this column. one of the recommended interventions however, is to shed light on diverse role models. one of the greatest pleasures of being the ava president, is the opportunity to work with leaders across our profession, in all of the contexts where we contribute to the community. so, in this column, i wanted to introduce you to some of the women i have had the privilege of seeing in action and whom i admire for their leadership, their integrity and their service. i hope that you can see them too and know that regardless of the leadership role you would like to play, that there is someone who has forged a path. • if you want to be a pillar of your community, meet melissa rogers. • if you want to steward the standards of our education and be proud to promote them to the world, meet julie strous. • if you want to be a young veterinary business owner, meet kat lovell. • if you want to be a part of our leadership of animal health in the world, meet jennifer davis. • if you want to lead a global animal health company, meet stephanie armstrong. • if you want to be excited about nutrition and life, meet penny dobson. • if you want to champion collaboration across our sector, meet janet murray. • if you want to know how to exemplify excellence, compassion and grace, meet liisa ahlstrom. • if you want to be a pioneer in our sector and do so with ethics, charisma and a smile, meet rachel chay. • if you want to meet a leader who understands how looking after your team makes good business sense and puts it into practice, meet jacqui von hoff. • if you want to change the face of dairy medicine, meet gemma chuck. • if you want to feel excited about being a veterinarian and putting that out there into the world, meet zoe vogels. • if you want to lead the education of the next generation of veterinarians, meet cristy secombe. corey snell, ceo achieving better health outcomes for pets as you read this column our flagship ava annual conference in perth will have concluded. this year the theme was "the profession: better working together". here we introduced an innovation symposium and our food security day. the food security day focused on biodiversity and welfare, bringing experts from around the world together to discuss the challenges and opportunities faced to sustainably feed more than . billion people by . both of these broke new ground for the ava and our aim is to continue these inaugural events. breaking new ground is not limited to our conference events. at the ava we have been asking ourselves how the ava could assist you in contributing to the optimum health and welfare outcomes for australian pets. most importantly how could we assist our members in providing better care to ensure happier clients? as i have learned more about the challenges our veterinarians face, i have been particularly concerned by the pressure experienced by veterinarians resulting from the inherent tension between cost of veterinary care and our clients propensity to pay for services. i understand that this is one of the biggest causes of stress for the profession. i imagine it must be heartbreaking when a pet's owner is unable to pay for veterinary treatment and they are forced to make a decision that is not in the best interests of the animal. one of the tools which can help the financial preparedness of our clients is pet insurance. at the ava annual conference, we launched our partnership with guild insurance in the development of an ava endorsed pet insurance offering called 'vets choice'. guild insurance and the ava have collaborated to develop a pet insurance solution that that has been designed to meet the needs of our profession and our customers. it is my hope that by increasing the proportion of pet insurance in australia will lead to a more sustainable veterinary practices and i am particularly excited at the opportunity this provides not only the broader public but our profession and our members as well. we've got something exciting coming… vets choice is a modern pet insurance product, packed with market leading features and benefits, brought to you by the ava and guild insurance. we'd love to tell you what the product is, but it's different now than it was three weeks ago, and we're still working to refine and respond to the needs of what both you as the vet and your patients need most. send an email to vetschoice@guildinsurance.com.au if you want to be among the first to be part of it… is the dingo really just another type of dog? the dingo has been present in australia for at least the past few thousand years, with the earliest dated fossil being around years old. they are recognised native animals, but are also classified as a pest species in many jurisdictions and often defined as 'wild dogs'. since the commencement of livestock farming across australia over the past years, the dingo has had a negative relationship with graziers. early on, many efforts were made to eliminate populations and this has resulted in the dingo being absent from many parts of its historical range. the control of wild dogs is an ongoing issue for graziers because they can cause significant financial losses through predation of sheep, goats and calves. by sight alone, it is often difficult to differentiate dingoes and their hybrids from wild dogs and it is this dilemma that lead to the western australian government to recently consider removing the dingo's status as native wildlife and classify them as 'non-fauna'. this would make them no different to any other dog and allow them to be killed throughout the state. the canidae is a diverse group that includes the domestic dog, wolves, coyotes and dingoes. individuals can interbreed and produce fertile offspring and therefore technically could be classified as one species using the 'biological species' concept. istock photo news n a paper published in the veterinary record last month investigated the presence of bacterial contamination in commercially available raw meat pet food products in sweden. samples were taken from raw meat pet food products sold in supermarkets in sweden and produced by different pet food manufacturers. results showed all samples were contaminated with enterobacteriaceae bacteria, suggesting faecal contamination because these bacteria are found in the gastrointestinal tracts of animals. the presence of e. coli and other enterobacteriaceae bacteria is often used as an indicator of hygiene during processing. in addition to the presence of enterobacteriaceae bacteria being found on the samples, salmonella species were found in four of the samples and campylobacter species in three samples. in two samples, the level of clostridium perfringens bacteria exceeded bacteria/g, which is above the maximum limit for anaerobic bacteria permitted by swedish national guidelines. the authors concluded that raw pet meat food sold commercially in sweden should be handled carefully, with owners needing to implement strict hygiene protocols when storing, handling and feeding raw meat pet food products. they also discussed the potential health risks that raw meat pet food products present to both humans and animals, particularly geriatric, neonatal and immunocompromised individuals. these findings come at a time when raw meat-based diets for pets are becoming increasingly popular. the proliferation of both commercially available raw diets such as 'biologically appropriate raw food (barf)', as well as homemade diets, is leading to growth in the raw pet meat sector. although commercial dry and canned pet foods still dominate the pet food market, the introduction of raw diets and homemade diets is leading to a small but passionate group of owners who promote raw diets for health and philosophical reasons. the pet food industry in australia is currently under review. after a senate inquiry examined regulatory approaches to ensure the safety of pet food in late , the resulting inquiry's report recommended widespread changes to both oversight and safety standards of the sector. the federal department of agriculture and water resources is currently leading a working group comprising representatives from state governments, the australian veterinary association, rspca australia and food standards australia and new zealand. this working group is examining how best to regulate and improve safety standards in the pet food industry. commercially available raw pet meat products will be included in this review, as well as treats and manufactured pet food. it is currently unknown if the results of this swedish study are replicated in the raw pet meat market here in australia. similar results were found when raw pet meat products were tested in the netherlands in , with high levels of bacterial contamination as well as several parasites including sarcocystis species and toxoplasma gondii detected. if owners insist on feeding raw pet meat products to their pets, the authors of the veterinary record paper recommend the following risk reduction tips: keep raw pet meat frozen until use, always handle raw pet meat with separate utensils as well as wash hands thoroughly after contact and do not feed raw pet meat products in households with immunocompromised individuals. in early april the animal health quadrilateral group (quads), senior animal health officials from australia, canada, new zealand and the united states met for their annual meeting. the issue of attracting, developing and retaining government veterinarians was an item of keen interest on the agenda. government veterinarians play critical, unique and diverse roles in a country's veterinary services, which underpin a country's animal health status and trade. the risks and opportunities in animal health will continue to evolve, as will the expectations, interests and demographics of the veterinary profession. the future will bring new information and diagnostic technologies; changes to risk and community expectations; and evolving communication needs. therefore, we need to be proactive, and ensure the skills of future veterinarians reflect this changing context. in the field of government veterinary services there may be a need for increased veterinary public health specialist expertise, such as epidemiology, risk management, and diagnostics. it's also expected that we will need to increase our collaboration with experts from other disciplines such as information technology and data analysis; laboratory, public health, social and environmental scientists; communications professionals; and economists. the world organisation for animal health (oie) is currently developing their th strategic plan ( - ) and they too are looking at their future role, particularly on global issues such as food security, climate change, species conservation and the future of the veterinary profession. as president of the oie, i have been leading discussions in the development of the oie's th strategic plan. in reviewing the external forces that will impact the organisation's future we see the issues of big data, centrality of social media, changing public perceptions and declining trust in governments, and we need to take these issues into account. at home, the australasian veterinary boards council (avbc) has discussed the future of the veterinary profession, and therefore how to educate the veterinarians of the future. similar to the quads group and the oie, the avbc also recognised that the profession's future is inherently linked to broader global issues. veterinarians will be managers of expert knowledge and will need to work in the one health space, where environmental, human and animal health intersect. technology is playing an increasing and positive role in veterinary science education. assisted and virtual reality enhance practical learning and learning is expected to become increasingly collaborative with students study virtually across a range of institutions. it reminds me of the plenary presentation by jordan nguyen at last year's ava conference on 'the boundaries between human and technological evolution and intelligent technologies'. he certainly opened my eyes to what the future might look like! and speaking of the future, i have recently really enjoyed getting around to a few of our veterinary schools during my travels and speaking with the veterinarians of the future. i recently dropped in to the campus in gatton and met with university of queensland staff and students. i really value the perspectives gained from these visits and hearing what's happening at the forefront of our profession. this month, following the ava conference in perth, i'll return to my alma mater, murdoch university, to speak with and meet staff and students about the importance of one health and the broad range of opportunities available to us as veterinarians. vets really do play such an important role in animal and human health and we have the opportunity to truly contribute to the important issues facing the globe. following the ava conference and trip to perth, i will be flying to paris for oie council meetings in mid-may and the general session at the end of the month, my first as president of the oie assembly. i look forward to introducing you to a couple of members of the australian delegation to the oie general session so they can tell you about their veterinary career paths. assisted and virtual reality enhance practical learning and learning is expected to become increasingly collaborative with students study virtually across a range of institutions. veterinarians have been thinking about preventive care protocols in their clinics for some time now offering annual wellness checks. these annual checks may include vaccination based on the patient's individual needs, and may or may not include diagnostics. for some, the decision not to include diagnostics in the wellness check has been due to consideration of whether there is value in adding diagnostic testing when a patient has an unremarkable history and clinical examination, but the evidence to do so is mounting. several peak bodies have produced guidelines on care of dogs and cats at different life stages, including the american association of feline practitioners (aafp) , , the american animal hospital association (aaha) , , and the australian veterinary association . all of these recommend regular health checks (annual for adults, and every months for seniors and older), with diagnostic testing included, especially as animals age. add to this, a series of published studies evaluating the results of diagnostic testing in apparently healthy adult and senior pets, and we can start to draw some evidence-based conclusions around the value of diagnostics in this preventive care setting. in a study of cats and one involving dogs , there were significant numbers of patients with changes on blood and urine screens, and a more recent study undertaken in australia involving dogs and cats showed . % of dogs and . % of cats with significant changes that warranted further investigation . aaha however, were interested in leveraging the huge volumes of data produced by the industry each year to understand the issue on a much larger scale, and took a somewhat different approach to data collection . in their 'big data' study -the aaha research team evaluated over , patients, but not necessarily in the same detail as the previous studies. here are some details from the study that all veterinarians should be aware of: • data was gathered from , consenting practices and harvested from their practice management software • investigators evaluated profiles on patients that were classified as 'wellness examinations' in the practice information management system • the patient visit needed to include a cbc, full chemistry profile including idexx sdma®, and ideally a urinalysis. • for some parameters, the reference interval was widened slightly to a critical threshold before a result was abnormal (for example for liver enzymes the lower range was set to zero, and in dogs the upper end of phosphorus was increased by %). • for the majority of biochemical parameters, the requirement was that at least three or more results had to be abnormal before the findings were considered significant. • a single abnormal sdma result was considered significant. • for haematology, only numerical values were assessed (changes on blood film reviews were not included), and abnormalities identified included: • anaemia • reticulocytosis • leucocytosis • stress leucogram (lymphopaenia and eosinopaenia) • eosinophilia in many regards the approach taken was a conservative one and means that potentially significant changes preventive care were under-reported. this in-built 'conservativism' is because not all the haematological parameters were evaluated, and there was no comparison to previous results. where we now recognise the benefits of evaluating the health status of the pet by using an individual reference interval (comparing current results to previous results obtained for that patient in health) for a number of routine parameters, creatinine being a good example. in the aaha study the results were as follows, with respect to results that warranted further investigation. in this study the addition of sdma made a significant difference to the number of patients warranting further evaluation. in the adult and senior populations there were an extra per patients who required further investigation, whereas it was per for geriatric patients. in conclusion, and as we seek to enhance the health and wellbeing of pets, people and livestock, i would suggest that studies such as the ones discussed here provide supporting evidence that the inclusion of diagnostic testing in discussions on wellness and preventive care is critical. moreover, observation suggests that it is also something that clients have come to expect. the animal medicines australia pet ownership report showed nearly as many clients presented their pets to the vet to keep them well as those presenting for illness . dr graham swinney bvsc, fanzcvs (canine medicine) the eastern bettong is a small marsupial that was once common across the east coast of australia. shortly after the introduction of predators, particularly the fox, their populations crashed and they became extinct on the australian mainland around years ago. fortunately for the eastern bettong, tasmania is free of foxes and as a result is a remaining stronghold for the species. breeding programs for the bettong exist in predator-proof areas in the act and the animals in these protected areas are continuing to flourish. in , eastern bettongs were introduced to the wild near the lower cotter river catchment, kilometres southwest of canberra in an area that had been heavily baited to reduce fox population numbers. eight months after their initial release and through intense monitoring, ecologists involved with the program discovered that every female bettong found showed signs of breeding success. at the time this was a huge success for the program as it was the first time that wild-bred eastern bettongs were present on the mainland in the past years. some concerns were raised at this time, because survival rates of released bettong were found to be around %, but there was hope that the new joeys being born would help boost future populations. act parks and conservation was responsible for controlling feral pests in the release area and at the peak of the project were servicing bait stations on a weekly basis as well as monitoring between and wildlife cameras to identify the animals present in the area. unfortunately, abc news has recently reported that all eastern bettongs released into the wild as part of the project have now died and foxes are being held responsible. although the project was not as great a success as had initially been hoped for, director of act parks and conservation services, daniel iglesias said that the team has still gained valuable information through the project because during the early months the bettongs were coexisting and reproducing in the presence of foxes. however, this only occurred when the fox population was low enough to allow the bettongs to survive, and the methods used to achieve this low level of foxes in the wild are not practical on an ongoing or widespread basis. the introduction of predators to australia has been a contributing factor to the demise and extinction of our native mammals and given us the world's worst rate of mammal extinction. it is not possible to ever eliminate the threat of introduced predators from the wild, but finding ways to successfully manage their populations on a large scale is something that will need to be focussed on and invested in by the government, if we wish to slow down or reverse our rapid extinction rates of native wildlife. if this ever becomes a reality, we may one day find eastern bettongs scurrying around in areas they've been absent from for over years. the complexity of chf means a multitude of treatment approaches are required to ensure a good quality of life and longevity in our pets. in her thesis, mariko examines current treatments of chf, posing vital questions on how they can be improved. a new focus in congestive heart failure? it is well known that pimobendan, in conjunction with other drugs, is key to the treatment of chf. it is currently most commonly used and prescribed in tablet form; however, mariko assesses the use of a pimobendan oral solution in dogs. the pimobendan solution was seen to enhance echocardiographic measures of cardiac systolic function, reaching a maximal effect at - hours following administration. this study is notably the first to use non-invasive imaging of the acute cardiovascular effects of pimobendan. in addition to validating the efficacy of this solution, it raises the possibility of therapeutic monitoring in the future. mariko then examined the use of pimobendan in cats and her findings clearly showed reduced metabolism of pimobendan to its active metabolite in cats compared with dogs. interestingly, the cardiovascular effects of pimobendan could not be readily identified on echocardiography. these interspecies differences highlight the necessity for further research into the role and optimal dosing regimen of this drug in feline cardiovascular disease. in addition to examining existing treatment options for chf, mariko also studied the potential of the natriuretic peptide system as a therapeutic target in dogs with chf. in a recently published article, she identified that the cardiorenal effects of bnp - (a type of natriuretic peptide) were diminished in dogs with chf caused by myxomatous mitral valve disease. this suggested defects in what is essentially a protective mechanism in the context of chf and is a finding that prompts further investigations into therapeutics targeting this system. a recent case involving a fashion industry start up being penalised around $ , for underpaying staff has brought the issue of unpaid work into the spotlight. this came only weeks after a prominent australian company director was slammed for making comments around millennials "not wanting to work for free". these situations -while very different -both raise the question: is unpaid work permissible? the case. it's important to first outline exactly how and why this particular fashion start up fell foul of the fair work commission. over a -year period, the business was reported to have underpaid separate employees around $ , . one particular worker was said to be on an "unpaid internship" for a -month period -even though the nature of their engagement was that of an employee. the commission found that the business had failed to pay the workers their minimum entitlements under relevant employment legislation including minimum hourly rates, penalty rates and leave entitlements. as a result of the underpayment, the company was penalised around $ , and the sole director was individually penalised a further $ , . back pay was also ordered in full to the three workers. the severity of the penalty was largely due to the fact the company were said to have known they were under paying staff, with the commission labelling the underpayments "significant and deliberate". in short, yes, but be careful. as highlighted by the fair work ombudsman, sandra parker in the wake of the case, "unpaid placements are lawful where they are part of a vocational placement related to a course of study. however, the law prohibits the exploitation of workers when they are fulfilling the role of an actual employee." if you have been approached by a student looking for work experience, ensure it is part of a genuine placement through their learning institution. it might also be prudent to contact the institution (tafe, university etc.) directly to discuss the finer details including insurance and whether it can genuinely be unpaid. other than student placements -are there any other situations where unpaid work is permissible? there may be other situations where work can be unpaid, but this is assessed on a case by case basis and employers should check with the ava hr advisory service before providing any unpaid work. when the work is not part of a vocational placement, some of the major factors when considering whether work can be unpaid include; • will the work be for the benefit of the individual, or the business? • if the work primarily benefits the business, it is likely to require payment. • how long did the arrangement last? • the longer the arrangement, the more likely it is to requirement payment. • what was the nature of the work? productive work that is meaningful to the business will almost certainly requirement payment. observing, learning and performing very rudimentary tasks that give the individual a general "feel" for a role or industry may form part of an unpaid working arrangement. considering the above, unpaid work should almost solely benefit the individual (not the business), should only be for a brief period and should be largely observational. an unpaid trial can be permissible if it is purely to demonstrate a skill or skills associated with a particular role. the engagement should be brief (maximum one shift) and the individual should be under direct supervision the entire time. let it be clear -this is unrelated to a probation period which is sometimes referred to as a trial period. a probation period is generally between to months and must be paid as an employment relationship has already commenced. in summary. if you are considering engaging someone to perform unpaid work, ensure what you are doing is lawful and permissible. ask yourself the following; • is it part of a vocational placement related to a course of study? • if so, check with the learning institute to ensure it is unpaid. • -is it an individual wanting to gain experience in the industry (no vocational placement)? • ensure they do not perform any productive work, and their engagement is brief and observational. • is it a trial? it must be purely about the individual demonstrating skill/s relating to the role, it must be brief and the individual must be directly supervised for the entire engagement. if your plan to engage someone doesn't match any of the above, it is likely they will be an employee and will require payment. if you are unsure about anything in this article, contact the ava hr advisory service on or email hrhotline@ava.com.au. the material contained in this publication is general comment and is not intended as advice on any particular matter. no reader should act or fail to act on the basis of any material contained herein. the material contained in this publication should not be relied on as a substitute for legal or professional advice on any particular matter. wentworth advantage pty ltd, expressly disclaim all and any liability to any persons whatsoever in respect of anything done or omitted to be done by any such person in reliance whether in whole or in part upon any of the contents of this publication. without limiting the generality of this disclaimer, no author or editor shall have any responsibility for any other author or editor. for further information please contact wentworth advantage pty ltd. results from the survey revealed there were more than , volunteer wildlife rehabilitators in nsw, with almost half of those belonging to the largest wildlife rehabilitation group wires. on average, , animals go through wildlife rehabilitator hands every year and more than , calls for assistance and education are provided to the public annually. it was estimated it would cost the government, conservatively, more than a$ million to replace the time and resources spent by volunteer wildlife carers every year in nsw alone. most wildlife rehabilitation is conducted in the homes of volunteers, although a small number of wildlife hospitals and centrally based facilities supplement this home care. stemming from surveys and consultation work with peak bodies, the work of private veterinary practices was recognised as an essential element in the wildlife rehabilitation sector. it was estimated around , wild animals are seen by nsw private veterinary practices annually at a cost of more than a$ . million of pro bono services and products. this differs significantly from a previously published survey by orr and tribe, which estimated around , wild animals were seen annually by nsw private practices. it is currently unknown just how many wild animals pass through veterinary practices every year, although the strategy did recognise that "balancing the running of a private practice with the lack of time, facilities and resources for treating free-living wildlife is very challenging." through the findings of the two surveys and stakeholder consultation, several challenges facing the sector were identified. wildlife rehabilitators overwhelmingly identified the finding and keeping of new volunteers as a significant issue, with social demographics, time, financial demands, group politics, burnout and conflict all affecting increased participation rates. other challenges identified in this process were the lack of succession planning in many groups, particularly because of the older demographic of wildlife rehabilitators. this may lead to a loss of skills, less community support and fragmented and inefficient use of volunteer time if unmitigated. three-quarters of wildlife rehabilitators who responded to the survey indicated their support for stronger standards of care for wildlife as well as improved access to mentoring. one of the aims of this draft strategy is to standardise training and introduce a minimum standard of care for the sector. this would include a standard induction for all volunteers, as well as specialised species training to improve volunteers' depth of knowledge. it's important to note that the strategy acknowledges this is an ambitious goal. other challenges identified by volunteers as affecting the sector included a lack of strategic support from a strong, unified peak body. even though more than half of all wildlife carers belong to the group wires, most carers wanted improved advocacy and leadership for the sector and greater access to funding opportunities. less than % of all respondents were satisfied with the current level of support provided by the state government. unsurprisingly, a lack of funds was another key challenge facing volunteers. around % of wildlife carers surveyed reported incurring out-of-pocket expenses in the year prior. specific issues facing private veterinary practices many of the veterinarians and nurses surveyed reported their formal education wasn't very useful for dealing with injured free-living wildlife. additionally, the most common complaint from veterinary respondents was in relation to the behaviour of volunteers and their group leaders, as well as response times for collecting injured wildlife. the role of wildlife rehabilitation in environmental management was recognised as a key strength of the sector. most volunteers considered their efforts as greatly benefiting the environment. increasing the collection and use of data captured by the wildlife rehabilitation sector would improve wildlife and threatened species management, which was identified as an important outcome of this strategic document. additionally, much-needed research into post-release outcomes could be facilitated by better engaging with the wildlife rehabilitation community to improve treatment options and management decisions. several of the changes proposed by this draft strategy could have important outcomes for improving wildlife health and welfare in nsw. the strategy aims to: • develop a peak body for wildlife rehabilitation in nsw by either encouraging the two main bodies to unite or create an advisory board comprised of government, wildlife rehabilitation, animal welfare, veterinary and natural resource representatives • develop standards to be adopted by the sector • develop a charter for volunteer engagement with veterinary practices • commit a$ . million to implement the strategy • introduce minimum standards for volunteer training, with learning outcomes and performance criteria to demonstrate proficiency • commit a$ . million (of the $ . million total) to deliver standard resources for veterinarians and veterinary nurses in the handling, triage and treatment of wildlife; this will be delivered by taronga zoo in partnership with the university of sydney and the office of environment and heritage • streamline data capture via online reporting of wildlife rehabilitation statistics and prepare annual reports for the sector and community • fund post-release monitoring of rehabilitated koalas • fund a single wildlife rescue telephone number for the public. nsw is not the only state that will see changes to the wildlife rehabilitation sector in . at the start of the year, western australia introduced licensing for all wildlife carers to keep track of volunteers and the relevant department in tasmania is currently finalising resources for veterinarians and nurses to aid in the triage and treatment of wildlife. it is expected the final nsw strategy will be implemented from july . news n i've recently been involved in the development of a business plan as part of my role as the ava student president. given my 'young grasshopper' status i found myself thinking, what does it take to be an entrepreneur in the veterinary industry? do people just find themselves taking over the mantle of head vet/ business owner as a rite of passage? is it a matter of luck, just serendipitously having the opportunity present itself, or can a fresh out of school veterinarian manifest it through sheer will power and effort? personally, i'm still holding out for a small loan of $ million from my parents. to find out more i had a chat with zachary lederhose, a recent graduate who has stepped into the world of business ownership. it might be more accurate to describe his current success in the field as 'hitting the ground running' but he won't claim as much. what motivated you to start your own business, zach? well, like just about every new graduate, i started out working as a general practitioner. loved the job and was a fantastic learning experience. that said, the main thing that stood out for me was not being able to have as much say in the direction we took as a team that i wanted. it wasn't that anything was wrong, it was a great atmosphere and we all got along really well. the sense of autonomy was what i sought. did it change much for your income? i wouldn't say it was the main driver behind my ambition to start a business. i was doing well in my previous role and could have very happily continued as such in that space. it all depends on what you, as a professional, value and where you get satisfaction in your job. for me, it felt like my earning potential was capped as an associate and that limited my opportunities. being my own boss makes it easier to pursue some of the things that interest me. for example, being able to purchase certain medical equipment to provide niche services or the flexibility to attend conferences that interest me. how do you find being responsible for a team? i think i was very fortunate that in my first job i had a great mentor in mike mesley at snowy vets. mike taught me a lot and we share similar opinions on practice management. with that behind me, i was confident in my abilities and i think that's a big part of the equation, believing you can actually do it. i also invested a lot of effort into developing my communication skills and bring the same focus to my current clinic. it's such an important skill -not just for interacting with clients and achieving the best outcome but to make sure we're working well together. the feedback i get from my team is important to me. as great as it is to have the constant loop of positives and 'yes men', sometimes i just need to be told i'm being a bit of an idiot. keeping my team comfortable to be that voice of reason helps me take stock of what i'm doing and means they are engaged in the decisions we make for the clinic. do you find your age and experience level makes it harder? to be honest, not a great deal. sure, i've faced some challenges along the way but nothing that anyone else starting out wouldn't come across. i would probably put it down to having a fantastic support network, including people from my private life. i can acknowledge i've been fortunate in that regard and it probably isn't the case for many of my peers. in a lot of ways, it comes down to having someone you can relate to who's been through the process. with a shifting demographic in the profession, i can imagine that's not always easy. that said, i did have a client ask how work experience was going for me the other day… i've certainly drawn some inspiration from my conversation with zach. hopefully for some of you reading it does the same, giving you that extra bit of encouragement to be brave and take a leap. similarly, if you're already a business owner keep an eye out; there are a fair few sharp minds coming through the ranks that could use your help. i'm fascinated by the prospect of more people like zach taking steps forward in business and the impact their innovation has on the profession, even if it's just one workplace at a time. all things considered, i should probably pick up that copy of barefoot investor that's been sitting on my coffee surprisingly, cats of all ages, and with both effusive (wet) and non-effusive (dry) forms, responded equally well to the treatment. the response was dramatic, with fever typically resolving within - hours of commencement and concurrent daily improvements in appetite, activity levels and weight gain were seen. cats with the effusive form had a reduction in abdominal effusion over a - -week period within - days of commencing treatment. after weeks of treatment, all cats that had responded to treatment appeared normal, or near normal, to their owners. the safety profile of gs- was also impressive, with no systemic signs of toxicity based on complete blood counts and serum chemistry values monitored over the treatment periods of - weeks in almost all individuals, with only one possible exception. a single cat showed a mild increase in renal parameters, but month later these abnormalities were not detected and the cat was also in remission. the study suggests using gs- at a dose of . mg/kg by subcutaneous injection every hours for weeks is a feasible way to treat fip. although the number of animals in this field trial study was limited, there were very promising results for commercialisation of this or similar nucleoside analogues in the future and someday fip may no longer be considered an untreatable disease. the studies examined the effects of two manufactured chemicals; diethylhexyl phthalate (dehp) and polychlorinated biphenyl (pcb ). dehp is a common plasticiser found in many household items (e.g. containers, toys, upholstery) and is used as a fragrance carrier in cosmetics, laundry detergents and air fresheners. pcb was used in coolant liquid but is now banned globally. both chemicals are widely detectable in the environment and one of the most common routes of exposure is ingestion of food. the researchers exposed sperm samples from both species to these two chemicals at concentrations that have been previously detected in the male reproductive tract and at levels commonly found in the environment. in both species, the exposure to these chemicals at these levels resulted in reduced sperm motility and increased the fragmentation of dna, which negatively affects overall fertility. as we increasingly share our homes with our pets, they are exposed to the same environmental and household contaminants as us and it is this exposure that researcher associate professor richard lea believes may be responsible for the fall in sperm quality in both dogs and humans in recent years. this finding also highlights the opportunity to use dogs as an effective model for future research into the effects of pollutants on human fertility, as other external influences, such as diet, are much easier to control in dogs than humans. stephen reinisch even more surprisingly, when used to inseminate ewes, both samples had almost the same pregnancy rate, with a rate of % for the -year-old sperm compared with % for the recently frozen sperm. this finding of the long-term viability of frozen semen is significant because it shows that genetics from individuals can be stored and used long after the original male has passed away, which could prove useful for breeding programs for many species in the future. the lambs produced from the study will also provide a useful baseline for the researchers to examine the genetic progress made by the wool industry through selective breeding over the past years. these lambs displayed characteristics that were common in merinos at that time, with large body wrinkles to maximise skin surface area and therefore wool yields. that particular characteristic has since gone out of favour, having been found to increase the risk of fly strike and create difficulties with shearing. stephen reinisch veterinary writer stephen reinisch veterinary writer delivery terms and legal title prices include delivery of print journals to the recipient's address. delivery terms are delivered at place (dap); the recipient is responsible for paying any import duty or taxes. title to all issues transfers free of board (fob) our shipping point, freight prepaid. we will endeavour to fulfil claims for missing or damaged copies within six months of publication, within our reasonable discretion and subject to availability. printing and despatch printed in australia by ligare pty ltd. all journals are normally despatched direct from the 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the basis of advice given to government, other authorities, media, etc. the ava live export policy states: "where live export occurs, an australian-registered shipboard veterinarian must accompany each shipment and this veterinarian must be independent and thus not employed by either the exporting company or the shipping company." background information is provided in policy statements and is supposed to explain the rationale and scientific evidence supporting the policy position. the background information in the ava's live export policy does not provide any rationale or evidence why australian-registered shipboard veterinarian must not be employed by the exporter or shipping company. the exporter, in many cases, is the owner of the animals during the export voyage. if ownership has been transferred to another party, the exporter is the owner's representative and responsible for the animals during the export voyage. the rest of the policy is concerned about animal welfare, it is assumed the reason for the non-employment recommendation is to ensure animal welfare. this is concerning for a number of reasons. firstly, it implies that the legislative system regulating veterinarians in australia is broken, as the peak professional body is recommending the only way to ensure animal welfare is for veterinarians to be independent and not employed by the animal owner or owner's representative. it seems, the ava does not believe that the state and territory veterinary surgeons boards or the federal government have effective legislation or are able to effectively regulate against the current legislation. secondly, it implies there is a problem with fee-for-service arrangements between veterinarians and animal owners and achieving acceptable animal welfare outcomes. nearly all veterinarians providing clinical services to any species, either as an owner of a veterinary business or employee veterinarians, operate under this fee-forservice arrangement with the animal owner. how does the ava systematically review and assess policies for possible unintended consequences, implications, misrepresentation of the profession, or the possibility of setting a precedents that is not in the interest of the profession as whole? should the board review the live export policy, will the ava stand by its recommendations to the moss review and ensure that relevant people with leadership skills, deep knowledge and understanding of the industry, animal health and welfare, and epidemiology are sought? dr andrew way face the facts: gender equality corporate-site/documents/ animals-and-plants/native-animals/volunteerwildlife-rehabilitation-sector-strategyconsultation-draft- animal welfare implications of treating wildlife in australian veterinary practices tel: + ( ) japan: for japanese speaking support, email: cs-japan@wiley.com. visit our online customer help available in languages at www.wileycustomerhelp.com/ask production editor sylvia cheong. email: avj@wiley.com information for subscribers australian veterinary journal is published in issues per year. institutional subscription prices for are: print & online: us$ (australia & new zealand), us$ (us), € (europe), £ (uk), us$ (rest of world). prices are exclusive of tax. asia-pacific gst, canadian gst/hst and european vat will be applied at the appropriate rates. for more information on current tax rates, please go to www.wileyonlinelibrary.com/tax-vat. the price includes online access to the current content and all online back files to ava members communication live export update # this will be going to policy council and the chair of the policy council will provide a response following this meeting.access it on the go across any device -where you want, when you want.the avj will be a tap and swipe away from july www.ava.com.au key: cord- -dwh u authors: devereaux, mary title: moral judgments and works of art: the case of narrative literature date: - - journal: nan doi: . /j. - x. . .x sha: doc_id: cord_uid: dwh u nan since at least the late s, a wide range of contemporary philosophers, aestheticians, and other theorists of the arts have embraced the once heretical practice of ethical criticism. it is not uncommon to find one's colleagues unabashedly discussing the ethical content of literary works, arguing for the edifying effects of literature in general, and attempting to find room for ethical content and consequences under the rubric of the aesthetic. not everyone thinks this turn toward the ethical a good thing. academic journals and conference programs are alive with disputes over whether reading literature really can make us better citizens or kinder people, and if so, how; whether the expression of morally objectionable views should be regarded as marring the artistic value of a work of art; to what extent, if any, artists should be held responsible for the effects of their art and so on. the very existence of these debates attests to the status of ethical criticism as a sanctioned topic in contemporary aesthetics. these debates form the background for my concerns here. the question i wish to pursue often goes unnoticed, yet it is fundamental. it concerns the enterprise of ethical criticism as such. my question is this: what are we doing when we assign moral values to a work of art? in somewhat different terms, what does moral judgment come to when the object of judgment is a work of art? in a broad sense, what do these judgments mean? in exploring these general questions, i will focus on written narrative. literary forms such as the novel and short story provide an obvious starting place for inquiring into what we are doing when we bring moral categories to bear on works of art more generally. "narrative" is, after all, a fancy word for story and i take it as a datum that questions about good and bad, right and wrong, harm and benefit tend to arise naturally in the context of storytelling. some of what i say may apply to other narrative forms: fictional film, drama, or narrative painting. the urge to make moral judgments arises in our response to these kinds of narrative as well. however, the feature of visual representation in narrative painting and film complicates these cases in ways that require a separate analysis. similarly, for the element of live performance in the case of staged drama. hence my focal point here remains exclusively works of narrative literature, works that we engage through reading. the question of what we are doing when we bring moral categories to bear on literary works-works themselves-should be distinguished from a number of other questions central to discussion of ethical criticism. these include empirical questions about the impact of reading and the role of the moral imagination on human behavior and values; normative questions about artistic responsibility of the kind noted above; and the broader relationship of aesthetic and ethical values in literature. unlike these questions, the issue of how to understand the content of the moral judgments we make of novels and short stories or what we are doing when we make such judgments remains, for the most part, unasked. perhaps this is so because defenders and critics of ethical criticism alike tend to assume that moral judgment functions in literary contexts much in the same way it does in ordinary life. if deeming a novel immoral (or moral) is nothing special, it requires no special analysis. it is part of my contention, however, that what we are doing in making these judgments is special and requires a separate account. in what follows, i begin by clarifying and motivating the question of what it means to say of a literary work that it is moral or immoral, edifying or unedifying, ethically (ir)responsible, evil or good, and so on. i then turn to the task of providing a framework for answering this question. to anticipate, my leading idea is that moral judgments about narrative literature can best be understood in the context of a particular conception of the nature of narrative fiction. i will argue that novels and short stories have specific features that elicit these judgments and that make the activity of making moral judgments about them intelligible. the moral judgments that interest me here are judgments that take the literary work itself as their object. the existence of such judgments might be questioned. one might argue that judgments that appear to be about the morality of literary works themselves, for example, heart of darkness or the portrait of dorian gray, are in fact really about something else. appearances deceive. on this view, the real object of evaluation when we engage with literary works is something else, typically either the work's characters and their motivations and actions (kurtz, dorian gray), or the implied author's (implied) attitude toward the characters or the effects of the novel on real-world beliefs and actions. another possibility is that the real object of moral appraisal is the actual historical author. that it is conrad's actions qua human being (either in writing this particular novel or in doing something else), not the work itself, that we mean to condemn. we do of course often make such judgments, and they are of course important. my claim, however, is that judgments of this kind do not exhaust ethical criticism. ethical criticism also involves a distinct class of judgments about nar-ratives themselves, judgments that cannot be reduced to judgments about authors, characters, or effects. it is also my contention that such judgments play a crucial role in ethical criticism. in support of this latter claim, it will help to examine the nature of these judgments. consider three examples. ( ) "and if a poet writes of the sufferings of niobe. . . . or of the trojan war or on any similar theme . . . [that] they are of god . . . such a fiction is suicidal, ruinous, impious." ( ) "it's not just the word 'nigger' i'm objecting to, it's the whole range of assumptions about slavery and its consequences, and about how whites should deal with liberated slaves and how liberated slaves should behave or will behave toward whites . . . that book [huckleberry finn] is just bad education, and the fact that it's so cleverly written makes it even more troublesome." ( ) "nabokov has, in the person of humbert humbert, completely bamboozled our habitual reactions to good and evil, the ugly and the beautiful. lolita is a novel of aesthetic and moral trespasses." the first example, as most readers will recognize, comes from socrates in book ii of plato's republic. the second is an instance of ethical criticism cited by wayne booth in his discussion of huckleberry finn. the third example i take from colin mcginn's discussion of lolita in his ethics, evil, and fiction. i want to bracket the question of the truth or falsity of these judgments and look instead at their structure. what are these judgments about? in the first example, we find socrates laying out rules and precepts to which the poets of the just city are meant to conform. the object of his disapprobation appears to be a certain group of poets. those who write works misrepresenting the gods deserve condemnation, even banishment. in the second case, talk of the "bad education" likely to result from an assigned reading of huckleberry finn leads us to see the judgment involved as directed at the book's consequences. here twain's novel is treated as a causal agent much as one might regard hiv or the sars virus as a causal agent. it is these effects on the undergraduate reader that booth's colleague finds unsupportable. in the final example, we see mcginn making judgments that can easily be read as directed at nabokov, the real-life author, and his fictional creation, the character humbert humbert. it is the historical nabokov who has "bamboozled our habitual reactions to good and evil," and it is the character humbert humbert who brings this "bamboozlement" to life. one can see how in each of these instances, the judgment involved can be read as being (or being reducible to), a judgment about something other than the literary work itself. let us look again at the three examples before us. in the first case, notice that, while socrates addresses the actions of the poets, what he deems "ruinous" and "impious" is any poetry, "a fiction," for example, homer's, that attributes the fall of troy or the sufferings of men to the gods. his criticism is aimed not merely at the moral character of the poets, but at the impiety of the poetry they produce. in the second case, booth's outraged colleague directs his remarks not merely at the effects of reading huckleberry finn, but at "that book," the literary work "so cleverly written" by mark twain. it is this book that is held to be "bad." in the last example, a careful reading of mcginn's remarks reveals that his discussion of author and character is meant to support a conclusion directed fundamentally at the novel, lolita. it is the novel's moral and aesthetic trespass that occupies mcginn here. to suggest that these judgments are about nothing more than authors, characters, and effects and not the literary works themselves is to miss the plain meaning of the sentences that express them. one way to begin to get a handle on the idea of judgments about the novels themselves is by analogy. moral judgments about novels themselves are like moral judgments about actions themselves. the analogy here is between two different kinds of judgments. just as we can evaluate the act of breaking a confidence, independent of whether my perfidy is discovered and independent of its harmful effects, so too we can evaluate the morality of a literary work in and of itself. moral judgments about narrative works themselves are, one might say, deontological. still, the idea that these judgments are about the literary works themselves may remain puzzling. let me try to illustrate what i have in mind and why i think it important by considering a fourth example, the german writer bernard schlink's highly acclaimed, but problematic novel the reader. apart from any judgment about its author (of whom i know very little) or its good and bad effects on its german or non-german readers, the novel is deeply offensive. central to the story is hannah, a rather unlikable woman who seduces, then deceives and abandons the fifteen-year-old narrator of the story. hannah reappears years later, on trial for war crimes (e.g., serving as a guard at a german concentration camp and refusing to intervene when a church full of women prisoners under her care is set on fire). hannah's crimes are horrible. but literature is full of villains. hannah may be somewhat worse than some, but surely not alone among fictional characters. what makes the novel repugnant is that, among other things, it uses its heroine's illiteracy (and fear of exposure as an illiterate) not only to explain, but also partially to excuse, hannah's crimes. the personal shame of her illiteracy is allowed to overshadow larger moral and political issues in ways that seem to me morally problematic. the point here is not that the novel's characters behave badly, nor that its narrator evidences considerable complacency about human evil. clearly the novelist might have written such a story precisely to expose the immorality of behavior like hannah's or the self-absorption of her heedless lover. this is not, i think, the case with schlink's novel. as i read it, the novel allows the individual tragedy of illiteracy to distort the moral terrain it surveys. let us forget about ethics for a moment. we can approach the question about what we are doing when we direct our moral attention to the literary work itself, by asking what it is to read a novel. this is a complicated question, one i cannot address fully here. but even a limited discussion of the nature of the activity of reading will shed light on the activity of making judgments about novels themselves. when we read a narrative, we read it in a particular way. we do not just take in the words and individual incidents. we typically find ourselves asking questions about what is going on; about why the characters and their motives are presented as they are; about the novel's point of view. thus, for example, we may ask what attitude lolita takes toward humbert humbert's pedophilia; what we as readers are to make of his predilection; and about the meaning or point of the narrative. this is part of what it is to read a narrative as a story. when we read novels, we read them as if the text is organized in a certain way. we read it as organized so as to allow us to ask certain questions. and to see a text as organized in this way is to see it as purposive. the text allows us to ask certain questions. that we come to ask these questions appears to be at least part of the purpose of the novel. the notion of purposiveness brings with it the idea of an agent. we read the novel as if it has been designed with our interests (cognitive, moral, political) in mind. kant's notion of purposiveness without purpose provides a model for the conception of reading i am developing. kant speaks of our seeing order and arrangement in nature (in a flower or bird plumage). the sort of case he has in mind is one in which we are not able to "locate the causes of this form in a will," since we have no epistemological access to the existence of a deity. we "are able to render the explanation of its possibility intelligible to ourselves only by deriving it from a will." one also finds the idea of purposiveness in hume. in the dialogues concerning natural religion, cleanthes elaborates on this idea in advancing a version of the argument from design. "consider, anatomize the eye," he directs. "survey its structure and contrivance: and tell me, from your own feeling, if the idea of a contriver does not immediately flow in upon you with a force like that of sensation." cleanthes's claim here is that, as jerry sobel points out, "the intelligibility of the world is expressible only in terms of design, that is, in intentional terms." the same is true of written narratives. we read them in intentional terms. indeed, their intelligibility rests on a notion of intentionality. as stanley cavell maintains, the concept of intentionality is "inescapable" in speaking of art, as inescapable as in our talk of "what human beings say and do." absent the idea of intention, "we would not understand what they [works of art or human beings] are." the idea of a creator, the fact of having been created, "flows in upon us" because it is, so to speak, built into the experience of looking at and understanding works of narrative. the idea is that of a literary creator or intelligence presupposed by the activity of reading itself. we read a narrative text as if it were written by an author who has produced the text in such a way as to prompt certain questions and provide the resources to begin to answer them. it will be useful to have a term for the idea of what we do when we find the idea of a creator "flowing in upon us." let us say that we "posit an author." the "posited author" is the analogue of hume's imagined contriver. the act of positing an author, as i understand it, is best understood as a kind of logical act. it is not separate and distinct from the act of making these presuppositions or reading under the idea of literary purposiveness. it is not a datable psychological event. the point is that simply in reading a narrative text, we posit an author. doing so is intrinsic to the structure of reading itself. the concept of the posited author is distinct from a number of similar concepts standardly employed in the critical literature. first, the concept of the posited author is distinct from the concept of the historical author. the historical author of the novel, the grass is singing, is the real-life person, doris lessing; what i am calling the posited author is, in contrast, an interpretive construct, "a fiction." its function is to allow us to read the text in a certain way, that is, under the concept of literary purposiveness. access to the particular features of the given posited author is secured through the imagination. the fact that we are not thinking about the historical author when we posit an author is marked by the fact that claims about the posited author are cast as claims about the novel. the point can be put the other way: moral judgments about the literary work itself are moral judgments about the posited author. the idea of the posited author is not an alternative to the idea of the work itself, but an explication of what this idea is. second, the concept of the posited author is distinct from the concept of the novel's fictional narrator. narrators may be unreliable (cf. the purblind butler in kazuo ishiguro's the remains of the day). they may espouse points of view the novel itself rejects or criticizes. the posited author, narrator, and historical author can in principle share any number of properties and, presumably, in the normal case, there will be a fair amount of extensional overlap. but overlap does not identity yield. even in cases like toni morrison's the bluest eye, where claudia is a "reliable narrator," the novel offers a broader point of view than that of this one character. the idea of the posited author is the idea of the highest controlling intelligence of the work. we think of the posited author as presenting this character, for example, claudia, to the judgment of the reader. lastly, and most importantly, the concept of the posited author is distinct from the notion of "the implied author" introduced by wayne booth. booth's notion is murky. in places, the implied author appears to be a version of the author himself or herself, a self created for the work itself, a persona. the implied author is the self the author becomes to become the work. the implied author is the wiser, wittier, more generous-or perhaps crueler, more ambitious, unfaltering-self the author imagines for the creation of the work. on this strand of booth's view, the implied author is the author's fictionalized rendition of the author. but just as the posited author is distinct from the notion of the historical author, so too is it distinct from the idea of a fictionalized version of the historical author. in other places, "implied author" appears to be a name for the imagined personification of the novel, the organizing intelligence of the work. it is this "implied author" who offers us "friendship," to use booth's metaphor. the text invites, promises, advises, and gives pleasure. booth's notion here is very similar to my own. the features of the implied author and the features of the posited author are bound to overlap in places. still, it seems to me that the two notions are distinct. the notion of the implied author brings with it aspects of what real-life authors do that are simply absent from the notion of the posited author. the notion of the posited author is more abstract. for booth, the implied author is something optional, something that may or may not be there, something that may or may not be found. for me, the notion of the posited author is a presupposition of reading a narrative. to read a narrative is to posit an author. for booth, the implied author is constructed by the historical author. for me, the posited author is a construct of the reader. thus, although i think that booth probably does have the notion of the posited author, the notion is not captured by his conception of the implied author. though abstract, the notion of the posited author is not empty. questions about the posited author allow of real discussion. we can ask whether the proposals advanced in swift's a modest proposal are ironic-or meant to be taken seriously. we can dispute whether the merchant of venice criticizes, endorses, or merely investigates the idea of moral payment embodied in shylock's "pound of flesh." the evidence for our judgments about the posited author will consist in texts and the reading of texts. our access to the posited author is secured through the act of interpretation. with this in mind, let us reexamine the mindset from which the idea of making judgments about the novel itself appears outlandish. when we raised skeptical doubts about the meaningfulness of moral judgments about texts themselves, we were thinking of the novel as a book, something constituted by ink and paper and glue. as readers, however, the primary object of our attention is not the pages-the ink on paper-but the story. to make sense of such judgments we must consider the narrative from the standpoint of the reader. seen from that standpoint, the posited author becomes intelligible. we read under the concept of literary purposiveness. positing an author is a presupposition of reading itself. now that we have a basic grip on the idea of the posited author, we are in a position to look at the conception of the novel that goes with it. the conception i have in mind is familiar and traditional. lionel trilling draws on it when he observes that the novel "is an especially useful agent of the moral imagination." this characterization of the novel sees the novel as a kind of moral tool. it accentuates the capacity of the novel to reveal the wide range and complexity of human types and their development over time, something less easily achieved with less capacious literary forms like poetry or short stories. iris murdoch notably develops this idea, describing the "calm merciful vision" of the novelist, a vision that allows the reader imaginative access to "how different people are and why they are different." the result, murdoch observes, is "the breath of tolerance and generosity and intelligent kindness" that great novelists achieve. on this traditional conception, the novel provides the possibility of something like moral education. this education takes place by schooling the imagination and what hume calls the sentiments: providing means for the reader's emotional engagement with "centers of reality which are remote from oneself." so understood, the novel offers the possibility of understanding, empathy, and tolerance. the claim that the novel may, at least in good hands, allow the development of imagination, and that the well-exercised imagination may in turn foster virtues such as compassion and generosity, is one that many other contemporary aestheticians and literary theorists wish to make. on this view, the novel is an inherently moral enterprise. in adopting trilling's conception of the novel, however, i am not assuming that all authors set out to create works that will engage us in explicitly moral terms or that those who do will necessarily succeed. still less am i suggesting that novelists ought to write with the purpose of engaging in moral instruction or that works of literature must be judged, in whole or in part, by their success in inculcating moral virtue. my claim is rather that we do make moral judgments about novels themselves and that this activity can be shown to be intelligible. as we have seen, the approach advocated here allows us to explain claims about literature's moral goodness or badness in terms of ordinary moral judgments. the moral judgments we make of the novel's "posited author" parallel our moral judgments about real human agents. seeing narrative works in this way, that is, under the concept of literary purposiveness, turns out to have implications for how we are to do ethical criticism, indeed for how we are to do criticism generally. let me conclude then by saying something about the ramifications of this approach. for too long, we have faced an interminable debate over the legitimacy of ethical criticism. typically this dispute gets cast in terms of an opposition between the moral and aesthetic dimensions of art. even in the best hands, as in exchanges on this topic between martha nussbaum and richard posner, setting up the problem in this way does not get us very far. the opposition it begins with is false, as murdoch and a number of contemporary thinkers have noted. let me at least briefly indicate why and point to a direction for moving beyond this framework. take, for example, the dispute between posner and nussbaum. posner rejects the legitimacy of ethical criticism. nussbaum endorses it. despite their disagreement, both miss something crucial about literature, and about ethical criticism itself. posner fails to understand the centrality of the ethical to literature, particularly in the case of the novel, a form inescapably concerned with imagining lives better or worse than our own (and the focus of his debate with nussbaum). for posner, the ethical dimension of literature is optional: something we can attend to or not. like most aestheticists, posner recommends the latter. ethical criticism, on his view, merely directs our attention away from what makes literature literature. it is a distraction. why? because it reduces literature to "moral pep pills" or a call to action. now posner is surely right that moral judgments that take as their object the work's realworld author or its effects may, and in some cases will, turn our attention away from the stylistic and structural matters central to the value of literature. then again, they may not. moral concern with the fact that nabokov manages to make the pedophile, humbert humbert, sympathetic need not exclude attention to lolita's literary strategies; to the contrary. more importantly, however, posner fails to recognize that some kinds of moral judgments, as i have argued, take the literary work itself as their object. (more on the consequences of this oversight in a moment.) nussbaum makes the same mistake. she fails to recognize the centrality of the moral standing of the narrative itself, locating the moral dimension of literature too narrowly in its effects. in this, she leaves herself wide open to posner's objection that, in her hands, literature is diminished, reduced to a causal lever in the world, a call to action for a given political agenda. despite nuanced attention to language and style, nussbaum's literary interpretations in poetic justice, for example, leave little doubt that she employs literature-and literary criticismprimarily in instrumental terms. native son and the other novels she discusses are intended as a means to improve the moral sympathies of the judiciary. this effort to restore literature to its ancient and honorable position in public life, commendable though it is, leads too readily to the mistaken view that ethical criticism involves nothing but judgments about the moral effects of the work (and indirectly about the historical authors responsible for those effects). what i hope to have established here is that such a view of ethical criticism is incomplete and misguided. that said, it is worth stating that both sides of the traditional debate between aestheticists and ethicists get something right. defenders of ethical criticism correctly stress the importance of ethical engagement with what literature has to offer us-that in the context of art, moral judgment is a natural and appropriate part of appreciation and evaluation. opponents of ethical criticism rightly insist that without considerable sensitivity to literature's aesthetic features, we lose much of the pleasure and instruction literature at its best provides. and if i am right, we do ethical criticism by developing just this aesthetic sensitivity. ethical criticism demands awareness of features such as the irony, ambiguity, stylistic complexity, and the rhythm of language-precisely those features of the text that posner calls literary. so, at least for a certain subclass of moral judgments-those that take the novel itself as their object-made about a certain subclass of works of art (novels and other narrative fictions), ethical judgment and aesthetic judgment come together. i cannot make a competent moral judgment about the text without engaging with the work's literary form, with how its content is presented and structured. why? because in order to form a principled moral judgment about the work-whether it is morally good or bad, enlightening or demeaning-i need to determine what the values and commitments of the work itself are. this process is not simple. i cannot, for example, merely count up the number of times twain uses the n-word or lawrence the f-word; nor can i simply look at what the characters of the work say and do. nor is it enough merely to examine how competent readers are likely to respond. i have to engage the whole text-with all its overarching detail and subtlety, contradiction and confusion-a task that requires careful reading, imagination, and hard interpretive work. the . a note on terminology: in the context of this paper, i am using 'moral' and 'ethical' interchangeably. i am also using these terms in a very broad sense, including more than might ordinarily be counted under the label 'moral.' for my purposes, the label 'the moral' includes the political, the ideological, the religious, and so on. lastly, i am not committed to the claim that the terms 'moral' and 'immoral' are the fundamental terms of moral evaluation. here i use these terms as stand-ins for all kinds of moral language (ordinary talk of justice, happiness, virtue and vice, terms such as 'duty,' 'obligation,' and 'right' in ethical theory). . i owe this line of objection to an anonymous reviewer of . in the actual practice of ethical criticism, these different kinds of moral judgment frequently run together. unwary critics easily fall prey to the common error of confusing a work with its author or its fictional creations. the latter occurs particularly in cases such as lolita, where the character of humbert exercises such a powerful presence. this proclivity to erode the distinction between the work and something else may be even stronger in the case of works and their presumed effects, where moral reservations about a given outcome get freely transferred to the work presumed to bring it about. in other instances, we are not confused. we mean to use talk of the "work" as a kind of shorthand. claims that huckleberry finn is "racist" stand proxy for condemnation of the assumed attitudes and beliefs of the historical person, samuel clemens. it is clemens's actions qua human being that we mean to criticize. . see, for example, kendall l. walton's "morals in fiction and fictional morality," proceedings of the aristotelian society supplementary ( ): - . for an example of how the aesthetic and ethical come together in the analysis of a given work, see my "beauty and evil" in the levinson volume cited above . it is worth noting the considerable recent literature on the ethicist-aestheticist debate. i focus on the debate between nussbaum and posner for a couple of reasons. for one thing, their exchange in the pages of philosophy and literature avoids the regrettable tendency to direct arguments at nameless and generic opponents (for example, "the ethicists," "traditional aestheticians"). for another, both nussbaum and posner have articulated and defended positions that have had considerable influence not only within philosophy but also within legal studies. . while not relevant to my interests here, it is worth noting that much of the argument between posner and nussbaum involves a substantive dispute about political and judicial matters. see, for example, posner's discussion of market relations, race, and the legal controversy over gay rights, "against ethical criticism," pp. contemporary advocates of ethical criticism, among whom i count myself, include wayne booth, martha nussbaum, berys gaut, matt kieran, and many others provides a good, albeit negative, account of these debates . here i am using the concept of art broadly, not distinguishing between works of established artistic merit such as nabokov's lolita and ordinary popular arts such as the novels of stephen king or movies such as the silence of the lambs. . the position we take on this normative issue is separate from, but likely to reflect, at least in part, our views on the empirical question of the impact of reading literary works. skeptics about the power of art to affect human character or conduct are unlikely to worry much about holding artists accountable-ethically or otherwise-for any (minimal) effect their works may produce. . proponents of ethical criticism adopt a variety of conflicting positions on these issues. see, for example, amy mullin's "evaluating art: morally significant imagining versus moral soundness noël carroll's "art and ethical criticism: an overview of recent directions of the reader, trans. carol brown janeway the critique of judgment for this reading of kant and hume on authorial design, i am indebted to jerry e. sobel's illuminating discussion in "arguing, accepting, and preserving design in heidegger, hume, and kant although i discovered this work subsequent to developing the account presented here, there are similarities in how we understand the notion of the author figure. we agree that the author at issue is an interpretive construct. one main difference in our accounts, however, is that nehamas's notion of the author is a figure who emerges from a whole oeuvre, not from a particular text. a second is that i wish to employ this notion in the service of an analysis of moral judgments of works of art, whereas nehamas's project concerns the process of literary interpretation more generally. see "the postulated author: critical monism as a regulative ideal it is true that if irony is very subtle (not i think the case in swift), many readers may miss it. the possibility of misinterpreting the work, of "getting it wrong," is not restricted to ironic works. it is something readers always risk. a more sustained, careful examination of the text may reveal such errors, but complex works will likely give rise to a variety of competing, but plausible, interpretations. the point of my account is not that in making moral judgments about literary works we can never go wrong, but that in doing so we are necessarily engaged in an interpretive enterprise, one that we appeal to the literary text itself to sustain. . lionel trilling matt kieran's "art, imagination and the cultivation of morals frank palmer's literature and moral understanding, and the essay by mullin noted above i leave aside for now the much discussed question of how much, if at all, a novel's success or failure in cultivating tolerance or other virtues should count in evaluations of its literary standing. in addition to the works cited above (nn. and ), see berys gaut's argument on behalf of the legitimacy of ethical criticism against ethical criticism exactly and responsibly: a defense of ethical criticism against ethical criticism: part two key: cord- -phmtkpu authors: whitcomb, caroline green title: review of slavoj Žižek ( ). pandemic!: covid- shakes the world: new york and london: or books. pp. isbn (paperback) date: - - journal: postdigit sci educ doi: . /s - - - sha: doc_id: cord_uid: phmtkpu nan on a monday in late april , i woke to a gurgling sound in my stomach and a feverish headache. this could not be happening. i had followed all the rules and then some. the few times i had ventured out for groceries, i wore a mask and gloves, showered afterward, and even gone so far as to flush my sinuses and gargle with a disgusting betadine/saline concoction suggested by my physician parents. i simply could not be sick. being confined to our home for weeks on end had been bad enough, knowing i was now going to be relegated to my bedroom, bathroom, and study for days on end made my already irritated stomach roll. questions and thoughts bounced about in my pounding head. would my children get it? who do i call to request a test? what medications can i take? will i be granted extensions on my work? i want my mom and i guess this means i can go back to bed. the following day, i inquired with the local hospital about being tested for covid- and was informed i was not eligible because i was under fifty and 'non-essential.' via telemed, i was told to quarantine and follow the guidelines of those with a positive test result. quarantine, the word that makes social distancing seem like a walk in the park. however, after a day or two, i somewhat settled into my bizarre reality. exhausted from the unidentified illness, my days and nights became jumbled. i read, paced, slept, wrote, painted my toenails, surfed the internet, dreamed, and daydreamed. initially, my introverted-self was hanging in there. however, around day , something snapped. my dreams became bizarrely vivid and my thoughts obtusely philosophical, strange, and different than ever before. i missed my children. i wanted to pet my dogs. i needed to be outside. i ached for human connection. springsteen's ( ) song, 'human touch,' was on repeat inside my head. desperate, i flung open the door at the top of the staircase, looked down at my family, and cried. that night, i pulled christopher bollas' ( ) cracking up: the work of unconscious experience from the shelf and began to read. i recalled from my initial reading an inability to connect with bollas' writing. 'who thinks like this?' was scribbled on one of the countless yellow post-it notes scattered throughout the book. that night, on the same note i wrote, 'i do. it just took a pandemic to make me.' everyday experiences evoke what freud called 'psychic intensities,' as a slightly different 'degree of interest' arises in a single moment that awakens memories, instinctual states, and vivid thoughts...something in what the french call le vecu (the lived experience) has had a very particular psychic effect, and records itself as a constellation of the self's experience at that very moment...a psychic intensity is also something of a questioning, when the individual implicitly asks what has happened, but in doing so unleashes the dispersing forms of the question itself. (bollas : - ) are we all in the same boat? reading slavoj Žižek's ( ) pandemic!: covid- shakes the world, i began to see i was not alone in my recent psychic intensities and the resulting questions (bollas : ) . slavoj Žižek, a slovenian philosopher and cultural critic, impressively churned out this work in the early months of and released it on march th. the hot pink book with the words 'the most dangerous philosopher in the west' splashed across the back cover had my attention. this was my first encounter with the internationally known philosopher and his opening sentences fascinated me. 'touch me not,' according to john : , is what jesus said to mary magdalene when she recognized him after his resurrection. how do i, an avowed christian atheist, understand these words? ... christ...will be there not as a person to touch, but as the bond of love and solidarity between people-so, 'do not touch me, touch and deal with other people in the spirit of love.' (Žižek : ) love without touch. Žižek ( : ) goes on to suggest that a deep look into the eyes of another can offer more than an intimate touch. i wonder at the idea. can we truly love one, deeply and intimately, we have never held? can we look into someone's eyes virtually and share a life-altering moment? Žižek ( : ) quotes hegel: 'the beloved is not opposed to us, he is one with our own being; we see us only in him, but then again he is not a we anymore-a riddle, a miracle [ein wunder], one that we cannot grasp. ' Žižek suggests in his introduction that, in our avoidance of others, we are able to truly experience them and grasp their importance in our lives. he believes corporal distancing has the power to strengthen our bond with humanity. the book's chapters function as a series of essays centered around Žižek's call for a new communism. each addresses a different topic, some more compelling than others. the first, 'we're all in the same boat now', does not offer the same enticing writing of the introduction but the martin luther king, jr. quote resonates. i woke this morning to learn magaline eubanks, a kind and gentle soul who has worked for my parents for years, died unexpectedly during the night from compli- the 'martian invaders' ruthlessly exploiting and destroying life on earth are we, humanity, ourselves; and after all devices of highly developed primates to defend themselves from us have failed, we are now threatened 'by the humblest things that god, in his wisdom, put upon this earth,' stupid viruses which just blindly reproduce themselves-and mutate. (Žižek : ) my parents' former medical careers could not save mag. the knowledge of the attending staff coupled with state-of-the-art medical equipment could not save mag. the virus won and continues to win in the usa. its victims are often the black and brown bodies traditionally sacrificed throughout the nation's history. are we all truly in the same boat? yes, in the sense we are all potentially susceptible but no, in light of national statistics and death rates. in Žižek's second chapter, 'why are we tired all the time?', he describes three groups of workers: 'self-employed and self-exploited workers in the developed west, debilitating assembly line work in the third world, [and] the growing domain of human care workers in all its forms where exploitation abounds...each of the three groups implies a specific mode of being tired and overworked' ( ). for Žižek, the paid workers, those 'whose work has to take place outside, in factories and fields, in stores, hospitals and public transport' are the world's most vulnerable. he challenges readers to remember only work which benefits the community will bring true satisfaction. in the beginning weeks of state-required social distancing, before becoming ill, i volunteered with an inner-city school's cafeteria staff packing meals for children who relied on school provisions to survive. after the first few days of standing in the mealpacking assembly line, i was exhausted. the small group of full-time cafeteria staff was primarily african american women in their sixties. i could not hold a candle to the stamina and strength of those ladies. for Žižek, their fatigue, like that of our medical workers, is worthwhile. while i agree, should we not also consider why the 'worthwhile' sacrifice is continually and primarily asked of those marginalized by society? Žižek's own concern for the world's forgotten becomes apparent in his description of the refugees caught in the 'devilish dance between erdogan and putin' (Žižek : ) . here, Žižek asks readers to consider the pandemic's possible impact in europe and erdogan and putin's exploitation of refugees in their ongoing attempts to prevent a unified europe. Žižek suggests 'it is vital to all to stress tolerance and solidarity towards [those] who are arriving, this...is likely to be much more effective than appeals to abstract humanitarianism…' ( ). with alternative solutions in mind, Žižek transitions into a description of the society he hopes will emerge as a result of the pandemic. instead of a world plagued by the ideological viruses of 'fake news, paranoiac conspiracy theories, [and] explosions of racism', Žižek longs for the spread of a more 'beneficent ideological virus...the virus of thinking of an alternate society, a society beyond nation-state, a society that actualizes itself in the forms of global solidarity and cooperation' ( ). he speculates covid- may provide an opportunity to 're-invent communism based on trust in the people and in science' ( ). for Žižek, it is in the dead time, the gelassenheit produced by the virus, we are afforded the opportunity to reflect on the '(non)sense' of our current state ( ). Žižek's communists of today are those who have pondered how liberal values are threatened and who acknowledge true freedom will only be achieved through radical change in the crisis of global capitalism ( ). for Žižek, this change requires a shift of focus from individual responsibility to a global struggle for a just social and economic system. in his final commentary Žižek ( : - ) writes, 'disaster communism as an antidote to disaster capitalism...the state [must] assume a much more active role...it is through our effort to save humanity from self-destruction that we are creating a new humanity. it is only through this mortal threat that we can envision a unified humanity.' currently, the mortal threat of the virus seems lost on the usa. some americans are fighting historic and systemic racism through black lives matter protests. others fearlessly enter indoor arenas in trumpian exaltation, cheering make america great again (maga) at the top of their lungs. bizarrely, americans are collectively 'over' the pandemic, periodically pausing from shouting and protesting to jointly storm beaches, restaurants, and shopping malls. the death of magaline eubanks and thousands of others were grieved in accordance with the momentary social distancing guidelines. sadly, they failed to become emblems of societal and governmental negligence and catalysts of radical change. in the usa, Žižek's hope for a unified humanity appears to be an unrealized dream. while social distancing may have produced a deeper appreciation of our loved ones, it does not seem to have transformed societal opposites into bosom buddies or, except for the rarest of pandemic love stories, have unveiled a beloved we have never touched and yet is one with our most intimate being. Žižek's appendix includes a discussion of two letters from friends. the first suggests we follow the teachings of lacan (simplified) and 'try to identify with your symptom, without any shame, which means (i am simplifying a bit here), fully assume all rituals, formulas, quirks, and so on, that will help stabilize your daily life. everything that might work is permitted here if it helps to avoid a mental breakdown' (Žižek : ) . the second describes our changed outlook on life: 'it's the idea of a world where you have an apartment, basics like food and water, the love of others and a task that really matters, now more than ever. the idea that one needs 'more' seems unreal now.' ( ). prior to the appendix, Žižek's work left me with a new ache in my stomach. not even a global pandemic could drive us away from greed and power and towards each other. yet, in Žižek's appendix, i found a glimmer of hope. my quarantine, psychic intensities, and tears were not for naught. i now understood that in the dead time, the aloneness, i found my inmost being, a being previously silenced by life's cacophony. i discovered unusual but beneficial coping tools: a mexican blanket, the writing of albert camus, and an app that generates the calming sound of ocean waves. finally, i learned it is the basics, love, and worthwhile tasks we need, and these that satisfy. while we have not unified humanity, maybe the pandemic driven discovery of the necessity of quiet time, personal coping tools, authentic love, and the beauty of basics will move us one step closer towards each other and Žižek's vision of global solidarity. cracking up: the work of unconscious experience human touch los angeles: a&m studios pandemic!: covid- shakes the world key: cord- -khhzlt y authors: jain, aditya; leka, stavroula; zwetsloot, gerard i. j. m. title: work, health, safety and well-being: current state of the art date: - - journal: managing health, safety and well-being doi: . / - - - - _ sha: doc_id: cord_uid: khhzlt y this introductory chapter will present a review of the current state of the art in relation to employee health, safety and well-being (hsw). the work environment and the nature of work itself are both important influences on hsw. a substantial part of the general morbidity of the population is related to work. it is estimated that workers suffer million occupational accidents and million occupational diseases each year. the chapter will first define hsw. it will then review the current state of the art by outlining key hsw issues in the contemporary world of work, identifying key needs. it will then discuss the evolution of key theoretical perspectives in this area by linking theory to practice and highlighting the need for aligning perspectives and integrating approaches to managing hsw in the workplace. this chapter focuses on the relationship between work, health, safety and wellbeing. the work environment and the nature of work itself are both important influences on health, safety and well-being (hsw). as a result, workplace health and safety or occupational health and safety have been key areas of concern for many years. traditionally, more focus has been placed on safety concerns in the workplace while health concerns became more prominent with the changing nature of work. well-being on the other hand, is increasingly being considered in relation to work and the workplace in recent years. a good starting point in understanding this evolution in focus and thinking is definitions. according to the oxford dictionary, safety is defined as the condition of being safe; freedom from danger, risk, or injury. safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. in terms of work, this mainly concerns physical aspects of the work environment. however, the changing nature of work was associated with the emergence of new types of risk relating to psychological and social aspects of the work environment. this brought about greater focus on health at work. a very influential definition that shaped thinking and action in subsequent years was the world health organization definition of health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity (world health organization [who], ) . this definition promoted a more holistic view of health away from a mere focus on physical aspects towards considering social and mental health aspects. although the who definition already referred to a state of well-being, definitions of well-being include additional dimensions to health, such as social, economic, psychological, and spiritual. well-being refers to a good or satisfactory condition of existence; a state characterized by health, happiness, and prosperity. obviously achieving this state is not relevant to the workplace or work alone but rather an overall evaluation of one's life across many areas. as such, actions to improve hsw can be taken within the work context and outside of it. actions taken in the workplace represent workplace interventions that are implemented in the work setting and consider the characteristics of work environments and workers. on the other hand, actions taken outside the workplace represent public health interventions that are implemented in various settings (for example, in schools, communities or countries) and take into consideration the characteristics of particular populations. a key question in terms of hsw interventions when it comes to the workplace concerns responsibility. while every individual is responsible for their own actions in various contexts of life, in a specific setting like the work environment, additional responsibility lies with the employer since the work environment will expose workers to particular work characteristics that might in turn pose a certain level of risk to their hsw. while employer responsibility might be formalized under law, this is not the case across countries or in relation to all possible types of risks to workers' hsw, and in particular new and emerging risks, or risks that are either new or gain in prevalence with the changing nature of work. accordingly, it is important to consider not only legal duties that employers have towards their workforce but also ethical duties that will extend beyond legal compliance. in addition, while employers bear a legal responsibility towards their workforce, they also bear responsibility towards society. this has meant that enterprises have increasingly been held accountable towards society and that interventions in the workplace, whether legally required or not, are now being increasingly considered in terms of their impact beyond the workforce alone but rather society as a whole (see chapters , , and ). this represents a blurring of boundaries between traditional occupational safety and health and public health initiatives that have also resulted in greater emphasis on the concept of well-being in addition to health and safety. at its first session in , the joint international labour organization (ilo)/ world health organization (who) committee on occupational health defined the purpose of occupational health. it revised the definition at its th session in to read as follows: occupational safety and health should aim at: the promotion and maintenance of the highest degree of physical, mental and social well-being of workers in all occupations; the prevention amongst workers of departures from health caused by their working conditions; the protection of workers in their employment from risks resulting from factors adverse to health; the placing and maintenance of the worker in an occupational environment adapted to his physiological and psychological capabilities; and, to summarize, the adaptation of work to man and of each man to his job. almost years later, the target set through this declaration seems ambitious in many parts of the world, both in developed and developing countries. to understand why, it is worth understanding the context underpinning developments in this area as well as current priorities and needs. in recent years, globalization of the world's economies and its repercussions have been perceived as the greatest force for change in the world of work, and consequently in the scope of occupational safety and health, in both positive and negative ways. liberalization of world trade, rapid technological progress, significant developments in transport and communication, shifting patterns of employment, changes in work organization practices, the different employment patterns of men and women, and the size, structure and life cycles of enterprises and of new technologies can all generate new types and patterns of hazards, exposures and risks. demographic changes and population movements, and the consequent pressures on the global environment, can also affect safety and health in the world of work. let us first consider key impacts on the changing nature of the work environment. different types of products and services, organizational structures and work processes, and tools and resources are used in the modern workplace. three main drivers have been proposed in relation to these changes. the first is globalization, a term which refers to the integration of national and regional economies, which became more prevalent since the nineteenth century. according to the organization for economic co-operation and development (oecd, ) , the rapid integration into world markets by six economies (brazil, russia, india, indonesia, china and south africa) was an important component of globalization during the past decades. globalization has led to increased competition across organizations, to a shift in the type of business operations in which companies are engaged, and to extensive outsourcing of activities, primarily to low-wage countries. flanagan ( ) examined the effects of globalization on working conditions (hours, remuneration and safety) and concluded that globalization has led to greater flexibility of the work process, with more part-time employment, temporary employment and independent contracting of staff (european agency for safety & health at work [eu-osha], ; kawachi, ) . houtman and van den bossche ( ) confirmed these conclusions on the basis of eurostat data, reporting that more employees in europe hold a temporary employment contract and yet more people will work 'on call'. oecd reports also confirm these trends. they also highlight that average wage growth has not been equivalent to growth in labour productivity, which is also an outcome of the erosions of the bargaining power of workers in the process of globalization (oecd, ). organizational restructuring which has been on the increase due to economic crises in different parts of the world may have been partly a cause of this. organizational restructuring is accompanied by job insecurity and can result in unemployment with subsequent negative impacts on hsw. however, restructuring should not only be considered a serious threat to individual hsw for those who lose their job (the 'direct victims') but also to their immediate environment (e.g. kieselbach et al., ). in addition, evidence during the past two decades showcases the impact of restructuring on the so-called 'survivors' as concerns health, well-being, productivity, and organizational commitment (kieselbach et al., ) . the second key development is the tertiarization of the labour market, manifested in increased demand for staff in the services sector and reduced employment opportunities in industry and agriculture. this became apparent in the early years of the twentieth century but in recent decades may have been reinforced by globalization, since the outsourcing of manual labour to low-wage countries left predominantly the service economy elsewhere (eu-osha, ; peña-casas & pochet, ) . the third key development relates to technological advancement and the emergence of the internet, which has led to many changes and innovations in work processes. many forms of manual work have become obsolete and staff must offer different skills and qualifications (joling & kraan, ) . moreover, 'new work', a term which amongst others refers to telework, i.e. working from home or a location other than the traditional office, is now more widespread. this can result in blurring the borders between working and private life. work can take place outside the traditional working hours as well as at home or when travelling. hence, it may impinge on the need for rest and recuperation, or interfere with personal commitments. also new forms of working methods such as lean production (a production practice according to which the expenditure of resources other than for the creation of value for the end customer is wasteful and should be eliminated, womack & jones, ) , and just-in-time production (a production strategy that strives to improve a business' return on investment by reducing in-process inventory and associated costs, womack & jones, ) have been introduced (eu- osha, ; kompier, ) . overall there has been concern of the effects new forms of work may have on the hsw of workers, organizations and communities (e.g. benach, amable, muntaner, & benavides, ; benavides, benach, diez-roux, & roman, ; quinlan, ; quinlan, mayhew, & bohle, ; sauter et al., ; virtanen et al., ) . it is also important to mention the prevalence of small and medium-sized enterprises (smes) that are believed to be responsible for over % of new jobs created globally. moreover, in most developing and emerging countries, they also employ more people than large enterprises do. however, occupational safety and health (osh) is often less well managed in smes, creating working conditions that are less safe and posing greater risks to the health of workers than larger enterprises (croucher, stumbitz, quinlan, & vickers, ) . in particular, smes have less time to devote to providing osh training and information due to economies of scale, and have less expertise in hsw. research also confirms a common lack of awareness of the cost implications of occupational accidents and diseases amongst sme owners and managers, as well as a tendency for smes to be reactive, rather than adopting proactive and preventive strategies towards osh (croucher et al., ) . however, there are also changes in the workforce that are associated with hsw in the workplace. the next section considers the most important of these. alongside the factors changing the nature of work itself, changes can also be seen in the working population, with noteworthy trends being: (a) the ageing workforce; (b) the feminization of the workforce; and (c) increased immigration (leka, cox, & zwetsloot, ) . let us now consider these issues in more detail. in industrialized countries, the share of people aged -plus has risen from % in to % and is expected to reach % ( million) by . in developing countries, the share of people aged -plus has risen from % in to % and is expected to reach % ( . billion) by (world economic forum [wef], ). the global population is projected to increase . times from to , but the number of -plus will increase by nearly %, and the -plus by about %. women have a life expectancy of . years more than men and account for about % of the -plus group, rising to % of the -plus group, and % of the -plus group (wef, ) . in response to these global trends, four strategies have been proposed: raising the normal legal retirement age; using international migration to ameliorate the economic effects of population ageing; reforming health systems to have more emphasiz on disease prevention and health promotion; and rethinking business practices, encouraging businesses to employ more older workers, even on a part-time basis (wef, ) . according to the oecd ( ) most countries will have a retirement age for both men and women of at least years by , and this has already been implemented in many countries. this represents an increase from current levels of around . years on average for men and . years on average for women. the same report stresses that high levels of youth unemployment will lead to widespread poverty in old age as young people struggle to save for retirement. since population ageing in industrialized nations has been a prevalent trend in the past decades (ilmarinen, ) , lessons can be learned from it in relation to the workforce. most reviews and meta-analyses in the scientific literature make clear that there is no consistent effect of age on work performance (e.g., benjamin & wilson, ; griffiths, ; salthouse & maurer, ) . overall, older workers perform as well as younger workers. furthermore, there are many positive findings with regard to older workers. for example, older workers demonstrate less turnover and more positive work values than younger workers (warr, ) . they also exhibit more positive attitudes to safety and fewer occupational injuries (siu, phillips, & leung, ) although there is some evidence that it is tenure (time on the job) that should be examined rather than age per se (breslin & smith, ) . however, the evidence from epidemiological and laboratory-based studies paints a less favourable picture of older people's performance. such studies reveal age-related declines in cognitive abilities such as working memory capacity, attention capacity, novel problem-solving, and information processing speed. agerelated deterioration is also documented in motor-response generation, selecting target information from complex displays, visual and auditory abilities, balance, joint mobility, aerobic capacity and endurance (kowalski-trakofler, steiner, & schwerha, ) . as workers get older, they suffer from more musculoskeletal disorders (eurostat, ) , and they are more likely to report work-related stress (griffiths, ) . recent models of ageing and work propose that certain mediating factors underpin the relationship between chronological age, work performance and behaviour and might function at three levels: individual, organizational and societal. at the individual level, for example, experience, job knowledge, abilities, skills, disposition, and motivation may operate (kanfer & ackerman, ) . other mediating variables may reflect organizational policies and practices: for example, age awareness programmes, supervisor and peer attitudes, management style, the physical work environment and equipment, health promotion, workplace adjustments, and learning and development opportunities (griffiths, ) . however, policies and systems implemented so far have, in most countries, not been adequately successful in keeping people healthier and in employment for longer (oecd, ) . a further level of exploration for the relationship between age and work performance might be provided by examining global markets, the wider employment context and worker protection (johnstone, quinlan, & walters, ; quinlan, ) . as discussed, in developed countries there has been a decline in manufacturing and a recent export of some service sector work to developing countries. the way work is designed and organized has changed substantially with a growth in contingent or 'precarious' work and an increase in part-time work, home-based work, telework, multiple job-holding and unpaid overtime. these changes might make it increasingly difficult for older workers to gain or maintain employment, and such employment may entail inferior and unhealthy working conditions. these changes in work design and management have also been accompanied by changes in worker protection; for example, a decline in union density and collective bargaining, some erosion in workers' compensation and public health infrastructure and cutbacks in both disability and unemployment benefits -again contexts which are unlikely to favour vulnerable workers, such as older workers. as such older workers may be affected by increased exposure to certain occupational hazards; decreased opportunities to gain new knowledge and develop new skills; less support from supervisors, and discrimination in terms of selection, career development, learning opportunities and redundancy (chiu, chan, snape, & redman, ; maurer, ; molinie, ) . pronounced gender differences in employment patterns can be observed as a result of a highly segregated labour market based on gender (burchell, fagan, o'brien, & smith, ; fagan & burchell, ; vogel, ) . gender segregation refers to the pattern in which one gender is under-represented in some jobs and overrepresented in others, relative to their percentage share of total employment (fagan & burchell, ) . a growing body of evidence indicates that a high level of gender segregation is a persistent feature of the employment structure globally (e.g. anker, ; burchell et al., ; rubery, smith, & fagan, ) . some scholars have argued that estimates suggest that gender segregation in the labour market is so pervasive, that in order to rectify this imbalance approximately % of women would have to change jobs or professions (messing, ) . considering differences in employment patterns according to gender (and without taking into account sectors where both genders are represented, e.g. agriculture), women's jobs typically involve caring, nurturing and service activities for people, whilst men tend to be concentrated in managerial positions and in manual and technical jobs associated with machinery or physical products. since men and women are differently concentrated in certain occupations and sectors, with different aspects of job content and associated tasks, they are exposed to a different taxonomy of work-related risks (burchell et al., ; eu-osha, ) . for example, women are more frequently exposed to emotionally demanding work, and work in low-status occupations with often restricted autonomy, as compared to men. this differential exposure can result in differential impacts on occupational ill health for men and women (eu-osha, ; oecd, ) . furthermore, due to the gender division of labour, women and men play different roles in relation to children, families and communities with implications for their health (premji, ) . even though women are increasingly joining the paid workforce, in most societies they continue to be mainly responsible for domestic, unpaid work such as cooking, cleaning and caring for children, and so they carry a triple burden (e.g. loewenson, ) . women are also largely represented among unpaid contributing family workers, those who work in a business establishment for a relative who lives in the same household as they do (ilo, ) . balancing responsibilities for paid and unpaid work often leads to stress, depression and fatigue (duxbury & higgins, ; manuh, ) , and can be particularly problematic when income is low and social services and support are lacking. the lack of availability of child care may also mean that women must take their children to work where they may be exposed to hazardous environments. increased migration of workers from developing countries to developed countries or from poorer to more affluent developed countries is still the norm and increasing. migrant workers can be divided into highly-educated and skilled workers, both from developing and industrialized countries, and unskilled workers from developing countries (takala & hämäläinen, ) . they can also be classified as legal and illegal (or regular and irregular) migrant workers who have a different status and, therefore, varying levels of access to basic social services (who, ) . often lowskilled and seasonal workers are concentrated in sectors and occupations with a high level of occupational health and safety risks (who, ) . ethnic minority migrants have been found to have different conditions in comparison to other migrants, and to report lower levels of psychological well-being (shields & price, ) . women migrants represent nearly half of the total migrants in the world and their proportion is growing, especially in asia. they often work as domestic workers or caregivers while men often work as agricultural or construction workers (ilo, ) . in general, migrant workers tend to be employed in high risk sectors, receive little work-related training and information, face language and cultural barriers, lack protection under the destination country's labour laws and experience difficulties in adequately accessing and using health services. common stressors include being away from friends and family, rigid work demands, unpredictable work and having to put up with existing conditions (magana & hovey, ) . in addition, migrant workers' cultural background, anthropometrics and training may differ from those of nationals of host countries, which may have implications in relation to their understanding and use of equipment (kogi, ; o'neill, ) . as can be understood so far, both the nature of work and of workplaces as well as workforce characteristics depend on wider socioeconomic and political influences. a large body of literature has summarized and examined these influences under the area of the social determinants of health. the following section briefly considers these determinants. new forms of work organization and employment have to be considered within the wider picture of employment and working conditions across the world. labour markets and social policies determine employment conditions such as precarious or informal jobs, child labour or slavery, or problems such as having high insecurity, low paid jobs, or working in hazardous conditions, all of which heavily influence health inequalities. figure . shows various interrelationships between employment, working conditions and health inequalities. let us consider unemployment and associated job insecurity as social determinants of health. in the ilo estimated that there were almost million unemployed people in the eu, million of whom were from eu- countries. overall, million people were unemployed in with a quarter of the increase of four million in global unemployment being in the advanced economies, and three quarters being in other regions, with marked effects in east asia, south asia and sub-saharan africa (ilo, a). the same report also highlighted that in those regions where unemployment did not increase further, job quality worsened as vulnerable employment and the number of workers living below or very near the poverty line increased. in the eu, the financial crisis resulted in unprecedented levels of youth unemployment, averaging % for the eu as a whole. the rates for young people (aged - ) not in employment, education or training are . % in the south and peripheral eu countries, and . % in the north and core of the eu (european commission [ec], ). in a pattern intensified by the financial crisis, structural unemployment has been growing and unemployment varies from . % in the south of the eu and peripheries in , to . % in the north and central countries (ec, ) . a large proportion of jobs destroyed were in mid-paid manufacturing and construction occupations (european foundation for the improvement of living & working conditions [eurofound] , ). as a consequence of reduced employment opportunities, poverty has increased in the eu since . household incomes are declining and . % of the eu population is now at risk of poverty or exclusion. children are particularly affected as unemployment and jobless households have increased, together with in-work poverty (ec, ) . this has implications for quality of life and general population health beyond workplace health and safety due to the impact on personal finances. an ilo report summarized the potential impact of financial crises on organizations and health and safety as shown in table . . the surge of unemployment creates tension and negatively impacts public perceptions for social welfare, job security, and financial stability. increased job insecurity reflects the fear of job loss or the loss of the benefits associated with the job (e.g. health insurance benefits, salary reductions, not being promoted, changes in workload or work schedule). it is one of the major consequences of today's turbulent economies and is common across occupations, and both private and publicsector employees (ashford, lee, & bobko, ; ferrie et al., ; sverke, hellgren, & naswall, ) . several studies have shown that job insecurity has detrimental effects on the physical and mental health of employees, and on many organizational outcomes, including performance, job satisfaction, counterproductive behaviours, and commitment (e.g. ferrie et al., ; sverke et al., ) . increased unemployment has given rise to different forms of flexible and temporary employment, also through the introduction of relevant policies such as flexicurity. flexicurity is an integrated strategy for enhancing flexibility and security in the labour market. it attempts to reconcile employers' need for a flexible workforce with workers' need for security (ec, ) . however, several studies have warned of the possible negative outcomes of new types of work arrangements, highlighting that they could be as dangerous as unemployment for workers' health (benach & muntaner, ) . for example, workers on fixed-term contracts are commonly found to have inadequate working conditions by comparison with permanent employees. new forms of work organization and patterns of employment can be summarized in terms of flexible working practices including temporary and part-time employment, tele-working, precarious employment, and home working. although these new practices can result in positive outcomes such as more flexibility, a better worklife balance, and increased productivity, research has also identified several potential negative outcomes. for example, teleworkers may feel isolated, lacking support and career progression (e.g. ertel, pech, & ullsperger, ; schultz & edington, ) . in addition, temporary, part-time and precarious employment can result in higher job demands, job insecurity, lower control and an increased likelihood of labour force exit (benach et al., ; quinlan, ; quinlan et al., ) . workers engaged in insecure and flexible contracts with unpredictable hours and volumes of work are more likely to suffer occupational injuries (ilo, a (ilo, , b . although awareness and evidence in developing countries lags far behind those in the industrialized world, evidence has started to accumulate showing similar findings in developing countries (kortum, leka, & cox, ) . these various complex relationships between the wider socio-economic context, employment and working conditions have resulted in a more complex profile of risk factors that may affect hsw in the workplace. new forms of work organization and the move towards a service based economy have also resulted in new and emerging risks affecting the workforce, organizations and society. these will be considered next. an 'emerging osh risk' is often defined as any occupational risk that is both new and increasing (eu-osha, ). new means that the risk was previously unknown and is caused by new processes, new technologies, new types of workplaces, or social or organizational change; or, a long-standing issue is newly considered to be a risk due to changes in social or public perceptions; or, new scientific knowledge allows a long standing issue to be identified as a risk. a risk is increasing if the number of hazards leading to the risk is growing; or, the likelihood of exposure to the hazard leading to the risk is increasing (exposure level and/or the number of people exposed); or the effect of the hazard on workers' health is getting worse (seriousness of health effects and/or the number of people affected) (houtman, douwes, zondervan, & jongen, ). an article published on eu-osha's osh wiki on new and emerging risks summarizes them as follows (houtman et al., ) : • emerging physical risks: ( ) physical inactivity and ( ) the combined exposure to a mixture of environmental stressors that increase the risks of musculoskeletal disorders (msds), the leading cause of sickness absence and work disability. • emerging psychosocial risks: ( ) job insecurity, ( ) work intensification, high demands at work, and ( ) emotional demands, including violence, harassment and bullying. • emerging dangerous substances due to technological innovation: ( ) chemicals, with specific attention to nanomaterials, and ( ) biological agents. the growing use of computers and automated systems, aimed at optimizing productivity, has caused an increase in sedentary work or prolonged standing at work, resulting in an increase in physical inactivity. work demands are also commonly cited as reasons for physical inactivity (e.g. trost, owen, bauman, sallis, & brown, ) as well as an increase in travelling time to work (houtman et al., ) . physical inactivity is associated with increased health risks such as coronary heart disease, type ii diabetes, and certain types of cancers and psychological disorders (depression and anxiety) (department of health, ; who, ; zhang, xie, lee, & binns, ) . another important result of inactivity is obesity which can lead to several adverse health effects, such as back pain, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disorders, and diabetes (houtman et al., ) . in addition, sedentary jobs are associated with an increased prevalence of musculoskeletal complaints or disorders, e.g. neck and shoulder disorders (e.g. korhonen et al., ) , and upper and lower back disorders (e.g. chen, mcdonald, & cherry, ) . such disorders may lead to sick leave and work disability (e.g. steensma, verbeek, heymans, & bongers, ) . the established health risks associated with sedentary work are premature death in general, type ii diabetes and obesity (van uffelen et al., ) . as concerns msds, there is a considerable body of research indicating that biomechanical or ergonomic risks in combination with psychosocial risks can generate work-related msds (e.g. bongers, ijmker, & van den heuvel, ; briggs, bragge, smith, govil, & straker, ; eu-osha, ) . psychosocial risk factors at work have a greater effect on the prevalence of musculoskeletal complaints when exposure to physical risk factors at work is high rather than when it is low. in addition, factors such as low job control, high job demands, poor management support or little support from colleagues, as well as restructuring, job redesign, outsourcing and downsizing have been shown to be causally related to increased risks in msds (houtman et al., ) . job insecurity has been discussed earlier and is an important stressor resulting in reduced well-being (psychological distress, anxiety, depression, and burnout), reduced job satisfaction (e.g. withdrawal from the job and the organization) and increased psychosomatic complaints as well as physical strains (e.g. wagenaar et al., ) . all these effects are negatively related to personal growth as well as to recognition and participation in social life (de cuyper et al., ) . additionally, decreased well-being and reduced job satisfaction of employees negatively affects the effectiveness of the organization (houtman et al., ) . there are several increasing demands workers are exposed to in the modern workplace including: quantitative (high speed, no time to finish work in regular working hours), qualitative (increased complexity), emotional (emotional load due to direct contact with customers i.e. service relationship situations), and often physical loads as well (houtman et al., ) . the widespread use of information and communication technology (ict) has led to work intensification. developments in technology use in terms of mechanization, automation, and computerization, has led to the substitution of human activities by machines. on the other hand, the use of computers and smart phones with internet access provides easy access to all kinds of information but may also lead to the expectation from colleagues, supervisors and clients that one is always available and can be contacted (e.g. by email). ict work may then lead to stress symptoms due to excessive working hours, workload and increasing complexity of tasks or isolation in home workers; information overload; pressure of having to constantly upgrade skills; human relationships replaced by virtual contacts; and physical impairments such as repetitive strain injuries and other msds due to using inadequate or ergonomically unadapted equipment (houtman et al., ) . psychosocial hazards such as high job demands and low control have been systematically found to be causally linked to cardiovascular heart disease (e.g. backé, seidler, latza, rossnagel, & schumann, ; eller et al., ) , msds (e.g. da costa & vieira, ) as well as mental health problems such as depression and anxiety (e.g. bonde, ; netterstrom et al., ) . in addition, long term absence and disability are causally related to these types of risks (e.g. duijts, kant, swaen, brandt, & van den zeegers, ) . furthermore, as the labour market shifts towards the service industry, emotional demands at work increase with harassment or bullying and violence contributing to this increase (houtman et al., ) . those affected by violence and harassment in the workplace tend to report higher levels of work-related ill health. the proportion of workers reporting symptoms such as sleeping problems, anxiety and irritability is nearly four times greater among those who have experienced violence, bullying and harassment than amongst those who have not (houtman et al., ) . nanotechnology has been defined as the design, characterization, production and application of structures, devices and systems by controlling shape and size at nanometre scale (eu-osha, ). due to their small size, engineered nanomaterials (enms) have unique properties that improve the performance of many products. nanomaterials have applications in many industrial sectors (currently the main areas are materials and manufacturing industry including automotive, construction and chemical industry, electronics and it, health and life sciences, and energy and environment). a key issue of enms is the unknown human risks of the applied nanomaterials during their life cycle, especially for workers exposed to enms at the workplace. workers in nanotechnology may be exposed to novel properties of materials and products causing health effects that have not yet been fully explored. the manufacture, use, maintenance and disposal of nanomaterials may have potential adverse effects on internal organs (eu-osha, ). although there is a considerable lack of knowledge, there are indications that because of their size, enms can enter the body via the digestive system, respiratory system or the skin. once in the body, enms can translocate to organs or tissue distant from the portal of entry. such translocation is facilitated by the propensity of the nanoparticles to enter cells, to cross membranes and to move along the nerves (iavicoli & boccuni, ) . the enms may accumulate in the body, particularly in the lungs, the brain and the liver. the basis for the toxicity appears to be primarily expressed through an ability to cause inflammation and to raise potential for autoimmune deficits, and may induce diseases such as cancer (houtman et al., ) . other dangerous substances concerns include diesel exposure and its link to lung cancer and non-cancer damage to the lung; and man-made mineral fiber exposure (classified as being siliceous or non-siliceous) and the link of their structure to inflammatory, cytotoxic and carcinogenic potential (houtman et al., ) . another three chemical risks have been identified as emerging with a view to allergies and sensitizing effects. they are epoxy resins, isocyanates and dermal exposure (eu-osha, ). epoxy resins have become one of the main causes of occupational allergic contact dermatitis. skin sensitization of the hands, arms, face, and throat as well as photosensitization have also been reported. isocyanates are powerful irritants to the mucous membranes of the eyes and of the gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts. direct skin contact can cause serious inflammation and dermatitis. isocyanates are also powerful asthmatic sensitizing agents (houtman et al., ) . finally, risks related to global epidemics are the most important biological risk issue. pathogens such as the severe acute respiratory syndrome (sars), ebola, and marburg viruses are new or newly recognized. in addition, new outbreaks of wellcharacterized outbreak-prone diseases such as cholera, dengue, measles, meningitis, and yellow fever still emerge (houtman et al., ) . it should be stressed that the profile of risks in the workplace constantly changes and there are additive effects that exacerbate negative impacts. the following section provides an overview of key challenges in relation to hsw in the modern workplace while also acknowledging the lack of research in relation to some of the new and emerging risks identified earlier. the ilo has published global estimates of fatal and non-fatal occupational (ilo, ) and fatal work-related diseases (ilo, b). . million deaths occur annually across countries for reasons attributed to work. over , are caused by occupational accidents while the biggest mortality burden comes from work-related diseases, accounting for about million deaths. globally, cardiovascular and circulatory diseases at % and cancers at % were the top illnesses responsible for / of deaths from work-related diseases, followed by occupational injuries at % and infectious diseases at %. as a result, approximately people die every day due to these causes: occupational accidents kill nearly people every day and work-related diseases provoke the death of approximately more individuals. there were also over million non-fatal occupational accidents (requiring at least four days of absence from work) in , meaning that occupational accidents provoke injury or ill health for approximately , people every day (ilo, b). major industrial accidents are stark reminders of the unsafe conditions still faced by many. for example, the april collapse of the rana plaza building in bangladesh resulted in the death of individuals and injured more, mostly factory workers making garments for overseas retail chains. the international community has since expressed concerns about market pressures which strive to keep basic production costs low, the role of national authorities, and the responsibilities of multinational enterprises and other stakeholders in supply chains towards the health and safety of workers. hazardous sectors such as mining, construction, shipping, and in particular fishing continue to take a heavy toll on human lives and health. meanwhile, the nuclear industry continues to pose serious problems regarding the radiological protection of site workers and the environment. in particular, the protection of emergency workers at the fukushima daiichi power plant in japan has become a focus of international attention since the east japan earthquake. occupational health has recently become a much higher priority, in light of the growing evidence of the enormous loss and suffering caused by occupational diseases and ill health across many different employment sectors. even though it is estimated that fatal diseases account for about % of all work-related fatalities, more than half of all countries do not provide official statistics for occupational diseases (ilo, b). these therefore remain largely invisible, compared to fatal accidents. moreover and as discussed previously, the nature of occupational diseases is changing rapidly, as new technologies and global social changes aggravate existing health risks and create new ones. for example, long-latency diseases include illnesses such as silicosis and other pneumoconioses, asbestos-related diseases and occupational cancers that may take decades to manifest. such diseases remain widespread, as they are often undiagnosed until they result in permanent disability or premature death. pneumoconioses account for a high percentage of all occupational diseases. for example, in latin america, there is a % prevalence rate of silicosis amongst miners, and this figure reaches % among miners over the age of . in vietnam, pneumoconioses account for . % of all compensated occupational diseases (ilo, b) . the use of asbestos has been banned in more than counties, including all eu member states, but the number of deaths from asbestos-related diseases is increasing in many industrialized countries because of exposure that occurred during the s and later. in germany and the uk, for example, the number of deaths from asbestos-induced mesothelioma has been increasing for some years and was expected to peak in - (health & the number of cases of work-related stress, violence and psychosocial disorders has also been increasing. these have often been attributed at least in part to recession-driven enterprise restructuring and redundancies which can be very damaging psychologically. european studies have shown that a large and rapid rise in unemployment has been associated with a significant increase in suicide rates (e.g. lundin & hemmingsson, ). meanwhile, a review of mortality studies in countries across the world has also shown an increase in cardiovascular mortality rates by an average of . % in periods of crisis (falagas, vouloumanou, mavros, & karageorgopoulos, ) . the impact of the issues discussed in this section is presented in chapter . on the basis of the available evidence, it is now recognized that a new paradigm of prevention is required, one that focuses on work-related diseases and not only on occupational injuries. recognition, prevention and treatment of both occupational diseases and accidents, as well as the improvement of recording and notification systems are high priorities for improving the health of individuals and the societies they live in. several perspectives and associated approaches have been taken to promote hsw in the workplace over the years as priorities change and new issues and knowledge emerge. the following section will provide an overview of some key perspectives that have led to the development of modern holistic models to promote hsw in the workplace. the field of occupational health and safety has been defined as the science of the anticipation, recognition, evaluation and control of hazards arising in or from the workplace that could impair the hsw of workers, taking into account the possible impact on the surrounding communities and the general environment (alli, ) . given the broad scope of this definition, several disciplines are relevant to osh that relate to control of the multitude of hazards in the workplace. furthermore, since social, political, technological and economic changes are constantly impacting upon the workplace, the field of osh has been evolving to address new and emerging issues in line with different perspectives. some disciplines of relevance to osh include engineering, ergonomics, toxicology, hygiene, medicine, epidemiology, psychology, sociology, education, and policy. these disciplines often diverge in terms of theoretical foundation and as a result emphasize different aspects in terms of understanding and dealing with osh issues. however, in recent years there has been convergence in thinking about the work environment and a trend towards more holistic perspectives and approaches when considering hsw. indeed, while hsw issues were in the past approached from a mono-disciplinary perspective, multi-disciplinarity is now advocated as the necessary way forward. however, in practice osh professionals often still employ mono-disciplinary perspectives in dealing with accidents and diseases in the workplace, seeking to protect individual workers rather than preventing negative impacts of the work environment and promoting positive outcomes. solely focusing on ameliorating harm rather than promoting hsw has also been criticized in recent years by scholars emphasizing a salutogenic (health promoting) instead of a pathogenic (disease preventing) perspective. let us now consider some of these approaches further in relation to safety, health and well-being. it has been argued that occupational safety has developed and evolved through three ages: . a technical age, . a human factors age, and . a management and culture age (hale & hovden, ) (or as hudson, described them through a technical wave, a systems wave and a culture wave). several authors have since then suggested new ages in safety science. the first age of safety concerned itself with the technical measures to guard machinery, stop explosions and prevent structures collapsing. it lasted from the nineteenth century through until after the second world war and was interested in accidents having technical causes (hale & hovden, ) . the period between the world wars saw the development of research into personnel selection, training and motivation as prevention measures, often based on theories of accident proneness (see hale & glendon, for a review; burnham, for the accident-prone theory). this brought about the second age of safety, which developed separately to technical measures until the period of the s and s, when developments in probabilistic risk analysis and the rise and influence of ergonomics led to a merger of the two approaches in health and safety. there was a move away from an exclusive dominance of the technical view of safety in risk analysis and prevention, and the study of human error and human recovery or prevention came into its own (hale & hovden, ) . just as the second age of human factors was ushered in by increasing realizations that technical risk assessment and prevention measures could not solve all problems, so were the s characterized by an increasing dissatisfaction with the idea that health and safety could be captured simply by matching the individual to technology. in the s management and culture were the focus of development and research, based on many influential thinkers such as heinrich who published his ground-breaking safety management textbook in heinrich, , the sociotechnical management literature (e.g. elden, ; thorsrud, ; trist & bamforth, ) , the social organizational theory of lewin ( ) , the loss prevention approach (bird, ) , and the introduction of participative management in safety (e.g. simard & marchand, ) . however, reason ( ) contended that an over-reliance on osh management systems and insufficient understanding of, and insufficient emphasis on, workplace culture, can lead to failure because "it is the latter that ultimately determines the success or failure of such systems" (p. ). criticism of overreliance on systems was also influenced by the resilience engineering school that posited that instead of focusing on failures, error counting and decomposition, we should address the capabilities to cope with the unforeseen. the ambition is to 'engineer' tools or processes that help organizations to increase their ability to operate in a robust and flexible way. hopkins ( ) views safety culture as one aspect of organizational culture, or more particularly an organizational culture that is focused on safety. further, culture is viewed as a group, not an individual, phenomenon; efforts to change culture, should, in the first instance, focus on changing collective practices (the practices of both managers and workers) and the dominant source of culture is what leaders pay attention to. much of hopkins' work draws on reason's ( ) notion that a safe culture is an informed culture and sutcliffe's ( , ) principles of collective mindfulness and high reliability organizations (i.e. organizations that are able to manage and sustain almost error-free performance despite operating in hazardous conditions where the consequences of errors could be catastrophic). collective mindfulness is based on the premise that variability in human performance enhances safety whilst unvarying performance can undermine safety, particularly in complex socio-technical systems. glendon, clarke, and mckenna ( ) argued that each of the first three periods of development build on one another and refer to this process of development as the fourth age of safety or the integration age where previous ways of thinking are not lost, but remain available to be reflected upon as multiple, more complex perspectives develop and evolve. however, as the limitations of osh management systems and safety rules that attempt to control behaviour have become evident, it has also been proposed that a fifth age of safety has emerged, the adaptive age; an age which transcends the other ages of safety. the adaptive age challenges the view of an organizational safety culture and instead recognizes the existence of socially constructed sub-cultures. the adaptive age embraces adaptive cultures and resilience engineering and requires a change in perspective from human variability as a liability and in need of control, to human variability as an asset and important for safety (borys, else, & leggett, ) . resilience engineering is similar to collective mindfulness since it also focuses on the importance of performance variability for safety. however, what sets resilience engineering apart from collective mindfulness is the focus on learning from successful performance (hollnagel, ) , i.e. why things go right as well as why things go wrong (also called the safety approach (hollnagel, ) . one particular major development in the safety evolution was the move towards managing risks in the work environment. this implied that it is impossible to completely control all aspects of work to avoid negative outcomes, risks always remain. in an ever-changing work environment, a continuous assessment of risks is needed that will point to key risks that may pose a threat to workers' hsw. these then need to be managed following appropriate actions at various levels with the focus being on prevention. the risk management paradigm has been hugely influential not only in terms of managing safety but also managing health as will be discussed in the following sections. let us then consider it further next. in the wake of the chernobyl disaster in , sociologist ulrich beck published 'risikogesellschaft', later published in english as 'risk society: towards a new modernity' in . beck argued that environmental risks had become the predominant product of industrial society. he defined a risk society as "a systematic way of dealing with hazards and insecurities induced and introduced by modernization itself" (beck, , p. ) . while according to british sociologist anthony giddens ( ) , a risk society is a society that is increasingly preoccupied with the future (and also with safety), which generates the notion of risk. giddens ( ) defined two types of risks as external risks (for example natural disasters) and manufactured risks (for example, those derived from industrial processes. as manufactured risks are the product of human activity, authors like giddens and beck argue that it is possible for societies to assess the level of risk that is being produced, or that is about to be produced, in order to mitigate negative outcomes (i.e. responsibility with managing these risks lies with society and more precisely with experts able to do so). one such area is osh risk management. hazard, something that can cause harm if not controlled, is a key term in osh risk management. the outcome is the harm that results from an uncontrolled hazard. in the context of osh, harm describes the direct or indirect degradation, temporary or permanent, of the physical, mental, or social well-being of workers. a risk is a combination of the probability that a particular outcome will occur and the severity of the harm involved (nunes, ) . hazard identification or assessment is an important step in the overall risk assessment and risk management process. through this, hazards are identified, assessed and controlled/eliminated as close to source as reasonably as possible. as technology, resources, social expectations or regulatory requirements change, hazard analysis focuses control measures more closely towards the source of the hazard aiming at prevention. hazard-based programmes may not be able to eliminate all risks to hsw but they avoid implying that there are 'acceptable risks' in the workplace (nunes, ) . a risk assessment needs to be carried out prior to making an intervention. this assessment should identify hazards, identify all affected by the hazard and how, evaluate the risk, and identify and prioritize appropriate control measures. the calculation of risk is based on the likelihood or probability of the harm being realized and the severity of the consequences. the assessment should be recorded and reviewed periodically and whenever there is a significant change to work practices. the assessment should include practical recommendations to control the risk. once recommended controls are implemented, the risk should be re-calculated to determine if it has been lowered to an acceptable level (nunes, ) . risk assessment and calculation is usually easier as regards physical risks but more complex as regards biological, and even more so psychosocial, risks. despite this, the risk management paradigm has been applied to all these types of risks to hsw, and is used extensively both as concerns occupational injury and occupational health. it also represents the cornerstone of osh legislation across countries. osh management systems are based on this paradigm (see chapter for more details). following the pdca (plan-do-check-act) cycle methodology (deming, ) , risk management is a systematic process that includes the examination of all characteristics of the work system where the worker operates, namely, the workplace, the equipment/machinery, materials, work methods/practices and work environment. the main goal of risk management is to eliminate or at least to reduce the risks that cannot be avoided or eliminated to an acceptable level. risk management measures should follow the hierarchy of control principles of prevention, protection and mitigation. worker participation is key in the process of risk management. the risk management process should be reviewed and updated regularly, for instance every year, to ensure that the measures implemented are adequate and effective. additional measures might be necessary if the improvements do not show the expected results (nunes, ) . periodic risk management is also important since workplaces are dynamic due to changes in equipment, substances or work procedures, and new hazards might emerge. another reason is that new knowledge regarding risks can become available, either leading to the need of an intervention or offering new ways of controlling the risk. the review of the risk management process should consider a variety of types of information and draw them from a number of relevant perspectives (e.g. staff, management, stakeholders). however, risk management has been criticized for focusing too heavily on avoiding (controlling) possible negative outcomes and not promoting positive and healthy work environments. this development in thinking has stemmed from a parallel move from pathogenic to salutogenic approaches in health and its management. this evolution in thinking about health and well-being will be considered next. approaches in occupational health and occupational hygiene have evolved in line with developments in several disciplines, including safety engineering, medicine and psychology. the risk management perspective is the cornerstone of occupational hygiene as is evident by its definition. the international occupational hygiene association (ioha, n.d.) refers to occupational hygiene as the discipline of anticipating, recognizing, evaluating and controlling health hazards in the working environment with the objective of protecting worker health and well-being and safeguarding the community at large. although occupational health definitions similarly place great focus on managing risk factors, they overall refer to the promotion and maintenance of health and well-being of employees. similarly to the evolution of perspectives in safety, these definitions have been influenced by the evolution of thinking on health and well-being over the years (schulte & vainio, ) . perspectives on health and illness started with a focus on pathogenesis, as pioneered and developed by williamson and pearse ( ) which is the study of disease origins and causes. pathogenesis starts by considering disease and infirmity and then works retrospectively to determine how individuals can avoid, manage, and/or eliminate that disease or infirmity. the dose-response relationship of the change in effect on an organizm caused by differing levels of exposure (or doses) to a stressor after a certain exposure time was influential in treating disease and illness (as was in chemical safety). this leads professionals using pathogenesis to be reactive because they respond to situations that are currently causing or threatening to cause disease or infirmity (becker, glascoff, & felts, ) . a major shift came in with antonovsky's concept of salutogenesis, the study of health origins and causes, which starts by considering health and looks prospectively at how to create, enhance, and improve physical, mental and social well-being (antonovsky, ) . the assumption of salutogenesis that action needs to occur to move the individual towards optimum health, prompts professionals to be proactive because their focus is on creating a new higher state of health than is currently being experienced (antonovsky, ) . the difference between the biomedical model (based on pathogenesis) and health promotion which is now the cornerstone of public health (based on salutogenesis) is a move away from risk and disease towards resources for health and life (eriksson & lindström, ) , initiating processes not only for health but wellbeing and quality of life. perceived good health is a determinant of quality of life. according to breslow ( ) , the first era of public health involved combating communicable diseases while the second dealt with chronic diseases. their focus was on developing and maintaining health since health provides a person the potential to have the opportunity and ability to move towards the life they want. to facilitate management of health in the first two eras, measurement of the signs, symptoms and associated risks of disease and infirmity were of paramount importance. in the third era of public health most people expect a state of health that enables them to do what they want in life. to facilitate management of an evolved health status, it is necessary to develop new health measures that must go beyond detecting pathogenesis and its precursors to measuring those qualities associated with better health (breslow, ) . however, salutogenesis also presumes that disease and infirmity are not only possible but likely because humans are flawed and subject to entropy (antonovsky, ) . according to a salutogenic perspective, each person should engage in health promoting actions to cause health while they secondarily benefit from the prevention of disease and infirmity. pathogenesis, on the other hand in a complementary fashion primarily focuses on prevention of disease and infirmity, with a secondary benefit of health promotion. both approaches are needed to facilitate the goal of better health and a safer and more health enhancing environment. pathogenesis improves health by decreasing disease and infirmity and salutogenesis enhances health by improving physical, mental, and social well-being. together, these strategies will work to create an environment that nurtures, supports, and facilitates optimal well-being (becker et al., ) . around the same time when salutogenesis was introduced, in a article in science, psychiatrist george l. engel introduced a new medical model, the biopsychosocial model. the biopsychosocial model is a broad view that attributes disease outcome to the intricate, variable interaction of biological factors (genetic, biochemical, etc.), psychological factors (mood, personality, behaviour, etc.), and social factors (cultural, familial, socioeconomic, medical, etc.) . it holds to the idea that biological, psychological, and social processes are integrally and interactively involved in physical health and illness. it was pioneering in advocating the premise that people's psychological experiences and social behaviours are reciprocally related to biological processes. as a result, interventions should address all these dimensions and not narrowly focus on limited perspectives (such as only the biological perspective for example). more focus was now placed on psychological and social factors in the understanding of health and illness. indeed, the traditional medical model of ill health was increasingly recognized as having achieved limited success in tackling occupational health conditions such as stress, anxiety, depression and msds (white, ) . these challenges which have been shown to now have an increasing prevalence in the workplace (as discussed earlier), do not have a clear underlying physical basis nor do they demonstrate a linear relationship between injury, pain and disability. instead, they appear to be strongly mediated by psychological and social factors. accordingly, waddell ( ) categorized such conditions as 'common health problems'. the challenges presented by common health problems contrasts with the past success of occupational medicine in dealing with conditions that have an identifiable cause and a clear relationship between dose and response (waddell & burton, ) . the psychological models that were developed within the fields of occupational, and occupational health psychology, mainly to make sense of the concept of stress, were similarly influenced by conceptualizations of health, illness and safety. early models viewed stress either as a noxious stimulus in the environment (engineering models, derived from engineering) or a response to exposure to aversive of noxious characteristics of the environment (physiological models, derived from medicine). contemporary models focus on the interaction between the environment and the individual and emphasize either explicitly or implicitly the role of psychological processes, such as perception, cognition, and emotion (psychological models). these appear to determine how the individual recognizes, experiences, and responds to stressful situations, how they attempt to cope with that experience and how it might affect their physical, psychological, and social health (cox & griffiths, ) . the risk management paradigm remains an influential perspective in dealing with new and emerging risks in the psychosocial work environment. however, while we are a long way from the challenge of work-related stress being tackled effectively, there has started to be a shift towards promoting well-being at work and not only preventing stress and its associated negative outcomes in terms of both health and safety. this shift has followed trends in public health (discussed earlier) and also psychology towards more positive concepts. the positive psychology movement, championed by seligman and csikszentmihalyi ( ) , is an attempt to shift the emphasis in psychology away from a preoccupation with the pathological, adverse and abnormal aspects of human behaviour and experience. the positive psychology literature offers a number of perspectives that help with understanding how well-being can arise in work situations (lunt et al., ) . for example, the concept of flow was introduced by csikszentmihalyi ( ) which can be defined as a subjective condition where an individual is fully absorbed in, and engaged with, the task he or she is carrying out, promoting an experience of competence and fulfillment. as is evident from our discussion on perspectives on hsw so far, several useful models have been proposed from various disciplines with parallel developments can be observed across these disciplines. however, it should also be noted that often scholars and practitioners operate in silos, ignoring the interplay among the various approaches, and lessons that can be learned from one another. the recent focus on well-being has brought about the question of whether approaches in the workplace should focus only on factors influencing the individual's experience in the work environment or wider influences, considering more the social determinants of health discussed at the beginning of this chapter. in line with this thinking, some holistic models have emerged that recognize the interplay between workplace and non-workplace factors in determining hsw that will be discussed next. the starting point in the development of holistic models of hsw is the recognition that safety and health are different to well-being. as discussed at the beginning of this chapter, well-being refers to a good or satisfactory condition of existence; a state characterized by health, happiness, and prosperity. in particular, three key concepts have been discussed as relevant to well-being: happiness, quality of life and resilience (lunt et al., ) . layard ( ) defined happiness as feeling good; its inverse is feeling bad and wishing for a different experience. factors that affect our levels of happiness include among others family relationships, our financial situation, work, community and friends, our health, personal freedom and personal values. quality of life overlaps with contemporary interpretations of happiness. quality of life is a subjective state that encompasses physical, psychological, and social functioning. a defining feature of quality of life is its basis on the perceived gap between actual and desired living standards. resilience of individuals has been described as partly a context dependent characteristic, in that what enables resilience in one environment may be less adaptive in another (lunt et al., ) . increasingly it is recognized that resilience is important at different organizational levels (teams, organizations) and that these different levels are to some degree interacting (e.g. schelvis, zwetsloot, bos, & wiezer, ) . it is also important to recognize that even though well-being at work may be primarily an employer's responsibility (as well as the worker's), well-being of the worker or workforce is also the responsibility of others in society (e.g. governments, insurance companies, unions, faith-based and non-profit organizations) or may be affected by non-work domains (schulte et al., -see also chapter ). indeed, the well-being of the workforce extends beyond the workplace, and public policy should consider social, economic, and political contexts. schulte et al. ( ) also provide examples of holistic policy models aiming at the promotion of well-being in the workplace that include the who healthy workplace model and the niosh total worker health model (discussed in the next chapter). to promote hsw holistically, there needs to be synergy and integration among the various perspectives. to achieve this, these perspectives need to be aligned considering current knowledge and existing needs, developing capabilities, and mainstreaming a strategic approach in policy and practice. the following chapter considers key policy approaches to managing hsw at the macro level (international, regional, national), meso level (sectoral), and micro level (organizational). subsequent chapters further consider how alignment across perspectives can be achieved in policy and practice. this chapter has provided an overview of the current state of the art in relation to hsw in the workplace as regards key determinants, outcomes and perspectives. with the changing nature of work and new characteristics of the workforce, new challenges are emerging in the workplace. perspectives on how to address these challenges have changed in line with these developments as well as the evolution of knowledge and the impact of wider socio-economic and political factors. emerging issues such as psychosocial factors, the increasing prevalence of non-communicable diseases, and the shift towards well-being (and not merely safety and health) demand new ways of thinking in addressing hsw in the workplace. continuing to work in silos and adopting mono-disciplinary perspectives will not allow us to move forward in this complex landscape. a strategic alignment of perspectives and integrated approaches are needed. this book aims to promote a way forward by outlining and critically evaluating developments in hsw in the workplace, and providing a framework for action in policy and practice. fundamental principles of occupational health and safety gender and jobs: sex 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conditions: working conditions and worker rights in a global economy consequences of modernity risk and responsibility human safety and risk management ageing, health and productivity: a challenge for the new millennium healthy work for older workers: work design and management factors individual behaviour and the control of danger management and culture: the third age of safety. a review of approaches to organizational aspects of safety, health and environment rr -projection of mesothelioma mortality in great britain industrial accident prevention: a scientific approach resilience: the challenge of the unstable safety i and safety ii: the past and future of safety management lessons from gretley: mindful leadership and the law monitoring new and emerging risks trends in quality of work in the netherlands implementing safety culture in a major multi-national challenges and perspectives of occupational health and safety research in nanotechnologies in nanotechnologies in europe the 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organization, , . world health organization (who) raising awareness of stress at work in developing countries: a modern hazard in a traditional working environment: advice to employers and worker representatives world health organization (who) sedentary behaviours and epithelial ovarian cancer risk key: cord- -l f e authors: buckley, laura; berta, whitney; cleverley, kristin; medeiros, christina; widger, kimberley title: what is known about paediatric nurse burnout: a scoping review date: - - journal: hum resour health doi: . /s - - - sha: doc_id: cord_uid: l f e burnout in healthcare providers has impacts at the level of the individual provider, patient, and organization. while there is a substantial body of literature on burnout in healthcare providers, burnout in pediatric nurses has received less attention. this subpopulation may be unique from adult care nurses because of the specialized nature of providing care to children who are typically seen as a vulnerable population, the high potential for empathetic engagement, and the inherent complexities in the relationships with families. thus, the aim of this scoping review was to investigate, among pediatric nurses, (i) the prevalence and/or degree of burnout, (ii) the factors related to burnout, (iii) the outcomes of burnout, and (iv) the interventions that have been applied to prevent and/or mitigate burnout. this scoping review was performed according to the prisma guidelines scoping review extension. cinahl, embase, medline, psycinfo, assia, and the cochrane library were searched on november to identify relevant quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-method studies on pediatric nurse burnout. our search identified studies for inclusion in the analysis. across the included studies, burnout was prevalent in pediatric nurses. a number of factors were identified as impacting burnout including nurse demographics, work environment, and work attitudes. similarly, a number of outcomes of burnout were identified including nurse retention, nurse well-being, patient safety, and patient-family satisfaction. unfortunately, there was little evidence of effective interventions to address pediatric nurse burnout. given the prevalence and impact of burnout on a variety of important outcomes, it is imperative that nursing schools, nursing management, healthcare organizations, and nursing professional associations work to develop and test the interventions to address key attitudinal and environmental factors that are most relevant to pediatric nurses. burnout has been a widely studied topic of interest over the last years, with significant resources devoted toward investigating its causes, impacts, and strategies for mitigation [ ] . burnout is a work outcome, defined by prolonged occupational stress in an individual that presents as emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and diminished personal accomplishment [ ] . the study of burnout in healthcare professionals is important as it has impacts at the level of the individual provider [ ] [ ] [ ] , the patient [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] , and the organization [ , [ ] [ ] [ ] . as nurses make up the largest group of healthcare professionals, there have been a number of studies that have explored contributing factors [ ] and interventions for their burnout [ ] . pediatric nurses are a lesser-studied population, perhaps due to the relatively small number of pediatric nurses compared to general service nurses and the broader population of healthcare professionals. burnout in pediatric nurses may be unique from adult care nurses because of the specialized nature of providing care to children who are typically seen as a vulnerable population, the high potential for empathetic engagement, and the inherent complexities in the relationships with families [ , ] . only one literature review could be located on the topic of pediatric nurse burnout; it mainly focused on burnout prevalence, which was found to be moderate to high [ ] . further synthesis of the literature in other domains of the topic is needed to explore factors associated with pediatric nurse burnout, the associated outcomes, and interventions. the purpose of this scoping review is to explore what is known about pediatric nurse burnout to guide future research on this highly specialized population and, ultimately, improve both pediatric nurse and patient wellbeing. more specifically, the aim of this scoping review was to investigate, among pediatric nurses, (i) the prevalence and/or degree of burnout, (ii) the factors related to burnout, (iii) the outcomes of burnout, and (iv) the interventions that have been applied to prevent and/or mitigate burnout. this scoping review was performed according to the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (prisma) guidelines scoping review extension [ ] . the protocol was registered on open science framework on march and can be accessed at https://osf.io/ xrkg/. in consultation with an experienced librarian, the following electronic databases were searched on november without limitation to a publication date range in order to maximize inclusion: the cochrane library, cinahl, embase, medline, psycinfo, and assia. all electronic database search strategies used in this review can be found in appendix a. the term "pediatrics" was not part of the electronic database search to avoid inadvertently excluding studies that contained pediatric nurses as a non-primary subject group. the selected articles from the electronic database search were screened for inclusion of the pediatric nurse population. for the purposes of this review, the pediatric patient population is defined as newborn to age as defined by the american academy of pediatrics, acknowledging that this age range may be slightly extended based on the country and patient needs [ ] . all qualitative, quantitative, or mixed-methods studies published in english that examined the prevalence and/ or degree of burnout in pediatric nurses using selfidentification or self-report assessment tools were included. commentaries, letters, and editorials were excluded as these are not peer-reviewed and often referred to colloquial definitions, not the clinical definition of burnout of interest in this scoping review. dissertations were excluded, but their corresponding publications were screened for inclusion. conference abstracts were excluded as they are often inconsistent with their corresponding full reports [ ] . systematic or scoping reviews and meta-synthesis were excluded, but references were hand-screened for suitable studies. all citations retrieved from the databases were uploaded into endnote with duplicates removed as per protocol [ ] . the remaining citations were uploaded into covidence for review by the research team (lb, cm, kw). titles and abstracts were independently reviewed against the selection criteria in a blinded process by two reviewers (lb and cm). the remaining citations were then reviewed as full-text articles for inclusion against the selection criteria in a blinded process by two reviewers (lb and cm). disagreements were resolved by a third reviewer (kw). data were extracted from included articles and entered into a microsoft excel spreadsheet. extraction was performed by one researcher (lb). the following data items were extracted: title, journal, authors, year of publication, country of publication, sample size, study aim, study design, tool used to measure burnout, burnout prevalence and scores, factors that contribute to the development of burnout in pediatric nurses, factors that prevent or mitigate burnout in pediatric nurses, the impact of burnout in pediatric nurses, and interventions for pediatric nurse burnout. a quantitative synthesis specific to the prevalence and degree of burnout was completed based on the included articles that reported raw scores for any of the maslach burnout inventory (mbi) subscales. a mean score was calculated by hand across studies for each subscale, by totaling the raw scores and dividing by the total number of studies that included a raw score for that subscale. the resulting mean was also categorized as low, moderate, or high burnout based on published cutoff scores [ ] . other data were synthesized qualitatively to map current evidence available to address the remaining study aims. aims ii and iii were analyzed using directed content analysis [ ] following the themes outlined by berta et al. [ ] , work environment, work attitudes, and work outcomes. aim iv data was synthesized by grouping together similar interventions and descriptively summarizing the interventions that were effective in reducing burnout. given that the overall purpose of the review was to explore the breadth of what is currently known about burnout in pediatric nurses, a quality assessment of individual studies was not conducted [ ] . through the initial database search, possible papers were identified. after deduplication, titles/ abstracts were screened and articles were assessed for eligibility at the level of full-text screening. after applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, a total of studies [ , were deemed relevant and retained for analysis (fig. ) . the characteristics of included studies are provided in table . publication dates ranged from to , with the majority published between and . the number of pediatric nurses who participated as either a primary or sub-sample ranged from five to . the most common study design was cross-sectional (n = ), with studies using multi-or mixed methods, seven using an interventional design, and one each using case-control, exploratory prospective, and longitudinal designs. only of the studies reviewed used exclusive samples of pediatric nurses; the remaining studies only included pediatric nurses as a subpopulation of a larger sample. the results in this review are reported for pediatric nurse samples and subsamples only. almost half ( %) of the included studies were conducted in the usa, followed by canada (n = ), china (n = ), turkey (n = ), brazil (n = ), taiwan (n = ), australia (n = ), and switzerland (n = ), plus other countries where only a study was conducted. out of the studies included, ( %) used some form (either complete or abbreviated) of the mbi to measure burnout (see table ). although all of the included studies measured burnout using a self-report assessment tool or binary selfidentification, only reported burnout scores for a sample of pediatric nurses ( table ). in total, studies used the mbi, reported on the emotional exhaustion subscale with reporting raw scores [ , , , , , [ ] . the individual scores from the mbi and other measurement tools are reported for each study in table . of the included studies, ( %) addressed factors associated with pediatric nurse burnout (table ) . factors related to pediatric nurse burnout were classified into the following categories: nurse demographics, work the average score on the burnout subscale is , which is higher than the th percentile ranking in this current study (slightly lower than average levels of burnout). environment, work attitudes, work outcomes, and burnout interventions. burnout was found to be inversely associated with age; higher burnout was also associated with low/moderate level of experience ( - years) [ , , , , , , , ] . a lack of university-level education or lower self-reported levels of clinical competency were also associated with higher levels of burnout [ , ] . being in a nursing supervisory position had ambiguous results on impact on burnout; in some studies, holding supervisory positions correlated with higher reports of burnout while in others, the opposite effects were found [ , ] . nurses identifying as not being white or asian/pacific islander ethnicity/race scored significantly lower on the mbi subscale of personal accomplishment than respondents identifying as white and asian/pacific islander, and asian/pacific islanders scored lower on emotional exhaustion than those identifying as white [ ] . high neuroticism and low agreeableness [ ] were both associated with higher burnout. finally, being married had mixed results on impact on burnout, whereas in some studies, being married correlated negatively with burnout, and in others, it correlated positively [ , , ] . the work environment is defined by the conditions in which nurses work; it influences work attitudes and, in turn, work outcomes [ ] . burnout was found to be high in certain high-acuity pediatric units including emergency, medical/surgical, surgery, pediatric intensive care unit (picu), and neonatal intensive care unit (nicu) [ , , , , , ] . davis et al. [ ] found that adult oncology nurses had higher personal accomplishment than pediatric oncology nurses while neumann et al. [ ] found nurses who care for both pediatric and adult patients had lower emotional exhaustion than those who cared for adult patents only. conversely, sun et al. [ ] found that nurses who worked in adult obstetrics and gynecology units had more burnout than nurses who worked in pediatric units; however, ohue et al. [ ] reported the inverse. working in hematology/oncology [ ] and unit-level factors such as workload [ , ] , number of assigned patients [ ] , increased number of admissions, understaffing, and shifts > h were associated with increased burnout [ , , , ] . aytekin et al. [ ] found working longer years in the nicu was associated with lower levels of personal accomplishment. brusch et al. [ ] found that nurses working exclusively day shifts had higher levels of depersonalization than those working night shifts or a mix of days and nights. favrod et al. [ ] found nicu nurses reported more traumatic stressors in their working environment. pediatric nursing workplaces with a strict structure of rules and regulations [ ] or nurse leaders who valued structure over staff considerations [ ] were found to have nurses with higher burnout. nurses who had higher perceived organizational support had lower burnout [ ] . higher burnout was generally associated with systems issues such as unreasonable policies, staffing shortages, insurance frustrations, high volumes of paperwork [ ] , lack of nursing supplies [ ] , and lack of regular staff meetings [ ] . the relationship between resources and facets of burnout was mixed: rochefort and clarke [ ] found a negative relationship between nurses' emotional exhaustion and their rating of the adequacy of the resources available to them, while gallagher and gormley [ ] found that even nurses who reported that higher ee associated with nurses working most frequently in the picu relative to those working most frequently in the nicu, those who found communication with nurses more stressful, and having a lack of necessary nursing supplies lower ee associated with being married or in a domestic partnership relative to respondents who were unmarried and not in a domestic partnership, identifying as asian/pacific islander relative to respondents identifying as white higher dp associated with respondents working day shifts relative to those working the night shift or a mix of day and night shifts, nurses working most frequently in the picu relative to those working most frequently in the nicu, greater endorsement of stress related to communication among nurses, the experience level of colleagues, staffing, and stress associated with the patient population lower dp associated with respondents working in the nicu relative to those working frequently in the picu and respondents who reported being married or in a domestic partnership higher pa reported in individuals identifying as white and individuals identifying as asian/pacific islander relative to individuals identifying as others lower pa found in nurses who found their own lack of knowledge, skills and/or confidence in themselves stressful and respondents identifying as being of another ethnicity/race relative to respondents identifying as white czaja et al. [ ] lack of burnout or ptsd associated with nurses who generally felt more positively about their work environment, with more confidence in their physician and nurse collogues as well as feeling a part of a team davis et al. [ ] higher pa associated with working in adult oncology over pediatric oncology nurses dos santos alves et al. [ ] lower burnout associated with nurses with a perception of having greater autonomy, greater control, good relationships at work, and organizational support, and are more satisfied with the work and the safety climate is assessed as more positive duxbury et al. [ ] higher burnout found in staff nurses who have a head nurse with a leadership style of high structure and low consideration estabrooks et al. [ ] higher ee associated with lower job satisfaction favrod et al. [ ] similar burnout levels in nicu nurses and midwives lower dp associated with elf-compassion at time and time , but not at time higher pa associated with self-compassion at all three time points all subscales of burnout were correlated with job satisfaction at time , but not at time and time lower burnout associated with more years of experience, job satisfaction had a significant positive correlation with stress and burnout only at time holden et al. [ ] higher burnout associated with unit-level staffing, task-level external mental workload, and job dissatisfaction burnout and job dissatisfaction were not significantly associated with the likelihood of medication error klein et al. [ ] nurses rated lack of regular staff meetings, dissatisfaction with the quality of the decision-making process, and providing futile treatment as significantly more stressful than physicians did factors associated with triggering burnout: seeing too many painful procedures done to children, seeing too much sadness, seeing too much death, angry, yelling families, and non-compliant patients/ families systems triggers: unreasonable policies, staffing shortages, insurance frustrations, paperwork, need to justify their position, and general healthcare system dysfunction role-specific triggers: lack of support, feeling you are on your own, less respondents cited unclear expectations, change in role and lack of challenge work overload: excessive demands of work factors associated with coping with burnout: short-term-self-care (exercise, meditation, journaling), fun/humor, non-work relationships; long-term personal coping strategies-developing a personal philosophy and faith and engaging in self-analysis short-term work-related coping strategies: developing supportive and honest professional relationships, need for their work to be congruent with their professional philosophy and interest messmer et al. [ ] higher burnout associated with lower satisfaction and position lower burnout associated with nurses who would recommend their career to others relative to those who would recommend their career with reservation meyer et al. [ ] higher burnout predicated by current stress exposure after controlling for pre-existing stress exposure morrison wylde et al. [ ] lower burnout associated with "acting with awareness" at time mahmood [ ] higher ee associated with lack of access to work information lower ee associated with nurses increased age, length of professional experience, and experience on the support systems were in place and felt supported still were emotionally exhausted. the lack of access to work information and research information was consistently associated with higher levels of burnout [ , ] , and lower burnout was associated with increased communication [ , ] and better work relationships [ ] . factors impacting increased pediatric nurse burnout were related to the role of the nurse in patient care higher pa found in nurses in the pediatrics and outpatient departments relative to those of the nurses in the obstetrics and gynecology departments pagel and wittmann [ ] higher burnout related to higher reporting of the variable "percentage of children on a unit with social of behavioral problems" clarke [ ] lower ee associated with higher ratings of nurse staffing and resource adequacy higher ee associated with greater time on the unit (moderate effect), nurses concern that current standards of care inhibit optimal pain management, negative views of the hospital environment (large effect), barriers to optimal pain management (moderate effect), lower self-efficacy (moderate effect), and moral distress (moderate effect) burnout associated with expressions of exhaustion, frustration, overburden of their workload, and the hopelessness in working with chronically ill pediatric patients, issues about self-efficacy regarding patient outcomes sekol and kim [ ] higher burnout found in those with - years of experience working on the surgical unit lower burnout associated with working on the hematolgy/oncology unit, nursing experience of > years, and all levels of experience if working on the hematolgy/oncology unit activities such as decision-making/uncertainty around treatment [ , , , ] , lack of role clarity, and unclear plan of care [ ] . other factors associated with the development of burnout were related to exposure to suffering, pain, sadness, and death [ ] ; hopelessness [ ] ; providing futile care [ ] ; and overall moral distress [ ] . higher levels of burnout were found in nurses who cared for specific pediatric patient populations such as caring for children with cerebral palsy [ ] , children with cystic fibrosis [ ] , and babies with neonatal abstinence syndrome [ ] . another patient factor related to higher burnout involved behavioral issues from patients/families [ , ] . work attitudes are factors that impact the positive or negative perceptions of one's work environment [ ] . low self-compassion and low mindfulness [ ] were associated with higher burnout. co-occurring conditions with burnout such as depression [ , , ] , anxiety [ ] , and somatic work-related health problems [ ] were correlated with greater burnout whereas positive psychosocial factors and coping strategies such as positive affect [ ] , acting with awareness [ ] , self-care, humor, reflection, non-work relationships, and a personal philosophy related to work were found to be associated with lower burnout [ ] . nurses' perceived work stress was positively associated with burnout in several studies [ , , , , ] . meyer et al. [ ] found that current stress exposure significantly predicted higher levels of burnout after controlling for pre-existing stress exposure, and holden et al. [ ] found that burnout was positively associated with mental workload. oehler and davidson [ ] found table burnout's relationship with other work outcomes in pediatric nurses author(s) number of pediatric nurses alves and guirardello [ ] higher ee associated with the outcome of a worse patient safety climate aytekin et al. [ ] higher burnout associated with the outcome of decreased quality of life in the nurse czaja et al. [ ] higher burnout and ptsd were found in nurses considering a change of career, more frequently screened positive for anxiety and depression, were more likely to respond negatively regarding their team members, teamwork, and impact of their work a large portion of nurses with both burnout and significant ptsd symptoms found their symptoms interfered with their work and personal lives dos santos alves et al. [ ] lower burnout associated with the outcome of positive assessments of the safety climate perceived workload made a significant contribution to feelings of burnout. job satisfaction was also found to be negatively associated with burnout [ , , , , , , ] . work outcomes refer to occupational performance factors that are influenced by work attitudes and the work environment [ ] . nine studies examined work outcomes associated with burnout including nurse retention, nurse well-being, patient safety, and patient-family satisfaction ( table ). an increase in burnout was associated with nurses considering a career change [ ] , decreased quality of life [ ] , tiredness [ ] , and feeling negatively toward their teammates and the impact of their work [ ] . work-associated compassion fatigue [ , ] , secondary traumatic stress [ , ] , and posttraumatic stress disorder (ptsd) [ , , ] were all found to be associated with pediatric nurse burnout. however, li et al. [ ] report that high group cohesion may prevent pediatric nurses from developing burnout from ptsd by protecting nurses from the impacts of negative outcomes. nurse burnout was found to be negatively associated with the safety climate of the hospital in which they work [ , ] and positively associated with higher infection rates when nurses were feeling overworked [ ] . moussa and mahmood [ ] found that as nurses' personal accomplishment increased, so did patients' mothers' satisfaction with meeting their child's care needs in the hospital. seven of the studies included interventions to mitigate burnout (table ) . interventions included coping workshops [ ] , mindfulness activities [ , , ] , workshops to improve knowledge/understanding of their patient population [ , ] , and clinical supervision [ ] . only three of the seven interventions studied provided varying positive impacts on burnout scores [ , , ]. an in-person day-long retreat resulted in a significant improvement in emotional exhaustion for pediatric nurses. the intervention involved didactic and hands-on trauma, adaptive grief, and coping strategies; half of the subjects were also randomized to a booster session months later [ ] . another intervention involved a min interactive module on clinical skills surrounding the management of pediatric pain and resulted in a significant decrease in emotional exhaustion and depersonalization [ ] . finally, the third study of smartphone-delivered mindfulness interventions showed a marginal decrease in burnout compared to nurses receiving traditional mindfulness interventions [ ] . to our knowledge, this is the first scoping review that focuses on what is known about pediatric nurse burnout. burnout was measured with a variety of instruments and interpretations, thereby making score comparisons a challenge. even in those studies that used the mbi, the most commonly used burnout measurement [ ] , variations of the tool were applied, as were diverse subscale cutoff scores. similar challenges in synthesizing extremely heterogeneous burnout data were echoed in a jama review of the prevalence of burnout among different types of physicians [ ] . of the mbi emotional exhaustion and depersonalization subscale results that were synthesized, the results showed moderate scores indicating a significant level of burnout in pediatric nurses. personal accomplishment subscale results were high, perhaps indicating a factor of pediatric nursing that increases resilience despite moderate burnout in other domains. in studies that compared nurses who work in pediatric units to other in-patient units, burnout results were mixed [ , , , , , , , ] . the majority of the included studies identified correlational relationships using cross-sectional study designs, which limited causal inferences. study designs, such as longitudinal approaches, would allow for causal inference and in-depth analysis of this phenomenon in this unique population. pediatric nurse demographic factors that are associated with burnout, such as age, work experience, and level of education, have been a common area of studied burnout associations across other healthcare populations. similar burnout associations were found in research studying healthcare providers caring for adults such as younger age (< years) [ , ] and years of experience (> years) [ ] . it is likely that nurses new to the profession are younger, are experiencing the challenges of the nursing profession for the first time, and are less likely to have well-developed skills for resiliency. given that the start of nurses' careers is a vulnerable stage for burnout, nursing schools and orientation programs may be wellpositioned to highlight burnout prevention and mitigation strategies with students and new hires [ ] . personality traits such as high neuroticism and low agreeableness were found to be associated with pediatric nurse burnout [ ] . these results have been supported in other nurse and physician populations, along with conscientiousness, extraversion, and openness contributing to lower levels of burnout [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] . although personality traits appear to have significant correlations with healthcare provider burnout, targeting modulation of personality traits as a mitigation strategy for burnout may be a high-cost, low-yield strategy. it has been suggested that healthcare provider burnout is not a failure on the part of the individual, rather it is a culmination of impacts stemming from the work environment and the healthcare system as a whole [ ] . responsibility, then, is thought to lie within the individual, the organization, and the profession in general. job demands and resource variables in pediatric nursing lead to increased burnout, work-life interference, psychosomatic complaints, and intent to leave; these associations are also represented in adult nursing literature [ , ] , including associations with excessive workload, number of assigned patients, admissions, understaffing, and longer shifts [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] . although bursch et al. [ ] found that pediatric nurses who worked straight day shifts had higher depersonalization than those who worked mixed shifts or just night shifts, poncet et al. [ ] found that working more night shifts was associated with higher burnout in adult critical care nurses. day shift nurses have potentially more strenuous workloads as patients are more wakeful, have diagnostic tests, or consulting services visiting; however, night shifts could be perceived as more strenuous as it requires the provider to work against their natural circadian rhythm and less support staff are available [ ] . these results may also be dependent on individuals' preference and the specific unit on which they work. systems issues such as overwhelming clerical work, administrative, and resource issues have impacts on provider burnout in both the pediatric nurse and general physician populations [ , , , ] . poor leadership is associated with pediatric nurse burnout as identified by bilial and ahmed [ ] and druxbury et al. [ ] ; this care for the professional caregiver program (cpcp): day-long retreat, includes didactic and discussion-based coverage of vicarious trauma, loss and adaptive coping with grief. practical, group-based practice of coping strategies presented such as guided imagery, relaxation, body movement, and mindful breathing techniques that have been adapted for the workplace. half of the subjects were randomly assigned to a booster session months later. pediatric nurses showed greatest improvement in the group in ee scores month post-intervention and months post-intervention. the results not impacted by receiving booster session or not. gauthier et al. [ ] -min daily mindfulness sessions. conducted on the unit, as a group, facilitated by a mindfulness meditation instructor. mindfulness cds and booklets were distributed after the -month follow-up surveys were completed. ) intervention was found to be feasible for picu nurses. ) ee was negatively correlated with mindfulness at all three time points. ) pa was positively correlated with mindfulness at all three time points. ) dp was not correlated with mindfulness at time but was negatively correlated with mindfulness at times and . hallberg [ ] systematic group clinical supervision was performed every third week for two full hours ( sessions/ h all together. supervision performed by a registered nurse, with advanced training and extensive experience in psychiatric care. the mean score of the tedium degree decreased over the months significantly for mental exhaustion. there were no significant changes in the degree of burnout as measured by the mbi. sdm group reported significantly more "acting with awareness" and marginally more "non-reactivity to inner experience" skills compared to the tdm group. the sdm group showed marginally more compassion satisfaction and marginally less burnout. the sdm group had a lower risk for compassion fatigue compared to the tdm group, but only when the nurses had previous sub-clinical post-traumatic symptoms. richter et al. [ ] nurses helped in the development of intervention materials. intervention package included five, short educational videos created to demonstrate to nursing staff and caregivers' solutions to difficulties in caring for hospitalized children affected by hiv/aids. sessions run every weeks. no changes in nurse well-being were found across the pre/post-intervention phases. post-intervention, patient mothers rated nurses as more supportive; mother-child interaction during feeding was more relaxed and engaged, babies were less socially withdrawn. rodrigues et al. [ ] nursing know-how: skills in working with pediatric chronic pain: -min group session developed from previous knowledge needs assessment (rodrigues et al. ). modules contained education and case-based role play using nurse's real experiences. significant improvements on both indicators of burnout-ee and dp-over the -month period. however, the proportion of nurses with high ee and dp is still high. ee emotional exhaustion, a subscale of the maslach burnout inventory; dp depersonalization, a subscale of the maslach burnout inventory; pa personal accomplishment, a subscale of the maslach burnout inventory; mbi maslach burnout inventory; tdm traditionally delivered mindfulness; sdm smartphonedelivered mindfulness; mbc mindfulness-based course relationship is echoed in research with physicians, nurses, and allied health [ ] . in pediatric nurses [ ] , increased perception of organizational support is associated with lower burnout; this association is supported in general nursing populations [ , ] . in all populations, the support a healthcare provider perceives they get from the organization is predictive of their level of organizational commitment. when healthcare providers perceive that they have high organizational support, they will exhibit greater organizational citizenship behavior, which are extra-role tasks that ultimately improve the organization [ ] . burnout itself results in reduced organizational commitment on the part of the healthcare provider [ ] . the experience of witnessing patient suffering and death [ , ] , uncertainty around plan/utility of care [ , , ] , moral distress [ , ] , and behavioral issues with patient families (e.g., aggressive patients/families) [ , , ] were found to be significant factors that contributed to burnout in both pediatric nurses and general population physicians and nurses. as might be expected, optimism, self-efficiency, resilience, and positive coping strategies are supported as inversely related to burnout in broader nursing populations [ ] [ ] [ ] . the identification and treatment of burnout is particularly important to consider in light of the evidence that burnout is inversely related to job satisfaction and burnout is a contagious phenomenon between nurses; therefore, early intervention is essential to prevent transmission among staff [ ] [ ] [ ] . the association between burnout and patient satisfaction and intent to leave has been reported in non-pediatric nurse populations as well [ , , , [ ] [ ] [ ] . it is likely that as nurses become increasingly burned out their satisfaction with their jobs decreases and their desire to leave their position increases. this linkage highlights the importance of addressing nurse burnout in the organization to retain staff and reduce the financial and tacit knowledge losses associated with high nurse turnover. higher work-related burnout is also associated with mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression in pediatric nurses; this is represented in several studies of other healthcare provider populations [ , [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] . however, the majority of these associations are correlational; thus, they are left open for further assessment if they impact the development of burnout or if burnout impacted their development. further research is needed to confirm causal, directional effects. the relationship of increased clinician burnout and decreased patient safety has been supported in additional studies of healthcare provider burnout [ , ] . as clinician burnout increases, the detachment from patients and their work does too, which may contribute to negative attitudes toward patient safety, incomplete infection control practices, and decreased patient engagement [ , ] . reducing burnout has the potential to impact patient safety; the quadruple aim of healthcare hopes to improve patient outcomes, such as safety, through the addition of clinician well-being as a primary aim in the model [ ] . although only seven of the studies analyzed in this review included interventions, there is modest evidence on the efficacy of burnout interventions in the broader healthcare provider population. similar to the results of hallberg [ ] , a study of swedish district nurses showed no impact of clinical supervision on burnout [ ] . while morrison wylde et al. [ ] found a marginal improvement in pediatric nurse burnout with smartphonebased intervention vs. traditional mindfulness interventions, studies investigating mindfulness interventions in other healthcare populations reported mixed results [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] . similar to pediatric nurses [ ] , social workers showed a significant decrease in burnout after attending skills development courses [ ] suggesting that improving clinical knowledge and skills may reduce burnout. this is supported by the finding that pediatric nurses with lower clinical competency and education level have increased burnout [ , ] . although edmonds et al. [ ] showed significant decreases in pediatric nurse burnout using in-person trauma, adaptive grief, and coping sessions with follow-up, similar sessions have shown mixed results in other healthcare provider populations [ ] [ ] [ ] . more research is needed to identify reliable interventions for pediatric nurse burnout that can be pre-emptively and routinely implemented by nursing schools and healthcare organizations. the search strategy was limited to publications in english; thus, potentially relevant studies in other languages were excluded. gray literature was not included; thus, informal annual surveys conducted at various healthcare institutions may have been missed; however, this was outweighed by the desire to only include peer-reviewed literature to ensure the quality of data reviewed [ ] . third, the definition of "nurses" varies internationally as does their required education and scope of practice; however, the slight variations were outweighed by the need to include thorough, culturally diverse research. finally, the extreme heterogeneity of the burnout measurement tools and their application and interpretation inhibited the comparison of results across studies. our scoping review showed inconsistent measurement and interpretation of pediatric nurse burnout scores. factors associated with pediatric nurse burnout were similar to those found in other healthcare professional groups and can be separated into the domains of nurse personal factors, work environment, work attitudes, and work outcomes. only of the studies reviewed studied exclusive populations of pediatric nurses, and most associations identified were correlational. few interventions to prevent or mitigate pediatric nurse burnout have been undertaken, and the results were mixed, at best. further studies using mixed methods are needed to expand on these results and incorporate the direct feedback of the nurses. additional research is needed to develop and test interventions for pediatric 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healthcare providers can skill-development training alleviate burnout in hospital social workers? soc work health care self-care strategies for nurses: a psycho-educational intervention for stress reduction and the prevention of burnout caring for the caregivers: results of an extended, five-component stress-reduction intervention for hospital staff the effect of a group music intervention for grief resolution on disenfranchised grief of hospice workers shades of grey: guidelines for working with the grey literature in systematic reviews for management and organizational studies publisher's note springer nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations the authors would like to acknowledge librarian mikaela gray for her assistance with the search strategy development. kristin cleverley was supported by the camh chair in mental health nursing research while writing this article. authors' contributions lb was involved in the study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, and drafting and finalizing the manuscript. wb and kc were involved in data interpretation and substantively revised the manuscript for important intellectual content. cm was involved in the data collection (title, abstract, and full-text screening) and substantively revised the manuscript for important intellectual content. kw was involved in the study design, data interpretation, and substantively revised the manuscript for important intellectual content. all authors read and approved the final manuscript and agree both to be personally accountable for their own contributions and to ensure that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated, resolved, and the resolution documented in the literature. none of the authors have any competing interests as outlined by biomed central. this paper is part of the doctoral work of the primary author who is funded by the lawrence s. bloomberg faculty of nursing, university of toronto. the complete list of articles used as data in this review is available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.ethics approval and consent to participate not applicable. not applicable. the authors declare that they have no competing interests. key: cord- -mjydf k authors: nan title: resumption of work in the building and public works sector date: - - journal: bull acad natl med doi: . /j.banm. . . sha: doc_id: cord_uid: mjydf k nan in the delicate phase of leaving the containment, the q resumption of work is a necessity, when the risk of covid- remains a reality. the professional organization for prevention in building and public works (oppbtp) has published a guide of recommendations [ ] which has received the approval of the ministries of labour, solidarity and health, urban affairs and housing, and ecological and solidarity transition. although this guide provides reassuring elements if it is applied, risk factors persist, particularly extraprofessional ones. concerned about this situation, the national academy of medicine recommends that workers without risk factors return to work first, before more vulnerable workers. people who show symptoms, or who have been exposed to the contamination in the previous days should be confined. the decision to return to work should be taken after supplying an individual questionnaire, supplemented by a telephone interview with the company's managers and the occupational physician. in the current state of availability of diagnostic kits and their analytical performance, the routine practice of rt-pcr for the detection of sars cov- in the upper airways and the detection of igm/igg antibodies by serological tests are not recommended. the national academy of medicine recalls that the reinforcement of barrier measures in institutions is indispensable when returning to work: • establish safety distances of at least meters between two people, reducible to metre to cross each other, but without stopping or discussing; • restrict physical presence and maintain teleworking or using telecommunications means; • occupy each workspace by a single employee, unless it is necessary to move heavy loads, for a limited time; • respect the distance between employees in company vehicles; • systematically wear splash-proof masks; • make available to employees all facilities for hand washing or the use of hydro-alcoholic gel; • have any worker presenting signs suggestive of covid- infection tested without delay and organize his immediate return home; • regularly clean the workstation with a virucidal product complying with standard en ; • reinforce the cleaning of common areas and objects handled by several people with a virucidal product; • strictly enforce the ban on drinking, eating or smoking in the workplace; • use work clothes different from those worn on the way to and from work; • comply with barrier measures (distance and wearing of masks) in public transport. it is up to each company to assess its ability to implement these preventive measures and to take the necessary measures to ensure the safety of its employees without delay. the author declares that he has no competing interest. guide de préconisations de sécurité sanitaire pour la continuité des activités de la construction-covid- ouvrages -ref key: cord- -u l jv authors: bao, yinyin; bossion, amaury; brambilla, davide; buriak, jillian m.; cai, kang; chen, long; cooley, joya a.; correa-baena, juan-pablo; dagdelen, john m.; fenniri, miriam z.; horton, matthew k.; joshi, hrishikesh; khau, brian v.; kupgan, grit; la pierre, henry s.; rao, chengcheng; rosales, adrianne m.; wang, dong; yan, qifan title: snapshots of life—early career materials scientists managing in the midst of a pandemic date: - - journal: chem mater doi: . /acs.chemmater. c sha: doc_id: cord_uid: u l jv nan ■ yinyin bao, group leader, institute of pharmaceutical sciences, eth zürich i never expected that a simple assembly of certain macromolecules could have such a huge worldwide impact on human life, which is what we as polymer scientists endeavor to achieve but cannot. ironically, the coronavirus succeeded in making it happen. working in the second most densely infected country, as a father of two little kids and a junior group leader, i would not say that lockdown life is easy. with our lab closed, i can only focus on the papers, reports and other writing work, and communications with students can only be done online. what is more complicated is that i have to shift my working time mainly to the night, so that i can have "bulk time" to concentrate on one thing. although with less productivity, fortunately i have more time to teach my daughter mathematics, read story books for my son, make handicrafts with them, and have other fun. this greatly eases my anxiety due to the suspended research, which makes my lockdown life better than expected. during the spread of coronavirus, another thing i did not expect was the huge difference between east and west regarding people's reactions. a typical example is the big debate on whether uninfected people should wear masks. since the outbreak of sars in , chinese and other asians have become very sensitive to unknown viruses, and wearing masks has been considered as an effective method to prevent the spread. however, this is treated as a sign of sickness and overreaction for most europeans, and is thus not socially acceptable. three weeks ago, when i wore my first mask just before the lockdown of eth, i only saw asian people wearing masks in switzerland. surprisingly, along with the situation of covid getting worse, i start to see europeans wearing masks in the stores and on the street. i even read the news that austrians are required to wear masks in supermarkets. it is interesting to see this transformation due to the reconciliation between eastern and western culture, and i will continuously follow this trend during this special period. ■ amaury bossion, post-doctoral while the new coronavirus pandemic is dominating headlines worldwide and the french president, mr. emmanuel macron, just extended the stay-at-home order, here are my thoughts on the surreal atmosphere. as a young postdoctoral scientist, i must admit it is quite harsh not only sacrificing laboratory time but also socializing only remotely. it is even more frustrating when this crisis put an instantaneous halt to promising ongoing experiments. this bizarre and heavy atmosphere is even more present in that i became, partly against my will, a troglodyte in my small parisian apartment. while lots of my friends and colleagues returned home to spend more time with their families at the beginning of the crisis, a mixture of logic and reflection advised me to stay home for the greater good, despite my family's call to come back. although, being organized and rigorous, covid- is putting a strain on me mentally as remaining focused upon writing ongoing articles and reviews all day is really demanding with all the other distractions surrounding me. physically, it has considerably reduced my daily physical activity to the point where the most exercise i get is the few walking steps needed to move around my flat. although, i sincerely hope this horrific time will end soon, and we will learn lessons for future preparedness, i definitely believe that we can take advantage of it to grow mentally and learn new things. ■ davide brambilla, assistant professor, facultéde pharmacie, universitéde montreÁl as a son of a health professional in the red zone in italy, i was rapidly aware of the seriousness of the infection. nonetheless, the pandemic materialized as a storm when, from one day to the other, we had to shut down the laboratory and stop all nonessential experiments. after the initial phase of disorientation, the first work-related thoughts went to the teaching, the graduate students and their projects. while for undergraduate classes the universitéde montreál rapidly reacted and provided support to generate online classes, for the research, the initial stress slowly converted in the recognition that this could be a great opportunity to review and better plan our projects. now, after a month of the home-office, i feel that this forced shutdown brought me out of a working routine, and made me appreciate even more the importance of our profession. scientific research is the only actual weapon we have to fight this infection and to prevent or give a rapid response to future ones. deeply, i hope this pandemic will teach us all something, and that the opinions of scientists will receive higher consideration by the society and the decisionmaking institutions. ■ kang cai, post-doctoral fellow, department of chemistry, northwestern university i am experiencing my second "stay-at-home" period in the us now. i am a postdoctoral researcher at northwestern university in the us. three months ago, i went back to china to attend an academic forum, and then stayed at my hometown in hunan province to spend chinese spring festival with my family. on jan. , the covid- outbreak happened, and i experienced my first "stay-at-home" period. my return flight to the us was on january st, which turned out to be united airline's last flight from china to the us. after a two-week self-quarantine, i worked hard in the lab and tried to get as many results as possible, since i realized that universities in the us could also be shut down in the near future, which happened one month later. now, i have been staying in my apartment for three weeks i work on manuscripts, read papers, think about proposals, do "reactions" in the kitchen, and watch tv. the group meeting is held every week via zoom video, which is good, because it becomes the only "social activity" every week. currently i have plenty of work to do, which makes the "stay-at-home" days not that boring. but if the days continue for another one-to-two months, or even longer, which seems very likely to happen, i am not sure whether i will become anxious or not. it is a tough year for all of us. i am supposed to be on the job market this year, but now the situation has changed a lot. the future is full of uncertainty. ■ long chen, professor, department of chemistry, tianjin university during the locked-down period in our city since february, although the laboratories are still closed and all the students keep staying in their hometown, we all have great confidence that our country, and the entire world, can win this covid- pandemic crisis. we keep in touch with our group members via wechat, and also continue to hold the group meetings online, with a focus on literature reports. although from the early times of this pandemic we were not allowed to enter the office in the campus, all the online resources of the university can be conveniently accessed via a vpn connection. it is also an opportunity for the principal investigator and graduate students to analyze and summarize their research work. we recently managed to finish an invited review contribution and several manuscripts. with the situation improving and becoming better and better in china, some universities have already announced their gradual reopening time schedule. it is my hope that humanity pulls together and builds a future in which we are united to fight together against this virus and bring about the fastest possible victory. ■ joya cooley, post-doctoral fellow, materials research laboratory, university of california santa barbara i've read plenty that says that a routine is the most helpful for maintaining overall sanity. i've been keeping a routine, but have found that keeping a flexible routine with some goals works better for me. some of those goals include: sit down at my desk and get some writing done, read some literature, do yoga, make meals, check on my parents. i find that variation in my routine helps with maintaining sanityif i stray from a rigid routine, i start to create more inner turmoil when i cannot keep up. however, if i just try to set some daily/weekly goals, i can tackle them based on how i'm feeling that particular day. try to practice yoga at least times a week; some days it happens in the morning, some days in the evening, some days not at all. write for at least one hour a day; some days that happens all at once, some days it is broken up into shorter sessions. i feel i'm in a precarious position as i'm wrapping up my postdoctoral work and gearing up to begin my independent career, but all i can do for now is take it one day at a time. our laboratories closed unofficially on march th, , as i worried about the health of my students and postdocs. it coincided with spring break and some students were traveling abroad to see their families. i was hesitant to advise them on travel and the institute had not officially closed, making it difficult to issue strong recommendations. georgia tech officially closed all nonessential activities one week later. the weeks after were tough, as students got stranded abroad and experiments were not finished to the extent we wanted. our laboratories only opened in october , and we spent the past months ramping up. it took one day to ramp everything down. nonetheless, this has presented itself as an opportunity to come up with strong experimental plans, revisit the literature, and compile and analyze data that will be going into future manuscripts. the week of april , , finally started feeling normal and we are trying to make the most of it. i have a plan for each of my students and postdocs for the next two months, after that, i will have to reevaluate! will we turn into a computational group? we will see! as for teaching, transitioning to online format for this millennial (me) was easy and my students adapted quite wellthey ask more questions than ever. we are a team at lawrence berkeley national laboratory working with colleagues from the biomedical research community to make text mining and search tools specifically tailored to covid- research with the goal of helping to accelerate our colleagues' research. our team is made up of a number of graduate student researchers and postdocs from lbnl and uc berkeley who specialize in natural language processing methods for analyzing materials science literature, but we were approached about a month ago by colleagues from the innovative genomics institute about applying some of our techniques to the covid- literature. since then, we have been working around the clock to build covidscholar.org, a knowledge portal designed to help researchers stay on top of the covid- literature. to our knowledge, our database is the most comprehensive and current source for covid- papers available today with more than , papers and we are expanding to include patents and clinical trials in the near future. our site also includes features that leverage machine learning models that extract knowledge from the literature and help researchers make new connections that they might have missed due to the sheer volume of research coming out every day (we are seeing more than papers published on covid- daily.) this project has been extremely motivating for everyone on the team and we have been able to make rapid progress as a result. ■ miriam fenniri, undergraduate student, university of british columbia i am a soon-to-be fourth (senior) year undergraduate student at the university of british columbia (ubc). i was fortunate enough to spend last summer in an organic chemistry lab at universitélaval, where i was working on the synthesis of low band gap conducting polymers in the laboratory of prof. mario leclerc. this summer, i was planning on staying on ubc campus doing research and continuing my work as a teaching assistant until covid- got in the way. not only is the course that i was going to assist with canceled, but the research center where i was going to spend these next and a half months is closed until further notice. i am still living on-campus. many of my colleagues and classmates have returned homesome are still here either by choice or because of travel restrictions. classes were moved online on march th, and shortly thereafter, laboratories closed and research was halted. the transition to online learning has been smooth, however i never expected to have to write a midterm, much less three midterms, in my living room. at least i am now prepared to do the same regarding my final exams. to combat loneliness (and boredom), my family has been hosting weekly video-chats and strangely enough, i look forward to them! ■ matthew horton, materials project staff, lawrence berkeley national lab i work in computational materials science, a field for which i'm enormously grateful that myself and my colleagues can continue to make contributions to remotely. however, this can only happen because of people out there who are still performing the necessary maintenance and support for the high-performance computers and servers that we use. for myself, these are the people who are still keeping the facilities at the national energy research scientific computing center (nersc) running smoothly here in berkeley, but i know that my colleagues greatly appreciate similar efforts all across the world. it is important we recognize all of these people, and the personal risk they're taking on, as well as everyone working to keep laboratories in a safe and stable condition. beyond computation, much of my job is working to share the data we generate online at the materials project so that it is accessible to as broad a group of people as possible, and part of that is working to try to build a community. i have many open questions for how best to do this, but it is feeling necessary now more than ever that we better understand what steps we can take to make our community stronger and more inclusive. for my part, i'm enjoying talking to scientists on an online materials science discussion forum we recently launched, as well as help welcome in new developers to make contributions to the open-source codes we work on. as this situation evolves we can challenge ourselves to become more inventive in finding ways to connect and collaborate together, and carry these lessons forward. ■ hrishikesh joshi, graduate student, i have been living in germany for . yrs, pursuing a doctorate in chemistry. presently, i am preparing for a big day in my career, my ph.d. defense, "remotely." if i had to describe my current state in one word, it would be "uncertain" on all accounts. will the internet hold up during the defense? will my online presentation be good enough? will i find a job after my defense? the global economy is headed toward a recession, and most companies are downsizing. being an international candidate, it will be more challenging to find a job now than before. on the one hand, i am thrilled as i get to at least defend my ph.d. on the other hand, i am disappointed as i miss out on the opportunity to share this day with people. working remotely has made me appreciate personal interactions even more. every thursday, i am very excited as i get to go to the lab (reduced-workforce regulations) and feel a bit normal again. nevertheless, these times have also been productive as i am working on overdue programming projects and experimenting a lot with cooking. i feel these times are uncertain and disappointing but opportunistic in some ways. the enactment of unfamiliar public health measures and the rapid breakdown of our status quo are two major emotional stressors associated with the ongoing covid- pandemic. as an early career scientist, it is easy to fall into the rut of futility that comes with leaving experiments half-finished with looming deadlines. instead of focusing on events outside of my control, i found it more productive to reframe the current situation as a unique opportunity to work on myself, whether it be through reading up on current literature or investing more time into hobbies. in the past month, i've invested more time to properly care for my existing houseplants, repurposing a garment rack to create a diy grow light setup. if you are in need of a hobby, i recommend cultivating common, inexpensive vining plants such as pothos or philodendron! both plants display rapid growth and thrive even when you occasionally forget to water them, and with enough care and time they will grow into respectable, climbing foliage. houseplants are also inspiring metaphors for how we should live our lives; by constantly reaching for the sky while taking care of our essential needs, we can succeed and flourish in the face of unexpected change. ■ grit kupgan, postdoctoral researcher, as a member of a theoretical/computational group, i feel grateful that our research does not have to come to a halt. i cannot imagine the frustrations of researchers who have to delay their work as laboratories become inaccessible. for me, the transition from working in the lab to working from home has been a smooth one. at the beginning of march, our advisor requested a meeting to develop a contingency plan. as expected, the plan was invoked within a week due to the worsening pandemic. because of this preparation, everyone in the group was ready. our data were backed up, and some of us even took our workstations home. indeed, working from home has several advantages. i get to spend more time with my family who lives in a different state, and eliminate daily commutes. to keep the research momentum going, our group holds the research meetings twice a week online. additionally, i try to maintain my usual routines, such as work hours and breaks, and attend online seminars whenever possible. unfortunately, in my opinion, working from home reduces the sense of camaraderie slightly. in the lab, we can have research discussions, ask questions, get suggestions, and share personal stories and thoughts about politics (domestic and international) with our colleagues daily, which is always a pleasure. ■ henry s. la pierre, assistant professor, my professional and personal life move on different frequencies. my research group is in a rush to publish and to meet grant deadlines. even with the closure of laboratories and the cancellation of a busy travel schedule, leaving synchrotron and magnet lab experiments indefinitely suspended, our scientific progress is still planned on the order of days. while i am building plans for my students to safely return to the lab, these may very well not be implemented: there is no justification to rush back without effective and organized testing. as my wife, daughter, and i prepare for the arrival of her baby brother in july, i am acutely aware that the changes and dangers of this new world will not abate soon. it is exhausting simultaneously meeting the demands of the moment and mitigating the risks of a nebulous "return." these risks are particularly worrisome in the vacuum of federal and state leadership. as we rebuild our institutions, scientists, engineers, and academics must demand the integration of our technical and organizational expertise to the structure and function of our governments. one bright spot in this debacle has been the competent and measured response of scientific leadership across disciplines and institutions. ■ chengcheng rao, graduate student, with respect to my own research, my ongoing experiments needed to be postponed, accompanied by a shift of focus to literature, writing, and paperwork. i had been wondering if it would become possible to execute my experiments automatically and/or remotely? currently, the answer is no, but i cannot help but observe that with the growth of ai and breakthroughs underpinned by intelligent robots, some experiments will be doable by machines with fewer hands-inthe-lab. it is an eye-opening moment to think about how to bridge and transfer this advanced technology to my research as well. for interpersonal communication, our group meetings have moved online to keep social distancing and self-isolation, which is a new format for me. hence, we need some time to get familiar with this new communication method/software as face-to-face communication is more productive. all graduate courses are all online as well, for graduate students who need to take courses, and this is a challenge. meanwhile, so much information is shared by email, and it sure feels like we are receiving literally tons of emails every dayit is very hard to follow every email as some have too much/little information, and some are duplicated or even conflicting. it is another challenge to obtain useful information effectively through the information explosion. for my graduation, as i approach the end of my ph.d., my defense was expected at the end of the summer of . will i have an online defense, and a virtual graduation convocation? i hope not. hence, i am always thinking about when the coronavirus outbreak will come to an end. wuhan's shutdown was lifted on april , and it shows that the epidemic will be brought under control if effective controls are taken. but will it manifest itself as a second wave? this is the part i am most worried about. after thinking about all aspects, it is necessary to create and maintain a routine during this ever-changing time. do some work on paper or computer, avoid going out unnecessarily, and be sure to get some exercise to strengthen immunitythese are the things that i am doing. although the temperature is still below zero celsius in edmonton, i do believe spring is on its way. ■ adrianne rosales, assistant professor, almost exactly one year ago, i was working from home for a different reason: the birth of my daughter. while i was over the moon to be a new mother, there was a part of me that struggled with the anxiety of staying productive. my research group was only two years old, and i had watched others continue to submit grants, write papers, and advise students soon after the births of their children. whether that productivity was real or not, i held myself to an impossibly high standard on very little sleep. when covid- began to spread, i was acutely aware of the implications of shutting down my lab space and working from home again, not even one year later. nap time only goes so far, and my group was d still mostly firstand second-year graduate students. things were finally starting to work! ultimately, it was clear that much larger consequences were at hand and that many would suffer. while it was still voluntary, i decided to pause our lab activity. our university mandate came the following week, but in the meantime, it felt like a decision i made every day. and although i still hold high expectations for my group, we have worked together to make sure those expectations are also realistic. this will not be the last challenge my lab faces, and i hope that in addition to research productivity, i am training my lab on leadership and resiliency. the covid- pandemic is now well under control in china as of recent. most of our regular daily life has recovered, although the institute is only open to permanent staff. the "good" thing is i have much more time to concentrate on researchi reviewed several papers during this time, probably more than i usually do, and i feel that i have read each manuscript more carefully than before. senior graduate students have not yet come back from home, which will certainly have a big impact on the progress of their thesis and the production of the group as a whole. as a group of experimental chemistry, we urgently await, with great anticipation, the start of normal experiments and research. social media on the web have played an important role during this special period. i taught a course to first-year graduate students online, in spite of having no experience with respect to online teaching, and with relief i can say finally that it went well. many conferences have been canceled or postponed to next year, but on the other hand, online conferences became increasingly popular. i have already received several invitations for online ph.d. defenses, which is critical for our young people to progress. web-based conferences can significantly save time, and may become more and more popular even after the pandemic. i am confident that the pandemic will be under control worldwide, probably starting around the summer. however, the impact of the pandemic on the economy already shows, and i hope that it will not affect the funding situation in the future. during this winter vacation, i went to wuhan to visit my family on th of january, one week before the lockdown of the city caused by the covid- outbreak. i stayed at my parents' home with my family for more than two months, wondering about the fates of my entire family. the virus infected several of my relatives, four of whom were hospitalized. luckily, they all recovered, except my -year-old grandfather. during the most dire of days, like the people of wuhan, i could not sleep in the night and was looking for the slightest hope in the news, while planning to limit exposure of uninfected family members. with strong backup from the chinese people, especially medical personnel, wuhan survived and reopened on th of april. i returned to shanghai by flight on the first day wuhan reopened, and was greeted by media instead of medical teams upon arrival. during the city lockdown, a journal article authored by a student of mine and me was submitted in spite of difficulties caused by a lagging internet connection. after peer-review, a reviewer raised stability issues, which required further experimental data. luckily, my collaborators were able to provide relevant results. i sincerely cannot anticipate the outcome, had i wrote to the editor explaining that we could not provide any further experimental data in the near future due to the coronavirus outbreak, or if i were to ask for an unlimited extension of time to revise. as of now, we still do not have a schedule to reopen the laboratories. i am still waiting for another days upon arrival in shanghai before the university can clear me to return to campus. almost all my group members were in their respective hometowns, longing for a notice to return to shanghai, especially the ones who are graduating this year. online meetings were possible but were difficult due to slow internet connections. i have individual discussions regarding literature with each one of them, hoping they are coping well with the current situation. chemistry of materials we wish the best to all of our authors, readers, and reviewers. we are in this together, and we look forward to another set of snapshots in a month amaury bossion orcid grit kupgan orcid key: cord- -ppu idl authors: russo, daniel; hanel, paul h. p.; altnickel, seraphina; berkel, niels van title: predictors of well-being and productivity among software professionals during the covid- pandemic -- a longitudinal study date: - - journal: nan doi: nan sha: doc_id: cord_uid: ppu idl the covid- pandemic has forced governments worldwide to impose movement restrictions on their citizens. although critical to reducing the virus' reproduction rate, these restrictions come with far-reaching social and economic consequences. in this paper, we investigate the impact of these restrictions on an individual level among software engineers currently working from home. although software professionals are accustomed to working with digital tools, but not all of them remotely, in their day-to-day work, the abrupt and enforced work-from-home context has resulted in an unprecedented scenario for the software engineering community. in a two-wave longitudinal study ($n~=~ $), we covered over psychological, social, situational, and physiological factors that have previously been associated with well-being or productivity. examples include anxiety, distractions, psychological and physical needs, office set-up, stress, and work motivation. this design allowed us to identify those variables that explain unique variance in well-being and productivity. results include ( ) the quality of social contacts predicted positively, and stress predicted an individual's well-being negatively when controlling for other variables consistently across both waves; ( ) boredom and distractions predicted productivity negatively; ( ) productivity was less strongly associated with all predictor variables at time two compared to time one, suggesting that software engineers adapted to the lockdown situation over time; and ( ) the longitudinal study did not provide evidence that any predictor variable causal explained variance in well-being and productivity. our study can assess the effectiveness of current work-from-home and general well-being and productivity support guidelines and provide tailored insights for software professionals. the mobility restrictions imposed on billions of people during the covid- pandemic in the first half of successfully decreased the reproduction rate of the virus [ , ] . however, quarantine and isolation also come with tremendous costs on people's well-being [ ] and productivity [ ] . for example, the psychosocial consequences of covid- mitigation strategies have resulted in an estimated average loss of . years of life [ ] . while prior research [ ] has identified numerous factors either positively or negatively associated with people's well-being during disastrous events, most of this research was cross-sectional and included a limited set of predictors. further, whether productivity is affected by disastrous events and, if so, why precisely, has not yet been investigated in a peer-reviewed article to the best of our knowledge. this is especially relevant since many companies, including tech companies, have instructed their employees to work from home [ ] at an unprecedented scope. thus, it is unclear whether previous research on remote work [ ] still holds during a global pandemic while schools are closed, and professionals often have to work in non-work dedicated areas of their homes. it is particularly interesting to study the effect of quarantine on software engineers as they are often already experienced in working remotely, which might help mitigate the adverse effects of the lockdown on their well-being and productivity. therefore, there is a compelling need for longitudinal applied research that draws on theories and findings from various scientific fields to identify variables that uniquely predict the well-being and productivity of software professionals during the quarantine, for both the current and potential future lockdowns. the software engineering community has never before faced such a wide-scale lockdown and quarantine scenario during the global spread of the covid- virus. as a result, we can not build on pre-existing literature to provide tailored recommendations for software professionals. accordingly, in the present research, we integrate theories from the organizational [ ] and psychological [ , ] literature, as well as findings from research on remote work [ , , ] and recommendations by health [ , ] and work [ ] authorities targeted at the general population. this longitudinal investigation provides the following contributions: -first, by including a range of variables relevant to well-being and productivity, we are able to identify those variables that are uniquely associated with these two dependent variables for software professionals and thus help improve guidelines and tailor recommendations. -second, a longitudinal design allows us to explore which variables predict (rather than are predicted by) well-being and productivity of software professionals. -third, the current mobility restrictions imposed on billions of people provide a unique opportunity to study the effects of working remotely on people's well-being and productivity. our results are relevant to the software community because the number of knowledge workers who are at least partly working remotely is increasing [ ] , yet the impact of working remotely on people's health and productivity is not well understood yet [ ] . we focus on well-being and productivity as dependent variables because both are crucial for our way of living. well-being is a fundamental human right, according to the universal declaration of human rights, and productivity allows us to maintain a certain standard of living and thus also affects our overall well-being. thus, our research question is: research question: what are relevant predictors of well-being and productivity for software engineers who are working remotely during a pandemic? in the remainder of this paper, we describe the related work about wellbeing in quarantine and productivity in remote work in section , followed by a discussion about the research design of this longitudinal study in section . the analysis is described in section , and results discussed in section . implications and recommendations for software engineers, companies, and any remote-work interested parties is then outlined in section . finally, we conclude this study by outlying future research directions in section . to slow down the spread of pandemics, it is often necessary to quarantine a large number of people [ , ] and enforce social distancing to limit the spread of the infection [ ] . this typically implies that only people working in essential professions such as healthcare, police, pharmacies, or food chains, such as supermarkets, are allowed to leave their homes for work. if possible, people are asked to work remotely from home. however, such measures are perceived as drastic and can have severe consequences on people's well-being [ , ] . previous research has found that being quarantined can lead to anger, depression, emotional exhaustion, fear of infecting others or getting infected, insomnia, irritability, loneliness, low mood, post-traumatic stress disorders, and stress [ , , , , , ] . the fear of getting infected and infecting others, in turn, can become a substantial psychological burden [ , ] . also, a lack of necessary supplies such as food or water [ ] and insufficient information from public health authorities adds on to increased stress levels [ ] . the severity of the symptoms correlated positively with the duration of being quarantined and symptoms can still appear years after quarantine has ended [ ] . this makes it essential to understand what differentiates those whose mental health is more negatively affected by being quarantined from those who are less strongly affected. however, a recent review found that no demographic variable was conclusive in predicting whether someone would develop psychological issues while being quarantined [ ] . moreover, prior studies investigating such predictors focused solely on demographic factors (e.g., age or number of children [ , ] ). this suggests that additional research is needed to identify psychological and demographic predictors of well-being. for example, prior research suggested that a lack of autonomy, which is an innate psychology need [ ] , negatively affects people's well-being and motivation [ ] , yet evidence to support this claim in the context of a quarantine is missing. to ease the intense pressure on people while being quarantined or in isolation, research and guidelines from health authorities provide a range of solutions on how an individual's well-being can be improved. some of these factors lie outside of the control for individuals, such as the duration of the quarantine, or the information provided by public authorities [ ] . in this study, we therefor focus on those factors that are within the control of individuals. however, investigating such factors independently might make little sense since they are interlinked. for example, studying the relations between anxiety and stress with well-being in isolation is less informative, as both anxiety and stress are negatively associated with well-being [ , ] . however, knowing which of the two has a more substantial impact on people's well-being above and beyond the other is crucial, as it allows inter alia policymakers, employers, and mental health support organizations to provide more targeted information, create programs that are aimed to reduce people's anxiety or stress levels, and improve people's well-being, since anxiety and stress are conceptually independent constructs. thus, it is essential to study these variables together rather than separately. the containment measures not only come at a cost for people's well-being but they also negatively impact their productivity. for example, the international monetary fund (imf) estimated in june that the world gdp would drop by . % as a result of the containment measures taken to reduce the spread of covid- -with countries particularly hit by the virus, such as italy, would experience a drop of over % [ ] . this expected drop in gdp would be significantly larger if many people were unable to work remotely from home. however, previous research on the impact of quarantine typically focused on people's mental and physiological health, thus providing little evidence on the effect on productivity of those who are still working. luckily, the literature on remote work, also known as telework, allows us to get a broad understanding of the factors that improve and hinder people's productivity during quarantine. the number of people working remotely has been growing in most countries already before the covid- pandemic [ , ] . of those working remotely, % do so for all of their working time. the vast majority of remote workers, % would recommend others to do the same [ ] , suggesting that the advantages of remote work outweigh the disadvantages. the majority of people who work remotely do so from the location of their home [ ] . working remotely has been associated with a better work-life balance, increased creativity, positive affect, higher productivity, reduced stress, and fewer carbon emissions because remote workers commute less [ , , , , , , ] . however, working remotely also comes with its challenges. for example, challenges faced by remote workers include collaboration and communication (named by % of , surveyed remote workers), loneliness ( %), not being able to unplug after work ( %), distractions at home ( %), and staying motivated ( %) [ ] . while these findings are informative, it is unclear whether they can be generalized. for instance, if mainly those with a long commute or those who feel comfortable working from home might prefer to work remotely, it would not be possible to generalize to the general working population. a pandemic such as the one caused by covid- in forces many people to work remotely from home. being in a frameless and previously unknown work situation without preparation intensifies common difficulties in remote work. adapting to the new environment itself and dealing with additional challenges adds on to the difficulties already previously identified and experienced by remote workers, and could intensify an individual's stress and anxiety and negatively affect their working ability. the advantages of remote work might, therefore, be reduced or even omitted. substantial research is needed to understand further what enables people to work effectively from home while being quarantined [ ] . the current situation shows how important research in this field is already. forecasts indicate that remote work will grow on an even larger scale than it did over the past years [ , ], therefore research results on predictors of productivity while working remotely will increase in importance. some guidelines have been developed to improve people's productivity, such as the guidelines proposed by the chartered institute of personnel and development, an association of human resource management experts [ ] . examples include designating a specific work area, wearing working clothes, asking for support when needed, and taking breaks. however, while potentially intuitive, empirical support for those particular recommendations is still missing. adding to the complexity, the measurement of productivity, especially in software engineering, is a debated issue, with some authors suggesting not to consider it at all [ ] . nevertheless, individual developer's productivity has a long investigation tradition [ ] . prior work on developer productivity primarily focused on developing software tools to improve professionals' productivity [ ] or identifying the most relevant predictors, such as task-specific measurements and years of experience [ ] . similarly, understanding relevant skillsets of developers that are relevant for productivity has also been a typical line of research [ ] . eventually, as la toza et al. pointed out, measuring productivity in software engineering is not just about using tools; instead, it is about how they are used and what is measured [ ] . in the present research, we build on the literature discussed above to identify predictors of well-being and productivity. additionally, we also include variables that were identified as relevant by other lines of research. furthermore, we chose a different setting, sampling strategy, and research design than most of the prior literature. this is important for several reasons. first, many previous studies included only one or a few variables, thus masking whether other variables primarily drive the identified effects. for example, while boredom is negatively associated with well-being [ ] , it might be that this effect is mainly driven by loneliness, as lonely people report higher levels of boredom [ ] -or vice versa. only by including a range of relevant variables, it is possible to identify the primary variables, which can subsequently be used to write or update guidelines to maintain one's well-being and productivity while working from home. second, this approach simultaneously allows us to test whether models developed in an organizational context such as the two-factor theory [ ] can also predict people's well-being in general and whether variables that were associated with well-being for people being quarantined also explain productivity. third, while previous research on the (psychological) impact of being quarantined [ ] is relevant, it is unclear whether this research is generalizable and applicable to the covid- pandemic. in contrast to previous pandemics, during which only some people were quarantined or isolated, the covid- pandemic strongly impacted billions globally. for example, previous research found that people who were quarantined were stigmatized, shunned, and rejected [ ] ; this is unlikely to repeat as the majority of people are now quarantined. fourth, research suggests [ ] that pandemics become increasingly likely due to a range of factors (e.g., climate change, human population growth) which make it more likely that pathogens such as viruses are transmitted to humans. this implies that it would be beneficial to prepare ourselves for future pandemics that involve lockdowns. fifth, the trend to remote work has been accelerated through the covid- pandemic [ ] , which makes it timely to investigate which factors predict well-being and productivity while working from home. the possibility to study this under extreme conditions (i.e., during quarantine), is especially interesting as it allows us to include more potential stressors and distractors of productivity. this is critical. as outlined above, previous research on the advantages and challenges of remote work can presumably not be generalized to the population because mainly people from certain professions and specific living and working conditions might have chosen to work remotely. sixth and finally, a longitudinal design allowed us to test for causal inferences. specifically, in wave , we identified variables that explain unique variance in well-being and productivity, which we measured again in waves . this is important because it is possible that, for example, the amount of physical activity predicts well-being or that well-being predicts physical activity. additionally, we are able to test whether well-being predicts productivity or vice versa -previous research found that they are interrelated [ , ] . the variables we are planning to measure in the present longitudinal study are displayed in figure . to facilitate its interpretation, we categorized the variables in four broad sets of predictors, which are partly overlapping. we include all variables related to people's well-being and productivity that we discussed above and measured on an individual level. to summarize, while the initial selection of predictors is theory-driven, based on previous research, or recent guidelines, the selection of predictors included in the second wave is data-driven. during the covid- pandemic, many governments and organizations have called for volunteers to support self-isolation (see, for example, [ , ] ). while also relevant to the community at large, research suggests that acts of kindness have a positive effect on people's well-being [ ] . additionally, volunteering has the benefit of leaving one's home for a legitimate reason and reducing cabin fever. we therefore decided to include volunteering as a potential predictor for well-being. coping strategies such as making plans or reappraising the situation are, in general, effective for one's well-being [ , ] . for example, altruistic acceptance -accepting restrictions because it is serving a greater good -while being quarantined was negatively associated with depression rates three years later [ ] . conversely, believing that the quarantine measures are redundant because covid- is nothing but ordinary flu or was intentionally released by the chinese government (i.e., beliefs in conspiracy theories), will likely lead to dissatisfaction because of greater feelings of non-autonomy. indeed, beliefs in conspiracy theories are associated with lower well-being [ ] . we further propose that three needs are relevant to people's well-being and productivity [ , ] . specifically, we propose that the need for autonomy and competence are deprived of many people who are quarantined, which negatively affects well-being and motivation [ ] . further, we propose that the need for competence was deprived, especially for those people who cannot maintain their productivity-level. this might especially be the case for those living with their families. in contrast, the need for relatedness might be over satisfied for those living with their family. another important factor associated with one's well-being is the quality of one's social relationships [ ] . as people have fewer opportunities to engage with others they know less well, such as colleagues in the office or their sports teammates, the quality of existing relationships becomes more important, as having more good friends facilitates social interactions either in person (e.g., with their partner in the same household) or online (e.g., video chats with friends). moreover, we expect that extraversion is linked to well-being and productivity. for example, extraverted people prefer more sensory input than introverted people [ ] , which is why they might struggle more with being quarantined. extraversion correlated negatively with support for social distancing measures [ ] , which is a proxy of stimulation (e.g., being closer to other people, will more likely result in sensory stimulation). finally, research on predictors of productivity while working from home can be theoretically grounded in models of job satisfaction and productivity, such as herzberg's two-factor theory [ ] . this theory states that causes of job satisfaction can be clustered in motivators and hygiene factors. motivators are intrinsic and include advancement, recognition, work itself, growth, and responsibilities. hygiene factors are extrinsic and include the relationship with peers and supervisor, supervision, policy and administration, salary, working conditions, status, personal link, and job security. both factors are positively associated with productivity [ ] . as there are little differences between remote and on-site workers in terms of motivators and hygiene factors [ ] , the two-factor theory provides a good theoretical predictor of productivity of people working remotely. in our two-wave study, we are covering an extensive set of predictors, as identified above. based on the literature mentioned earlier, we expected the strength of the association between the predictors and the outcomes' well-being and productivity to vary between medium to large. therefore, we assumed for our power analysis a medium-to-large effect size of f = . and a power of . . power analysis with g*power . . . [ ] revealed that we would need a sample size of participants. to ensure data quality and consistency, and to account for potential dropout in participants between the two waves, we invited almost participants who were identified as software engineers in a previous study [ ] to participate in a screening study in april . to collect our responses, we used prolific, a data collection platform, commonly used in computer science (see e.g., [ ] ). we opted for this solution because of the high reliability, replicability, and data quality of dedicated platforms, especially compared with the use of mailing lists [ , ] . to administer the surveys, we used qualtrics and shared it on the prolific platform. the screening study was tailored for the covid- pandemic and was completed by professionals. here, we aimed to select only participants from countries where lockdown measures where put into place. countries with unclear, mixed policies or early reopening (e.g., denmark, germany, sweden) were excluded. similarly, our participants were supposed to actively work from home during the lockdown for more than h a week. in the first wave of data collection, which took place in the week of april - , participants completed the first survey. participation in the second wave (may - ) was high ( %), with completed surveys. participants have been uniquely identified through their prolific id, which was essential to run the longitudinal analysis while allowing participants to remain anonymous. in each survey, we included three test items (e.g., "please select response option 'slightly disagree"'). moreover, we controlled if the participants were still working from home in the reference week and if lockdown measures were still in place in their respective countries. as none of our participants failed at least two of the three test items, all participants reported working remotely and answered the survey in an appropriate time frame, and we did not exclude anyone. the mean age of the participants was . years (sd = . , range = ; women, men). participants were compensated in line with the current us minimum wage (average completion time seconds, sd = . ). we employed a longitudinal design, with two waves set two-weeks apart from each other towards the end of the lockdown, which allowed us to test for internal replication. also, running this study towards the end of the lockdowns in the vast majority of countries allowed participants to provide a more reliable interpretation of lockdown conditions. we chose a period of two weeks because we wanted to balance change in our variables over time with the end of a stricter lockdown that was discussed across many countries when we run wave . many of our variables are thought to be stable over time. that is, a person's scores on x at time is strongly predictive of a person's scores on x at time (indeed, the test-retest reliabilities we found support this assumption, see table ). the closer the temporal distance between wave and , the higher the stability of a variable. in other words, if we had measured the same variables again after only one or two days, there would not have been much variance that could have been explained by any other variable, because x measured at time already explains almost all variance of x measured at time . in contrast, we aimed to collect data for wave while people were still quarantined. if at time of the data collection people would still be in lockdown and at time the lockdown would have been eased, this would have included a major confounding factor. thus, to balance those two conflicting design requirements, we opted for a two weeks break in between the two waves. we describe the measures of the two dependent (or outcome) variables in subsection . . predictors (or independent variables) are explained in subsections . , . , . , and . . wherever possible, we relied on validated scales. if this was not possible (e.g., covid- specific conspiracy beliefs), we created a scale. all items are listed in the supplemental materials. additionally, we also explore whether there are any mean changes in the variables we measured at both times (e.g., has people's well-being changed?) well-being was measured with an adapted version of the -item satisfaction with life scale [ ] . we adapted the items to measure satisfaction with life in the past week. example items include "the conditions of my life in the past week were excellent" and "i was satisfied with my life in the past week". responses were given on a -point likert scale ranging from (strongly disagree) to (strongly agree, α time = . , α time = . ). productivity was measured relative to the expected productivity. we contrasted productivity in the past week with the participant's expected productivity (i.e., productivity level without the lockdown). as we recruited participants working in different positions, including freelancers, we can neither use objective measures of productivity nor supervisor assessments and rely on self-reports. we expect limited effects of socially desirable responses as the survey was anonymous. the general understanding and the widespread belief that many people could not be as productive as they usually are during the lockdown in (e.g., due to stress or caring responsibilities). we operationalized productivity as a function of time spent working and efficiency per hour, compared to a normal week. specifically, we asked participants: "how many hours have you been working approximately in the past week?" (item p ), "how many hours were you expecting to work over the past week assuming there would be no global pandemic and lockdown?" (item p )to measure perceived efficiency, "if you rate your productivity (i.e., outcome) per hour, has it been more or less over the past week compared to a normal week?" (item p ). responses to the last item were given on a bipolar slider measure ranging from ' % less productive' to ' %: as productive as normal' to '≥ % more productive' (coded as - , , and ). to compute an overall score of productivity for each participant, we used the following formula: productivity = (p /p ) × ((p + )/ ). values between and . would reflect that people were less productive than normal, and values above would indicate that they were more productive than usual. for example, if one person worked only % of their normal time in the past week but would be twice as efficient, the total productivity was considered the same compared to a normal week. we preferred this approach over the use of other self-report instruments, such as the who's health at work performance questionnaire [ ] , because we were interested in the change of productivity while being quarantined as compared to 'normal' conditions. the who's questionnaire, for example, assesses productivity also in comparison to other workers. we deemed this unfit for our purpose as it is unclear to what extent software engineers who work remotely are aware of other workers' productivity. also, our measure consists of only three items and showed good test-retest reliability (table ) . test-retest reliability is the agreement or stability of a measure across two or more time-points. a coefficient of would indicate that responses at time would not be linearly associated with those at time , which is typically undesired. higher coefficients are an additional indicator of the reliability of the measures, although they can be influenced by a range of factors such as the internal consistency of the measure itself and external factors. for example, the test-rest reliability for productivity is r = . lower than for most other variables such as needs or well-being, but this is because the latter constructs are operationalized as stable over time. in contrast, productivity can vary more extensively due to external factors such as the number of projects or the reliability of one's internet connection. self-discipline was measured with -items of the brief self-control scale [ ] . example items include "i am good at resisting temptation" and "i wish i had more self-discipline" (recoded). responses were registered on a -point scale ranging from (not at all) to (very; α = . ). coping strategies was measured using the -item brief cope scale, which measures coping dimensions [ ] . example items include "i've been trying to come up with a strategy about what to do" (planning) and "i've been making fun of the situation" (humor). responses were on a -point scale ranging from (i have not been doing this at all) to (i have been doing this a lot). the internal consistencies were satisfactory to very good for two-item scales: self-distraction (α = . ), active coping (α = . ), denial (α = . ), substance use (α = . ), use of emotional support (α = . ), use of instrumental support (α = . ), behavioral disengagement (α = . , α = . ), venting (α = . ), positive reframing (α = . ), planning (α = . ), humor (α = . ), acceptance (α = . ), religion (α = . ), and self-blame (α = . , α = . ). loneliness was measured using the -item version of the de jong gierveld loneliness scale [ ] . the items are equally distributed among two factors, emotional; α = . , α = . ) (e.g., "i often feel rejected") and social; α = . , α = . (e.g., "there are plenty of people i can rely on when i have problems"). participants indicated how lonely they felt during the past week. responses were given on a -point scale ranging from (not at all) to (every day). compliance with official recommendations was measured using three items of a compliance scale [ ] . the items are 'washing hands thoroughly with soap', 'staying at home (except for groceries and x exercise per day)' and 'keeping a m ( feet) distance to others when outside.' reponses were given on a -point scale ranging from (never complying to this guideline) to (always complying to this guideline, α = . ). anxiety was measured using an adapted version of the -item generalized anxiety disorder scale [ ] . participants indicate how often they have experienced anxiety over the past week to different situations. example questions are "feeling nervous, anxious, or on edge" and "not being able to stop or control worrying". responses were given on a -point scale ranging from (not at all) to (every day, α = . , α = . ). additionally, we measured specific covid- and future pandemic related concerns with two items "how concerned do you feel about covid- ?" and "how concerned to you about future pandemics?" responses on this were given by a -point scale ranging from (not at all concerned) to (extremely concerned; α = . ) [ ] . stress was measured using a four-item version of the perceived stress scale [ ] . participants indicate how often they experienced stressful situations in the past week. example items include "in the last month how often have you felt you were unable to control the important things in your life?" and "in the last month how often have you felt confident about your ability to handle your personal problems?". responses were registered on a -point scale ranging from (never) to (very often; α = . , α = . ). boredom was measured using the -item version [ ] of the boredom proneness scale [ ] . example items include "it is easy for me to concentrate on my activities" and "many things i have to do are repetitive and monotonous". responses were on a -point likert scale ranging from (strongly disagree) to (strongly agree; α = . , α = . ). daily routines was measured with five items: "i am planning a daily schedule and follow it", "i follow certain tasks regularly (such as meditating, going for walks, working in timeslots, etc.)", "i am getting up and going to bed roughly at the same time every day during the past week", "i am exercising roughly at the same time (e.g., going for a walk every day at noon)", and "i am eating roughly at the same time every day". responses were taken on a -point likert scale ranging from (does not apply at all) to (fully applies; α = . , α = . ). conspiracy beliefs was measured with a -item scale as designed by ourselves for this study. the first two items were adapted from the flexible inventory of conspiracy suspicions [ ] , whereas the latter three are based on more specific conspiracy beliefs: "the real truth about coronavirus is being kept from the public.", "the facts about coronavirus simply do not match what we have been told by 'experts' and the mainstream media", "coronavirus is a bioweapon designed by the chinese government because they are benefiting from the pandemic most", "coronavirus is a bio-weapon designed by environmental activists because the environment is benefiting from the virus most", and "coronavirus is just like a normal flu". responses were collected on a -point likert scale ranging from (totally disagree) to (totally agree, α = . ). extraversion was measured using the -item extraversion subscale of the brief hexaco inventory [ ] . responses were given on a -point likert scale ranging from (strongly disagree) to (strongly agree; α = . , α = . ). low scores on extraversion are an indication of introversion. since we found at wave that extraversion and well-being were positively correlated contrary to our hypothesis (see below), and, in our view, contrary to widespread expectations, we decided to measure in wave what participants' views are regarding the association between extraversion and well-being. we measured expectations with one item: "who do you think struggles more with the current pandemic, introverts or extraverts?" response options were 'introverts', 'both around the same', and 'extraverts'. autonomy, competence, and relatedness needs of the self-determination theory [ ] was measured using the -item balanced measure of psychological needs scale [ ] . example items include "i was free to do things my own way' (need for autonomy; α = . , α = . ), "i did well even at the hard things" (competence; α = . , α = . ), and "i felt unappreciated by one or more important people" (recoded; relatedness; α = . , α = . ). participants were asked to report how true each statement was for them in the past week. responses were given on a -point scale ranging from (no agreement) to (much agreement). extrinsic and intrinsic work motivation was measured with the item extrinsic regulation -item and intrinsic motivation subscales of the multidimensional work motivation scale [ ] . the extrinsic regulation subscale measures social and material regulations. specifically, participants were asked to answer some questions about why they put effort into their current job. example items include "to get others' approval (e.g., supervisor, colleagues, family, clients ...)" (social extrinsic regulation; α = . ), "because others will reward me nancially only if i put enough effort in my job (e.g., employer, supervisor...)" (material extrinsic regulation; α = . ) and "because i have fun doing my job" (intrinsic motivation; α = . ). responses were given on a -point scale ranging from (not at all) to (completely). mental exercise was measured with two items: "i did a lot to keep my brain active" and "i performed mental exercises (e.g., sudokus, riddles, crosswords)". participants indicated the extent to which the items were true for them in the past week on a -point scale ranging from (not at all) to (very; α = . ). technical skills was measured with one item: "how well do your technological skills equip you for working remotely from home?" responses were given on a -point scale ranging from (far too little) to (perfectly). diet was measured with two items [ ] : "how often do you eat fruit, excluding drinking juice?" and "how often do you eat vegetables or salad, excluding potatoes?". responses were given on a -point scale ranging from (never) to (three times or more a day; α = . ) quality of sleep was measured with one item: "how has the quality of your sleep overall been in the past week?" responses were given on a -point scale ranging from (very low) to (perfectly). physical activity was measured with an adapted version of the -item leisure time exercise questionnaire [ ] . participants were be asked to report how many hours in the past they have been mildly, moderately, and strenuously exercising. the overall score was computed as followed [ ] : × mild + × moderate + × strenuously. missing responses for one or more of the exercise types were be treated as . quality and quantity of social contacts outside of work were measured with three items. we adapted two items from the social relationship quality scale [ ] and added one item to measure the quantity: "i feel that the people with whom i have been in contact over the past week support me", "i feel that the people with whom i have been in contact over the past week believe in me", and "i am happy with the amount of social contact i had in the past week." responses were given on a -point likert scale ranging from (strongly disagree) to (strongly agree; α = . , α = . ). volunteering was measured with three items that measure people's behavior over the past week: "i have been volunteering in my community (e.g., supported elderly or other people in high-risk groups)", "i have been supporting my family (e.g., homeschooling my children)" and "i have been supporting friends, and family members (e.g., listened to the worries of my friends)". responses were given on a -point scale ranging from (not at all) to (very often; α = . ). quality and quantity of communication with colleagues and line managers was measured with three items: "i feel that my colleagues and line manager have been supporting me over the past week", "i feel that my colleagues and line manager believed in me over the past week", and "overall, i am happy with the interactions with my colleagues and line managers over the past week." responses were given on a -point likert scale ranging from (strongly disagree) to (strongly agree; α = . , α = . ). distractions at home was measured with two items: "i am often distracted from my work (e.g., noisy neighbors, children who need my attention)" and "i am able to focus on my work for longer time periods" (recoded). responses were given on a -point scale ranging from (not at all) to (very often; α = . , α = . ). the participants' living situation was reported in the following categories. living with (babies/infants), (toddlers), (children), (teenager), and (adults), and additionally, it was displayed with how many people the participant is currently living. financial security was measured with two items that reflect the current but also the expected financial situation [ ] : "using a scale from to where means 'the worst possible financial situation' and means 'the best possible financial situation', how would you rate your financial situation these days?" and "looking ahead six months into the future, what do you expect your financial situation will be like at that time?". responses were given on a -point scale ranging from (the worst possible financial situation) to (the best possible financial situation; α = . ). office set-up was measured with three items: "in my home office, i do have the technical equipment to do the work i need to do (e.g., appropriate pc, printer, stable and fast internet connection)", "on the computer or laptop i use while working from home i do have the software and access rights i need", and 'my office chair and desk are comfortable and designed to prevent back pain or other related issues". responses were given on a -point likert scale ranging from (strongly disagree) to (strongly agree; α = . ). demographic information were assessed with the following items: "what is your gender?", "how old are you?" "what type of organization do you work in" (public, private, unsure, other), "what is your yearly gross income?" (us< , , u s - , , us . − , , u s , - , , us , − , , > u s , ; converted to the participant's local currency), "in which country are you based?", "have you been working from home or remotely in general before february ?" (yes, no, unsure), "what percentage of your time have you been working remotely (i.e., not physically in your office) over the past months?", "in which region/state and country are you living?", "is there still a lockdown where you are living?". the data analysis consists of two parts. first, we used the data from time to identify the variables that explain variance in participant well-being and productivity beyond the other variables. second, we used the pearson productmoment correlation coefficient (r), to identify which variables were correlated with at least r = . with well-being and productivity, to test whether they predict our two outcomes over time. r is an effect size which expresses the strength of the linear relation between two variables. we used . as a threshold as we are interested in identifying variables that are correlated with at least a medium-sized magnitude [ ] with one or both of our outcome variables. also, a correlation of ≥ . indicates that the effect is among the top % in individual difference research [ ] . finally, selecting an effect size of this magnitude provides an effective type-i error control, as in total, we performed correlation tests at time alone ( independent variables correlated with the two dependent variables, which were also correlated among each other). given a sample size of , this effectively changes our alpha level to . , which is conservative. this means that it is very unlikely that we erroneously find an effect in our sample even though there is no effect in the population (i.e., commit the type-i or false-positive error) we did not transform the data for any analysis. unless otherwise indicated above, scales were formed by averaging the items. the collected dataset is publicly available to support other researchers in understanding the impact of enforced work-from-home policies. to test which of the variables listed in figure explains unique variance in well-being and productivity, we performed two multiple regression analyses with all variables that were correlated with the two outcome variables with ≥ . . in the first analysis, well-being is the dependent variable; in the second analysis, we use productivity as the dependent variable. this allows us to identify the variables that explain unique variance in the two dependent variables. however, one potential issue of including many partly correlated predictors is multicollinearity, which can lead to skewed results. if the variance inflation factor (vif) is larger than , multicollinearity is an issue [ ] . therefore, we tested whether the variance inflation factor would exceed before performing any multiple regression analysis. to analyze the data from both time-points, we performed a series of structural equation modeling analyses with one predictor variable and one outcome variable using the r-package lavaan [ ] . unlike many other types of analyses, structural equation modeling adjusts for reliability [ ] . specifically, models were designed with one predictor (e.g., stress), and one outcome (e.g., wellbeing) both as measured at time and at time . we allowed autocorrelations (e.g., between well-being at time and at time ) and cross-paths (e.g., between stress at time and well-being at time ). autocorrelations are essential because without them we might erroneously conclude that, for example, stress at time predicts well-being at time although it is the part of stress which overlaps with well-being, which predicts well-being at time [ ] . to put it simply, we can only conclude that x predicts y if we control for y . no items or errors were allowed to correlate. this is usually done to improve the model fit but has also been criticized as atheoretical: to determine which items and errors should be allowed to correlate to improve model fit can only be done after the initial model is computed and thus a data-driven approach which emphasizes too much on the model fit [ ] . the regression (or path) coefficients and associated p-values were not affected by the type of estimator. we compared in our analyses the standard maximum likelihood (ml), the robust maximum likelihood (mlr), and the multi-level (mlm) estimator. the pattern of correlations was overall consistent with the literature. at time , variables were correlated with well-being at r ≥ . (table ) . stress, r = −. , quality of social contacts, r = . , and need for autonomy, r = . were strongest associated with well-being (all p < . ). the pattern of results from the coping strategies were also in line with the literature [ ] : self-blame, r = − . , p < . , behavioral disengagement, r = − . , p < . , and venting r = − . , p < . were negatively correlated with well-being. interestingly, generalized anxiety was more strongly associated with well-being than covid- related anxiety (r = − . vs −. ) which might suggest that specific worries have a less negative impact on well-being . contrary to our the pearson's correlation coefficient (r) represents the strength of a linear association between two variables and can range between - (perfect negative linear association), (no linear association), to (perfect positive linear association). the regression coefficient b indicates how much the outcome changes if the predictor increases by one unit. for example, the b of stress predicting well-being is -. . this indicates that a person who has a well-being level of has a stress level that is of -. units lower than a person who has a well-being level of . a multiple regression with generalized anxiety and covid- related anxiety supports this interpretation: only generalized anxiety, b = − . , se = . , p < . , but not expectations, extraversion was positively correlated with well-being, both at waves and . the pattern of the associations was similar at time . a reason for participants' misinterpretation of the intensity to struggle with working from home for introverts could be explained by introverts usually having to avoid unwanted social interactions, and due to being quarantined, they now have to put effort into having social interactions actively. the added challenge to contribute more energy than usual to not being too lonely and changing their usual behavioral pattern demands much more from introverts than extraverts. at time , four variables were correlated with productivity at r ≥ . (table ) : need for competence, r = −. , distractions, r = −. , boredom, r = −. , and communication with colleagues and line-managers r = . . surprisingly, work motivations were uncorrelated with well-being at α = . . at time , only distraction was still correlated with productivity, r = − . , p < . . the strength of association of most variables with productivity dropped between time and , which means that those variables associated with productivity at wave were no longer or less strongly associated with productivity at wave . the strengths of correlations remained the same when we computed spearman's rank correlation coefficients rather than pearson's correlations (spearman's coefficient is a non-parametric version of pearson's r and ranges also between - and ). at time , we added additional questions to better understand the counterintuitive finding that well-being and extraversion are positively correlated. interestingly, the finding that extraversion is positively correlated with well-being during lockdown is contrary to the expectations of most participants. when asked whether introverts or extraverts struggle more with the covid- pandemic, only participants correctly predicted introverts, where stated extraverts, with participants believing that both groups struggle equally. this highlights the value of our research because people's intuition can be blatantly wrong. through an analysis of the participants' statements about the informant's (i) choice, the explanation became more articulated. we now report selected quotes from participants, including their level of extraversion, in wave . some informants reported their direct experience supporting the feeling that extraverts struggle more than introverts. "i'm introverted, and i don't feel the pandemic has affected me at all. rules aren't hard to follow and haven't feel bad. i feel for extraverts; they would struggle a bit with the rules." nonetheless, a minority of participants also provide alternative interpretations. according to those, both introverts and extraverts have difficulties in reaching out to people, although in different ways. the motivation for such answers is that both personality types struggle with different challenges. "both types need company, just that each needs company on their own terms. introverts prefer deeper contact with fewer people and extraverts less deep contact with a greater number of people." [i- , extraversion score = . ] "extraverts miss human contact; introverts find it even harder to mark their presence online (e.g., in meetings)." [i- , extraversion score = . ] interestingly, there is one informant which provide an insightful interpretation, aligned with our results. "introverts usually have more difficulty communicating with others, and confinement worsens the situation because they will not try to talk to others through video conferences." [i- , extraversion score = . ] the lack of a structured working setting, where introvert are routinely involved, causes further isolation. being 'forced' to work remotely significantly increased difficulty in engaging with social contacts. this means that introverts have to put much more effort into interacting with others instead of their typical behavior of reduced interaction in office-based environments. whereas extraverts have it easier to find some way to maintain their social contacts, introverts might struggle more. thus, the lockdown had a more negative impact on the well-being of introverts than of extraverts, as shown in table . to test which of the predictors had a unique influence on well-being and productivity, we included all variables that were correlated with either outcome with at least . at time . this is a conservative test because many predictors are correlated among each other and thus taking variance from each other. also, it allowed us to repeat the same analysis at time because all predictors which correlated with either well-being or productivity at time with r ≥ . were included at time . in a first step, we tested whether multicollinearity was an issue. this was not the case, with vif < . for all four regression models and thus clearly below the often-used threshold of [ ] . sixteen variables correlated with well-being r ≥ . (table ). together, they explained a substantial amount of variance in well-being at time , r = . , adj.r = . , f ( , ) = . , p < . , and at time note. r: correlations, b: unstandardized regression estimates, r it : test-rest correlation. signif. codes: * * * < . , * * < . , * < . , . < . , r = . , adj.r = . , f ( , ) = . , p < . . at time , stress (negatively), social contacts, and daily routines uniquely predicted well-being at α = . (see table , column , and table ) . at time , need for competence and autonomy, stress, quality of social contacts, and quality of sleep uniquely predicted well-being at α = . (see table , column , and table ). together, stress and quality of social contacts predicted at both time points significantly well-being. four variables correlated with productivity r ≥ . (table ) . together, they explained % of variance in productivity at time , r = . , adj.r = . , f ( , ) = . , p < . , and % at time , r = . , adj.r = . , f ( , ) = . , p = . . at both time points, none of the four variables explained variance in productivity beyond the other three variables, suggesting that they all are associated with productivity but we lack statistical power to disentangle the effects (tables and ). there is an ostensible discrepancy between some correlations and the estimates of the regression analyses which requires further explanations. an especially large discrepancy appeared for the variable need for competence, which correlated positively with well-being at time and , r = . with p < . , and r = . with p < . , but was negatively associated with well-being when controlling for other variables in both regression analyses, b = -. with p = . , and b = -. with p = . . this suggests that including a range of other variables, that serve as control variables, impact the results. indeed, exploratory analyses revealed that need for competence was no longer associated with well-being when we included need for autonomy. that is, when we performed a multiple regression with the needs for autonomy and competence as the only predictors, need for competence became non-significant. need for competence also includes an autonomy competent, which might explain this. it is easier to fulfill one's need for competence while being at least somewhat autonomous [ ] . further, including generalized anxiety and boredom reversed the sign of the association: need for competence became negatively associated with well-being. including those two variables remove the variance that is associated with enthusiasm (boredom reversed) and courage (generalized anxiety reversed), which might explain the shift to negative association with well-being. together, controlling for need for autonomy, generalized anxiety, and boredom, takes away positive aspects of need for competence, leaving a potentially cold side that might be closely related to materialism, which is negatively associated with well-being [ ] . test-retest reliabilities were good for all variables, supporting the quality of our data (last column of table , column ). in total, we performed structural equation modeling (sem) analyses to test whether well-being and productivity are predicted by or predict any of the independent variables for well-being, including one model in which we tested whether well-being predicts productivity or vice versa, and four models for productivity. since the probability of a false signif. codes: * * * < . , * * < . , * < . , . < . positive is very high, due to the high number of models analyzed, we used a conservative error rate of . . we are using a different threshold for the longitudinal analysis than for the correlation analyses since we did a different number of tests for the latter. one example of our sem analyses is presented in figure , where we looked at the predictive-causal relationship between stress and well-being in waves and . the boxes represent the items and the circles the variables (e.g., stress). the arrows between the items and the variables represent the loadings, that is how strongly each of the items contributes to the overall variable score (e.g., item of the stress scale contributes least and item most to the overall score at both time points). the circular arrows represent errors. the bidirectional arrows between the variables represent the covariances, which are comparable signif. codes: * * * < . , * * < . , * < . , . < . to correlations. the one-handed arrows show causal impacts over time. the arrows between the same variables (e.g., well-being and well-being ) show how strongly they impact each other and are comparable to the test-retest correlations. the most critical arrows are those between well-being and stress as well as between stress and well-being . they show whether one variable causally predicts the other. the most relevant values in figure are presented in table . columns - show that stress and well-being were significantly associated at time , b = - . , se = . , p < . . this association was mirrored at time , b = - . , se = . , p = . (columns - ). columns - show that stress at time did not significantly predict well-being at time , b = - . , se = . , p = . . columns - of the second part of table also show that well-being at time did not predict stress at time , b = . , se = . , p = . . columns - of the second part show the autocorrelation of well-being, that is how strongly well-being at time predicts well-being at time , b = . , se = . , p < . . autocorrelations can be broadly understood as the unstandardized version of the test-retest correlations (reliability) reported in table . finally, columns - of the second part show the autocorrelation of stress, which are also significant b = . , se = . , p < . . we conclude that no model revealed any significant associations at α = . . thus, no variable at time (e.g., stress) is able to explain a significant amount of variance in another variable (e.g., well-being) at time . we only found a negative tendency regarding distraction → p roductivity with b = -. , p = . . furthermore, table shows which variable is more likely to have a stronger impact on the other over time. for example, p roductivity → distraction has a b = . , p = . , suggesting that it is much more likely that distraction influence negatively productivity, rather than productivity influencing the level of distraction. additionally, we explored whether there are any mean changes between time and , separately for all variables. for example, has the well-being increased over time? this would suggest that people adapted further within a relatively short period of two weeks to the threat from covid- . table shows that the arithmetic mean (m ) of well-being has indeed slightly increased between time and , m = . vs m = . . a closer look revealed that participants reported higher well-being at time compared to time , reported the same level of well-being, and a lower level of well-being. further, on average people's score of behavioral disengagement and quality of social contacts increased, whereas emotional loneliness and the quality of communication with line managers and coworkers decreased. note. t: t-value of a paired sample t-test; higher: absolute number of people who scored higher on a variable at time compared to time ; lower: number of people who scored lower at time ; equal: people whose score has not changed over time. our finding that office-setup is not significantly related to well-being and productivity seems to contradict a recent cross-sectional study by ralph et al. [ ] that investigated how the fear of bioevents, disaster preparedness, and home office ergonomics predict well-being and productivity among software developers. in that study, ergonomics was positively related to both wellbeing and productivity. to measure ergonomics, the authors created six items concerning distractions, noise, lighting, temperature, chair comfort, and overall ergonomics. the first two items are closely related to our measure of distraction, which was negatively associated with well-being in wave of our sample, r = -. , and productivity, r= -. . in contrast, the following four items are more closely associated with office-setup in our survey, which was positive but not significantly associated with well-being, r = . , and productivity, r = . . to better understand such inconsistency with our result, we run a replication analysis using ralph et al.'s data. to test whether ergonomics' effect is mainly driven by distraction and noise, we combined the first two items into variable ergonomics-distractions (recoded, higher scores indicate less distraction) and the other four items into ergonomics-others. indeed, ergonomics distractions was more strongly correlated with well-being, r = . , and productivity, r = . , than was ergonomics-other, rs = . and . , respectively. this suggests that our findings replicate those of ralph et al. and emphasize the importance of distinguishing between distraction and office set-up. the covid- pandemic and the subsequent lockdown have had a definite impact on software professionals who were primarily forced to work from home. the first significant outcome of this research is that there are many variables that are associated with well-being and productivity. although we could not determine any causal relationship, the effect sizes for both waves are medium to large for several variables which have mainly shown high stability of the results over time. also, well-being and productivity were positively associated. in other words, neglecting well-being will likely also negatively impact productivity. therefore, we agree with ralph et al.'s [ ] recommendation that pressuring employees to keep the average productivity level without taking care of their well-being will lower productivity. however, we would also like to present an alternative interpretation that having productive employees will strengthen their sense of achievement and improve their well-being. in the following, we focus on practical recommendations based on the most reliable predictors of well-being and productivity that we identified in our study through our regression analysis: need for autonomy, stress, daily routines, social contacts, need for competence competence, extraversion, and quality of sleep as predictors of well-being, in table . distractions and boredom related to productivity are discussed in table . persistent high-stress levels are related to adverse outcomes in the workplace [ ] and people's well-being. to reduce stress, bazarko et al. [ ] recommend practicing mindfulness-based stress reduction training and practices that can be performed at home. participating in such a program can lead to lower levels of stress and a lower risk of work burnout. grossman et al. recommended other stress reduction methods. [ ] . moreover, naik et al. [ ] , who found that mindfulness meditation practices, slow breathing exercises, mindful awareness during yoga postures, and mindfulness during stressful situations and social interactions can reduce stress levels. together, the results of these studies suggest that mindfulness practices, even when performed at home, can reduce stress, which could also improve software engineers' well-being while being quarantined. the quality of social contacts as part of the overall quality of life has a significant impact on people's well-being, as discovered in this study. therefore, employers should be interested in enabling their employees to spend time with people they value and encourage them to build strong, meaningful relationships within their work environment. creating a virtual office, (e.g., using an online working environment such as 'wurkr') allows people to work with the impression of sharing a physical workspace online to communicate more comfortably and work together from anywhere. for example, in order to simplify conversations, the slack plugin 'donut' [ ] randomly connects employees for coffee breaks with the purpose to get to know each other better by spending some time chatting virtually. besides, our finding that quality of social contact, but not living alone is associated with well-being, is in line with the literature. quality of contact with one's partner and family independently predicted negatively depression, whereas the frequency of these contact did not [ ] . together, this suggests that findings from the literature can overall be generalized to people being quarantined. organizing the day in a structured way at home, appears to be beneficial for software professionals' well-being. people tend to overwork when working remotely [ ] . this could be further magnified during quarantine where usual daily routines are disrupted, and thus working might become the only meaningful activity to do. therefore, it is essential to develop new daily routines in order to not be completely absorbed by work and to prevent a burnout [ ] . therefore, scheduling meetings and designating time specifically for hobbies or spending time with family and friends is helpful while working from home and helps to satisfy employees' needs for social contacts. to fulfill people's need for autonomy, it is necessary to allow employees to act on their values and interests [ ] . while coordinating collaborative workflows and managing projects remotely comes with its challenges [ ] . for remote workers it is crucial to have flexibility in how they structure, organize, and perform their tasks [ ] . it is therefore helpful to delegate work packages instead of individual tasks. this makes it easier for individuals to work selfdirectedly and thus to fulfill their need for autonomy. to fulfill employees' need for competence, it is necessary to provide them with the opportunity to grow personally and advance their skill set [ ] . two of the mainly required and highly demanded skills in remote work environments are communication skills and the ability to use virtual tools, such as presentation tools or collaborative project planning tools [ ] . raising awareness for the unique requirements of virtual communication is crucial for a smooth working process. therefore, working remotely requires specific communication skills, such as mindful listening [ ] or asynchronous communication, which allows people to work more efficiently [ ] . collaborative tools such as github, trello, jira, google docs, klaxoon, mural, or slack can simplify work processes and enable interactive workflows. besides the training and development of employees' specific virtual skill set, it is also recommended to invest in employees' personal development within the company. taking action and offering employees the opportunity to grow will not only evolve their role but also strengthen their loyalty towards the employer and, therefore, employee retention [ ] . introverted software professionals seem to be more affected by the lockdown than their more extraverted peers. this finding is counter-intuitive since extraverted people prefer more direct contacts than introverted people [ ] . our interpretation of these results is that introverts have a much higher burden to reach out to colleagues than extraverted ones. also, being introverted does not mean that there is no need for social contacts at all. while in the office they had chances to be involved with colleagues both in a structured or unstructured fashion, at home it is much more difficult as they have to be more proactive to reach out to colleagues in a more formalized setting, such as online collaboration platform (e.g., ms teams). therefore, software organizations should regularly organize both formal and informal online meeting occasions, where introvert software engineers feel a lower entry barrier to participate. quality of sleep is also a relevant predictor for well-being. although it might sound obvious, there is a robust association between sleep, well-being, and mindfulness [ ] . in particular, howell et al. found that mindfulness predicts quality of sleep, and quality of sleep and mindfulness predict well-being. distractions at home are a challenging obstacle to overcome while working remotely. designating a specific work area in the home and communicating non-disturbing times with other household members are easy and quick first steps to minimize distractions at the workplace at home. another obstacle that distracts remote workers more frequently is cyberslacking, which is understood as spending time on the internet for non-work-related reasons during working hours [ ] . cyberslacking and its contribution to distractions at home for remote workers were not included in this study but would be worth exploring in future research. when people experience, boredom it makes them feel "...unchallenged while they think that the situation and their actions are meaningless" [ , p. ]. especially people who thrive in a social setting at work are in danger of being bored quickly while working in isolation from their homes. the enumerated recommendations above, such as assigning interesting, personally tailored, and challenging work packages, using collaborative tools to hold yourself accountable, and having social interactions while working remotely, also help reduce boredom at work. ideally, employees are intrinsically motivated and feel fulfilled by what they do. if this is not the case over a more extended period, and the experienced boredom is not a negative side effect of being overwhelmed while being quarantined, it might be reasonable to discuss a new field of action and area of responsibility with the employee. to conclude, working from home certainly comes with its challenges, of which we have addressed several in this study. however, at least software engineers appear to adapt to the lockdown over time, as people's well-being increased, and the perceived quality of their social contacts improved. similar results have also been confirmed by a survey study of , new zealanders' remote workers [ ] . walton et al. found that productivity was similar or higher than pre-lockdown, and % of professionals would like to continue to work from home, at least one day per month. this study also reveals that the most critical challenges were switching off, collaborating with colleagues, and setting up a home office. on the other hand, working from home led to a drastic saving of time otherwise allocated to daily commuting, a higher degree of flexibility, and increased savings. limitations are discussed using gren's five-facets framework [ ] . reliability. this study used a two-wave longitudinal study, where over % of the initial participants, identified through a multi-stage selection process, also participated in the second wave. further, the test-retest reliabilities were high, and the internal consistencies (cronbach's α) ranged from satisfactory to very good. construct validity. we identified variables, which were drawn from the literature, and a suitable measurement instrument measured each. where possible, we used validated instruments. otherwise, we developed and reported the instruments used. to measure the construct validity, we also reported the cronbach's alpha of all variables across both waves. however, we note that despite a large number of variables in our study, we still might have missed organizations should redesign employees goals by letting them choose tasks as much as possible and diversify activities. negative predictor in both waves (b w = −. , b w = −. ) organizations should support software engineers to set up a dedicate home office. routines and agreements with family members about working times also help to be more focused. one or more relevant variables, which would have been significantly turned out in our analysis. conclusion validity. to draw our conclusions, we used multiple statistical analyses such as correlations, paired t-tests, multiple linear regressions, and structural equation modeling. to ensure reliable conclusions, we used conservative thresholds to reduce the risk of false-positive results. the threshold depended on the number of comparisons for each test. additionally, we did not include covariates, nor did we stop the data collection based on the results, or performed any other practice that is associated with increasing the likelihood of finding a positive result and increasing the probability of false-positive results [ ] . however, we could not make any causal-predictive conclusion since all sem analyses provided non-significant results, using a threshold of significance that reduces the risk of false-positive findings. finally, we made both raw data and r analysis code openly available on zenodo. internal validity. this study did not lead to any causal-predictive conclusion, which was the main aim of the present study. we can not say that the analyzed variables influence well-being or productivity or vice versa. we are also aware that this study relies on self-reported values, limiting the study's validity. further, we adjusted some measures (i.e., productivity). participants were not supposed to report their perceived productivity but to make a comparison, which has been computed independently afterward in our analysis. we also underwent an extensive screening process, selecting over software engineers of the initial initial suitable subjects. typical problems related to longitudinal studies (e.g., attrition of the subjects over a long-term period) do not apply. the dropout rate between the two waves has been low (under %). we run this study towards the end of the lockdown of the covid- pandemic in spring . in this way, participants were able to report rooted judgments of their conditions. waves were set at two weeks distance, which ensured that lockdowns had not been lifted yet during the data collection of wave , but was also not close enough so that variability in each of the variables would already be sufficiently high between the two-time points. since this was a pandemic, the surveyed countries' lockdown conditions have been similar (due to standardized who's recommendations). however, we did not consider region-specific conditions (e.g., severity of virus spread) and recommendations. also, lockdown timing differed among countries. to control these potential differences, we asked participants at each of the two waves if lockdown measures were still in place, and if they were still working from home. since all our participants reported positively to both these conditions, we did not exclude anyone from the study. external validity. our sample size has been determined by an a priori power analysis, manageable for longitudinal analyses. however, this study was designed to maximize internal validity, focusing on finding significant effects, rather than working with a representative sample of the software engineering population (with n ≈ , such as russo and stol [ ] did, where the research goal focused on the generalizability of results). the covid- pandemic disrupted software engineers in several ways. abruptly, lockdown and quarantine measures changed the way of working and relating to other people. software engineers, in line with most knowledge workers, started to work from home with unprecedented challenges. most notably, our research shows that high-stress levels, the absence of daily routines, and social contacts are some of the variables most related to well-being. similarly, low productivity is related to boredom and distractions at home. we base our results on a longitudinal study, which involved software professionals. after identifying relevant variables related to well-being or productivity during a quarantine from literature, we run a correlation study based on the results gathered in our first wave. for the second wave, we selected only the variables correlated with at least a medium effect size with well-being or productivity. afterward, we run structural equation modeling analyses, testing for causal-predictive relations. we could not find any significant relation, concluding that we do not know if the dependent variables are caused by independent ones or vice versa. accordingly, we run several multiple regression analysis to identify unique predictors of well-being and productivity, where we found several significant results. this paper confirms that, on average, software engineers' well-being increased during the pandemic. also, there is a correlation between well-being and productivity. out of factors, nine were reliably associated with wellbeing and productivity. correspondingly, based on our findings, we proposed some actionable recommendations which might be useful to deal with potential future pandemics. software organizations might start to experimentally ascertain whether adopting these recommendations will increase professionals' productivity and well-being. our research findings indicate that granting a higher degree of autonomy to employees might be beneficial, on average. however, while ex-tended autonomy might be perceived positively experienced by those with a high need for autonomy, it might be perceived as stressful for those who prefer structure. it is unlikely that any intervention will have the same effect on all people (since there is a substantial variation for most variables), it is essential to have individual differences in mind when exploring the effects of any interventions. thus, adopting incremental intervention, based on our findings, where organizations can get feedback from their employees, is the recommended strategy. future work will explore several directions. cross-sectional studies with representative samples will be able to test whether our findings are generalizable and do get a better understanding of underlying mechanisms between the variables. we will also investigate the 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title: using simulation as an investigative methodology in researching competencies of clinical social work practice: a scoping review date: - - journal: clin soc work j doi: . /s - - -x sha: doc_id: cord_uid: cad pb n this article reports a scoping review designed to synthesize current literature that used simulation as an investigative methodology (simulation-based research; sbr) in researching practice competencies in clinical social work. following arksey and o’malley’s scoping review framework, articles were included in this scoping review. the majority of articles reported sbr studies conducted in canada and the u.s. and were published in the last years, signifying that this is a burgeoning area of research in clinical social work. areas of clinical competencies included professional decision-making ( %), the role of cognition and emotion ( %), attending to culture and diversity ( %), and others, such as supervision skills ( %). using qualitative ( %), quantitative ( %), and mixed methods ( %) in research design, more than half of the sbr studies reported in the selected articles used live actors ( %) to simulate a realistic practice situation for research. selected articles also offered both benefits and limitations of sbr in social work. we offer suggestions for when to use sbr for research on clinical social work practice and strengthening a collaboration between clinicians and researchers in advancing practice-informed research. while the use of simulation was originally introduced in medical education (cleland et al. ), it is gaining much attention in clinical social work education rawlings ) , with the potential to enhance the knowledge, skill, judgement, and self-awareness of practicing clinical social workers. simulation in social work generally refers to a situation where a student or a practitioner engages with a trained actor (i.e., often known as "standardized patient," sp) or a virtual reality program that portrays a well-designed character and/or practice scenario. a growing body of research evidence suggests that simulation offers concrete experiential learning opportunties well-suited to assist students in applying knowledge, values and skills into practice kourgiantakis et al. ) , making simulation a widely recognized key word in clinical social work education. while simulation has been used in the training and assessment of clinical practitioners, it is also emerging as a novel methodology for research on practice competencies. understanding how simulation is used in this capacity can support practicing social workers in evaluating simulation-based research contributions and translating generated knowledge to their practice. there is a burgeoning body of literature suggesting that simulation can be used as a promising research methodology for the studies about practice competencies in medicine and other healthcare fields (e.g., cheng et al. ; halamek ) . while these reports and guidelines on simulation-asmethodology from medicine and other fields offer important research innovations, they might not be directly applicable when studying social work. to date, there is no report that discusses how simulation can be used as a research methodology in social work. the purpose of this scoping review was to systematically search and summarize the current state of social work literature, in which simulation (e.g., trained actors as standardized clients, virtual reality, staged environments) was used as an investigative methodology in researching practice competencies. as articulated by the council on social work education ( ), competencies of social work practice require one's ability to integrate "knowledge, values, skills, and cognitive and affective processes that include … critical thinking, affective reactions, and exercise of judgment" (p. ) in attending to each unique client and practice situation. in this review, we will focus on competencies related to clinical practice, which "address(es) the needs of individuals, families, couples and groups affected by life changes and challenges" (national association of social workers , p. ). given that supervision is included in the nasw's standards of clinical social work practice, we also consider supervision skills as a part of clinical social work competencies. cheng et al. ( ) defined and categorized simulationbased research (sbr), a program of research that involves the use of live sps or any other kinds of simulated practice situations (e.g., computerized mannequin, virtual reality), into two types: ( ) research that evaluates simulation-based teaching and learning, and ( ) research that uses simulation as a methodological tool. much is already well known about the use of simulation in the teaching and learning of social work (e.g., bogo et al. ; kourgiantakis et al. ) . in this article, we focused on the latter type of sbr: the use of simulation as a novel research methodology. there is a growing body of research in medicine and other related fields, in which simulation is used as an investigative methodology in studying practice competencies. for instance, geurtzen et al. ( ) examined the cultural differences in prenatal counseling by examining how american and dutch neonatologists worked with a simulated patient. zhou et al. ( ) used data from the objective structured clinical examinations (osce), a type of experiential exam commonly used in professional schools where students' competency is assessed based on their engagement with sps. others hired and trained sps to portray a covert or mystery patient to examine the delivery of tb screening in clinics (christian et al. ) , service access and wait time in the public youth mental health system (olin et al. ) , and the quality of pharmacist practice (ibrahim et al. ) . a few clinical researchers have published review papers or guidelines on the use of simulation as a research methodology, including family medicine (beullens et al. ) , pediatrics (cheng et al. ) , neonatal medicine (halamek ) , pharmacy (watson et al. ) and public health (chandra-mouli et al. ) . these methodological reports on the use of simulation are written for specific research foci, such as patient safety (guise et al. ) , quality of healthcare (fitzpatrick and tumlinson ) and provider behaviors and communications (madden et al. ; siminoff et al. ) . in general, these methodological reports suggest simulation as a promising methodology for studying practice competencies. because much of what happens in medical care between physicians and real patients is highly unpredictable, standardization of patient presentations and highly controlled clinical environments allows the researchers to assess healthcare delivery and practitioners' skills objectively especially when the authenticity of the simulation is ensured (e.g., cheng et al. ; halamek ) . the use of simulated patients also makes research recruitment easier than when recruiting real patients (e.g., cheng et al. ) . it is also suggested that sbr is resource intensive (e.g., researchers' time, money, availabilities of technology) and can limit the number of research participants (guise et al. ) . others also emphasize the time, labor, and cost intensive nature of sbr (e.g., beullens et al. ; guise et al. ) . when relying on a simulated situation, research is often limited to one meeting between the physician and the patient, making it difficult for researchers to make longitudinal observation or keep track of changes over time (beullens et al. ) . finally, these reviews warn that the novelty of this research methodology means that much remains unknown about the best practices in the areas of data collection (e.g., video capture, technological requirements and limitations), the use of appropriate outcome measures, and data analysis (e.g., how to analyze the video) (e.g., cheng et al. ; guise et al. ; siminoff et al. ). there is surprisingly little sbr in psychology (e.g., clinical, counseling psychology) and psychiatry. this is likely because psychologists and psychiatrists often engage in clinical research, in which researchers examine actual therapy sessions, either through direct observation of audio-or video-recorded sessions or self-reports from therapists or clients (orlinsky et al. ) . psychotherapy process research (ppr) is a highly developed paradigm of clinical research, in which researchers examine what happens and how change happens in psychotherapy between the client and the therapist, with a focus on client outcomes (hardy and llewelyn ; knobloch-fedders et al. ) . although it is beyond the scope of this paper to discuss the large body of ppr, its primary focus is on what happens between the therapist and the client (hardy and llewelyn ) . studying actual therapy sessions, those engaged in ppr explicate the mechanisms of treatment and client change processes, understand key elements of effective treatment, develop theories and models of psychotherapy practice, and use research results to develop effective psychotherapy training (hardy and llewelyn ) . although a number of ppr studies might include social workers in their study samples along with other professionals, ppr appears to be a research paradigm primarily employed by psychologists and psychiatrists. with a few exceptions, such as studies on cross-cultural engagement (tsang et al. ; horvath , ) , racial microaggression (lee et al. ) and whiteness (lee and bhuyan ) , social work researchers seem to rarely engage in ppr. this is likely due to reasons such as broad scopes of social work practice (i.e., services beyond outpatient therapy), and ethical concerns around the vulnerabilities of social work clients. simulation is well-suited to addresses these realities, and as such is beginning to emerge in social work as a research methodology for the direct observation and analysis of clinical practice. while research on clinical social work practice has historically relied on retrospective data from clinicians and clients (wilkins and jones *) through surveys, interviews, and focus groups, sbr might provide a promising research methodology for advancing knowledge and research on social work practice. the purpose of this scoping review was to map out the current state of literature in which simulation was used as an investigative methodology in studying practice competencies of clinical social work. while methodological reports have been published in other healthcare fields (e.g., beullens et al. ; cheng et al. ) , there is no similar methodological report focused on social work. knowledge synthesis of existing relevant literature can lead to the advancement of this burgeoning area of research and assist clinical social workers in understanding how sbr aligns with practice and can contribute to their work. scoping review is a methodology particularly suitable for the current study as we seek to explicate the key concepts of sbr as a new area of research and documenting its emerging evidence (munn et al. ) . research questions guiding this scoping review were: ( ) what are the characteristics of studies of clinical social work competencies that used simulation as a research methodology?; ( ) how is simulation-based data used in the studies of practice competencies?; and ( ) what benefits and limitations are there in the use of simulation as a research methodology in studying clinical social work practice competencies? scoping review is a knowledge synthesis methodology through which researchers "comprehensively summarize and synthesize evidence with the aim of informing practice, programs and policy and providing direction to future research priorities" (colquhoun et al. (colquhoun et al. , p. . we conducted this scoping review to synthesize the existing knowledge on the use of simulation-based data for research on practice competencies in order to guide future sbr and guide practice. we closely followed arksey and o'malley's framework ( ) , which consists of the following five stages enhanced by levac et al. ( ) : ( ) identifying research questions, ( ) identifying relevant studies, ( ) selecting studies based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, ( ) charting data, and ( ) collating, summarizing and reporting the results. in enhancing the study rigor, we also followed the prisma extension for scoping reviews (prisma-scr) guidelines (tricco et al. ). and journal of teaching in social work. this -year timeframe was set for the hand search because simulation is a relatively new method and was not common in social work prior to . finally, we also checked the reference lists of the relevant articles and consulted with a group of experts to ensure that we did not miss any other studies. using our content expertise, the lead author (ka) and a second team member (ks) worked together to develop the following inclusion criteria to identify empirical studies written in english and published in peer-review journals: ( ) used simulation-based data (e.g., live sps, video-recordings of sps, virtual reality, data available from osce), ( ) examined practice competencies (i.e., knowledge, values, and skills) related to clinical social work, and ( ) included study samples comprised of social workers, social work students, or social work supervisors. we included any type of study design, and there were no geographical or time restrictions in our study selection. we excluded studies that used real clients or peer-based role plays, as simulation is designed to provide a realistic practice environment without engaging real clients or those with pre-existing relationships. we also excluded studies that used any static format of case studies, such as written-, audio-or image-based vignette as simulation is designed to create a dynamic, immersive practice situation for study participants. additionally, we excluded studies with the following characteristics: ( ) study participation of social workers, social work students or social work supervisors was unclear, ( ) the primary study purpose was on the evaluation of simulation-based education or training, including those studies in which competencies were measured (e.g., skills improvement among students as a result of simulation-based learning), and ( ) the focus was on macro social work practice competencies (e.g., community organizing, policy-making). these inclusion and exclusion criteria were iteratively developed as the team became familiar with existing literature. we also contacted authors when information provided was unclear and excluded the studies when we did not receive clear answers from the authors. all titles and abstracts from the initial database search (n = ) were reviewed independently by two members (rg, sb) for eligibility. inter-rater agreement was % for this screening step based on a calibration exercise. any conflicting decisions were resolved by the lead author (ka) in consultation with another member (ks). then three members (ka, rg, sb) screened full articles (n = ) for eligibility. inter-rater agreement was % for this screening step based on a calibration exercise. we used covidence, a web-based platform for scoping and systematic reviews, for the screening process. finally, we conducted a hand-search of reference lists of the included articles. in consultation between two authors (ka, ks), we developed a data extraction form which was piloted and used to chart following categories of data: the year of publication, study location, target competencies, study sample, scope of clinical practice, type of simulation-based data used (e.g., live sp, virtual reality), study design, rationale for using simulation-based data, simulation case development, data analysis, methodological strengths and limitations. three team members (ka, rg, sb) independently reviewed each of the identified articles (n = ) and charted the data. finally, we conducted qualitative content analysis (sandelowski ) (msw)) or (ab(bsw) or ti(bsw)) or (ab(social near/ (work* or casework* or case-work*)) or ti(social near/ (work* or casework* or case-work*))) or (ab(case near/ work*) or ti(case near/ work*)) or (ab(socialwork*) or ti(socialwork*)) or (ab(social-work*) or ti(social-work*)) or (ab(casework*) or ti(casework*)) or (ab(case-work*) or ti(case-work*)) or ((ab(clinician* or supervis*) or ti(clinician* or supervis*)) and noft(social-work or socialwork)) or (ab(child near/ (welfare or protection)) or ti(child near/ (welfare or protection)))) or mainsubject.exact("social workers") or mainsubject.exact("psychiatric social workers") or mainsubject.exact("social casework") or mainsubject.exact("social group work") or mainsubject.exact("social work education")) simulation (((ab((simulat* or sample or standard* or virtual* or computer*) near/ (patient* or client* or practice)) or ti((simulat* or sample or standard* or virtual* or computer*) near/ (patient* or client* or practice))) or (ab(objective near/ structur*) or ti(objective near/ structur*)) or (ab(("role play" or "role played" or "role player" or "role players" or "role playing" or "role plays")) or ti(("role play" or "role played" or "role player" or "role players" or "role playing" or "role plays"))) or (ab(roleplay*) or ti(roleplay*)) or (ab(vignette*) or ti(vignette*)) or (ab(patient near/ instructor*) or ti(patient near/ instructor*)) or (ab(spi) or ti(spi)) or ((ab(sp) or ti(sp)) and noft(patient*)) or (ab(hps) or ti(hps)) or (ab(osce) or ti(osce)) or (ab(sbl) or ti(sbl))) or mainsubject.exact("simulation") or mainsubject.exact("role playing") or mainsubject.exact("vignette measure") or mainsubject.exact("computer simulation") or mainsubject.exact("virtual reality")) of the extracted data. any discrepancies or disagreements were discussed and resolved in the weekly team meetings. the lead author (ka) made the final decisions in consultation with another member of the team (ks), using our content expertise. the initial database search resulted in articles, and after removing duplicates, we had , articles remaining. a total of full text articles remained after the title and abstract exclusions. after the team members (ka, rg, sb) independently screened full text articles, we excluded as they did not meet the inclusion criteria (e.g., methods used were not considered simulation; study purpose were not on clinical practice competencies) and had articles included for the study. we also identified an additional articles through the hand-search of relevant journals and reference lists. taken together, a total sample of articles met the criteria for this scoping review (see fig. : prisma flowchart). in addressing the first research question, we examined the study characteristics of social work studies, in which simulation was used to study clinical practice competencies (e.g., knowledge, values, skills). table summarizes the characteristics of the selected articles. most of the articles (n = , %) were published after . the majority of the articles reported studies conducted in north america, with articles from canada ( %) and six from the u.s. ( %). the remaining articles were from the united kingdom (n = , %) and denmark (n = , %). the study designs were almost evenly divided between qualitative and quantitative, with qualitative ( %) and quantitative ( %) articles, while mixed-methods studies were reported in three articles ( %). most articles involved social work students and/or social work practitioners: social work students (n = , %), social workers (n = , %), or both students and social workers (n = , %). a small number of articles involved study samples of interprofessional groups (n = , %) and social work supervisors (n = , %). sample size of those who participated in simulation varied, ranging from *) to (macdonell et al. . approximately half of the articles (n = , %) reported a sample size of or less, while a sample size larger than was reported in three articles ( %). in terms of the target competencies studied within the articles, the most common area was clinicians' professional decision-making (n = , %), for instance, in reporting of child abuse (e.g., leblanc et al. *; tufford et al. *) and assessing suicide risk (e.g., regehr et al. regehr et al. *, . five articles ( %) examined the role of the clinicians' cognitive skills and/or emotional reactions and states (bogo et al. *; reeves et al. *; sewell et al. *; tufford et al. ). an additional five articles ( %) examined culture and diversity related to clinical practice, such as cultural empathy (garcia et al. *) , stereotypes (kurtz et al. *) , ethnicity (maki *) table shows a synthesis of the selected articles. to address the second research question of how simulationbased data are used in the studies of clinical competencies, we examined whether researchers provided a rationale for using simulation as a research methodology. we also looked into what types of simulation researchers used and whether and how researchers described the case development. finally, we identified how simulation-based data were used and analyzed in studying practice competencies. approximately half of the articles (n = , %) reported a rationale for using simulation as a research methodology, while the other half ( %) did not describe relevant information on why simulation-based data was used to answer their research questions. specific rationale located in the selected articles is discussed as methodological strengths in the subsequent section. about half of the articles (n = , %) reported using live sps (i.e., trained actors) to simulate a social work practice scenario. in six articles ( %), researchers used data collected during the osces for secondary data analysis. all of these studies (e.g., bogo et al. *; logie et al. *) used participants' qualitative reflection on their engagement with sps as a data source. in four studies ( %), researchers developed and used video-based case vignettes as a source of data. researchers reported filming simulated interactions between sps and practitioners in three of those articles (eskelinen and caswell *; kurtz et al. *; stone *), while an sp monologue was filmed and used as a data source in one article (maki *) . virtual reality was used in one article (reeves et al. *) to develop a virtual patient and an immersive practice environment in studying participants' emotional response to child protection. most of the articles (n = , %) described the process of developing simulated case scenarios, while no relevant information was located in seven articles ( %). of the articles, researchers described specific processes of how the case vignettes were developed, with two common practices identified: ( ) consultation with practitioners or experts during the case development phase (e.g., bogo reported an sp training. the degree of descriptions of sp training, however, varied. some provided no information other than sps being trained, while others described assisting sps in consistently enacting the case scenarios on both verbal (i.e., key phrases to use) and non-verbal elements (e.g., emotional intensity) of communication. in the articles that reported using qualitative research (n = ), most researchers examined participants' written or verbal reflections on their simulated practice (e.g., osces, with live sps) in studying practice competencies. for the most part, qualitative methodologies were employed for studies that aimed to conceptualize practice competencies that are not yet well studied, such as cognitive and affective skills (e.g., sewell et al. *; tufford et al. ) and engaging culture and diversity in practice (e.g., garcia to address the third research question, we reviewed the selected articles to examine benefits and limitations associated with using simulation as a research methodology. despite the fact that the use of simulation is a novel and innovative methodology in social work research, there was surprisingly little relevant discussion found. in terms of strengths of using simulation as a research methodology, three themes emerged: simulation offers ( ) in reviewing the selected articles, several limitations were noted in relation to using simulation as a research methodology. first, a few researchers (e.g., forrester et al. ( *) and maki ( *) cautioned that, not using real clients with real presenting problems, the use of simulation is not suitable for researchers if their research questions involve client outcomes (e.g., impacts of therapeutic alliance on clients; improvement in client presenting concerns). finally, two articles (regehr et al. *; stone *) suggested issues related to socio-cultural diversity in simulated case scenarios (e.g., only white simulated clients). especially for a study of social work practice, the use of simulation might limit its applicability and relevance to real life clinical practice if the simulated cases do not reflect the sociocultural diversities present in contemporary social work practice. we identified articles in this scoping review focused on the use of simulation as an investigative methodology (i.e., sbr) for researching clinical social work competencies. we synthesized the characteristics of relevant studies, the ways in which simulation-based data are used in research on clinical competencies, and relevant methodological benefits and limitations of sbr. results on the characteristics of the selected articles suggest that the use of simulation is a relatively new methodology in clinical social work, with a majority of articles published in the last ten years. given the small number of articles published prior to and the large number of articles using data available from osce-based student assessment, the emergence of simulation-based teaching in social work for the last ten years (kourgiantakis et al. ) has likely played an important role in vitalizing sbr. while social work competence consists of a number of elements-the worker's knowledge, values, skills, and cognitive and affective processes (cswe ) , only a few areas of competence were studied in the selected articles. previously, a written case vignette method was often used in the studies of various social work competencies, most notably professional decision-making (e.g., ashton ; stokes and schmidt ) , social work values (e.g., walden et al. ; wilks ) and attitudes about marginalized populations (e.g., camilleri and ryan ; schoenberg and ravdal ) . in comparison to the onedimensional and static nature of written vignettes, simulation stimulates dynamic and immersive practice situations for researchers. as sbr becomes commonplace in social work, researchers might consider expanding target competencies to study in the future, such as assessment, diagnosis and treatment planning. another important point to note is the use of sbr for conceptualizing the role of cognition and emotion in social work practice (e.g., bogo et al. *; sewell et al. *) . the notion of competency was re-conceptualized a few years ago (cswe ) to recognize the important role of clinicians' cognitive and affective processes in social work practice. direct observation of and reflection on practice allowed researchers to explicate and translate these rather abstract concepts into concrete competency-based skillsets. as sbr has played an essential role in advancing the conceptualization of cognitive and affective processes, perhaps a similar research process can be used to identify and explicate other important competencies relevant to clinical practice, such as navigating countertransference, working with a therapeutic impasse, and engaging in an anti-oppressive clinical practice. strengthening partnerships between researchers and practicing clinicians can ensure complex practice realities frame future research efforts, resulting in generating relevant knowledge for enhancing practice. in terms of the current use of simulation as a research methodology, most sbr in social work have hired and trained live sps in creating an immersive, dynamic and realistic practice environment for research. one scarcity observed here was the use of virtual simulation as a platform for research. given recent technological advancement and a great need for remote, often online-based, practice especially felt during the covid- pandemic, however, it seems that virtual simulation poses much promise in enhancing the use of simulation in social work research. much has been written about the utility of virtual simulation in the teaching and learning of social work practice (e.g., asakura et al. ; asakura et al. in press; washburn et al. ) . given that the data collected during the osces have been used and analyzed for the studies of practice competencies, researchers might consider collecting data through these pedagogical innovations and research clinical competencies in a virtual environment. case development was another important area which emerged in our review study. there seems to be three components that can guide case development in future sbr. first, development of a realistic and trustworthy client case, an unarguably essential element of case development, can be further facilitated when the case is closely grounded in people's real experiences. here we can draw from a robust body of literature on simulation-based social work education. scenarios should contain detailed information about the client's history, current cognitive and emotional patterns, and key verbatim responses to use kourgiantakis et al. ; sewell et al. *) . furthermore, scenarios can be developed in consultation with social work practitioners or experts in the area (e.g., bogo et al. *; logie et al. *; regehr et al. a*) . consultation with service users might also help the researchers in strengthening the trustworthiness of the scenarios when relevant and feasible. the second key component is sp training for live sp or video-recorded simulation. this training might involve rehearsing the scenario with the sp and assisting the sp in demonstrating verbal content and non-verbal communications (e.g., facial expression, tone of voice) relevant to the vignette (e.g., leblanc et al. *; sewell et al. *) . finally, pilot-testing of the case vignette with social workers and experts of a particular scope of practice might further strengthen the face validity and authenticity of the simulation used in the study. results of our review study offer two key points for when to use this methodology and why. first, sbr offers an ethical fit for research on social work practice. studying actual clinical sessions, ppr is a strong methodology for observing real-time data on clinical practice (knobloch-fedders et al. ) . ppr, however, typically involves the observation of therapeutic relationships over time (i.e., longitudinal research) and requires longer-term, intensive involvement from clients (tsang et al. ) . social workers also often work in ethically sensitive, mandated social and health service contexts (bogo ) , such as child protection, residential treatment, prisons, and inpatient hospitals. in these non-voluntary settings, social workers often work with vulnerable populations without alternative access to treatment. our scoping review suggests that accessing actual client sessions might not be the most ethically appropriate research methodology for social work. by simulating a realistic and trustworthy practice situation, sbr offers a methodological solution to researching social work practice that otherwise could not be observed due to legal and ethical reasons without involving or putting actual clients at risk for potential harm. the second key point derived from this review study is a methodological fit between simulation and research on practice competencies. simulation allows for the alignment and standardization of the practice environment, client characters, and scenarios for a specific research purpose. this finding corroborates the arguments made by sbr in medicine and other healthcare disciplines (e.g., cheng et al. ; halamek ) . actual client-worker interactions as seen in ppr are uniquely different and often unpredictable depending on the client's presenting concerns and the client-worker relational dynamics. while actual clinician-client therapeutic processes need to be observed (i.e., ppr) when the study involves client outcomes, sbr might be better suited when researchers' primary goal is to theorize or examine practice competencies. designing and standardizing a specific case scenario allows researchers to control these variables, at least to some extent, and more easily identify similarities and differences in how research participants demonstrate various elements of practice competencies. the current review study found that there is a rather inconsistent inclusion of a methodological rationale for using simulation as an investigative tool in the current social work sbr articles. although half of the articles included a brief mention of a rationale, overall, a robust argument was missing as to why simulation was the most suitable methodology for their respective study purpose and inquiry. we suggest that researchers make concerted efforts to make explicit a rationale for using simulation-based data in answering their respective research questions. additionally, there was no clear consensus about how social work researchers might approach study design and data analysis of simulation-based data. there was insufficient information in the current study to suggest when and how to use quantitative or mixed methods in social work sbr. we found that qualitative approaches might be suitable for a collection and analysis of post-simulated practice reflection, especially for the purpose of identifying or assessing under-studied clinical competencies (e.g., attending to culture and diversity in logie et al. *; cognitive and affective processes in sewell et al. *) . nonetheless, no qualitative study was identified in which simulation-based data were analyzed inductively from the participants' practice. this points to the importance of articulating promising data collection methods for directly observing clinical practice (e.g., using video equipment) and data analytic methods for qualitative coding as a priority for further advancement of sbr. as those involved in medical or other healthcare sbr pointed out an absence of methodological best practices for this novel research methodology (e.g., cheng et al. ; guise et al. ; siminoff et al. ) , this is an area that merits continuing attention also from social work sbr researchers. a disconnect between researchers and clinicians and between research and practice has been long noted in social work (gehlert et al. ) . consultation with practicing clinicians in developing and pilot-testing vignettes as noted in many of the papers in this review (e.g., leblanc et al. *) can enhance the accurate representation of client situations without reliance on stereotypes. this can also enhance the validity for simulations and the overall value of research findings. given that the very purpose of simulation is to create a practice situation closely grounded in everyday clinical practice, active involvement from clinical social workers can only strengthen the quality of sbr and knowledge development in clinical social work. sbr provides a uniquely important opportunity for practiceinformed research (cswe ) , in which researchers and clinicians can collaboratively work together in designing and conducting meaningful studies serving the needs of practitioners and grounded in the perspectives of clinicians and their clients. one limitation of any literature review, including this scoping review, is potential omission of some relevant studies (peters et al. ) . due to the time and resource constraints (e.g., access to databases), we focused our review on relevant articles published in peer-review journals through the databases available in our university library system. our review also excluded dissertations, books, book chapters, grey literature, and those published in non-english languages. as another limitation of this scoping review, we did not assess the quality of each empirical study included in this review. given the novelty of sbr in social work, however, this scoping review aimed to provide a snapshot of current relevant literature, not to critically appraise research quality. in order to maintain study rigor, we used multiple independent reviewers for each and every phase of the review (i.e., screening, study selection, and charting) and followed the prisma-scr checklist for reporting (tricco et al. ). these methods were designed to increase overall consistency, transparency and safeguards against biases throughout the study. in this scoping review, we synthesized the current social work literature (n = ) in which simulation was used as an investigative methodology in studying clinical social work competencies. sbr offers a promising methodological solution to building knowledge about what clinical competencies might look like and how clinicians can engage various knowledge, values, and skills into a unique practice situation. the proximation to practice means the findings from studies using this methodology can provide relevant insight and serve to support clinical social workers. recognizing both strengths and limitations of this novel research methodology, continued engagement with and investment in sbr can only advance the literature on clinical social work practice. scoping studies: towards a methodological framework teaching note-social work serial: using simulated client sessions to teach social work practice a call to action on artificial intelligence and social work education: lessons learned from a simulation project using natural language processing worker judgements of seriousness about and reporting of suspected child maltreatment the use of standardized patients in research in general practice social work practice: integrating concepts, processs & skills adapting objective structured clinical examinations to assess social work students' performance and reflections toward understanding meta-competence: an analysis of students' 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assessment of child abuse risk whatever happened to qualitative description? research in nursing and health using vignettes in awareness and attitudinal research cognitive and affective processes: msw students' awareness and coping through simulated interviews the advantages and challenges of unannounced standardized patients methodology to assess healthcare communication child protection decision making: a factorial analysis using case vignettes approved mental health professionals and detention: an exploration of professional differences and simularities prisma extension for scoping reviews (prisma-scr): checklist and explanation critical issues in cross-cultural counseling research: case example of an ongoing project engagement in crosscultural clinical practice: narrative analysis of first sessions how do social workers respond to potential child neglect? social work education examining metacompetence in graduating bsw students student reflections with a dyadic objective structured clinical examination (osce) adapted for social work ethical decision making in human services: a comparative study a pilot feasibility study of virtual patient simulation to enhance social work students' brief mental health assessment skills. social work in health care a systematic review of the use of simulated patients and pharmacy practice research simulating supervision: how do managers respond to a crisis? evaluating the quality of social work supervision in uk children's services: comparing self-report and independent observations the use of vignettes in qualitative research into social work values how do medical students respond to emotional cues and concerns expressed by simulated patients during osce consultations?-a multilevel study key: cord- -zx g dyg authors: hardon, anita title: chemical / date: - - journal: chemical youth doi: . / - - - - _ sha: doc_id: cord_uid: zx g dyg this chapter shines a light on what happens in the dark: specifically, we present ethnographic insights from the nightlife economy and how chemicals enable youth to work “ / .” producers, promoters, djs, hosts, artists, performers, drag queens, musicians, stage managers, bartenders, hospitality girls, and dancers from amsterdam, brooklyn, bira (indonesia), and puerto princesa (the philippines) share with the chemicalyouth team the various stimulants they use to stay awake and perform their jobs during non-typical working hours, and the other chemicals that they take in order to be able to sleep and recover afterwards. in chemical / we compare and contrast the chemical practices of youth working at leisure industry sites in the global north to those of the low-income service sector and manual workers in the global south, and discuss how these different working conditions perpetuate chemical use. our interlocutors rely on a range of chemicals for their work and social lives, and they develop practices to moderate their use in order to avoid adverse effects. yet their practices differ depending on the availability, marketing, and policing of the substances. nightwork-meaning all jobs that are executed during nighttimeincreased as cities became connected to electricity in the early twentieth century, and as economies became more connected globally through the internet. in the current "gig economy"-dominated by those jobs in which people are paid by the task, rather than receiving a fixed salarywork never stops. part of this "performance" has to do with adapting to the different temporal demands of the labor market-in other words, the management of sleep and wakefulness. as crary ( , p. ) notes, our modern economies " [undermine] distinction between day and night, between light and dark, and between action and repose … the planet becomes re-imagined as a non-stop work site or an always open shopping mall of infinite choices, tasks, selections, and digression." but working at night is not necessarily good for us. melatonin, the hormone involved in the regulation of our biological clock, is released when we are exposed to daylight. our bodies follow circadian rhythms of approximately -hour cycles, and as kamps warned me, these rhythms have an impact on our mental and metabolic health (roenneberg et al. ) . humans have a long history using chemicals to tinker with our circadian rhythms, with caffeine being the most ubiquitous substance used to stay awake, one that is accepted globally as beneficial despite its addictive properties. historians trace the use of coffee back to the fifth century, in the sufi monasteries of mocha, now known as yemen (weinberg and bealer ) . caffeine stimulates the central nervous system by blocking the action of adenosine (which causes drowsiness) on its receptors. the popular food writer pollan ( ) , in a recent analysis of caffeine, suggests that without this substance the industrial revolution wouldn't have happened. studies in sports medicine attest to caffeine's positive effects in adults, including increased endurance and strength, improved reaction time, and delayed fatigue (graham ; sökmen et al. ) . adverse effects of caffeine, if taken in high amounts, include disturbed sleep, increased blood pressure, and physical addiction. caffeine is considered safe to ingest up to about mg per day (or two cups of coffee). in addition to caffeine, those working at night often resort to cocaine and amphetamines for stamina and to stay awake. the use of cocaine for endurance goes back to the incas in peru who for thousands of years have chewed coca leaves for this purpose. the alkaloid cocaine, derived from the plant, was only isolated in the mid-nineteenth century. amphetamines were discovered shortly thereafter by chemists. in on speed rasmussen ( ) traces the history of this category of drugs, showing how early twentieth-century pharmacies in the united states sold invigorating tonics containing cocaine and nasal decongestants containing amphetamines. its first major use was during world war ii, when soldiers used it to boost their performance and alertness, and to suppress appetite (see also braswell ; rawson et al. ) . in japan, it was given to soldiers before they performed their "kamikaze" suicide bombing missions; in england, million amphetamine tablets were made available to pilots so they would not fall asleep (braswell ) . three years after the war, in , the japanese ministry of health prohibited the production of both tablet and powder form of methamphetamine. similar moves were made in the united states but, interestingly, the medical establishment continued to defend its legal status and deny its addictive potential. it was only when its use grew further, and more evidence about its addictive potential came to light, that the united states finally passed the drug control act (rawson et al. ) . nowadays cocaine is an illegal drug. amphetamines are sold legally as prescription tablets for adhd, while methamphetamine is an illegal drug, sold on the street as "crystal" and "ice," and consumed in many different ways: ingested pills, snorted powder, injected liquid, or smoked (rawson et al. ) . like caffeine, cocaine and methamphetamines increase alertness, strength, and coordination, while also increasing blood pressure and stimulating the heart rate (koob et al. ). both drugs cause pupils to dilate, allowing more light in, which activates our daytime metabolism (paul et al. ). the pharmacological actions of cocaine and methamphetamine differ: cocaine works fast and is quickly removed from the body, while methamphetamines have a much longer duration of action, making it harder to sleep after using them and increasing the risk of addiction. cocaine prolongs dopamine action in nerve cells, by blocking dopamine reabsorption, while methamphetamines work by both blocking dopamine re-uptake and increasing its release, leading to higher concentrations of the neurotransmitter in cells, which can be toxic. long-term adverse effects of methamphetamines include insomnia, confusion, memory loss, and psychiatric conditions such as psychosis (national institute on drug abuse ). social scientists have pointed to the widespread use of caffeinecontaining "energy drinks" and the off-label use of drugs indicated for attention deficit hyperactive disorder (adhd), such as ritalin and dexamphetamine, by students trying to increase their focus and attention when studying, and to stay up late when partying. but these studies generally focus on student populations. in this chapter, we present ethnographic insights on the use of various stimulants to stay awake and fight fatigue by workers in the nighttime leisure economy, the bartenders, djs, sound technicians, photographers, and event organizers who must perform professionally during the night. we contrast the / chemical practices in brooklyn and amsterdam, two leisure industry sites in the global north, with the / chemical practices of low-income service sector and manual workers in our field sites in the global south: puerto princesa and cagayan de oro (the philippines), and makassar (indonesia). here the substances are not only used to stay awake, but also to endure heavy physical labor. we find that practices differ depending on the availability, marketing, and policing of the various legal and illegal stimulants, and that risks are shaped by the structure of everyday life, the rhythms of stimulant use, and workplace policies. we also show howacross the sites-users moderate intake in order to avoid adverse effects, including their negative influence on the quality of sleep, and how they mitigate such effects by using other substances, such as cannabis or alcohol, to calm down. in brooklyn and amsterdam our youth ethnographers conducted focused research on the nighttime leisure industry, with tait mandler studying diy queer parties in brooklyn and daan kamps studying popular clubs in amsterdam. in these field sites, event managers organize the artists, barkeepers provide drinks, djs create music, and sound technicians fine tune it. mandler and kamps found that the workers in these entertainment spaces balanced their engagement in the party and staying fit for work. all moderated their alcohol intake and they took stimulants to stay alert till the end of the night. mandler ( ) observes that work in these sites is an inherently contradictory activity. when working, they have to appear to be enjoying themselves; leisure activities themselves become work. cocaine helps workers be productive and enjoy themselves in their nighttime jobs. our interlocutors in these two cities presented themselves as experienced moderators of circadian rhythms. they had developed personal strategies of stimulant use, aimed at generating the right amount of alertness, while also enabling pleasure at work. they scheduled their use around work and other responsibilities, monitored their dosage to ensure moderation, and took breaks from using when necessary. but all attested to the heavy toll that nightwork has on their bodies, especially if they combine nightwork with daytime jobs, or coursework, both of which require rapid transitions from night wakefulness to daytime alertness. in brooklyn, mandler ( mandler ( , found that the most common chemicals used to stay awake during the night shift were energy drinks, cocaine, and the adhd drug adderall. cocaine helped his interlocutors stay alert during shifts, while also engaging in the party, which was a challenge. jett, a bartender, said that after working in a bar for around six months, he realized that everyone around him was sniffing cocaine all the time. jett preferred energy drinks because they were free to employees in the establishment (which was sponsored by an energy drink manufacturer). mandler ( ) also found that many night workers combined day and nighttime jobs. joshua, a drag queen and visual artist, described how they (joshua's preferred pronoun) managed working hours in two days with only a few hours of sleep: that morning i go to work all day, so i'll have a coffee there. i get home around : pm or pm. … [i] get to the club around : pm … and drink a big non-alcoholic drink to bookend the night with. like seltzer and a fruit juice … then right around midnight i start drinking … something like vodka with a fruit mixer. throughout the night i'll probably have two and half of those. maybe someone had coke and i've done a bump [small snort] or two. around am or : am i'll have left the club … i'll sleep for three and half or four hours before i have to get up and go to work where i'll drink a little coffee. (mandler , p. ) alice produced underground queer events in warehouses that usually started around pm and continued well past am. she also worked for a nightlife magazine and was active on social media, which has made her a popular party host. alice explained that she did not really enjoy the nightlife culture and was mainly interested in her own friends. however, her job was to promote events as if they were going to make for the best night ever. she didn't drink much at these parties, but made sure to hold a drink; this made her feel as if she was engaged in the party, and dissuaded people from asking why she was not drinking. if she consumed alcohol, she said, she could not produce the parties well, and she would be tired before they were over. cocaine, in contrast, helped her be more assertive, "but sometimes this also [led] her to stand on the stage at the end of a party and watch the crowd dance to the final songs in awe" (mandler , p. ) . for cassandra, and many other nightlife workers, the use of cocaine was not the event of the night. they moderated use, spacing and sharing it, as dan explains: i take smaller bumps, i try not to do a whole line. i space it out throughout the night. also sharing kind of helps. if i'm going to do some and i have someone else to do it with, it sort of tricks me. (mandler , p. ) val explained that he preferred cocaine because it: doesn't really affect my ability to judge … so that's sort of the stimulant choice. i don't like coffee; it wrecks my stomach. i hate things like adderall, they're too strong. cocaine is light and it can keep me awake and after i get home i'll fall asleep maybe an hour later. (mandler , p. ) moderating their substance use was a common goal among these nightlife workers. they monitored the chemical use of their friends, specifically checking if it negatively affected their ability to function on the job or socially; and used the same criteria to evaluate their own chemical practice. some limited themselves to a few drinks or bumps. even so, at times, they felt that they had gone too far, at which point they took a break from using a specific drug, or even all chemicals (mandler ) . kamps interviewed people who work in amsterdam clubs. he recorded systematically which stimulants they used to stay alert and awake at work. out of the participants, drank energy drinks and/or coca cola, consumed amphetamines (including adhd drugs), and used cocaine. as was the case in brooklyn, the workers he spoke with asserted that they had developed personal strategies to stay awake and alert on the job. many smoked cigarettes and drank alcohol; the two go well together, they said. alcohol helped them feel more engaged with and connected to the clients at the clubs. but they felt compelled to moderate their alcohol consumption so as not to become too drunk to work. event organizers and venue programmers are responsible for the overall success of the party. they pick up the djs, manage the guest list, decorate the venue, and are present for the sound check. they feel responsible for getting the dance floor filled and creating the euphoric ambience. maarten, a venue manager used cocaine to stay alert and be sociable when preparing for events and to tune in with the atmosphere of the party. meike, an event organizer and hostess, said she often worked long, -hour shifts, till am the next morning. besides taking smoking breaks, she often drank club mate, which she combined with vodka. club mate is an energy drink with mg caffeine per ml and low sugar content (less sugar than red bull). nadine, too, who worked as a barkeeper, used cocaine for energy, alertness, and confidence. djs need to keep the crowd going through the night. sander, a well-known dj, talked about using adhd drugs to keep up the vibe. his girlfriend had been diagnosed with adhd and prescribed dexamphetamine. before he left for work in the evening, sander usually took two mg tablets of dexamphetamine, and then took another dose if he felt tired during the night. sander said that dextroamphetamine worked well: it kept him alert, without anyone noticing that he had taken drugs. the djs interviewed by kamps all attested to the highly desirable effects of amphetamines. the substances create very energetic states of being that contribute to the party atmosphere. the sound technician makes sure the music reaches the audience as well as possible. "being alert and focused-paying continuous attention to sound levels, depth, clarity, and space-is of utmost importance, and the longer the event lasts, the greater the challenge," explained one sound tech (kamps and hymans forthcoming, , p. ). another said that he used red bull in the early hours of the morning (around am), when he became unable to hear certain frequencies. kamps also talked with night workers about what they did to catch some sleep after work, especially after using amphetamines (the effects can last for around - hours, see keogh ) . his informants told him that, to ensure sleep, they stopped taking amphetamines around - am and smoked some cannabis once they got home. others used melatonin to reset their biological clocks. but other factors also could keep them awake. if a performance or event went particularly well, the excitement could still be palpable after returning home. for the event organizers, whether money was made or lost greatly affected their state of being; returning home, they often sat on the couch, contemplating, with images of the evening going through their heads, what went well and what went wrong. these emotions, together with the rhythm of their internal body clocks and the chemical stimulants still coursing through their bodies, made it hard to fall asleep, even if they actually felt tired. andy explained that one could be exhausted yet unable to fall asleep: you might lay in bed at seven in the morning, be half asleep for three hours and then be fully awake again around eleven." he would then get out of bed. bart described the same phenomenon: "your body is fully awake but your brain is lagging behind." (kamps and hymans forthcoming, , p. ) our fieldwork in leisure sites in amsterdam and brooklyn showed that these nightlife workers were cautious users of stimulants, striving to meet the various demands of their nighttime work. many used cocaine, which has as an advantage that its effect fades fast, allowing the workers to sleep when they get home. but amphetamines, in the form of adhd drugs or speed, were also used often, and these made sleeping harder. in addition, several workers managed their stamina with energy drinks, which generally contain around mg of caffeine per ml (similar to a cup of coffee). while moderating their stimulant use, and complementing it with other substances such as cannabis and melatonin to sleep, many of the interlocutors admitted to feeling burned out over time, which they attributed not only to their substance use but also simply to the lack of daylight in their lives. in the philippines and indonesia our focused ethnographies examined how young people used stimulants to have energy and strength enough to conduct physically challenging work, laboring long hours as porters, construction workers, and security guards. the use of amphetamines as fuel for labor in asia has been observed by sherman and colleagues ( ) , who describe how methamphetamines-called yaba (crazy drugs) in its pill form in thailand, and shabu in its powder form (also known as crystal meth) in indonesia and the philippinesentered the market in the s to enhance performance in physically demanding roles. a young construction worker in thailand reports: i felt i could work more and earn more as well… when we delivered cement powder, we got baht for one trailer… if we didn't take yaba we would be able to deliver only one or two trailers. but when we took yaba we became diligent. (sherman et al. , p. ) participating in the chemicalyouth project, lasco examined the use of shabu among unemployed young men hustling for work in a philippines harbor city. they worked as tambays (stand-by) porters in the harbor, vendors to the bus passengers that frequent the port, and occasionally at night as sex workers. their work comprised of long hours hanging around till boats and buses arrived. some of them combined working as a porter with selling freshly roasted peanuts and drinks to bus passengers. lasco learned that their work as street vendors also, ocassionally, involved stealing mobile phones from travelers, joining in "car-napping operations," and engaging in sex work. lasco described how his informants killed time while "standing by" by smoking cigarettes, as many as - cigarettes a day. shabu, they asserted, provided them with confidence and stamina, and reduced their inhibitions, allowing them to engage in a multitude of services. one told lasco ( ) , "we are not educated and we have nothing. where will we get the confidence to talk to others, if not from shabu?" (p. ). young men were initiated into shabu inhaling by their barkada, which is both a social and economic group consisting of peers. the cost of one small sachet of shabu, which can be used by three people, is pesos (us $ . ); the paraphernalia, consisting of three bits of aluminum foil and a lighter to heat the substance, was also shared. everyone in a barkada uses shabu, which expresses loyalty, thereby forging social bonding in the group. "scoring" sessions take place in ordinary port houses called "pwesto" (from the spanish "puesto," or place). the owner of the pwesto collects pesos from the users, in exchange for providing them with the security of being in a private home where the substance can be used away from the gaze of the police. the young men said that, after an immediate euphoria, they experience a sustained effect of being "kalmado" (calm) and "ganado" (enthusiastic). they said that using shabu boosted their skills, abilities, and industriousness. like kamps's informants in amsterdam, they treated any insomnia caused by their shabu use with cannabis and red horse beer, which they routinely used to fall asleep. several evenings a week, the barkadas gathered at night to drink alcohol together (inuman); this was leisure time. the costs for these evenings were shared by the whole barkada, unless someone was celebrating his birthday, in which case, the celebrant was expected to foot the bill. in the inuman, red horse often gave way to harder alcohol, such as a brandy called "empi light" (emperador light, % alcohol). alerted to the precariousness of his interlocutors' lives, lasco ( ) calculated how much they spent using multiple substances, as well as how much they earned from various sources. the results are presented in the table . . his findings reveal that the substances cost more than what was actually earned; the shortfall was met by occasionally doing sex work (earning around pesos for oral sex services provided to gay men, and more if anal sex is done), or stealing and selling a mobile phone. lasco writes that, while most of his informants used shabu, there were also a few young men who resisted doing so. one of them explained that users often lost the ability to distinguish between using in order to work, and working in order to use (lasco ) . the users asserted that the greatest danger in using shabu was its illegality, speaking of weekly raids, youths getting jailed, and worries about their safety. they nevertheless perceived the benefits to outweigh the costs. in publishing this case study, lasco decided to not publish the name of the city where he did fieldwork, and we followed his example in this book, worrying that philippine drug authorities might crack down on the young men working in the harbor. little did lasco know that just a year later rodrigo duterte would be elected president, and that he would declare a war on shabu, giving local police officers the green light to shoot any drug user without due process. another focused ethnography in the philippines was conducted by leo diego, who examined stimulant use among security guards in puerto princesa, palawan (diego ) . providing security is the most common job for young men in the philippines, and security guards are an omnipresent feature of contemporary philippine society, seen everywhere, in schools, malls, banks, and other big establishments where people frequent. diego observed that being alert during their long shifts was a key challenge for these workers, and that they relied on energy drinks as the main substance they use to help stay awake. the majority of the participants entered the security industry because of their lack of college degrees; most of them were high school graduates. they worked at pawnshops, banks, department stores, hotels, and schools. work circumstances differed at these sites. the pawnshops demanded a high level of security, as money was exchanged there and had to be protected. security guards in pawnshops were bound to follow a no-sitting policy while on duty. thus, alertness was crucial: as guards, they had to check the body language of customers, distribute forms to be filled out, and make sure that no trouble transpired. banks also hired security guards for the same reason-money matters. working in a bank was full of tension, especially for guards who drove armored vans. with their lives at stake, guards had to pay utmost attention to every movement in their surroundings. on the university campus, the work of security guards was very different. with its almost , students, palawan state university was the largest tertiary educational institution in the province, and security guards were needed to check that students entering the premises had proper identification: no id, no entry. in general, the work of security guards is undervalued in the philippines, with some seeing it as a job for lazy people. many people believe that security guards just stand there, not thinking, all day at their posts. for example, roland, a security guard who worked at a bank, always heard that being a security guard was a job for a bystander, because guards not only just stand and walk at their posts, but can also sleep if no one is watching. roland explained that, because of this misperception, some people from his neighborhood said that when you applied for a security job, it must be your last choice. but ric, a security guard at a mall, defended his work: guards must be conscious of everything that is happening in their vicinity at all times. they must constantly be reading the body language and facial expressions of the people around them. their minds must always be aware of what is to be done in case of unexpected trouble. they must be observant at all times. the greatest challenge reported by security guards was maintaining their alertness and fighting off sleep. this challenge had to do with the long and irregular working hours assigned to security guards. three guards often shared a single post; each of them had to have a shift of eight consecutive hours, and their work schedules could change with little or no notice. despite the stress involved, being a security guard was not a well-paid job. most security guards in puerto princesa earned the minimum wage of us $ per day, or approximately us $ per month. many paid rent to a boarding house, which in puerto princesa cost at least us $ - a month, excluding water and electricity. most guards commuted to work (spending us $ . daily for fare) and bought their lunch (us $ ). most of our interlocutors also supported families and other dependents, and struggled in the face of the rising costs of basic necessities, such as rice, fish, and gasoline. many fell into debt, and lived in a perpetual struggle to pay their bills and promissory notes. the precarious economic situation of most security guards meant that they depended on keeping their jobs, and any absence from work meant that they lost pay. furthermore, many feared being caught sleeping on the job, which could result in an instant dismissal. many security guards thus resorted to chemical stimulants, which they called "pampa-alert," their term for something that can be used to foster alertness. generally, "to be alert" meant being aware of anything in the vicinity. troubles and crimes could come along at any time. in this manner, the guards' lives were at risk, as they were expected to protect people and the establishment for which they are responsible. most security guards were men, and most were on duty at night. some security agencies told us that female guards were not permitted to work the night shift, because, they said, female guards were not on par with male guards in terms of alertness and self-defense. but still, female guards were often found at the entrances of department stores and malls, to name a few. fourteen of the security guards interviewed by diego drank instant coffee to keep themselves awake (nescafe -in- , great taste, and kopiko brown are popular; all contain large amounts of sugar), and of them also drank energy drinks during their shifts, see table . . table . shows the popularity of the cobra energy drink, which was used by of the informants. five of the cobra drinkers specified that they used the energy drink during night shifts. it also shows that half the informants did not smoke cigarettes; the reason for this is the strict anti-smoking policy in puerto princesa, where smoking is only allowed in designated areas. a ml bottle of cobra costs us $ . and contains mg caffeine (the same amount as two cups of coffee; this is about double the content of the energy drinks sold in amsterdam). it also contains b vitamins, ginseng, and sugar. cobra is the market leader in the energy drinks segment of the beverages market in the philippines, accounting for % of sales (euromonitor international ). the brand's bottles are sold in sari-sari stores (informal neighborhood shops) and the brand is heavily advertised on tv and through twitter, facebook, and youtube. everyone in the philippines knows cobra's slogans: "may laban ka" (you're up against it) and "tunay na lakas" (full of strength). its popularity is attributed to the fact that it is promoted by the award-winning filipino actor coco martin (the attractive muscular guy on the left in below advertisement) ( fig. . ) . see fig. . , for an image of a typical neighborhood outlet for cobra; notice how cobra is placed prominently in the store along with coca cola, sprite, and fortune cigarettes. despite the popularity of this energy drink, users' experiences are mixed. bryan, a -year-old security guard at a department store, told us that sometimes when he uses cobra he felt wide awake, but there were also times when he couldn't help falling asleep. charm, a female guard at a university, said that cobra caused her to suffer a urinary tract infection. when she stopped using cobra, she just walked around her post in order to avoid feeling sleepy while on duty. only a few of the security guards admitted to using shabu to stay alert during the night shift, perhaps because puerto princesa has a zero tolerance policy for drug use. one of the guards, joker, told us of how he used shabu when he needed to serve as a shift reliever, meaning he had to be at his post almost hours in a row. he also shared that there was a popular drug called fly high that could also be used to stay alert and was also effective in increasing stamina during sexual intercourse. he said that this drug was a combination of methamphetamine, viagra, and ecstasy, and could be bought for around us $ - per tablet. when asked about the effect of the drug, joker responded, "for three to four days you will not feel hungry, your being awake is continuous, your awareness will be active, you are unstoppable, and you have more stamina for sex" (diego , p. ) . for our final case study, we turn to the use of stimulants by two categories of low-income workers: porters and construction workers in makassar, indonesia. this research was carried out by amalia anwar ( ) in infrastructure development locations (such as housing and offices) that employed construction workers and in the seaport with dockworkers. the manual laborers involved in this study were construction workers ( men and women) and dockworkers (all men), aged between and years (fig. . ) . energy drinks, which are classified as "health drinks" in indonesia, were the most commonly used stimulants in these fieldwork sites. kuku bima and extra joss are popular local brands, sold in sachets (us $ . /sachet) in groceries and informal stalls, and mixed with water by vendors (as illustrated in fig. . ) . advertisements for such drinks in various print and electronic media are plentiful and varied, with provocative slogans such as "lelaki pemberani " (brave man), "jiwa laki bukan pengecut " (men's souls not cowardly), and "extra joss, perfect goal" (aired during the world football championships) that stimulate men to buy and consume them. the sachets are also marketed by sales promotion girls, see fig. . . the ad for kukubima ener-g drink features ade rai, an athlete and artist, and shows a picture of his muscular body, evoking strength and vitality, accompanied by a picture of ginseng, which is known for its virility enhancement effects. the slogans of such ads promote not only masculinity-for example, with slogans like these: ( country, fresh, full of energy, real energy)-but also competition (the essence of football, secret of the champions, premier energy drink in the world). although advertising plays an important role in promoting the use of energy drinks, workers generally learned about energy drinks from their coworkers who first consumed them. table . lists the contents of the energy drinks that were popular among manual laborers we spoke with. note how all three of the popular brands contain mg of caffeine per sachet along with ginseng, different kinds of vitamin b, flavors, and sweeteners (honey and/or sugar). the main difference is taste. limited rest periods and the heavy workload made it difficult for manual laborers to take a lunch break, so consuming energy drinks became a substitute for lunch. surti ( -year-old construction worker), for example, felt full and energetic after consuming kukubima ener-g, even when she had not eaten. ulla, a -year-old dockworker, admitted to frequently consuming kukubima ener-g (grape flavor) while resting in order to restore her stamina before her next shift. ella and her coworkers would regularly consume such energy drinks in large volumes, often mixing five or six sachets with a jug of cold water. energy drinks were used not only to work during the day but also for overtime shifts. foremen regularly asked workers to work hours a day and to continue working over the weekend to get the job done. ariana, a -year-old construction worker, said she drank energy drinks (extra joss active) only when working overtime, after a -hour shift. for some of our interlocutors, energy drinks were panaceas, used to overcome body aches, increase appetite, and improve sleep quality. the construction workers preferred kukubima ener-g. their foreman bought the sachets for them, and deducted these costs from their salary. ratih, a -year-old, explained: in the workplace, they buy it for us, usually bought in the morning, and also the afternoon, the foreman notes it. usually we make one box of grape flavored kukubima ener-g mixed with milk, mixed with water in a jug, and we drink it together. (anwar , p. ) energy drinks were consumed not only for work but also for fun. after receiving their wages, the construction and dock workers would gather and hang out with friends, staying up late watching movies together while eating junk foods and drinking energy drinks. energy drinks were mixed with milk or with cheap alcohol. our interlocutors explained that the alcoholic mixes made them sleep well, relieved body aches, and strengthened them for work the next day. the widespread use of energy drinks for both work and recreation in our field sites in makassar meant that the workers had a relatively high intake of caffeine. we wondered: did our interlocutors care about the dangers of consuming energy drinks? sari, a -year-old construction worker, claimed she did not know about the high level of caffeine, and was surprised that energy drinks were considered harmful in excess. ruslan, a -year-old dockworker, said that he had tried to consume a m- , but experienced heart palpitations. although extra joss active did not have a negative effect on his body, he preferred kukubima ener-g because of its grape flavor, which he found delicious. asril, a year-old construction worker, moved from one energy drink brand to another. while he found extra joss active tasty, he, like ruslan, preferred kukubima ener-g because of its grape taste; for him, kratingdaeng was not an option because it caused a variety of negative effects: heartburn, dizziness, stomach ulcers, and nausea. kamaruddin, a -year-old dockworker, also chose kukubima ener-g rather than extra joss active, because extra joss active caused a burning sensation in his throat every time he consumed it. among those concerned about the side effects of regularly consuming energy drinks, some had reduced their energy drink consumption, and some were looking for alternatives to overcome tiredness. jamal, a year-old construction worker, had limited his consumption of energy drinks, replacing them with other cold drinks that contain lots of sugar (like teh gelas) or water. others quit consuming energy drinks cold turkey. muhlis, a -year-old dockworker, for example, stopped consuming all energy drinks because he often experienced stomach pain and heat in his throat. he tried to prevent these adverse effects by consuming plain soda water mixed with milk and pilkita-an analgesic drug sold as a "strength drug"-because he believed that the mixture could relieve his pain. ulla, a -year-old dockworker, had replaced energy drinks with a mixture of soda water and raw chicken eggs. scholars of youth have described how young people use stimulantsmostly adhd drugs-to work long hours to keep up with academic requirements, a practice that is considered problematic because it is an "off-label" use and because it may create academic advantage in allowing users to unfairly enhance their performance (coveney et al. ; desantis and hane ; garnier et al. ; mccabe et al. ). however, young people's use of other stimulants like energy drinks to increase productivity has received much less scholarly attention. this is remarkable given the high sales of energy drinks across the globe, as well as the health risks associated with their frequent consumption. one of the rare studies that examines the use of energy drinks by youth found that nearly one in five students of a secondary school in ontario consumed energy drinks to be alert (reid et al. ) . another web-based study conducted across campuses in the united states found that almost half of the respondents had used energy drinks. this study reported that energy drink use was associated with poor sleep and tiredness the next day (patrick et al. ) , an observation also made in a study of energy drinks by us soldiers in afghanistan (cdc ) . researchers at the center for food policy and obesity at yale university (pomeranz et al. ) view the increasing use of energy drinks by youth in the united states as a public health hazard, because the high levels of caffeine in the drinks can lead to caffeine overdose. in addition, they warn that these products contain both high levels of sodium and novel ingredients, such as taurine, guarana, and ginseng, the combined effects of which have been understudied. finally, they point to the heavy advertising of these products to youth through digital media, facebook, and sports events and brands. our approach of examining situated chemical practices allowed our youth ethnographers to observe both the use of stimulants and the use of chemicals to address sleep problems. across our sites in amsterdam, brooklyn, puerto princesa, and makassar, we found that patterns of stimulant use differed. the porters in the philippines earned money not only by carrying wares from buses to boats and back. they also earned money by selling goods and sex. for this interactional labor, they valued the confidence enhancement that amphetamines offer. the security guards whom we interviewed in puerto princesa sought products to keep them awake during their night shifts. for them, energy drinks did the trick. but they earned very little money, and energy drinks took a substantial part of their limited income, which forced them to moderate their use. in indonesia, energy drinks are very cheap, and people used them as a panacea, not only to have stamina at work but also for virility and for bodily aches, and they valued the flavor that energy drinks brought to mixed alcoholic drinks. but the consumption of the caffeine in these drinks can lead to adverse effects, such as heart palpitations and nausea. several of our interlocutors were trying to quit using energy drinks for these reasons. in amsterdam, our ethnographic research found that nightlife workers also used amphetamines to stay alert, but they could easily get ahold of adhd drugs for this purpose. moreover, in both brooklyn and amsterdam night workers often used cocaine, which is much more expensive than crystal meth, to enhance their work performance. both adhd drugs and cocaine have less potential for addiction and less severe adverse effects than crystal meth (nida ). in both cities, users moderated their intake to manage sleep patterns, though the tiredness reported among students in the united states and soldiers in afghanistan is a common feature of the chemicalyouth narratives of our interlocutors. harm reduction programs, designed to mitigate drug harms, fail to recognize the health risks, including tiredness and sleep problems, related to the widespread use of energy drinks and other legal stimulants by youth (hardon and hymans ) . instead, such programs focus on risks of recreational drugs such as heroin, cannabis, and cigarettes and their potential for addiction (see also chapter ). however, since stimulant use for work and school is arguably a bigger problem than recreational use, as it takes place every working/school day and not only occasionally during free time, it is surprising that this area has been overlooked. this everydayness of use adds to the health risks. our field studies suggest that, to address these health risks, student and occupational health programs are needed to not only inform youth of the risks of using stimulants frequently but also to address the study demands and work conditions that give rise to the need for these drugs in the first place. academic cultures place high demands on students, normalizing night work. participating in stress-inducing academic cultures, working the night shift as security guards and club staff, and putting in long hours doing heavy labor on construction sites and in harbors-all of these fuel demands for energy drinks and amphetamines to stay alert, to have the stamina, and to feel the physical strength needed for the job. the tiredness and sleep problems experienced by our interlocutors need to be remedied by better work conditions, as pointed out by costa ( ) and wolf-meyer ( ) , who recommend that shift schedules should be designed to reduce stress and adverse effects on health, and to minimize circadian disruption, sleep deficits, and fatigue. sufficient time for recuperation after night shifts is needed, as is decent compensation for heavy and irregular work. workers engaged in hard, physical labor could be offered time to rest and provided with nutritious meals, rather than energy drinks, to fuel their bodies and give them time to recover. our study of young workers' situated chemical practices suggest that the widespread use of stimulants threatens to disrupt their circadian regimes even further, causing potentially severe metabolic disorders, especially when they use such products on a daily basis because they cannot afford to take a rest. daan kamps graduated from the research master's program in social sciences at the university of amsterdam. his current research interests lie in urban nightlife work, chronobiology, and drug use, which he studied as a researcher for the chemicalyouth project. for more than five years, he has been active within the amsterdam club circuit as a dj and event organizer, which provided him the opportunity to become familiar with the field (fig. . ). tait mandler carried out research in brooklyn, new york, on the lives of workers in queer nightlife spaces. their research explored the ways that workers use chemicals to get their jobs done and how they care for themselves and others (fig. . ). gideon lasco is a physician and medical anthropologist. he obtained his ph.d. from the university of amsterdam and his m.d. from the university of the philippines, where he currently teaches anthropology. his research examines the chemical practices of young people, the meanings of human height, the politics of health care, and the lived realities of the philippine "drug war." a palanca-winning essayist, he maintains a weekly column in the philippine daily inquirer, where he writes about health, culture, and society ( fig. . ) . ahsani amalia anwar was a researcher for the chemicalyouth project at the palawan studies center at palawan state university and conducted fieldwork on the social lives of energy drinks among physical laborers in indonesia. open access this chapter is licensed under the terms of the creative commons attribution . international license (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/ . /), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license and indicate if changes were made. the images or other third party material in this chapter are included in the chapter's creative commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. if material is not included in the chapter's creative commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. bekerja versus bersenang-senang. social lives minuman berenergi pada pekerja fisik di makassar american meth: a history of the methamphetamine epidemic in america energy drink consumption and its association with sleep problems among u.s. service members on a combat deployment shift work and health: current problems and preventive actions the sociology of cognitive enhancement: medicalisation and beyond / : late capitalism and the ends of sleep adderall is definitely not a drug: justifications for the illegal use of adhd stimulants. substance use and misuse modernizing frontier: chemical transformations of young people's minds and bodies in puerto princesa passport: energy drinks in indonesiacontext. euromonitor international sharing and selling of prescription medications in a college student sample caffeine and exercise metabolism, endurance and performance guest editors' introduction: harm reduction from below the downside of uppers: chronobiology, stimulant use, and working in the 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use of caffeinated energy drinks among secondary school students in ontario: prevalence and correlates of using energy drinks and mixing with alcohol life between clocks: daily temporal patterns of human chronotypes initiation of methamphetamine use among young thai drug users: a qualitative study extra joss energy drink boxes per package. shopee. https:// shopee.com.my/extra-joss-energy-drink- -boxes-per-package-i. caffeine use in sports: considerations for the athlete the world of caffeine: the science and culture of the world's most popular drug natural hegemonies sleep and the rhythms of american capitalism key: cord- -d toyha authors: tapiola, kari title: what happened to international labour standards and human rights at work? date: - - journal: international labour organization and global social governance doi: . / - - - - _ sha: doc_id: cord_uid: d toyha the social rules of a universal market economy, created by globalization, are based on the standards adopted by the ilo since . among them a special role belongs to fundamental principles and rights at work, comprised in an ilo declaration in . they provide for freedom of association, collective bargaining and the elimination of child and forced labour and discrimination. there is a growing debate on how other standards should be linked to fundamental rights and not seen as less important instruments. technical cooperation has demonstrated that, in any case, implementing fundamental rights leads to strengthening of law and practice on wages, social security and occupational safety and health. all international labour standards (conventions, recommendations and protocols) are derived from the labour principles of the ilo constitution, and they are closely connected with one another. while the role of the state remains crucial—especially in times of crisis—much of the implementation of labour standards should be achieved through collective bargaining and other negotiations, while voluntary agreements between the social partners are generally legally binding. there has been debate on the international labour standards of the ilo for the whole hundred years of its existence. this has concerned the choice of topics themselves, the detail in which the norms have been set out, and their ratification and subsequent application and supervision. during the last years the debate has been moving from one extreme to another. the post-world war ii consensus on the need to maintain a balance between economic and social progress was an element in reconstruction and of industrialized countries' growth and welfare. as of the s, this consensus broke down. with increased emphasis on market forces, labour standards started being seen as rigidities and impediments to growth. once the cold war ended, a question in the early s was posed in almost brutal terms: now that the common enemy-communist state power-was gone, was there still a need for the ilo and its standards? socialist political and economic structures crumbled as of at a pace no one had foreseen. this in turn brought about a new transparency and a new openness of the entire world economy, enabled by technological change and the utilization of real-time sourcing and production. however, the good news of the spread of democracy and markets was accompanied by a shock when especially western consumers found out that new and affordable products from emerging countries were-or could be-produced by very young children in miserable conditions. consumers reacted for moral reasons; workers reacted because cheap imports affected their jobs. all of a sudden there was a call for universal rules on labour again. after having first been sidelined in the frenzy of transition, fundamental rights at work became a hotly contested issue in globalization and international trade. as the world trading system was being reorganized, the question of fundamental rights at work turned around the call for a "social clause", which was designed to make access to world trade conditional on observance of labour rights. the world trade lobby succeeded in keeping the issue away from the world trade organization, which was set up in . efforts to keep the issue alive were largely confined to the ilo, which remained, as before, the custodian of international labour standards. the contents of fundamental human rights at work were clarified by the ilo in the declaration on fundamental principles and rights at work, adopted in . the follow-up to the declaration boosted these standards by promising technical cooperation, with which they now became increasingly linked. the ilo introduced an extensive programme of assistance to developing countries for freedom of association, the right to collective bargaining, freedom from forced and child labour and multiform action against all forms of discrimination at work. these fundamental rights-or "core labour standards" as they were also calledwere universally accepted as an element of the new globalized world order. support for applying them and even pressure to do so was assisted by extra-budgetary resources from the industrialized countries. for many of them, this was the second best option once trade sanctions were discouraged. fundamental rights made their way into international documents governing trade, investment and cooperation. they were seen to translate the social dimensions of the new world economy, while promoting them was akin to the role of the ilo after the two world wars. to what extent this new focus on social justice was genuine or simply words, or opportunism, is anybody's guess. yet the formula of ilo technical cooperation for a level playing field for trade and a means of raising standards among the emerging participants of the trading system was appealing. soon over half of the technical cooperation of the ilo was in the field of fundamental rights at work, most of it aimed at eliminating child labour. since the financial crisis, which burst out in , and since the recent worldwide political slide towards extremism, nationalism, xenophobia and brutal egoism, we have again heard less about rights at work. however, the spell of neo-brutalism that we are living through springs from the same source as the desire for social and labour rules. both are driven by fear that the forces of globalization have become an existential threat to individuals and societies. these concerns arise from uncertainties about employment, incomes and maintenance of social status in an increasingly volatile world. two images illustrate what has happened. products from subcontractors with workers in shabby conditions in underdeveloped societies have been flooding the markets. especially since , a highly visible flow of migrants and refugees across borders has also been occurring. these images have been destabilizing industrialized countries while at the same time allowing a glimpse of the hopes and despairs of the developing world. both workers and entrepreneurs in all countries have been affected. most vulnerable have been the categories accounting for a significant amount of employment: the selfemployed and micro-and small and medium enterprises. at the same time, while the line dividing opportunity and exclusion has remained endemic in less fortunate countries, it has also cut through the richest societies of the world. the question of fundamental principles and rights at work is an issue for each and every society, especially taking into account modern slavery and trafficking, zero hours employment contracts, "uberization" of urban services, the platform and gig economies and profiling due to political suspicions, as well as harassment and violence at work. our new divisions are between the wealthy and fortunate on the one hand and the struggling and excluded on the other hand at all points of the compass. one dividing factor remains the way and extent to which labour standards are applied. in this complex situation the linkages between standards designed as fundamental and other-more "technical"-standards are even more topical than in earlier times. in a nutshell, these are so interlinked that it is not possible to have any one without the others-as i shall aim to demonstrate in this chapter. international labour law was a novel notion in . the standards adopted by the ilo are derived from the labour principles of its constitution. these principles had in turn been formulated by the trade unions during the first world war and were originally proposed as the "labour clauses" of the peace treaty. the versailles treaty did not produce a lasting peace or universal happiness, but at least the system of rights expressed in international labour standards was born. the labour principles of are the basis of the international labour code. these principles cover a broad scope of labour rights, starting with freedom of association, hours of work, employment policy, maternity protection, labour inspection, social security provisions, minimum age for employment and the health and safety of different categories of workers. most of the labour legislation and practice in the world today has been shaped by these principles. for many decades the corpus of international labour standards grew at a regular pace. most issues were treated by either a convention or a recommendation, or in a few cases a protocol. conventions become binding through national ratification; recommendations form an integral part of the standards system and although they are not binding, in principle they should apply to everyone. other instruments, such as declarations and codes of practice, have complemented the ilo toolkit. they do not have the status of labour standards, but they do give guidance for treating labour and social issues at national level, including by labour legislation. from the outset, this system has been a combination of what we occasionally call "hard" and "soft" law. after the second world war, the normative foundation of the ilo was aligned with the need to reaffirm democratic rights and promote development. what we know as fundamental rights at work were created by standard-setting on human rights after the international labour conference in philadelphia. this coincided with the early years of the united nations, democratization, decolonization and the cold war. discrimination and forced labour had come into a new focus during the labour and extermination camps of the second word war. as decolonization proceeded, the heavy weight of discrimination and of imperial-age economic interests continued to hamper the achievement of true national sovereignty. decolonization created the african group in the united nations and the ilo. when racial segregation not only continued but became increasingly brutal in south and southern africa, the issue of discrimination rose to the top of the agenda. south africa was forced to withdraw from the ilo in , but apartheid remained article , section ii, chapter vi, part xiii of the treaty of peace of versailles . prominently on the agenda through special procedures in which trade unions and employers participated. at the same time, the united states had to accept significant measures for desegregation in its southern states. the shattering war-time experiences of racial discrimination, forced labour and denial of rights of not only workers but also employers played an important role in building a consensus on human rights at work. employers had still been ambivalent about the role of mussolini's fascist corporations in italy, but subsequently the course of the war showed that their organizations could be equally threatened by totalitarian régimes. in , the language of the labour principles of the constitution had affirmed that freedom of association was a right of workers and employers alike. in the early cold war years, the ilo recognized that the independence of employers was also covered by the concept of trade union rights. the questions of freedom of association and forced labour found new relevance because of the practice of communist countries. what had been a reaction to the atrocities of the fascist regimes carried over to discussion on social, individual and economic liberties in reconstruction and economic development. in the labour field, during the cold war, certain human rights-above all freedom of associationdefined the side on which you were between the market economy and communism. this placed the main part of the trade unions on the same side of the divide as employers. in practice this determined much of the standard-setting after well beyond the fundamental principles and rights at work. multiple compromises were called for in the period between and -between employers and workers, between industrialized and developing countries, and between radical and moderate elements of-especially-the workers' group. during the long tenure of david morse as director-general ( - , the ilo stressed employment, skills and social policies which were guided by the tripartite engagement at the national level of governments, employers and trade unions. significant normative work was done on labour inspection and administration, social security, occupational safety and health, employment and labour market policies, gender equality, paid educational leave and holidays with pay. these were the building blocks of a liberal social development model, based on a negotiated balance of interests between and within different constituent groups of the ilo. fifty years ago it earned the ilo the nobel peace prize. soon thereafter, however, global changes and technological innovation conspired to change the parameters. multinational enterprises moved production across national borders and, in extreme cases, could cause political upheavals, such as the coup d'état against salvador allende in chile in . oil crises and debt crises started shaking expectations of stability and continuous growth and prosperity. the result was a relatively rapid sea-change. one of the reasons for this was the realization that in large parts of the world trying to reproduce the industrialized countries' development model did not lead to sustained employment. in the s, with-especially-european growth lagging, calls for giving more freedom to market forces were accompanied by new technology, which allowed real-time crossborder production and severed many physical employer-employee links. this was followed by accelerated liberalization of trade and capital movements. in the new situation after the end of the cold war and the global opening of markets, the declaration on fundamental principles and rights at work of and its follow-up activities expressed an underlying aim of the ilo: to strengthen the social dimension of international economic and social policies. after the first world war, the founding of the ilo had brought a social dimension to peacemaking. after the second world war, the ilo had provided the social dimension of both reconstruction and-once decolonization got under way-of development. the cold war ended without a political or social peace deal with "labour clauses". the notion of universal fundamental rights at work had to assume much of the role of providing for a social dimension. in the debate on standards versus deregulation in the global market, it worked as a smart battle ram, piercing resistance to all kinds of standards. but it could not serve as a broad social contract. the declaration contained consensus on a short-list of "fundamental" social and labour rights: freedom of association, the right to collective bargaining, abolition of forced labour, elimination of child labour and rejection of discrimination in employment and occupation, including equal pay for work of equal value between women and men. each of these four categories of rights was linked to a convention. three of the four categories had conventions which at least in principle were universally acceptable: nos / on freedom of association and collective bargaining, nos / on forced labour and nos / on discrimination and equal remuneration. child labour was attached to this short list a bit later. the years when david morse, wilfred jenks and francis blanchard led the ilo saw discussion on trade and labour standards. the debate did not in any way start only in the s. additionally, both recognized that besides human rights at work such issues as a living wage, labour inspection, health and safety and basic social security should be addressed. these were all derived from the original constitution of the ilo but the conventions on them did not enjoy the same status and consensus as the human rights conventions. in the early s it was politically necessary to have a manageable list of standards because of the de facto link to international trade. the oecd produced a study which showed how difficult it could be to deal with an extended list of up to ten categories of standards, in particular if the link to trade would mean intensified enforcement measures through existing or new supervisory mechanisms of conventions. conventions on wages, social security or occupational safety and health were not as widely ratified, and even the leading ones covered only parts of the strategic decent work objectives to which they belonged. a large number of conventions, which all had several technical provisions, could thus have become new arguments in trade policies. as the stated aim of the post-cold war debate was liberalization of international trade, new entrants to the markets feared that raising too many social issues could negate their advantages. the four "fundamentals" were known and reasonably safe. a linkage with social security provisions, occupational safety and health or the need to ensure a living wage would have been one bridge too far. making an operative link to trade through any kind of sanctions mechanism was anathema both for emerging countries and employers. however, promoting the ratification and application of fundamental conventions was not. the four categories had been established at the united nations social summit in copenhagen in , with heavy involvement by ilo constituents. the conventions on freedom of association, collective bargaining, child and forced labour and discrimination were formally recognized as human rights. all countries which had ratified them should fully respect their legal obligations while all others should do their best to live up to their principles. after copenhagen, ilo director-general michel hansenne launched a ratification campaign on the relevant conventions. at that moment the minimum age convention no. was quietly added to the list of "core" conventions as the then applicable standard on child labour. at the same time, a need clearly existed for an additional human rights standard on child labour. the earliest labour legislation at the beginning of the nineteenth century had been on child labour. in the ilo, child labour had always been treated through conventions on the minimum age for employment. this reflected the fact that the age of moving into full-time employment should permit compulsory education, particularly after universal schooling had become the norm towards the end of the nineteenth century. sectoral conventions adopted by the ilo were in taken over by the minimum age convention no. . however, the ratification rate of this convention was meagre, and it had not been recognized as a priority convention subject to more intense scrutiny. when the need for benchmarks to define what was most intolerable in the work of children came up, the minimum age convention was found to contain a useable formula establishing age limits as well as flexibility linked to levels of national development and the nature of work. when in a new convention on the worst forms of child labour no. was adopted, it built upon this convention instead of revising it. the ratification rate of the worst forms of child labour convention has broken all records, also delivering ratifications of the minimum age convention at a rate which had been unthinkable before. child labour was included in the four categories of fundamental rights because of the emotionally strong effect of finding out that child labour was a factor in trade. it was possible to argue that while it was a normative issue, its eradication called for time-bound technical assistance programmes. it was also the item which had the lowest level of political resistance: no régime was really threatened by its elimination. even the gulf states agreed to remove young children from camel jockeying in widely popular competitions, sometimes replacing them with robots. the declaration was also supposed to offer an easier way than ratification for countries to express their commitment. countries could report annually to the governing body on their efforts to realize the principles of the conventions, and they could signal the kind of technical cooperation they felt would be necessary to support these efforts. this innovative method could be seen as positive encouragement instead of reporting on ratified conventions, which tended to be more investigative and often controversial. sometimes what happens is the unexpected. the new innovative and-presumably customer-friendly-reporting mechanism was in practice soon overtaken by what could be called an escape into the safety of the established mechanism. in short, instead of availing themselves of the new and apparently "softer" opportunity, a large number of countries preferred to ratify the fundamental conventions instead. this was a case of preferring the devil you know to the devil you don't. as a result, the overall ratification rates of the eight fundamental conventions shot up to over %, with child and forced labour reaching nearly universal levels. such a change in the attitude to ratifications would not have been possible without increased linkage to technical cooperation. the traditional view had been that ratification of a convention would take place only after national law and practice had been made to conform to its requirements. when technical cooperation became a recognized part of this process, and was increasingly recommended by the standards supervisory mechanism, it became acceptable to ratify at an earlier stage once the political will was there. technical cooperation would then ensure implementation. financing was available, as the industrialized donor countries responded rather generously to what they saw as a positive link created between trade and labour standards. what actually happened was that in many cases, instead of countries sliding into a conflict and economic and trade sanctions, deficiencies in labour standards led to agreements on technical cooperation; this in turn provided a compelling argument against sanctions. the credibility of such arrangements was seen to be guaranteed by the fact that reporting to, and discussion by, the standards supervisory bodies of the ilo would soon reveal how sincere the engagement of the country concerned was. since the early s, fundamental principles and rights at work have become a part of a global aquis. today it is almost unthinkable that, for instance, any politician or scholar could defend child labour by referring to cultural differences or even economic necessity. likewise, a world-wide consensus has developed on the need to take action against human trafficking, which is one of the modern-day features of forced labour. despite the misgivings of the emerging world, labour standards as seen through the prism of the declaration have found their way to trade legislation as well. this has not taken place so much through outright conditionality as through trade preferences accorded to countries which desire to respect fundamental labour standards. the european trade systems opted to use the ilo's short-list for trade preferences. most bilateral or regional free trade treaties have followed the same pattern, either referring to the fundamental conventions or the declaration. the united states, however, has continued to apply a broader set of criteria than the fundamentals to its trade policies. this included labour inspection. when the us trade unions filed a trade petition because an ultraliberal georgian labour code-later amended-violated freedom of association principles, the case was mainly about labour inspection which the georgian reformers of the former communist system had scrapped. what i am arguing here is that the focus on fundamental rights at work safeguarded the role of international labour standards in general. the standards and their application were seen as a remedy to the problems of globalization and not as a complication or rigidity. in addition, the wave of ratifications of the fundamental conventions led many countries to review their position on ilo conventions in general. the factual blockage on new ratifications of all conventions, which characterized especially the s and s, is no longer there. if we assume that, by now, the case has again been made for standards, it should also be possible to expand the scope beyond fundamental rights. this does not mean going away from them, but rather beyond them. actually, this needs to be done even for the sake of the fundamentals themselves. their implementation needs to reach out to the full scale of decent work. whether in the informal or the formal economy, anywhere we want to go with the fundamentals, we quickly arrive at the whole normative basis of society. we are facing a situation which may at first appear to be contradictory. frustration with detailed regulation, and the obligations of ratifying states compared with a large number of non-ratifying competitors, had led to a desire to simplify the basic rules of the game around a short-list of fundamental standards. this was by and large successful. it saved the credibility of the standards system of the ilo, not least due to assistance for countries which chose to admit that the problems they experienced in applying standards were due to insufficient capacity and not inadequate political will. however, assistance also showed that when you start to implement fundamental rights, you are faced with a large number of practical situations and have to venture into a field which is covered with other regulations and practices. to give a simple example: after some millions of us dollars were made available for freedom of association in indonesia. one key tool of the ilo is the committee on freedom of association of the governing body, but you do not spend millions on advising how to write complaints to the cfa. the outcome was a broad programme of social dialogue, which included support for the development of trade unions and employers' organizations. it is instructive to note that both the case for workers' right to organize and linkages between fundamental and other rights were outlined in by adam smith in his the wealth of nations. smith was the prophet of liberal economics and free trade to the extent that british prime minister margaret thatcher reportedly carried his book in her voluminous handbag. writing about the wages of labour, adam smith observed that workers wanted to gain as much as possible in wages while employers conceded as little as possible. both had an interest in combining (organizing) but parliament had prohibited the workers from doing so. the masters in turn could always collude-and tacitly did so-to keep the price of labour down. if workers were bereft of their wages, their existence could become untenable in a matter of days while employers could weather long periods of conflict. workers could act with the "folly and extravagance of desperate men who must either starve or frighten their masters into an immediate compliance with their demands". as a result, employers would call upon local authorities who would impose a settlement far short of workers' claims. but adam smith went further. after having described the industrial discipline of the day, he also noted that there was a certain point below which wages could not be brought down. workers had to earn enough to bring up a family, which might be at least twice the minimum needed for survival. what else is this than a link between organizing rights and a "living wage"? in the early twentieth century throughout europe, the demand for an eight hour day was closely associated with the call for universal suffrage. freedom to express a political view is an inalienable part of freedom of association. another fundamental trade union demand was the right of workers to voluntary migration while securing equal treatment, i.e. non-discrimination, with national workers. factory safety has an intimate link with freedom of association. it is logical that workers are engaged through health and safety committees but also ensuring that special safety representatives, elected by the workers, have enough authority to intervene in a dangerous situation. this is one area where a look at history reminds us how much work remains to be done. in , a fire in new york city killed workers, mainly young immigrant women, in the triangle shirtwaist factory. locked doors and lack of safety measures contributed to the high toll. the tragedy led soon thereafter to the adoption of factory legislation in new york. but it also had another consequence: it intensified organizing activities by the ladies international garment workers' union, a prominent american trade union. this showed that labour inspection, one of the original priorities of the ilo, is only one part of the solution. empowering workers to defend their interests is another, and the most direct road to that is through agreements and bargaining between employers and duly authorized workers' representatives. fast forward to our days: we continue to experience similar factory fires and disasters in south asia. this culminated with the collapse in of the rana plaza factory building in dhaka, bangladesh, with a death toll of . international accords for compensation and increased factory safety have since been concluded in bangladesh, but there has been little progress in the fundamental question of not only hindering but assisting union organization. also, as with the triangle shirtwaist factory fire, factory owners have rarely if at all been made to answer for their responsibilities. as noted above, for the ilo the main way of diminishing the use of child labour lay in applying standards on the minimum age for employment. when the opening up of global markets made child labour a priority, this standard was seen not to address with sufficient vigour the fact that large numbers of working children were well under any established minimum age, in conditions preventing education and harmful to their health and morals. a "first-things-first" approach was applied to legally prohibited and hazardous child labour by the worst forms of child labour convention no. , which at the time of writing is only one short of ratification by all ilo member states. while the abolition of all child labour has remained the target, urgent action was to be taken against its worst forms. this time a degree of flexibility was accorded by the traditional provision that governments-together with the social partners-should determine what kind of work was hazardous and thus eliminated as a priority. addressing particularly urgent issues has characterized the standard setting of the ilo in the era of globalization. the ilo has increasingly focused on vulnerable groups and urgencies with such instruments as the hiv/aids recommendation in and the conventions on domestic workers in and violence at work . the protocol against trafficking, attached in to the forced labour convention no. , belongs to this same category. different areas of social policy were extensively set out by convention no. of , which despite wide policy agreement has gained only a limited number of ratifications. in line with the "first-things-first" approach, a normative move towards universal social security coverage was undertaken by the adoption of a recommendation on social protection floors, (no. ) . while it is not possible to globally determine minimum protection levels that could be applicable to all, the recommendation set out the principle that everyone in every country should have at least a basic level of protection. the recommendation does not undermine or set aside the comprehensive social security convention no. , which remains a state of the art instrument. nor does it aim to set minimum levels which, if enforced as the minimum everywhere, would inevitably put more pressure on those who already have achieved higher levels of protection. at the same time the coverage of standards has extended to the informal economy with a recommendation adopted in . the recommendation aims to increase the organizing of all workers and economic units-enterprises and households-in the entire informal economy where % of the global workforce is to be found. of particular importance, too, is the decent work for peace and resilience recommendation, (no. ) . this replaced a recommendation adopted by the international labour conference in on transition from war to peace. the recommendation outlines measures for relief and reconstruction after not only war and conflict but also natural disasters. the employment and social effects of the covid- pandemic have made this recommendation particularly topical. in the area of maritime labour, all existing instruments-binding and nonbinding-were in combined in a coherent, living and continuously updated instrument for an inherently globalized sector of work. it incorporates both obligatory measures and recommendations and has an in-built review and revision mechanism. the large number of ratifications of this convention is persuasive evidence of the viability of the approach, although it may not be transferrable to other less international economic sectors. in adopting the centenary declaration on the future of work, the international labour conference requested the governing body "to consider, as soon as possible, proposals for including safe and healthy working conditions in the ilo's framework of fundamental principles and rights at work". this does not necessarily call for amending the declaration in some way. one of the purposes of the declaration was to achieve cohesion between the four categories of rights that it covers. with occupational safety and health, the next step might well be achieving more cohesion between existing standards and policy instruments. this could be done in several ways. a state of the art overview could lead into drafting a summary of principles which are common to existing instruments and can be linked to the ilo constitution. the result could be either a declaration or some other authoritative document, which could include a crossreference to the declaration. it would also be feasible to apply the "firstthings-first" approach to determine action against the most dangerous but common hazards, rather in the way that the social floors recommendation has done. the next recurrent discussion on occupational safety and health in the international labour conference would be a good place to propose decisions on future steps. the question has been often posed: to what extent has the international labour code already been completed? i would argue that the answer is, to some extent yes but there is always unfished business. in the last hundred years, we have covered virtually all of the basic elements of social justice as identified by the constitution of the ilo. yet we have to continue to adapt standards so that they maintain their relevance to structural, technological, economic and political changes in the world economy. work is a moving target, and the international labour code will never be complete in any case. some of the early maritime labour standards covered occupations which no longer exist. some of the early protective approaches to the work of women, such as prohibiting night work, have been replaced by demands for equality and safety. furthermore, the necessary adaptation does not always need to be done-and in some cases cannot be done-by drafting new standards. the potential of recommendations is being harnessed. but this may not yet be sufficiently matched by the fact that recommendations, as standards, are subject to overview by the standards supervisory mechanism. it would be entirely feasible to focus more on the information that can be obtained under article of the constitution from not only recommendations but also non-ratified conventions. we cannot run behind each change in labour conditions, trying to put up a new standard here or there. if we try this, by the time a convention is adopted and effective, the issue may well have mutated into something else. what we need instead is a combination of standards and social dialogue, which is the singular contribution of the ilo over the last hundred years. in the s, the ilo adopted conventions. in the next decade, the number of conventions was . in the s, a total of conventions were adopted, and the number of stand-alone recommendations increased. in the first decade of this millennium six conventions were adopted. the second decade of the millennium has seen two conventions, one protocol and three stand-alone recommendations. on the other hand, since the ilo has adopted three declarations. these are not standards in the legal sense of the word, but one of their aims is to give instructions on how standards should be universally applied. thirty years ago, the combination of globalizing markets and the end of cold war confrontation brought the issue of regulation and labour standards into new focus. ever since this soul-searching started, standard-setting has been behaving differently. in the first years of this century, all the different instruments available to the ilo have been used. the latest conventions are on such issues as domestic workers and violence at work. recent stand-alone recommendations deal with hiv/aids in the workplace, social protection floors, the informal economy and post-conflict transition to peace. the concept of decent work, launched by ilo director-general juan somavia and pursued by his successor guy ryder has entered the body of standards. through the protocol to the forced labour convention, the ilo covered the issue of human trafficking and also revised the convention. in addition, in the conference for the first time abrogated obsolete conventions. the work on international labour standards is not drying up. it is alive and well, and is adapting to the economic, social, political and technological changes of a globalized economy. it is necessary to further reflect on the role of the state as well as the ilo's constituents, trade unions and employers. when in president tarja halonen came to geneva to co-chair for the first time the ilo's world commission on the social dimensions of globalization, she defined the task in a simple and sensible way. the aim of the exercise should be to rehabilitate the social state. since the technological changes of the s and post-cold war liberalization, with its shock therapies, the role of the state in guaranteeing basic welfare and services for its citizens has been under attack. yet there are limits to how far the state can abandon or outsource its responsibilities. crisis situations bring us rapidly to those limits. all states of the european and central asian region have ratified the eight conventions on fundamental principles and rights at work. this is a reaffirmation of the rule of law in their systems, which continue to aspire to the aims of a welfare state. yet the economic, political and structural shocks of the last decade have had serious consequences. a feature of globalization is that prosperity and deprivation not only coexist but are increasing in all societies, whatever label we give to them. one of the lessons of years of technical cooperation on fundamental principles and rights is that their strength and sustainability depend on how they affect the individual and collective rights of workers and employers. for instance, freedom of association needs to be followed up by social dialogue and institution building. eradicating discrimination calls for a competent labour inspectorate, gender equality and policies on migration and supporting different vulnerable groups. it also calls for a continuous effort to raise the social protection floors of societies. a case in point is the way in which health and safety measures have to rely on enabling workers to survey and intervene when conditions are inadequate and downright dangerous. this calls for competence-building for workers-and their right to consultation, negotiation and organization. a significant proportion of labour and social issues are resolved through negotiations and social dialogue between the partners directly concerned. they make agreements which are legally binding on both parties. at times, in the discussion on what is binding and what is not, we seem to forget that voluntary bargaining produces legally binding outcomes. international labour standards are negotiated, implemented and supervised through a process which is at times either bipartite or tripartite. with a combination of private and public actors and national and global pressures, participation by everyone is crucial. it is at workplaces where a universal principle becomes reality. once we are clear about the principles, those directly concerned-employers and trade unions-are the ones who should find practical solutions to be applied. as before, it is in the self-interest of the state to support these processes with institutional and economic support. consequently, the worst thing that we can do is to saw off the branch of social dialogue. our economic salvation and prosperity lies in the way in which rulessuch as international labour standards-are implemented in practice. the state will continue to play a role in this, but we should increasingly enable the constituents of the ilo to determine how this is done. no central authority can have an overview and control of the endless amount of individual situations faced by employers, workers and local institutions. here lies the real social responsibility of both management and labour. the ilo was founded in in response to demands that clauses dealing with labour would be included in the peace treaty after the first world war. in this way the ilo was to provide the social dimension of the settlement after the great war, which was supposed to end all wars. the founding principles of the ilo were based on proposals made during and after the war by the trade unions of the allied and central powers as well as neutral countries. they were particularly clearly expressed at conferences held in leeds ( ) and berne ( and ) . most of these goals were shared by labour parties and socially progressive intellectuals, academics and politicians of the time. the constitution of the ilo declared that universal peace was possible only through social justice. the basic aim of the ilo was to guarantee social justice through a minimum level of standards which would avoid competition between countries at the expense of labour conditions. one of the founders of the ilo, the belgian legal scholar ernst mahaim, explained the international dimension in the following way: "the concept of international legislation is from the outset opposed to that of absolutely unrestricted international competition.the idea is to allow relative freedom of competition, based on some degree of equality in costs of production; certain humanitarian requirements are to be taken out of the sphere of competition. this means that health, life and human dignity are regarded as benefits of supreme value. humanitarian ideals are given precedence over considerations of economic profit." mahaim wrote these thoughts in the seminal history of the creation of the ilo, edited by james shotwell in . shotwell-an influential negotiator on the american team in paris in -later recalled that the name of the "international labour organization" was something of a misnomer. what was created was an international economic organization to deal with labour problems. the fact that different labour conditions affect trade had been discussed since the end of the slave trade and the beginning of industrialization. labour issues were particularly urgent at the end of the first world war because of the russian revolution in and strikes by workers in many european countries. tripartite cooperation thus became an acceptable alternative to conflict and revolution. this was supported by the non-revolutionary trade union movement, which was given a voice and a vote in decisions on laws and policies. throughout its history, the ilo has been confronted with the choice between revolt or reform. it has promoted the method of negotiations and incremental improvements as opposed to rejection and full-scale upheaval. looking back today-with the experience of complex social, political and economic phenomena such as globalization-it has consistently searched to maximize the benefits of change while minimizing its negative consequences. a priority of the french first director of the ilo, albert thomas, was to establish the ilo as an actor in its own right in international economic policy making. he was only partly successful in this, due to reluctance on the part of governments and employers. however, he succeeded in getting the ilo to the table at important economic conferences in the s, thus setting a pattern for ilo participation in world governance. thomas was more successful with promoting the rights of trade unions, which were often still viewed with suspicion, even hostility. thomas supported integrating the unions in economic policy making, but he was criticized by employers, by the soviet union as well as by authoritarian and fascist political leaders. the development of the new science of industrial relations further underlined the need to recognize and expand the role of trade unions. in his last report, in , albert thomas explored the potential of both economic planning and industrial relations. however, it was difficult to defend the idea of planning because of the example of the soviet union, which remained a political threat and a challenge due to its stated support for revolutionary action by workers. yet the ilo could show that, in times of crisis, the state had an important role in sustaining employment and production. the united states stayed outside the ilo in although it had been instrumental in the peace negotiations. yet some american businessmen were interested in engaging with it in studies on scientific management. unemployment was discussed regularly by the international labour conference and the ilo governing body. this focus soon widened from employment to the organization of production and the way in which economic policies were conducted. with the great depression of the s, the ilo's response was close to that of john maynard keynes. during the time of both albert thomas and his successor as director, the british harold butler ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) , the ilo supported going beyond unemployment insurance by public works programmes. these were a key element of franklin d. roosevelt's new deal in the united states. they were also in line with the ilo's belief in an organized but democratic managed market economy, which helped convince the usa to join the ilo in . the main contribution of the american director of the ilo, john winant ( - was to evacuate the ilo from geneva to montreal, canada. the ilo faced an existential threat. germany's ambitions included replacing the ilo by a fascist international labour organization. the ilo was unable to achieve an in-depth conference discussion on tripartite cooperation before the second world war interrupted its work. the experiences and lessons of war-time tripartite cooperation in allied and neutral countries were examined at an extraordinary ilo conference in in new york. edward phelan, the irish acting director and later director general ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) presented a report arguing why the ilo and tripartite cooperation needed to have a role for when the time came for reconstruction after the war. the ilo's philosophy was in line with the democratic principles of the allied countries. the atlantic charter of roosevelt and churchill, drafted in , contained a reference to labour standards. the international labour conference in philadelphia made the ilo fully functional again. the philadelphia declaration strengthened the ilo's claim to be involved in all policy making. tripartite cooperation was not limited to social questions; it extended to international economic policy as well as questions of war and peace. eventually, the construction of european institutions involved consultative arrangements with employers and workers. in this way the post-war role of the ilo was to provide the social dimension of reconstruction. in - tripartite cooperation had largely been a process at the international level, but now it became recognized as a national tool. despite the misgivings of the soviet union-due to the presence of free employers and independent trade unions-the ilo's status was confirmed as the first specialized agency of the united nations family in . the notion of human rights was expressed after philadelphia in the universal declaration of human rights which the united nations adopted in . the ilo adopted conventions on freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining, forced labour and non-discrimination (including equal pay for work of equal value) in the s and s. if they had been adopted by the united nations, employers and trade unions would not have had a role in drafting, promoting and supervising them. the three decades following world war ii are sometimes called "golden" or "glorious". this applied above all to europe and the rest of the oecd area. the ilo was managed by the american david morse ( morse ( - , who had first-hand experience of german reconstruction. the global situation started to change rapidly due to the wave of decolonization, which transformed the composition of the ilo. the multilateral system of the united nations differed radically from that of the league of nations. the western market economy produced unprecedented growth, including in terms of incomes and social security for workers who increasingly formed the middle class of industrialized societies. while decolonization changed the global composition of states, it did not bring prosperity and security which would have been comparable to reconstruction in europe and japan. it created new needs and expectations for vast numbers of people, but it also provoked high levels of frustration. the ilo participated from the beginning in the technical cooperation activities of the united nations, which were aimed at helping the newly independent countries gain the necessary know-how to run their economies and societies. during the first two decades of its existence, the ilo had concentrated on international labour standards and knowledge and research. now technical cooperation meant working physically on the ground, with governments, employers and trade unions in countries which had gained political independence but needed advice and help to manage their economy and society. the human rights aspect of decolonisation was particularly marked in the case of apartheid in south africa. african nations' opposition to apartheid almost blew up the international labour conference. it was the last vestige of colonial rule. in the s and s, workers' group members had pressured the ilo to take a stronger stand against forced labour in the colonies. the governments' general attitude had been to limit and regulate forced labour; the trade unions insisted successfully that the aim was to abolish it. sovereignty was a significant concern for many of the newly independent countries. in many of them, the new leaders had participated in national liberation movements. they wanted assistance but not patronizing while the former imperial powers did not want to give up the benefits that years of dependence had generated. at the same time, the cold war produced rivalries between the market economies and socialist systems. the collective answer of the developing world was to aim at a new international economic order (nieo). one of its cornerstones was sovereignty and strong government, which did not tolerate much internal opposition. consequently, the nieo was never accepted as such in the ilo where both employers and workers insisted on their autonomy and respect for international labour standards. in the ilo, the workers wanted to speak of a new international "economic and social order". the workers generally agreed with the developing countries on economic policies, while on standards and rights they agreed with the industrialized democracies as well as with employers who opposed state intervention. much of the support by employers for freedom of association in the ilo during the post-war reconstruction era was due to their insistence on free enterprise as opposed to communist state management. in the newly independent countries, much of the body of international labour standards applied only for part of the economy. independence alone and the growth of now indigenous activities did not produce jobs beyond a small circle. industrialization thus increasingly proved not to be the solution. neither the liberal market economy model nor the socialist development model could be successfully replicated in the developing world. when the expected outcomes did not materialize, the ilo launched a world employment programme in the s. this was a multidisciplinary approach to economic and social development problems, with an attempt at understanding the underlying factors of development. at the same time, powerful new economic actors emerged on the world scene. the most significant were multinational enterprises, a factor with potential economic as well as political consequences. some of them served the interests of their home countries, to the detriment of host governments. the most notable case was chile, where a us multinational enterprise was involved in the coup d'état against president salvador allende in september . as a result, a new consensus emerged: there had to be both national and international guidance for the behaviour of multinational enterprises. the basic aim was to maximize the benefits of activities by international enterprises while minimizing their negative effects. this same principle has been later applied to technological change, structural adjustment-and to globalization. up to the end of the s, the main hypothesis for future development was that of a mixed economy, with coexistence between private and public activities. in sweden, plans were developed for wage earners' funds which would control much of the economy. the german practice of co-determination, mitbestimmung, inspired different proposals for industrial democracy. this was not socialism; at most it was convergence. the ilo, with capitalist, socialist and developing countries and different configurations of their workers and employers, tried to maintain a balance. the ideal outcome would have been convergence between the economic systems. but this did not happen. in fact, when capitalism and socialism "converged", this did not take place in the centre-where it might have been expected-but on the extremes of the market economy model. in the late s the socially successful european economy started lagging behind. the same happened in japan. a number of developing countries (such as mexico) were confronted with debt crises. this led to an ideological conclusion: the industrialized countries and their economic models had allegedly developed rigidities because they had too much regulation for social and labour aims. it became fashionable again to speak of encouraging what john maynard keynes had critically called "the animal spirits" of the market. this return to the markets was accompanied by significant technological change. this affected the way enterprises functioned. the model of management changed due to information and communication technology. increased computerization enabled real time control of production in several locations in different countries. at the same time, traditional links were being cut between labour and management in the work collective. attempts to deal with what was labelled structural adjustment did not produce much tripartite consensus in the ilo. as director-general ( - , francis blanchard, from france, was successful with advancing technical cooperation with the developing world. he also brought china back into the sphere of ilo activities. however, he experienced more difficulties when the expectations and priorities of industrialized and developing countries differed increasingly from one another. at the same time, they were experiencing difficulties arising out of lack of employment and growth and persistent poverty. the ilo was very much focused on the developing world while the basis of its activities in the industrialized countries weakened. the centralized state-led model of the communist countries was about to disappear. since the ilo had played a significant role as an alternative to communism. now, however, the threat of revolution seemed no longer to be there. instead, consensus strengthened around a market economy model with more flexible social and labour rules. in the industrialized countries, the post-world war ii generation had come to believe that the ilo's basic task was to deal with the developing world. that was where employment growth and social stability were needed. however, the same problems that they tried to cope with now started to resurface at home. the dynamics in the s in europe were dominated on the one side by margaret thatcher's united kingdom, with a bitter miners' strike and lingering class conflict. at the same time, the internal market of the european economic community (later the eu) was built up by commission president jacques delors through the introduction of social dialogue. delors believed that a deepening internal market needed the support of the social partners, especially the trade unions. margaret thatcher was set on resurrecting a hard market economy despite trade union resistance. the beginnings of brexit lie in these contradictory views about how to deal with labour and social questions. since the early days of the ilo, it had been accepted that social and employment concerns could legitimately slow down economic activity. in the s, this belief was being revisited. the factors that affected it were the increasing role of private economic interests, especially mnes, which were usually supported by the governments of their home countries. however, the mnes grew more transnational and less dependent on national governments. the alternatives were limited, as neither the communist model nor centralized public management produced prosperity. by the end of the cold war, multinational enterprises had been recognized as a new and powerful international phenomenon. attempts by the united nations, the ilo and the oecd to regulate these multinational forces had shown the extent to which the rules of the game could not be enforced. after three decades of economic, social and employment growth, the s led to a rehabilitation of market forces and private entrepreneurship and a demand for more flexible social and labour standards. the process of setting up the ilo in had proved that international labour standards could be implemented only through national laws. there was no applicable jurisdiction over multinational entities. as the un, the ilo and the oecd soon had to accept, the only way to get beyond nonbinding recommendations was through follow-up mechanisms which provided for consultation and dialogue. the berlin wall started to crack at least a decade before it actually came down in november . parallel to the new technological and market-oriented policy in the west, the socialist countries had started realizing that their system no longer worked. in china, the reforms of the late s led to inviting multinational enterprises to join partnerships between the market and social and political state control. the socialist countries of europe, and hungary in particular, sought a new balance by encouraging some market forces. the systemic change led to both economic change and political democratization. however, the change went well beyond the dismantling of the european barriers between communism and the free market economies. democratization took place almost everywhere. the apartheid system in south africa was dismantled. singleparty systems in francophone africa came to an end, and former british colonies carried out multiparty elections. in latin america there was a shift to the left, away from military rule. on the economic side, the former socialist countries needed a radical new start. at the same time, the developing countries that entered the orbit of global trade wanted to gain maximum advantage in terms of what they had-one of them being abundant labour. the new global market economy came about through a rush to gain maximum advantage. one consequence of the changes was promotion of trade through the setting up of a new world trade organization in . the expectations of the new participants in the global markets were vast. the general assumption was that there would be significant trade liberalization and no new trade restrictions. throughout the s, the emphasis on the sovereignty of independent countries had run into conflict with ever clearer signs of interdependence. the phenomenon of multinational enterprises had increased awareness of the constraints created by private entities, which were increasingly outside state control. the liberalization of financial markets and capital movements increased this trend. the leading industrialized governments pursued pro-market policies which either by design or as a consequence diminished the state's role in the economy and narrowed the space for social and labour policies. in contrast to the endings of the world wars in or , there was no peace treaty when the cold war evaporated, no settlement, and no social dimension. this was not on the agenda of the united nations or other international bodies dealing with transition from state controlled to market economies and the opening of markets. the closest the world community came to that were the negotiations for creating a real world trade organization. there was only limited scope for social concerns in the process that led to the wto in . in the industrialized countries, employment and prosperity of workers were being threatened by the new and unregulated operation of the global production system. when walls came down, what appeared on the other side was that the problems that the ilo had wrestled with throughout its lifetime were still there: child labour, forced labour, discrimination and limitations on freedom of association. not only were they there: the trade of several countries was boosted by unacceptable labour standards. the result was a discussion on a possible social clause in trade agreements so that trade liberalization would be conditioned by respect for certain fundamental labour standards. there were different views on whether this should be managed by the wto or the ilo, or both, and how. michel hansenne, from belgium, who was director-general of the ilo ilo - to the international labour conference a report which recognized the new context and explored ways to deal with it. he disagreed with the idea of a social clause in the wto but maintained that the social dimension of trade liberalization could be encouraged. the immediate focus was on trade, but the agenda was soon redirected into a more general discussion on globalization. it was at this stage that the concept of globalization entered the multilateral vocabulary. the ilo has always striven to find a negotiated, consensus-based solution to situations which are inherently conflictual. since the early s the ilo had increasingly tried to help put an end to child labour, which had become an acute issue due to the opening of world markets. there were popular calls for banning the imports of all goods produced by children or boycotts of imports from countries which did nothing against child labour. in stressing technical cooperation to eliminate child labour, to monitor production and education and training as an alternative for children who had not yet finished their basic schooling, the ilo acted in exactly the way in which labour standards and tripartite cooperation were used as an alternative to revolutions and disruption. in there had been attempts to export (and import) revolutions. this time the question was of trade, which was seen to undermine incomes and minimum safety for workers. the wto stated categorically that labour standards were a matter for the ilo and called on all member states to assist the ilo in setting and supervising them. this led to a declaration on fundamental principles and rights at work, adopted by the international labour conference in june . the declaration determined that every member of the ilo had to respect the principles of freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining, abolition of forced labour, elimination of child labour and non-discrimination in employment and occupation (including equal remuneration). the novelty of the declaration was that it concerned not only those countries that had ratified the conventions of these four human rights categories. the obligations extended to all. those who had no legal obligations through ratifications had the obligation, arising out of the ilo constitution, to strive to realize the principles. reports were requested and examined from all countries. this led to debate, especially on china, the gulf states and the united states. in addition, the declaration recommended technical cooperation as the way to resolve shortcomings in the application of fundamental standards. this opened the road to using technical cooperation on a large scale for human rights problems in the labour field. in general, the countries concerned recognized that technical cooperation could be a real alternative to trade or other boycotts. the notion of decent work was developed by the chilean director-general of the ilo, juan somavia, in his first report upon taking office in . the aim was not to change the aims of the ilo but to repackage them. the ilo budget had expanded to major programmes, and somavia concluded that an organization with so many priorities had no priorities at all. he cut the number to four: employment, social protection, standards, and social dialogue. "decent work" was a convenient way to express these aims-but especially after amartya sen's recognition of it as a development paradigm at the international labour conference, it became the framework for managing and carrying out ilo activities. decent work remains a shorthand way of expressing the ilo's purpose. it also underlines the interdependence between actions in these fields. to succeed in the sustainable promotion of decent work, it was necessary to engage all four areas of action. gradually the notion of decent work became accepted by the multilateral system, including the united nations. the international dimension of decent work-or in other words, the link between decent work and globalization-was examined in depth by a tripartite world commission on the social dimension of globalization, co-chaired by presidents tarja halonen of finland and benjamin mkapa of tanzania. the commission surveyed the full range of social and labour issues. it built on the traditional aim of maximizing benefits and minimizing negative effects. one of its messages was that, to be acceptable, globalization must be fair-and it must be seen to be fair. the world commission also commented on the fundamental principles and rights at work of the declaration, pushing them one step further. while the declaration had noted that these rights should not be used for protectionist purposes, the commission added that nor should denial of these rights be used to gain competitive advantage. in , this principle was included in the ilo declaration on social justice for a fair globalization. this declaration was designed to be the compass for promotion of fair globalization based on decent work. the declaration underlines that the four objectives of the ilo-the objectives of decent work-are inseparable, interrelated and mutually supportive. this probably was the strongest recognition of interdependence up to that date in the official positions of the ilo. furthermore, it created a follow-up in the international labour conference. henceforth each strategic objective would be regularly and in turn discussed by the conference. the aim was to determine how the issues have developed, how ilo programmes were working, and what improvements-including new or revised international labour standards-would be needed. so far this system of recurrent items has led to adoption of a recommendation on social protection floors; a protocol against trafficking of people for the forced labour convention (no. ) ; and an agreement to work further on labour conditions in global supply chains. in other words, the different negative aspects of globalization are being tackled by the ilo with concrete normative action and technical cooperation. the era of globalization provoked tripartite discussions which, in turn, led to instruments and action on which there was broad consensus. a consensus was reached on the global jobs pact, adopted at the international labour conference in , which included a jobs summit of several presidents. however, it did not lead to extensive follow-up measures. this is all the more regrettable, as the initiative came from employers-especially from national employers who had started feeling the pressures of the financial crisis. yet one consequence has been that, since , the ilo has regularly been invited to participate in the g leaders' summit meetings. the labour and social affairs ministers of the g group also meet, and they consult with international employers' organizations and trade unions. there is a difference in the approach of the employers' and workers' groups. for the workers, the natural model of a follow-up has been the international labour standards system, which can reach out to legal or at least semi-legal conclusions concerning violations of rights. the employers' vision generally is more of systems of information and consultation, without sanctions or legal obligations. it is not surprising that, for a hundred years, the workers have been advocating adoption of conventions whereas, for the employers, the preferred form of instrument has been a recommendation. juan somavia's successor, guy ryder from great britain, was elected director-general of the ilo in . he has directed much attention to the future of work. a new tripartite global commission-set up to study the topic-made its recommendations in january . they were the basis for the centenary declaration, adopted by the international labour conference in june . in that declaration, the word "globalization" is mentioned only twice. does this mean that priorities have shifted? the context is more important than the frequency of mention. the declaration is quite honest in asserting the basis of the world economy as it has developed over the last three decades. it supports the private sector as "a principal source of economic growth and job creation" while the public sector is "a significant employer and provider of quality public services". this could be seen as the definite end to a period of competition between private and public development models. in this context, decent work appears as the key to sustainable development, conflict resolution and prevention, and cohesive nation building. in the context of globalization, the centenary declaration reaches out to one of the main constitutional assertions, namely that the failure of any country to treat its workers humanely is an obstacle to all other countries which desire to do so. fittingly, the declaration weaves together the threads from over one hundred years to produce a narrative which, while not new, is the result of continuous review and updating. in this light, it is logical that after the years of adjusting the principles of social justice to the challenges of a globalized world, it is important to determine what kind of concrete action needs to be taken. the conference of adopted a new convention on violence and harassment at work. this convention (no. ) reminds us that freedom from violence and harassment at work is a human right, and in working life the rules have to cover everyone, irrespective of the contractual form of their employment. in addition, the conference asked for further strengthening of the right to workplaces with guaranteed proper conditions of occupational safety and health. this can be seen as a logical trajectory for the ilo. a hundred years ago the ilo was first preoccupied by such questions as hours of work, minimum age for employment, and protection against unemployment as well as conditions before and after active years of work. the brutality of world war ii highlighted the role of international labour standards for democracy, thus promoting recognition of universal human rights. this was followed by decolonization and technical assistance and, later on, the search for social principles of globalization. the principles have been clarified but have not changed. their application must be adapted to economic and social realities-both national and international. the ilo would be well advised to move ahead with as concrete application as possible of the principles which were for the first time adopted in its constitution in and recognized as guidelines for social justice ever since. the rule of law must be maintained as the basic framework. within it, any consensus at the parliamentary and macro-economic levels needs to be translated into specific agreements and real action at the national, sectoral and local level. tripartite cooperation and collective bargaining play a crucial role here. this is the way to promote universal principles at the level of workplaces and enterprises-and society in general. open access this chapter is licensed under the terms of the creative commons attribution . international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ . /), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons licence and indicate if changes were made. the images or other third party material in this chapter are included in the chapter's creative commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. if material is not included in the chapter's creative commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. report vi ( ) child labour -targeting the intolerable, sixth item on the agenda. international labour conference, th session directorate for education, employment, labour and social affairs and the trade directorate, paris office of the united states trade representative ( ) ongoing country reviews: georgia, petitioner: afl-cio, basis for petition: workers rights (ustr - ). available at: www the teeth of the ilo: the impact of the declaration on fundamental principles and rights at work. international labour office kari tapiola has worked as a journalist, a national and international trade union official, and an international civil servant key: cord- -s cxhf authors: maree, jacobus gideon (kobus) title: connecting what we know consciously with what we are aware of subconsciously: orientation of and rationale for the book date: - - journal: innovating counseling for self- and career construction doi: . / - - - - _ sha: doc_id: cord_uid: s cxhf in this chapter, i first dwell briefly on important events in the field of career counseling over the past few decades and explain why innovation in the field is needed. i draw on one of my earliest recollections to set the scene for what is to follow in later chapters and elaborate on my own personal damascene moment—a moment that convinced me forever of the need for as well as the power and value of an integrative qualitative-quantitative approach to career counseling, particularly at a time when many speculate that work itself is at risk. i conclude by outlining the contents of the book and explaining its aims—to help people connect what they know about themselves consciously with what they are aware of subconsciously (elicited by activities such as asking clients for their most hurtful experiences or for their earliest recollections). never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has (margaret mead) to improve is to change often, so to be perfect is to have changed very often (winston churchill) abstract in this chapter, i first dwell briefly on important events in the field of career counseling over the past few decades and explain why innovation in the field is needed. i draw on one of my earliest recollections to set the scene for what is to follow in later chapters and elaborate on my own personal damascene moment-a moment that convinced me forever of the need for as well as the power and value of an integrative qualitative-quantitative approach to career counseling, particularly at a time when many speculate that work itself is at risk. i conclude by outlining the contents of the book and explaining its aims-to help people connect what they know about themselves consciously with what they are aware of subconsciously (elicited by activities such as asking clients for their most hurtful experiences or for their earliest recollections). for the purposes of this book, i accept the following definition of the word "innovate": the collins dictionary (n.d.) explains that the word "innovation" stems from the word innovationem (latin for renew or change). , it refers to something new or a novel way of doing something that already exists or even introducing novel or new ideas, strategies, methods, or features. the word thus comprises a process that innovates or renews something that already exists. it does not introduce something that either has not been there before or something entirely new. the word "renewal" probably best describes the essence of what innovation means. fraser ( , n.p.) adds: "for this renewal to take place it is necessary for people (counselors as well as their clients) to change the way they make decisions … they must choose to do things differently, make choices outside of their norm." this book should be read against the background of the following premise: the future is here already and the unpredictable world of work is changing continually, rapidly, and fundamentally. moreover, the pace of change is accelerating all the time; something that career counseling needs to respond to in a proactive, timeous, appropriate, and innovative manner. the situation differs from country to country-work . is impacting workers in different ways. the situation in global north countries in particular differs widely from that in the global south. the industrial sector, especially in the global south, has been shrinking, and people have increasingly been turning to the service sector and informal settings for employment opportunities. this will continue to be the case (m. ribeiro, personal communication, september , ) . whereas the situation of many workers in the global south or developing countries has not changed markedly, with these workers still functioning in what can be classified as "fixed" hierarchical structures, in typical global north contexts such structures are fast disappearing and work contexts are becoming more unstable and insecure (rossier, ginevra, bollmann, & nota, ) -to a large extent because of the fourth industrial revolution (work . ) and more particularly the upsurge in networking and connectivity (gurri, ) . to an increasing extent, people are working in non-traditional environments. london ( ) , for example, maintains that the erstwhile "pyramidal" or ladder-type of occupational hierarchy or occupational order (where relationships are clearly structured) is changing. according to london ( , n.p in the more dynamic fourth industrial revolution ( ir), people will increasingly find that they have to work with a larger variety of people at different times, some above and some below them in terms of rank, expertise, or experience; this constant rotation means that an ability to manage up -which can mean anticipating needs and coming up with solutions without being asked -is that much more important. likewise, mcpherson ( , n.p.) maintains that "[w]hat we are really looking at is the emergence of an entirely new economy … what differentiates the ir from former revolutions is the quantum of change and the convergence of global factors (such as climate change, rising populations, and terrorism) of a magnitude quite unprecedented in human history". there is every chance that work . and work . will increase the already significant divide between people without adequate access to resources and those with sufficient access, thereby also increasing the "matthew effect" (merton, ) . workers in less "fixed" work environments are often engulfed by the discourse that those who manage to find work should consider themselves fortunate to be in any job at all, that robots are rapidly taking over the work of humans (in lower order work positions in particular), and that, in many instances, work opportunities advertised in future may carry the disclaimer: "humans should not apply" (grey, ) . many people are losing their jobs, work opportunities are dwindling, and the key question has now become: what sense does work make? in such circumstances, it is not strange that workers and work-seekers in particular find it difficult to make meaning of their work-lives, find a sense of purpose, and rekindle a sense of hope for the future. this at a time when the general belief is that all people have a right to "decent work [that] helps all workers attain a sense of self-respect and dignity, experience freedom and security in the workplace, and … [allows them] opportunity to choose and execute productive, meaningful, and fulfilling work that will enable them to construct themselves adequately and without restrictions and make social contributions" (di fabio & maree, , p. ) . what has been discussed above would be incomplete without a brief reference to the 'arrival' of the coronavirus (covid- ) globally. even though the full impact of the virus will only become clearer over time, it is safe to predict that its ripple effect will influence the world of work globally extremely negatively. kelly ( , p. ) , for instance, says that "[t]he coronavirus has changed the job market almost overnight. the global outbreak has seriously impacted the economy and job security. it will have long-lasting, game-changing ramifications". hooley, sultana, and thomsen ( ) maintain that the coronavirus' primary threat is to people's health but that its threat to the economy "is likely to have an even greater impact. we can expect unemployment to rise, occupational shifting to increase, and job content to change" (p. ). speculation is rife, but there seems to be general agreement that many millions of jobs will be lost and that those jobs that remain will become increasingly sought after. more specifically, there will be an increase in the demand for jobs that can be executed online. it is therefore clear that a prompt and decisive local and global response by all stakeholders is required to address the fundamental changes in people's work-lives following the coronavirus pandemic. the need for telehealth (including telepsychology and especially, from the perspective of this book, tele-career counseling), too, will increase substantially. in my opinion, too much negative emphasis is placed on matters such as predicted job losses. i support those who have a more balanced outlook such as pring et al. ( ) who say: "in the future, work will change but won't go away … a world without work is a fantasy that is no closer to reality in than it was more than years ago upon the publication of thomas more's utopia" (p. ). gaskell ( ) , too, believes that the discourse on the future of work focuses too much on envisaged job losses resulting from work . -related developments. he argues that "[i]t's a narrative that doesn't really provide an accurate reflection of the true state of things … there is a growing consensus that ai-driven technology will change the kind of work we do, which will require adaptation both of the roles themselves and the skills required to perform them. it will automate some entirely (although not as many as predicted), and the productivity gains will result in new jobs emerging" (p. ). of relevance here is pring et al.'s ( ) observation that "human imagination and ingenuity will be the source of human work ad infinitum" (p. ). irrespective, however, of whether one agrees or disagrees with the gloomy predictions, career counseling theory, research, practice, and policy need to be revamped and updated regularly. kuhn ( ) and kuhn and hacking ( ) believe that paradigms in general lose their power and validity after a period of about years. savickas ( ) maintains that career counseling paradigms last only years or so, after which they lose their effectiveness as lenses for observing the career-related behavior of people. they also lose their capacity to help career counseling theorists and practitioners plan appropriate and timeous career counseling interventions. career theorists, researchers, and practitioners need to ensure that their counseling prepares people for the numerous transitions and challenges they will face in the occupational world. this includes increased levels of work-related anxiety and trauma caused by changes in unpredictability-filled workplaces (maree, a) . career counselors will have to help clients deal with work-related anxieties and help them set viable short-, medium-, and long-term goals for making meaning of and attaining a sense of purpose in their career-lives (hartung, ; strauser, lustig, & ciftci, ) . in summary: a practical local and global response is needed that will enable us as career counselors to respond practically to events in local and global economies that impact modern-day occupational contexts as well as the career-lives of workers. as stated earlier (maree, a) , the plight of impoverished people has always been a profound concern of mine. given the extent of recent changes in the workplace and the concomitant escalation in job losses and poverty, now, more than ever, career counseling needs to ensure that different categories of people benefit from career counseling interventions: (a) a gifted school student in a private school in wroclaw who wants to become an architect; (b) a bright student in a public school in nigeria who wants to become a medical doctor; (c) an inmate of a pakistani correctional services facility wanting to study law; (d) a young woman from a small school in a little town in japan who is interested in becoming a plumber; and (e) a learner with an intellectual disability in pyongyang who has no idea what she wants to study. career counseling should also be offered in group contexts, for example (a) to a group of homeless migrants living in an informal settlement outside paris; (b) to destitute people living on the outskirts of sao paolo; (c) to a group of displaced people in a part of homs that was almost completely destroyed during the syrian civil war; (d) according to hartung (p. j. hartung, personal communication, october , ) , human life consists of three domains, namely love (intimacy), work (including career), and friends (community, avocational interests, and relationships). hartung contends that "life story" refers to the narrative about all three of these domains in general, and he uses the term "life-career story" to refer to the narrative about the work domain specifically. i agree but prefer the term "career-life story" to "life-career story". feminine and masculine pronouns (she, he, her, him, hers, or his) should be regarded as interchangeable. to groups of indian graduates in mumbai who cannot find employment; and (e) to a group of unemployed women who have not received formal after-school training and live in poverty outside bloemfontein (see winslade, ) . of course, not all people will agree with the above exposition. bassot ( ) , for instance, in reviewing an earlier book of mine (counseling for career construction, maree, a maree, , b said that "it is difficult to imagine that any single approach could achieve [the aim of finding a contemporary, contextualized approach that will be of value to every person irrespective of color, creed, financial situation, or geographic location] … in this respect perhaps the author simply gave himself an impossible task" (p. ). i respectfully disagree with this comment. what i was in fact trying to say was that career counselors should be able to contextualize their interventions in a way that makes them helpful, useful, and valuable to all people and not to just a select, privileged few. moreover, i argue in favor of an approach that will address the work-related needs of all people and help them find sustainable, decent work. my goal in life is therefore to reach out to people in general and to the "voiceless", the homeless, the forgotten, and the disadvantaged in particular. a quote by mother teresa of calcutta, now saint teresa of calcutta, has always inspired me and neatly sums up how i feel about life, work, and research. she said: "the other day i dreamed that i was at the gates of heaven. and st. peter said, 'go back to earth. there are no slums up here'". my life goal is consistent also with the unesco goals of ensuring that career counseling is always contextualized, that all people receive career counseling, and that sustainable decent work is made accessible to everyone. moreover, with reference to lincoln's famous gettysburg address (herndon & welk, ) , i believe in career counseling of people (construction of their life stories), career counseling with people (themselves co-, de-, and reconstructing these stories), career counseling for people (by career counselors), and career counseling by people (themselves) or self-advising. ultimately, regarding career counseling, i agree that "[h]eaven is something that each and every one of us can hold in her or his hand" (lofts, , p. ). or, in the words of dolly parton, whose inspiring "career-life story" encapsulates the essence of postmodern career counseling (see chap. ): "one is only poor if [one] wants to be poor." by this is meant that we cannot and should not be defined by our contexts. with the necessary support structures and mechanisms to respond to challenges, people have the power and innovativeness to act proactively, convert challenges into opportunities, inaction into actionality and action, "problems" into growth areas and strengths, questions into answers (and answers into further questions), and subconscious life themes into conscious motivations to make a success of our lives-as humankind has done consistently throughout the ages, no matter how daunting the challenges facing them. allen ( ) , for instance, reminds us that, in the s, the luddites in yorkshire and nottinghamshire smashed weaving machines in the belief that they would take over their jobs. today, retail staff members are concerned about automatic checkouts, and taxi drivers worry about self-driving cars. a research study by deloitte found that, rather than jobs being "destroyed" by technology, the latter has consistently shown itself to be "a great job-creating machine" (allen, p. ). there are thus different perspectives on the future of work, and one should carefully consider the various viewpoints if one wishes to arrive at an informed opinion on the matter. changing times call for regular adaptation of older and conceptualization and development of contemporary assessment instruments, both quantitative and qualitative (duarte, a (duarte, , b hartung, ; savickas et al., ; soresi & nota, ) . moreover, general consensus exists today on the merits of storied (qualitative) approaches to career counseling in conjunction with narrative-based theories and the design, development, and use of appropriate assessment instruments and interventions alongside objective or quantitative approaches (hartung, ; maree, b maree, , c savickas, savickas, , subich, ) . many qualitative, storied questionnaires have been developed during the past few decades thanks largely to the work and leadership of mark savickas, supported by a number of other scholars. bimrose and hearne ( ) maintain that while general consensus exists about the effectiveness of quantitative methods, techniques, strategies, and interventions in career intervention (savickas, ) , the effectiveness of approaches or modalities that do not blend quantitative and qualitative modalities should be questioned (blustein, ) . this chapter covers this topic and describes an attempt to address the lacunae highlighted by, for instance, bimrose and hearne ( ), hartung ( ) , maree ( a maree ( , b , and savickas ( a savickas ( , b . niles, in ( ) , urged those of us working in career counseling to think innovatively in the interests of clients and to conceptualize, implement, and examine the value of new paradigms and associated interventions on an ongoing basis. this will help ensure the lasting value of career counseling theory and practice across time, space, and location. the main innovation to the field of career counseling that i am proposing is my integrative model. the theoretical background to the advances in the pre-existing theories and practices proposed by this model is elucidated in the first part of the book, after which the practical application in various contexts is explicated. the following should be stated up front: it is my conviction that (self-and) career construction and life design counseling do not exclude the use of tests. quite the opposite. for purposes of triangulation, and to improve the rigor of intervention, personally, i prefer to draw on all three of the fundamental theoretical paradigms on which (self-and) career construction theory is based. practicing as a career counselor (and psychologist) for more than four decades has been something that i would not have missed for anything in the world. the journey has been rewarding and memorable. looking back over the years reminds me of being on a flight late in the evening, sitting in my window seat and casting my eyes down from about meters on the scene below: a few lonely lights somewhere in the vast, encompassing darkness. a lonely farmhouse or two. a few more lights; seemingly, a small town. many lights; clearly a city. the lights neatly dotted. these sights always excite me. what can be more hauntingly beautiful than looking out of the window, early in the morning, outside istanbul, for instance? ships (small and large) in the harbor. many lights mystically dotting the contours of that timeless city; the aerial perspective enabling one literally and figuratively to see the "bigger picture". now, in your mind's eye, picture yourself on the airplane during your return flight in broad daylight. see mother nature's topographical features and natural boundaries such as winding river courses, mountains, hills, and forests. by contrast, see humanmade structures such as houses, towns, informal settlements, cities, dams, canals, farms, corn, and lucerne fields. from a height of some meters it is relatively easy to obtain a bird's eye view of the scene below and to decide where and how to intervene-to "reshape" mother nature's features in the interests of progress. this could include building new dams and new roads and highways. all in the cause of improving living conditions and promoting the best interests of humanity. similarly, with the advantage of distance and perspective, career counseling theorists, researchers, practitioners, and policy makers can gain useful insight into what has worked in the profession, what no longer works, and what needs to be changed, adapted, or even discarded in order to respond appropriately to global changes, changing contexts, and new challenges in the occupational world. the entire book should be read and interpreted through this lens. i realized early in my life that most learners across the world do not receive adequate career counseling. it was clear to me also that using the traditional approach to career counseling in relative isolation does not enable career counselors to address people's career counseling needs properly. i have therefore dedicated most of my professional life to the design of an integrative qualitative-quantitative career counseling strategy to meet these needs-if only in my home country to begin with. my mother was an english-speaking (catholic) woman of lebanese origin, while my father was of afrikaans (protestant) stock. living in an almost exclusively afrikaans environment at the height of apartheid, a member of one of many minority groups, i was almost "lost" in an intersectionality trap-it just never felt as if i really belonged to any group. always an outsider, i felt "at home" among marginalized people and people with poverty in general. at the age of six, i and my family lived in a rented house in a little town called holpan in the northern cape province of south africa where my father was the head of a very small primary school (the school did not have more than learners in total). some of the farmers grew grapes and employed black women to harvest the grapes. during that time, in the late afternoon, many of the women would walk down the road in front of our house with sizeable baskets on their heads. i was curious to find out whether the baskets were not hurting them and what they had inside those baskets. one afternoon, i waited next to the road until the women came past. i started walking next to one of them and put my questions to her. she smiled, stopped, put the basket down, and assured me that she was accustomed to carrying heavy "stuff" on her head. then, to my surprise, she put her hand in the basket and took out two delicious bunches of grapes, which she presented to me. it did not seem right to accept the gift, and i tried to decline her offer, but she smilingly insisted and proceeded to hand me the two bunches of grapes. i thanked her and watched her turn around and walk away. when i got home, i told my mother what had happened and offered her one bunch. in her gentle manner, she explained that while she understood why i had taken the grapes from a poor woman, it was far better to give than to receive. i still clearly remember her words: "this woman, like so many others, is really struggling to make ends meet. giving you some of the little food she had is saddening but given the nature of the cip and the mcm, my design almost inevitably comprises a mixed-methods (qualitative + quantitative) (uppercase denoting the greater weight given to the qualitative part of the design) assessment and intervention design. the "+" is used to indicate that qualitative and quantitative data are gathered simultaneously. for the sake of convenience, though, from here on, i use the term "qualitative-quantitative" to denote my design. also inspiring. tomorrow, we will prepare a parcel containing food and household goods you can give to her." even though my mother was running the household on a shoestring budget, she managed to put together a decent food parcel, which i handed to the same woman the next day. her humble "thank you", accompanied by her sense of gratitude, will always linger in my mind. to this day, i derive great satisfaction from giving whatever i can to people who have very little. wherever i travelled during later stages of my life, i would notice and be drawn to impoverished people, for example beggars, male or female, black, white, brown, young or old, but also to people with any other form or disadvantage. later, i learned about the reticular activating system (ras) (van schneider, ). stated briefly, the ras takes what we focus on and creates a filter for it; for instance, if on any given day we decide to spot red cars while driving to work, we will succeed in seeing some. likewise, if we focus on positive news about the future of work, we are likely to find reasons to be upbeat (and vice versa). that to some extent explained why i was and remain drawn to people experiencing major challenges in life; consciously and subconsciously noticing them and trying to find a way to improve their situation. over time, i began to realize that every poverty-related challenge carried with it the opportunity to make a small contribution to a person in need. and each time any of us makes a difference in the life of a distressed person, we benefit as much from the "good deed" as the recipient of that deed. at university, we were all trained to give career counseling in a positivist, quantitative, test-and-tell manner. during the early part of my career, i therefore practiced the way i was taught: "testing" people and "telling" them what to do. however, even during that time, i was asked by the head of our department to develop an "individual workbook for career guidance investigation" (see chap. ), which contained multiple qualitative questions. the information obtained from the use of this "workbook" was subsequently used to gain insight into aspects of people's personalities other than just the outcomes of career inventories in isolation. later, when teaching honors and master's degree students about the theory underlying the jung personality questionnaire (jpq) ( ) (hall, halstead, & taylor, a , b and showing them how actually to administer the questionnaire, it struck me that testees' responses to the fourth basic preference pair of type theory (martin, ) did not make sense. (testees' preferences are indicated on four dichotomous scales, namely (a) extraversion (e) versus introversion (i); (b) sensing (s) versus intuition (i); (c) thinking (t) versus feeling (f); and (d) judging (j) versus perceiving (p).) i accordingly suggested that the students should carefully (re-)consider all their clients' responses to the fourth basic preference pair responses. all their clinical observations and other information should be considered when they interpreted the jpq profiles. then, in , i attended a course on the administration of the myers-briggs type inventory (martin, ) , which was a turning point in my career. i noticed a serious error on the jpq answer sheet, which had been used in south africa for more than years. the fourth basic preference pair recorded on the answer sheet (j versus p) should be anchored by the j (or judging) on the left and p (or perceiving) on the right. instead it read: p (left) and j (right). an inattentive typist had made a serious typing mistake many years previously. misleading information had thus been given to people for more than years. i brought the error to the attention of the test distributors, who eventually made the correction. however, sadly, many psychologists are still using the incorrect version of the answer sheet. to appreciate the seriousness of the oversight, readers should note that this questionnaire was used to select prospective medical and engineering students at some tertiary institutions in south africa. that was the turning point in my life as a career counseling lecturer, researcher, and practitioner. never again would i allow myself to be coerced into accepting an approach that did not make proper sense to me. noticing the mistake, soon afterwards, i was privileged to read the article "career counseling in the post-modern era" of mark savickas, my personal and all-time role model. after its publication, career counseling would never be the same again. in it, savickas ( ) stated that presentday career counseling is characterized by numerous innovations. above all, savickas argued that people are the sole experts (authorities) on themselves. they are thus the main sources of trustworthy, valid, and reliable (authoritative) information on themselves and their life stories (the profiling of which can uncover a great deal about their psychological dna/psychological fingerprinting). instead of plotting clients on the normal curve of "average" traits, it is our job as career counselors to empower them by encouraging them to compare themselves with themselves only. we need also to show a genuine interest in them and elicit their unique life stories irrespective of how their traits "compare with" other people's traits. this assertion is consistent with mcadams's ( ) observation that "[i]f you want to know me, then you must know my story, for my story defines who i am. and if i want to know myself , to gain insight into the meaning of my own life, then i, too, must come to know my own story" (p. ). eliciting people's stories comprises a universal methodology and intervention to enhance understanding and promote reflection, reflexivity, and forward movement. reflection involves contemplating one's past experiences (including one's earliest memories), emotions, and cognitions to connect the past with the present, while reflexivity involves thinking processes that presume dynamic self-conscious assessment of one's conscious knowledge to uncover psychologically healthier ways of self-construction (guichard, ) and career construction (savickas, a (savickas, , b in the future. all of this is brought about by connecting the past, the present, and the future prospectively. once people's stories have been elicited, and narrativizing of the stories has concluded, the personal stories of trauma remain and call for our intervention. we then help people rewrite their idiosyncratic stories and turn them into living stories (boje, ) . boje ( ) explains that living stories enhance the restorying of people's past narratives. he adds that a "living story has many authors and as a collective force has a life of its own. we live in living stories" (p. ). we as career counselors act as co-authors and co-facilitators of clients' career-life stories and help them articulate their careers through stories. themes and patterns as well as tensions in their stories and storylines are pointed out, and they (the clients) are helped to script the next chapters in their stories. all the way through, we highlight the trio of roles that clients assume, namely the roles of clients as social actors, as motivated agents, and as autobiographical authors (mcadams, (mcadams, , savickas, a savickas, , b . seen from this perspective, career choices reflect profoundly personal predispositions that stem from people's uniqueness and matchlessness. where an integrative qualitative-quantitative approach is followed, the process of career counseling prioritizes people's stories instead of their "scores" in "objective" tests. people's central life themes add meaning to their career interest patterns and are integrated with their "measured" interests and abilities. my sole concern since those early days has been the best interests of my clients, and i believe that an integrative qualitative-quantitative approach to career counseling-related challenges best serves those interests. the usefulness of narrative approaches to career counseling has been widely reported in publications across the world over the past three decades (mcilveen, ; mcilveen & patton, ) . people consistently report their experience of the strategy as respectful and helpful. for these and other reasons, i decided that i would in the future only in the rarest of instances consider the use of any quantitative approach on its own during research. instead, wherever possible, i would use an integrative (qualitative-quantitative) approach. in certain cases, though, i might use a qualitative or narrative approach on its own (see chap. ). this book sets out to show readers how to connect career counseling history and best practices with contemporary models and methods in a way that gives them insight into the theory underlying an innovative, integrative qualitative-quantitative approach to career counseling. i also elaborate on the development of two career counseling instruments, both specifically designed to promote the integrative approach and facilitate career counseling in individual and group contexts. while the career interest profile (cip) (maree, a (maree, , b emphasizes storytelling, the maree career instead of promoting the idea of a collaborative counseling partnership. however, in my opinion, it is what actually happens during the intervention that defines this relationship; hence my consistent emphasizing of the importance of establishing an atmosphere of mutual trust, respect, and collaboration. for instance, qualitative-quantitative, qualitative + quantitative, as well as quali-tative → quantitative approaches (ivankova, creswell, & plano clark, ) . matrix (mcm) ( ) draws on established approaches. i explain the need to provide context for career construction counseling as it enhances career counselors' ability to help clients uncover, understand, and interpret their key life themes. in addition, it promotes clients' understanding of their areas for development (growth areas) and helps them identify (qualitatively) their career values and career interest patterns. it facilitates (quantitatively) an integrated assessment of clients' self-estimates of their career interests and confidence in their aptitude to follow certain careers. this intervention strategy should enable career counselors to help clients identify, interpret, and draw on their central life themes, their areas for development, and their career values and link them to their self-estimates of their career interests and confidence in their aptitude to execute certain careers. the strategy also facilitates the triangulation and crystallization of clients' scores and their life stories and explains their trio of roles as social actors, motivated agents, and autobiographical authors (mcadams, ; savickas, ) . three key ideas recur throughout the book. first, the idea of not dispensing "advice" to clients-instead, enabling them to advise themselves. after all, we should not act as self-appointed experts or authorities on any other person. people should not be "actors" following a script written by others for them. second, the idea of listening for instead of to people's stories (hartung, ; savickas, ; welty, ) to help them choose and construct careers and themselves, become adaptable and employable, shape their career identities, design purposeful lives, and make meaningful social contributions. third, the idea of helping people connect what they know about themselves consciously with what they are aware of subconsciously. the book endeavors to promote career counselors' ability to help clients "thrive" rather than merely "survive" in turbulent times. it confronts some of the main challenges posed by work . but also foreshadows the imminent advent and impact of work . on the workplace. it shows how narrative questionnaires that yield qualitative interest-related information and quantitative instruments can be used (individually and together) to integrate technological advances with career counseling practice to ensure "best practice" while promoting self-exploration and self-advising. to summarize: in this book, i attempt to point out the usefulness and effectiveness of the postmodernist career construction approach and the strategies, techniques, and methods used to enhance career counseling in the st century. grounded in selfand career construction principles and practices, the integrative strategy and concept i propose can facilitate critical reflection, reflection on reflection, reflexivity (which helps join insight and activity), innovation, action, and forward momentum in career counseling. this book is a response to global change and its impact on people's career-lives. the frameworks and interventions discussed in the book deal with (but are not limited to) self-and career construction and life design counseling. the book also promotes the unesco goal of ensuring that career counseling is contextualized, that all people receive career counseling, and that sustainable decent work is accessible to everyone. in part , chap. , i explain the rationale for the book and elaborate on its objectives. an overview is given of the essence of the book, namely how to integrate stories and scores in career counseling and how to help people connect what they (and we) know consciously with what they (and we) are aware of subconsciously to help them make meaning of their career-lives, find a sense of purpose, and (re-)discover a sense of hope for the future. in part , the focus shifts to a discussion of the book's theoretical and conceptual framework. chapter discusses the pressing need for an innovative approach to career counseling as well as several personality theories that have influenced the development of career counseling theory and practice. chapter discusses career construction counseling, self-construction counseling, and life design counseling. the focus then shifts again to an integrative career counseling framework as the foundation for the implementation of integrative career (construction) counseling. chapter elaborates on the link between the four waves in career counseling, psychology, the global economy, and the fourth industrial revolution, while fifth wave-related developments are also touched on. the four economic waves relate to the four helping models in career counseling; the attributes or traits of each wave are highlighted, and associated career interventions are explained. here, too, i reflect briefly on fifth wave developments. the chapter builds on and links economic, industrial, psychology, and career counseling waves and highlights the various traits in each of the waves. the challenges and opportunities associated with the fourth industrial revolution (or work . ) are discussed, and a call is made for a balanced view of and approach to work . developments. also discussed is the need to re-invent career counseling in the st century to anticipate challenges and opportunities that may result from the fifth industrial revolution (or work . ). chapter considers how innovation can be enhanced in career counseling by appropriately indigenizing and contextualizing (decontextualizing, recontextualizing, and co-contextualizing) career counseling theory and practice in contexts that differ from those where career counseling was originally conceptualized to promote its relevance and applicability and ensure the necessary rigor. above all, the expert opinions of "local" people must be sought and considered. chapter reviews changes in the vocabulary of the career counseling discourse and how these changes are reflected in the changing of shop names by businesses (the economy) across the world. whereas many global north countries have accepted and embraced the need for a changed approach to career counseling and the changes in the world of work that have taken place globally over the past few decades, the same cannot be said of most global south countries where the need for career counseling and the promotion of sustainable decent work is at its greatest. chapter accordingly considers the importance of promoting social justice (advocacy) (butler, ; ratts, ) and sustainable decent work for all. it considers also the need to provide career counseling for seriously disadvantaged people. part moves from theorizing about matters relating to innovative assessment in career counseling to explicating the practical aspects of such counseling. here, the emphasis is largely on two new career counseling instruments that can be used to elicit people's "stories" and "scores"; help them craft their identity, value, or power statements; integrate their stories and scores to arrive at specific career choices; and, ultimately, help them draft their mission and vision statements. these instruments are the career interest profile (cip, version ), a narrative questionnaire that yields qualitative interest-related information, and the maree career matrix (mcm), which measures people's (a) career interests and (b) self-estimates of confidence about their aptitude to follow certain careers. first, in chap. , i explain how the cip can be used to draw on and promote people's universal propensity for storytelling. it has been designed to elicit, qualitatively, a sufficiently rich bouquet (formerly referred to as a representative sample) of people's numerous micro-or "small" life stories to enable career counselors not only to enhance their understanding of their clients but, especially, to help their clients retain the momentum needed to bring about change and progress in their career-lives. chapter focuses on the elicitation of "scores" quantitatively with the help of the mcm. following on this, in chap. , i explain how people's "scores" (obtained through the mcm) can be integrated with their "stories" (obtained through the cip). i explain also that, while scores are useful in career choice, stories promote the notions of "meaning", "mattering", and "finding purpose". the chapter shows how career counseling theorists, researchers, and practitioners can integrate paradigms in career counseling with actual career intervention practice. in part , chap. , i use a broad array of individual and collective intervention case studies to demonstrate how integrative qualitative-quantitative career counseling intervention can promote innovation in career counseling in individual as well as group-based contexts across people's life span and help people connect what they know about themselves consciously with what they are aware of subconsciously. i have long maintained that career counseling was inspired and practiced by artists and entertainers long before we started building our theory from such practice. part , chap. , confirms mark savickas' ( ) assertion that career counseling practice precedes theory, and not the other way around. much of what we theorize about in career counseling has thus already been practiced by artists and entertainers. the chapter reflects the innovative nature of the book by focusing on the career-life of a rare living legend, dolly parton. this chapter shows how counseling for self-and career construction theory is built on practice, exemplified by the inspiring careerlife story of dolly parton-a story that encapsulates the essence of what postmodern career counseling should be about. part concludes the book. in the final chapter (chap. ), i review key aspects of the "storyline" of the book before discussing the "lens" or "prism" through which it should be read. i consider the key issue of whether it is advisable to continue using tests (in conjunction with qualitative assessment instruments) in career counseling. conditions for the professional implementation of the integrative approach are discussed, and key aspects of the career counselor's role in career counseling are examined and clarified before the chapter is concluded. at the first level, the book is informed by the words (often attributed to albert einstein): "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results." faced with mounting challenges in the occupational world, we, as career counselors, have to devise proactively innovative ways to remain useful and valuable to our clients by helping them do things that no longer work in a postmodern occupational environment in a new, changed way. to this end, the book draws on and develops mark savickas' career construction counseling approach ( ) and, to a lesser extent, jean guichard's ( ) self-construction approach, the life design group's (savickas et al., ) life design approach, and also related theoretical and conceptual approaches. at the second level, the book aims to help career counselors and their clients connect what clients know about themselves consciously with what they (clients) are aware of about themselves subconsciously. at the third level, it endeavors to direct these approaches towards further utility in individual and group contexts in global north as well as global south countries. at the fourth level, it shows how career counseling (counseling for self-and career construction) can be adapted and applied in a way that renews career counseling generally. at the fifth level, it shows how innovative counseling for self-and career construction can be used to bring about best practice in the profession. at the sixth level, it examines the career-life of dolly parton and demonstrates how her inspiring "story" encapsulates the essence of what postmodern career counseling is about. at the seventh level, the book sets out to show that career counseling can be exciting, creative, inspirational, and life-changing and can be used to help people across their life span experience meaning and purpose in their career-lives. ultimately, though, the book fully supports trull and phares' ( ) contention that career counselors' primary allegiance in career counseling should be to find the best ways to help and be of value and use to their clients instead of adhering to any particular theoretical approach or technique-we have to stay abreast of global developments that impact our clients and consequently also our profession. the book also supports and illustrates the truth of savickas' ( a savickas' ( , b savickas' ( , c savickas' ( , d assertion that theory follows practice, and not the other way around. technology has created more jobs than it has destroyed, says years of data. the guardian book review: counseling for career construction-connecting life themes to 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through the care of the self key: cord- - k lw i authors: golightley, malcolm; holloway, margaret title: editorial: unprecedented times? social work and society post-covid- date: - - journal: br j soc work doi: . /bjsw/bcaa sha: doc_id: cord_uid: k lw i nan new respect for frontline social care workers who are caring for the most vulnerable often at great risk to themselves. one thing that is clear, is that social work, along with allied professions, must adapt and change but do so without losing sight of its core ethos and skills. in so doing, as classical crisis theory taught us (caplan, ) , we must draw on previous experiences of loss and challenge as we seek the way out of this current crisis. here is where theory and research must play its part and the british journal of social work will, we are confident, prove up to the task of dissemination of emerging responses and critical debate-as it has in the past. in considering the content of this our valedictory editorial, we returned to the plans for the journal which we had outlined at the outset. our aims were -fold: we wanted to facilitate front line debate between research and practice, embracing ethics, policy and education alongside; we wanted to support the visibility and development of the social work research community and specifically highlighted social work ph.d.s; we wanted to strengthen and widen the international appeal of the bjsw. all three of these objectives are critical for social work to go forward after what has been termed the greatest threat to human society of modern times. arguably, however, this is a very first-world perspective. globally, the poorest and most socially disadvantaged people are also the worst affected by climate change and the developing field of green social work needs to be high on our agenda. the threat of pandemic and climate change are interconnected and economists, for example, are beginning to see green solutions as also the way forward in economic recovery. recovery of a sense of well-being after the stress, loneliness, isolation and anxiety or fear experienced by many of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable in our communities, must cause us to consider what resources those of us more fortunate have been able to draw upon-and how to support service users in finding and connecting with these, whether it be accessing a green space, engaging in a therapeutic activity or reconnecting with buried spiritual resources. the literature on spirituality (religious and secular) and especially eco-spirituality may assist here: there will be moments when the deeply negative aspects of our work, indeed of human existence, threaten to overturn and crack open our carefully constructed world-views as we try to make new sense of it all . . .. this journey into the relatively unknown territory of social work and spirituality is, we suggest, a new way of 'knowing', fit for purpose when facing the challenges of contemporary social work. (holloway and moss, , p. ) the articles which we publish in this issue each address one or more of our three initial aims. they also show social work striving for new knowledge, or 'ways of knowing' as it grapples with both new challenges and those well-rehearsed 'wicked problems'. although all articles published in the bjsw are, of course, evidence of social work research, the five grouped together at the start of this issue show some of the new directions being taken as well as providing evidence of the growing strength of the social work research community at all levels. first, an australian team (waling, lyons, alba, minichiello, barrett, hughes, fredriksen-goldsen and edmonds) presents their qualitative study of older trans women's perceptions of residential care. their findings show how past experiences of discrimination and abuse had fuelled fears about institutional care in the future, including that they might not have appropriate health care and treatment options available, to the extent that many were actively putting in place alternative care plans. this study was funded by the australian research council and has the potential to influence health and social care services for the trans community not only in australia but also wider. next, a uk team (wilberforce, abendstern, batool, boland, challis, christian, hughes, kinder, lake-jones, mistry, pitts and roberts) looks at what service users want from mental health social work. pointing out that most studies of mental health social work present the views of social workers, this research was co-produced with services users. funded by the national institute for health research (nihr) school for social care research, this research also makes an important contribution to the interprofessional literature by distinguishing the hallmarks (as rated by service users) of good social work practise in mental health. a single-authored ethnographic study follows, from mira sö rmark. located in sweden, this study nevertheless looks at an issue of growing international concern, intimate partner violence perpetrated by men towards female partners. interestingly, sö rmark also suggests that the only way to understand these men's accounts (and hence to develop effective social work interventions) is through a rich appreciation of their lived experience, which incorporates both internal individual worlds and external structural explanations. this research is representative of the social work tradition of small, theorydriven qualitative studies conducted by a single researcher. the next article comes from ireland and is an example of a growing trend in social work research-the longitudinal qualitative study. burns, christie and o'sullivan looked at the problem of retention amongst child protection and child welfare social workers, identified as an issue in a number of european countries. however, whilst much attention has been given to turnover, particularly in the early years post-qualification, this study found that those social workers who stayed the course beyond five years became progressively more embedded and committed to this specialism. this has important implications for the duty and motivation of employers to offer a supportive environment in which social workers may develop confidence and expertise. the critical effect of the work environment is emphasised by astvik, welander and larsson, who also looked at worker retention in another longitudinal study, this time of swedish social services. their focus was on the impact of the new public management style on social workers' levels of stress and burnout, rather than the content of the work per se, but the overriding conclusions mirror that of the irish study. in this section, we have selected articles which illustrate the range of issues and location of authors across the globe which find their way into the pages of the bjsw. first, hassan, siddiqu and friedman analyse through a quantitative study the impact of infertility on women in pakistan. the authors show how an issue which in the west might seem to belong primarily to health care not social work, becomes very much social work's concern in a context in which infertility is critically bound up with stigma, marginalisation, oppression, intimate partner violence and consequent negative effects on women's health and well-being. next, a chinese-american team (wang, victor, hong, wu, huang, luan and perron) applied a systematic review of empirical intervention studies to explore the care of children left behind in mainland china whilst their parents seek employment abroad. funded by the national social science fund of china, the authors suggest that the sheer scale of the problem of children made vulnerable and at-risk by this practice, demands priority attention from the still new profession of social work in china. again, although not unknown in countries with welldeveloped child welfare systems, this research shines a light on a practice little studied to date. moving to australasia, petersen and parsel examine a problem common in developed countries-homelessness-looking specifically at the plight of homeless older people. although their conclusion that housing, older people's care and health services must intersect to tackle this problem is not new, their placing this into the context of troubled family relationships as a cause of older people's homelessness highlights an angle, central to social work, which is not usually the first consideration. from new zealand, raewyn tudor looks at an increasingly important field for social work in the twenty-first century in an article looking at how social workers responded to natural disaster in the aftermath of the earthquake in christchurch. tudor used a positive critique to examine the practice accounts of school social workers, putting them alongside the main features of recovery policies which provide for individual assistance for vulnerable groups who are unlikely to access community self-help initiatives. the social workers used therapeutically inclined relational work with their clients to encourage their well-being. the increasing involvement of social workers in post-disaster work will be returned to in a forthcoming special issue of this journal. to round up this focus on international social work, the next two articles (from norway and belgium, respectively) examine how social workers respond to the intractable social problem of poverty and suggest that poverty-aware social work requires a critical and sustained commitment to move beyond individual self-reflection towards critical analysis of the political, economic and social policy contexts in which we work. throughout europe, there has been a trend towards increased levels of child poverty; although this is greater in southern and eastern countries, no country has challenged this trend. malmberg-heimoneen and t/ge used a clusterrandomised design to examine government and family interventions in norway and their impact upon child poverty. roets, van bevern, saar-heiman, degerickx and vandekinderen focus on students' understandings of poverty in a study conducted in flanders, belgium. building on the central notion that social workers need to be able to understand poverty in a conceptual framework embracing individual, cultural and structural explanations of poverty in order that they can adopt a way of working that is both critical and reflexive, their article offers a qualitative analysis of the reflections that students made about the learning process in a post-academic course and suggest ways in which teaching can help social workers better understand social issues. both these studies emphasise the need for structural explanations and a social work practice that is rooted in the community. this final group of articles all provide examples of research directly informing social work practise in different ways. the first article (mendes and rogers) examines young people who are moving from out-of-home care and looks at what lessons australian social work practice can learn from the extended care programmes in the usa and england. they examine public evaluations of extended care programmes and make recommendations for future australian programmes for care leavers. the next article (talbot, fuggle, foyston and lawson) has an interconnected theme of care services and provides an evaluation over ten years of the adolescent multi-agency specialist service, an edge of care service provided in islington, england. it also represents effective co-working between academics and practitioners. it is generally agreed that late entry to the care system often has poorer outcomes for the individual and if care can be prevented for adolescents then this would be beneficial. the complex needs of the adolescent and family provide significant challenges for social work services and other agencies. continuing the theme of children in care, shaw and greenhow report on recent research that examined the perceptions of professionals about the sexual and criminal exploitation of children in care. based in the north-west of england and using focus groups and semi-structured interviews they provide further evidence of the vulnerability of children who are 'looked after' and how this can be exploited. significantly they raise the issue of an approach that is all too often prosecution-led rather than seeing children as a vulnerable group open to exploitation. few could doubt that at the present time many countries have to work out how to respond to the arrival at their borders of large numbers of asylum seekers. so, the article by larkin and lefevre is timely in that they examine the complex inter-subjective encounters of unaccompanied minors (under age eighteen years) who usually have little understanding of the role of social workers. these are a diverse group of young people who are generally underrepresented in the literature and this article helps to shed light on the many challenges they face. niamh flanagan, in a single-authored article, takes a step back from the notion of research informing practise to consider the wide range of sources which practitioners use to inform their practice. she suggests that social workers adopt a pragmatic approach to the gathering of information that includes, but by no means is limited to, research. one such example is provided in the next article in which an academic researcher and a researcherpractitioner based in seville, spain, evaluate a project utilising the role of theatre in social work. the article by muñoz-bellerín and cordero-ramos covers a decade of working alongside homeless individuals in which theatre is used as a tool to promote capacity within the group with consequent empowerment. with echoes of community social work in the uk and the powerful writing of boal ( ) , the article makes for informative reading demonstrating how it might be possible to create informal spaces where marginalised people can interact meaningfully with mainstream society. this seems an appropriate note on which to conclude our final editorial. we wish the new editors and future writers in the bjsw good courage and good fortune as they take up the reins and look forward to seeing the journal go from strength to strength. theatre of the oppressed principles of preventive psychiatry university of hull key: cord- - iwo tlb authors: vieira, tiago title: the lose-lose dilemmas of barcelona’s platform delivery workers in the age of covid- date: - - journal: social sciences & humanities open doi: . /j.ssaho. . sha: doc_id: cord_uid: iwo tlb the abrupt lockdown experienced by a big part of the world population due to the covid- pandemic has bestowed upon home delivery services an unexpected importance. officially considered amongst “essential services”, their workers circulate freely while most people are advised (when not forced) to stay in their homes. the present paper explores how this context helps to shed light on the precarious situation of the majority of the platform delivery workers (pdw). this is done through in-depth, semi-structured interviews and digital ethnography of the interactions within a whatsapp group. the main finding is that the covid- context deepened the precarization of the pdw confronting them with four dilemmas from which there is no way out. the uncontrolled spread of the covid- in spain led the government to enforce a nation-wide lockdown on march . amidst critics from autonomous communities' leaders, opposition parties and even members of the government itself, the enforcement of the lockdown dictated a staggering breakdown of the everyday routines of the spanish people(s). as has been the case almost everywhere else, the main aim of the lockdown was to prevent the proliferation of the virus, through the refraining of human contact. in order to achieve such a goal, all activities considered less than essential for facing this unprecedentedly critical moment were first advised and, later on, forced to come to a stop. on top of this, the very ways in which people interacted became the subject of scrutiny from the authorities: any form of not strictly functional social engagement was deemed unwelcomed -even the once overcrowded supermarkets were now vast empty corridors, as people queued by the door in long, -m-of-distance-between-each-person-please lines. as millions of other people in the city of barcelona followed the protocols, i also did my best to follow the rules, only leaving my thirty square meter flat every other day, and only to buy bread and some groceries. thirty minutes of freedom and, if lucky, some sunlight. while i briefly strolled the never-to-be-seen-so-empty-streets of the up-untilrecently bustling streets of raval, the only few other freedom companions i'd get would be: police officers (dozens of!), dog walkers, fellow groceries' purchasers, and bike riders floating around with huge, fully colored backpacks on their backs. all the three former categories were expected, they all had a reason to be where they were. however, the latter posed me an intriguing puzzle: in a moment where the majority of the population was notably (and perhaps justifiably) afraid of contagious contacts with other human beings, why and under which circumstances (incentives, if you will) would these workers, who are formally free to choose the extent of their availability to work, expose themselves to the possibility of hitting the covid- infected list? in the present paper, i explore the situation of the platform delivery workers (hereafter, pdw) in the peak of the covid- crisis in spain. the pdw form part of broader group of workers whose activities are performed directly and/or mediated by a digital platform, commonly known as platform workers. in the case of the pdw, the platform ensures the liaison between the users/clients, the sellers (restaurants, retailers, etc.) and the pdw who receives the task of having the delivery made. in very simple terms, they are the pizza delivery boy/girl of the smartphone era. the present research is done through the combination of a digital ethnographical approach to a whatsapp group of pdw of barcelona and the conduction of semi-structured interviews to some members of the group. informed by the existing literature on precarity, my qualitative approach aims at unveiling to what extent the workers of this very specific activity are faced with a series of dilemmas from which there is no good way out -essentially they are trapped by their extremely precarious position. the interactions described in the following sections of this paper intentionally overlook any aspects that do not fall under the scope of the purpose of this research: grasping the relation between precarity and exposure to hazardous situations by pdw. other results notwithstanding, my expectation by doing this paper is that those whose voice is so scarcely heard, might have attention drawn to their situation, for unlike the gurus of one of most prominent companies of the platform economy (airbnb), i don't see "people as businesses" (kaplan & nadler, ) , but rather people as people. the deep changes brought about by the hegemony of neoliberalism as a global mantra (harvey, ) produced effects on the life of all human beings on the planet, rendering the organization of societies a process in which stability and predictability were gradually, more and more, nothing but fading memories of a not-so-distant, yet apparently very far away time. while addressing this matter, bourdieu (bourdieu, ) played a decisive role unveiling the "insecurity-inducing strategies" promoted by employers to render the working class more dependent and less demanding -which is synthetized by the word precarit e (precarity ). contributions following bourdieu's notwithstanding, standing's precariat (standing, ) stood out as a particularly important expansion for the research on the topic of precarity. the author developed a seven-axis framework of analysis of labor security, which absence (individually considered or as a whole) led to precarity. his findings seconded those of bourdieu, as he observed that in the post-fordist era workers are increasingly exposed to circumstances making them precarious. since then, namely throughout the last decades, the fact is that this phenomenon has been greatly expanding. not only is it evolving into an increasing share of the labor force, precarity is impacting the lives of workers in increasingly diversified ways (armano et al., ) . bauman's (bauman, ) "liquid modernity" is rapidly turning into a very "age of precarity" (lazar & sanchez, ) . in fact, the changes occurring in the labor market are deeply intertwined with further changes taking place in societal discourses and perceptions (gilbert, ; valas & prener, ) . this "structural precarity" (antunes, ) stems from the multidimensional nature of insecurity and vulnerability (herrmann & kalaycioglu, ) , both cause and consequence of increasing levels of inequality (piketty, ) . unsurprisingly, the substantial technological developments of the last decade -mainly owned by the biggest capitalist corporations -have only further enhanced the critical precarization of labor relations. "labour power comes to be transformed into a commodity in a context where the encounter between supply and demand of work is mediated by a digital platform, and where feedback, ranking and rating systems serve purposes of managerialization and monitoring of workers." (gandini, ) . insofar as this topic seems to be currently very trendy, which has led to rapid expansion of the existing scholarship, the in-depth descriptions provided by srnicek (srnicek, ) and scholz (scholz, ) on how these new labor forms are shaped still stand as seminal works. they shed light on how "the emergence of labor flexible forms has produced a new type of self-employed worker, one that even if autonomous in many aspects as his predecessor (schedule, low social protection) is, indeed, much closer to the temporary worker: precarious, involuntary, dependent." (jansen, ) . building upon this legacy, de groen et al. (de groen et al., ) provide an insightful -to the best of my knowledge, the most developed to this day -account on how "platform workers" are exposed to intense and highly sophisticated forms of precarity. by scrutinizing the work and employment conditions through the lens of a four dimensional scale -the "adjusted wes" -which, in turn, unfolds into different indicators, this paper stands as a landmark for a comprehensive understanding of the challenges faced by the workforce forming part of this emerging, apparently unstoppable new shape of labor relations. all the angles from which labor relations of platform workers and their employer counterparts are looked at by the existing literature notwithstanding, the ways in which precarity penetrates platform work is far from exhausted. among eventually others, one issue that stands outmost notably amidst the pdw -is that of platform workers renting their accounts, thereby emerging rather as subcontractors than as wageearners. the ways in which this unfolds -to be briefly explained in following sections of this paper -has been vastly documented by the media (e.g. (bbc, ; crispino, ; ponte & moya, ) ,), however, surprisingly, it has been overlooked by the scholarship produced by academic researchers. as hereafter observed, the workers hired by this sort of platform's "subcontractors" are served the worst of two worlds: on the one-hand, they operate as illegal, undeclared workers, who not only are deprived any form of social protection, as also, if caught working illegally, are likely to face legal consequences; on the other hand, they are forced to pay all the taxes their sub-contractor has to pay to public institutions, and still need to comply with the control mechanisms entailed in the so-called "application-based management" (ivanova et al., ) . it stands out that this specific issue can hardly be disentangled from the vast precarity web where workers of platforms often find themselves trapped. indeed, it should be seen more as an additional thread of the web than a stand-alone matter -more often than not, although not exclusively, closely related with situations of undocumented immigration. this intertwined thread stands as the central axis of this paper, in which the exposure of both "regular" and "sub-hired" platform workers to the covid- pandemic and subsequent societal context of unexpected and unprecedented measures of confinement is analyzed. the constraints provided by the lockdown made it particularly challenging for any research to be conducted beyond the limits of my desk. while attempting to successfully attain the goals of myself set endeavor, i played to my advantage the increasing "ubiquitous computing" (elwell, ) of human existence as an undisputed advantage. in fact, acknowledging that the "materiality of the digital (…) should be at the forefront of theories attempting to understand contemporary practices" (duggan, ) can only play to this research agenda's advantage, more so if taking for granted the quasi teleological proneness of the pdw for digital engagements (leonardi et al., ) . all this rendered digital ethnography an indisputably valuable methodological approach. provided the term can lead to different interpretations (dicks et al., ) , this is precisely what was done: while analyzing the content of the interactions of a whatsapp group of pdw, i stood as non-participant observer of the life dynamics of this group, grasping as much as possible given the existing limitations their perceptions, concerns, attitudes and praxis. this process was implemented from march to april , (the first four weeks of an unprecedented lockdown for most the people to be fair, the actual translation would be "precariousness". for how, to describe precarit e at labor level, one has evolved from precariousness to precarity see the cambridge encyclopedia of anthropology (cambridge encyclopedia of, ). social sciences & humanities open ( ) walking the earth), in a group to which access is publicly advertised on one of the several existing facebook pages of pdw, and to which no prior conditions of admission are established, so there was no need for a formal introduction to the group or its moderator from my side to ensure access. however, i ended up doing it somehow, given that a big percentage of my interviewees were assembled by individually approaching each one of the group members -to whom i introduced myself as a researcher, explaining i had joined the group looking for interviewees for a research project related to the life of the pdw. this strategy also allowed me to ensure that all group members knew that there was one among them that was not a pdw, but rather a social researcher, thereby ensuring there were no ethical obstacles to my research. this was perceived as unproblematic by group members, since most of them simply ignored me, and those who actually answered (even if not made available to be interviewed) shared words of encouragement. as for the actual analysis, as an initial step, i coded each of the entries according to the topic they referred to -a proof of how active the group, was with a daily average of messages exchanged. each category would receive one point for each entry that fell under its topic. in the not so common case that one entry would cover two different topics (e.g., requests for information on labor rhythm and police controls), both categories received a point (results are presented in the next section). the code construction was inductive, i.e., i developed it after a global content analysis of the interactions, as this allowed to a have a better look at what was going at the level of interactions -the results of this process are presented as part of the findings' section. although the literature review had drawn my attention to the main trademarks of precarity, such as matters of income and managerial control techniques implemented in the framework of "platform work", the general overview of interactions made it clear that more dimensions of analysis had to be explored. in line with that, it was thus necessary to address how labor precarity was closely related to other forms of broader insecurity, namely the exposure to dangers arising from either their legal status or the impossibility to control the content of the packages delivered. sequentially, valuable as the interactions on the whatsapp group were, making sense of them and having more in-depth information on daily routines was only truly possible when the interviews were accomplished and successful analyzed. in other words, my rapport towards the group interactions was only built a posteriori, for it was in the interviews that the most pressing issues of the pdw lives became clear to me. this was particularly important for me as a researcher, given that i have never had the professional experience of working as a pdw, on the one hand, and that all i knew about these workers until now was essentially based on media reports describing their often precarious work and employment conditions. in total, interviews were done, all under anonymity. they were all done by videocall and, in average, lasted for min. they were all conducted in spanish, which i speak fluently as second language, and which allowed all interviewees to express themselves in their mother tongue. all interviews were recorded having the informed consent of the interviewees that the disclosure of the information retrieved would be anonymized. the flexible nature of the interviews made them the most relevant part of this research. as hereafter observed, the information collected confirmed the validity of this technique as a means to have a wider perspective of the existing constellation of visions of the same phenomenon (mason, ) . following kvale's (kvale, ) approach, the interviews were a mix of an unpreoccupied conversation among two acquaintances and an investigation. the script underlying these semi-structured interviews was thus quite loose, aiming mostly at having the interviewees relating their broader experience as pdw with the one of the present moment -even for cases in which they have decided to stop working, in order to protect their health. i dedicated a substantial amount of the interviews' time to understand how the work and employment conditions unfolded for the pdw, and how -in these particular circumstances -this was lived by each one of them. i focused on elements that could present themselves as hazardous, such as excessive work rhythm, overwork, absence of or difficult access to individual protection equipment, lack of alternatives in face of infection, and access to social welfare mechanisms. in both cases -those who continued to work and those who decided to stop -the interviewees' discourses shed light on the adaptations and justifications adopted by the subjects to navigate the current broader cultural framework -that of precarity. all this said, one should not understimate the limits posed by a context in which this research process unfolded. the very strict lockdown imposed by the spanish authorities made it completely impossible to grasp important information and its inclusion in the findings sequentially presented. this fact surely doesn't undermine the results altogether, but it has certainly prevented me from having access to broader dimensions of the precarious lives of the pdw. those which i consider future research would benefit from grasping are: physical living conditions; social capital; mental and physical strategies to cope with the workers' immensly precarious situation. undoubtedly, the conduction of presential (rather than merely digital) ethnography and of focus group interviews, would have made the results of the present research even deeper. the current section presents the main findings retrieved from the combined information of the interactions in the whatsapp group and the interviews. an insightful presentation deems useful the splitting of the information by topic, disregard their intertwined nature. a general overview of the trends of the interactions of the whatsapp group is followed by a specific approach of the topics. the whatsapp group hereafter analyzed was created on january , . it was composed of members when i joined it (march ) and kept on growing steadily until the last day of my research (april ), when it counted with participants -however not all participants were active, many of them stood as mere "observers". the group founder and moderator, himself also a pdw (assuming his profile photo is actually of himself), was one of such silent members -not even once has he interacted publicly within the group. the participants were mainly pdw who worked in barcelona, although there were a very small number of exceptions -people from other spanish cities looking for info or technical information. although most of the interactions referred to glovo, there were pdw who worked for other companies such as deliveroo, uber eats and stuart. some pdw had accounts open in more than one platform. elements like age and country of origin are impossible to account for. however, admitting that the photo provide by the profile picture is, most of the times, from the owner of the whatsapp identity, it was from the beginning clear that this group where young adults are the overwhelming majority (something that was later confirmed by the pool of interviewees, whose age ranged from to ). the same rationale applies for gender. based on the whatsapp profile photos and on the usernames -admitting they were reliable -i could only count seven women. notably, one was a fellow social researcher performing digital ethnography as i was doing, another was the wife of a pdw (it was unclear whether she, herself, was also a pdw) -the remaining others were actual pdw. this does not mean that all other members of the group were men: in the case of at least members, neither their usernames, nor their photos allowed to make a solid prediction on their gender. be as it may, during the two female interviewees confirmed that women were extremely rare in the pdw world. as for the content of the interactions, after a global reading, i deemed to code the information retrieved from the group in the following manner: company -dealing with aspects of the relation with the companies (mainly doubts and complaints shared among peers, before/instead of addressing the company itself); labor rhythm -related to the ongoing movement of demands made by clients (usually to assess if low levels of requests were an individual situation or a broader issue); police/security -shared information about (past or present) police controls and other aspects that could jeopardize the security of pdw, such as requests for delivery of illicit substances; rented accounts -information on accounts to be rented (essentially from people procuring them, but also some advertising and some doubts' clarification); state -discussion all aspects related to the relation of pdw with the state, mainly: the decision of the state of emergency, its renewal and its implications, and clarification of doubts on issues related with taxes and social security; covid -information and debate of news and concerns directly related to covid- (the evolution of numbers, who is to blame, what measures to take to reduce of the possibility of being infected); services -advertisement, sharing or procurement of services, disregard how work-related they are: second-hand backpacks, bikes' workshops, flats for rent, cigarettes, fuel, videogames or even direct requests to workers seeking to avoid the fees charged by the apps; other -jokes, memes, motivational messages of various sorts. as shown by fig. , throughout this period, the main concern of the dpw was related with the action of the police and other aspects related to security, taking up almost one third of all the interactions. most notably, concerns with covid- itself were extremely rare ( %). in fact, direct work-related worries were by far the most pressing, adding up to an aggregated result of % of the interactions. even if the services category is not considered as necessarily work-related -although a large number of the interactions that form part of it indeed are -, one would still observe that % of interactions refer to the need to deal with aspects that are connected to work. the "others'" category -which altogether added up to % of the interactions -was the locus of empathy among the pdw par excellence. inasmuch as these were not directly work-related contents, it was clear that group members found in this type of message a way to mutually motivate one another, expressing individual and collective resilience before such complex context as that of the covid- . undoubtedly, most messages were or religious (or related to them), even if, seldom, some jokes, memes and gifs would be posted, particularly as reaction to some previous message, as a way to provide feedback. the rest of this section is highly informative to why this is and how each of the different dimensions is, one way or another, related to the specific circumstances brought up by the covid- pandemic. if there is one thing that seems consensual among the interviewees is that working as pdw provides a low monthly income. most have noted that work is exhausting, allowing to obtain an amount with which one can "pay your food, your rent, and not more" (juan). of those interviewed the declared net income ranged from to euro per fortnight, all highlighting that reaching these amounts deemed necessary a very intense work rhythm, with no more than one day per week to rest. an important element of instability stems also from the inexistence of a minimum guaranteed wage, rendering it pure luck that there will be enough movement to allow one to earn enough to pay their bills. this is arguably why almost % of the interactions group are dedicated to understanding how rhythm of demands is at each day. the randomness of this possibility to make money is well expressed by the following statement of a member of the whatsapp group: april : wg# "one has to be patient, that i learnt from [name of company] … one just has to get out soon and have faith in god that a request drops." furthermore, the situation of the pdw is of people who live on the edge, renting rooms by the day, with no security at all, exposed to the arbitrariness of those with more power -something that became even more critical during the pandemic, leading one to believe that the covid- crisis may just be the tip of the iceberg of much deeper crisis, where job, food, shelter and medicines' scarcity may lead up to a not so distant perfect storm. take as examples: although the jokes and gags could, altogether, be a strand of this research on its own -following the steps of, among others, 't hart (t hart, ) -their scarcity and discontinuity rendered this possibility unattainable. march : wg# "i could not go out to work because the person who is renting me [a room], told me to look for another place to live, that they did not want to expose to the possibility of me taking the virus to the flat …" march : wg# "if you know of any bicycle account recommend it friends, maybe having some money it is easier to find a place to sleep, this night one good person let spend the night so i don't get frozen with the cold of the last days. i have a bike to work. if you know of any account please i'm very unsettled" beyond income, a decisive element to understand the whole context lived by most pdw is the way the apps are run, commonly known as application-based management. although each platform (which tangible expression is the application) has its specific features, the outline is similar for all. in a nutshell, the odds of a pdw having possibility to work (and, necessarily, obtaining income) is directly related to a mathematical combination of factors, such as: the availability to work in the hours deemed necessary by the platform (most notably in the evenings and weekends), the speed of delivery, the review the given by the customer who gets the order (and, in case it is food, also from the restaurant producing the food). when accomplished within the goals set by the platform, the pdw obtain points. when that is not the case -no matter whose fault it is -the pdw loses points. this extremely important since it is the amount of points one has that determine one's ability to "catch" hours of work. the more points one has, the more hours one will be able to reserve -hence, the more money one can make. diego pointed out how the lockdown was a special period, since "in this period they let you choose the hours you want, something that never happened", which stems from the huge demands received in these days, particularly for food orders. juan reported that the company he delivers for was now increasing the income rate to attract workers to work for more hours, something that had been done in the past only in rainy days or special holidays. be as it may, there still are the "hours of high demand" (defined by the platform and the restaurants), in which "if you don't work, your score will be lowered" (juan). in a context like that emerging from the covid- pandemic, it should come as no surprise that many people have tried to desperately find solutions to economically survive. in the month of march alone, more than thousands of workers were affected either by unemployment or by their companies making use of lay-off mechanisms (gomez, ) . one way or another, the financial stability of hundreds of thousands of families was directly affected, rendering them more prone to searching solutions where there might be potential for fresh and fast income. if one goes back to fig. , the fact that more than in every interactions are related to this topic provides evidence of its relevance. however, to fully grasp the meaning of this number it is important to keep in mind that these are interactions about performing an illegal action held in an open forum, in which everyone can be easily traced by their mobile number. this renders highly likely that many more interactions take place in non-public spaces. from the reports in the media and the interviews had, it is relatively easy to understand how this unfolds. in a nutshell: individual a signs-up for working in one platform, providing the required paperwork to be granted a license; once that is obtained, individual a procures someone who is willing to work but cannot/is not willing to sign-up for working in the platform; once that person is found (hereafter individual b), an oral agreement is celebrated: individual a grants access to his/her account to individual b, provided that the latter concedes the former a percentage of the income earned by working to the platform, plus all taxes. in all cases, individual a is in control at all times: the bank account where the money is deposited by the platform is his/hers; the mechanisms for password change are in his/her hand. the situation reported by jos e speaks for itself in terms of the vulnerability to which people renting accounts are exposed: "in of those payments he decided not to give me a thing, not to pay me … making excuses, that he wasn't making any money with that account and i don't know what else … and he stole that fortnight from me. that was a great problem, i had to pay the rent, and to eat also and, well, that time we even had to put up with hunger, because we lived very poorly …" a side, but important note to take here is: traditionally, this is a situation in which undocumented migrants are more likely to be found both the existing literature and the interviews made confirm it. however, in the pandemic context, it is likely that spanish nationals and documented migrants are drawn by the perks of renting an account: skip all the (although light, time consuming) bureaucracies to become a legal pdw and start making money "right away". while some companies only deal with distribution of food, there are others who provide delivery of packages of any sort (as long as they fit in the backpacks of the workers), including items between two addresses of two private individuals. the second half of this paper's research period was marked by the emergence of cases related to drug traffickers making use of these platforms' services to have their products distributed around the city -thus avoiding having themselves or their customers exposed by walking around the highly patrolled streets of barcelona. an example: april : wg # "well not long ago, a super beautiful blondie asked me to take a box of chocolates … and when she passed it onto my hands … and weighted nothing … that made me curious … and when was coming in the lift i found it suspicious and i felt like smelling it, and it was pure marijuana in the box of chocolates …" unsurprisingly, the lockdown was enforced by the action of police. practically empty, the streets and avenues of barcelona became constantly patrolled by police officers enquiring the purposes of people going around, no matter if they were on foot, riding their bikes or cars. allowed by the governmental decision on "essential activities" to keep on working, the pdw were not unexposed to trouble with the authorities -reason for which % of the interactions on the whatsapp group was about the police controls. as expected, the topic also came up in which case the account owner has an additional power over the individual renting it: that of, at any moment, denouncing him/her to the authorities. those renting an account for this purpose will not be caring for the last, but not least problem stemming from running a rented account: the absence of any form of social protection or benefit. this became outstandingly important when the spanish government announced a series of measures to support the selfemployed workers (which, in theory, is the legal category of the pdw) and those running rented accounts could not enroll for having access to such mechanisms. this was, by far, what occupied the % of the interactions above categorized as "state". in the first two weeks alone, there were more than . detentions and . fines for unjustified violation of the lockdown in the whole of spain. notably, from that the day on it is not possible to find overall data. in most of the interviews, although not with such relevance. indeed, the three reasons behind the concerns with the police controls are deeply intertwined with the previous four dimensions of precarity. even if, in most cases, an overlapping of issues is observed, they are hereafter split for a more comprehensive description. the systematic disrespect for traffic rules has very few (if anything) to do with the covid- context, however the huge reduction in traffic and having "police coming out of every corner" (march , wg # ) made the situation more hazardous. as noted by some, even when not fined, a pdw will necessarily be doubly harmed by a police control: the time spent while having his backpack and documentation checked will necessarily lose him precious hours of work and, simultaneously, impact the evaluation given by the client who will receive his package later than expected -something particularly critical in the case of food coming from restaurants. the words of jos e provide a clear picture of why pdw are so eager to avoid the police: "i cross a lot of red lights. and why do i do it? one is working with the hours given by [name of company], so one has to do what is possible to answer more requests in that hour, and so one goes as fast as possible to work more. sometimes i am afraid, because as much as one is careful, there is always risk" b) rented accounts although they are paying taxes to the account owner (rendering this slightly different from other forms of undeclared work), renting an account is an illegal action and, as noted above, it is often performed by undocumented immigrants. this deems police controls particularly unwelcome for many pdw, with consequences ranging from fines to severe legal complications. this widespread shared concern informs much of the interactions in the whatsapp group, as well as it emerges in several interviews. it is an undisputed source of anxiety: juan: "now they are also asking for documentation, and i will present the documents of my country and they will see that the account is someone else's … and things get complicated …" march : wg # "if one has a rented account, and besides it one doesn't have a passport, then you will have to take a lot of precaution, take latex gloves if possible, mask, lights on the bike, that way we avoid drawing attention." c) transport of illicit substances. it goes without saying that no one will want to be found by the police carrying illicit substances. scrutinizing the information retrieved from the whatsapp group (by the times the interviews took place this wasn't yet an issue), it stands clear that the pdw faced an unprecedented situation, which rendered many of them anxious. the discussion floated around how to avoid being used by drug dealers as carriers, and simultaneously, how to act in order to ensure the police would believe that -when they did carry drugs -they belonged to the client, and the pdw was unaware of what was being carried: april : wg# "guys, the best is not to take packages, there are already many cases of these, i know we are here to earn money but we can't risk, so even if we take a thousand photos, if the police will stop us, it is enough that it is in our package to have us being the harmed ones" against all odds, the issue of the covid- deserved very scarce attention from the pdw, particularly in the whatsapp group (only % of the interactions were directly related with it!). in fact, most of the references to it were purely instrumental and referred to how it connected with other dimensions of the pdw life, namely whether the state of emergency would interfere with their possibility to keep working. this statement should not, however, overlook the direct impact that covid- had on the life of several pdw. for instance, afraid of becoming sick jos e and maria reported having stopped working, while juan spoke of being extra careful -not afraid of the disease itself, but rather of, by becoming sick, not being able to work and, therefore, having no means of survival. despite different approaches to the topic, one aspect seemed to be consensual: the answer of the corporations that own the platforms was seem as scarce and perceived with disbelief by the pdw: march : wg # "they don't give you even a glass of water, let alone a mask. i came from there. and they don't even thank you" wg # "i saw some guy asking for it and they give them [masks], as well as gloves. obviously, when they run out, they won't give you … and you have to ask for it, it's not like they will be announcing it … their obligation would be to even notify us through the app, but we already know how it is …" to a large extent, the pandemic brought up the already existing precarious situation of the pdw. although the pool of interviewees does not stand as a representative sample -nor was that ever the intention -, it is clear that the pdw are mass of people who could not make their way into the world of standardized wage-earning decent jobs. either due to their situation of undocumented migrant, or simply because youth unemployment is massive in spain, working as a pdw forms part of the "precarity trap" in which millions of workers increasingly find themselves (fumagalli, ) . having this in mind, it is of the essence to the latter understanding of the emergence of a set of dilemas that, in a different context, could have assumed substantial different shapes, or not have surfaced at all. as aforementioned, the interviewees and the interactions in the whatsapp group made clear that there were different levels of concern regarding the possibility of being infected (and possibly killed) by the covid- . nonetheless, it stood crystal clear that, even for those exhibiting less fear, the decisive driver of their decision to work (in the case of those who did) was their impossibility to have reach out to any sort of alternative whatsoever. as per the definition of the merriam-webster dictionary ("dilemma." merriam-webste, ) a dilemma is "a usually undesirable or unpleasant choice". provided the above-mentioned circumstances in which pdw find themselves, i consider that, in the present context, they face critical dilemmas -which are hereafter systematically exposed: by far the most critical of all, the survival dilemma stands as a trademark of this particular time. on the one hand, by working and contacting dozens of other people (restaurant workers, clients, police officers, random people on the street), pdw are highly exposed to the highly contagious covid- . on the other hand, the absence of mechanisms of social support (such as unemployment or health benefits) and the possibility of having their account renting agreement unilaterally cancelled (for not being as productive as the original owners of the accounts expect/demand), impels them to continue work. over the period of research, i found two highly informative accounts, which i believe to efficiently summarize this dilemma: pablo: "of course there is a widespread fear … but even more fearsome is not to eat or having to stay on the street. you may get the virus and heal when it's over, but if you don't have anything to eat, you or your family, the death is of starvation. so, the fear is from hunger and that's it. i mean, the delivery workers, we are not fighting against one virus, we are fighting against several." march : wg # "i understand all that, but i have my daughter and the rent won't be forgiven. and my fear is to bring the virus to my house, to my wife and daughter. it is being between the sword and the wall. i'm desperate." . . the cost minimization dilemma: fines versus absence of income particularly for those not having an account under their name, the existence of a higher level of police control in the streets raises yet another dilemma. while going out is decisive to earn income to pay for their basic expenses, pdw caught using other people's accounts without documentation risks being severely fined -which would, of course, render completely useless all the efforts for gathering money. jos e: "i decided not to go out because this is a serious problem. what's more, i heard that the police was in the streets asking the delivery workers to show their working license and the social security documentation. from my side, i have no way to deliver that because my account is rented, so there is a risk i'm fined, and i've been told it can go up to euro. this fortnight i haven't earned a single euro." april : wg # "partners i have a rented account and i am about to run out of euros, what do you recommend, get out or can i get even more screwed with a fine?" wg # "with the fine or with virus, any of the two." wg # "of course you can get more screwed but you have to work. get out from to . whatever you do then is good. i go out everyday and i'm like that" . . the algorithmic dilemma: red signs versus police attention the third dilemma is not specific to this period, however the ubiquitous presence of the police in the streets makes it rather more pressing than in the recent past. the quotes provided in previous sections stand as the most significant to shed light on this issue, reason for which no new quotes are provided here. nonetheless, this dilemma's underlying rationale is the following: on the one hand, the only way to "please the algorithm" which lies at the foundation of the app is to work with high pace, since that will improve the odds of having good reviews, which, in turn, will allow the pdw to have more hours available to work and, thus, earn more income. even if the results of a high rhythm of deliveries doesn't have immediate algorithmic impact -although far from only long term, since the score of each pdw is updated on a daily basis -, as noted by some of the interviewees, the fact that the pdw get one delivery done, allow them to move on to the next one within the available hours. this will be particularly critical to those start to work as pdw, since they will have both fewer hours available and, within those, fewer odds of having a delivery requested to them. notably, this seems to confirm that technology is not, on its own, a form of control or exploitation: the ways in which it is designed and implemented rather mirrors the social relations it embodies (moore et al., ) in the case of the pdw, the absence of human (visible) interference in the decision-making process, allows managerial control to be perceived as computational and, thus, non-biased towards the boss or the employee (gillespie, ) , thus impelling workers to incur in hazardous behaviors, although keeping the appearance (in some cases some sort of fetishicized illusion) that it was their choice all alongand not the companies' perverse algorithmic design inducing them to adopt such praxis (veen et al., ) . on the other hand, to ensure that this very high rhythm is accomplished demands to not always act according to the laws, particularly traffic rules. such an attitude may, however, entail a series of negative consequences, all of them steaming from having the police attention drawn to oneself. the first, and most obvious, is that being stopped by the police will mean losing time, thus rendering the risks and the efforts to make a fast delivery useless. the second, almost as likely in case is not respecting traffic rules, is that one may be fined, which will obviously impact on the available income as soon as the fine is paid. third and most seriously, particularly for those using rented accounts, having the police checking their situation will probably lead to even heavier sanctions, ranging from bigger fines to serious legal complications (particularly for undocumented immigrants, which, as above mentioned, is many times the case). ironically enough, given the more precarious one's situation isspecifically in the case of account renters -, the more one will feel compelled to violate the laws, given that the net income retrieved from working as pdw will be even lower. as noted in the previous section, a problem that has been emerging for the pdw is that there seems to be a sudden increase in cases of drug traffickers making use of them to ensure the distribution of their product. such fact poses a series of problems that dialogue directly with several critical features of the pdw activity and the way it is designed. on the one hand, pdw afraid and/or suspicious of being used as involuntary carriers of drugs may choose to take one of three different actions, all of which may have important consequences: (i) refusing the request for deliver packages from private senders: the immediate consequence is that the earnings that would be obtained from that service will be missed, without the pdw knowing when will he/she be able to have another service; beside that, rejecting services is very likely to have negative impact on one's score, thus affecting his/hers possibility to earn money in the future. (ii) requesting the sender to open the package to ensure it's drugsfree: by asking something that does not comply with any recommendation of the platforms and is, most likely, illegal, pdw risk being sanctioned, either by having a bad review and/or if denounced by the sender to the main company; furthermore, even if this is not at all negatively interpreted by the sender, the fact that the pdw is losing time will already stand as an indirect sanction, for as noted in the previous dilemma it will likely harm the total income earned. (iii) voluntarily asking the police to check a package: particularly under the ongoing circumstances, the police has the authority to open a package and provide a legal document that the pdw may attach to it, thus defending him/herself from any accusation of violation of privacy, thus rendering this the safest option; however, this option will make the pdw lose time of eventually scarce available hours to work, which will have the impacts described above; furthermore, for an account renter (let alone an undocumented migrant!), voluntarily stop at a police control will most probably mean having documentation checked, which, for what has been exposed previously, will hardly stand as a true option on the other hand, not taking any of these three actions poses a serious risk of being stopped by the police anyway, except in this scenario, beyond any other eventual illegalities performed, carrying drugs (or even throwing it away, as some proposed in the whatsapp group). while the pdw may argue that this was being done as part of the job, proving it may be far more complicated -notably, this will be particularly more complex for undocumented immigrants. a relevant excerpt would be: april : wg # "how heavy it is with this thing of the deliveries. even if you reject it because you know its drugs and report it, you lose points …" wg # "my husband asked the client to open the boxes in front of him and the man didn't want to. he obviously didn't take it. and told him all sorts of things but his security is first, since he is already risking by going out because he rents an account. of course that for the police you are an accomplice and that's it." all things considered, exceptions notwithstanding, the pdw options are everything but true choices. the insecurity to which they are exposed deems necessary to incur in ever-growing risks (inter alia, exposure to disease and security risks, high degree of probability of being fined by of the police, or even worse) -which renders these as practically false dilemmas: at the end of the day, there is no choice but to comply with the companies' rules and go to work. as i write the last lines of this paper the developments of the covid- are still very much unpredictable. be that as it may, out of the many conclusions that can already be extracted from this health crisis -and which may prove of the essence for the more than likely upcoming economic crisis -, one is surely that there is no such thing as everyone being on the same boat. if anything, the covid- crisis has exposed the multiple-fold consequences of precarity. not that the immunity of some human beings is stronger than others just because of their job and/or economic security, however, the exposure to health and other risks, the way one cope's with temporary economic scarcity, the very ways in which one goes by a period such as this (for now) one month of quarantine, are not the same for everybody. as part of his precariat, guy standing (standing, ) drew attention to how the expansion of precarity has meant the reemergence of the ancient denizenry, i.e. a mass of people whose absence of many rights denied them the entitlement to a full citizenship. while this has always been the case of vulnerable layers of society, such as the undocumented migrants, as this paper has confirmed, these are far from the only ones falling onto this dark category. inasmuch as the existing constraints to circulation and the rapid unfold of events posed some limitations to the elaboration of this papernamely the possibility to have a larger pool of interviewees -, it still stands as a contribution for a broader understanding that the modernization of the labor process does not necessarily entail progress or social justice. nonetheless, still further research on how the covid- crisis impacted the life of precarious layers of societies is needed. among others, two critical aspects stand out as not possible to have been fully grasped by the research hereby entailed: i) to what extent the pdw were exposed to health risks to ensure they would fulfill their mission, and what did the corporations they work for do to actually tackle those risks. ii) disregard the public discourses surrounding the pdw's importance, in a moment when many people are forced (by law and/or by risk) to not to leave their homes, at least one of the companies -most notably the biggest in spain -has decided to lower the retribution per delivery ("dilemma." merriam-webste, ); beyond the outstanding contradiction, both the justifications and consequences of this decision remain unpredictable, but of the utmost interest from a sociological standpoint. as a final word, the present paper seems to underline that unless policies are designed to reconcile the development of technology, justice and human development altogether, the odds are that groundbreaking innovations are appropriated by those already concentrating wealthusing them to their advantage to further improve their already privileged situation -even if that means voting those around them to indecent living conditions. if ever there were any doubts this is the way unregulated capitalism works, the situation of the pdw in the age of covid- leaves very few room for doubts any sort. this research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. credit authorship contribution statement tiago vieira: conceptualization, methodology, software, data curation, writing -original draft, visualization, investigation, validation, supervision, writing -review & editing. the authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. humour and social protest: an introduction o privil egio da servidão introduction vida líquida o mercado ilegal das contas de app de entrega alugadas por brasileiros em londres acts of resistance: against the new myths of our time caporalato digitale tra rider, account italiani venduti a migranti irregolari: «dammi il % e ti cedo l'account study to gather evidence on the working conditions of platform workers qualitative research and hypermedia: ethnography for the digital age questioning "digital ethnography the transmediated self: life between the digital and the analog cognitive biocapitalism, the precarity trap, and basic income: postcrisis perspectives labour process theory and the gig economy common ground the relevance of algorithms la crisis del coronavirus provoca la p erdida de . empleos desde el inicio del estado de alarma. el país a brief history of neoliberalism precarity -more than a challenge of social security or: cynicism of eu's concept of economic freedom the app as a boss? control and autonomy in application-based management. arbeit | grenze | fluss -work in progress self-employment as atypical or autonomous work: diverging effects on political orientations airbnb: case study in occupancy regulation and taxation det kvalitative forskningsintervju understanding labour politics in an age of precarity the ambivalence of logistical connectivity: a co-research with foodora riders. work organisation qualitative researching humans and machines at work. monitoring, surveillance and automation in contemporary capitalism capital in the twenty-first century el mercado negro de los «riders» de glovo en madrid: alquilan sus licencias a «sin papeles uberworked and underpaid: how workers are disrupting the digital economy platform capitalism dualism, job polarization, and the social construction of precarious work platform capital's 'app-etite' for control: a labour process analysis of food-delivery work in australia this paper would not have been possible with the insights and incentive of mireia bolíbar, without the comments of daniel romero-portillo and adam tash, and without the contributions and companionship of my quarantine and life partner, ana oliveira. all of them deserve may utmost gratitude. key: cord- -h atwd authors: diotaiuti, pierluigi; mancone, stefania; bellizzi, fernando; valente, giuseppe title: the principal at risk: stress and organizing mindfulness in the school context date: - - journal: int j environ res public health doi: . /ijerph sha: doc_id: cord_uid: h atwd background: in recent years the role of school principals is becoming increasingly complex and responsible. methods: this study was voluntarily attended by italian school principals who were administered the psychological stress measurement (msp), mindfulness organizing scale (mos), polychronic-monochronic tendency scale (pmts), and the scale of emotions at work (sew). results: the study has produced a path analysis model in which the relationships between the main predictors of principals’ work discomfort were explained. the effect of depressive anxiety on perceived discomfort (ß = . ) found a protective mediator in the mindfulness component that recognizes the sharing as a fundamental operational tool (ß = − . ), while an increasing sense of effort and confusion could significantly amplify the experience of psychological discomfort associated with the exercise of school leadership (ß = . ). conclusions: the model developed in this study suggests that focusing on organizing mindfulness can be a valuable guideline for interventions. research on work-related stress has long identified the school as one of the risk environments, and various studies and publications deal with the stress and burnout of school workers. most of the work produced devotes attention to teachers, and there are few reflections on the psychophysical resistance of the principal, especially considering all the legislative and organizational changes that have taken place [ , ] . these continuous changes, necessary in a rapidly changing society (well described by the "liquid society" metaphor coined by zygmunt bauman) become a cause of work-related stress for all school staff, especially principals. the ongoing reform of the education system in italy involves various professionals and individuals who have a role in the complex world of school: principal (dg-dirigente scolastico in italian); director of general and administrative services (dsga-it. direttore dei servizi generali e amministrativi), all administrative, technical and auxiliary staff (ata-it. personale amministrativo, tecnico e ausiliario), teachers, students and their parents (or parental figures). each of these players must adapt to regulatory changes, both individually and collectively, with time dictated by political choices, which can be both national and supranational; the educational system, through the schools operating on the territory and the people who effectively act and put into practice the regulatory frameworks decided by the government institutions, must follow and pursue the changes in a short time period, often far from the actual physiological timing that the institution can implement. the principal is an intermediate figure and a link between the institutional organizational framework, represented by the state, the regions, and the municipalities, and the framework of school individuals, represented by the teaching staff, ata staff, parents and students. many of the skills and int. j. environ. res. public health , , of competences required of professional staff, but also students, are not part of the training acquired over time and especially put into practice and enriched by personal experimentation and experience, so that even people with a ten-year work experience are forced to become new students learning subjects and skills hitherto untested, and therefore they are unaware of how gifted, capable and effective they are in resolving tasks [ , ] . the role of principal requires new skills and competences to meet the requirements and objectives defined by the proliferation of school reforms, regulations, and cultural changes [ , , ] . extensive research in various countries has already focused on principal burnout [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] . as sari [ ] notes, there may be curiosity and desire to learn and experience new skills and abilities, but the stress related to possible administrative errors and criminal consequences of errors or omissions, or low performance in failing to achieve results, remains high, with emotional drain and possible burnout consequences. moreover, implicitly, the principal may also experience the feeling that his own cultural and cognitive skills, as well as tools and resources, have become obsolete or are no longer suitable for current needs, thus increasing personal insecurity [ ] . these elements are sources of elevated stress levels in principals, because they become the point of reference and the catalyst of the stress of all professional and non-professional figures. not only must the principal solve his/her own problems, but he/she must also deal with those of his/her subordinates, in most cases without having adequate leadership experience and training. some countries have experienced a lack of candidates for the role of principal or an increase in resignations, because the teachers know they are not actually capable of fulfilling all the requirements the role calls for [ ] [ ] [ ] . the principal experiences a drastic reduction in his/her educational and pedagogical function and must acquire technical, administrative, cognitive and what we could call management engineering skills: as a principal he/she becomes responsible for the safety of staff and students and a manager of economic resources, with budgetary obligations. to carry out these tasks, he/she must have medical-legal and managerial skills which the teacher who is promoted to the role of principal does not possess. moreover, the change in commitments, as well as responsibilities, can be a source of great stress and a health risk, since the individual might not be able to manage, but above all to identify, the point where he must ask for help and activate a course of treatment. this applies both at the individual level and as the head of the safety and health of subordinate staff, having to decide when it is appropriate to subject a member of staff to a medical examination, especially when the latter does not want to or cannot deal with personal problems. the principal is not alone and employs ata and dsga personnel, but as the person responsible for their work, he/she still must have the ability to evaluate and correct any errors. the above concerns only the legal-administrative part and the school is viewed as a business that must be run efficiently [ ] . in addition to this, however, there is the management of the team in the areas of human resources and coordination. principals can contribute to shaping the school climate as they should promote and support students and teachers [ ] . this involves managing aspects related to students, social change and the management of a multi-ethnic society in continuous evolution, with changes in customs and processes [ , ] . for example, the new migratory flows have led some educational institutions to deal with the task of managing adult "students", independent adults and adults with a "different" culture, who are normally obliged to attend school: however, this type of "student" requires cultural and relational skills and management skills that the school staff may not have. the aim of this research is to draw attention to the figure of the principal as a person at risk of burnout and work-related stress for both exploratory, diagnostic and preventive purposes. the principal has to focus on the limit between being engaged in school life and avoiding workaholism, in order to live in a state of health and well-being [ ] . chronic stress stimulates negative behaviors and thoughts and problems related to emotions, feelings and physical health that can hinder effective school administration. according to scholars as langer [ ] , davidson et al. [ ] , vogus and sutcliffe [ ] , weick and putnam [ ] , and weick and sutcliffe [ ] , many positive benefits can be associated with individual and organizing mindfulness, such as health improvement, stress reduction, increased of creativity, and less risk of burnout. more specifically hoy et al. [ ] define "school mindfulness" as the extent to which teachers and administrators in a school carefully and regularly look for problems, prevent problems from becoming crises, are reluctant to oversimplify events, focus on teaching and learning, are resilient to problems, and defer to expertise. therefore, we also hypothesized in this work that components of the organizing mindfulness could have a significant role for the school principal in increasing or limiting his/her perceived work discomfort. ( ) monitor the stress levels of a large sample of principals belonging to different levels of italian schools; ( ) verify the incidence of specific pathologies associated with high levels of school stress; ( ) evaluate the relationships between the perceived stress, work discomfort and dimensions of organizational mindfulness; ( ) test the fit of a general path model illustrating the influence of the predictors on principals' work discomfort; and ( ) identify the role of organizing mindfulness on principal's perceived work discomfort. the study was voluntarily attended by school principals ( males and females) with an average age of . (sd = . ). they were invited to participate by means of an email indicating the purpose of the study, declaring the guarantee of anonymity and the use of the data collected for scientific purposes only, and therefore were requested to fill in a questionnaire online. approximately contact e-mails were sent, extracting the addresses from a special national list. the sample size determination was made by setting a -alpha confidence level at %, therefore with z normal value at the confidence level of . . the following formula was applied: x o = z (p × q)/b , with p as the proportion to be estimated and q the proportion of complementary character and b the desired precision set at %. hence: . ( . × . )/ . = . the response rate recorded was : , compatible with the fixed sample size ( > ). the average completion time was about min. tools administration took place upon the release and signing of the form for an informed consent of participation in accordance with the declaration of helsinki. the study was approved by the institutional review board of the university of cassino and southern lazio. in order to collect the data necessary to carry out the study, a questionnaire was built up and articulated into the following sections: ( ) socio-demographic information: gender; age; type of degree obtained; ( ) school environment: (a) how long (in years) have you been a school principal? (b) how many students altogether attend the school(s) you currently manage? (c) how long (in years) have you been a principal at the current location? (d) type of school(s) related to the management (primary/secondary school, technical school, high school, etc.); ( ) information on the current health of the subjects: body mass index, high/low blood pressure, possible presence of diabetes, cholesterol, heart disease, respiratory problems (e.g., asthma, bronchitis), migraines, stomach problems, back, neck or joint pain; ( ) psychometric measurements: (a) the test m.s.p. (psychological stress measurement) [ , ] . the test measures the state of subjectively perceived stress, and consists of items with likert response scale - (from not at all to very much) on the individual's perception of his cognitive-affective, physiological, and behavioral state. the overall test score provides a global index of the psychological stress state. in addition to the overall score, it is possible to calculate six other values that correspond to six different articulations of the way one perceives himself as being stressed: loss of control and irritability (i.e., "i am irritable, my nerves are on edge, i lose patience with people and things."); psychophysiological sensations (i.e., "i feel tense or strained."); sense of effort and confusion (i.e., "i feel overwhelmed, overpowered and overloaded."); depressive anxiety (mixed depression and anxiety symptoms: i.e., "i review the same ideas several times, i brood, i have the same thoughts over and over again, i feel my head full of thoughts."); pain and physical problems (i.e., "i have physical pains: back pain, headache, neck pain, bellyache."); hyperactivity and acceleration (i.e., "i walk quickly"); (b) mindfulness organizing scale (mos) [ , ] . this is a self-report measure that investigates the safety of the organization, or rather how the worker perceives that safety. it is based on concrete behavior that reflects the employee's relationship with the organization and his colleagues. the measurement is carried out on a three-point likert scale (from not at all to very much). the dimensions included in the items are: concern about failure, reluctance to simplify interpretations, sensitivity to operations, commitment to resilience, and deference to expertise. the s , s , and s scales were used for this study. a total of items make up these three scales. the s scale measures the degree of application of group decision-making and comparison with colleagues (awareness of the value of shared problem analysis: i.e., "when a crisis occurs, we rapidly pool our collective expertise to attempt to resolve it"), the s scale is designed to assess the organization's reluctance to simplify in the face of critical issues (awareness of the value of a non-rigid climate: i.e., "when discussing emerging problems with co-workers, we usually discuss what to look out for"), the s scale is intended to assess the level of organizational awareness (awareness of the value of mutual knowledge: i.e., "we discuss our unique skills with each other so that we know who has relevant specialized skills and knowledge"); (c) scheda per la rilevazione funzionale delle aziende (functional survey module for companies) [ ] . for this study, within the module, the scale of emotions at work was used; it consists of items with true/false answers to assess the emotions that prevail during work. the direction of the scale is oriented to specifically assess the work discomfort perceived by the person; (d) polychronic-monochronic tendency scale (pmts) [ ] . this measures the subject's ability to perform several tasks during the same time interval (i.e., "i feel at ease when i do several activities at once"). the measurement is carried out on a five-point likert scale (from strongly disagree to strongly agree) including five items. the data were processed using the statistical software spss version (ibm corporation, armonk, ny, usa) and amos ibm version (ibm corporation, armonk, ny, usa). the main analyses performed were: descriptive statistics to illustrate socio-demographic information; pearson and spearman bivariate and partialized correlations for all main measures (psychological stress, organizing mindfulness, work discomfort, polychronic-monochronic tendency) significant at p < . and at p < . , -tailed); kendal's point-biserial correlations between msp, work discomfort and reported physical ailments; cronbach's alpha as scale reliability coefficient; t-test to explore significance in stress score and polychronic tendency relating to gender; anova univariate test with p < . to explore significances between work discomfort, stress and organizing mindfulness; hierarchical regression to identify the predictors of work discomfort and stress; cohen's d and eta squared as measures of effect size; sem analysis to explore predictors' effects on work discomfort. to test the adequacy of the model the following eight indices were considered: ( ) the chi-square; ( ) the relationship between the value of the chi-square and the degrees of freedom; ( ) gfi (goodness of fit index); ( ) agfi (adjusted goodness of fit index); ( ) rmsea (root-mean-square error of approximation); ( ) rmsr (root mean square residual); ( ) cfi (comparative fit index); ( ) nfi (normed fit index); ( ) rfi (relative fit index); ( ) pnfi (parsimony adjustment to nfi); ( ) pcfi (parsimony adjustment to cfi); ( ) pclose (testing the null hypothesis that the population rmsea is no greater than . ). the main characteristics of the sample are illustrated in table below, while table presents the bivariate correlations between the measures used in the study. the corresponding dataset is available as supplementary material s . it can be observed in table that stress resulted inversely correlated to age, strongly correlated to work discomfort and inversely correlated to organizational awareness. among the components of stress most associated with the perception of work discomfort were depressive anxiety ( . **), the sense of effort and confusion ( . **), and irritability ( . **). as the number of years of service increases, organizational awareness also improves ( **), while stress (− . **) and the perception of work discomfort (− . **) decrease; at the same time, awareness of the value of mutual knowledge increases ( . **) and the person's level of hyperactivity decreases (− . **). the level of discomfort and perceived stress was not associated with the number of students in the administered institution. as seniority increased, there was also an increase in the number of students and therefore in the size of the school administered ( . **). partialized correlations with the perception of work discomfort, showed a decrease in the association between the variables (determined by the control variables), which however remained statistically significant with depressive anxiety ( . **), the sense of effort and confusion ( . **), awareness of sharing analysis ( . **), but no longer with irritability ( . ), awareness of no-stiffness ( . ), awareness of mutual knowledge ( . ). partialized correlations with the general measure of stress (msp) showed a reduction of associations with age variables (− . **) and work discomfort ( . **), and non-significance with awareness of sharing analysis ( . ), awareness of no-stiffness ( . ), awareness of mutual knowledge (− . ). table shows the distribution of stress levels among the sample, after the transformation of the raw score into t points and the relative comparison with the italian percentile calibration values of the scale. it can be noted that . % had high levels of stress and almost % of the principals were affected by moderate and high levels of stress. figure reports the distribution of stress scores compared to the type of school managed. it can be observed that the regency of the comprehensive schools with multiple age levels ( - ) was accompanied by the highest level of stress for the principals, although the univariate anova and tukey's post-hoc comparisons did not show significant differences between this level of stress and those associated with the other four types of school (p = . ). figure reports the distribution of stress scores compared to the type of school managed. it can be observed that the regency of the comprehensive schools with multiple age levels ( - ) was accompanied by the highest level of stress for the principals, although the univariate anova and tukey's post-hoc comparisons did not show significant differences between this level of stress and those associated with the other four types of school (p = . ). univariate anova reported, as illustrated in table , a significant inverse association between organizational mindfulness and stress scores; in addition, there was a significant association of the two variables (stress and organizational mindfulness) with the measure of perceived work discomfort. univariate anova reported, as illustrated in table , a significant inverse association between organizational mindfulness and stress scores; in addition, there was a significant association of the two variables (stress and organizational mindfulness) with the measure of perceived work discomfort. table reports point-biserial correlations between msp, work discomfort and the physical ailments the principals claimed to have. it can be noted that the disorders most associated with stress and the perception of work discomfort are: migraine, stomach problems, back and/or cervical pain. stomach problems are sometimes also associated with respiratory problems (e.g., asthma, bronchitis). in order to identify among the components of stress and mindfulness the predictors influencing work discomfort perceived by principals, a hierarchical regression analysis was carried out. hierarchical multiple regressions were run to determine if the addition of the stress and mindfulness components improved the prediction of work discomfort. the preliminary verifications of the regression assumptions excluded the presence of multivariate outliers. mardia's multivariate kurtosis index ( . ) was in fact below the critical value [p (p + ) = ]; therefore, the relationship between the variables can be considered substantially linear. low co-linearity was indicated by the low vif values (variance inflation factor) < and high tolerance values > . . for verification of the assumptions on the residuals, the average between the standardized and raw residuals was equal to ; the durbin-watson test had a value of . and was therefore indicative of the absence of autocorrelation. influential predictors have been identified in depressive anxiety the model is displayed in figure , where it is shown that work discomfort was mainly affected by depressive anxiety (standardized estimate of the regression weight of . for p < . ). the second influential predictor turned out to be the sense of effort and confusion (standardized estimate of the regression weight of . for p < . ), which in turn receives a major influence precisely from depressive anxiety (standardized estimate of the regression weight of − . for p < . ). the model has identified the awareness of the value of shared problem analysis as a significant negative predictor of work discomfort (standardized estimates of the regression weights − . for p < . ), furthermore this was negatively affected by depressive anxiety (standardized estimate of the regression weight of . for p < . ). subsequently, a sem analysis was performed, combining into one explanatory model the variables that previously revealed significant association with work discomfort. the model showed overall good fit measurements: χ = . df = p = . ; cmin/df = . ; rmr = . ; gfi = . ; agfi = . . baseline comparisons nfi = . ; ifi = . ; cfi = . . parsimony-adjusted measures pnfi = . ; pcfi = . ; rmsea: . ; pclose: . ; rmsea % . - . . the model is displayed in figure , where it is shown that work discomfort was mainly affected by depressive anxiety (standardized estimate of the regression weight of . for p < . ). the second influential predictor turned out to be the sense of effort and confusion (standardized estimate of the regression weight of . for p < . ), which in turn receives a major influence precisely from depressive anxiety (standardized estimate of the regression weight of − . for p < . ). the model has identified the awareness of the value of shared problem analysis as a significant negative predictor of work discomfort (standardized estimates of the regression weights − . for p < . ), furthermore this was negatively affected by depressive anxiety (standardized estimate of the regression weight of . for p < . ). table below summarizes the maximum likelihood estimates and regression weights estimates. the corresponding sem with amos is available as supplementary material s . the state of chronic stress leads to an inability to manage events, both in the sense of not being able to solve the conditions of difficulty that arise and in the sense of inability to prevent them and even of unconscious tendency to intensify and proliferate obstacles and stressful events [ ] . numerous studies have demonstrated that chronic stress also directly produces innumerable illness conditions, influenced by the inability to manage and improve one's own health [ ] . studies on work-related stress are increasing, as are publications on the difficult condition of school workers [ , ] . while the focus is on teachers, there are few reflections on the psychophysical fitness of the school manager, especially in light of the latest legislative and organizational changes. school leaders are also exposed to health risks related to work-related stress, but there are different aspects of the problem with respect to teachers and employees in general [ , ] . this involves an institutional figure thrown into the continuous proliferation of reforms, legal norms, structural changes, conflict management, and radical changes in customs and processes [ ] . we are substantially dealing with a figure who is at risk and to whom more research attention should be paid for exploratory, diagnostic and preventive purposes. our study first of all showed that about half of the sample of principals who participated in the research had moderate to high stress levels. this immediately emphasizes how current and critical the problem is. the widespread tendency to merge different school cycles (elementary and junior high schools) in the so-called "istituti comprensivi" (comprehensive schools, ages - ), for administrative reasons, was associated with a greater load of tension and pressure for principals, who probably find it difficult to manage with a single approach the problems and differences that arise from educational orientations and professional profiles traditionally characterized by a plurality of visions, different approaches to teaching and evaluation of students, diversity in the level of involvement of families in school life, different propensity and habit of teachers of different cycles (primary and secondary) to work on shared projects. it would seem that the management of these differences, rather than the size of the school (in terms of number of students, and therefore of teachers), is a reason for greater pressure and tension at work [ , ] . women principals showed significantly higher levels of stress than their male colleagues. in this regard, according to the data, their greater tendency to engage simultaneously in the resolution of several tasks, could indicate a greater resistance to delegation, a strong sense of personal responsibility that would lead them to a total (psychological) involvement which over time can overload the person, limiting the time of physical and mental recovery. in line with these data, studies by kiral [ ] have shown that women principals have higher levels of stress than male principals, as women have to reconcile the responsibility for domestic work with the official and public work they do in school. the first analyses of our study have indicated that the general perception of the principal's working discomfort presents on the one hand an association with the level of stress, which contributes to increase the value of the discomfort, and on the other hand an equally significant association with organizing mindfulness, which can substantially limit the negative effects of stress on perceived discomfort. this measure of discomfort includes de-motivational aspects, negative mood, disappointment for the unreliability of the context, negative balance between efforts and results, weight in conducting mediations, pessimistic view of the future, perception of others' insensitivity, doubts about one's self-efficacy. an interesting reflection that emerged from the observation of the data was that relating to the age and period of service of the principals. both the stress level and the perceived general discomfort had an inverse correlation with age and years of service. this suggests that experience can play a significant role in the development of the management and coordination skills required to best perform the complex functions of school leadership. the critical aspect concerns the italian situation where in the last decade there has been a substantial turnover of principals. therefore, only a few years ago, a large number of principals started their service role, in a context of extensive administrative changes imposed by the ministry of education. it is not difficult to hypothesize that in this situation the youngest principal may feel the weight and responsibility of an assignment that no longer finds a frame of reference in past experience. the results of the study confirmed the association between high levels of stress and somatization, which was already evident in the literature on the health implications of a chronic occupational stress condition: migraine, stomach problems, back and/or cervical pains, respiratory problems (e.g., asthma, bronchitis). these data were in line with mariammal et al. [ ] who stated that stress manifests itself in the form of chronic disorders or diseases such as hypertension, stroke, headache, and diabetes, as well as regular physical pain. some principals experience symptoms such as suppression of the reproductive system, anxiety, aggression, indigestion, stomach-ache, pain, dizziness, and rapid heartbeat. in addition, chronic stress creates muscle tension, fatigue, constipation, and arthritis [ ] . principal stress has even been associated with severe problems such as ischemia and heart problems [ ] . further results of the study have identified the predictors of work-related discomfort with greater accuracy in the components of stress and organizational mindfulness. through a regression analysis and then through sem, the effects and influence relationships between the predictors were identified. among the components of the msp, it seemed that depressive anxiety had the main role of influence. the anxiety component is characterized by aspects of recurrent ruminative cognition that amplify the sense of isolation, incomprehension, discouragement, and worry [ ] . this negative interpretative framework activates another significant component: the sense of effort and confusion perceived by the person, who develops thoughts of inadequacy, the impression that everything involves a considerable effort and that everything falls on his shoulders. this attitude can naturally encourage a lack of clarity in ideas and decreased attention and concentration. within the model, one of the three components of mindfulness, the awareness of the importance of sharing problem analysis, found a significant place. the effect of the variable limited the dimension of the perceived discomfort. if, on the one hand, the increase in pressure and tension drives the person to intensify their efforts by closing and defensively stiffening themselves, on the other hand, the ability to recognize the value of sharing and involvement of other collaborators and colleagues in order to deepen the understanding of the problems and the identification of the most appropriate management methods, can help one to come out of isolation and discover the value of confrontation and the functional exercise of delegation, reducing the sense of oppression and distrust. the anxiety component that characterizes the principal's stress can be mitigated by training and refresher courses focused on a model of organizing mindfulness. acquiring awareness of the value of sharing practice is the main theme, but two other aspects to be investigated should not be underestimated and which in this study have however shown strong positive correlations with the practice of sharing, and which perhaps constitute the necessary operational preparatory basis: awareness of the value/advantage of a non-rigid climate and awareness of the value of mutual knowledge. a lack of awareness of one's own way of acting can lead to behaviors that are not functional to the work context, to the quality of the interaction with one's colleagues and to the nature of the task required at the time [ ] . by investing in one's mindfulness, one can expect to break the old automatisms in favor of new behaviors, effective even in difficult times, as indicated by weick and sutcliffe, who believe it is necessary to rely on a mindfulness-oriented approach when there is a need to make a quick and important decision, giving priority to one's competence (or that of one's co-workers), rather than relying on one's authority. the study by beausaert et al. [ ] emphasized the influence of social support in the containment of stress and the burnout of principals. our study points out as a priority, above all, the awareness to which the principal must be individually accountable, i.e., the indispensability of a practice of sharing and mutual recognition of specificities and competences. in this way they move on to a proactive attitude that promotes social support in the first person, before expecting it (in due form) from others. when mindfulness becomes a shared social practice in an organization and permeates the routines, processes and practices among people and teams, and thus affects the organization as a whole, the organization itself becomes more resilient and proactive. even the educational institution has a vital need to promote responsible leaders at all levels, capable of maintaining self-control, a sense of balance and self-determination, despite the informational overload they have to deal with today. data collection through self-reporting measures should be expanded with a methodological design in which judgments about principal stress could be provided also by the staff and teachers of the school, in order to have a more balanced representation by an outside perspective. the cross-sectional approach of the study involved collecting data at a single point in time; instead, the extension of the study could include repeated administration at different times of the school year (beginning, middle, end). the reference hypothesis is that the level of stress and the perception of discomfort could vary in relation to different significant institutional moments, such as the opening and closing of the school year. in this regard it could be useful the novel use of neuroscience-based approaches in education, namely neurodicatics, which is directed to address the educational and psychological well-being of students and staff involved in education as part of the education environment [ ] . a further important contribution could be a specific focus on how principals cope with emergencies and on the functionality of their strategies to manage individual and collective stress triggered by the exceptional nature of the problems that the situation entails (e.g., ensuring teaching activities in safe environments after the spread of the covid- virus). at the moment, there are also no longitudinal studies that have monitored the evolution of the principal's leadership ability over medium-long intervals. it would therefore be important to understand if and how more mature and functional patterns for the containment and management of pressure in moments of personal tension and discomfort are learned and modeled over the course of his/her career. the results of this study have shown that the levels of stress and work discomfort perceived by principals are high and require both empirical investigation and targeted support and prevention interventions. in fact, the stress experienced by a principal is associated with various physical disorders and serious health risks, such as ischemia and heart problems. the study has produced a path analysis model in which the joint effects between the main predictors of principals' work discomfort were explained. the effect of depressive anxiety on perceived discomfort found a protective mediator in the mindfulness component that recognizes sharing as a fundamental operational tool, while an increasing sense of effort and confusion could significantly amplify the experience of psychological discomfort associated with the practice of school leadership. supplementary materials: the following are available online at http://www.mdpi.com/ - / / / /s , file s : principals stress.sav (dataset); file s : model work discomfort.amw (model). author contributions: p.d., g.v., and s.m. designed the study. p.d., g.v., and s.m. analyzed the data and discussed the results. f.b. and s.m. drafted the manuscript. g.v. and f.b. revised the manuscript. all authors approved the final manuscript. finally, the authors have agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the manuscript in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of it are appropriately investigated and resolved. all authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. funding: this research received no external funding. symptômes et caractéristiques du burn out [symptoms and characteristics of burnout school burnout and heart rate variability: risk of cardiovascular disease and hypertension in young adult females il nuovo dirigente scolastico preparing leaders to work with emotions in culturally diverse educational communities manuale per dirigenti scolastici e staff di direzione principal burnout: the concept and its components an analysis of burnout and job satisfaction among turkish special school headteachers and teachers, and the factors effecting their burnout and job satisfaction burnout among iranian school principals burnout in school principals: role related antecedents stress and job satisfaction among primary head teachers: a question of balance? a survivor's guide to the principalship: overcoming the challenges occupational stress and job satisfaction among school administrators principal self-efficacy: relations with burnout, job satisfaction and motivation to quit teachers' approaches toward cultural diversity predict diversity-related burnout and self-efficacy principal preparation programs: perceptions of high principals unaccepted accountability: the looming shortage of principals and vice principals in ontario public school boards; working paper ; school of policy studies where are the principal candidates? perceptions of superintendents shared principalship of schools the school principal as a leader: guiding schools to better teaching and learning strumenti e risorse il dirigente e la scuola multiculturale engaged sì, workaholic no: il ruolo di engagement e workaholism sulla salute e il benessere dei dirigenti scolastici. giornale italiano di psicologia alterations in brain and immune function produced by mindfulness meditation organizational mindfulness and mindful organizing: a reconciliation and path forward organizing for mindfulness: eastern wisdom and western knowledge managing the unexpected: resilient performance in an age of uncertainty theoretical and empirical foundations of mindful schools mesure de stress psychologique (msp): se sentir stressé-e [measurement of psychological stress: to feel stressed the safety organizing scale: development and validation of a behavioral measure of safety culture in hospital nursing units psicologia funzionale per le aziende. scheda di valutazione the polychronic-monochronic tendency model: pmts scale development and validation l'analisi funzionale dello stress. dalla clinica alla psicologia applicata sustaining emotional resilience for school leadership implications of an occupational health perspective for educator stress research, practice, and policy. in aligning perspectives on health, safety and well-being. educator stress: an occupational health perspective occupational stress of academic staff in south africa higher education institutions determinants of kcse examination performance in sda sponsored schools: a key to academic promotion to the next level of learning handbook of school improvement occupational stress among school heads teachers: a case for hwedza district secondary schools' head teachers stress management coping strategies used by female principals in kenya: a case study of rachuonyo north and homa bay sub counties women principals' career paths: difficulties, barriers. in vocational identity and career construction in education work influenced occupational stress and cardiovascular risk among teachers and office workers psychological stress and fibromyalgia: a review of the evidence suggesting a neuroendocrine link ill health and early retirement among school principals in bavaria the influence of morningness-eveningness on anxiety and cardiovascular responses to stress principals and stress: few coping strategies for abundant stressors effects of support on stress and burnout in school principals considering the role of neurodidactics in medical education as inspired by learning studies and music education authors are grateful to all school principals who took part with this study. the authors declare no conflict of interest. key: cord- -odbaubqm authors: kuo, fang‐li; yang, pei‐hsuan; hsu, hsin‐tien; su, che‐yu; chen, chun‐hsien; yeh, i‐jeng; wu, yen‐hung; chen, li‐chin title: survey on perceived work stress and its influencing factors among hospital staff during the covid‐ pandemic in taiwan date: - - journal: kaohsiung j med sci doi: . /kjm . sha: doc_id: cord_uid: odbaubqm this study aimed to investigate the perceived work stress and its influencing factors among hospital staff during the novel coronavirus (covid‐ ) pandemic in taiwan. a web‐based survey was conducted at one medical center and two regional hospitals in southern taiwan, targeting physicians, nurses, medical examiners, and administrators. the questionnaire included items on the demographic characteristics of hospital staff and a scale to assess stress among healthcare workers caring for patients with a highly infectious disease. a total of valid questionnaires were collected. the hospital staff reported a moderate level of stress and nurses had a highest level of stress compared to staff in the other three occupational categories. the five highest stress scores were observed for the items “rough and cracked hands due to frequent hand washing and disinfectant use,” “inconvenience in using the toilet at work,” “restrictions on eating and drinking at work,” “fear of transmitting the disease to relatives and friends,” and “fear of being infected with covid‐ .” discomfort caused by protective equipment was the major stressor for the participants, followed by burden of caring for patients. among participants who experienced severe stress (n = ), work stress was higher among those with rather than without minor children. the present findings may serve as a reference for future monitoring of hospital staff's workload, and may aid the provision of support and interventions. the novel coronavirus pneumonia taiwan, to prevent disease spread, the government ordered the closure of a hospital due to severe cross infection. healthcare workers rushed out of the blockade line due to insufficient protective equipment and fear of the disease, which resulted in fear of the pandemic among medical staff and the public. as the covid- pandemic continues to grow, the collective memory of sars has been revived, and people have vowed not to repeat the same mistake. as a result, hospitals in taiwan have quickly implemented a containment campaign in response to the currently emerging pandemic by developing emergency response measures. staffs are required to wear protective equipment, screen patients and visitors entering and leaving the hospital, and set up an outdoor fever screening area in the emergency clinic. additionally, a scheduling roster has been set up, and all hospital staffs are deployed to fight against the pandemic by providing comprehensive care for patients in negative stress isolation wards or general inpatient wards, and by participating in rotational shifts to implement the quarantine measures at the hospital gate. the pandemic has disrupted the original schedule of hospital staff and has caused changes in their work or lives, resulting in substantial physical and mental stress. stress refers to individuals' reactions to different situations. it includes changes in their physiology or psychology in the face of events in the external environment that are evaluated as more than they can bear, such that they affect their physical and mental wellbeing. stress at work is regarded as the process of interaction between the individual and the work environment, which represents an accumulation of negative emotions generated by the work. , these negative reactions lead to the experience of high stress for a long period, which in turn affects physical and mental health. specifically, it causes multiple adverse symptoms, such as insomnia, headache, fatigue, anxiety, gastrointestinal discomfort, and immunity decline, as well as increased family conflicts, decreased work quality, interpersonal relationship disorders, and other negative effects. [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] hospital staffs are under high stress during the care process. they have to tackle the effects of misunderstanding by the general public, face worries from family members, experience fear of the unknown disease and of becoming a transmitter of the disease, and experience challenges related to their professional skills of personal infection control. these were major stressors for healthcare workers during sars, and as such, several of them experienced fear, exhaustion, and stress. extensive research has been conducted to examine the correlation between personal demographics and work stress. studies have found that marital status, workplace, and educational level have significant effects on work stress. , for example, wang explored the relationship between work stress and social support among nurses, and found that the older they were and the higher years of work experience they had, the higher was their work stress. this finding suggests that, with the increase of age and accumulation of work experience, nurses are likely to have better attitudes toward and abilities to respond to problems, and accordingly, they would be more likely to be assigned the responsibility to handle unexpected situations at work. , , unmarried, female, younger medical staff were found to be more prone to high work stress, but work stress was also observed to decrease with the increase in age, years of work experience, and number of children. another study found that healthcare workers are busy at work, and work stress could result from the conflict of clinical work with family or personal affairs. however, mcgrath et al found that marital status, work experience, but educational level had no significant impacts on work stress. the contagion path of covid- is still unknown. therefore, since the outbreak of the pandemic, the taiwanese government has formulated an emergency response plan, and hospitals have adopted several preventive measures. moreover, hospital staffs have experienced the global impact of this highly communicable disease, whose sudden onset has caused a stress impact that is similar to that of sars. this leads to the question, "are hospital staff suffering from the same magnitude of stress as before?" accordingly, the objectives of the present study were a cross-sectional survey was conducted from the end of march to the beginning of april , at the peak of the covid- pandemic in taiwan. participants were selected from a -bed medical center and two -bed regional hospitals in southern taiwan. the survey was conducted using a web-based questionnaire and excluded new recruits, outsourced workers, research assistants, and other non-regular hospital employees. details of the survey website were provided to the survey participants through the mailboxes of the three hospitals, and the researchers compiled the responses from each hospital for analysis. this study recruited participants from the four main categories of hospital staff, namely physicians, nurses, medical technicians, and administrators. the questionnaire contained the following two sections for sars. the scale comprises subscales, namely, "worry and social isolation" with items, "discomfort caused by protective equipment" with items, "difficulties and anxieties related to infection control" with items, and "burden of caring for patients" with items, totaling items. each item is rated on a -point likert scale ( : not at all, : about the same as usual, : slightly more severe than usual, : more severe than usual) to assess the degree of stress caused by various stressors. the total score ranges from to , with a higher total score indicating a greater degree of stress. a total score of to indicates "severe stress," that from to indicates "moderate stress," that from to indicates "low stress," and indicates "no stress." the content validity index of the scale was . in the original study by chuang and lou ( ) , who tested it on healthcare workers (n = ) from medical centers in taiwan. the cronbach's α values for the four subscales were . to . in the original study. in the present study, the cronbach's α value of the complete scale was . , and that for the four subscales was . to . . data were analyzed using jmp . statistical package. regarding descriptive statistics, continuous variables related to demographic characteristics and perceived work stress were presented as mean ± sd; categorical variables were presented as counts and percentages. for inferential statistics, the pearson product moment correlation test was used to analyze the correlations between the study variables. since severe stress has a significant impact on the physical and mental health of employees and willingness to care for patients. with a projected power of %, an alpha of . , and an effect size of . one-way analysis of variance (anova) to identify if stress levels differed based on demographic characteristics, followed by a post hoc tukey-kramer comparison to identify groups with significant differences. this study was reviewed and approved by the institutional review the sample comprised hospital staff from one medical center and two regional hospitals in southern taiwan. as shown in table note: a score of indicates "not at all," "about the same as usual," "slightly more severe than usual," and "more severe than usual." note: rating scales: -point likert scale ( : not at all, : about the same as usual, : slightly more severe than usual, : more severe than usual). note: a score of indicates "not at all," "about the same as usual," "slightly more severe than usual," and "more severe than usual. stress could be attributed more to their fear of social isolation, discomfort due to protective equipment, and burden of patient care. in contrast, medical technicians had a higher degree of stress related to difficulties and anxieties related to infection control. the mean score for each of the items on work stress was . ± . (table ) , representing mild to moderate stress. the mean scores of each dimension and each item, and score rankings are presented in table . on items, more than % of the participants experienced moderate to severe work stress (with mean scores of over points). the five highest stress scores were observed for the items "rough and cracked hands due to frequent hand washing and disinfectant use," "inconvenience in using the toilet at work," "restrictions on eating and drinking at work," "fear of transmitting the disease to relatives and friends," and "fear of being infected with covid- ". "hospital staff experienced discomfort caused by the use of protective equipment" and "the burden of caring patients" reported higher scores than other two dimensions of the scale. further, for hospital staff with severe stress (n = ), we performed a t test or one-way anova to explore whether their stress levels differed based on their demographic characteristics of gender, marital status, years of work experience, educational level, staff type, and experience with caring for patients with sars. as shown in table this study was the first one conducted in taiwan to investigate the perceived stress of hospital staff and to identify relevant influencing factors during the covid- pandemic, using a web-based structured questionnaire. the results showed that the total stress was moderate and discomfort caused by protective equipment emerged as the major stressor. nurses generally perceived higher stress as compared to the other types of hospital staff. difficulties and anxieties related to infection control were major stressors for medical technicians, while administrators were the least stressed among all types of staff. further, those with minor children experienced a higher degree of work stress. this study found that discomfort caused by protective equipment was the major stressor for the participants, followed by burden of caring for patients. the overall stress was slight to moderate. this result was consistent with the findings of yu et al, but it was different from other similar studies conducted during the sars pandemic. specifically, those studies found that the main stressor among hospital staff was difficulties and anxieties related to infection control. , , participants in the present study were more stressed by the discomfort caused by wearing protective equipment for a long period, probably because, to effectively prevent the source of infection from entering the hospital and causing cross infection, the hospital staff were required to wear masks throughout their stay in the hospital. additionally, they had to set up simple triage stations at the emergency and outpatient departments' entrances, while different types of staff took turns to participate in monitoring individuals entering the hospital. the staff on duty was required to wear basic protective gear, including goggles, protective clothing, surgical masks or n masks, and gloves, which made it inconvenient for them to eat and drink at work, as well as to use the toilet. they were required to wash their hands and use disinfectants frequently, and the fear that hands would become rough and cracked made them stressed. the covid- pandemic has changed the work style and environment of the healthcare system, leading to physical and mental imbalance, and thereby, an increased level of stress among hospital staff. when the sars pandemic hit taiwan stressful events or stressors in the workplace can cause stress reactions, and an employee's personal characteristics and behaviors interact with the practice environment. strong physical and mental demands lead to an increase in stress levels of hospital staff, which may in turn influence patient care. a survey of regional hospital staff examined the correlation between perceived overwork and musculoskeletal symptoms. findings revealed that nurses ranked the highest among hospital staff in terms of overwork, followed by administrative staff, medical technicians, and physicians, in order of decreasing overwork. by nature, nursing is a highly stressful occupation. nurses reported highest stress level in this study. this could be attributed to physical discomfort caused by protective equipment, also, nurses often previous studies have shown that work stress is related to one's demographic characteristics, , and that child care at home is a common problem for hospital staff, , which is an important factor leading to work-family conflicts. the present results showed that hospital staff with minor children was more stressed, confirming the viewpoint presented in prior research. however, these findings were different from those reported by wang et al and lambert et al, who found that employees with children were less stressed than those without. perhaps this is due to the parenting style difference between the east and the west world. in the face of the covid- pandemic, since the end of january , hospitals started hospital-wide staff mobilization to contain the pandemic, such as setting up triage stations at the entrances and exits, and medical tents and special wards at the emergency department. these measures changed the existing work pattern of staff and caused unprecedented stress on all types of healthcare workers. as the temperature rises in southern taiwan, wearing of protective equipment for prolonged periods causes discomfort in staff. such discomfort can be alleviated by shortening shift durations and installing more mobile air conditioners in emergency and outpatient departments. since healthcare workers are in a high-stress occupation, it is recommended that they should be assessed and monitored regularly, and appropriate interventions need to be implemented. it is necessary to provide psychological counselling and stress relief measures for this population. during the pandemic containment, some staff was concerned that they could be carries of the infection after caring for patients with covid- , and that they would bring the source of infection home to their family and relatives. this led to higher work stress on hospital staff with minor children. to cope with this situation, it is recommended to assess the needs of hospital staff with minor children and provide appropriate arrangements for the transportation of employees' children to and from school or offer after-school programs. this would reduce the burden on frontline healthcare staff who are responsible for pandemic containment. in addition, hospitals may consider recruiting medical technicians as members in the emerging infectious diseases response drills in future, as this would familiarize them with various disposal processes. this would enable hospitals to commission these staff, as soon as necessary, for pandemic containment. such measures would in turn promote the response ability of medical technicians and reduce their stressors. due to workforce, financial, and time limitations, this study collected data only from one medical center and two regional hospitals in together, such findings could be used to provide appropriate support and response measures for hospital staff during a pandemic. the authors gratefully acknowledge the supports from kaohsiung medical university hospital, taiwan, grant number kmuh-c . taiwan centers for disease control: coronavirus disease (covid- ) world health organization. global alert and response (gar): novel coronavirus infection in the united kingdom stress, appraisal, and coping test of the reliability and validity of nurse stress checklist the 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-yccdlahn authors: williamson, emma; gregory, alison; abrahams, hilary; aghtaie, nadia; walker, sarah-jane; hester, marianne title: secondary trauma: emotional safety in sensitive research date: - - journal: j acad ethics doi: . /s - - -y sha: doc_id: cord_uid: yccdlahn nan secondary trauma (st) refers to the impact of indirect exposure to traumatic experiences; effects which can be 'disruptive and painful' and can 'persist for months or years' (mccann and pearlman ) . the effects, as described by mccann, in relation to working directly with clients, are considered to be a usual response which results from witnessing a distressing traumatic event or from knowledge about such an event, particularly if the person is connected with the victim-survivor (figley ) . st is one of a number of terms used somewhat interchangeably (including vicarious trauma, burnout, compassion fatigue) to convey ideas about the transference, or rippling-out effects, of trauma from the original incident and the original victim-survivor. burnout is more usually related to the demands of work (including caregiving and studying) and its contextual components, such as long hours, insufficient support or control, and heavy workload, than the specific nature of work involved, and thus may be different, if overlapping, with the topic we are looking at (freudenberger ) . brown ( ) refers to the maslach burnout inventory ( ) , which differentiates burnout from other forms of exhaustion or depression, due to its inclusion of an element of compassion fatigue. it is this aspect which those with caring responsibilities find particularly difficult to acknowledge and address. because this previous research has often focused on front line workers rather than researchers and we know collectively very little about the impacts of studying trauma on this group, we use the term st within this paper as a more descriptive term which doesn't imply an outcome or particular impacts, yet can include a similar range of impacts found in the phenomena of burnout or compassion fatigue. the term secondary trauma is not ideal but it is important to recognise where this paper sits in relation to the wider literature on the impacts of working with trauma as the focus of ones work. we also use the term 'emotional safety' to recognise ways in which the potential for st can be acknowledged. the american counselling association describes st as the 'emotional residue of exposure', explaining that it results from people witnessing trauma (by direct exposure or by hearing narratives about it), and thus becoming 'witnesses to the pain, fear, and terror that trauma survivors have endured' (american counselling association ). the idea that front-line emergency responders, and people working therapeutically with those who have experienced trauma, might experience vicarious impacts is not new (maslach ) . professionals considered to be at potential risk of traumatisation have historically included: rescue workers, police officers, military personnel, emergency healthcare staff, and counsellors/ therapists (brown ( ) ; mccann and pearlman ; ursano et al. ) . increasingly, it has become recognised that there are many more groups of people who might experience st, particularly those in a range of 'helping professions', who may assist trauma survivors, including: humanitarian workers, social workers, suicide helpline workers, a wide range of healthcare professionals, justice system professionals, journalists, and faith leaders (rafferty ; figley ; day et al. ; pryce et al. ; shah et al. ; sansbury et al. ) . so, where do researchers fit in this picture? we intuitively understand that front-line professionals exposed to the traumatic and sometimes horrific experiences of others might be affected, but the shift towards acknowledging the impacts on researchers working with information about traumatic events or with traumatised individuals has been slower (dickson-swift et al. . is that because researchers, on the whole, do not experience these affects? or because it is not considered or acknowledged? or is it because, as considered below, this type of impact can be cumulative? in the past, we might have considered researchers outside of the 'at-risk' groups for st for a number of reasons: they rarely see the traumatic events that people experience, they rarely interact with people who have experienced trauma for more than a handful of occasions, and they do not have an explicit helping role in the situation. in addition, part of the reticence about recognising the potential for researcher st may be, in part, due to traditional views of academic scientific endeavour as objective, detached and neutral, where researchers are not supposed to feel anything (other than perhaps satisfied or frustrated) about the work they undertake. in reality, research is rarely an entirely neutral process, and researchers are often neither impassive nor unaffected by the research they conduct (hallowell et al. ) . this is particularly true for research using qualitative methods, where people may narrate their experiences in depth, though we would argue that it can also be the case for studies using a quantitative paradigm. the topic of the research is, perhaps, most crucial in terms of risk of st. this paper focuses on the field of gender based violence (gbv). the world health organisation (who) identifies the most common risk for fieldworkers in this area as the 'emotional toll of listening to women's repeated stories of despair, physical pain and degradation' (ellsberg and heise ) , with interviewers describing the imprint that bearing witness to violent narratives had had on them: when i heard stories about women [sic] being beaten and tied up, i would leave there feeling desperate… i would be a wreck, and my supervisor would tell me "get a hold of yourself, you cry for every little thing." but how could i control myself? i couldn't stand it… i would try, but sometimes it was impossible, and i would burst into tears during the next interview… (ellsberg and heise : ) . the practical guide produced by the who for researchers of gbv clearly describes the ethical responsibilities within research; not only to keep all parties physically safe, and to minimise participant distress, but also to consider the impact that this work has on researchers' wellbeing (ellsberg and heise ) . of course, these are not unique considerations for those researching gbv, researchers working with trauma in other fields may encounter similar. in fact, a brief scoping of the literature indicates that secondary distress has been raised as an issue in recent years by researchers working in a number of fields, including suicide (mckenzie et al. ) , cancer (benoot and bilsen ; ) , and bereavement (butler et al. ) , in addition to those working on topics relating to violence and abuse (nikischer ) . these topics have risk of serious harm or death in common and, as a recent revision of the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (dsm- ) also indicates, extend the populations seen as potentially vulnerable to developing st to include anyone with indirect exposure to aversive details of events where a person has been 'exposed to: death, threatened death, actual or threatened serious injury, or actual or threatened sexual violence' (apa ). some may consider this definition too broad, as it includes the potential for anyone to be defined as vulnerable and therefore any researcher engaging with humans to be traumatised as a result. however, we would argue that there are sensitive areas of research where this risk of negative impacts on researchers is judged to be high, where additional support measures ought to be considered. these additional measures might include ethics committees reviewing the emotional safety of research in protocols (as suggested by mckenzie et al. ) or clinical supervision as we suggest in this article. for gbv researchers, there may be potential compounding factors relating either to exposure to traumatic information, or to the people who have experienced the trauma. the first is that the trauma has resulted from the actions of another person, most often someone close to the victim-survivor. this person has intentionally chosen to inflict pain, harm, violence, and/or abuse, and herman describes how this brings those studying in this field face-to-face with 'the capacity for evil in human nature' (herman ) . this invariably challenges the way we see the world and humanity, and can potentially impact on both our sense of safety, and the way we might relate to others (biruski et al. ) . the second dynamic is that because stigma, embarrassment, shame and guilt often exist around the experiences of abuse, participants may not have communicated their experiences previously. klein ( ) describes the possibility of participants making their first-ever disclosure of sexual violence in response to questioning by an interviewer. consequently, when given an opportunity to speak in a safe environment, with someone independent of their situation who is empathetic, people may share material which is raw and unprocessed, finding a release of expression, and pour out detailed descriptions of events and incidents, also allowing themselves to feel, at depth, their emotions (ellsberg and heise ) . this is often experienced as an empowering, cathartic and purging encounter for participants, (smith ; moch and cameron ; hutchinson et al. ) but can leave a researcher reeling from the deluge, and feeling besieged and unsteadied (klein ) . a third factor which might amplify experiences of st is personal experience. it is not uncommon for people who have experienced gbv in their own life to gravitate towards an active role in this topic of research, including undertaking related research. this 'insider view' is incredibly valuable and may, through enhanced empathy with participants, lead to more in-depth and nuanced research findings. however, for researcher protection and self-care, the possibility that exposure to other people's experiences may trigger memories relating to personal trauma, or may increase cumulative effects of exposure, needs to be considered (ellsberg and heise ) . in addition to the topic area, the types of research conducted and the models used may unintentionally amplify secondary distress for researchers. qualitative methods are frequently used, which not only bring researchers face-to-face with people who have experienced trauma, but also require researchers to remain immersed in the data over lengthy periods, through the iterative processes of data collection, transcription, coding, analysis and paper writing. in addition, research in this field tends to attempt to conduct with people rather than on people, and to incorporate feminist ideals around reducing power imbalances between researcher and participant (legard et al. ). there are bodies of work relating to participatory action research (burke et al. ) and indigenous knowledge research (marzano ) which would critique whether such approaches achieve genuine collaboration, and these criticisms are acknowledged. however, attempting to conduct research in this way requires researchers to be fully present and fully congruent, with a shared sense of humanity with participants, honouring emotional connectedness with people (williamson et al, a) . when done successfully, this certainly enhances the research, but it can also increase the risk of st due to, what figley describes as, the 'cost of caring' for others in emotional pain (figley ) . the aim of this paper is to explore reflexively the impact of research on the lives of gbv researchers, and the ways in which they guard against st. we draw on the experiences of a team of researchers who recently completed a large study looking at gbv, although we believe that this paper can contribute to wider discussions about the wellbeing of researchers working in a range of subjects. this paper is based on the experiences of a research team working on a large-scale project exploring gbv. the wider project involved literature reviews, analysing police and women's support services' data, and conducting and analysing interviews with victims/survivors of gbv. the interviewing team consisted of ten researchers, nine women and one male. relevant to some of the themes that emerged, three of the ten researchers were based off-site, two working from home, and the third at another institution. further information about the project, including processes of recruitment, sampling, and data collection can be found elsewhere (williamson et al. b ). this paper, however, is concerned with reflecting on the ways in which the team addressed emotional safety and wellbeing within the project, and the mechanisms which were put in place to support researchers and to recognise and address problems should they arise. ethical approval for the project itself was obtained from the university of bristol, faculty of social science and law research ethics committee. a further amendment to the ethics document was requested following the data collection, to ensure that this specific paper could be written without causing distress to the researchers in the team. the lead researcher for the qualitative data collection was aware that a number of the research team, herself included, had been affected at various points with the emotional impact of the interviewing and data collection process. the team discussed this both at length, and on a regular basis. when bringing together some of these reflections and experiences of the team, we did not want the team to have concerns that any confidences would be broken, or personal information used within the paper, unless this was something which individuals explicitly wanted to do. as such, the amendment to the rec asked for permission to write an email to team members to reassure them about how the paper would be written. permission was granted by the rec and an email sent to all researchers who took part in the qualitative aspects of the project (n = ). all researchers were asked, if they wished to contribute and take part, to contact the co-lead to arrange a discussion of the issues and to talk about ways in which the research had impacted on them. consent was discussed with researchers at this point in terms of how the information they shared would be used in the paper and that they would have the right to see how extracts from them had been included. five researchers made contact with the co-lead and discussed, either in person or via email, the issues they wished to raise about the impact of the project. as the team was small and known to one another, no identifications are offered linked to the extracts used in the findings below. this includes whether the researcher was based on or off site, unless they explicitly mentioned it in their contribution. this was to help anonymise the identification of individual contributors. the themes below and points of reflection are based on these conversations and contributions. contributions from all researchers who responded are included in this paper. in terms of analysis, written comments and the text of oral conversations were thematically coded and included within the analysis by the lead researcher. all extracts and the themes were shared with the relevant individual researchers who all agreed with the analysis of the data they had provided. all of the themes which researchers raised are included in this paper. it is important to note that some researchers might have experienced different impacts, or none, from the work but chose not to discuss these for the purposes of this paper. whilst this could be viewed as a bias in the data being reflected on, it also highlights the problem being discussed. if researchers do not want to discuss the impact of this type of work with their managers, or if we assume that problems don't exist (as is currently the case), then opportunities to provide support are reduced. finally, in terms of method, we recognise and share principles with the autoethnographic approach used by nikischer ( ) when reflecting on similar issues. the 'data' provided and reported in this paper comes from individual researcher reflections and as such is autoethnographic. it has however been analysed and presented by a third party in order to bring together different perspectives to add depth and breadth to the perspectives being offered as well as offering a level of anonymity for those wishing to contribute. before conducting any of the qualitative and quantitative research, we put in place a standard researcher safety protocol, submitted to the research ethics committee, which specifically mentioned emotional safety. this protocol recognises that emotional wellbeing is important, and additionally flags this as something which the research team is concerned about. the protocol could be construed as directive, as it requires researchers to be aware of the potential emotional impact of the research process and act on it. it was implemented during the project by team members checking-in with each other after interviews, particularly if they were off-site conducting fieldwork. it was also implemented by having an open-door policy for staff if they needed to talk something through, and by the team as a whole, making themselves visible and available to each other. more formally, we also included emotional well-being on the agenda for every team meeting, and used this as an opportunity to raise and share issues across the team. any key points and actions which emerged from these discussions were noted. we also note that transcribers too can be impacted by listening too this kind of interview (gregory et al. ) and the lead researcher in this phase made regular contact with the transcriber to check-in with them and offer support if it were needed. in practice, team members had a variety of ways of dealing with the emotional impacts of the fieldwork (both interviews and analysis of police data), with some favouring : and others favouring discussion in team meetings. having this protocol in place was definitely appreciated and made me feel that even though i am <off-site>, the team did care about my emotional well-being-i wasn't always proactive at calling in every time i had completed an interviewmostly because after an intensive interview i generally took time to myself to calm down, to reflect etc plus taking the time to complete the participant overview spreadsheet immediately after an interview provided some down time so you didn't leave your desk still thinking about that person and their story. i did find that de-briefing : was better than within the team meetings. as outlined earlier, st has been defined by the american counselling association as the 'emotional residue of exposure' (ursano et al. ) . the content which might act as a trigger to researchers was not only unique to individuals, but were also unable to be predicted in advance. just as the potential emotional risk to participants is unknown in terms of impact, we did not know what the impact on researchers might be. as outlined in the introduction "emotional wellbeing: researchers will be aware that this kind of work can be emotionally demanding. debriefing: ) researchers will plan time after each visit where they can debrief about visit and interviews undertaken. this can be done immediately after the visit, by telephone or in person. where possible, this should happen within h. ) in regular team meetings, the team will discuss any emotional aspects of the work and address any particular issues which have arisen. where a member of staff has experienced a difficult situation, s/ he will seek support from colleagues. if, after debriefing and further meetings with colleagues, the researcher is still in need of support or if s/he would like to speak to a counsellor, s/he is free to do this at any point. workbased counselling services are available by contacting <details provided>." however, the term secondary trauma is not ideal but it is important to recognise where this paper sits in relation to the wider literature on the impacts of working with trauma as the focus of ones work. team members recalled a number of instances where the research had a profound impact, leading to their own disclosure of abuse and/or frustration and anger at the lack of solutions/ resolution available for participants: for me, within this research, it was a participant talking about the verdict of the inquest into the hillsborough disaster that had the most impact. it had nothing directly to do with her multiple experiences of rape, but this participants' hope, following that verdict that justice might be possible, and my overwhelming fear about what would happen if that didn't happen for her. the possibility of justice was something that stayed with me long after the interview and it led me to decide to report to the police my own historic case of child sexual abuse. i can recall two interviews that had a big emotional impact on me. the first was a woman who had suffered domestic abuse, but had not wanted to deny her young daughter contact with her fathershe agreed to joint custody despite what she had gone through thinking it was the best interests of her child-however she has seen changes in her daughter and was totally regretting allowing the daughter to live with her father as she suspected that he was being emotionally abusive to her now tooshe was in tears during the interview because she felt so helpless to protect her child and i felt her pain, it was very emotional and i felt very angry, frustrated and helpless afterwards. the second was a woman who had suffered prolonged sexual abuse by partner and familyshe didn't feel able to do an interview in the end but because she had my [work] mobile phone number (which i used to text her) she texted me a couple of times (at pm and am) saying how she couldn't sleep and how awful she felt. i had limited text conversation to try and make her feel better and advise her on getting help and also contacted her support worker as soon as i was able to let her know. not a good position to be in really but to be expected as we were including talking to people who had not necessarily talked through their issues with specialists/professionals first. in cases like these, even though the involvement with the participant is not extensive, it can leave the researcher with that feeling of 'unfinished business' or feelings of on-going concern and worry for the fate of the person (burr ) . it also raises feelings of having an ethical responsibility as a researcher of vulnerable people (stalker ). all of the interviews were difficult because you feel empathy, anger, a sense of injustice and helplessness when someone is describing something so terrible happening to them. on top of this, having worked on the issue of sexual exploitation for several years, one particular trigger for me was when participants described this form of abuse. specifically, a couple of women who had experienced brutal (physical and psychological) domestic violence described how their partners also advertised them online and forced them to have sex with other menone of the women was heavily pregnant during some of this. this was extremely upsetting because, in addition to these women already experiencing sexual violence from their abusive partners, they were also being raped by several other perpetrators; it also makes you angry that these men would come and pay for sexual access to women who were clearly being pimped by someone, were obviously vulnerable and were not consenting. these testimonies from the team highlight a number of factors. they illustrate the emotional impact of conducting research and how this can be linked to injustice, a lack of being able to make some things better, and feeling that researchers might have made things worse. researchers, unlike front line support staff, are not offering or providing a service, although they are trained to signpost to appropriate support. this unique role as a researcher can be difficult when it results in researchers feeling unable to intervene or make things better. it became apparent that triggers could be linked not only to actual interviews, but also to secondary data collection; in this case, detailed police files about rape and domestic violence which were reviewed as part of the study. the trauma here was described as being caused, in part, by not having a link to the person under discussion in the reviewed documents, and also as a result of very factual and detailed ways in which the information about horrific events was conveyed: reading through police case files could be just as depressing and upsetting in some of the worst cases and especially the cases involving child victims of rape and family abuse. the police files /child sex abuse cases were particularly hard because of the language and detail of information i was readingvery matter of fact descriptions of the physical sexual acts/ abuse (which i didn't hear generally during the interviews with victims/survivors). there was also a time when i was collecting data on a dv case and there was a warning attached to the victim's file which said *dead* so i had read all about her history of domestic violence, family abuse, drug and alcohol abuse and then found out that she had actually been found dead weeks after the latest incident and her partner had [previously] been arrested on suspicion of her murder but no further action had been taken (when you could see the pattern of abuse she had suffered and was obviously extremely vulnerable) -that made me gasp out loud in the open plan (and quiet) office i was in (embarrassing) and made me incredibly sad. i cried on my drive home that day. clearly, examining this type of data for analysis is 'part of the job' of a researcher, and this will be examined shortly, but in the course of conducting this type of work, even if desk based, there will be times when researchers may need additional support to process the emotions they experience from dealing with such information and in order to prevent burnout, as described in the background section. as also mentioned, they may not feel comfortable raising this with their academic line manager, for fear of being perceived as weak and/or unable to do their job. these types of emotional impacts are commonly discussed in counselling literatures (sanderson ) and also on the margins of discussions around reflexive qualitative methodological approaches (etherington ). including trauma experienced when looking through case notes may appear questionable to some readers. there is an inherent contradiction in the statement made above that researchers can be impacted negatively when they are close to the 'research subject', and also impacted when not close, as in the case of case file analysis. referring to the impact on researchers reviewing case files of sexual violence, research in the s and s also found that researchers using unobtrusive methods experience similar physical and emotional impacts to those who use in-depth interviews (milling-kinard , in liamputtong . there were occasional notes of optimism too, where team members described feeling hopeful following exposure to data that indicated professionals' efforts on behalf of victim-survivors: on a more positive note about working with the police files it did also give me a bit of hope about police practice in this area -after reading the comments and efforts employed by individual officers and getting the impression of how far some officers go to investigate the incidents/allegations and how overall victims were being believed and there was inter-agency working and frustration on the part of the police regarding cases not proceeding to prosecution for whatever reason… whilst not explicitly mentioned by the team for this study, we also recognise that reading difficult material within the wider literature can have emotional impact for some people. this means it is important not to assume that desk-based work will be automatically less emotionally traumatic. this also means that we need to recognise that individuals employed to transcribe or manage this type of data need also to be considered. we regularly checked in with the individuals contracted to transcribe our interviews, something which the transcriber commented on and was grateful for, although they never felt the need to explore with us further. within caring professions, there is often an assumption that more experienced staff have learnt ways to manage stress and are therefore better able to deal with the impacts of emotional work (ellsberg and heise ) . talking to one of the researchers, this can be a problematic supposition. for some people, that greater knowledge and experience adds to a "crystalline memory" where a trigger, whether a research-related interview, or something in the wider context of the person's life, such as a book or a film, can pull out those memories and traumas, and actually compound the impact of a trigger point. you think it would get easier over the years, but it doesn't. the fact that we keep having to have these conversations is in itself depressing on top of the nature of the issues we are dealing with. this illustrates how, no matter how long we may have been in the field, sometimes as researchers we still underestimate our own emotional well-being in undertaking research with vulnerable people (liamputtong : ) . the longer-term impact of dealing with these narratives, without clinical supervision as a matter of course, is that some people reach a point where they can no longer immerse themselves in this type of information, choosing to move away from the work, or remaining, but making a choice to work on the issue of gbv within a broader political context. we might perhaps suppose that front line work is even more impactive than research, in terms of st, however, as this team member described, it has the advantage of feeling more 'effective': for me it's the other way aroundworking within the broader political context … and then becoming immersed in the actual narratives and experiences made me feel like nothing much has changed in terms of the extent that abuse still exists on a massive scale and is allowed to continuedespite decision makers becoming more aware through improved knowledge/research over the last years this doesn't always translate to the victim/survivor. i know cultural change takes time and most of the time it feels like we are facing an uphill battle in tackling violence against women and girls but for me this project has made me feel like i might be more effective or immediate in helping v/ s if i was working more closely/practically. with any research there are time and resource pressures which managers need to take on board. this can create conflict if trying to balance the demands of the project and the emotional needs of the team. for example, if there are time pressures to complete a certain number of interviews within a certain amount of time, and the researcher requires additional time to process the emotional impacts of the research, these two factors can come into conflict. at a recent conference where these issues were discussed (williamson and gregory ) a member of the audience, referred to this as an expectation to just "suck it up", or in other words, for researchers to just get on with the job. this potential conflict between selfcare and getting the research done is important to address. within the current project, there were very clear targets and timeframes. we were required to conduct at least interviews over a nine-month period, and extract and collate police data relating to about domestic violence and rape cases over months. by raising the issue of emotional impacts at the outset, we were able to address the potential conflicts directly, and discuss possibilities for the boundaries of support. the question arises, therefore, about what is a legitimate expectation of staff employed to work in what is clearly an emotionally difficult area? on the one hand, it is someone's job to conduct the work. on the other hand, there are employer responsibilities to take care of employees. getting the balance right is not always straight forward. for us, having a supportive team made a big difference. we could afford for someone to take a couple of days away from fieldwork, because others could pick up that work until the individual had had time to deal with the impacts and return to fieldwork. where required, we could shift the types of interviews people were conducting. this was only possible because the team worked together in a reciprocal way to support each other, so that they too could benefit from that support when needed. this would undoubtedly be more difficult in a smaller team and impossible where individuals are working alone. in those circumstances, individuals would feel a greater sense of pressure to get on with the job, irrespective of how they were feeling. ultimately, there may be occasions when the experience of conducting this type of research leads to a realisation that this might not be the right job for an individual. this did not happen in this particular project, but has been experienced on other projects. this may be a difficult thing to manage, but is an important consideration when the emotional well-being of an individual researcher is at stake. if someone is not able to attain relatively healthy coping mechanisms, then continuing in this field of work is likely to be traumatic for them, their managers, and their colleagues, in the long-term. having a policy that recognises emotional well-being, supporting colleagues to do that work, comes alongside this acknowledgement that research is not to be undertaken whatever the cost to researchers. this type of conversation is likely more difficult if taking place between a researcher and line manager. it is one of the reasons why independent clinical supervision may be more appropriate in this type of research which is discussed in the conclusion in terms of policy implications. the issue of coping strategies has been raised in previous sections. these can take many different forms and the list below comprises strategies used across the team. there is a wider recognition (holahan and moos ) that some of these are healthy coping strategies and others, particularly if not in moderation, are less healthy strategies. we make no judgment on this, but recognise that they are approaches people might use in the short-term, long-term, or both, in order to manage the impacts they experienced. some researchers have also talked about avoiding certain topics on tv, radio and in books and magazines (brown ; mckenzie et al. ) . comfort eating and drinking alcohol: definitely mindfulness, meditation, and running (not at the same time!). spending time with family. counting my blessings. also wine, chocolate and binge tv watching. i found that i drank more when i was doing interviews. something i recognise from previous research. it is a way, unhealthy admittedly, of switching off and shutting down some of the emotions that come with carrying other people's, and my own, trauma. members of the team also talked about forms of distraction, such as reading trashy (simple, shallow) magazines, watching television and reading fiction, or of sharing the burden by talking to friends or colleagues. i particularly like murder mysteries which might seem odd. but it makes a change when the baddy gets it! i found it helpful to talk in general terms about the interviews to friends and my partner, e.g. 'i spoke today to yet another woman who has been raped multiple times in her life'. however, due to confidentiality it is (rightfully) very limited what we can say. i found it very helpful to talk to colleagues. we could vent our frustration, anger and other emotions at yet another instance of someone (mainly women) experiencing violence and abuse. i found almost no difference in terms of talking over the phone or in person [with colleagues]-both were helpful. some described the benefits of exercise, particularly if it was outdoors. taking a walk/getting fresh air. i would find myself getting very caught up in some interviews and in somewhat of a depressed/anxious daze afterwards. in these cases i found that sometimes the best course of action was to stop doing work related to the interview(s) (e.g. entering data from it) and to go outside for a walk. the fresh air, change of scenery and quiet of the park i would walk in always helped. counselling/therapy: others mentioned the need for therapeutic counselling, acknowledging that it might be helpful, but that it is rarely available for researchers: counsellors get clinical supervision to help them deal with the emotions they engage with within the therapeutic relationship. we, as researchers, don't get that yet we are dealing with many of the same issues. some described feeling like a "tsunami of emotion" was washing over them, and that at times the only thing to do was to "stand still and let it pass". this means recognising that there are limits to the amount of emotional impacts people can absorb, and that having the space to stop and reflect is crucial. the processes we put in place for the team were designed to allow space for this reflection to take place. this can only happen, however, if researchers feel able and safe within the team, or with their line manager, or have other avenues to raise concerns when they arise. the examples above illustrate how this team used a wide range of strategies with varying degrees of success. the team also raise the issue of 'clinical supervision', something which is routine in a therapeutic context, but not very common in research. this is something with liamputtong ( ) raises in relation to providing access to a professional confidante and formal supervision, which includes both academic and therapeutic supervision. this paper has so far looked at the emotional impacts of conducting research in the field of gbv, and the potential emotional safety issues which arise. there are also (edwards ; abrahams ) rewards which come from sharing someone's story and 'actively listening'. the broader rewards for researchers in this project were about the potential of the research to bring about change: as well as the negative impacts of the interviews i mentioned above, those same interviews gave me a real sense that this research could make a difference to real people and real lives. that was a privilege to be a part of, and although difficult, made coming into work worthwhile. and this was apparent on a person-to-person level too, where victim-survivors expressed the 'usefulness' to them personally of being involved in the research and having had the opportunity to share their experiences having participants thank me for listening, and thank our team for doing this research, was always massively rewarding. even if i felt helpless regarding their experience of violence/abuse, i felt somewhat better if they expressed that the interview/research was useful. an additional reward was remarked upon where the research and the experiences of individual participants, created an opportunity for the researcher to perceive their own life in a different, perhaps more favourable light: it was difficult to do the interviews (and i have a lot of experience doing similar interviews) but it was also very rewarding. and i guess it taught me something about myself, about the things that matter to me and how lucky i am compared to some of the women i spoke to, but how much we share as well. finally, of the victims/survivors who we interviewed within the main project, over % had, subsequent to the abuse they had experienced, become involved in politics or organisations as a way to respond to the abuse they had experienced and in their search for justice (williamson et al. a) . this reminds us that one of the rewards of conducting research in this field is that, for many of us, we may do this kind of research because we believe that we can contribute to social change and social justice. as with some of the participants who went on to work in this field and were seeking justice for others where they had not got justice for themselves, we too may be engaged in that process of seeking justice not only for others, but for ourselves. in this regard we need to recognise that, where this is the case, it brings both resilience and risks to the researcher with experiential knowledge of gbv. ultimately, many of us continue to carry out research in this field knowing that the work may have a negative impact. as such, we negotiate a balance between rewards and potentially traumatic impacts. we employ a range of healthy and unhealthy coping strategies to deal with the immediate and long term affects, but do so knowing that we are choosing to continue to work in this area, for many, because we want to make social change for those that have and/or may ourselves have experienced or witnessed abuse. others, such as mckenzie et al. ( ) have suggested that the review of emotional safety through research ethics committees may be an appropriate way forward, but this is something that already routinely happens at the institution where this research took place, and a comprehensive researcher safety protocol was used. this doesn't however address the issue of what additional support might be appropriate for researchers working on trauma related topics. the project on which this paper is based succeeded, in terms of meeting the original target of interviews, and giving victim/survivors a voice, because it was conducted by a team of experienced individuals who had a range of options made available to them to help address the impacts of working in this area. this was identified as more difficult for those staff working remotely, as they have been located outside the main site. this mainly affected the ability to have informal check-ins with others in the team, although they did still feel supported by the fact that support was there if needed. there were no differences in the coping strategies used by those working off the main site. however, not all researchers have the opportunity to work in a team. many work in isolation, outside of a team context, and unless they are provided with 'clinical' or in-depth supervision, which is very rare, are at risk of experiencing some level of trauma themselves when listening too, and engaging with, data of this nature (nikischer ) . in most cases academic funders and employers don't explicitly recognise clinical supervision as an essential part of this kind of work, so it continues to be seen as something that is 'just part of the job' (dickson-swift et al. ). as outlined above, counsellors who hear very similar stories routinely get clinical supervision to address the emotional impacts. we also recognise that balancing the requirements of getting the job done, and the emotional impact of such research is not something that can always be discussed within the researcher/line manager relationship. as such, a proactive clinical supervision arrangement may provide better safeguards than a reactive approach to addressing the needs of researchers in distressing sensitive subjects. this might take the form of a pre-fieldwork session to identify potential triggers and coping strategies and bi-monthly checkins so that arising issues can be identified and discussed. this conclusion echoes those of dickson-swift et al. ( ) who recommended that: "professional supervision, policy development, and minimum training standards for researchers are provided" (dickson-swift et al. ). undermining the suggestion here about clinical supervision is the issue of cost and funding. we are aware in the current economic context that ring fencing funding for clinical supervision may be seen as a luxury that academic institutions and research funders can ill afford. however, we would question whether funders and employers are doing enough to support researchers in dealing with the emotional impacts of their work and thus avoid the burnout which can result. losing experienced and highly trained staff is not an insignificant cost to these institutions. for many of the researchers in this project, the greatest emotional impacts were linked to frustrations related to feeling that socially nothing has changed, sometimes described as hopelessness. conversely, the rewards related to making a difference by hearing people's stories and giving them a voice. with this in mind, the importance of public engagement and impact of research cannot be underestimated. whilst research generally has moved in recent years to recognise the importance of 'impact', this is something which has been central to the gbv field from its outset (lilley (walker) and hester ). to conclude, researching gbv is hard, but the negative emotional impacts or st which researchers may experience can, for many people, be managed through support and understanding. whilst the work is difficult, it also offers the reward of making a difference, and giving a voice to those who are often marginalised and silenced. for some researchers however, the impact of researching gbv and abuse will be damaging. from a policy context we would like to see funders and institutions recognise the potential benefits of clinical supervision being available for researchers working with sensitive issues, whether interviews or data derived from such populations/participants. there should be additional specific funding so that those applying for research funding, and who need such support, are not penalised financially for including such support within their proposals. we anticipate that this would be as little as % of any project grant. we hope to continue such policy discussions with the aim of ensuring that the impacts of research are better recognised, acknowledged, and that different options and safeguards are considered to support researchers working in all areas of research dealing with trauma and/or abuse. declaration of interest statement i confirm that none of the authors have any conflicts of interest relating to the research on which this paper is based. open access this article is licensed under a creative commons attribution . international license, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. the images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's creative commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. if material is not included in the article's creative commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. to view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ . /. listen to me: a reflection on practice in qualitative interviewing fact sheet # . vicarious trauma diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders an auto-ethnographic study of the disembodied experience of a novice researcher doing qualitative cancer research when the world collapses: changed worldview and social reconstruction in a traumatized community burnout…the high cost of caring youth voice, civic 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researchers processing the researcher experience through discussion vicarious trauma inside the academe: understanding the impact of teaching, researching and writing violence secondary traumatic stress and the child welfare professional researchers and 'their' subjects: ethics, power, knowledge and consent counselling skills for working with trauma: healing from child sexual abuse, sexual violence and domestic abuse managing traumatic stress responses among clinicians: individual and organizational tools for self-care secondary traumatic stress: prevalence in humanitarian aid workers in india sensitive issues in life story research some ethical and methodological issues in research with people with learning difficulties posttraumatic stress disorder and identification in disaster workers vicarious trauma for gbv researchers justice, inequalities, and gender based violence (gbv): victim-survivor (v-s) perspectives. poster presented at the european network on gender violence conference using an intersectional ecological framework to analyse data exploring justice, inequalities and gender based violence (gbv): methods, analysis, and reflections acknowledgements thank you to the research team who worked on this project for their dedication to the project and each other. thanks also to all the participants who took part and shared their stories and experiences, hearing those stories was humbling and a privilege. key: cord- - rgz t authors: radandt, siegfried; rantanen, jorma; renn, ortwin title: governance of occupational safety and health and environmental risks date: journal: risks in modern society doi: . / - - - - _ sha: doc_id: cord_uid: rgz t occupational safety and health (osh) activities were started in the industrialized countries already years ago. separated and specific actions were directed at accident prevention, and the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of occupational diseases. as industrialization has advanced, the complexity of safety and health problems and challenges has substantially grown, calling for more comprehensive approaches. such development has expanded the scope, as well as blurred the borders between specific activities. in the modern world of work, occupational safety and health are part of a complex system that involves innumerable interdependencies and interactions. these are, for instance, safety, health, well-being, aspects of the occupational and general environment, corporate policies and social responsibility, community policies and services, community social environment, workers’ families, their civil life, lifestyles and social networks, cultural and religious environments, and political and media environments. a well-functioning and economically stable company generates resources to the workers and to the community, which consequently is able to maintain a positive cycle in development. a high standard of safety and health brings benefits for everyone: the company, the workers and the whole community. these few above-mentioned interactions elucidate the need for an integrated approach, and the modelling of the complex entity. if we picture osh as a house, this integrated approach could be the roof, but in order to build a stable house, it is also necessary to construct a solid basement as a foundation to the house. these basement "stones" are connected to each other, and are described in more detail in sections . - . . section . focuses on the existing hazards, while section . mainly considers the exposure of workers to health hazards. health, due to its complexity, however, is not only influenced and impaired by work-related hazards, but also by hazards arising from the environment. these two sub-chapters are thus linked to section . . in addition, the safety levels of companies may affect the environment. the strategies and measures needed for effective risk management, as described in section . , therefore also contribute to reducing the risks to the environment. in the case of work that is done outdoors, the hazards arising from the environment understandably have to be given special attention. here, the methods applied to tackle the usual hazards at workplaces are less effective. it is necessary to develop protective measures to avoid or minimize hazards present in the environment. namely, agriculture, forestry and construction involve these types of hazards, and affect high numbers of workers on a global scale. finally, hazards in the environment or in leisure-time activities can lead to strain and injuries which -combined with hazards at work -may result in more severe health consequences. as an example one can mention the hazardous substances in the air causing allergies or other illnesses. another example is the strain on the musculoskeletal system from sports and leisuretime activities causing low back pain and other musculoskeletal disorders. depending on the type of hazard, the three topics, namely, safety, health and the environment, may share the common trait that the proper handling of risks, i.e., how to reduce probabilities and/or consequences of unwanted events is not always possible within a risk management system. this is true when one moves into the realm of uncertainty, i.e., when there is uncertain, insufficient or no knowledge of the consequences and/or probabilities (see chapter ). . integrated multi-sectorial bodies for policy design and planning (national safety and health committee). . comprehensive approach in osh activities. . multi-disciplinary expert resources in inspection and services. . multi-professional participation of employers' and workers' representatives. . joint training in integrated activities. . information support facilitating multi-professional collaboration. international labour office (ilo) ( ) international labour conference, st session, report vi, ilo standards-related activities in the area of occupational safety and health: an in-depth study for discussion with a view to the elaboration of a plan of action for such activities. sixth item on the agenda. international labour office, geneva. what are the main challenges arising from the major societal changes for business/companies and workers/employees? how can these challenges be met in order to succeed in the growing international competition? what is the role of occupational safety and health (osh) in this context? the above-mentioned changes create new possibilities, new tasks and new risks to businesses in particular, and to the workers as well. in order to optimize the relation between the possibilities and the risks (maximize possibilities -minimize risks) there is a growing need for risk management. risk management includes all measures required for the target-oriented structuring of the risk situation and safety situation of a company. it is the systematic application of management strategies for the detection, assessment, evaluation, mastering and monitoring of risks. risk management was first considered exclusively from the point of view of providing insurance coverage for entrepreneurial risks. gradually the demands of jurisdiction grew, and the expectations of users and consumers increased with regard to the quality and safety of products. furthermore, the ever more complex problems of modern technology and ultimately the socioeconomic conditions have led to the development of risk management into an independent interdisciplinary field of work. risks can be regarded as potential failures, which may decrease trust in realizing a company's goals. the aim of risk management is to identify these potential failures qualitatively and quantitatively, and to reduce them to the level of a non-hazardous and acceptable residual risk potential. the development and formulation of a company's risk policy is regarded as the basis of effective risk management. this includes, first and foremost, the management's target concept with respect to the organization of work, distribution of labour, and competence of the departments and persons in charge of risk management. risk issues are important as far as acceptance of technology is concerned. it is not enough to reduce the problem to the question of which risks are tolerable or acceptable. it appears more and more that, although the risks themselves are not accepted, the measures or technologies causing them are. value aspects have an important role in this consideration. a positive or negative view of measures and technologies is thus influenced strongly by value expectations that are new, contradictory and even disputed. comparing risks and benefits has become a current topic of discussion. the relation between risks and benefits remains an unanswered question. the general public has a far broader understanding of the risks and benefits of a given technology than the normal understanding professed by engineering sciences which is limited to probability x harm. the damage or catastrophe potential, qualitative attributes such as voluntary nature and controllability also play an important role in the risk assessment of a technology. a normative setting for a certain, universally accepted risk definition according to engineering science is therefore hardly capable of consensus at the moment. the balanced management of risks and possibilities (benefits) is capable of increasing the value of a company. it may by far surpass the extent of legal obligations: for example, in germany, there is a law on the control and transparency for companies (kontrag) . the respective parameters may be defined accurately as follows: • strategic decisions aim to offer opportunities for acquiring benefit, taking into consideration risks. • risks that can have negative consequences to the technological capacities, the profitability potential, the asset values and the reputation of a company, as well as the confidence of shareholders are identified and measured. • the management focuses on important possibilities and risks, and addresses them adequately or reduces them to a tolerable level. the aim is not to avoid risks altogether, but to create opportunities for promoting proactive treatment of all important risks. the traditional occupational health hazards, such as physical, chemical and biological risks, as well as accidents, will not totally disappear as a consequence of change, nor will heavy physical work. about - % of workers are still exposed to such hazards. there is thus need to still develop risk assessment, prevention and control methods and programmes for these often well-known hazards. in many industrialized countries, prevention and control programmes have had a positive impact by reducing the trends of occupational diseases and accidents, particularly in big industries. some developing countries, however, show an increase in traditional hazards. international comparisons, however, are difficult to make because of poor coverage, underreporting, and poor harmonization of concepts, definitions and registration criteria. statistics on occupational accidents are difficult to compare, and therefore data on their total numbers in europe should be viewed with caution. the majority of countries, however, have shown declining trends in accident rates irrespective of the absolute numbers of accidents. some exceptions to this general trend have nevertheless been seen. the accident risk also seems to shift somewhat as regards location, so that instead of risks related to machines and tools, particularly the risks in internal transportation and traffic within the workplace grow in relative importance. this trend may increase in future, particularly as the work place, as well as the speed and volume of material flows are increasing. a threat is caused by lengthened working hours, which tend to affect the vigilance of workers and increase the risk of errors. small-scale enterprises and micro-enterprises are known to have a lower capacity for occupational health and safety than larger ones. in fact, a higher accident risk has been noted in medium-sized companies, and a lower risk in very small and very large enterprises. we can conclude that this is due to the higher mechanization level and energy use in small and medium-sized enterprises (sme) compared with micro-enterprises, which usually produce services. on the other hand, the better capacity of very large enterprises in safety management is demonstrated by their low accident rates. the production of chemicals in the world is growing steadily. the average growth has been between - % a year during the past - decades. the total value of european chemical production in was about usd billion, i.e. % of the world's total chemical production, and it has increased % in the -year period of - . the european union (eu) is the largest chemical producer in the world, the usa the second, and japan the third. there are some , different chemical entities in industrial use, but only about , are so-called high-production volume (hpv) chemicals produced (and consumed) in amounts exceeding , tons a year. the number of chemicals produced in amounts of - , tons a year is about , . but volume is not necessarily the most important aspect in chemical safety at work. reactivity, toxicological properties, and how the chemicals are used, are more important. the european chemical companies number some , , and in addition there are , plants producing plastics and rubber. surprisingly, as many as % of these are smes employing fewer than workers, and % are micro-enterprises employing fewer than workers. thus, the common belief that the chemical industry constitutes only large firms is not true. small enterprises and self-employed people have much less competence to deal with chemical risk assessment and management than the large companies. guidance and support in chemical safety is therefore crucial for them. the number of workers dealing with chemicals in the european work life is difficult to estimate. the chemical industry alone employs some . million workers in europe, i.e. about % of the workforce of manufacturing industries. about %, i.e. over , work in chemical smes. but a much higher number of workers are exposed in other sectors of the economy. there is a distinct trend showing that the use of chemicals is spreading to all sectors, and thus exposures are found in all types of activities: agriculture, forestry, manufacturing, services and even in high-tech production. the national and european surveys on chemical exposures in the work environment give very similar results. while about % of the eu work-ers were exposed to hazardous chemicals, the corresponding figure in central and eastern european countries may be much higher. the workers are exposed simultaneously to traditional industrial chemicals, such as heavy metals, solvents and pyrolytic products, and to "new exposures", such as plastics monomers and oligomers, highly reactive additives, cross-linkers and hardeners, as well as to, for example, fungal spores or volatile compounds in contaminated buildings. this implies that some million people in the eu are exposed at work, and usually the level of exposure is one to three orders of magnitude higher than in any other environment. about the same proportion ( % of the workforce, i.e. , ) of the finnish workers in the national survey reported exposure. the chemicals to which the largest numbers of workers are exposed occur typically in smes; they are e.g. detergents and other cleaning chemicals, carbon monoxide, solvents, environmental tobacco smoke, and vegetable dusts. european directives on occupational health and safety require a high level of protection in terms of chemical safety in all workplaces and for all workers. risk assessment and risk management are key elements in achieving these requirements. the risk assessment of chemicals takes place at two levels: a) systems-level risk assessment, providing a dose-response relationship for a particular chemical, and serving as a basis for standard setting. risk assessment at the systems level is carried out in the pre-marketing stage through testing. this consequently leads to actions stipulated in the regulations concerning standards and exposure limits, labelling and marking of hazardous chemicals, limitations in marketing, trade and use. in this respect, the level of safety aimed at remains to be decided. is it the reasonably achievable level or, for example, the level achieved by the best available technology? the impact is expected to be system-wide, covering all enterprises and all workers in the country. this type of risk assessment is an interactive practice between the scientific community and the politically controlled decision making. a high level of competence in toxicology, occupational hygiene and epidemiology is needed in the scientific community. and the decision makers must have the ability to put the risk in concern into perspective. in most countries the social partners also take part in the political decision making regarding occupational risks. b) workplace risk assessment directed at identifying the hazards at an individual workplace and utilizing standards as a guide for making decisions on risk management. risk assessment at workplace level leads to practical actions in the company and usually ensures compliance with regulations and standards. risk assessment is done by looking at the local exposure levels and comparing these with standards produced in the type a) risk assessment. risk management is done through preventive and control actions by selecting the safest chemicals, by controlling emissions at their source, by general and local ventilation, and by introducing safe working practices. if none of the above is effective, personal protective devices must be taken into use. noise is a nearly universal problem. the products of technology, which have freed us from the day-to-day survival struggle, have been accompanied by noise as the price of progress. however, noise can no longer be regarded as an inevitable by-product of today's society. not only is noise an undesirable contaminant of our living environment, but high levels of noise are frequently present in a variety of work situations. many problems arise from noise: annoyance, interference with conversation, leisure or sleep, effects on work efficiency, and potentially harmful effects, particularly on hearing. in short, noise may affect health, productivity, and well-being. the selection of appropriate noise criteria for the industry depends on knowledge of the effects of noise on people, as well as on the activities in which they are engaged. many of the effects are dependent on the level, and the magnitude of the effects varies with this level. hearing damage is not the only criterion for assessing excessive noise. it is also important to consider the ability and ease of people to communicate with each other. criteria have therefore been developed to relate the existing noise environment to the ability of the typical individual to communicate in areas that are likely to be noisy. the effects of noise on job performance are difficult to evaluate. in general, one can say that sudden, intermittent, high-intensity noise impedes efficient work more than low-intensity and steady-state noise. the complexity of the task with which noise interferes plays a major role in determining how much noise actually degrades performance. two common ways in which noise can interfere with sleep are: delaying the onset of sleep, and shifting sleep stages. one effect of noise that does not seem to depend strongly on its level is annoyance. under some circumstances, a dripping water faucet can be as annoying as a jackhammer. there are no generally accepted criteria for noise levels associated with annoyance. if the noise consists of pure tones, or if it is impulsive in nature, serious complaints may arise. new information and communication technologies (ict) are being rapidly implemented in modern work life. about % of workers have computers at work, and about % are e-mail and internet users. there are three main problem areas in the use of new ict at work. these are: ) the visual sensory system, ) the cognitive processes, and ) the psychomotoric responses needed for employing hand-arm systems. all three have been found to present special occupational health and even safety problems, which are not yet fully solved. the design of new more user-friendly technology is highly desirable, and the criteria for such technology need to be generated by experts in neurophysiology, cognitive psychology and ergonomics. it is important to note that the productivity and quality of information-intensive work requiring the use of ict depends crucially on the user-friendliness of the new technology interface, both the hardware and software. communication and information technologies will change job contents, organization of work, working methods and competence demands substantially in all sectors of the economy in all countries. a number of new occupational health and safety hazards have already arisen or are foreseen, including problems with the ergonomics of video display units, and musculoskeletal disorders in shoulder-neck and arm-hand systems, information overload, psychological stress, and pressure to learn new skills. the challenge to occupational health and safety people is to provide health-based criteria for new technologies and new types of work organization. it is also important to contribute to the establishment of healthy and safe work environments for people. in the approved and draft standards of the international standardization organization, iso, there are altogether about different targets dealing with the standardization of eyesight-related aspects. vision is the most important channel of information in information-intensive work. from the point of view of seeing and eye fatigue, the commonly used visual display units (vdu) are not the most optimal solutions. stability of the image, poor lighting conditions, reflections and glare, as well as invisible flicker, are frequent problems affecting vision. the displays have, however, developed enormously in the s, and there is evidence that the so-called flat displays have gradually gained ground. information-intensive work may increasingly load the vision and sense of hearing, particularly of older workers. even relatively minor limitations in vision or hearing associated with ageing have a negative effect on receiving and comprehending messages. this affects the working capacity in information-intensive work. the growing haste in information-intensive work causes concern among workers and occupational health professionals. particularly older workers experience stress, learning difficulties and threat of exclusion. corrective measures are needed to adjust the technology to the worker. the most important extension of the man-technology interface has taken place in the interaction of two information-processing elements: the central nervous system and the microprocessor. the contact is transmitted visually and by the hands, but also by the software which has been developed during the s even more than the technology itself. many problems are still associated with the immaturity of the software, even though its user-friendliness has recently greatly improved. the logic and structure of the software and the user systems, visual ergonomics, information ergonomics, the speed needed, and the forgiving characteristics of programs, as well as the possibility to correct the commands at any stage of processing are the most important features of such improvements. also the user's skills and knowledge of information technology and the software have a direct effect on how the work is managed and how it causes workload. the user-friendliness and ergonomics of the technology, the disturbing factors in the environment, haste and time pressure, the work climate, and the age and professional skills of the individual user, even his or her physical fitness, all have an impact on the cognitive capacity of a person. this capacity can to a certain extent be improved by training, exercise and regulating the working conditions, as well as with expert support provided for the users when difficulties do occur. the use of new technologies has been found to be associated with high information overload and psychological stress. the problem is not only typical for older workers or those with less training, but also for the super-experts in ict who have shown an elevated risk of psychological exhaustion. there are four main types of ergonomic work loads: heavy dynamic work that may overload both the musculoskeletal and cardiovascular system; re-petitive tasks which may cause strain injuries; static work that may result in muscular pain; and lifting and moving heavy loads, which may result in overexertion, low back injury, or accidental injuries. visual ergonomics is gaining in importance in modern work life. the overload of the visual sensory system and unsatisfactory working conditions may strain the eye musculature, but can also cause muscle tension in the upper part of the body. this effect is aggravated if the worker is subjected to psychological stress or time pressure. in addition to being a biological threat, the risk of infections causes psychological stress to workers. the improved communication between health services and international organizations provides help in the early detection and control of previously unknown hazards. nevertheless, for example, the danger related to drug abusers continues to grow and present a serious risk to workers in, for example, health services and the police force. some new viral or re-emerging bacterial infections also affect health care staff in their work. the increase in the cases of drug-resistant tuberculosis is an example of such a hazard. the goal of preventive approaches is to exert control on the cause of unwelcome events, the course of such negative events or their outcome. in this context, one has to decide whether the harmful process is acute (an accident) or dependent on impact duration and stimulus (short-, medium-, and long-term). naturally, the prevention approaches depend on the phases of the harmful process, i.e. whether the harm is reversible, or whether it is possible only to maintain its status, or to slow down the process. it is assumed here that a stressful factor generates an inter-individual or intra-individual strain. thus the effects and consequences of stress are dependent on the situation, individual characteristics, capabilities, skills and the regulation of actions, and other factors. the overall consideration is related to work systems characterized by work contents, working conditions, activities, and actions. system performance is expected of this work system, and this system performance is characterized by a performance structure and its conditions and requirements (figure . ). the performance of the biopsychosocial unit, i.e. the human being, plays an important role within the human performance structure (see figures . and . ). the human being is characterized by external and internal features, which are closely related to stress compatibility, and thus to strain. in this respect, preventive measures serve to optimize and ensure performance, on the one hand, and to control stress and strain, on the other. preventive measures aim to prevent bionegative effects and to facilitate and promote biopositive responses. • the internal factors affecting performance are described by performance capacity and performance readiness. • performance capacity is determined by the individual's physiological and psychological capacity. • performance readiness is characterized by physiological fitness and psychological willingness. • the external factors affecting performance are described by organizational preconditions/requirements and technical preconditions/requirements. • regarding the organizational requirements, the organizational structure and organizational dynamics are of significance. • in the case of technical requirements, the difficulties of the task, characterized by machines, the entire plant and its constructions, task content, task design, technical and situation-related factors, such as work layout, anthropometrics, and quality of the environment, are decisive (table . ). mental stress plays an increasing role in the routine activities of enterprises. through interactive models of mental stress and strain, it is possible to represent the development of mental strain and its impairing effects (e.g. tension, fatigue, monotony, lack of mental satisfaction). it is important to distinguish the above-mentioned impairing effects from each other, since they can arise from different origins and can be prevented or eliminated by different means. activities that strain optimally enhance health and promote safe execution of work tasks. stress essentially results from the design parameters of the work system or workplace. these design parameters are characterized by, e.g.: • technology, such as work processes, work equipment, work materials, work objects; • anthropometric design; • work techniques, working hours, sharing of work, cycle dependence, job rotation; • physiological design that causes strain, fatigue; • psychological design that either motivates or frustrates; • information technology, e.g. information processing, cognitive ergonomic design; • sociological conditions; and • environmental conditions, e.g. noise, dust, heat, cold. the stress structure is very complex, and we therefore need to look at the individual parameters carefully, taking into account the interactions and links between the parameters at the conceptual level. the design parameters impact people as stress factors. as a result, they also turn into conditions affecting performance. such conditions can basically be classified into two types: a person's internal conditions, characterized in particular by predisposition and personality traits, and a person's external conditions, determined mainly by the design parameters. when we look at performance as resulting from regulated or reactive action, we find three essential approaches for prevention: • the first approach identifies strain. it is related to anatomical, biochemical, histological, physiological characteristic values, typical curves of organ systems, the degree of utilization of skills through stress, and thus the degree of utilization of the dynamics of physiological variables in the course of stress. • the second approach is related to the control of strain. the aim is to identify performance limits, the limits of training and practice, and to put them into positive use. adaptation and fatigue are the central elements here. • the third approach for prevention is related to reducing strain. the aim is to avoid harm, using known limits as guidelines (e.g. maximum workplace concentration limit values for harmful substances, maximum organspecific concentration values, biological tolerance values for substances, limit values for noise and physical loads). however, the use of guideline values can only be an auxiliary approach, because the stress-strain concept is characterized by highly complex connections between the exogenous stress and the resulting strain. an objectively identical stress will not always cause the same level of strain in an individual. due to action regulation and individual characteristic values and curves of the organ systems (properties and capabilities), differences in strain may occur. seemingly identical stress can cause differing strain due to the superposition of partial stress. combinations of partial stress can lead to compensatory differences (e.g. physiological stress can compensate for psychological stress) or accumulation effects. partial stress is determined by the intensity and duration of the stress, and can therefore appear in differing dimensions and have varying effects. in assessing overall stress, the composition of the partial stress according to type, intensity, course and time is decisive. partial stress can occur simultaneously and successively. in our considerations, the principle of homeostasis plays an important role. however, optimizing performance is only a means to an end in a prevention programme. the actual purpose is to avoid harm, and thus to control strain. harm is a bionegative effect of stress. the causative stress is part of complex conditions in a causal connection. causal relationships can act as dose-effect relationships or without any relation to the dose. in this respect, the causative stress condition can form a chain with a fixed or variable sequence; it can add up, multiply, intensify or have an effect in only specific combinations, and generate different effects (e.g. diseases). we are thus dealing with a multicausal model or a multi-factor genesis. low back pain is an example of a complex phenomenon. the incidence of musculoskeletal disorders, especially low back pain, is rapidly increasing. several occupational factors have been found to increase the risk for low back pain. some studies indicate that psychosocial and work-related conditions are far more accurate in the prognosis of disability than are physical conditions. chronic low back pain is perceived as a phenomenon which encompasses biological, social and psychological variables. according to the model of adaptation, the goal of reducing risks is to increase a person's physical abilities (i.e. flexibility, strength, endurance), the use of body mechanics, techniques to protect the back (following the rules of biomechanics), to improve positive coping skills and emotional control. the following unfavourable factors leading to back pain have been identified at workplaces: • the lifting of too heavy loads. • working in a twisted or bent-down position. • work causing whole-body vibration. • working predominantly in a sitting position. • carrying heavy loads on the shoulders. the prevention of acute back pain and the prevention of work disability must entail several features. one important element is work safety, which can be maximized by screening a worker's physical and intellectual capacities, by ensuring ergonomic performance of the work procedures, and by increasing awareness of proper working techniques that do not strain the back. the use of adaptation programmes makes it possible to attain a higher performance level and to be able to withstand more strain (figure . ) . research-based methods of training optimize and improve performance. they are a means for controlling stress and strain with the aim of preventing bionegative effects and facilitating and promoting biopositive responses. the stress (load) and strain model and human performance can be described as follows: • causative stress generates an inter-individual or intra-individual strain. • the effects and consequences depend on a person's properties, capabilities, skills and the regulation of actions, individual characteristics of the organ systems, and similar factors. • within the performance structure, the performance of the biopsychosocial unit, i.e. the human being, plays an important role. the human being is characterized by external and internal factors, which in turn are closely related to stress compatibility and thus to strain. the connection between stress and harm plays a significant role in the research on occupational health hazards. how should this connection be explored? different hypotheses exist in replying to this question, but none of them have been definitively proven. the three most common hypotheses today are: stress occurring in connection with a person's life events. the number and extent of such events is decisive. problem-coping behaviour and/or social conditions are variables explaining the connection between stress and harm. . the additive stress hypothesis. the ability to cope with problems and the social conditions has an effect on harm which is independent of the stress resulting from life events. when we refer to the complexity of risks in this context of occupational safety our focus shall be on the enterprise. there are different kinds of risks to be found in enterprises. many of them are of general importance, i.e. they are in principle rather independent of an enterprise's size or its type of activity. how to deal with such risks shall be outlined to some extent here. in order to treat those risks at work successfully resources are needed whose availability often depends on the enterprise's situation. the situation in enterprises usually is a determining indicator for available resources to control and develop safety and health and thus performance of the enterprise and its workers and employees through appropriate preventive measures. this situation has been described to some extent in chapter . big companies usually have well-developed safety and health resources, and they often transfer appropriate policies and practices to the less developed areas where they operate. even in big enterprises, however, there is fragmentation of local workplaces into ever smaller units. many of the formerly in-built activities of enterprises are outsourced. new types of work organizations are introduced, such as flat and lean organizations, increase of telework and call centres, many kinds of mobile jobs and network organizations. former in-company occupational health services are frequently transferred to service providers. this leads to the establishment of high numbers of micro-enterprises, small scale enterprises (sses), small and medium-sized enterprises (smes) and self-employed people. sses and smes are thus becoming the most important employers in the future. from a number of studies there is evidence that at least among a part of sses and smes awareness of osh risks is low. both managers and workers often do not see the need to improve occupational safety and health or ergonomic issues and their possibilities and benefits by reducing or eliminating risks at work. as these types of enterprises, even more the self-employed, do not have sufficient resources or expertise for implementing preventive measures, the need for external advisory support, services and incentives is evident and growing. interpersonal relations in sses and smes being generally very good provides a strong chance for effectively supporting them. other special features in the structure of small and medium-sized enterprises to be considered are: • direct participation of the management in the daily activities; • the management structure is designed to meet the requirements of the manager; • less formal and standardized work processes, organizational structures and decision processes; • no clear-cut division of work: -wide range of tasks; and -less specialization of the employees; • unsystematic ways of obtaining and processing information; • great importance of direct personal communication; • less interest in external cooperation and advice; • small range of internal, especially long-term and strategic planning; and • stronger inclination of individual staff members to represent their own interests. the role of occupational health services (ohs) in smes is an interdisciplinary task, consisting of: • risk assessment: -investigation of occupational health problems according to type of technology, organization, work environment, working conditions, social relationships. • surveillance of employees' health: -medical examinations to assess employees' state of health; and -offering advice, information, training. • advice, information, training: -measures to optimize safety and health protection; and -safe behaviour, safe working procedures, first aid preparedness. different kinds of risks are found in enterprises (see table . ). these different types of risks need to be handled by an interlinked system to control the risks and to find compromises between the solutions. figure . illustrates these linkages. the promotion of safety and health is linked to several areas and activities. all of these areas influence the risk management process. the results of risk treatment not only solve occupational health and safety problems, but they also give added value to the linked fields. specific risk management methods are needed to reach the set goal. one needs to know what a risk is. the definition of risk is essential: a risk is a combination of a probability -not frequency -of occurrence, and the associated unwelcome outcome or impact of a risk element (consequence). risk management is recognized as an integral part of good management practice. it is a recurring process consisting of steps which, when carried out in a sequence, allow decision making to be improved continuously. risk management is a logical and systematic method of identifying, analyzing, evaluating, treating, monitoring and communicating risks arising during any activity, function, or process in a manner enabling the organization to minimize losses and maximize productive opportunities. different methods are available for analyzing problems. each method is especially suited to respond to certain questions and less suited for others. a complex "thinking scheme" is necessary for arranging the different analyses correctly within the system review. such a scheme includes the following steps: . defining the unit under review: the actual tasks and boundaries of the system (a fictitious or a real system) must be specified: time, space and state. . problem analysis: all problems existing in the defined system, including problems which do not originate from the system itself, are detected and described. . causes of problems: all possible or probable causes of the problems are identified and listed. . identifying interaction: the dependencies of the effect mechanisms are described, and the links between the causes are determined. . establishing priorities and formulating targets: to carry out this step, it is necessary to evaluate the effects of the causes. . solutions to the problems: all measures needed for solving the individual problems are listed. the known lists usually include technical as well as non-technical measures. since several measures are often appropriate for solving one problem, a pre-selection of measures has to be done already at this stage. however, this can only be an approach to the solution; the actual selection of measures has to be completed in steps and . . clarifying inconsistencies and setting priorities: as the measures required for solving individual problems may be inconsistent in part, or may even have to be excluded as a whole, any inconsist-encies need to be clarified. a decision should then be made in favour or against a measure, or a compromise may be sought. . determining measures for the unit under review: the measures applicable to the defined overall system are now selected from the measures for the individual problems. . list of questions regarding solutions selected for the overall system: checking whether the selected measures are implementable and applicable for solving the problems of the overall system. . controlling for possible new problems: this step consists of checking whether new problems are created by the selected solution. the close link between cause and effect demands that the processes and sub-processes must be evaluated uniformly, and risks must be dealt with according to a coordinated procedure. the analysis is started by orientation to the problem. this is done in the following steps: . recognizing and analyzing the problem according to its causes and extent, by means of a diagnosis and prediction, and comparison with the goals aimed at. . description and division of the overall problem into individual problem areas, and specifying their dependencies. . defining the problem and structuring it according to the objectives, time relation, degree of difficulty, and relevance to the goal. . detailed analysis of the causes, and classification in accordance to the possible solution. the analysis of the problem should be integrated into the overall analytical process in accordance with the thinking schemes described earlier. the relevance and priorities related to the process determine the starting point for the remaining steps of the analysis. analyses are divided into quantitative and qualitative ones. quantitative analyses include risk analyses, that is, theoretical safety-related analysis methods and safety analyses, e.g. classical accident analyses. qualitative analyses include failure mode and effect analyses, hazard analyses, failure hazard analyses, operating hazard analyses, human error code and effect analyses, information error and effect analyses. the theoretical safety-related analysis methods include inductive and deductive analyses based on boolean models. inductive analyses are, e.g. fault process analyses. deductive analyses are fault tree analyses, analytical processes and simulation methods. theoretical safety-related analysis methods which are not based on boolean models are stochastic processes, such as markow's model, risk analyses and accident analyses which, as a rule, are statistical or probability-related analyses. a possible scheme to begin with is shown in figure . . since absolute safety, entailing freedom from all risks, does not exist in any sphere of life, the task of those dealing with safety issues is to avert hazards and to achieve a sustainable reduction of the residual risk, so that it does not exceed a tolerable limit. the extent of this rationally acceptable risk is also influenced by the level of risk which society intuitively considers as being acceptable. those who propose definitions of safety are neither authorized nor capable of evaluating the general benefit of technical products, processes and services. risk assessment is therefore focused at the potential harm caused by the use or non-use of the technology. the guidelines given in "a new approach to technical harmonization and standards" by the council resolution of may are valid in the european union. the legal system of a state describes the protective goals, such as protection of life, health, etc., in its constitution, as well as in individual laws and regulations. as a rule, these do not provide an exact limit as to what is still a tolerable risk. this limit can only be established indirectly and unclearly on the basis of the goals and conceptions set down by the authorities and laws of a state. in the european union, the limits are expressed primarily in the "basic safety and health requirements". these requirements are then put into more concrete terms in the safety-related definitions issued by the bodies responsible for preparing industrial standards. compliance with the standards is voluntary, but it is presumed that the basic requirements of the directives are met. the term which is opposite to "safety" is "hazard". both safe and hazardous situations are founded on the intended use of the technical products, processes and services. unintended use is taken into account only to the extent that it can be reasonably foreseen. the risks present in certain events are, in a more narrow sense, unwelcome and unwanted outcomes with negative effects (which exceed the range of acceptance). unwelcome events are • source conditions of processes and states; • processes and states themselves; and • effects of processes and states which can result in harm to persons or property. an unwelcome event can be defined as a single event or an event within a sequence of events. possible unwelcome events are identified for a unit under review. the causes may be inherent in the unit itself, or outside of it. in order to determine the risks involved in unwelcome events, it is necessary to identify probabilities and consequences. the question arises: are the extent and probability of the risk known? information is needed to answer this question. defining risk requires information concerning the probability of occurrence and the extent of the harm of the consequences. uncertainty is given if the effects are known but the probability is unknown. ignorance is given if both the effects and the probability are unknown. figure . shows the risk analysis procedure according to the type of information available. since risk analyses are not possible without practical, usable information, it is necessary to consider the nature of the information. the information is characterized by its content, truth and objectivity, degree of confirmation, the possibility of being tested, and the age of the information. the factors determining the content of the information are generality, precision and conditionality. the higher the conditionality, the smaller is the generality, and thus the smaller the information content of the statement. truth is understood as conformity of the statement with the real state of affairs. the closer that the information is to reality, the higher is its information content, and the smaller its logical margin. the degree of controllability is directly dependent on the information content: the bigger the logical margin, the smaller the information content, and thus the higher the probability that the information content will prove its worth. in this respect, probability plays a role in the information content: the greatest significance is attributed to the logical hypothetical probability and statistical probability of an event. objectivity and age are additional criteria for any information. the age and time relation of information play a particularly important role, because consideration of the time period is an important feature of analysis. as a rule, information and thus the data input in the risk analysis consist of figures and facts based on experience, materials, technical design, the organization and the environment. in this regard, most figures are based on statistics on incidents and their occurrences. factual information reveals something about the actual state of affairs. it consists of statements related to past conditions, incidents, etc. forecast-type predictions are related to real future conditions, foretelling that certain events will occur in the future. explanatory information replies to questions about the causes of phenomena, and provides explanations and reasons. it establishes links between different states based on presumed cause-effect relationships. subjunctive information expresses possibilities, implying that certain situations might occur at present or in the future, thus giving information about conceivable conditions, events and relationships. normative information expresses goals, standards, evaluations and similar matters; it formulates what is desirable or necessary. the main problem with risk analyses is incomplete information, in particular regarding the area of "uncertainty". in the eu commission's view, recourse to the so-called precautionary principle presupposes that potentially dangerous effects deriving from a phenomenon, product or process have been identified via objective scientific evaluation, and that scientific evaluation does not allow the risk to be determined with sufficient certainty. recourse to the precautionary principle thus takes place in the framework of general risk management that is concretely connected to the decision-making process. if application of the precautionary principle results in the decision that action is the appropriate response to a risk, and that further scientific information is not needed, it is still necessary to decide how to proceed. apart from adopting legal provisions which are subject to judicial control, a whole range of actions is available to the decision-makers (e.g. funding research, or deciding to inform the public about the possible adverse effects of a product or procedure). however, the measures may not be selected arbitrarily. in conclusion, the assessment of various risks and risk types which may be related to different types of hazards requires a variety of specific risk assessment methods. if one has dependable information about the probability and consequences of a serious risk or risky event, one should use the risk assessment procedure shown in figure . . • major industrial accidents; • damage caused by dangerous substances; • nuclear accidents; • major accidents at sea; • disasters due to forces of nature; and • acts of terrorism. • dangerous substances discharged (fire, explosion); • injury to people and damage to property; • immediate damage to the environment; • permanent or long-term damage to terrestrial habitats, to fresh water, to marine habitats, to aquifers or underground water supplies; and • cross-border damage. • technical failure: devices, mountings, containers, flanges, mechanical damage, corrosion of pipes, etc.; • human failure: operating error, organizational failure, during repair work; • chemical reaction; • physical reaction; and • environmental cause. system analysis is the basis of all hazard analyses, and thus needs to be done with special care. system analysis includes the examination of the system functions, particularly the performance goals and admissible deviations in the ambient conditions not influenced by the system, the auxiliary sources of the system (e.g. energy supply), the components of the system, and the organization and behaviour of the system. geographical arrangements, block diagrams, material flow charts, information flow charts, energy flow charts, etc. are used to depict technical systems. the objective is to ensure the safe behaviour of the technical systems by design methods, at least during the required service life and during intended use. qualitative analyses are particularly important in practice. as a rule, they are form sheet analyses and include failure mode and effect analyses, which examine and determine failure modes and their effects on systems. the preliminary hazard analysis looks for the hazard potentials of a system. the failure hazard analysis examines the causes of failures and their effects. the operating hazard analysis determines the hazards which may occur during operation, maintenance, repair, etc. the human error mode and effect analysis examines error modes and their effects which occur because of wrong behaviour of humans. the information error mode and effect analysis examines operating, maintenance and repair errors, fault elimination errors and the effects caused by errors in instructions and faulty information. theoretical analysis methods include the fault tree analysis, which is a deductive analysis. an unwelcome incident is provided to the system under review. then all logical links and/or failure combinations of components or partial system failures which might lead to this unwelcome incident are assembled, forming the fault tree. the fault tree analysis is suited for simple as well as for complex systems. the objective is to identify failures which might lead to an unwelcome incident. the prerequisite is exact knowledge about the functioning of the system under review. the process, the functioning of the components and partial systems therefore need to be present. it is possible to focus on the flow of force, of energy, of materials and of signals. the fault process analysis has a structure similar to that of the fault tree analysis. in this case, however, we are looking for all unwelcome incidents as well as their combinations which have the same fault trigger. analysis of the functioning of the system under review is also necessary for this. analyses can also be used to identify possible, probable and actual risk components. the phases of the analysis are the phases of design, including the preparation of a concept, project and construction, and the phases of use which are production, operation and maintenance. in order to identify the fault potential as completely as possible, different types of analyses are usually combined. documentation of the sufficient safety of a system can be achieved at a reasonable cost only for a small system. in the case of complex systems, it is therefore recommended to document individual unwelcome incidents. if solutions are sought and found for individual unwelcome incidents, care should be taken to ensure that no target conflicts arise with regard to other detail solutions. with the help of the fault tree, it is possible to analyse the causes of an unwelcome incident and the probability of its occurrence. decisions on whether and which redundancies are necessary can in most cases be reached by simple estimates. four results can be expected by using a fault tree: . the failure combination of inputs leading to the unwelcome event; . the probability of their occurrence; . the probability of occurrence of the unwelcome event; and . the critical path that this incident took from the failure combination through the fault tree. a systematic evaluation of the fault tree model can be done by an analytical evaluation (calculation) or by simulation of the model (monte-carlo method). a graphic analysis of the failure process is especially suited to prove the safety risk of previously defined failure combinations in the system. the failure mode and effect analysis and the preliminary hazard analysis as mentioned previously, no method can disclose all potential faults in a system with any degree of certainty. however, if one starts with the preliminary hazard analysis, then at least the essential components with hazard potential will be defined. the essential components are always similar, namely, kinetic energy, potential energy, source of thermal energy, radioactive material, biological material, chemically reactive substance. with the fault tree method, any possible failure combinations (causes), leading to an unwelcome outcome, can then be identified additionally. re- are especially suited for identifying failures in a system which pose a risk. liability parameters can be determined in the process, e.g. the frequency of occurrence of failure combinations, the frequency of occurrence of unwelcome events, non-availability of the system upon requests, etc. the failure effect analysis is a supplementary method. it is able to depict the effects of mistakes made by the operating personnel, e.g. when a task is not performed, or is performed according to inappropriate instructions, or performed too early, too late, unintentionally or with errors. it can pinpoint also effects resulting from operating conditions and errors in the functional process or its elements. an important aspect of all hazard analyses is that they are only valid for the respective case under review. every change in a parameter basically requires new analyses. this applies to changes in the personnel structure and the qualification of persons, as well as to technical specifications. for this reason, it is necessary to document the parameters on which each analysis is based. the results of the hazard analyses form the basis for the selection of protective measures and measures to combat the hazards. if the system is modified, the hazards inherent in the system may change, and the measures to combat the hazards may have to be changed as well. this may also mean that the protective measures or equipment which existed at time x for the system or partial system in certain operating conditions (e.g. normal operation, set-up operation, and maintenance phase) may no longer be compatible. different protective measures, equipment or strategies may then be needed. however, hazard analyses do not merely serve to detect and solve potential failures. they form the basis for the selection of protective measures and protective equipment, and they can also test the success of the safety strategies specified. a selection of methods used for hazard analysis is given in annex to section . . risk assessment is a series of logical steps enabling the systematic examination of the hazards associated with machinery. risk assessment is followed, whenever necessary, by actions to reduce the existing risks and by implementing safety measures. when this process is repeated, it eliminates hazards as far as possible. risk assessment includes: • risk analysis: -determining the limits of machinery; -identifying hazards; and -estimating risks. • risk evaluation. risk analysis provides the information required for evaluating risks, and this in turn allows judgements to be made on the safety of e.g. the machinery or plant under review. risk assessment relies on decisions based on judgement. these decisions are to be supported by qualitative methods, complemented, as far as possible, by quantitative methods. quantitative methods are particularly appropriate when the foreseeable harm is very severe or extensive. quantitative methods are useful for assessing alternative safety measures and for determining which measure gives best protection. the application of quantitative methods is restricted to the amount of useful data which is available, and in many cases only qualitative risk assessment will be possible. risk assessment should be conducted so that it is possible to document the used procedure and the results that have been achieved. risk assessment shall take into account: • the life cycle of machinery or the life span of the plant. • the limitations of the machinery or plant, including the intended use (correct use and operation of the machinery or plant, as well as the consequences of reasonably foreseeable misuse or malfunction). • the full range of foreseeable uses of the machinery (e.g. industrial, nonindustrial and domestic) by persons identified by sex, age, dominant hand usage, or limiting physical abilities (e.g. visual or hearing impairment, stature, strength). • the anticipated level of training, experience or ability of the anticipated users, such as: -operators including maintenance personnel or technicians; -trainees and juniors; and -general public. • exposure of other persons to the machine hazards, whenever they can be reasonably foreseen. having identified the various hazards that can originate from the machine (permanent hazards and ones that can appear unexpectedly), the machine designer shall estimate the risk for each hazard, as far as possible, on the basis of quantifiable factors. he must finally decide, based on the risk evaluation, whether risk reduction is required. for this purpose, the designer has to take into account the different operating modes and intervention procedures, as well as human interaction during the entire life cycle of the machine. the following aspects in particular must be considered: • construction; transport; • assembly, installation, commissioning; • adjusting settings, programming or process changeover; • instructions for users; • operating, cleaning, maintenance, servicing; and • checking for faults, de-commissioning, dismantling and safe disposal. malfunctioning of the machine due to, e.g. • variation in a characteristic or dimension of the processed material or workpiece; • failure of a part or function; • external disturbance (e.g. shock, vibration, electromagnetic interference); • design error or deficiency (e.g. software errors); • disturbance in power supply; and • flaw in surrounding conditions (e.g. damaged floor surface). unintentional behaviour of the operator or foreseeable misuse of the machine, e.g.: • loss of control of the machine by the operator (especially in the case of hand-held devices or moving parts); • automatic (reflexive) behaviour of a person in case of a machine malfunction or failure during operation; • the operator's carelessness or lack of concentration; • the operator taking the "line of least resistance" in carrying out a task; • behaviour resulting from pressure to keep the machine running in all circumstances; and • unexpected behaviour of certain persons (e.g. children, disabled persons). when carrying out a risk assessment, the risk of the most severe harm that is likely to occur from each identified hazard must be considered, but the greatest foreseeable severity must also be taken into account, even if the probability of such an occurrence is not high. this objective may be met by eliminating the hazards, or by reducing, separately or simultaneously, each of the two elements which determine the risk, i.e. the severity of the harm from the hazard in question, and the probability of occurrence of that harm. all protective measures intended to reach this goal shall be applied according to the following steps: this stage is the only one at which hazards can be eliminated, thus avoiding the need for additional protective measures, such as safeguarding machines or implementing complementary protective measures. . information about the residual risk. information for use on the residual risk is not to be a substitute for inherently safe design, or for safeguarding or complementary protective measures. risk estimation and evaluation must be carried out after each of the above three steps of risk reduction. adequate protective measures associated with each of the operating modes and intervention procedures prevent operators from being prone to use hazardous intervention techniques in case of technical difficulties. the aim is to achieve the lowest possible level of risk. the design process is an iterative cycle, and several successive applications may be necessary to reduce the risk, making the best use of available technology. four aspects should be considered, preferably in the following order: . the safety of the machine during all the phases of its life cycle; . the ability of the machine to perform its function; . the usability of the machine; and . the costs of manufacturing, operating and dismantling the machine. the following principles apply to technical design: service life, safe machine life, fail-safe and tamper-proof design. a design which ensures the safety of service life has to be chosen when neither the technical system nor any of its safety-relevant partial functions can be allowed to fail during the service life envisaged. this means that the components of the partial functions need to be exchanged at previously defined time intervals (preventive maintenance). in the case of a fail-safe design, the technical system or its partial functions allow for faults, but none of these faults, alone or in combination, may lead to a hazardous state. it is necessary to specify just which faults in one or several partial systems can be allowed to occur simultaneously without the overall system being transferred into a hazardous state (maximum admissible number of simultaneous faults). a failure or a reduction in the performance of the technical system is accepted in this case. tamper-proof means that it is impossible to intentionally induce a hazardous state of the system. this is often required of technical systems with a high hazard potential. strategies involving secrecy play a special role in this regard. in the safety principles described here, redundant design should also be mentioned. the probability of occurrence and the consequences of damage are reduced by multiple arrangements, allowing both for subsystems or elements to be arranged in a row or in parallel. it is possible to reduce the fault potential of a technical system by the diversification of principles: several different principles are used in redundant arrangements. the spatial distribution of the function carriers allows the possibilities to influence faults to be reduced to one function. in the redundant arrangements, important functions, e.g. information transmission, are therefore designed in a redundant manner at different locations. the measures to eliminate or avoid hazards have to meet the following basic requirements: their effect must be reliable and compulsory, and they cannot be circumvented. reliable effect means that the effect principle and construction design of the planned measure guarantee an unambiguous effect, that the components have been designed according to regulations, that production and assembly are performed in a controlled manner, and that the measure has been tested. compulsory effect includes the demand for a protective effect which is active at the start of a hazardous state and during it, and which is deactivated only when the hazardous state is no longer present, or stops when the protective effect is not active. technical systems are planned as determined systems. only predictable and intended system behaviour is taken into account when the system is designed. experience has shown, however, that technical systems also display stochastic behaviour. that is, external influences and/or internal modifications not taken into consideration in the design result in unintended changes in the system's behaviour and properties. the period of time until the unintended changes in behaviour and/or in properties occur, cannot be accurately determined; it is a random variable. we have to presume that there will be a fault in every technical system. we simply do not know in advance when it will take place. the same is true for repairs. we know that it is generally possible in systems requiring re-pair to complete a repair operation successfully, but we cannot determine the exact time in advance. using statistical evaluations, we can establish a timedependent probability at which a "fault event" or "completion of a repair operation" occurs. the frequency of these events determines the availability of the system requiring repair. technical systems are intended to perform numerous functions and, at the same time, to be safe. the influence of human action on safety has to be taken into account in safety considerations as well (i.e. human factor). a system is safe when there are no functions or action sequences resulting in hazardous effects for people and/or property. risks of unwelcome events (in the following called "risk of an event") are determined on the basis of the experience (e.g. catalogue of measures) with technical systems. in addition to this, safety analyses are used (e.g. failure mode and effect analysis, hazard analysis, failure hazard analysis, operating hazard analysis, information error analysis), as well as mathematical models (e.g. worst-case analysis, monte-carlo procedure, markow's models). unwelcome events are examined for their effects. this is followed by considerations about which design modifications or additional protective measures might provide sufficient safety against these unwelcome events. the explanations below present the basic procedure for developing safety-relevant arrangements and solutions, i.e. the thinking and decision-making processes, as well as selecting criteria that are significant for the identification of unwelcome events, the risk of an event, the acceptance limits and the adoption of measures. before preparing the final documentation, it is essential to verify that the limit risk has not been exceeded, and that no new unwelcome events have occurred. the sequence scheme describes the procedure for developing safety arrangements and for finding solutions aiming to avoid the occurrence of unwelcome events which exceed the acceptance limits, by selecting suitable measures. in this context, it is assumed that: • an unwelcome event is initially identified as a single event within a comprehensive event sequence (e.g. start-up of a plant), and the risk of an event and limit risk are determined. • the selection of technical and/or non-technical measures is subject to a review of the content and the system, and the decision regarding a solution is then made. • the number of applicable measures is limited, and therefore it may not be possible to immediately find a measure with an acceptable risk for a preliminary determination of the unwelcome event. • implementation of the selected solution can result in the occurrence of a new unwelcome event. • in the above cases, a more concrete, new determination of the unwelcome event and/or the unit under review, or the state of the unit under review, and another attempt at deciding upon measures may lead to the desired result, although this may have to be repeated several times before it is successful. in the case of complex event sequences, several unwelcome events may become apparent which have to be tackled by the respective set of measures. in accordance with the sequence scheme, the unit under review and its state have to be determined first. this determination includes information on, e.g., • product type, dimension, product parts/elements distinguished according to functional or construction aspects, if applicable; • intended use; • work system or field of application; • target group; • supply energy, transformed in the product, transmitted, distributed, output; • other parameters essential to safety assessment according to type and size of the product; • known or assumed effects on the product or its parts (e.g. due to transport, assembly, conditions at the assembly site, operation, maintenance); • weight, centre of gravity; • materials, consumables; • operating states (e.g. start-up, standstill, test run, normal operation); • condition (new, condition after a period in storage/shutdown, after repair, in case of modified operating conditions and/or other significant changes); and • known or suspected effects on humans. the next step is the identification of unwelcome events. they are source conditions of processes and states, or processes and states themselves. they can be the effects of processes and states which can cause harm to people or property. an unwelcome event can be a single event or part of a sequence of events. one should look for unwelcome events in sequences of processes and functions, in work activities and organizational procedures, or in the work environment. care has to be taken that the respective interfaces are included in the considerations. deviations and time-dependent changes in regard to the planned sequences and conditions have to be taken into account as well. the risk of an unwanted event results from the probability statement which takes into account both • the expected frequency of occurrence of the event; and • the anticipated extent of harm of the event. the expected frequency of occurrence of an event leading to harm is determined by, e.g., • the probability of the occurrence itself; • the duration and frequency of exposure of people (or of objects) in the danger zone, e.g. -extremely seldom (e.g. during repair), -seldom (e.g. during installation, maintenance and inspection), -frequently, and -very frequently (e.g. constant intervention during every work cycle); • the influence of users or third parties on the risk of an event. the extent of harm is determined by, e.g., • the type of harm (harm to people and/or property); • the severity of the harm (slight/severe/fatal injury of persons, or corresponding damage to property); and • number of people or objects affected. in principle, the safety requirements depend on the ratio of the risk of an event to the limit risk. criteria for determining the limit risk are, e.g., • personal and social acceptance of hazards; • people possibly affected (e.g. layman, trained person, specialized worker); • participation of those affected in the process; and • possibilities of averting hazards. the safety of various technical equipment with comparable risk can, for instance, be achieved • primarily by technical measures, in some cases; and • mainly by non-technical measures, in other cases. this means that several acceptable solutions with varying proportions of technical and non-technical measures may be found for a specific risk. in this context, the responsibility of those involved should be taken into consideration. technical measures are developed on the basis of e.g. the following principles: • avoiding hazardous interfaces (e.g. risk of crushing, shearing); hazard sources (e.g. radiation sources, flying parts, hazardous states and actions as well as inappropriate processes); • limiting hazardous energy (e.g. by rupture disks, temperature controllers, safety valves, rated break points); • using suitable construction and other materials (e.g. solid, sufficiently resistant against corrosion and ageing, glare-free, break-proof, non-toxic, non-inflammable, non-combustible, non-sliding); • designing equipment in accordance with its function, material, load, and ergonomics principles; • using fail-safe control devices employing technical means; • employing technical means of informing (e.g. danger signal); • protective equipment for separating, attaching, rejecting, catching, etc.; • suction equipment, exhaust hoods, when needed; • protection and emergency rooms; and • couplings or locks. technical measures refer to, e.g., • physical, chemical or biological processes; • energy, material and information flow in connection with the applied processes; • properties of materials and changes in the properties; and • function and design of technical products, parts and connections. the iterative (repeated) risk reduction process can be concluded after achieving adequate risk reduction and, if applicable, a favourable outcome of risk comparison. adequate risk reduction can be considered to have been achieved when one is able to answer each of the following questions positively: • have all operating conditions and all intervention procedures been taken into account? • have hazards been eliminated or their risks been reduced to the lowest practicable level? • is it certain that the measures undertaken do not generate new hazards? • are the users sufficiently informed and warned about the residual risks? • is it certain that the operator's working conditions are not jeopardized by the protective measures taken? • are the protective measures compatible with each other? • has sufficient consideration been given to the consequences that can arise from the use of a machine designed for professional/industrial use when it is used in a non-professional/non-industrial context? • is it certain that the measures undertaken do not excessively reduce the ability of the machine to perform its intended function? there are still many potential risks connected with hazardous substances about which more information is needed. because the knowledge about the relation between their dose and mode of action is not sufficient for controlling such risks, more research is needed. the following list highlights the themes of the numerous questions related to such risks: • potentially harmful organisms; • toxicants, carcinogens; • pesticides, pollutants, poisonous substances; • genetically engineered substances; • relation between chemical and structural properties and toxicity; • chemical structure and chemical properties and the relation to reactivity and reaction possibilities of organic compounds to metabolic reaction and living systems; • modes of action, genotoxicity, carcinogenicity, effects on humans/animals; • potentially harmful organisms in feedstuffs and animal faeces; • viruses and pathogens; • bacteria in feedstuffs and faeces; • parasites in feedstuffs and animal faeces; • pests in stored feedstuffs; • probiotics as feed additives; and • preservatives in feedstuffs. violent actions damaging society, property or people have increased, and they seem to spread both internationally as well as within countries. these new risks are difficult to predict and manage, as the very strategy of the actors is to create unexpected chaotic events. certain possibilities to predict the potential types of hazards do exist, and comprehensive predictive analyses have been done (meyerson, reaser ) . new methodologies are needed to predict the risk of terrorist actions, and also the strategies for risk management need to be developed. due to the numerous background factors, the preparedness of societies against these risks needs to be strengthened. table . lists important societal systems which are vulnerable to acts of terrorism. the situation in the developing countries needs to be tackled with specific methods. one has to answer the following questions: • what specific examples of prevention instruments can be offered? • what are the prerequisites for success? • how can industrialized countries assist the developing countries in carrying out preventive actions? • how should priorities be set according to the available resources? one possibility is to start a first-step programme, the goal of which is higher productivity and better workplaces. it can be carried out by improving • storage and handling of materials: -provide storage racks for tools, materials, etc.; -put stores, racks etc. on wheels, whenever possible; -use carts, conveyers or other aids when moving heavy loads; -use jigs, clamps or other fixtures to hold items in place. • work sites: -keep the working area clear of everything that is not in frequent use. • machine safety: -install proper guards to dangerous tools/machines; -use safety devices; -maintain machines properly. • control of hazardous substances: -substitute hazardous chemicals with less hazardous substances; -make sure that all organic solvents, paints, glues, etc., are kept in covered containers; -install or improve local exhaust ventilation; -provide adequate protective goggles, face shields, earplugs, safety footwear, gloves, etc.; -instruct and train workers; -make sure that workers wash their hands before eating and drinking, and change their clothes before going home. • lighting: -make sure that lighting is adequate. • social and sanitary facilities: -provide a supply of cool, safe drinking water; -have the sanitary facilities cleaned regularly; -provide a hygienic place for meals; -provide storage for clothing or other belongings; -provide first aid equipment and train a qualified first-aider. • premises: -increase natural ventilation by having more roof and wall openings, windows or open doorways; -move sources of heat, noise, fumes, arc welding, etc., out of the workshop, or install exhaust ventilation, noise barriers, or other solutions; -provide fire extinguishers and train the workers to use them; -clear passageways, provide signs and markings. • work organization: -keep the workers alert and reduce fatigue through frequent changes in tasks, opportunities to change work postures, short breaks, etc.; -have buffer stocks of materials to keep work flow constant; -use quality circles to improve productivity and quality. risk combination of the probability of an event and its consequences. the term "risk" is generally used only when there is at least a possibility of negative consequences. in some situation, risk arises from the possibility of deviation from the expected outcome or event. outcome of an event or a situation, expressed in quality and in quantity. it may result in a loss or in an injury or may be linked to it. the result can be a disadvantage or a gain. in this case the event or the situation is the source. in connection with every analysis it has to be checked whether the cause is given empirically, or follows a set pattern, and whether there is scientific agreement regarding these circumstances. note there can be more than one consequence from one event. note consequences can range from positive to negative. the consequences are always negative from the viewpoint of safety. extent to which an event is likely to occur. note iso - : gives the mathematical definition of probability as "a real number in the interval to attached to a random event. it can be related to a long-run relative frequency of occurrence or to a degree of belief that an event will occur. for a high degree of belief the probability is near ". note frequency rather than probability may be used in describing risk. degrees of belief about probability can be chosen as classes or ranks such as: rare/unlikely/moderate/likely/almost certain, or incredible/improbable/ remote/occasional/probable/frequent. remark: informal language often confuses frequency and probability. this can lead to wrong conclusions in safety technology. probability is the degree of coincidence of the time frequency of coincidental realization of a fact from a certain possibility. coincidence is an event which basically can happen, may be cause-related, but does not occur necessarily or following a set pattern. it may also not occur (yes-or-no-alternative). data for probability of occurring with specific kinds of occurrence and weight of consequences can be: in a statistical sense: empirical, retrospective, real in a prognostic sense: speculative, prospective, probabilistic occurrence of a particular set of circumstances regarding place and time. an event can be the source of certain consequences (empirically to be expected with certain regularity). the event can be certain or uncertain. the event can be a single occurrence or a series of occurrences. the probability associated with the event can be estimated for a given period of time. task range by which the significance of risk is assessed. note risk criteria can include associated costs and benefits, legal and statutory requirements, socio-economic and environmental aspects, the concerns of stakeholders, priorities and other inputs to the assessment. the way in which a stakeholder views a risk based on a set of values or concerns. note risk perception depends on the stakeholder's needs, issues and knowledge. note risk perception can differ from objective data. exchange or sharing of information about risk between the decision-makers and other stakeholders. overall process of risk analysis and risk evaluation. systematic use of information to identify sources and to estimate the risk. note risk analysis provides a basis for risk evaluation, risk treatment, and risk acceptance. note information can include historical data, theoretical analyses, informal opinions, and the concerns of stakeholders. process used to assign figures, values to the probability and consequences of a risk. note risk estimation can consider cost, benefits, the concerns of stakeholders, and other variables, as appropriate for risk evaluation. process of comparing the estimated risk against given risk criteria to determine the significance of a risk. process of selection and implementation of measures to modify risk. note risk treatment measures can include avoiding, optimizing, transferring or retaining risk. actions implementing risk management decisions. note risk control may involve monitoring, re-evaluation, and compliance with decisions. process, related to a risk, to minimize the negative and to maximize the positive consequences (and their respective probabilities). actions taken to lessen the probability, negative consequences or both, associated with a risk. limitation of any negative consequences of a particular event. decision not to become involved in, or action to withdraw from, a risk situation. sharing with another party the burden of loss or benefit of gain, for a risk. note legal or statutory requirements can limit, prohibit or mandate the transfer of a certain risk. note risk transfer can be carried out through insurance or other agreements. note risk transfer can create new risks or modify existing ones. note relocation of the source is not risk transfer. acceptance of the burden of loss, or benefit of gain, from a particular risk. note risk retention includes the acceptance of risks that have not been identified. note risk retention does not include means involving insurance, or transfer in other ways. this includes risk assessment, risk treatment, risk acceptance and risk communication. risk assessment is risk analysis, with identification of sources and risk estimation, and risk evaluation. risk treatment includes avoiding, optimizing, transferring and retaining risk. → risk acceptance → risk communication harm physical injury or damage to the health of people or damage to property or the environment [iso/iec guide ]. note harm includes any disadvantage which is causally related to the infringement of the object of legal protection brought about by the harmful event. note in the individual safety-relevant definitions, harm to people, property and the environment may be included separately, in combination, or it may be excluded. this has to be stated in the respective scope. potential source of harm [iso/iec guide ]. the term "hazard" can be supplemented to define its origin or the nature of the possible harm, e.g., hazard of electric shock, crushing, cutting, dangerous substances, fire, drowning. in every-day informal language, there is insufficient differentiation between source of harm, hazardous situation, hazardous event and risk. circumstance in which people, property or the environment are exposed to one or more hazards [iso/iec guide ]. note circumstance can last for a shorter or longer period of time. event that can cause harm [din en ] . the hazardous event can be preceded by a latent hazardous situation or by a critical event. combination of the probability of occurrence of harm and the severity of that harm [iso/iec guide ]. note in many cases, only a uniform extent of harm (e.g. leading to death) is taken into account, or the occurrence of harm may be independent of the extent of harm, as in a lottery game. in these cases, it is easier to make a probability statement; risk assessment by risk comparison [din en ] thus becomes much simpler. note risks can be grouped in relation to different variables, e.g. to all people or only those affected by the incident, to different periods of time, or to performance. the probabilistic expectation value of the extent of harm is suitable for combining the two probability variables. note risks which arise as a consequence of continuous emission, e.g. noise, vibration, pollutants, are affected by the duration and level of exposure of those affected. risk which is accepted in a given context based on the current values of society [iso/iec guide ]. the acceptable risk has to be taken into account in this context, too. note safety-relevant definitions are oriented to the maximum tolerable risk. this is also referred to as limit risk. note tolerability is also based on the assumption that the intended use in addition to a reasonably predictable misuse of the products, processes and services, is complied with. freedom from unacceptable risk [iso/iec guide ]. note safety is indivisible. it cannot be split into classes or levels. note safety is achieved by risk reduction, so that the residual risk in no case exceeds the maximum tolerable risk. existence of an unacceptable risk. note safety and danger exclude one another -a technical product, process or service cannot be safe and dangerous at the same time. means used to reduce risk [iso/iec guide ]. note protective measures at the product level have priority over protective measures at the workplace level. preventive measure means assumed, but not proven, to reduce risk. risk remaining after safety measures have been taken [din en ] . note residual risk may be related to the use of technical products, processes and services. systematic use of available information to identify hazards and to estimate their risks [iso/iec guide ]. determination of connected risk elements of all hazards as a basis for risk assessment. decision based on the analysis of whether the tolerable risk has been exceeded [iso/iec guide ]. overall process of risk analysis and risk evaluation [iso/iec guide ]. use of a product, process or service in accordance with information provided by the supplier [iso/iec guide ]. note information provided by the supplier also includes descriptions issued for advertising purposes. use of a product, process or service in a way not intended by the supplier, but which may result from readily predictable human behaviour [iso/iec guide ]. safety-related formulation of contents of a normative document in the form of a declaration, instructions, recommendations or requirements [compare en , safety related]. the information set down in technical rules is normally restricted to certain technical relations and situations; in this context, it is presumed that the general safety-relevant principles are followed. a procedure with the aim to reduce risk of a (technical) product, process or service according to the following steps serves to reach the safety goals in the design stage: • safety-related layout; • protective measures; • safety-related information for users. function inevitable to maintain safety. a function which, in case of failure, allows the tolerable risk to be immediately exceeded. depending on the situation, it is possible to use one method or a combination of several methods. intuitive hazard detection spontaneous, uncritical listing of possible hazards as a result of brainstorming by experts. group work which is as creative as possible. writing ideas down (on a flip chart) first, then evaluating them. technical documentation (instructions, requirements) is available for many industrial plant and work processes, describing the hazards and safety measures. this documentation has to be obtained before continuing with the risk analysis. the deviations between the set point and the actual situation of individual components are examined. information on the probability of failure of these elements may be found in technical literature. examining the safety aspects in unusual situations (emergency, repair, starting and stopping) when plans are made to modify the plant or processes. a systematic check of the processes and plant parts for effects in normal operation and in case of set point deviations, using selected question words (and -or -not -too much -too little?). this is used in particular for measurement, control units, programming of computer controls, robots. all possible causes and combinations of causes are identified for an unwanted operating state or an event, and represented in the graphic format of a tree. the probability of occurrence of an event can be estimated from the context. the fault tree analysis can also be used retrospectively to clarify the causes of events. additional methods may be: human reliability analysis a frequency analysis technique which deals with the behaviour of human beings affecting the performance of the system, and estimates the influence of human error on reliability. a hazard identification and frequency analysis technique which can be used at an early stage in the design phase to identify and critically evaluate hazards. operating safety block program a frequency analysis technique which utilizes a model of the system and its redundancies to evaluate the operating safety of the entire system. classifying risks into categories, to establish the main risk groups. all typical hazardous substances and/or possible accident sources which have to be taken into account are listed. the checklist may be used to evaluate the conformity with codes and standards. this method is used to estimate whether coincidental failures of an entire series of different parts or modules within a system are possible and what the probable effects would be. estimate the influence of an event on humans, property or the environment. simplified analytical approaches, as well as complex computer models can be used. a large circle of experts is questioned in several steps; the result of the previous step together with additional information is communicated to all participants. during the third or fourth step the anonymous questioning concentrates on aspects on which no agreement is reached so far. basically this technique is used for making predictions, but is also used for the development of new ideas. this method is particularly efficient due to its limitation to experts. a hazard identification and evaluation technique used to establish a ranking of the different system options and to identify the less hazardous options. a frequency analysis technique in which a model of the system is used to evaluate variations of the input conditions and assumptions. a means to estimate and list risk groups; reviews risk pairs and evaluates only one risk pair at a time. overview of data from the past a technique used to identify possible problem areas; can also be used for frequency analysis, based on accident and operation safety data, etc. a method to identify latent risks which can cause unforeseeable incidents. cssr differs from the other methods in that it is not conducted by a team, and can be conducted by a single person. the overview points out essential safety and health requirements related to a machine and simultaneously to all relevant (national, european, international) standards. this information ensures that the design of the machine complies with the issued "state of the art" for that particular type of machine. the "what-if" method is an inductive procedure. the design and operation of the machine in question are examined for fairly simple applications. at every step "what-if" questions are asked and answered to evaluate the effect of a failure of the machine elements or of process faults in view of the hazards caused by the machine. for more complex applications, the "what-if" method is most useful with the aid of a "checklist" and the corresponding work division to allocate specific features of the process to persons who have the greatest experience and practice in evaluating the respective feature. the operator's behaviour and professional knowledge are assessed. the suitability of the equipment and design of the machine, its control unit and protective devices are evaluated. the influence of the materials processed is examined, and the operating and maintenance records are checked. the checklist evaluation of the machine generally precedes the more detailed methods described below. fmea is an inductive method for evaluating the frequency and consequences of component failure. when operating procedures or operator errors are investigated, then other methods may be more suitable. fmea can be more time-consuming than the fault tree analysis, because every mode of failure is considered for every component. some failures have a very low probability of occurrence. if these failures are not analyzed in depth this decision should be recorded in the documentation. the method is specified in iec "analysis techniques for system reliability -procedure for failure mode and effects analysis (fmea)". in this inductive method, the test procedures are based on two criteria: technology and complexity of the control system. mainly, the following methods are applicable: • practical tests of the actual circuit and fault simulation on certain components, particularly in suspected areas of performance identified during the theoretical check and analysis. • simulation of control behaviour (e.g. by means of hardware and/or software models). whenever complex safety-related parts of control systems are tested, it may be necessary to divide the system into several functional sub-systems, and to exclusively submit the interface to fault simulation tests. this technique can also be applied to other parts of machinery. mosar is a complete approach in steps. the system to be analyzed (machinery, process, installation, etc.) is examined as a number of sub-systems which interact. a table is used to identify hazards and hazardous situations and events. the adequacy of the safety measures is studied with a second table, and a third table is used to look at their interdependency. a study, using known tools (e.g. fmea) underlines the possible dangerous failures. this leads to the elaboration of accident scenarios. by consensus, the scenarios are sorted in a severity table. a further table, again by consensus, links the severity with the targets of the safety measures, and specifies the performance levels of the technical and organizational measures. the safety measures are then incorporated into the logic trees and the residual risks are analyzed via an acceptability table defined by consensus. ilo ( ) , , , , , the risks to health at work are numerous and originate from several sources. their origins vary greatly and they cause vast numbers of diseases, injuries and other adverse conditions, such as symptoms of overexertion or overload. traditional occupational health risk factors and their approximate numbers are given in table . . the exposure of workers to hazards or other adverse conditions of work may lead to health problems, manifested in the workers' physical health, psysical workload, psychological disturbances or social aspects of life. workers may be exposed to various factors alone or in different types of combinations, which may or may not show interaction. the assessment of interacting risk factors is complex and may lead to substantial differences in the final risk estimates when compared with estimates of solitary factors. examples of interaction between different risk factors in the work environment are given in table . . the who estimate of the total number of occupational diseases among the billion workers of the world is million a year. this is likely to be an under-estimate due to the lack of diagnostic services, limited legislative coverage of both workers and diseases, and variation in diagnostic criteria between different parts of the world. the mortality from occupational diseases is substantial, comparable with other major diseases of the world population such as malaria or tuberculosis. the recent ilo estimate discloses . million deaths a year from work-related causes in the world including deaths from accidents, dangerous substances, and occupational diseases. eightyfive percent ( %) of these deaths take place in developing countries, where the diagnostic services, social security to families and compensation to workers are less developed. although the risk is decreasing in the industrialized world, the trend is increasing in the rapidly industrializing and transitory countries. a single hazard alone, such as asbestos exposure, is calculated to cause , cancers a year with a fatal outcome in less than two years after diagnosis (takala ). the incidence rates of occupational diseases in well registered industrialized countries are at the level of - cases/ , active employees/year, i.e., the incidence levels are comparable with major public health problems, such as cardiovascular diseases, respiratory disorders, etc. in the industrialized countries, the rate of morbidity from traditional occupational diseases, such as chemical poisonings, is declining, while musculoskeletal and allergic diseases are on the increase. about biological factors that are hazardous to workers' health have been identified in various work environments. some of the new diseases recognized are blood-borne infections, such as hepatitis c and hiv, and exotic bacterial or viral infections transmitted by increasing mobility, international travelling and migration of working people. also some hospital infections and, e.g., drug-resistant tuberculosis, are being contracted increasingly by health care personnel. in the developing countries the morbidity picture of occupational diseases is much less clear for several reasons: low recognition rates, rotation and turnover of workers, shorter life expectancy which hides morbidity with a long latency period, and the work-relatedness of several common epidemic diseases, such as malaria and hiv/aids (rantanen ). the estimation of so-called work-related diseases is even more difficult than that of occupational diseases. they may be about -fold more prevalent than the definite occupational diseases. several studies suggest that siegfried radandt, jorma rantanen and ortwin renn work-related allergies, musculoskeletal disorders and stress disorders are showing a growing trend at the moment. the prevention of work-related diseases is important in view of maintaining work ability and reducing economic loss from absenteeism and premature retirement. the proportion of work-relatedness out of the total morbidity figures has been estimated and found surprisingly high (nurminen and karjalainen , who ) (see table . ). the public health impact of work-related diseases is great, due to their high prevalence in the population. musculoskeletal disorders are among the three most common chronic diseases in every country, which implies that the attribution of work is very high. similarly, cardiovascular diseases in most industrialized countries contribute to % of the total mortality. even a small attributable fraction of work-relatedness implies high rates of morbidity and mortality related to work. the concept of disease is in general not a simple one. when discussing morbidity one has to recognize three different concepts: . illness = an individual's perception of a health problem resulting from either external or internal causes. . disease = an adverse health condition diagnosed by a doctor or other health professional. . sickness = a socially recognized disease which is related to, for example, social security actions or prescription of sick leave, etc. when dealing with occupational and work-related morbidity, one may need to consider any of the above three aspects of morbidity. a recognized occupational disease, however, belongs to group , i.e. it is a sickness defined by legal criteria. medical evidence is required to show that the condition meets the criteria of an occupational disease before recognition can be made. there are dozens of definitions for occupational disease. the content of the concept varies, depending on the context: a) the medical concept of occupational disease is based on a biomedical or other health-related etiological relationship between work and health, and is used in occupational health practice and clinical occupational medicine. b) the legal concept of occupational disease defines the disease or conditions which are legally recognized as conditions caused by work, and which lead to liabilities for recognition, compensation and often also prevention. the legal concept of occupational disease has a different background in different countries, often declared in the form of an official list of occupational diseases. there is universal discrepancy between the legal and medical concept, so that in nearly all countries the official list of recognized occupational diseases is shorter than the medically established list. this automatically implies that a substantial proportion of medically established occupational diseases remain unrecognized, unregistered, and consequently also uncompensated. the definition of occupational disease, as used in this chapter, summarizes various statements generated during the history of occupational medicine: an occupational disease is any disease contracted as a result of exposures at work or other conditions of work. the general criteria for the diagnosis and recognition of an occupational disease are derived from the core statements of various definitions: . evidence on exposure(s) or condition(s) in work or the work environment, which on the basis of scientific knowledge is (are) able to generate disease or some other adverse health condition. . evidence of symptoms and clinical findings which on the basis of scientific knowledge can be associated with the exposure(s) or condition(s) in concern. . exclusion of non-occupational factors or conditions as a main cause of the disease or adverse health condition. point often creates problems, as several occupationally generated clinical conditions can be caused also by non-occupational factors. on the other hand, several factors from different sources and environments are involved in virtually every disease. therefore the wordings "main cause" or "principal cause" are used. the practical solution in many countries is that the attribution of work needs to be more than %. usually the necessary generalizeable scientific evidence is obtained from epidemiological studies, but also other types of evidence, e.g. well documented clinical experience combined with information on working conditions may be acceptable. in some countries, like finland, any disease of the worker which meets the above criteria can be recognized as an occupational disease. in most other countries, however, there are official lists of occupational diseases which determine the conditions and criteria on which the disease is considered to be of occupational origin. in who launched a new concept: work-related disease (who ) . the concept is wider than that of an occupational disease. it includes: a) diseases in which the work or working conditions constitute the principal causal factor. b) diseases for which the occupational factor may be one of several causal agents, or the occupational factor may trigger, aggravate or worsen the disease. c) diseases for which the risk may be increased by work or work-determined lifestyles. the diseases in category (a) are typically recognized as legally determined occupational diseases. categories (b) and (c) are important regarding the morbidity of working populations, and they are often considered as important targets for prevention. in general, categories (b) and (c) cover greater numbers of people, as the diseases in question are often common noncommunicable diseases of the population, such as cardiovascular diseases, musculoskeletal disorders, and allergies and, to a growing extent, stressrelated disorders (see table . ). the concept of work-related disease is very important from the viewpoint of occupational health risk assessment and the use of its results for preventive purposes and for promoting health and safety at work. this is because preventive actions in occupational health practice cannot be limited only to legally recognized morbidity. the lists of occupational diseases contain great numbers of agents that show evidence on occupational morbidity. according to the ilo recommendation r ( ): list of occupational diseases, the occupational diseases are divided into four main categories: . diseases resulting from single causes following the categories listed in table . . the most common categories are physical factors, chemical agents, biological factors and physical work, including repetitive tasks, poor ergonomic conditions, and static and dynamic work. . diseases of the various organs: respiratory system, nervous system, sensory organs, internal organs, particularly liver and kidneys, musculoskeletal system, and the skin. . occupational cancers. . diseases caused by other conditions of work. research on risk perception shows differences in how different types of risks are viewed. instant, visible, dramatic risk events, particularly ones that cause numerous fatalities or severe visible injuries in a single event generally arouse much attention, and are given high priority. on the other hand, even great numbers of smaller events, such as fatal accidents of single workers, arouse less attention in both the media and among regulators, even though the total number of single fatal accidents in a year may exceed the number of fatalities in major events by several orders of magnitude. occupational diseases, with the exception of a few acute cases, are silent, develop slowly, and concern only one or a few individuals at a time. furthermore, the diseases take months or years to develop, in extreme cases even decades, after the exposure or as a consequence of accumulation of exposure during several years. as occupational health problems are difficult to detect and seriously under-diagnosed and under-reported, they tend to be given less priority than accidents. the perception of occupational disease risk remains low in spite of their severity and relatively high incidence. particularly in industrialized countries, the extent of occupational health problems is substantially greater than that of occupational accidents. on a global scale, the estimated number of fatalities due to occupational accidents is , and the respective estimate for fatalities due to work-related diseases is . million a year, giving a fatal accident/fatal disease ratio of to . the corresponding ratio in the eu- is to (takala ). the risk distribution of ods is principally determined by the nature of the work in question and the characteristics of the work environment. there is great variation in the risk of ods between the lowest and highest risk occupations. in the finnish workforce, the risk between the highest risk and the lowest risk occupations varies by a factor of . the highest risk occupations carry a risk which is - times higher than the average for all occupations. the risk of an occupational disease can be estimated on the basis of epidemiological studies, if they do exist in the case of the condition in question. on the other hand, various types of economic activity, work and occupations carry different types of risks, and each activity may have its own risk profile. by examining the available epidemiological evidence, we can recognize high-risk occupations and characterize the typical risks connected with them ( figure . , table . ). as an example, the risk of occupational asthma, dermatosis or musculoskeletal disorders is common in several occupations, but not in all. there may be huge differences in risks between different occupations. the occupations carrying the highest risk for occupational asthma, occupational skin diseases and work-related tenosynovitis, in - , are shown in table . . assessment of the risk of occupational diseases has an impact on research priorities. table . shows the priorities for research in four countries. the similarity of the priorities is striking, revealing that the problems related to the risks of occupational diseases are universal. the diagnosis of occupational diseases is important for the treatment of the disease, and for prevention, registration and compensation. the diagnosis is based on information obtained from: a) data on the work and the work environment usually provided by the employer, occupational health services, occupational safety committee, or expert bodies carrying out hygienic and other services for the workplace. b) information on the health examination of individual workers. the authorities in many countries have stipulated legal obligations for high-risk sectors to follow up the workers' health and promote early detection of changes in their health. occupational health services keep records on examinations. c) workers with special symptoms (for example, asthmatic reactions) are taken into the diagnostic process as early as possible. epidemiological evidence is a critical prerequisite for recognizing causal relationship between work and disease. epidemiology is dependent on three basic sources of information on work and the work environment: (a) exposure assessment that helps to define the "dose" of risk factor at work, (b) the outcome assumed to occur as a biological (or psychological) response to the exposures involved, and (c) time, which has a complex role in various aspects of epidemiology. all these sources are affected by the current dynamics of work life which has major impact on epidemiological research and its results. exposure assessment is the critical initial step in risk assessment. as discussed in this chapter, accurate exposure assessment will become more difficult and cumbersome than before in spite of remarkable achievements in measurement, analysis and monitoring methods in occupational hygiene, toxicology and ergonomics. great variations in working hours and individu-alization of exposures, growing fragmentation and mobility increase the uncertainties, which are multiplied. structural uncertainty, measurement uncertainty, modelling uncertainty, input data uncertainty and natural uncertainty amplify each other. as a rule, variation in any direction in exposure assessment tends to lead to underestimation of risk, and this has severe consequences to health. personal monitoring of exposures, considering variations in individual doses, and monitoring internal doses using biological monitoring methods help in the control of such variation. a monofactorial exposure situation in the past was ideal in the assessment because of its manageability. it also occurs usually as a constant determinant for long periods of time and can be regularly and continuously measured and monitored. this is very seldom the case today, and exposure assessment in modern work life is affected by discontinuities of the enterprise, of technologies and production methods, and turnover of the workforce, as well as the growing mobility and internationalization of both work and workers. company files that were earlier an important source of exposure and health data no longer necessarily fulfil that function. in addition, the standard -h time-weighted average for exposure assessment can no longer be taken as a standard, as working hours are becoming extremely heterogeneous. assessment of accurate exposure is thus more and more complex and cumbersome, and new strategies and methods for the quantification of exposure are needed. three challenges in particular can be recognized: a) the challenge arising from numerous discontinuities, fragmentation and changes in the company, employment and technology. although in the past company data were collected from all sources that were available, collective workroom measurements were the most valuable source of data. due to the high mobility of workers and variation in the work tasks, personal exposure monitoring is needed that follows the worker wherever he or she works. special smart cards for recording all personal exposures over years have been proposed, but so far no system-wide action has been possible. in radiation protection, however, such a personal monitoring system has long been a routine procedure. b) the complex nature of exposures where dozens of different factors may be involved (such as those in indoor air problems) and acting in combinations. table . gives a list of exposing factors in modern work life, many of which are difficult to monitor. c) new, rapidly spreading and often unexpected exposures that are not well characterized. often their mechanisms of action are not known, or the fast spread of problems calls for urgent action, as in the case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (bse) in the s, sars outbreak in , and in the new epidemics of psychological stress or musculoskeletal disorders in modern manufacturing. the causes of occupational diseases are grouped into several categories by the type of factor (see table . ). a typical grouping is the one used in ilo recommendation no. . the lists of occupational diseases contain diseases caused by one single factor only, but also diseases which may have been caused by multifactorial exposures. exposure assessment is a crucial step in the overall risk assessment. the growing complexity of exposure situations has led to the development of new methods for assessing such complex exposure situations. these methods are based on construction of model matrices for jobs which have been studied thoroughly for their typical exposures. the exposure profiles are illustrated in job exposure matrices (jem) which are available for dozens of occupations (heikkilä et al. , guo . several factors can cause occupational diseases. the jem is a tool used to convert information on job titles into information on occupational risk factors. jem-based analysis is economical, systematic, and often the only reasonable choice in large retrospective studies in which exposure assessment at the individual level is not feasible. but the matrices can also be used in the practical work for getting information on typical exposure profiles of various jobs. the finnish national job-exposure matrix (finjem) is the first and so far the only general jem that is able to give a quantitative estimation of cumulative exposure. for example, finjem estimates were used for exposure profiling on chemical exposures and several other cancer-risk factors for occupational categories. the jem analysis has been further developed into task specific exposure matrices charting the exposure panorama of various tasks (benke et al. (benke et al. , . as the previous mono-causal, mono-mechanism, mono-outcome setting has shifted in the direction of multicausality, multiple mechanisms and multioutcomes, the assessment of risks has become more complex. some outcomes, as mentioned above, are difficult to define and measure with objective methods and some of them may be difficult to recognize by exposed groups themselves, or even by experts and researchers. for example, the objective measurement of stress reactions is still imprecise in spite of improvements in the analysis of some indicator hormones, such as adrenalin, noradrenalin, cortisol, prolactin, or in physical measurements, such as galvanic skin resistance and heart rate variability. questionnaires monitoring perceived stress symptoms are still the most common method for measuring stress outcomes. thanks to well organized registries, particularly in germany and the nordic countries, data on many of the relevant outcomes of exposure, such as cancer, pneumoconiosis, reproductive health disturbances and cardiovascular diseases can be accumulated, and long-term follow-up of outcomes at the group level is therefore possible. on the other hand, several common diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, may have a work-related aetiology, but it may be difficult to show at individual level. the long-term data show that due to changes in the structure of economies, types of employment, occupational structures and conditions of work, many of the traditional occupational diseases, such as pneumoconiosis and acute intoxications have almost disappeared. several new outcomes have appeared, however, such as symptoms of physical or psychological overload, psychological stress, problems of adapting to a high pace of work, and uncertainty related to rapid organizational changes and risk of unemployment. in addition, age-related and work-related diseases among the ageing workforce are on the increase (kivimäki et al. , ilmarinen . these new outcomes may have a somatic, psychosomatic or psychosocial phenotype, and they often appear in the form of symptoms or groups of symptoms instead of well-defined diagnoses. practising physicians or clinics are not able to set an icd (international statistical classification of diseases and health-related conditions)-coded diagnosis for them. in spite of their diffuse nature, they are still problems for both the worker and the enterprise, and their consequences may be seen as sickness absenteeism, premature retirement, loss of job satisfaction, or lowered productivity. thus, they may have even a greater impact on the quality of work life and the economy than on clinical health. many such outcomes have been investigated by using questionnaire surveys among either representative samples of the whole workforce or by focusing the survey on a specific sector or occupational group. the combination of data from the surveys of "exposing factors", such as organizational changes, with questionnaire surveys of "outcomes", such as sickness absenteeism, provides epidemiological information on the association between the new exposures and the new outcomes. there are, however, major problems in both the accurate measurement of the exposures and outcomes, and also, the information available on the mechanisms of action is very scarce. epidemiology has expanded the focus of our observations from crosssectional descriptions to longitudinal perspectives, by focussing attention on the occurrence of diseases and finding associations between exposure and morbidity. such an extension of vision is both horizontal and vertical, looking at the causes of diseases. time is not only a temporal parameter in epidemiology, but has also been used for the quantification of exposure, measurement of latencies, and the detection of acceleration or slowing of the course of biological processes. as the time dimension in epidemiology is very important, the changes in temporal parameters of the new work life also affect the methods of epidemiological research. the time dimension is affected in several ways. first, the fragmentation and discontinuities of employment contracts, as described above, break the accumulation of exposure time into smaller fragments, and continuities are thus difficult to maintain. collecting data on cumulative exposures over time becomes more difficult. the time needed for exposure factors to cause an effect becomes more complex, as the discontinuities typical to modern work life allow time for biological repair and elimination processes, thus diluting the risk which would get manifested from continuous exposure. the dosage patterns become more pulse-type, rather than being continuous, stable level exposures. this may affect the multi-staged mechanisms of action in several biological processes. the breaking up of time also increases the likelihood of memory bias of respondents in questionnaire studies among exposed workers, and thus affects the estimation of total exposures. probably the most intensive effect, however, will be seen as a consequence of the variation in working hours. for example, instead of regular work of hours per day, hours per week and months per year, new time schedules and total time budgets are introduced for the majority of workers in the industrial society. the present distribution of weekly working hours in finland is less than hours per week for one third of workers, regular - hours per week for one third, and - hours per week for the remaining third. thus the real exposure times may vary substantially even among workers in the same jobs and same occupations, depending on the working hours and the employment contract (temporary, seasonal, part-time, full-time) (härmä , piirainen et al. . such variation in time distribution in "new work life" has numerous consequences for epidemiological studies, which in the past "industrial society" effectively utilized the constant time patterns at work for the assessment of exposures and outcomes and their interdependencies. the time dimension also has new structural aspects. as biological processes are highly deterministic in terms of time, the rapid changes in work life cannot wait for the maturation of results in longitudinal follow-up studies. the data are needed rapidly in order to be useful in the management of working conditions. this calls for the development of rapid epidemiological methods which enable rapid collection of the data and the making of analyses in a very short time, in order to provide information on the effects of potential causal factors before the emergence of a new change. often these methods imply the compromising of accuracy and reliability for the benefit of timeliness and actuality. as occupational epidemiology is not only interested in acute and short-term events, but looks at the health of workers over a - -year perspective, the introduction of such new quick methods should not jeopardize the interest and efforts to carry out long-term studies. epidemiology has traditionally been a key tool in making a reliable risk assessment of the likelihood of the adverse outcomes from certain levels of exposure. the new developments in work life bring numerous new challenges to risk assessment. as discussed above, the new developments in work life have eliminated a number of possibilities for risk assessment which prevailed in the stable industrial society. on the other hand, several new methods and new information technologies provide new opportunities for collection and analysis of data. traditionally, the relationship between exposure and outcome has been judged on the basis of the classical criteria set by hill ( ) . höfler ( ) crystallizes the criteria with their explanations as the following: . strength of association: a strong association is more likely to have a causal component than is a modest association. . consistency: a relationship is observed repeatedly. . specificity: a factor influences specifically a particular outcome or population. . temporality: the factor must precede the outcome it is assumed to affect. ing dose of exposure or according to a function predicted by a substantive theory. . plausibility: the observed association can be plausibly explained by substantive matter (e.g. biological) explanations. . coherence: a causal conclusion should not fundamentally contradict present substantive knowledge. . experiment: causation is more likely if evidence is based on randomized experiments. . analogy: for analogous exposures and outcomes an effect has already been shown. the hill criteria have been subjected to scrutiny, and sven hernberg has analyzed them in detail from the viewpoint of occupational health epidemiology. virtually all the hill criteria are affected by the changes in the new work life, and therefore methodological development is now needed. a few comments on causal inference are made here in view of the critiques by rothman ( ), hernberg ( ) and höfler ( ) : the strength of association will be more difficult to demonstrate due to the growing fragmentation that tends to diminish the sample sizes. the structural change that removes workers from high-level exposures to lower and shorterterm exposures may dilute the strength of effect, which may still prevail, but at a lower level. consistency of evidence may also be affected by the higher variation in conditions of work, study groups, multicultural and multiethnic composition of the workforce, etc. similarly, in the multifactorial, multi-mechanism, multi-outcome setting, the specificity criterion is not always relevant. the temporal dimension has already been discussed. in rapidly changing work life the follow-up times before the next change and before turnover in the workforce may be too short. the outcomes may also be defined by the exposures that have taken place long ago but have not been considered in the study design because historical data are not available. the biological gradient may be possible to demonstrate in a relatively simple exposure-outcome relationship. however, the more complex and multifactorial the setting becomes, the more difficult it may be to show the doseresponse relationship. the dose-response relationship may also be difficult to demonstrate in the cases of relatively ill-defined outcomes which are difficult to measure, but which can be detected as qualitative changes. biological plausibility is an important criterion which in a multimechanism setting may at least in part be difficult to demonstrate. on the other hand, the mechanisms of numerous psychological and psychosocial outcomes lack explanations, even though they undoubtedly are work-related. the missing knowledge of the mechanism of action did not prevent the establishment of causality between asbestos and cancer in a pleural sack or a lung. as many of the new outcomes may be context-dependent, the coherence criterion may be irrelevant. similarly, many of the psychosocial outcomes are difficult to put into an experimental setting, and it can be difficult to make inferences based on analogy. all of the foregoing implies that the new dynamic trends in work life challenge epidemiology in a new way, particularly in the establishment of causality. knowledge of causality is required for the prevention and management of problems. the hill criteria nevertheless need to be supplemented with new ones to meet the conditions of the new work life. similarly, more definitive and specific criteria and indicators need to be developed for the new exposures and outcomes. many of the challenges faced in the struggle to improve health and safety in modern work life can only be solved with the help of research. research on occupational health in the rapidly changing work life is needed more than ever. epidemiology is, and will remain, a key producer of information needed for prevention policies and for ensuring healthy and safe working conditions. the role of epidemiology is, however, expanding from the analysis of the occurrence of well-defined clinical diseases to studies on the occurrence of several other types of exposure and outcome, and their increasingly complex associations. as the baseline in modern work life is shifting in a more dynamic direction, and many parameters in work and the workers' situation are becoming more fragmented, incontinuous and complex, new approaches are needed to tackle the uncertainties in exposure assessment. the rapid pace of change in work life calls for the development of assessment methods to provide up-todate data quickly, so that they can be used to manage these changes and their consequences. many new outcomes which are not possible to register as clinical icd diagnoses constitute problems for today's work life. this is particularly true in the case of psychological, psychosocial and many musculoskeletal outcomes which need to be managed by occupational health physicians. methods for the identification and measurement of such outcomes need to be improved. the traditional hill criteria for causal inference are not always met even in cases where true association does exist. new criteria suitable for a new situation should be established without jeopardizing the original objective of ascertaining the true association. developing the bayesian inference further through utilization of a priori knowledge and a holistic approach may provide responses to new challenges. new neural network softwares may help in the management of the growing complexity. the glory of science does not lie in the perfection of a scientific method but rather in the recognition of its limitations. we must keep in mind the old saying: "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence". instead, it is merely a consequence of our ignorance that should be reduced through further efforts in systematic research, and particularly through epidemiology. and secondly, the ultimate value of occupational health research will be determined on the basis of its impact on practice in the improvement of the working conditions, safety and health of working people. changing conditions of work, new technologies, new substances, new work organizations and working practices are associated with new morbidity patterns and even with new occupational and work-related diseases. the new risk factors, such as rapidly transforming microbials and certain social and behavioural "exposures" may follow totally new dynamics when compared with the traditional industrial exposures (self-replicating nature of microbials and spreading of certain behaviours, such as terrorism) (smolinski et al. , loza . several social conditions, such as massive rural-urban migration, increased international mobility of working people, new work organizations and mobile work may cause totally new types of morbidity. examples of such development are, among others, the following: • mobile transboundary transportation work leading to the spread of hiv/aids. • increased risk of metabolic syndrome, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases aggravated by unconventional working hours. • increased risk of psychological burnout in jobs with a high level of longterm stress. • virtually a global epidemic of musculoskeletal disorders among vdu workers with high work load, psychological stress and poor ergonomics. the incidences of occupational diseases may not decline in the future, but the type of morbidity may change. the direction of trend in industrialized countries is the prominence of work-related morbidity and new diseases, while the traditional occupational diseases such as noise injury, pneumoconiosis, repetitive strain and chemical intoxications may continue to be prevalent in developing countries for long periods in the future. the new ergonomics problems are related to light physical work with a considerable proportion of static and repetitive workload. recent research points to an interesting interaction between unergonomic working conditions and psychological stress, leading to a combined risk of musculoskeletal disorders of the neck, shoulders and upper arms, including carpal tunnel syndrome in the wrist. the muscle tension in static work is amplified by the uncontrolled muscular tension caused by psychological stress. furthermore, there seems to be wide inter-individual variation in the tendency to respond with spasm, particularly in the trapezius muscle of neck, under psychological stress. about % of the health complaints of working-aged people are related to musculoskeletal disorders, of which a substantial part is work-related. the epidemics have been resistant against preventive measures. new regulatory and management strategies may be needed for effective prevention and control measures (westgaard et al. , paoli and merllié ) . the st century will be the era of the brain at work and consequently of psychological stress. between % and % of eu workers in certain occupations report psychological stress due to high time pressure at work (parent-thirion et al. ). the occurrence of work-related stress is most prevalent in occupations with tight deadlines, pressure from clients, or the high level of responsibility for productivity and quality given to the workers. undoubtedly, the threat of unemployment increases the perception of stress as well. as a consequence, for example, in finland some % of workers report symptoms of psychological overload and about % show clinical signs of burn out. these are not the problems of low-paid manual workers only, but also, for example, highly educated and well-paid computer super-experts have an elevated risk of burnout as a consequence of often self-committed workload (kalimo and toppinen ) . unconventional and ever longer working hours are causing similar problems. for example, one third of finns work over hours a week, and of these % work over hours, and % often work - hours per week. it is important to have flexibility in the work time schedules, but it is counterproductive if the biologically determined physiological time rhythms of the worker are seriously offended. over % have a sleep deficit of at least one hour each day, and % are tired and somnolent at work (härmä et al. ) . the toughening global competition, growing productivity demands and continuous changes of work, together with job insecurity, are associated with increased stress. up to - % of workers in different countries and different sectors of the economy report high time pressure and tight deadlines. this prevents them from doing their job as well as they would like to, and causes psychological stress. psychological stress is particularly likely to occur if the high demands are associated with a low degree of self-regulation by the workers (houtman ) . stress, if continuous, has been found to be detrimental to physical health (cardiovascular diseases), mental health (psychological burnout), safety (accident risks), and musculoskeletal disorders (particularly hand-arm and shoulder-neck disorders). it also has a negative impact on productivity, sickness absenteeism, and the quality of products and services. the resulting economic losses due to sickness absenteeism, work disability and lower quality of products and services are substantial. the prevention of stress consists not only of actions targeted at the individual worker. there is also a need for measures directed at the work organization, moderation of the total workload, competence building and collaboration within the workplace (theorell ). the support from foremen and supervisors is of crucial importance in stress management programmes. another type of psychological burden is the stress arising from the threat of physical violence or aggressive behaviour from the part of clients. in finland some % of workers have been subjected to insults or the threat of physical violence, % have experienced sexual harassment, and % mental violence or bullying at work. the risk is substantially higher for female workers than for men. stress has been found to be associated with somatic health, cardiovascular diseases, mental disorders and depression. one of the new and partly re-emerging challenges of occupational health services is associated with the new trends in microbial hazards. there are several reasons for these developments, for instance, the generation of new microbial strains, structural changes in human habitations with high population densities, growing international travel, and changes possibly in our microbiological environment as a consequence of global warming. of the to million species in the world, about million are microbes. the vast majority of them are not pathogenic to man, and we live in harmony and symbiosis with many of them. we also use bacteria in numerous ways to produce food, medicines, proteins, etc. the pathogenic bacteria have been well controlled in the th century; this control had an enormous positive impact on human health, including occupational health. but now the microbial world is challenging us in many ways. new or re-emerging biological hazards are possible due to the transformation of viruses, the increased resistance of some microbial strains (e.g. tuberculosis and some other bacterial agents) and the rapid spread of contaminants through extensive overseas travelling (smolinski et al. ) . the scenarios of health hazards from the use of genetically manipulated organisms have not been realized, but biotechnological products have brought along new risks of allergies. a major indoor air problem is caused by fungi, moulds and chemical emissions from contaminated construction materials. new allergies are encountered as a consequence of the increasingly allergic constitution of the population and of the introduction of new allergens into the work environment. health care personnel are increasingly exposed to new microbial hazards due to the growing mobility of people. evidence of high rates of hepatitis b antigen positivity has been shown among health care workers who are in contact with migrants from endemic areas. along with the growing international interactions and mobility, a number of viral and re-emerging bacterial infections also affect the health of people engaged in health care and the care of the elderly, as well as personnel in migrant and refugee services, in social services and other public services. this section applies the general framework for risk governance (chapter ) to the area of environmental risks. why should we include this topic in a book that is dominantly dealing with occupational health risks and safety issues? there are two major reasons for this decision: . most risks that impact health and safety of human beings are also affecting the natural environment. it is therefore necessary for risk managers to reflect the consequences of risk-taking activities with respect to workers, the public and the environment. these risk consequences are all interconnected. our approach to foster an integral approach to risk and risk management requires the integration of all risk consequences. . environmental risks are characterized by many features and properties that highlight exemplary issues for many generic risk assessment and management questions and challenges. for example, the question of how to balance benefits and risks becomes more accentuated, if not human life, but damage to environmental quality is at stake. while most people agree that saving human lives takes priority over economic benefits, it remains an open question of how much environmental change and potential damage one is willing to trade off against certain economic benefits. this section is divided into two major parts. part will introduce the essentials of environmental ethics and the application of ethical principles to judging the acceptability of human interventions into the environment. part addresses the procedures for an analytic-deliberative process of decision making when using the risk governance framework developed in chapter . it should be noted that this section draws from material that the author has compiled for the german scientific council for global environmental change and that has been partially published in german in a special report of the council (wbgu ). the last section on decision making has borrowed material from an unpublished background document on decision making and risk management that dr. warner north and the author had prepared for the us national academy of sciences. should people be allowed to do everything that they are capable of doing? this question is posed in connection with new technologies, such as nanotubes, or with human interventions in nature, such as the clearance of primaeval forests so that the land can be used for agriculture. intuitively everyone answers this question with a definitive "no": no way should people be allowed to everything that they are capable of doing. this also applies to everyday actions. many options in daily life, from lying to minor deception, from breaking a promise up to going behind a friend's back, are obviously actions that are seen by all well-intentioned observers as unacceptable. however, it is much more difficult to assess those actions where the valuation is not so obvious. is it justified to break a promise when keeping the promise could harm many other people? actions where there are conflicts between positive and negative consequences or where a judgement could be made one way or the other with equally good justification are especially common in risk management. there is hardly anyone who wilfully and without reason pollutes the environment, releases toxic pollutants or damages the health of individuals. people who pursue their own selfish goals on the cost and risk of others are obviously acting wrongly and every legislator will sanction this behaviour with the threat of punishment or a penalty. but there is a need for clarification where people bring about a benefit to society with the best intentions and for plausible reasons and, in the process, risk negative impacts on others. in ethics we talk about "conflicting values" here. most decisions involving risks to oneself or others are made for some reason: the actors who make such interventions want to secure goods or services to consumers, for example, to ensure long-term jobs and adequate incomes, to use natural resources for products and services or to use nature for recycling waste materials from production and consumption that are no longer needed. none of this is done for reasons of brotherly love, but to maintain social interests. even improving one's own financial resource is not immoral mere for this reason. the list of human activities that pose risks onto others perpetrated for existential or economic reasons could be carried on into infinity. human existence is bound to taking opportunities and risks. here are just a few figures: around , years ago about million people lived on the earth. under the production conditions those days (hunter-gatherer culture) this population level was the limit for the human species within the framework of an economic form that only interfered slightly with man's natural environment. the neolithic revolution brought a dramatic change: the carrying capacity of the world for human beings increased by a factor of and more. this agrarian pre-industrial cultural form was characterized by tightly limited carrying capacity, in around the earth was capable of feeding approx. million people. today the world supports billion people -and this figure is rising. the carrying capacity in comparison to the neolithic age has thus increased thousand-fold and continues to grow in parallel to new changes in production conditions (fritsch ; kesselring ; mohr ) . the five "promethean innovations" are behind this tremendous achievement of human culture: mastering fire, using the natural environment for agriculture, transforming fossil fuels into thermal and mechanical energy, industrial production and substituting material with information (renn ) . with today's settlement densities and the predominantly industrial way of life, the human race is therefore dependent on the technical remodelling of nature. without doubt, it needs this for survival, especially for the well-being of the innumerable people, goods and services that reduce the stock of natural resources. with regard to the question of the responsibility of human interventions in nature, the question cannot be about "whether" but -even better -about "how much", because it is an anthropological necessity to adapt and shape existing nature to human needs. for example, the philosopher klaus michael meyer-abich sees the situation as follows: ". . . we humans are not there to leave the world as though we had never been there. as with all other life forms, it is also part of our nature and our lives to bring about changes in the world. of course, this does not legitimise the destructive ways of life that we have fallen into. but only when we basically approve of the changes in the world can we turn to the decisive question of which changes are appropriate for human existence and which are not" (meyer-abich ). therefore, to be able to make a sensible judgement of the balance between necessary interventions into the environment and the risks posed by these interventions to human health and environmental quality, the range of products and services created by the consumption of nature has to be considered in relation to the losses that are inflicted on the environment and nature. with this comparison, it can be seen that even serious interventions in nature and the environment did not occur without reflection, but to provide the growing number of people with goods and services; these people need them to survive or as a prerequisite for a "good" life. however, at the same time it must be kept in mind that these interventions often inflict irreversible damage on the environment and destroy possible future usage potentials for future generations. above and beyond this, for the human race, nature is a cradle of social, cultural, aesthetic and religious values, the infringement of which, in turn, has a major influence on people's well-being. on both sides of the equation, there are therefore important goods that have to be appreciated when interventions in nature occur. but what form should such an appreciation take? if the pros and cons of the intervention in nature have to be weighed against each other, criteria are needed that can be used as yardsticks. who can and may draw up such criteria, according to which standards should the interventions be assessed and how can the various evaluative options for action be compared with each other for each criterion? taking risks always involves two major components: an assessment of what we can expect from an intervention into the environment (be it the use of resources or the use of environments as a sink for our waste). this is the risk and benefit assessment side of the risk analysis. secondly, we need to decide whether the assessed consequences are desirable. whereas the estimate of consequences broadly falls in the domain of scientific research and expertise, with uncertainties and ambiguities in particular having to be taken into account (irgc , klinke and renn ) , the question about the foundations for evaluating various options for action and about drawing up standards guiding action is a central function of ethics (taylor ) . ethics can provide an answer to the question posed in the beginning ("should people be allowed to do everything that they are capable of doing?") in a consistent and transparent manner. in section . . , environmental ethics will be briefly introduced. this review is inspired by the need for a pragmatic and policy-oriented approach. it is not a replacement for a comprehensive and theoretically driven compendium of environmental ethics. environmental ethics will then be applied to evaluate environmental assets. in this process, a simple distinction is made between categorical principles -that must under no circumstances be exceeded or violated -and compensatory principles, where compensation with other competing principles is allowed. this distinction consequently leads to a classification of environmental values, which, in turn, can be broken down into criteria to appreciate options for designing environmental policies. in section . . , these ideas of valuation will be taken up and used to translate the value categories into risk handling guidelines. at the heart of the considerations here is the issue of how the aims of ethically founded considerations can be used to support and implement risk-based balancing of costs and benefits. for this purpose, we will develop an integrative risk governance framework. the concept of risk governance comprises a broad picture of risk: not only does it include what has been termed "risk management" or "risk analysis", it also looks at how risk-related decision making unfolds when a range of actors is involved, requiring co-ordination and possibly reconciliation between a profusion of roles, perspectives, goals and activities. indeed, the problem-solving capacities of individual actors, be they government, the scientific community, business players, ngos or civil society as a whole, are limited and often unequal to the major challenges facing society today. then the ideas of the operational implementation of normative and factual valuations are continued and a procedure is described that is capable of integrating ethical, risk-based and work-related criteria into a proposed procedural orientation. this procedure is heavily inspired by decision analysis. answering the question about the right action is the field of practical philosophy, ethics. following the usual view in philosophy, ethics describes the theory of the justification of normative statements, i.e. those that guide action (gethmann , mittelstraß , nida-rümelin a , revermann . a system of normative statements is called "morals". ethical judgements therefore refer to the justifiability of moral instructions for action that may vary from individual to individual and from culture to culture (ott ) . basically, humans are purpose-oriented and self-determined beings who act not only instinctively, but also with foresight, and are subject to the moral standards to carry out only those actions that they can classify as good and justifiable (honnefelder ) . obviously, not all people act according to the standards that they themselves see as necessary, but they are capable of doing so. in this context, it is possible for people to act morally because, on the one hand, they are capable of distinguishing between moral and immoral action and, on the other, are largely free to choose between different options for action. whether pursuing a particular instruction for action should be considered as moral or immoral is based on whether the action concerned can be felt and justified to be "reasonable" in a particular situation. standards that cross over situations and that demand universal applicability are referred to as principles here. conflicts may arise between competing standards (in a specific situation), as well as between competing principles, the solution of which, in turn, needs justification (szejnwald-brown et al. ) . providing yardsticks for such justification or examining moral systems with respect to their justifiability is one of the key tasks of practical ethics (gethmann ) . in ethics a distinction is made between descriptive (experienced morality) and prescriptive approaches, i.e. justifiable principles of individual and collective behaviour (frankena , hansen . all descriptive approaches are, generally speaking, a "stock-taking" of actually experienced standards. initially, it is irrelevant whether these standards are justified or not. they gain their normative force solely from the fact that they exist and instigate human action (normative force of actual action). most ethicists agree that no conclusions about general validity can be drawn from the actual existence of standards. this would be a naturalistic fallacy (akademie der wissenschaften , ott ) . nevertheless, experienced morality can be an important indicator of different, equally justifiable moral systems, especially where guidance for cross-cultural behaviour is concerned. this means that the actual behaviour of many people with regard to their natural environment reveals which elements of this environment they value in particular and which they do not. however, in this case, too, the validity of the standards is not derived from their factuality, but merely used as a heurism in order to find an adequate (possibly culture-immanent) justification. but given the variety of cultures and beliefs, how can standards be justified inter-subjectively, i.e. in a way that is equally valid to all? is it not the case that science can only prove or disprove factual statements (and this only to a certain extent), but not normative statements? a brief discourse on the various approaches in ethics is needed to answer this question. first of all, ethics is concerned with two different target aspects: on the one hand, it is concerned with the question of the "success" of one's own "good life", i.e. with the standards and principles that enable a person to have a happy and fulfilled life. this is called eudemonistic ethics. on the other hand, it is concerned with the standards and principles of living together, i.e. with binding regulations that create the conditions for a happy life: the common good. this is called normative ethics (galert , ott . within normative ethics a distinction is made between deontological and teleological approaches when justifying normative statements (höffe ) . deontological approaches are principles and standards of behaviour that apply to the behaviour itself on the basis of an external valuation criterion. it is not the consequences of an action that are the yardstick of the valuation; rather, it is adhering to inherent yardsticks that can be used against the action itself. such external yardsticks of valuation are derived from religion, nature, intuition or common sense, depending on the basic philosophical direction. thus, protection of the biosphere can be seen as a divine order to protect creation (rock , schmitz , as an innate tendency for the emotional attachment of people to an environment with biodiversity (wilson ) , as a directly understandable source of inspiration and joy (ehrenfeld ) or as an educational means of practising responsibility and maintaining social stability (gowdy ) . by contrast, teleological approaches refer to the consequences of action. here, too, external standards of valuation are needed since the ethical quality of the consequences of action also have to be evaluated against a yardstick of some kind. with the most utilitarian approaches (a subset of the teleological approaches) this yardstick is defined as an increase in individual or social benefit. in other schools of ethics, intuition (can the consequence still be desirable?) or the aspect of reciprocity (the so-called "golden rule": "do as you would be done by") play a key role. in the approaches based on logical reasoning (especially in kant), the yardstick is derived from the logic of the ability to generalize or universalize. kant himself is in the tradition of deontological approaches ("good will is not good as a result of what it does or achieves, but just as a result of the intention"). according to kant, every principle that, if followed generally, makes it impossible for a happy life to be conducted is ethically impermissible. in this connection, it is not the desirability of the consequences that captures kant's mind, but the logical inconsistency that results from the fact that the conditions of the actions of individuals would be undermined if everyone were to act according to the same maxims (höffe ) . a number of contemporary ethicists have taken up kant's generalization formula, but do not judge the maxims according to their internal contradictions; rather, they judge them according to the desirability of the consequences to be feared from the generalization (jonas or zimmerli should be mentioned here). these approaches can be defined as a middle course between deontological and teleological forms of justification. in addition to deontological and teleological approaches, there is also the simple solution of consensual ethics, which, however, comprises more than just actually experienced morality. consensual ethics presupposes the explicit agreement of the people involved in an action. everything is allowed provided that all affected (for whatever reason) voluntarily agree. in sexual ethics at the moment a change from deontological ethics to a consensual moral code can be seen. the three forms of normative ethics are shown in figure . . the comparison of the basic justification paths for normative moral systems already clearly shows that professional ethicists cannot create any standards or des- ignate any as clearly right, even if they play a role in people's actual lives. much rather it is the prime task of ethics to ensure on the basis of generally recognized principles (for example, human rights) that all associated standards and behaviour regulations do not contradict each other or a higher order principle. above and beyond this, ethics can identify possible solutions that may occur with a conflict between standards and principles of equal standing. ethics may also reveal interconnections of justification that have proved themselves as examination criteria for moral action in the course of their disciplinary history. finally, many ethicists see their task as providing methods and procedures primarily of an intellectual nature by means of which the compatibility or incompatibility of standards within the framework of one or more moral systems can be completed. unlike the law, the wealth of standards of ethics is not bound to codified rules that can be used as a basis for such compatibility examinations. every normative discussion therefore starts with the general issues that are needed in order to allow individuals a "good life" and, at the same time, to give validity to the principles required to regulate the community life built on common good. but how can generally binding and inter-subjectively valid criteria be made for the valuation of "the common good"? in modern pluralistic societies, it is increasingly difficult for individuals and groups of society to draw up or recognize collectively binding principles that are perceived by all equally as justifiable and as self-obliging (hartwich and wewer , zilleßen ) . the variety of lifestyle options and subjectiernization. with increasing technical and organizational means of shaping the future, the range of behaviour options available to people also expands. with the increasing plurality of lifestyles, group-specific rationalities emerge that create their own worldviews and moral standards, which demand a binding nature and validity only within a social group or subculture. the fewer cross-society guiding principles or behaviour orientations are available, the more difficult is the process of agreement on collectively binding orientations for action. however, these are vital for the maintenance of economic cooperation, for the protection of the natural foundations of life and for the maintenance of cohesion in a society. no society can exist without the binding specification of minimum canons of principles and standards. but how can agreement be reached on such collectively binding principles and standards? what criteria can be used to judge standards? the answers to this question depend on whether the primary principles, in other words, the starting point of all moral systems, or secondary principles or standards, i.e. follow-on standards that can be derived from the primary principles, are subjected to an ethical examination. primary principles can be categorical or compensatory (capable of being compensated). categorical principles are those that must not be infringed under any circumstances, even if other prin- fication of meaning (individualization) are accompanying features of mod-ciples would be infringed as a result. the human right to the integrity of life could be named here as an example. compensatory principles are those where temporary or partial infringement is acceptable, provided that as a result the infringement of a principle of equal or higher ranking is avoided or can be avoided. in this way certain freedom rights can be restricted in times of emergency. in the literature on ethical rules, one can find more complex and sophisticated classifications of normative rules. for our purpose to provide a simple and pragmatic framework, the distinction in four categories (principles and standards; categorical and compensatory) may suffice. this distinction has been developed from a decision-analytical perspective. but how can primary principles be justified as equally valid for all people? although many philosophers have made proposals here, there is a broad consensus today that neither philosophy nor any other human facility is capable of stating binding metacriteria without any doubt and for all people, according to which such primary principles should be derived or examined (mittelstraß ) . a final justification of normative judgements cannot be achieved by logical means either, since all attempts of this kind automatically end either in a logical circle, in an unending regression (vicious cycle) or in a termination of the procedure and none of these alternatives is a satisfactory solution for final justification (albert ). the problem of not being able to derive finally valid principles definitively, however, seems to be less serious than would appear at first glance. because, regardless of whether the basic axioms of moral rules are taken from intuition, observations of nature, religion, tradition reasoning or common sense, they have broadly similar contents. thus, there is broad consensus that each human individual has a right to life, that human freedom is a high-value good and that social justice should be aimed at. but there are obviously many different opinions about what these principles mean in detail and how they should be implemented. in spite of this plurality, however, discerning and well-intentioned observers can usually quickly agree, whether one of the basic principles has clearly been infringed. it is more difficult to decide whether they have clearly been fulfilled or whether the behaviour to be judged should clearly be assigned to one or several principles. since there is no finally binding body in a secular society that can specify primary principles or standards ex cathedra, in this case consensus among equally defendable standards or principles can be used (or pragmatically under certain conditions also majority decisions). ethical considerations are still useful in this case as they allow the test of generalization and the enhancement of awareness raising capabilities. in particular, they help to reveal the implications of such primary principles and standards. provided that primary principles are not concerned (such as human rights), the ethical discussion largely consists of examining the compatibility of each of the available standards and options for action with the primary principles. in this connection, the main concerns are a lack of contradictions (consistency), logical consistency (deductive validity), coherence (agreement with other principles that have been recognized as correct) and other, broadly logical criteria (gethmann ) . as the result of such an examination it is entirely possible to reach completely different conclusions that all correspond to the laws of logic and thus justify new plurality. in order to reach binding statements or valuations here the evaluator can either conduct a discussion in his "mind" and let the arguments for various standards compete with each other (rather like a platonic dialogue) or conduct a real discussion with the people affected by the action. in both cases the main concern is to use the consensually agreed primary principles to derive secondary principles of general action and standards of specific action that should be preferred over alternatives that can be equally justified. a plurality of solutions should be expected especially because most of the concrete options for action comprise only a gradual fulfilment and infringement of primary principles and therefore also include conflicting values. for value conflicts at the same level of abstraction there are, by definition, no clear rules for solution. there are therefore frequently conflicts between conserving life through economic development and destroying life through environmental damage. since the principle of conserving life can be used for both options a conflict is unavoidable in this case. to solve the conflicts, ethical considerations, such as the avoidance of extremes, staggering priorities over time or the search for third solutions can help without, however, being able to convincingly solve this conflict in principle to the same degree for all (szejnwald-brown et al. ) . these considerations lead to some important conclusions for the matter of the application of ethical principles to the issue of human action with regard to the natural environment. first of all, it contradicts the way ethics sees itself to develop ethics of its own for different action contexts. just as there can be no different rules for the logic of deduction and induction in nomological science, depending on which object is concerned, it does not make any sense to postulate an independent set of ethics for the environment (galert ) . justifications for principles and moral systems have to satisfy universal validity (nida-rümelin b). furthermore, it is not very helpful to call for a special moral system for the environment since this -like every other moral system -has to be traceable to primary principles. instead, it makes sense to specify the generally valid principles that are also relevant with regard to the issue of how to deal with the natural environment. at the same time standards should be specified that are appropriate to environmental goods and that reflect those principles that are valid beyond their application to the environment. as implied above, it does not make much sense to talk about an independent set of environmental ethics. much rather, general ethics should be transferred to issues relating to the use of the environment (hargrove ) . three areas are usually dealt with within the context of environmental ethics (galert ): • environmental protection, i.e. the avoidance or alleviation of direct or indirect, current or future damage and pollution resulting from anthropogenic emissions, waste or changes to the landscape, including land use, as well as the long-term securing of the natural foundations of life for people and other living creatures (birnbacher a ). • animal protection, i.e. the search for reasonable and enforceable standards to avoid or reduce pain and suffering in sentient beings (krebs , vischer ). • nature conservation, i.e. the protection of nature against the transforming intervention of human use, especially all measures to conserve, care for, promote and recreate components of nature deemed to be valuable, including species of flora and fauna, biotic communities, landscapes and the foundations of life required there (birnbacher a) . regardless which of these three areas are addressed we need to explore which primary principles be applied to them. when dealing with the environment, the traditional basic and human rights, as well as the civil rights that have been derived from them, should be just as much a foundation of the consideration as other areas of application in ethics. however, with regard to the primary principles there is a special transfer problem when addressing human interventions into nature and the environment: does the basic postulate of conservation of life apply only to human beings, to all other creatures or to all elements of nature, too? this question does not lead to a new primary principle, as one may suspect at first glance. much rather, it is concerned with the delineation of the universally recognized principle of the conservation of life that has already been specified in the basic rights canon. are only people included in this principle (this is the codified version valid in most legal constitutions today) or other living creatures, too? and if yes, which ones? should non-living elements be included as well? when answering this question, two at first sight contradictory positions can be derived: anthropocentrism and physiocentrism (taylor , ott , galert . the anthropocentric view places humans and their needs at the fore. nature's own original demands are alien to this view. interventions in nature are allowed if they are useful to human society. a duty to make provisions for the future and to conserve nature exists in the anthropocentric world only to the extent that natural systems are classed as valuable to people today and subsequent generations and that nature can be classed as a means and guarantor of human life and survival (norton , birnbacher b . in the physiocentric concept, which forms an opposite pole to the anthropocentric view, the needs of human beings are not placed above those of nature. here, every living creature, whether humans, animals or plants, have intrinsic rights with regard to the chance to develop their own lives within the framework of a natural order. merit for protection is justified in the physiocentric view by an inner value that is unique to each living creature or the environment in general. nature has a value of its own that does not depend on the functions that it fulfils today or may fulfil later from a human society's point of view (devall and sessions , callicott , rolston , meyer-abich . each of these prevailing understandings of the human-nature relationship has implications that are decisive for the form and extent of nature use by humans (elliot , krebs . strictly speaking, it could be concluded from the physiocentric idea that all human interventions in nature have to be stopped so that the rights of other creatures are not endangered. yet, not even extreme representatives of a physiocentric view would go so far as to reject all human interventions in nature because animals, too, change the environment by their ways of life (e.g. the elephant prevents the greening of the savannah). the central postulate of a physiocentric view is the gradual minimization of the depth of interventions in human use of nature. the only interventions that are permitted are those that contribute to directly securing human existence and do not change the fundamental composition of the surrounding natural environment. if these two criteria were taken to the extreme, neither population development beyond the boundaries of biological carrying capacity nor a transformation of natural land into pure agricultural land would be allowed. such a strict interpretation of physiocentrism would lead to a radical reversal of human history so far and is not compatible with the values and expectations of most people. the same is true for the unlimited transfer of anthropocentrism to dealings with nature. in this view, the use of natural services is subjected solely to the individual cost-benefit calculation. this can lead to unscrupulous exploitation of nature by humans with the aim of expanding human civilization. both extremes quickly lead to counter-intuitive implications. when the issue of environmental design and policy is concerned, anthropocentric and physiocentric approaches in their pure form are found only rarely, much rather they occur in different mixtures and slants. the transitions between the concepts are fluid. moderate approaches certainly take on elements from the opposite position. it can thus be in line with a fundamentally physiocentric perspective if the priority of human interests is not questioned in the use of natural resources. it is also true that the conclusions of a moderate form of anthropocentrism can approach the implications of the physiocentric view. table . provides an overview of various types of anthropocentric and physiocentric perspectives. if we look at the behaviour patterns of people in different cultures, physiocentric or anthropocentric basic positions are rarely maintained consistently (bargatzky and kuschel ; on the convergence theory: birnbacher ) . in the strongly anthropocentric countries in the west, people spend more money on the welfare and health of their own pets than on saving human lives in other countries. in the countries of the far east that are characterized by physiocentrism, nature is frequently exploited even more radically than in the industrialized countries of the west. this inconsistent action is not a justification for one view or the other, it is just a warning for caution when laying down further rules for use so that no extreme -and thus untenable -demands be made. also from an ethical point of view, radical anthropocentrism should be rejected just as much as radical physiocentrism. if, to take up just one argument, the right to human integrity is largely justified by the fact that causing pain by others should be seen as something to avoid, this consideration without a doubt has to be applied to other creatures that are also capable of feeling pain (referred to as: pathocentrism). here, therefore, pure anthropocentrism cannot convince. in turn, with a purely physiocentric approach the primary principles of freedom, equality and human dignity could not be maintained at all if every part of living nature were equally entitled to use the natural environment. under these circumstances people would have to do without agriculture, the conversion of natural land into agricultural land and breeding farm animals and pets in line with human needs. as soon table . different perspectives on nature. adapted from renn and goble ( : ). as physiocentrism is related to species and not to individuals as is done in some biocentric perspectives human priority is automatically implied; because where human beings are concerned, nearly all schools of ethics share the fundamental moral principle of an individual right to life from birth. if this right is not granted to individual animals or plants, a superiority of the human race is implicitly assumed. moderate versions of physiocentrism acknowledge a gradual de-escalation with respect to the claim of individual table . different perspectives on nature (continued). adapted from renn and goble ( : ). life protection. the extreme forms of both physiocentrism and anthropocentrism are therefore not very convincing and are hardly capable of achieving a global consensus. this means that only moderate anthropocentrism or moderate biocentrism should be considered. the image of nature that is used as a basis for the considerations in this section emphasizes the uniqueness of human beings vis-à-vis physiocentric views, but does not imply carte blanche for wasteful and careless dealings with nature. this moderate concept derives society's duty to conserve nature -also for future generations -from the life-preserving and life-enhancing meaning of nature for society. this is not just concerned with the instrumental value of nature as a "store of resources", it is also a matter of the function of nature as a provider of inspiration, spiritual experience, beauty and peace (birnbacher and schicha ) . in this context it is important that human beings -as the addressees of the moral standard -do not regard nature merely as material and as a way towards their own self-realization, but can also assume responsibility for conservation of their cultural and so-cial function, as well as their existential value above and beyond the objective and technically available benefits (honnefelder ) . one of the first people to express this responsibility of human stewardship of nature in an almost poetic way was the american ecologist aldo leopold, who pointed out people's special responsibility for the existence of nature and land as early as the s with the essay "the conservation ethics". his most well-known work "a sand county almanac" is sustained by the attempt to observe and assess human activities from the viewpoint of the land (a mountain or an animal). this perspective was clearly physiocentric and revealed fundamental insights about the relationship between humans and nature on the basis of empathy and shifting perspectives. his point of view had a strong influence on american environmental ethics and the stance of conservationists. although this physiocentric perspective raises many concerns, the idea of stewardship has been one of the guiding ideas for the arguments used in this section (pickett et al. ) . we are morally required to exercise a sort of stewardship over living nature, because nature cannot claim any rights for itself, but nevertheless has exceptional value that is important to man above and beyond its economic utility value (hösle ) . since contemporary society and the generations to come certainly use, or will use, more natural resources than would be compatible with a lifestyle in harmony with the given natural conditions, the conversion of natural land into anthropogenically determined agricultural land cannot be avoided (mohr ) . many people criticized human interventions into natural cycles as infringements of the applicable moral standards of nature conservation (for example, fastened onto the postulate of sustainability). but we should avoid premature conclusions here, as can be seen with the example of species protection. for example, where natural objects or phenomena are concerned that turn out to be a risk to human or non-human living creatures, the general call for nature conservation is already thrown into doubt (gale and cordray ) . not many people would call the eradication of cholera bacteria, hiv viruses and other pathogens morally bad (mittelstraß ) if remaining samples were kept under lock and key in laboratories. also, combating highly evolved creatures, such as cockroaches or rats meets with broad support if we ignore the call for the complete eradication of these species for the time being. an environmental initiative to save cockroaches would not be likely to gain supporters. if we look at the situation carefully, the valuation of human behaviour in these examples results from a conflict. because the conservation of the species competes with the objective of maintaining human health or the objective of a hygienic place to live, two principles, possibly of equal ranking, come face to face. in this case the options for action, which may all involve a gradual infringement of one or more principles, would have to be weighed up against each other. a general ban on eradicating a species can thus not be justified ethically, in the sense of a categorical principle, unless the maintenance of human health were to be given lower priority than the conservation of a species. with regard to the issue of species conservation, therefore, different goods have to be weighed up against each other. nature itself cannot show society what it is essential to conserve and how much nature can be traded for valuable commodities. humans alone are responsible for a decision and the resulting conflicts between competing objectives. appreciation and negotiation processes are therefore the core of the considerations about the ethical justification of rules for interventions. but this does not mean that there is no room for categorical judgements along the lines of "this or that absolutely must be prohibited" in the matter of human interventions into the natural environment. it follows on from the basic principle of conserving human life that all human interventions that threaten the ability of the human race as a whole, or a significant number of individuals alive today or in the future, to exist should be categorically prohibited. this refers to intervention threats to the systemic functions of the biosphere. such threats are one of the guiding principles that must not be exceeded under any circumstances, even if this excess were to be associated with high benefits. in the language of ethics this is a categorical principle, in the language of economics a good that is not capable of being traded. the "club" of categorical prohibitions should, however, be used very sparingly because plausible trade-offs can be thought up for most principles, the partial exceeding of which appears intuitively. in the case of threats to existence, however, the categorical rejection of the behaviour that leads to this is obvious. but what does the adoption of categorical principles specifically mean for the political moulding of environmental protection? in the past, a number of authors have tried to specify the minimum requirements for an ethically responsible moral system with respect to biosphere use. these so-called "safe minimum standards" specify thresholds for the open-ended measurement scale of the consequences of human interventions that may not be ex-ceeded even if there is a prospect of great benefits (randall , randall and farmer ) . in order to be able to specify these thresholds in more detail the breakdown into three levels proposed by the german scientific council for global environmental change is helpful (wbgu ) . these levels are: • the global bio-geochemical cycles in which the biosphere is involved as one of the causes, modulator or "beneficiary"; • the diversity of ecosystems and landscapes that have key functions as bearers of diversity in the biosphere; and • the genetic diversity and the species diversity that are both "the modelling clay of evolution" and basic elements of ecosystem functions and dynamics. where the first level is concerned, in which the functioning of the global ecosystem is at stake, categorical principles are obviously necessary and sensible, provided that no one wants to shake the primary principle of the permanent preservation of the human race. accordingly, all interventions in which important substance or energy cycles are significantly influenced at a global level and where globally effective negative impacts are to be expected are categorically prohibited. usually no stringently causal evidence of the harmful nature of globally relevant information is needed; justified suspicion of such harmfulness should suffice. later in this chapter we will make a proposal for risk valuation and management how the problem of uncertainty in the event of possible catastrophic damage potential should be dealt with (risk type cassandra). on the second level, the protection of ecosystems and landscapes, it is much more difficult to draw up categorical rules. initially, it is obvious that all interventions in landscapes in which the global functions mentioned on the first level are endangered must be avoided. above and beyond this, it is wise from a precautionary point of view to maintain as much ecosystem diversity as possible in order to keep the degree of vulnerability to the unforeseen or even unforeseeable consequences of anthropogenic and nonanthropogenic interventions as low as possible. even though it is difficult to derive findings for human behaviour from observations of evolution, the empirically proven statement "he who places everything on one card, always loses in the long run" seems to demonstrate a universally valid insight into the functioning of systemically organized interactions. for this reason, the conservation of the natural diversity of ecosystems and landscape forms is a categorical principle, whereas the depth of intervention allowed should be specified on the basis of principles and standards capable of compensation. the same can be said for the third level, genetic and species protection. here too, initially the causal chain should be laid down: species conservation, landscape conservation, maintaining global functions. wherever this chain is unbroken, a categorical order of conservation should apply. these species could be termed primary key species. this includes such species that are not only essential for the specific landscape type in which they occur, but also for the global cycles above and beyond this specific landscape type thanks to their special position in the ecosystem. probably, it will not be possible to organize all species under this functional contribution to the surrounding ecosystem, but we could also think of groups of species, for example, humus-forming bacteria. in second place there are the species that characterize certain ecosystems or landscapes. here they are referred to as secondary key species. they, too, are under special protection that is not necessarily under categorical reservations. their function value, however, is worthy of special attention. below these two types of species there are the remaining species that perform ecosystem functions to a greater or lesser extent. what this means for the worthiness for protection of these species and the point at which the precise limit for permitted intervention should be drawn, is a question that can no longer be solved with categorical principles and standards, but with the help of compensatory principles and standards. generally, here, too, as with the issue of ecosystem and landscape protection, the conservation of diversity as a strategy of "reinsurance" against ignorance, global risks and unforeseeable surprises is recommended. it remains to be said that from a systemic point of view, a categorical ban has to apply to all human interventions where global closed loops are demonstrably at risk. above and beyond this, it makes sense to recognize the conservation of landscape variety (also of ecosystem diversity within landscapes) and of genetic variety and species diversity as basic principles, without being able to make categorical judgements about individual landscape or species types as a result. in order to evaluate partial infringements of compensatory principles or standards, which are referred to in the issue of environmental protection, we need rules for decision making that facilitate the balancing process necessary to resolve compensatory conflicts. in the current debate about rules for using the environment and nature, it is mainly teleological valuation methods that are proposed (hubig , ott . these methods are aimed at: • estimating the possible consequences of various options for action at all dimensions relevant to potentially affected people; • recording the infringements or fulfilments of these expected consequences in the light of the guiding standards and principles; and • then weighing them according to an internal key so that they can be weighed up in a balanced way. on the positive side of the equation, there are the economic benefits of an intervention and the cultural values created by use, for example, in the form of income, subsistence (self-sufficiency) or an aesthetically attractive landscape (parks, ornamental gardens, etc.); on the negative side, there are the destruction of current or future usage potentials, the loss of unknown natural resources that may be needed in the future and the violation of aesthetic, cultural or religious attributes associated with the environment and nature. there are therefore related categories on both sides of the equation: current uses vs. possible uses in the future, development potentials of current uses vs. option values for future use, shaping the environment by use vs. impairments to the environment as a result of alternative use, etc. with the same or similar categories on the credit and debit side of the balance sheet the decision is easy when there is one option that performs better or worse than all the other options for all categories. although such a dominant (the best for all categories) or sub-dominant option (the worst for all categories) is rare in reality, there are examples of dominant or sub-dominant solutions. thus, for example, the overfelling of the forests of kalimantan on the island of borneo in indonesia can be classed as a sub-dominant option since the short-term benefit, even with extremely high discount rates, is in no proportion to the long-term losses of benefits associated with a barren area covered in imperata grass. the recultivation of a barren area of this kind requires sums many times the income from the sale of the wood, including interest. apparently there are no cultural, aesthetic or religious reasons for conversion of primary or secondary woodland into grassland. this means that the option of deforestation should be classed as of less value than alternative options for all criteria, including economic and social criteria. at best, we can talk about a habit of leaving rainforests, as a "biotope not worthy of conservation", to short-term use. but habit is not a sound reason for the choice of any sub-optimum option. as mentioned at the start of this chapter, habit as experienced morality, does not have any normative force, especially when this is based on the illusion of the marginality of one's own behaviour or ignorance about sustainable usage forms. but if we disregard the dominant or sub-dominant solutions, an appreciation between options that violate or fulfil compensatory standards and principles depends on two preconditions: best possible knowledge of the consequences (what happens if i choose option a instead of option b?) and a transparent, consistent rationale for weighing up these consequences as part of a legitimate political decision process (are the foreseeable consequences of option a more desirable or bearable than the consequences of option b?) (akademie der wissenschaften ). adequate knowledge of the consequences is needed in order to reveal the systemic connections between resource use, ecosystem reactions to human interventions and socio-cultural condition factors (wolters ) . this requires interdisciplinary research and cooperation. the task of applied ecological research, for example, is to show the consequences of human intervention in the natural environment and how ecosystems are burdened by different interventions and practices. the economic approach provides a benefit-oriented valuation of natural and artificial resources within the context of production and consumption, as well as a valuation of transformation processes according to the criterion of efficiency. cultural and social sciences examine the feedback effects between use, social development and cultural self-perception. they illustrate the dynamic interactions between usage forms, socio-cultural lifestyles and control forms. interdisciplinary, problem-oriented and system-related research contribute to forming a basic stock of findings and insights about functional links in the relationship between human interventions and the environment and also in developing constructive proposals as to how the basic question of an ethically justified use of the natural environment can be answered in agreement with the actors concerned (wbgu ) . accordingly, in order to ensure sufficient environmental protection, scientific research, but especially transdisciplinary system research at the interface between natural sciences and social sciences is essential. bringing together the results of interdisciplinary research, the policy-relevant choice of knowledge banks and balanced interpretation in an environment of uncertainty and ambivalence are difficult tasks that primarily have to be performed by the science system itself. how this can happen in a way that is methodslogically sound, receptive to all reasonable aspects of interpretation and yet subjectively valid will be the subject of section . . . but knowledge alone does not suffice. in order to be able to act effectively and efficiently while observing ethical principles, it is necessary to shape the appreciation process between the various options for action according to rational criteria (gethmann ) . to do this it is, first of all, necessary to identify the dimensions that should be used for a valuation. the discussion about the value dimensions to be used as a basis for valuation is one of the most popular subjects within environmental ethics. to apply these criteria in risk evaluation and to combine the knowledge aspects about expected consequences of different behavioural options with the ethical principles is the task of what we have called risk governance. what contribution do ethics make towards clarifying the prospects and limits of human interventions into the natural environment? the use of environmental resources is an anthropological necessity. human consciousness works reflexively and humans have developed a causal recognition capacity that enables them to record cause and effect anticipatively and to productively incorporate assessed consequences in their own action. this knowledge is the motivating force behind the cultural evolution and the development of technologies, agriculture and urbanization. with power over an ever-increasing potential of design and intervention in nature and social affairs over the course of human history, the potential for abuse and exploitation has also grown. whereas this potential was reflected in philosophical considerations and legal standards at a very early stage with regard to moral standards between people, the issue of human responsibility towards nature and the environment has only become the subject of intensive considerations in recent times. ethical considerations are paramount in this respect. on the one hand, they offer concrete standards for human conduct on the bases of criteria that can be generalized, and, on the other hand, they provide procedural advice about a rational and decision-and policy-making process. a simple breakdown into categorical rules and prohibitions that are capable of being compensated can assist decision makers for the justification of principles and standards on environmental protection. as soon as human activities exceed the guidelines of the categorical principles, there is an urgent need for action. how can we detect whether such an excess has happened and how it can be prevented from the very outset that these inviolable standards and principles be exceeded? here are three strategies of environmental protection to be helpful for the implementation of categor-ical guidelines. the first strategy is that of complete protection with severe restrictions of all use by humans (protection priority). the second strategy provides for a balanced relationship between protection and use, where extensive resource use should go hand in hand with the conservation of the ecosystems concerned (equal weight). the third strategy is based on optimum use involving assurance of continuous reproduction. the guiding principle here would be an intensive and, at the same time, sustainable, i.e. with a view to the long term, use of natural resources (use priority). the following section will present a framework for applying these principles into environmental decision making under risk. the main line of argument is that risk management requires an analytic-deliberative approach for dealing effectively and prudently with environmental risks. assessing potential consequences of human interventions and evaluating their desirability on the basis of subsequent knowledge and transparent valuation criteria are two of the central tasks of a risk governance process. however, the plural values of a heterogeneous public and people's preferences have to be incorporated in this process. but how can this be done given the wealth of competing values and preferences? should we simply accept the results of opinion polls as the basis for making political decisions? can we rely on risk perception results to judge the seriousness of pending risks? or should we place all our faith in professional risk management? if we turn to professional help to deal with plural value input, economic theory might provide us an answer to this problem. if environmental goods are made individual and suitable for the market by means of property rights, the price that forms on the market ensures an appropriate valuation of the environmental good. every user of this good can then weigh up whether he is willing to pay the price or would rather not use the good. with many environmental goods, however, this valuation has to be made by collective action, because the environmental good concerned is a collective or open access good. in this case a process is needed that safeguards the valuation and justifies it to the collective. however, this valuation cannot be determined with the help of survey results. although surveys are needed to be able to estimate the breadth of preferences and people's willingness to pay, they are insufficient for a derivation of concrete decision-making criteria and yardsticks for evaluating the tolerability of risks to human health and the environment. • firstly, the individual values are so widely scattered that there is little sense in finding an average value here. • secondly, the preferences expressed in surveys change much within a short time, whereas ethical valuations have to be valid for a long time. • thirdly, as outlined in the subsection on risk perception, preferences are frequently based on flawed knowledge or ad hoc assumptions both of which should not be decisive according to rational considerations. what is needed, therefore, is a gradual process of assigning trade-offs in which existing empirical values are put into a coherent and logically consistent form. in political science and sociological literature reference is mostly made to three strategies of incorporating social values and preferences in rational decision-making processes (renn ) . firstly, a reference to social preferences is viewed solely as a question of legitimate procedure (luhmann , vollmer . the decision is made on the basis of formal decision-making process (such as majority voting). if all the rules have been kept, a decision is binding, regardless of whether the subject matter of the decision can be justified or whether the people affected by the decision can understand the justification. in this version, social consensus has to be found only about the structure of the procedures; the only people who are then involved in the decisions are those who are explicitly legitimated to do so within the framework of the procedure decided upon. the second strategy is to rely on the minimum consensuses that have developed in the political opinion-forming process (muddling through) (lindbloom (lindbloom , . in this process, only those decisions that cause the least resistance in society are considered to be legitimate. in this version of social pluralism groups in society have an influence on the process of the formation of will and decision making to the extent that they provide proposals capable of being absorbed, i.e. adapted to the processing style of the political system, and that they mobilize public pressure. the proposal that then establishes itself in politics is the one that stands up best in the competition of proposals, i.e. the one that entails the fewest losses of support for political decision makers by interest groups. the third strategy is based on the discussion between the groups involved (habermas , renn ). in the communicative exchange among the people involved in the discussion a form of communicative rationality that everyone can understand evolves that can serve as a justification for collectively binding decisions. at the same time, discursive methods claim to more appropriately reflect the holistic nature of human beings and also to provide fair access to designing and selecting solutions to problems. in principle, the justification of standards relevant to decisions is linked to two conditions: the agreement of all involved and substantial justification of the statements made in the discussion (habermas ) . all three strategies of political control are represented in modern societies to a different extent. legitimation conflicts mostly arise when the three versions are realized in their pure form. merely formally adhering to decisionmaking procedures without a justification of content encounters a lack of understanding and rejection among the groups affected especially when they have to endure negative side effects or risks. then acceptance is refused. if, however, we pursue the opposite path of least resistance and base ourselves on the route of muddling through we may be certain of the support of the influential groups, but, as in the first case, the disadvantaged groups will gradually withdraw their acceptance because of insufficient justification of the decision. at the same time, antipathy to politics without a line or guidance is growing, even the affected population. the consequence is political apathy. the third strategy of discursive control faces problems, too. although in an ideal situation it is suitable for providing transparent justifications for the decision-making methods and the decision itself, in real cases the conditions of ideal discourse can rarely be adhered to (wellmer ) . frequently, discussions among strategically operating players lead to a paralysis of practical politics by forcing endless marathon meetings with vast quantities of points of order and peripheral contributions to the discussion. the "dictatorship of patience" (weinrich ) ultimately determines which justifications are accepted by the participants. the public becomes uncertain and disappointed by such discussions that begin with major claims and end with trivial findings. in brief: none of the three ways out of the control dilemma can convince on its own; as so often in politics, everything depends on the right mixture. what should a mixture of the three elements (due process, pluralistic muddling through and discourse) look like so that a maximum degree of rationality can come about on the basis of social value priorities? a report by the american academy of sciences on the subject of "understanding environmental risks" (national research council ) comes to the conclusion that scientifically valid and ethically justified procedure for the collective valuation of options for risk handling can only be realized within the context of -what the authors coin -an analytic-deliberative process. analytic means that the best scientific findings about the possible consequences and conditions of collective action are incorporated in the negotiations; deliberative means that rationally and ethically transparent criteria for making trade-offs are used and documented externally. moreover, the authors consider that fair participation by all groups concerned is necessary to ensure that the different moral systems that can legitimately exist alongside each other should also be incorporated in the process. to illustrate the concept of analytic-deliberative decision making consider a set of alternative options or choices, from which follow consequences (see basic overview in dodgson et al. ) . the relationship between the choice made, and the consequences that follow from this choice, may be straightforward or complex. the science supporting environmental policy is often complicated, across many disciplines of science and engineering, and also involving human institutions and economic interactions. because of limitations in scientific understanding and predictive capabilities, the consequences following a choice are normally uncertain. finally, different individuals and groups within society may not agree on how to evaluate the consequences -which may involve a detailed characterization of what happens in ecological, economic, and human health terms. we shall describe consequences as ambiguous when there is this difficulty in getting agreement on how to interpret and evaluate them. this distinction has been further explained in chapter (see also klinke and renn ) . environmental assessment and environmental decision making inherently involve these difficulties of complexity, uncertainty, and ambiguity (klinke and renn ) . in some situations where there is lots of experience, these difficulties may be minimal. but in other situations these difficulties may constitute major impediments to the decision-making process. to understand how analysis and deliberation interact in an iterative process following the national research council (nrc) report, one must consider how these three areas of potential difficulty can be addressed. it is useful to separate questions of evidence with respect to the likelihood, magnitude of consequences and related characteristics (which can involve complexity and uncertainty) from valuation of the consequences (i.e. ambiguity). for each of the three areas there are analytical tools that can be helpful in identifying, characterizing and quantifying cause-effect relationships. some of these tools have been described in chapter . the integration of these tools of risk governance into a consistent procedure will be discussed in the next subsections. the possibility to reach closure on evaluating risks to human health or the environment rests on two conditions: first, all participants need to achieve closure on the underlying goal (often legally prescribed, such as prevention of health detriments or guarantee of an undisturbed environmental quality, for example, purity laws for drinking water); secondly, they need to agree with the implications derived from the present state of knowledge (whether and to what degree the identified hazard impacts the desired goal). dissent can result from conflicting values as well as conflicting evidence. it is crucial in environmental risk management to investigate both sides of the coin: the values that govern the selection of the goal and the evidence that governs the selection of cause-effect claims. strong differences in both areas can be expected in most environmental decision-making contexts but also in occupational health and safety and public health risks. so for all risk areas it is necessary to explore why people disagree about what to do -that is, which decision alternative should be selected. as pointed out before, differences of opinion may be focused on the evidence of what is at stake or which option has what kind of consequences. for example: what is the evidence that an environmental management initiative will lead to an improvement, such as reducing losses of agricultural crops to insect pests -and what is the evidence that the management initiative could lead to ecological damage -loss of insects we value, such as bees or butterflies, damage to birds and other predators that feed on insects -and health impacts from the level of pesticides and important nutrients in the food crops we eat? other differences of opinion may be about values -value of food crops that contain less pesticide residue compared to those that contain more, value of having more bees or butterflies, value of maintaining indigenous species of bees or butterflies compared to other varieties not native to the local ecosystem, value ascribed to good health and nutrition, and maybe, value ascribed to having food in what is perceived to be a "natural" state as opposed to containing manufactured chemical pesticides or altered genetic material. separating the science issues of what will happen from the value issues of how to make appropriate trade-offs between ecological, economic, and human health goals can become very difficult. the separation of facts and values in decision making is difficult to accomplish in practical decision situations, since what is regarded as facts includes a preference dependent process of cognitive framing (tversky and kahneman ) and what is regarded as value includes a prior knowledge about the factual implica-tions of different value preferences (fischhoff ) . furthermore, there are serious objections against a clear-cut division from a sociological view on science and knowledge generation (jasanoff ) . particularly when calculating risk estimates, value-based conventions may enter the assessment process. for example, conservative assumptions may be built into the assessment process, so that some adverse effects (such as human cancer from pesticide exposure) are much less likely to be underestimated than overestimated (national research council ) . at the same time, ignoring major sources of uncertainty can evoke a sense of security and overconfidence that is not justified from the quality or extent of the data base (einhorn and hogarth ) . perceptions and world views may be very important, and difficult to sort out from matters of science, especially with large uncertainties about the causes of environmental damage. a combination of analytic and deliberative processes can help explore these differences of opinions relating to complexity, uncertainty, and ambiguity in order to examine the appropriate basis for a decision before the decision is made. most environmental agencies go through an environmental assessment process and provide opportunities for public review and comment. many controversial environmental decisions become the focus of large analytical efforts, in which mathematical models are used to predict the environmental, economic, and health consequences of environmental management alternatives. analysis should be seen as an indispensable complement to deliberative processes, regardless whether this analysis is sophisticated or not. even simple questions need analytic input for making prudent decisions, especially in situations where there is controversy arising from complexity, uncertainty, and ambiguity. in many policy arenas in which problems of structuring human decisions are relevant, the tools of normative decision analysis (da) have been applied. especially in economics, sociology, philosophical ethics, and also many branches of engineering and science, these methods have been extended and refined during the past several decades. (edwards , howard , north , howard et al. , north and merkhofer , behn and vaupel , pinkau and renn , van asselt , jaeger et al. . da is a process for decomposing a decision problem into pieces, starting with the simple structure of alternatives, information, and prefer-ences. it provides a formal framework for quantitative evaluation of alternative choices in terms of what is known about the consequences and how the consequences are valued (hammond et al. , skinner . the procedures and analytical tools of da provide a number of possibilities to improve the precision and transparency of the decision procedure. however, they are subject to a number of limitations. the opportunities refer to: • different action alternatives can be quantitatively evaluated to allow selection of a best choice. such evaluation relies both on a description of uncertain consequences for each action alternative, with uncertainty in the consequences described using probabilities, and a description of the values and preferences assigned to consequences. (explicit characterization of uncertainty and values of consequences) • the opportunity to assure transparency, in that ( ) models and data summarizing complexity (e.g., applicable and available scientific evidence) ( ) probabilities characterizing judgement about uncertainty, and ( ) values (utilities) on the consequences are made explicit and available. so the evaluation of risk handling alternatives can be viewed and checked for accuracy by outside observers. (outside audit enabled of basis for decision) • a complex decision situation can be decomposed into smaller pieces in a formal analytical framework. the level of such composition can range from a decision tree of action alternatives and ensuing consequences that fits on a single piece of paper, to extremely large and complex computerimplemented models used in calculating environmental consequences and ascribing probabilities and values of the consequences. a more complex analysis is more expensive and is less transparent to observers. in principle, with sufficient effort any formal analytical framework can be checked to assure that calculations are made in the way that is intended. (decomposition possible to include extensive detail) on the other hand, there are important limitations: • placing value judgements (utilities) on consequences may be difficult, especially in a political context where loss of life, impairment of health, ecological damage, or similar social consequences are involved. utility theory is essentially an extension of cost-benefit methods from economics to include attitude toward risk. the basic trade-off judgements needed for cost-benefit analysis remain difficult and controversial, and often, inherently subjective. (difficulties in valuing consequences) • assessing uncertainty in the form of a numerical probability also poses difficulties, especially in situations when there is not a statistical data base on an agreed-on model as the basis for the assessment. (difficulty in quantifying uncertainty, assigning probabilities) • the analytical framework may not be complete. holistic or overarching considerations or important details may have been omitted. (analytical framework incomplete) • da is built upon an axiomatic structure, both for dealing with uncertainty (i.e., the axiomatic foundation of probability theory), and for valuing consequences (i.e., the axiomatic basis for von neumann-morgenstern utility theory). especially when the decision is to be made by a group rather than an individual decision maker, rational preferences for the group consistent with the axioms may not exist (the "impossibility" theorem of arrow, ) . so in cases of strong disagreements on objectives or unwillingness to use a rational process, decision analysis methods may not be helpful. decision analytical methods should not be regarded as inherently "mechanical" or "algorithmic", in which analysts obtain a set of "inputs" about uncertainty and valuing consequences, then feed these into a mathematical procedure (possibly implemented in a computer) that produces an "output" of the "best" decision. da can only offer coherent conclusions from the information which the decision maker provides by his/her preferences among consequences and his/her state of information on the occurrence of these consequences. where there is disagreement about the preferences or about the information, da may be used to implore the implications of such disagreement. so in application, there is often a great deal of iteration (sensitivity analysis) to explore how differences in judgement should affect the selection of the best action alternative. da thus merely offers a formal framework that can be effective in helping participants in a decision process to better understand the implications of differing information and judgement about complex and uncertain consequences from the choice among the available action alternatives. insight about which factors are most important in selecting among the alternatives is often the most important output of the process, and it is obtained through extensive and iterative exchange between analysts and the decision makers and stakeholders. the main advantage of the framework is that it is based on logic that is both explicit and checkable -usually facilitated by the use of mathematical models and probability calculations. research on human judgement supports the superiority of such procedures for decomposing complex decision problems and using logic to integrate the pieces, rather than relying on holistic judgement on which of the alternatives is best (this is not only true for individual decisions, see heap et al. : ff., jungermann ; but also for collective decisions, see heap et al. : ff., pettit . one should keep in mind, however, that "superior" is measured in accordance with indicator of instrumental rationality, i.e. measuring means-ends effectiveness. if this rationality is appropriate, the sequence suggested by da is intrinsically plausible and obvious. even at the level of qualitative discussion and debate, groups often explore the rationale for different action alternatives. decision analysis simply uses formal quantitative methods for this traditional and common-sense process of exploring the rationale -using models to describe complexity, probability to describe uncertainty, and to deal with ambiguity, explicit valuation of consequences via utility theory and other balancing procedures, such as cost-benefit or cost-effectiveness analyses. by decomposing the problem in logical steps, the analysis permits better understanding of differences in the participants' perspective on evidence and values. da offers methods to overcome these differences, such as resolving questions about underlying science through data collection and research, and encouraging tradeoffs, compromise, and rethinking of values. based on this review of opportunities and shortcomings we conclude that decision analysis provides a suitable structure for guiding discussion and problem formulation, and offers a set of quantitative analytical tools that can be useful for environmental decisions, especially in conjunction with deliberative processes. da can assist decision makers and others involved in, and potentially affected by, the decision (i.e., participants, stakeholders) to deal with complexity and many components of uncertainty, and to address issues of remaining uncertainties and ambiguities. using these methods promises consistency from one decision situation to another, assurance of an appropriate use of evidence from scientific studies related to the environment, and explicit accountability and transparency with respect to those institutionally responsible for the value judgements that drive the evaluation of the alternative choices. collectively the analytical tools provide a framework for a systematic process of exploring and evaluating the decision alternatives -assembling and validating the applicable scientific evidence relevant to what will happen as the result of each possible choice, and valuing how bad or how good these consequences are based on an agreement of common objectives. yet, it does not replace the need for additional methods and processes for including other objectives, such as finding common goals, defining preferences, revisiting assumptions, sharing visions and exploring common grounds for values and normative positions. the value judgements motivating decisions are made explicit and can then be criticized by those who were not involved in the process. to the extent that uncertainty becomes important, it will be helpful to deal with uncertainty in an orderly and consistent way (morgan and henrion ). those aspects of uncertainty that can be modelled by using probability theory (inter-target variation, systematic and random errors in applying inferential statistics, model and data uncertainties) will be spelled out and those that remain in forms of indeterminacies, system boundaries or plain ignorance will become visible and can then be fed into the deliberation process (van asselt , klinke and renn ) . the term deliberation refers to the style and procedure of decision making without specifying which participants are invited to deliberate (national research council (nrc) , rossi ) . for a discussion to be called deliberative it is essential that it relies on mutual exchange of arguments and reflections rather than decision making based on the status of the participants, sublime strategies of persuasion, or social-political pressure. deliberative processes should include a debate about the relative weight of each argument and a transparent procedure for balancing pros and cons (tuler and webler ) . in addition, deliberative processes should be governed by the established rules of a rational discourse. in the theory of communicative action developed by the german philosopher jürgen habermas, the term discourse denotes a special form of a dialogue, in which all affected parties have equal rights and duties to present claims and test their validity in a context free of social or political domination (habermas (habermas , b . a discourse is called rational if it meets the following specific requirements (see mccarthy , habermas a , kemp , webler . all participants are obliged: • to seek a consensus on the procedure that they want to employ in order to derive the final decision or compromise, such as voting, sorting of positions, consensual decision making or the involvement of a mediator or arbitrator; • to articulate and criticize factual claims on the basis of the "state of the art" of scientific knowledge and other forms of problem-adequate knowledge; (in the case of dissent all relevant camps have the right to be represented); • to interpret factual evidence in accordance with the laws of formal logic and analytical reasoning; • to disclose their relevant values and preferences, thus avoiding hidden agendas and strategic game playing; and • to process data, arguments and evaluations in a structured format (for example a decision-analytic procedure) so that norms of procedural rationality are met and transparency can be created. the rules of deliberation do not necessarily include the demand for stakeholder or public involvement. deliberation can be organized in closed circles (such as conferences of catholic bishops, where the term has indeed been used since the council of nicosia), as well as in public forums. it may be wise to use the term "deliberative democracy" when one refers to the combination of deliberation and public or stakeholder involvement (see also cohen , rossi . what needs to be deliberated? firstly, deliberative processes are needed to define the role and relevance of systematic and anecdotal knowledge for making far-reaching choices. secondly, deliberation is needed to find the most appropriate way to deal with uncertainty in environmental decision making and to set efficient and fair trade-offs between potential over-and under-protection. thirdly, deliberation needs to address the wider concerns of the affected groups and the public at large. why can one expect that deliberative processes are better suited to deal with environmental challenges than using expert judgement, political majority votes or relying on public survey data? • deliberation can produce common understanding of the issues or the problems based on the joint learning experience of the participants with respect to systematic and anecdotal knowledge (webler and renn , pidgeon ). • deliberation can produce a common understanding of each party's position and argumentation and thus assist in a mental reconstruction of each actor's argumentation (warren , tuler . the main driver for gaining mutual understanding is empathy. the theory of communicative action provides further insights in how to mobilize empathy and how to use the mechanisms of empathy and normative reasoning to explore and generate common moral grounds (webler ). • deliberation can produce new options and novel solutions to a problem. this creative process can either be mobilized by finding win-win solutions or by discovering identical moral grounds on which new options can grow (renn ) . • deliberation has the potential to show and document the full scope of ambiguity associated with environmental problems. deliberation helps to make a society aware of the options, interpretations, and potential actions that are connected with the issue under investigation (wynne , de marchi and ravetz ) . each position within a deliberative discourse can only survive the crossfire of arguments and counter-arguments if it demonstrates internal consistency, compatibility with the legitimate range of knowledge claims and correspondence with the widely accepted norms and values of society. deliberation clarifies the problem, makes people aware of framing effects, and determines the limits of what could be called reasonable within the plurality of interpretations (skillington ) . • deliberations can also produce agreements. the minimal agreement may be a consensus about dissent (raiffa ) . if all arguments are exchanged, participants know why they disagree. they may not be convinced that the arguments of the other side are true or morally strong enough to change their own position; but they understand the reasons why the opponents came to their conclusion. in the end, the deliberative process produces several consistent and -in their own domain -optimized positions that can be offered as package options to legal decision makers or the public. once these options have been subjected to public discourse and debate, political bodies, such as agencies or parliaments can make the final selection in accordance with the legitimate rules and institutional arrangements such as majority vote or executive order. final selections could also be performed by popular vote or referendum. • deliberation may result in consensus. often deliberative processes are used synonymously with consensus-seeking activities (coglianese ). this is a major misunderstanding. consensus is a possible outcome of deliberation, but not a mandatory requirement. if all participants find a new option that they all value more than the one option that they preferred when entering the deliberation, a "true" consensus is reached (renn ) . it is clear that finding such a consensus is the exception rather than the rule. consensus is either based on a win-win solution or a solution that serves the "common good" and each participant's interests and values better than any other solution. less stringent is the requirement of a tolerated consensus. such a consensus rests on the recognition that the selected decision option might serve the "common good" best, but on the expense of some interest violations or additional costs. in a tolerated consensus some participants voluntarily accept personal or group-specific losses in exchange for providing benefits to all of society. case studies have provided sufficient evidence that deliberation has produced a tolerated consensus solution, particularly in siting conflicts (one example in schneider et al. ) . consensus and tolerated consensus should be distinguished from compromise. a compromise is a product of bargaining where each side gradually reduces its claim to the opposing party until they reach an agreement (raiffa ) . all parties involved would rather choose the option that they preferred before starting deliberations, but since they cannot find a win-win situation or a morally superior alternative they look for a solution that they can "live with" knowing that it is the second or third best solution for them. compromising on an issue relies on full representation of all vested interests. in summary, many desirable products and accomplishments are associated with deliberation (chess et al. ) . depending on the structure of the discourse and the underlying rationale deliberative processes can: • enhance understanding; • generate new options; • decrease hostility and aggressive attitudes among the participants; • explore new problem framing; • enlighten legal policy-makers; • produce competent, fair and optimized solution packages; and • facilitate consensus, tolerated consensus and compromise. in a deliberative setting, participants exchange arguments, provide evidence for their claims and develop common criteria for balancing pros and cons. this task can be facilitated and often guided by using decision analytic tools (overview in merkhofer ) . decision theory provides a logical framework distinguishing action alternatives or options, consequences, likelihood of consequences, and value of consequences, where the valuation can be over multiple attributes that are weighted based on tradeoffs in multi-attribute utility analysis (edwards ) . a sequence of decisions and consequences may be considered, and use of mathematical models for predicting the environmental consequences of options may or may not be part of the process (humphreys , bardach , arvai et al. ): a) the structuring potential of decision analysis has been used in many participatory processes. it helps the facilitator of such processes to focus on one element during the deliberation, to sort out the central from the peripheral elements, provide a consistent reference structure for ordering arguments and observations and to synthesize multiple impressions, observations and arguments into a coherent framework. the structuring power of decision analysis has often been used without expanding the analysis into quantitative modelling. b) the second potential, agenda setting and sequencing, is also frequently applied in participatory settings. it often makes sense to start with problem definition, then develop the criteria for evaluation, generate options, assess consequences of options, and so on. c) the third potential, quantifying consequences, probabilities and relative weights and calculating expected utilities, is more controversial than the other two. whether the deliberative process should include a numerical analysis of utilities or engage the participants in a quantitative elicitation process is contested among participation practitioners . one side claims that quantifying helps participants to be more precise about their judgements and to be aware of the often painful trade-offs they are forced to make. in addition, quantification can make judgements more transparent to outside observers. the other side claims that quantification restricts the participants to the logic of numbers and reduces the complexity of argumentation into a mere trade-off game. many philosophers argue that quantification supports the illusion that all values can be traded off against other values and that complex problems can be reduced to simple linear combinations of utilities. one possible compromise between the two camps may be to have participants go through the quantification exercise as a means to help them clarify their thoughts and preferences, but make the final decisions on the basis of holistic judgements (renn ) . in this application of decision analytic procedures, the numerical results (i.e. for each option the sum over the utilities of each dimension multiplied by the weight of each dimension) of the decision process are not used as expression of the final judgement of the participant, but as a structuring aid to improve the participant's holistic, intuitive judgement. by pointing out potential discrepancies between the numerical model and the holistic judgements, the participants are forced to reflect upon their opinions and search for potential hidden motives or values that might explain the discrepancy. in a situation of major value conflicts, the deliberation process may involve soliciting a diverse set of viewpoints, and judgements need to be made on what sources of information are viewed as responsible and reliable. publication in scientific journals and peer review from scientists outside the government agency are the two most popular methods by which managers or organizers of deliberative processes try to limit what will be considered as acceptable evidence. other methods are to reach a consensus among the participants up front which expertise should be included in the deliberation or to appoint representatives of opposing science camps to explain their differences in public. in many cases, participants have strong reasons for questioning scientific orthodoxy and would like to have different science camps represented. many stakeholders in environmental decisions have access to expert scientists, and often such scientists will take leading roles in criticizing agency science. such discussions need to be managed so that disagreements among the scientific experts can be evaluated in terms of the validity of the evidence presented and the importance to the decision. it is essential in these situations to have a process in place that distinguishes between those evidence claims that all parties agree on, those where the factual base is shared but not its meaning for some quality criterion (such as "healthy" environment), and those where even the factual base is contested (foster ) . in the course of practical risk management different conflicts arise in deliberative settings that have to be dealt with in different ways. the main conflicts occur at the process level (how should the negotiations be conducted?), on the cognitive level (what is factually correct?), the interest level (what benefits me?), the value level (what is needed for a "good" life?) and the normative level (what can i expect of all involved?). these different conflict levels are addressed in this subsection. first of all, negotiations begin by specifying the method that structures the dialogue and the rights and duties of all participants. it is the task of the chairman or organizer to present and justify the implicit rules of the talks and negotiations. above and beyond this, the participants have to specify joint rules for decisions, the agenda, the role of the chairman, the order of hearings, etc. this should always be done according to the consensus principle. all partners in the negotiations have to be able to agree to the method. if no agreement is reached here the negotiations have to be interrupted or reorganized. once the negotiation method has been determined and, in a first stage, the values, standards and objectives needed for judgement have been agreed jointly, then follows the exchange of arguments and counter arguments. in accordance with decision theory, four stages of validation occur: • in a first stage, the values and standards accepted by the participants are translated into criteria and then into indicators (measurement instructions). this translation needs the consensual agreement of all participants. experts are asked to assess the available options with regard to each indicator according to the best of their knowledge (factual correctness). in this context it makes more sense to specify a joint methodological procedure or a consensus about the experts to be questioned than to give each group the freedom to have the indicators answered by their own experts. often many potential consequences remain disputed as a result of this process, especially if they are uncertain. however, the bandwidth of possible opinions is more or less restricted depending on the level of certainty and clarity associated with the issue in question. consensus on dissent is also of help here in separating contentious factual claims from undisputed ones and thus promotes further discussion. • in a second stage, all participating parties are required to interpret bandwidths of impacts to be expected for each criterion. interpretation means linking factual statements with values and interests to form a balanced overall judgement (conflicts of interests and values). this judgement can and should be made separately for each indicator. in this way, each of the chains of causes for judgements can be understood better and criticized in the course of the negotiations. for example, the question of trustworthiness of the respective risk management agencies may play an important role in the interpretation of an expected risk value. then it is the duty of the participating parties to scrutinize the previous performance of the authority concerned and propose institutional changes where appropriate. • third stage: even if there were a joint assessment and interpretation for every indicator, this would by no means signify that agreement is at hand. much rather, the participants' different judgements about decisionmaking options may be a result of different value weightings for the indicators that are used as a basis for the values and standards. for example, a committed environmentalist may give much more weight to the indicator for conservation than to the indicator of efficiency. in the literature on game theory, this conflict is considered to be insoluble unless one of the participants can persuade the other to change his preference by means of compensation payments (for example, in the form of special benefits), transfer services (for example, in the form of a special service) or swap transactions (do, ut des). in reality, however, it can be seen that participants in negotiations are definitely open to the arguments of the other participants (i.e. they may renounce their first preference) if the loss of benefit is still tolerable for them and, at the same time, the proposed solution is considered to be "conducive to the common good", i.e. is seen as socially desirable in public perception. if no consensus is reached, a compromise solution can and should be reached, in which a 'fair' distribution of burdens and profits is accomplished. • fourth stage: when weighing up options for action formal methods of balancing assessment can be used. of these methods, the cost-benefit analysis and the multi-attribute or multi-criteria decision have proved their worth. the first method is largely based on the approach of revealed "preferences", i.e. on people's preferences shown in the past expressed in relative prices, the second on the approach of "expressed preferences", i.e. the explicit indication of relative weightings between the various cost and benefit dimensions (fischhoff et al. ) . but both methods are only aids in weighing up and cannot replace an ethical reflection of the advantages and disadvantages. normative conflicts pose special problems because different evaluative criteria can always be classified as equally justifiable or unjustifiable as explained earlier. for this reason, most ethicists assume that different types and schools of ethical justification can claim parallel validity, it therefore remains up to the groups involved to choose the type of ethically legitimate justification that they want to use (ropohl , renn . nevertheless, the limits of particular justifications are trespassed wherever primary principles accepted by all are infringed (such as human rights). otherwise, standards should be classed as legitimate if they can be defended within the framework of ethical reasoning and if they do not contradict universal standards that are seen as binding for all. in this process conflicts can and will arise, e.g. that legitimate derivations of standards from the perspective of group a contradict the equally legitimate derivations of group b (shrader-frechette ). in order to reach a jointly supported selection of standards, either a portfolio of standards that can claim parallel validity should be drawn up or compensation solutions will have to be created in which one party compensates the other for giving up its legitimate options for action in favour of a common option. when choosing possible options for action or standards, options that infringe categorical principles, for example, to endangering the systematic ability of the natural environment to function for human use in the future and thus exceeding the limits of tolerability are not tolerable even if they imply major benefits to society. at the same time, all sub-dominant options have to be excluded. frequently sub-dominant solutions, i.e. those that perform worse than all other options with regard to all criteria at least in the long term, are so attractive because they promise benefits in the short term although they entail losses in the long term, even if high interest rates are assumed. often people or groups have no choice other than to choose the sub-dominant solution because all other options are closed to them due to a lack of resources. if large numbers of groups or many individuals act in this way, global risks become unmanageable (beck ) . to avoid these risks intermediate financing or compensation by third parties should be considered. the objective of this last section of chapter was to address and discuss the use of decision analytic tools and structuring aids for participatory processes in environmental management. organizing and structuring discourses goes beyond the good intention to have all relevant stakeholders involved in decision making. the mere desire to initiate a two-way communication process and the willingness to listen to stakeholder concerns are not sufficient. discursive processes need a structure that assures the integration of technical expertise, regulatory requirements, and public values. these different inputs should be combined in such a fashion that they contribute to the deliberation process the type of expertise and knowledge that can claim legitimacy within a rational decision-making procedure (von schomberg ). it does not make sense to replace technical expertise with vague public perceptions, nor is it justified to have the experts insert their own value judgements into what ought to be a democratic process. decision analytic tools can be of great value for structuring participatory processes. they can provide assistance in problem structuring, in dealing with complex scientific issues and uncertainty, and in helping a diverse group to understand disagreements and ambiguity with respect to values and preferences. decision analysis tools should be used with care. they do not provide an algorithm to reach an answer as to what is the best decision. rather, decision analysis is a formal framework that can be used for environmental assessment and risk handling to explore difficult issues, to focus debate and further analysis on the factors most important to the decision, and to provide for increased transparency and more effective exchange of information and opinions among the process participants. the basic concepts are relatively simple and can be implemented with a minimum of mathematics (hammond et al. ) . many participation organizers have restricted the use of decision analytic tools to assist participants in structuring problems and ordering concerns and evaluations, and have refrained from going further into quantitative trade-off analysis. others have advocated quantitative modelling as a clarification tool for making value conflicts more transparent to the participants. the full power of decision analysis for complex environmental problem may require mathematical models and probability assessment. experienced analysts may be needed to guide the implementation of these analytical tools for aiding decisions. skilled communicators and facilitators may be needed to achieve effective interaction between analysts and participants in the deliberative process whose exposure to advanced analytical decision aids is much less, so that understanding of both process and substance, and therefore transparency and trust, can be achieved. many risk management agencies are already making use of decision analysis tools. we urge them to use these tools in the context of an iterative, deliberative process with broad participation by the interested and affected parties to the decision in the context of the risk governance framework. the analytical methods, the data and judgement, and the 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sprachlichen kommunikation? in: giegel biophilia: the human bond with other species rio" oder die moralische verpflichtung zum erhalt der natürlichen vielfalt risk and social learning: reification to engagement die modernisierung der demokratie im zeichen der umweltproblematik wandelt sich die verantwortung mit technischem wandel? key: cord- -oh ucair authors: gambaro, giovanni; piccoli, giorgina b. title: nothing will ever be as before. reflections on the covid- epidemics by nephrologists in eleven countries date: - - journal: j nephrol doi: . /s - - - sha: doc_id: cord_uid: oh ucair nan overlooked the importance of the "italian flu", the importance of the lombardy crisis was immediately clear [ , ] . in verona, the lombardy experience led to a rapid upgrade of our procedures: our division established procedures against covid- very early, based on the guidelines of the italian society of nephrology and the experience of lombardy colleagues. in bari, as soon as the covid- epidemic spread in the north of italy, a covid centre was established in a -floor building in my hospital, including internal medicine, pneumology, infectious diseases, nephrology, intensive care and medicine wards. the italian and european experience was useful for many. in canada, our hospital started to organize things in early march, since we had the opportunity to learn from what happened in europe (france, italy…), although it is quite difficult to prepare for a situation like this. over beds were reserved in the province of quebec for potential patients with covid. all non-essential medical activities were suspended in advance, particularly non-urgent surgeries. so far, we are ok for equipment. outbreaks and high mortality rates in long-term healthcare facilities currently remain the major challenge here. in the hospital dedicated to high-risk pregnancy in mexico city, we prepared approximately days before the arrival of the first case. however, we did not have much personal protective equipment but we quickly received many donations from the population and from private initiatives. in adelaide, after covid- cases started escalating dramatically, the hospital worked quickly to become prepared. the logistics of the hospital workflow was changed to have a dedicated covid team made up of general medicine physicians. the medical workforce was changed to allow doctors to be deployed to areas of greater need. new doctors were employed to help cover the increased workload. elective surgery and live and deceased donor transplantation were paused. there was enough ppe with simple masks in our hospital as the supply chain is local, however it was unclear if there would be enough n masks if there was a surge of infections. there was a large amount of planning to get the hospital ready to deal with a flood of covid- infections. luckily, we were able to slow the transmission early and this was mostly not required. in such a context, a few days can make a big difference, as our colleague in paris reports: our hospital was up against covid- at the beginning of march. during february, the hospital was not prepared to face the covid- epidemics. but with the outbreak of covid- in the north of italy and in the east of france, the worry increased and it allowed us to think about our future organization. the first covid- positive patient was admitted to our hospital on th february, . at the beginning (..) few people were wearing masks. rapidly, a lot of new patients were diagnosed, and many health workers were infected. the first patient in our haemodialysis division was diagnosed on th march, and admitted to the intensive care unit. six days before, we were warned by the publication of the experience of our chinese colleagues, and we transposed the guidelines from the chinese and taiwanese society of nephrology (…). however, many were less fortunate, and not only in developing countries. as one colleague wrote: unfortunately, my hospital and nephrology clinic were not prepared to deal with the covid epidemic, especially considering the who guidelines issued as early as february . in short, we were clearly behind the virus. as our reporter in new york says, new solutions have to be found, since nobody was fully prepared: what we experienced during the peak of the pandemic in new york city during the first week of april collapsed every preparation we had, as the number of patients with acute kidney injury in the setting of covid- was higher than expected (…). the vast influx of patients presenting aggressive metabolic abnormalities (…) rapidly overwhelmed our capacities. as a result we were mandated to come up with strategies to mitigate the burden imposed to our dialysis services. of all, one of the strategies with high impact and success in doing this was the opening of the acute peritoneal dialysis program. and from russia: when the covid- pandemic reached moscow, my hospital was not dedicated to covid- patients, later on a special unit was selected for suspected cases, and last week we opened a covid- center ( buildings). initially we were supposed to be "clean", procedure and logistics developed in rush. however, all hospital stuff got a short training course. very soon patient's triage started, the "red zone" was equipped with ppe's, and presently doctors and nurses, recruited for work in the covid centre get special training. life changed for many. our young colleague in bari reports: everyday life has been totally revolutionized by the covid- pandemic. we are making sacrifices that nobody would have imagined. before the pandemic, i spent most of my days working. everyday working life was very different, however. i shared every moment of the day with my colleagues. we shared work decisions and difficulties but with convivial and collective breaks. after work, i spent most of my evenings out with my friends or colleagues. this pandemic forced us to give up our "family environment" at work. we are working with physically and mentally heavier rhythms. we are few at work. we eat at different times to reduce contacts. i avoid contacts with my colleagues as much as possible. we have given up what made our job so beautiful. now i leave home only to go to work. i live alone, so i have no social contacts except with my colleagues in the workplace. i haven't been home to my parents since late february. in london, sadness for the many losses, especially of dialysis patients, is also accompanied by some hope for a better future. daily routine, before crisis: ward rounds, clinics, academic work, meetings, and never being able to breathe or catch up, let alone stop to think. during crisis: still heavy ward rounds, with many sad outcomes, but clinics now virtual, meetings virtual and more focused, more time to chat to colleagues (keeping m distance of course!), encouragement to take rest (never before uttered in the history of the nhs). overall an increase in productivity, new ways of thinking and doing, and paradoxically, happiness at work. the adaptation to a crisis that, as our colleague in switzerland underlines, paralyzed all research activities, was not easy for many: we were not allowed to see ambulatory patients anymore except for urgent consultations but hundreds of phone calls had to be answered by us especially in the first weeks because patients were very confused and desperate. regrets are nicely described by our colleague in barcelona: one of the big changes after the epidemics hit was renouncing social life. april is the month in which people start to go to the beach in barcelona, just to have a walk, play beach volleyball, have some tapas with a cerveza or go swimming (the bravest). after the winter i was eager to enjoy the spring but for the moment we have to wait to go back to the beach (one more year?). in moscow: before the epidemic everything was, say, "normal". after-planned hospital admissions closed, kidney biopsy temporarily stopped, we admit only emergencies. therefore, instead of nephrotic syndrome, lupus nephritis, renal amyloidosis and other "classic" nephrology patients, we now deal with avf thrombosis, catheter-associated bloodstream infections, dialysis peritonitis, acute graft dysfunction…. the work is more or less hectic. (…). in belgium, our colleague described silence (figs. , ) : my day starts with ppe for low risk situations. i then check the urgent cases (there are few at the moment because of quarantine and low patient movement). consultations have been replaced by teleconsultations. the logistics of our dialysis unit had to be adapted (…). students were exempted from in-hospital training, resulting in less teaching time. the days are marked by silence. no-one was fully prepared, and many things were unexpected. some regard the disease: our colleague in verona underlines the rapidly worsening symptoms of patients who need admission to icu: a few hours before they were breathing normally and few hours later they didn't breath anymore. as louis gutiérrez larrauri, who works in a large public hospital in mexico city, serving a disadvantaged population, points out: i am surprised by the number of young seriously ill patients. i am surprised when i get to an area where many patients are treated, and where there were many sounds, and many familiar noises. now the place has been transformed (…) and the predominant sound is now the alarms of mechanical ventilators, infusion pumps and hemodialysis machines. now it´s an alien place for everyone. emanuela cataldo a young nephrologist working in a covid unit in bari, talks about loneliness in a surreal scenario: this pandemic took two fundamental things away from me: freedom and close contact with people. only now do i realize how precious little freedoms, such as human relationships, passions, going out are. (…) nobody would have thought of giving up these inalienable rights. furthermore, this pandemic took away the most beautiful aspect of my job: living humanity fully. the scenario of social distancing is surreal, especially for the doctors. i think that non-verbal language is fundamental in the relationship with patients. hospitalized patients see only our half-covered faces. we are not allowed to hug them. our sense of fear, loneliness and distance is only a droplet when compared to the sense of bewilderment and the need for comfort of our patients distant from their families and from their trusted doctors. but there is also a bright side, as our colleagues, in barcelona, brussels and adelaide underline: i have never breathed such a climate of mutual collaboration and understanding among colleagues and i hope it will continue for a long time after the epidemics. and: we have been impressed by the professional commitment of our staff to providing high quality care for all our patients. when georgina irish, a nephrologist in adelaide, went back to work after two weeks of quarantine, the organization had changed and there was fear for the future and for our patients. yet, what had not changed was the camaraderie and resilience amongst our colleagues. the ability to support each other whilst rising to a challenge is one of the greatest strengths of the nephrology team. from paris, pierre-antoine michel, who admits he enjoys jogging between home and the hospital because buses are passing less frequently, reports: what surprised me most was the surge of public support for caregivers and the commitment of many volunteers and all hospital staff despite the fear of the virus. and, further: paradoxically, this allows me to have a little more time to eat, we benefit from the hospital with a very tasty meal tray which lets a little ray of sunshine into our day. i worked sessions for consecutive days but fatigue is not felt too much because we are kept going by the enthusiasm of the nursing team, by the kindness of many people and by the impression of being useful. this commitment gives meaning to our days. patients' reactions are likewise a lesson, as alejandra orozco, a nephrologist in the largest referral maternal hospital in mexico city points out: i'm amazed how strong a mother can be during a critical moment. i´m surprised at the strength she has to live for her baby. there is no better definition of fear, than in these words from emanuela: working with covid patients makes you feel their desperate condition. people live the disease in total solitude, far from their family, in contact with medical staff recognizable only by the eyes visible under the big overalls. they often die in total loneliness. this is the strongest image that i associate with the term fear. and it is such a strong image that i fear it will condition our lives forever. while many only wish to emerge healthy from this devastating experience, since, as louis says, i wish to remain healthy, because that way i can take care of the rest, shared fears are for parents and grandparents, the most fragile family members. as alejandra says, i´m scared i'll infect my loved ones, i'm not afraid to die. i know that nothing will ever be like before. facing the infection strengthens social bonds, as pierre-antoine points out: my other fear would be a serious form and, even worse, the death of a member of our healthcare team or their families. dealing with the epidemic has created the nightmarish scenario of having to choose between life and death. our colleagues in canada and australia underline the fear of having to deal with this ethical dilemma: my biggest fear was having the healthcare system overwhelmed to the point that treatment needed to be rationed based on age cut offs. we do not want to choose between patients to treat and others that will not be treated. in fact, when asked to list three aladdin-lamp wishes, along with a vaccine and the health of their loved ones, our colleagues voiced their hope to see a profound social and global perception of the link between social and planetary health and the present crisis. the wishes from russia were for the world-a global net of environmentally friendly rubbish recycling factories; for my country-unselfish and competent government whose main goal is the welfare of the community and development of the country. from new york, after the craziest phase of the epidemic, our colleague expresses his wishes as follows: i wish the power of reason, as people need to see that the world can't be the same as it was before and that we all need to support each other as we are all vulnerable. while many only want to return to "normal life", our australian colleague would like to put the clock back, wishing that covid- had never happened, or since it did, that we had taken steps earlier to curb its spread. lessons have been learnt, and should not be forgotten as our belgian and italian colleagues point out: please stop this outbreak now, we are aware of our vulnerabilities. i hope my nation always keeps the heart and strength that italians show in times of crisis. i wish that these scars will make me a better doctor. as the canadian doctor writes, we need to work together, to learn more about working together: we must stand and face this epidemic together. we need to help each other to pass through this and work together to find an effective therapy. a healthier planet and healthier governments are shared needs: i wish for greater cooperation and fraternity between countries. i wish for corruption to end, as this impedes social justice and the development of my country. pierre-antoine wishes: for the world, a change in the policy of excessive globalization which exposes us to climate change, to the economic and health fragility of many countries, including industrialized countries. i would like all countries to be united and no longer in competition or in trade wars. for france, a change to reinvesting significantly in public services (health, school, culture …) so that they are no longer seen as costs but as wealth. and, in the uk our colleague expresses his hopes and describes the lessons he has learnt: for the world, i wish that we can permanently secure some of the benefits of lockdown (more time with family, better relationships with colleagues, less pollution, gratitude for all the simple non-materialistic pleasures of life). for the uk, i wish that people can continue behaving respectfully as they are doing now, and that the government can be honest when they get things wrong. for myself, i would like to acquire antibodies without having the disease, and take forward the new momentum of a more intelligent and peaceful way of working. but let us finish on a lighter note, elena's music: personal wishes: for myself-the talent of a blues singer. the last word comes from emanuela: i finally hope aladdin's lamp works. reflections on life in the time of the coronavirus pandemic, from the viewpoint of two people who have experienced dialysis and kidney transplantation a view from the front line of the covid- war facing covid- in italy-ethics, logistics, and therapeutics on the epidemic's front line key: cord- - wfjiqm authors: rueda-garrido, juan carlos; vicente-herrero, mª teofila; del campo, mª teresa; reinoso-barbero, luis; de la hoz, rafael e; delclos, george l; kales, stefanos n; fernandez-montero, alejandro title: return to work guidelines for the covid- pandemic date: - - journal: occup med (lond) doi: . /occmed/kqaa sha: doc_id: cord_uid: wfjiqm nan the novel coronavirus or sars-cov- has spread worldwide since first being detected in china in december . it has been declared a global health emergency by the world health organization [ ] , and public health measures have been applied, including social distancing, work restrictions and home-working promotion. as many countries have flattened the epidemic curve, they are now examining strategies to reopen their economies, requiring evidence-based strategies to return workers to their jobs in the safest way possible. occupational physicians can play key roles in monitoring workers' health and developing effective return to work guidelines. along with clinical presentation, laboratory tests provide added value to confirm the diagnosis and the stage of covid- . rapid tests based on viral antigen or antibody detection are often scarce [ ] . the use of reverse transcriptasepolymerase chain reaction (rt-pcr), based on viral-rna detection, may be limited to high-risk patients, healthcare and first-responder personnel. the spanish society of infectious diseases and clinical microbiology and other societies [ ] [ ] [ ] have established that rt-pcr can remain positive for up to month in patients who are no longer contagious [ ] . rt-pcr is a useful diagnostic test in covid- , but used alone qualitatively (positive or negative), it may be inadequate to determine the end of a covid- -affected worker's isolation. the combined use of sars-cov- viral-rna detection and serological antibody determination could improve the management of covid- patients, but timing is important. doing tests too early may result in test repetition and waste of resources, whereas delaying tests may delay return to work. the best strategy, preventing any contagious worker from entering/re-entering the workplace based on large-scale screening, is usually not available. therefore, best practice for safe return to work after covid- requires accurately identifying the final phases of the disease, where the worker is clinically recovered and no longer contagious. as laboratory tests are limited, we propose the combined use of: clinical parameters based on clinical evolution and days since exposure [ ] [ ] [ ] . the isolated use of clinical criteria without laboratory support for return to work decisions would only be justified in circumstances where laboratory tests are unavailable [ , , ] . genomic tests (viral-rna detection) have been the primary diagnostic and 'proof of cure' tests during the pandemic. a negative rt-pcr has been commonly used as a requirement for return to work, but it may remain positive for weeks after clinical recovery [ ] . the cycle threshold (ct) value of the quantitative rt-pcr has been correlated with infectivity, suggesting that people with ct values above - are no longer contagious because virus can no longer be grown in cell cultures from samples exceeding that cut-off [ ] . more studies are needed to confirm this result and employ ct as a criterion in clinical practice. serological tests (detection of antibodies) are an alternative approach based on the worker's immune response to the viral infection. positive igm titres generally reflect acute infection, whereas positive igg titres indicate convalescent or past disease. however, there are insufficient data to estimate the level of igg titres required to be protective and the duration of immunity [ , , ] . we conducted a literature review using the search terms 'coronavirus' and 'workers' and 'return to work' in pubmed for original publications written in english from december to april . more than publications were found but based on review of titles and abstracts, we found no articles specifically addressing return to work guidelines. therefore, to develop evidence-based return to work guidelines, articles based on coronavirus diagnosis using genomic and serological testing and articles related to infectivity and immunity were reviewed with the same dates and criteria. local european guidelines, and us_cdc reports were also consulted. a panel of experts was then convened by the spanish association of occupational medicine (aeemt) to discuss and elaborate return to work guidelines. until a vaccine or herd immunity is established, we propose the following return to work strategies. all workers must remain isolated at home for the duration of any significant symptoms. depending on the worker's relative future risk of exposure to sars-cov- and persons at risk for infection, there are two different scenarios: workers at higher risk of exposure: existence of a double high-risk (high risk for the worker, and high risk from the worker to third parties), despite the proper use of personal protective equipment, contact with patients is possible. this group includes essential workers such as healthcare workers (physicians, nurses, hospital laboratory technicians and other healthcare workers) or public safety workers (police, fire and ambulance). in this group, we propose the algorithms summarized in figure . workers with lower risk of exposure: activities that, with the use of general and collective protective figure . return to work guideline for higher risk workers with covid- . equipment and social distancing, do not present a greater than average population risk of exposure. in this second occupational group, we propose the algorithms summarized in figure . employees who are household contacts of covid- patients represent another unique group due to the potential incubation latency from initial exposure to secondary infections. for return to work of covid- close contacts, we propose the algorithms summarized in figure . a separate issue is the reintroduction of employees who have worked remotely during the pandemic to the physical workplace. for this group, we propose a gradual and staggered return to work [ ] . each organization should establish its own pace to progressively bring employees back according to each worker's need to physically attend work, the strategic interests of the employer and the individual vulnerabilities of each worker [ ] . according to covid- susceptibility, home-workers could gradually return to the workplace in the following order: firstly, not particularly susceptible workers (employees < without underlying health conditions); secondly, workers from - years old, without underlying health conditions; next workers > without underlying health conditions; and lastly vulnerable workers. close follow-up of the workforce upon return should be undertaken [ ] . in conclusion, return to work guidelines in any pandemic will depend on the state of the local epidemic, the nature and conditions of each job and on the availability of testing. guidelines need to be reviewed and updated over time as local epidemic status and supplies may change. in the current situation with a high rate of transmission and limited testing resources, it is important to differentiate between high-and low-risk workers. while low-risk workers' guidelines may rely on clinical criteria, more specific testingbased strategies should be used for high-risk workers. world health organization development and clinical application of a rapid igm-igg combined antibody test for sars-cov- infection diagnosis alta al personal sanitario por covid virological assessment of hospitalized patients with covid- viral rna load as determined by cell culture as a management tool for discharge of sars-cov- patients from infectious disease wards temporal profiles of viral load in posterior oropharyngeal saliva samples and serum antibody responses during infection by sars-cov- : an observational cohort study centers for disease control and prevention clinical characteristics of coronavirus disease in china european centre for disease prevention and control. guidance for discharge and ending isolation in the context of widespread community transmission of covid- centers for disease control and prevention. criteria for return to work for healthcare personnel with suspected or confirmed covid- (interim guidance coronavirus disease (covid- ) pandemic: increased transmission in the eu/eea and the uk -seventh update ny state protocols for essential personnel to return to work following covid- exposure or infection antibody responses to sars-cov- in patients of novel coronavirus disease epidemiological characteristics of covid- in shaanxi province propuesta de intervenciones de salud pública para el control de la infección sarscov- en la comunidad. salida coordinada del confinamiento why is it difficult to accurately predict the covid- epidemic? key: cord- -zizyxb y authors: baptista, joão; stein, mari-klara; klein, stefan; watson-manheim, mary beth; lee, jungwoo title: digital work and organisational transformation: emergent digital/human work configurations in modern organisations date: - - journal: nan doi: . /j.jsis. . sha: doc_id: cord_uid: zizyxb y abstract workplace technologies are more central to working in organisations than ever before. these technologies began as instrumental aids to support office work of individuals but have since also become the basis for social interactions and community building in organisations and more recently become able to perform managerial roles with the use of advanced ai capabilities. our call for papers to this special issue invited original studies to go further and advance our thinking on the strategic implications of this layered evolution of workplace technologies on work and the structure of organisations. in this introduction, we synthesise the main themes from the special issue, and also ongoing dialogues with the growing community at the regular ais / ifip . workshop on the changing nature of work. a key observation is that the work involved in configuring emergent digital/human configurations, is vastly under-reported and poorly understood. paradoxically, this configuring work is the most demanding and critical in the shaping of modern organisations. we suggest that this type of largely invisible work requires engagement beyond the level of execution or even the meaning of work, it requires intervening with third order effects that get to the core of what an organisation is. we highlight the challenges for organisations in dealing with third order change, particularly because these effects are beyond existing frames of reference and require more dynamic and supple responses based on the values, purpose andintent dominantin the organisation – we describe this as structural digital work. leaders that are unable or unwilling to engage with effects at this level, and this type of work, will miss identifying core opportunities and risks associated with digital transformation emerging in organisations. we also reflect on the value of current theories and methods used to research this important and emergent phenomenon. in this special issue, we publish original research on strategic perspectives on the future of work and the digital transformation of modern organisations. our call for papers (baptista et al., a) invited submission of academic studies investigating the adoption of workplace technologies in organisations with an emphasis on implications for strategy and the nature of organising. suggested topics in the call for papers included, understanding the effects of workplace technologies on new dynamics and patterns of work, new structures and ways of organising, new capabilities and work practices, emerging leadership styles, and places and spaces of work with an outlook into the future of organising. we also hoped to use this effort to question the usefulness of extant theories and methods to study the deeper effects of digital workplace technologies on organisations, aiming to contributing with new concepts and theories that better reflect and respond to the emergent dynamics of digital work in modern organisations. we are delighted to introduce four papers that form the basis of this special issue. in this introduction, we discuss the significance https://doi.org/ . /j.jsis. . a few words about the special issue process: the call for papers was published in issue no. of jsis in . interested authors could meet with of these papers and provide a broad view and conceptual foundation for studying the future of work in modern organisations. since we accepted the papers, organisations and the world of work have been pushed further towards digital forms of organising in response to covid- -related restrictions. this has made the ideas in this special issue even more significant and relevant. we hope that this special issue offers both a meaningful framework for future research on digital work, but also more clarity on the effects of the shift towards digital working in organisations during and after the current crisis. each of the four papers provides a distinct but complementary viewpoint on digital work and emergent dynamics in the workplace. in no particular order, the paper by morton et al. captures the introduction of a new digital platform to support strategy work and conceptualises the emergence of new work by senior leaders, and the structures needed to integrate more voices in strategic activity in the organisation. the paper by rahrovani captures the effort required by community leaders to stabilise and create a convergence of logics of meaning in a digital platform after expanding and opening it up to new members. the paper by grønsund and aanestad reveals the work involved in the gradual and deep integration of advanced algorithmic analysis of open data feeds into strategic business processes and organisational structures. the authors reflect on the impact on individual roles, skills and group capabilities as the organization learnt to control, contextualize and complement automatically generated data. the paper by rossi et al. shows employees crafting workspaces by assembling various digital workplace systems needed to do their day to day work. the paper then conceptualises this effort to create both flexible and stable structures to support the work. review of these four papers reveals how deeply embedded workplace technologies have become within organisations, while also showing how this process creates new types of work and influences the emergence of new structures and capabilities in organisations in response to the evolving nature of these technologies. while early research on digital workplace technologies such as email and intranets, captured the immediate and surface-level effects of these technologies cecez-kecmanovic et al., ; bansler et al., ; markus, ; lee, ; butler, ) , what we observe now is the introduction of more advanced workplace technologies in organisations, while older technologies are becoming increasingly embedded in the fabric of organisations. the evolutionary use of workplace technologies in organisations over the last two decades has hybridised their use with human activities in organisations, forming complex (benbya et al., ) and emergent human-in-the-loop (rai et al., ) or meta-human configurations as new forms of socio-technical systems not seen before (lyytinen et al., ) . this provides researchers with a challenge to capture the deep effects of workplace technologies in organisations (silva and hirschheim, ) and emergent human-technology configurations (suchman, ) so we can understand their strategic significance to organisations, leadership and business (dery et al., ; heavey et al., tavakoli et al., ) . in this introduction, we conceptualise both the surface and deeper effects of workplace technologies on the patterns and nature of work and the structure of organisations, and relate them to the emergence of new types of configurations between humans and technology (suchman, ) . from this conceptual perspective, we then analyse the four papers in this special issue to demonstrate the relevance and value of these ideas and concepts. our discussion then provides research directions and we reflect on the value of previous theories to explain the emergent dynamic and mutual shaping effects of workplace technologies on modern organisations. ultimately, we hope to indicate a pathway to develop more relevant theoretical approaches to study the deep effects of advanced technologies to support work in modern organisations. workplace technologies have evolved from basic discrete office applications to connected digital platforms (leonardi et al., ) with elements of automation and embedded ai-driven self-learning capabilities in today's digital workplaces (lyytinen et al., ; faraj et al., ) . this evolution in scope (martini et al., ) , complexity and depth of integration into the fabric of organisations is not well understood. further, workplace technologies have largely been neglected and underrepresented in academic research in favour of greater attention to business and enterprise systems, which have also evolved towards distributed platforms. however, while the impact of enterprise systems stems from their interplay with business models, the disruptive effects of workplace technologies on the nature of work and dynamics of organising (baptista et al., b , stein et al., arise from the co-evolution of these technologies interplaying with the social fabric of organisations (baptista, ; clarke and preece, ) . we look back at the evolution of workplace technologies to offer a conceptual basis for understanding their evolving significance in organisations. broadly speaking, workplace technologies refer to a range of digital services that enable work within organisations. these range from office applications to integrated smac (social, mobile, analytics and cloud) technologies and smart sensing technologies using enterprise of things, smart agents, workplace robots, and self-learning algorithms (attaran et al., ) . we see a gradual layering of progressively more complex workplace technologies within organisations (kane, ) , from early workplace technologies based on individual office applications (individual tools layer) to email, intranets, collaboration platforms and social media (group and community layer) and, more recently, to advanced workplace technologies that add sensing devices, ai and cognitive knowledge and collaboration systems, robotic process automation and integrated digital platforms of work (intelligent augmentation layer). research in this area has captured the nature and affordances of workplace technologies (vaast and kaganer, ; treem and leonardi, ; leonardi and vaast, ) but most of this research takes an instrumental view of these technologies by linking features of workplace technologies with more immediate behaviours and practices that contribute to performance, connectedness, knowledge sharing and collective action (rice et al., ; saebø et al., ; majchrzak et al., ; kuegler et al., ; von krogh, ) . academic research is only recently starting to appreciate the deeper effects on organisations associated with these technologies (riemer et al., ; majchrzak et al., ; spagnoletti et al., ; aral et al., ; hutter et al., ; baptista et al., ) , and taking the first steps to study the distinct nature of a new generation of workplace technologies based on self-determining platforms with artificial intelligence (ai) that can dynamically anticipate and respond to the needs and intentions of workers (schuetz and venkatesh, ; lyytinen et al., ) . the emerging complex human and machine collaborations (benbya et al., ; rai et al., ) move the role and nature of workplace technologies beyond merely having an instrumental and supporting role to humans in organisations (riemer and peters, forthcoming) . of course, standalone software applications are still being used for discrete and well defined processes and activities at the local level, such as spreadsheets for inventory management, but it is the way these individual applications become homogenised within a largely automated data-driven "information continents" (lee, a, lamb and davidson, ) that transforms work, blurring the lines between the performativity of users and the performativity of technology (watson-manheim and klein, ) . this highlights the importance of describing and qualifying the distinct nature of these evolving layers of workplace technologies so that we become aware of emerging effects associated with more advanced workplace technologies in organisations. while earlier workplace technologies were instrumental in support of discrete office tasks of individuals, the advent of email, intranets and social media, connected workers to form communities demanding effort to manage conversations and interactions at the social and meaning level (gibbs et al., ) . more recently, we have seen the introduction of sophisticated algorithmic features and ai capabilities that leverage information and the features of individual and social workplace technologies to establish patterns of use that aim to anticipate worker and organisational needs and connect people with knowledge, and in some cases perform management functions, raising the possibility of removing the human from the loop. table summarises the functions and characteristics of these three layers of workplace technologies and suggests expected effects on the type of work associated with each layer. in some cases, work in organisations may be aided by multi-layered, evolving technologies, combining instrumental, collaborative and algorithmic features, e.g. in order to collectively work on documents or coordinate project contributions. in other cases, technologies may automate certain tasks to the extent that no human work is needed to perform those tasks, however in those cases, human work then shifts towards effort to integrate automated processes within established activities in the organisation. we wanted to interrogate these complex effects to gain a deeper and clearer understanding of how workplace technologies are changing organisational work, whose work is being changed, and the potential for this to disrupt established structures in organisations. to observe and conceptualise these complex effects, we need to go beyond the direct and first-order effects, and consider second-, and third-order effects of change (bartunek and moch, ) . as new types of digital workplace technologies have evolved from supporting functional tasks towards becoming embedded in organisational discourse and meaning, they have impacted on core aspects of the organisation and how it does business.. they have also come to play a heightened role in organisational transformation (vial, ) and in the rewiring of the organisation at deeper levelsthis is considered next. drawing on bartunek and moch ( ) , we see first-order effects in the use of workplace technologies as effects that reinforce, enhance and evolve existing practices and understandings of work in organisations. first-order effects are therefore expected, intended and typically incremental effects of workplace technology use that do not change the overarching organisational systems already in place. we conceptualise first-order effects as convergent change (tushman and romanelli, ) , that is, a change process occurring within a relatively stable structure, such as when an organisation improves its efficiency and effectiveness without rethinking its core processes (besson and rowe, p. ). platforms integrating office applications with advanced social media features, and added sensing technologies to connect and leverage people, knowledge and learning capabilities using central automation and ai capabilities. potential to replace or augment human work and anticipate needs for knowledge and interactions in projects and work activities in organisations. distributed and integrated modular applications used within intelligent platforms that identify patterns and learn from use, with the potential to produce results and evolve without user intervention. partially self-determining and able to perform managerial roles. new types of complex digital work emerge centred on refining the "intelligence" of automated services, demanding managerial insight and effort to meaningfully assemble new work within the core of organisations. new types of digital work emerge centred on sharing information, and managing interactions and social connections, demanding greater effort to integrate individual work in the social fabric of the organisation. individual tools layer standalone applications to support individual office work and facilitate office tasks such as word processing, calculations on spreadsheets, presentation and publishing office applications, text-based emails. instrumental technologies that have specific roles and functions to support discrete office tasks. they are segregated by type and not integrated or connected. new types of digital work emerge centred on completing tasks fast and effectively, demanding limited effort to combine this with existing processes and practices. second-order effects are the result of the first-order effects that shift organisational schemata and social dynamics, and modify patterns of work and interactions. these unintended and typically unexpected effects trigger modifications in the organisational schemata, that is, the organising frameworks that guide cognitions, interpretations and actions of organisational actors (bartunek and moch, p. ). thus, we conceptualise second-order effects as transforming work where the established ways of thinking and acting are profoundly changing, but still within a given structure. this may happen, for example, when organisations adopt social media and other workplace technologies to stimulate a shift from efficiency-oriented work to innovation-oriented work but do so within their existing operating model. third-order effects occur in reaction to second-order effects. these are effects outside the scope of existing operating reference systems that emerge from the evolving organisational capacity to manage second-order effects and the resultant change in organisational schemata (bartunek and moch, ) . third-order effects represent the emergence of entirely new schemata, reshaping views about the nature of work and how it is done, and the corresponding organisational structures (silva and hirschheim, ) . by organisational structures, we refer to the fundamental values and governance structures of an organisation or its "deep structure". thus, we conceptualise third-order effects as transforming the organisation where the transformation in established ways of thinking and working, over time constitutes a fundamental transformation in the structure of organisations (besson and rowe, ) ; this conceptualisation echoes how recent research defines digital transformation as the (re)defining of the value proposition and identity of an organisation (wessel et al., in press) . the progressive nature of these effects means that we can only observe "effects of effects" over time because of the gradual and incremental sedimentation and hybridisation inherent in the process of mutual shaping between technology and human activities in organisations (baptista, ) . it is also becoming apparent that workplace technologies in the intelligent augmentation layer can have deeper and more profound second-and third-order effects because they touch and intervene in the core schemata and structures of organisations, reframing perspectives and shifting established human-technology configurations (suchman, (suchman, , , rather than reinforcing established frames of reference and configurations, which would be a first-order effect. emergent human-technology configurations are central to understanding the progressive nature of the first-, second-and thirdorder effects of workplace technologies in organisations. suchman conceptualises these configurations ( , ) as "how humans and machines are figured togetheror configuredin contemporary technological discourses and practices, and how they might be reconfigured, or figured together differently" (suchman, p. ). whilst first-order effects involve rudimentary configurations of human activity and digital technology, second-and third-order effects involve digital and human configurations of much greater complexity and scale, because they dynamically respond to the first-order effects. third-order effects involve changes of a greater magnitude, scale and depth. they reflect work and technology change that reconfigures established human-technology configurations, so they involve organisational transformation beyond improvements to the execution of tasks. drawing on the established notion of human-technology configurations (suchman, (suchman, , , we propose that the layered evolution of workplace technologies and their progressively more transformational effects demand a slight shift in thinking and terminology. we suggest instead the use of the term "digital/human configurations". this continues to recognize the relational association between the human and the technology and emphasises the effort and "work" involved in managing these configurations. explaining the notion of "configuration" suchman ( p. ) places great emphasis on the "figuring it out together" or "figuration" saying "to figure is to assign shape, designate what is to be made noticeable and consequential, to be taken as identifying". human intervention is therefore at the centre of configuration, but as described above, this effort has evolved in nature (from task execution to managing interactions, to refinement of automated work) and can for many workers become more demanding, less satisfying and, seemingly, less effectual (riemer and peters, forthcoming) as the configurations become more complex and layered. we put digital first in digital/human configurations to denote the emergence of new human digital work to manage these configurations where digital has an unprecedented role while human effort and endeavour is even more critical. further, we indicate the blurring of the lines between the performativity of humans and the performativity of technology (watson-manheim and klein, ) by replacing table defining first-, second-, and third-order effects of digital transformation. effects: immediate effects on organisational processes and activities changing the execution of tasks, involving more basic digital/human configurations. effort is necessary at the level of task execution to integrate new configurations with existing ones (effort that deals with questions such as "what is the task and how can we do it better?"). appropriation of layered workplace technologies creates unintended and unexpected changes in patterns and nature of work, leading to fundamental changes in organisational schemata observed only in hindsight. effects: more complex digital/human configurations emerge, stimulating new ways of thinking about the nature of work, with impacts on the meaning of work but within an existing frame of reference. effort is necessary at the level of meaning to "figure out" new configurations with existing ones (effort that deals with questions such as "what is work?"). appropriation of layered workplace technologies and the firstand second-order effects create new understandings in the nature of work and shifts in the deep structure of organisations. effects: emergent digital/human configurations challenge the deep structure of organisations, affecting the core of "what" an organisation is. effort is necessary at deeper levels of intentionality and purpose of the organisation to stabilise new configurations with existing ones (effort that deals with questions such as "what is the organisation?"). the hyphen with a forward slash. table summarises the three orders of effects of digital transformation. this perspective highlights that existing research has perhaps been overly focused on capturing affordances and properties of digital tools entering the workplace, and thus focused on first-order effects of these technologies in organisations. meanwhile, we have been underestimating the second-and third-order effects and the work involved in managing emergent digital/human configurations. this may be partially because these deeper effects are only now becoming more visible but also perhaps because our existing theories and methods have limited ability and scope to capture third-order effects (benbya et al., ) . we need theories that better recognise the hybridising and mutual shaping between digital and human aspects of work within organisations to study digital transformation; this need is recognised in the recent call for papers for a special issue of jais on "advancing theoretical perspectives on digital transformation" (markus and rowe, ) . these new theories need to be bold about agency in the doing of the digital work. with advanced workplace technologies, elements of platforms can be configured and assembled by humans to then have self-learning capabilities creating self-contained modules that perform tasks and operate independently, only requiring limited input from humans to manage exceptions (schuetz and venkatesh, ) . at the same time, human agency increasingly moves from task execution to the sharpening and integration of emergent automated routines in the organisation, such as deciding on variables to be monitored, interpreting what variables mean, looking for biases in results, and training the ai. accordingly, theories should allow for more flexible arrangements of agency in these advanced digital workplace platforms. above, we offered our two-fold conceptual perspective for understanding digital work and organisational transformation. first, we highlighted the different layers of evolving workplace technologies that are expected to fulfil increasingly sophisticated functions in organisations: from instrumental to collaborative to intelligent augmentation. second, we suggested that the layers of evolving workplace technologies can have both surface and deeper effects on all types of workers, patterns of work, and the deep structure of organisations. these effects involve the emergence of ever more complex digital/human configurations and new work to manage these configurations. we now demonstrate the usefulness of this conceptual foundation by analysing the studies covered in the four papers in this special issue. we use the concepts previously developed to analyse the papers in this special issue and capture insights on digital work and the effects of digital transformation on the future of organising. we review the papers by identifying the three orders of effects (convergent change, work transformation and organisational transformation) and the emerging digital/human configurations in each empirical study. we then reflect on the work involved in managing the emerging digital/human configurations in the next section. table summarises our review of the studies, with an extended vision of possible third-order effects based on our framework. as summarised in the table above, the four papers in this special issue provide insight into the emergence of digital/human configurations and the three orders of effects of digital transformation resulting from the mutual shaping between organisations and workplace technologies. in the next section, we explore implications of this for organisations and future research. we now discuss three key implications for research and practice of our analysis of the four papers above. we suggest future research to look into this newly emerging digital/human configuration work, from three different but interrelated perspectives: characterising, recognising, and envisioning. first, inherent characteristics of digital/human configuration need to be identified, studied, and refined as a basis for understanding this phenomenon in organisations. second, we stress the need to recognise digital/ human configuration work within the organisation in order to collectively improve configurations that work fairly and effectively. third, we highlight the need to continuously envision digital/human configuration as part of the structural digital work necessary to guide the development of these emergent new assemblages in organisations. • implication and research direction # : characterising digital/human configuration work as seen, digital/human configurations are assembled arrangements between digital features and human intent and performative actions within organisations. simple assemblages evolve to be increasingly complex configurations as new and more advanced technologies overlay simpler workplace technologies. these configurations emerge initially to enhance and augment work activities but effort to manage them grows more pronounced as they evolve to become more deeply woven into the activities of individuals and the fabric of organisations. this effort demands human ingenuity and innovation to generate, adapt and sustain productive and meaningful digital/human configurations within organisations. our perspective highlights the intensity of the human effort required to create and stabilise emergent digital/human configurations, and the work involved in maintaining these structures. as seen, individuals are critical in this context. producing meaningful assemblages at the local level demands skilful effort to render features of these digital platforms in relation to local tasks and established structures in organisations. crafting these configurations involves effort at the task level (e.g., making sure new tools are integrated into established practices or automated tools perform properly) and effort at the level of meaning and purpose of work and the organisation (e.g., strategic envisioning of new identity and capabilities). digital/human configurations, therefore, involve effort to create incremental improvements in work at the local and individual levels, but also demand structural interventions deeply rooted in core properties of organisations such as identity, values and strategy (stein et al., ) . configuration work at this level is often invisible and may not even be recognized by organisational actors as digital/human configurations: new governance processes to moderate and follow feedback and integrate it into processes of strategic planning and development in the organisation. digital/human configurations: social media becomes integrated within the culture and strategy of the association with the intended objective to signal that members own and are able to shape strategy.digital/human configurations: social media becomes integrated within the culture and strategy of the association with the intended objective to signal that members own and are able to shape strategy. convergent change: strategy includes contributions from members and is seen as more open and shared. transforming work: leaders create structures to manage inclusion and transparency in strategy. transforming the organisation: the association gradually becomes seen as more inclusive and transparent. rahrovani: platform drifting: when work digitalization hijacks its spirit a new community platform is created to mobilize and grow community membership in line with the community's values. social media supports community work that used to be done by leaders in closed meetings. this links members to encourage participation and greater inclusion. social media changes what is seen as critical community work, changing the role of leaders as well as the role of members and volunteers. adoption of the platform creates three types of new digital work: strategy work (positioning social media); infrastructure work (redesigning governance and policies); and aligning work (aligning the different logics of community). participation and inclusiveness become integral to the association supported by more advanced features of the platform and the growing community to include outsiders of the original group. the participative nature of the platform gradually drifts the original logic of cohesion towards a logic of inclusion, leading to rethinking the nature and identity of the community. digital/human configurations: social media features become part of the process to manage the growing community. the open and participatory nature of the platforms becomes integral to the culture and functioning of the community. digital/human configurations: the features of the platform influence and become deeply embedded in the emerging inclusive nature of the community.digital/human configurations: the features of the platform influence and become deeply embedded in the emerging inclusive nature of the community. convergent change: the community grows with greater participation and engagement. transforming work: community work is less centralised and becomes more distributed and participatory. transforming the organisation: the association evolves from a position of cohesion to a position of inclusivity, shifting considerably the nature and identity of the community. grønsund & aanestad: augmenting the algorithm: emerging human-in-the-loop work configurations algorithmic data analysis is used to process open real-time data to provide additional market insights and foresight to clients. the company develops their own algorithms to gain these capabilities and retain market position against new high technology competitors. the existing work of the researcher is automated to a significant extent, but new work emerges to interpret and refine the algorithms and clean data. this includes auditing results against manually created 'ground truth' (contextualizing work), adjusting and altering the algorithm, data acquisition and data cleansing. the algorithm becomes an entity with its own properties and status, and has a team working around it to control and enhance it, requiring new processes, roles, capabilities and culture. this is changing the organisational and business model to compete differently in new open data markets. digital/human configurations: automation of domain expert (researcher) tasks to improve speed and accuracy in sorting and synthesizing data into a trade-table, and integration of results in business processes. digital/human configurations: developing and using the algorithm required assembling teams differently and new roles to manage data and interpret results, including a data scientist. digital/human configurations: algorithms become integral to the functioning and strategic direction of the business and organisation. it is now a strategic asset for the business and integral to the market positioning of the organisation. convergent change: algorithmic processing and analysis of data automates the researcher's work of creating trade-tables. transforming work: researcher work is automated and the work to produce trade-tables at the core of the company is now focused on data cleaning and refining the algorithm.transforming work: researcher work is automated and the work to produce trade-tables at the core of the company is now focused on data cleaning and refining the algorithm. transforming the organisation: there is a new vision of what the organisation's core capabilities and valences are, centred around the new algorithmic capabilities. balancing fluid and cemented routines in a digital workplace a new automated process to select staff for projects is 'cemented' to reduce reliance on project managers find that they need to use additional channels to improve the automated staffing erp-based continuous operation of the automated system and workarounds means that the organisation (continued on next page) 'work'; they may, for example, perceive it instead as unsatisfying exception handling, or error detection in the reconciliation of accounts (riemer and peters, forthcoming) . this suggests the need to better understand different kinds of configuration work within organisations, with future research addressing questions such as: how to observe the emergence of digital/human configurations? who is driving the configuration of digital and human aspects of organisations? what effort and skills are needed to manage evolving digital workplaces? how to surface and manage 'hidden' digital work to configure digital/human assemblages? some of these questions challenge basic assumptions underlying existing theories and research on digital work design, including the well-known aegis of the joint optimization of the social and technical subsystems (mumford, ) , which requires these subsystems to be separated first, so that they can then both be specified and described. we need more dynamic and evolutionary theoretical views in order to properly understand digital/human configurations. we also need theories that are able to recognise the exponential effects of layered evolution of workplace technologies in organisations. for example, affordance theory, while capturing the relational aspect of configurations, may be too limiting and static in this context of ongoing evolutionary interplay between human agency and self-learning digital capabilities in modern workplaces. despite strides against this shortcoming which we welcome (strong et al., ) , affordance theory isn't well equipped to capture long-term effects that are cumulative and uncertain and result from emergent practices. affordances that emerge in third-order effects are not expected or visible in first-order effects. • implication and research direction # : recognising digital/human configuration work the continuous assembling work involved in digital/human configurations ultimately leads to third-order effects of organisational transformation and therefore to changes in the understanding of work and shifts in the identity and strategic direction of organisations. this type of strategic configuration work is a new type of work that is often informal, so it is not recognised by organisations despite the significant implications for digital transformation. this type of effort is often invisible, overlooked and mismanaged by organisations, contributing to drift and potential increase in organisational risks. we therefore strongly suggest the need to pay more attention to this strategic configuration work by tracing how and who is managing and reorienting the rendering of workplace technologies within the fabric of organisations. for example, research is needed to capture whether, how and why strategic configuration work requires an entrepreneurial mindset that embraces failure (ries, ) , a desire to engage in job crafting (wrzesniewski and dutton, ) and perhaps even a kind of hacker mentality (coleman, ) , where destruction and creation go hand-in-hand. the role of the workplace equivalent of digital intrapreneurs will be important to consider for organisations looking to successfully manage the process of digital transformation. second-order effects: transforming work third-order effects: transforming the organisation employees and make the process more efficient. this new process is meant to support managers that need to quickly staff projects. the system is embedded in the company's larger erp environment. system. this involves considerable effort to interpret the results and find ways to combine other modules to produce a more useful result for them. develops dynamic balancing of enacted routines to create both stability and fluidity in this process. digital/human configurations: project managers use the automated erp staff module to find new people to staff the projects, speeding this process and reducing human effort involved. digital/human configurations: employees appropriate erp features as well as technologies outside the erp, such as social media and other collaborative tools, to create new workspaces that compensate for restriction of the automated erp system. digital/human configurations: automated staffing processes only work with added services and discretion in combining these services by the project manager. convergent change: erp-based workflow automates the staffing process in the organisation. transforming work: new work is necessary to compensate for the limitations of the automated system in finding best local candidates while also realizing corporate strategic goals. transforming the organisation: automation eliminates tasks but adds more effort by project managers. organisation becomes capable of adopting automated services with a degree of flexibility and discretion. emergent themes across the four papers all four papers describe the use of workplace technologies to facilitate or enhance existing forms of work in the organisations. the technologies seem to be fairly effective in moving organisations forward, such as improving participation or task optimization. however, the use of new technologies also requires effort to integrate new technologies in established practices, resulting in intensification of existing work: open strategizing is more demanding than traditional strategizing; growing communities on social media requires more community work; automated algorithms require oversight; and the automation of staffing processes requires corrections. all cases show that the intensification of work then produces unexpected new forms of work. for example, the work to manage communities leads to very difficult conversations about the nature of the community and its culture, as well as very significant governance work to regulate participation and growth of communities. this is also seen in work to integrate algorithms and automated services in organisations, which demand considerable effort to modify and integrate these systems in established work routines. we therefore see digital work design as one of the main characteristics of this order of effect. the effects of changes in work design means that organisations adapt and modify core capabilities and structures and eventually shift the nature of their identity, culture and strategic position in markets. we see these changes across the papers, although this is more evident in some than in others. the kind of work emerging at this level is deep and structural, not anticipated and reactive. this is managerial work, although it is deeply rooted at the local level, and requires effort to understand firstand second-order effects and react to emergent changes. this new work is structural digital work, which is not often perceived or recognised but is visible when, for example, the logic of communities is influenced by digital media, or core capabilities of automation become prime business assets. as seen, strategic configuration work is deeply rooted in the fundamental structures of organisations, so observing this work requires attention to changes in the values, identity, power, core capabilities and strategy of the organisation. we therefore highlight the importance of managerial care and attention to this critical but often invisible configuration work, and the importance of adjusting leadership and management style and approach to be able to steer its effects in organisations. future research could investigate: how to anticipate, sensitise and steer second-and third-order effects of digital/human configurations? how can organisations adjust strategic capabilities to operate in more fluid digital work environments? what governance models allow for more effective appropriation of digital/human configurations? what is the role of leadership in managing evolving digital/human configurations? this calls for more holistic theories that capture and attribute strategic value to the process of blending of digital and human within organisations, so the asset is not the artefact or the human per se, but instead it is how organisation are able to meaningfully integrate the two. this needs better attention and to be seen as having strategic value. it goes beyond views and concepts of alignment and demands attention to second-and third-order effects as the actual strategic impact of this process. having multi-level theories that see strategic leadership as the capacity needed to meaningfully and tactfully steer the process of digital/human configuration work is, therefore, of great importance. • implication and research direction # : envisioning digital/human configuration work we have also seen that the widening use and adoption of workplace technologies with intelligent and self-contained capabilities is increasing instances where technologies generate work activities for humans in organisations, shifting the remit of these technologies from helping humans to also performing some limited managerial activities. in this context, digital tools produce work activities for humans, creating new and unique digital/human configurations, characterised by dynamics where technology uses humans rather than humans being users of the technology. weaving these configurations within the wider organisation requires higher level management effort to adjust and meaningfully integrate these more advanced digital/human configurations within the organisation, by for example creating work and formal roles to monitor for misfit and repair when misfits lead to mistakes. some of this work may be interesting, innovative and rewarding for humans (such as in analysing business intelligence output for identifying new strategic directions), but there is also less interesting work needed to train algorithms such as cleaning data and moderating content, work that has been described as unglamorous and underpaid 'ghost work' (gray and suri, ) . therefore, we should reflect on the design of the digital work of the future with an emphasis on the ethical distribution of work, responsibility and accountability in digital/ human configurations (gal et al., ) . future research could, thus, address questions such as: what is the human role in digital/human configurations? what is the quality (as opposed to quantity) of the work being created for humans? how can we avoid creating profoundly unequal tiers of digital work and combat workplace inequity? this type of envisioning, challenges existing is theories because existing theories tend to favour explanation and description, and distance themselves from speculative and normative theorising. for example, sociomateriality and notions of entanglements lack the very long-term perspective needed for studying effects-of-effects, and often focus on the direct result of the social and the material coming together in a symbiotic entanglement, as if they evolved to optimise each other in a mutually benevolent way. the possibility of malevolent and parasitic entanglements is rarely considered. forward-thinking, speculative theorising (peter et al., ) may be one way to engage the is field more widely in envisioning the future of work and organisations that humans will like and thrive in. workplace technologies have evolved from basic discrete office applications in the s to the connected digital platforms with elements of automation and embedded ai-driven self-learning capabilities in today's digital workplaces (lyytinen et al., ) . this evolution in the scope and depth of integration of these workplace technologies into the fabric of organisations has transformed work but also the structure of organisations evolving from the use of these more advanced platforms of work. in this introduction to the special issue, we explore and conceptualise the deep effects of these human-technology configurations (suchman, ) in transforming work practices (stein et al., ) and the nature of work (lee, b) and ultimately the strategy and structural arrangements of organisations (baptista et al., b) . we were particularly interested in observing effects that had the potential to fundamentally 'rewire' organisations and work environments (watson-manheim et al., ; watson-manheim and belanger, ) and to explore the potential of workplace technologies to transform organisations such as by stimulating open participation hautz, ; denyer et al., ) or by being the catalyst for new organisational capabilities (huang et al., (huang et al., , baptista and galliers, ) . this introduction first conceptualises genres and types of workplace technologies and then analyses the layered evolution of these progressively more advanced and interconnected technologies in the workplace. we describe the nature and distinct characteristics of the individual layer of office tools, and the characteristics of the second layer of community and collaborative workplace technologies. we then discuss the more recent introduction of intelligent platform-based workplace technologies and discuss the distinct and unique dynamics involved in the configuring of these technologies within organisations. we use this conceptual foundation to make an explicit link between these types of work technologies and organisational transformation and offer a richer and more comprehensive view of the role and effects of workplace technologies in organisations. we suggest that previous research has over-emphasised an instrumental view of these technologies by focusing on their capacity to enable virtual work and teamwork, communication and collaboration. we then conceptualise three orders of effects of workplace technologies on organisations based on bartunek and moch ( ) . first-order effects represent convergent change, the expected and direct effects of workplace technologies on the performance of work. second-order effects affects the roles and the nature of work in organisations. third-order effects involve deeper transformation of the organisation and result in structural changes to the core elements of the organisation, such as its identity, capabilities and strategy. we provide a conceptual basis to structure the effects of workplace technologies at these three levels of change. we suggest that this process of transformation involves the emergence of digital/human configurations, reflecting the assembling of digital features with human intent and their performative within organisations. we highlight that simple configurations evolve to be increasingly complex as new and more advanced technologies overlay simpler workplace technologies. correspondingly, as configurations become more complex the effort required to manage them grows more pronounced, however much of this needed effort remains invisible and mismanaged in organisations. more research is needed on the kinds of organisational actors best placed to do this work, the skills they need and how to productively engage with the unpredictable effects of new technologies and the emerging digital/human configurations. we also highlight the importance of normative and speculative envisioning of future digital/human configurations if the is field is to contribute to the creation of a future of work and organisations worth wanting. we sincerely hope that these considerations are useful not only to guide future research but also to help organisations navigate a path towards digitisation beyond the covid- crisis. as discussed, any move towards deeper adoption of workplace technologies will inevitably involve work to configure digital/human assemblages; organisations that properly resource this process are more likely to benefit and adjust to the 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an examination of organizational policies understanding digital transformation: a review and a research agenda how does social software change knowledge management? toward a strategic research agenda communication media repertoires: dealing with the multiplicity of media choices discontinuities and continuities: a new way to understand virtual work conceptualizing hidden human work in a technology intensive work environment unpacking the difference between digital transformation and it-enabled organizational transformation crafting a job: revisioning employees as active crafters of their work key: cord- - nkktokz authors: el‐ghazali, s.; sheraton, t.; ferguson, k.; meek, t. title: ‘shielded’ anaesthetists and intensivists during the covid‐ pandemic: a reply date: - - journal: anaesthesia doi: . /anae. sha: doc_id: cord_uid: nkktokz nan we are aware that many colleagues, because of individual risk factors, have been community shielding, workplace shielding or have been undertaking duties vastly different from their usual scope of work. we recognise that some will feel lonely, forgotten, guilty or bored. many may be anxious about returning to work, with concerns regarding their safety, combined with the challenge of managing constantly changing guidelines. the association has been involved in producing vital signs, a guide for anaesthetists seeking help and advice during the covid crisis (https://anaesthetists.org/portals/ / pdfs/guidelines% pdfs/vital_signs_in_anaesthesia . examining modules in the rcoa syllabus to identify any areas that need to be actively addressed (the focus is likely to be much more on confidence); identifying a specific supervisor; negotiating using a small number of supportive colleagues to work with regularly during the return to work programme; agreeing a time frame for review ahead of returning to solo working; considering using a reflective journal; and establishing a formal support structure. there is a risk reduction framework for nhs staff (https://www.fom.ac.uk/covid- /update-risk-reduction-fra mework-for-nhs-staff-at-risk-of-covid- -infection), produced by an independent group of experts and supported by the faculty of occupational medicine. it is a pragmatic guide to workplace and workforce assessment, and has been designed to be applicable to all groups of staff, not just those with increased vulnerability. some occupational health departments are using a tool called covid age (https://prof ile.covid-age.com/calculator) to help determine individual level of risk from covid. we recognise that the prospect of returning to work is a significant source of anxiety. there is the worry of exposure to infection, but also the prospect of unfamiliar work schedules, where previously routine and predictability were part and parcel of every day work. this is an understandable and appropriate response. we also acknowledge that many colleagues feel guilt for their absence from their usual roles. guilt is a perceived feeling of deserving blame for imagined or real offences or from a sense of inadequacy. sometimes guilt is socially useful, but we hope that colleagues will agree that those who have been quite rightly shielded by a responsible healthcare system should feel no guilt for this. we will continue to work independently and with other organisations to provide support to colleagues in times of difficulty. subsequent guidance on shielding doctors returning to work will emerge and we encourage colleagues to keep an eye on the joint covid guidance website (https://icma naesthesiacovid- .org) and the usual social media channels. shielded' anaesthetists and intensivists during the covid- pandemic key: cord- - x v q authors: beck, matthew j.; hensher, david a. title: insights into the impact of covid- on household travel and activities in australia – the early days of easing restrictions date: - - journal: transp policy (oxf) doi: . /j.tranpol. . . sha: doc_id: cord_uid: x v q the covid- disease continues to cause unparalleled disruption to life and the economy world over. this paper is the second in what will be an ongoing series of analyses of a longitudinal travel and activity survey. in this paper we examine data collected over a period of late may to early june in australia, following four-to-six weeks of relatively flat new cases in covid- after the initial nationwide outbreak, as many state jurisdictions have begun to slowly ease restrictions designed to limit the spread of the sars-cov- virus. we find that during this period, travel activity has started to slowly return, in particular by private car, and in particular for the purposes of shopping and social or recreational activities. respondents indicate comfort with the idea of meeting friends or returning to shops, so authorities need to be aware of potential erosion of social distancing and appropriate covid-safe behaviour in this regard. there is still a concern about using public transport, though it has diminished noticeably since the first wave of data collection. we see that working from home continues to be an important strategy in reducing travel and pressure on constrained transport networks, and a policy measure that if carried over to a post-pandemic world, will be an important step towards a more sustainable transport future. we find that work from home has been a generally positive experience with a significant number of respondents liking to work from home moving forward, with varying degrees of employer support, at a level above those seen before covid- . thus, any investment to capitalise on current levels of work from home should be viewed as an investment in transport. • aggregate travel has increased by % since initial restrictions, but is still less than two-thirds of that which occurred prior to covid- . • motor vehicle travel rebounding more than other modes, though those who are planning a return to train and bus intended to do so strongly. • concerns about public transport are lower than initial restrictions, but still significantly higher than prior to covid- . • large increases in activity planned for shopping and social and recreation purposes, with people feeling most comfortable about meeting with friends, going to the shops and also relatively comfortable visiting restaurants. • working from home continues, though concern about safety of work environment is widely varied. • work from home has been largely positive for those who have been able to do so, and the majority of respondents would like to work in increased proportion of days from home in the future. there is good employer support for doing so. • concern about the risk of covid- to the community, to someone known to the respondents or to the respondent themselves, has decreased significantly since the initial outbreak. authorities need to be vigilant as restrictions are eased, particularly with respect to social activity. there is evidence that the desire to return to some form of personal interaction is stronger than a return to other kinds of activity. twinned with a falling perception of the risk of covid- , this could be problematic should appropriate social distancing and covid safe behaviours diminish. there may be a need to limit travel for the purposes of recreation, particularly to venues where socialising is the norm and behaviours might be conducive to the transmission of the virus. work from home may be one behaviour that lasts into the longer term, and it is clear that any action that can embed a greater degree of working from home now will be a sound investment in transport needs and priorities for the future. measures should be taken to understand how the benefits can be communicated to those less keen to continue to work from home to some degree, in a postpandemic environment. government should work with business to understand the appropriate mix of policy and incentives to encourage ongoing uptake. given that the experiences has been largely positive for many, including employers, authorities should be seeking to capitalise on that experience now, particularly as new habits are formed. by now the effects of covid- are well known and across the globe the experiences with the virus, in terms of transmission and new cases differs substantially, with the scale of the economic impact and the disruption to economic activity unprecedented outside of war and depression. australia has been somewhat successful in combatting the first wave of covid- infections through a series of regulations which were quickly implemented to halt the rise in transmissions. figure displays the number of daily new covid- cases in australia, which reached an initial peak in late march and at the time of writing this paper, the country has experienced a relatively low number of new daily infections almost exclusively restricted to what is now the largest risk factor in australia; citizens returning from abroad. while beck and hensher ( ) present analysis of data collected in the first wave of study conducted immediately after the peak of transmissions, this paper presents the findings from data collected during the period of relatively low new infections where talk is turning towards a staged relaxation of restrictions. figure and table provide an overview of the key events in the period between wave and wave , most regarding the staged relaxation of restrictions designed to control the rising spread of covid- that was observed in march. throughout the entire period, state borders remain largely closed, except for nsw and victoria which remained open throughout. two key prongs in the australian strategy for controlling covid- and resuming more normal activity, are the adoption of a tracking and tracing application (covidsafe) and a carefully staged relaxation of restrictions. the national approach to the relaxation of restrictions was announced on the th of may, based on the underlying principles of: maintaining a distance of . m from those not in the family unit; regular and thorough hygiene and sanitisation practices, staying at home if unwell, and a covidsafe plan for workplaces and premises. the plan involved three stages: ( ) allowing groups of people to be together in homes and in the community to reconnect with friends and family; ( ) slightly larger gatherings and more businesses reopening, but tight restrictions remaining on activities deemed high risk; and ( ) a commitment to reopening business and the community with minimal restrictions, but underpinned by covidsafe ways of living. each state was given the responsibility to enact the staged easing within their state, in a timeframe that best suited that jurisdiction. as can be seen, in both figure and table , most australian states had progressed towards the roll-back of restrictions as the number of new cases plateaued. since the peak of the initial outbreak, the experience in australia has been one of a steady state of low numbers of new cases, up until most recently . this staging easing of covid- restrictions has resulted in a slow increase in travel and activity in the largest economic and population centres in the country, sydney (nsw) and melbourne (vic). the aggregate data collected by the citymapper mobility index (citymapper ) is presented in figure and shows that, relative to the baseline period, mobility has been trending upward at a slightly faster rate in sydney than melbourne, and while double the amount of activity is now seen compared to early april, mobility is still less than half that measured during the baseline period ( weeks between jan th and feb nd, ). following the initial draft of this paper, it was discovered that there were serious lapses in the quarantine protocol implemented by the victorian government, linked to laxed practices of private sector guards used in hotels where returning overseas residents are quarantined. all cases in the growing community transmission in new south wales have been linked to victoria, as a result of not closing the border between the two states. likewise, the google community mobility report (google ) presented in figure (which aggregates data across australia and compares to the median value for the corresponding day of the week during the -week period jan -feb , as a baseline) shows a sustained increase in time spent at work, retail and recreation, and parks, while time at home has slowly diminished. the data shows that time at transit stations is recovering at the same rate of increase as other activities but remains lower due to the larger slump that occurred in early april. in totality these two figures seemingly indicate that australia was returning to some degree of normality given the work and retail results, though in the major capital cities travel for work might be suppressed, particularly travel on public transport. in this paper we present analysis on working from home and commuting data collected in the second wave of the ongoing travel survey into the impact of covid- . the paper, where possible, compares and contrasts aggregate results from wave and wave data collected at different points in the covid- curve, but we also introduce new insights as we focus more on working from home and changes therein. overall we attempt to continue to update policy makers and those in the transport community on the conditions surrounding travel and work as covid- transmissions patterns change, but also as the restrictions on movements and activities change in response to the shifting conditions of the pandemic. the rest of this paper is structured as follows: section two provides an overview of the sample collected for wave ; section three discusses the results of overarching analysis; section four provides a discussion of the results and the potential policy implications that arise from the result found herein; section five discusses limitations of this study and identifies areas for future research; and section six provides the conclusion. note that we limit ourselves to aggregated analysis in this paper, given the desire to share timely information and the already large number of results discussed in this work. we recognise that understanding the dynamics of changing behaviour at an individual level is crucial and as the panel nature of the data grows, ongoing work will seek to examine change and adaption at an even more disaggregate level. j o u r n a l p r e -p r o o f the second wave of the ongoing covid- travel survey was in field from the rd of may to the th of june, with data being collected in two segments. firstly, respondents from wave were approached to complete the survey to begin the panel nature of the survey with as robust a sample size as possible. the wave data comprises , observations made up of respondents who participated in wave of the survey, and an additional new recruits to supplement wave . as with wave , the online survey company pureprofile was used to sample respondents, and the survey was available across australia in order to examine the widespread impact of covid- . a summary of the wave sample is provided in table . for the purposes of this overarching analysis and to be consistent with the same headline analysis in beck and hensher ( ) , socio-demographics differences are explored based on gender, age (younger ( to , n= ); middle-age ( to , n= ); older ( or older, n= )), and household income (lower income (less than $ , , n= ); middle income ($ , to $ , , n= ) and high income (more than $ , , n= ). given that the focus of wave was to establish a panel that was as large as possible, quotas were not introduced on those completing the survey, other than ensuring representation from all states and territories. the impact of covid- is, however, sufficiently widespread that no demographic can escape the disruption caused. j o u r n a l p r e -p r o o f . results unsurprisingly, and as was the case in wave , the results from wave presented in figure in the survey mirror the aggregate findings, and generally also show a comparable rate of trip generation as that found in the weekly gps tracking project conducted in switzerland (mobis-covid ). in terms of this overall travel, we see a reported % increase in the number of household trips over the week, from wave to wave , but household travel remains significantly suppressed. in terms of changes to the current level of travel activity, the majority of respondents ( %) report that they are planning to maintain household travel at wave levels, however among the % of households who are planning change we can see a dramatic increase, with the level of planned activity among this group almost returning to that which was reported prior to covid- . with respect to trips reported in wave , younger respondents are exhibiting a significantly higher average number of household trips ( . ) than both middle-aged ( . ) and older ( . ) respondent households. the difference between middle-aged and older respondents is also significant. this travel behaviour is perhaps a function of the relative risk attitudes and the perceived and/or real threat presented by covid- to each age group. higher income ( . ) and middle income ( . ) households report significantly more average trips in wave than lower income households ( . ). there are no differences by gender for household trips reported in wave or planned in the upcoming week, nor are there differences in planned travel by age and income groups. those planning changes j o u r n a l p r e -p r o o f figure and figure show reported household travel before the outbreak of covid- , during wave and wave , and projects planned household travel for the upcoming week following wave data collection. in every instance we see a rebound in travel by mode and for every purpose. as anticipated by many, there is a strong bounce back in travel by car and in aggregate, active transport activity has returned to pre-covid- levels. general shopping has increased, and there is a slight rebound in education and childcare trips, along with general shopping. commuting and work business trips remain relatively flat, with working from home perhaps proving a more viable option than many initially thought (of course increased unemployment may also play a role in suppression commuting travel). in terms of household plans, we can see that the private motor vehicle is expected to continue the strong return to pre-covid- levels. interestingly, we also see stated intentions to return to public transport modes of buses and trains, as well as a reported spike in active transport modes of walking and cycling. with respect to travel by purpose, the projected growth in shopping (food and general), personal business, and social and recreation trips suggests that non work trips are more than returning to "normal", indeed households may even be making up for lost time with respect to these activities. this is particularly true of social and recreation activity, where the planned number of trips in the upcoming week is significantly larger on average, than the number of trips made in the wave data collection period. with respect to broad socio-demographic differences, females report an intention to use trains at a significantly higher average amount, exhibit significantly higher average trips for education and childcare purposes (both in wave and the number of future trips planned), and also plan to engage in more food shopping and social and recreational trips in the week moving forward. higher and middle-income households both report a significantly higher average number of trips made by private car than lower income households. high income households also report more train trips than middle-income and lower income households, and taxi or ride-hailing trips than lower income groups. they also plan to take more ferry trips. higher income and middle-income households report a higher average number of trips for commuting purposes than lower income, higher income groups also report more work-related business trips than households on lower incomes. higher income households also report significantly more travel for social and recreational purposes than both middle-income and lower income households. planned travel for different purposes is invariant across income groups. younger respondents report higher average household trips by private car, train, and bus during wave than both middle-aged and older respondents, as well as more active trips on average than older respondents. younger respondents are also planning significantly more travel by taxi, train, bus, and ferry than older respondents. with respect to travel for different purposes, younger respondents also report more commuting trips, trips for education and childcare, food shopping and general shopping than middle-aged and older respondents. older respondents plan on making less trips for work-related business and education and childcare than middle-aged and younger respondents, and significantly less trips for food shopping than those in the youngest age category. given the anecdotal evidence in new media sources about increased use of active travel modes (abano , landis-hanley ) and greater use of public spaces for exercise and recreation (o'sullivan ), questions were included in wave around whether or not respondents had felt they had increased or decreased use of different modes in the previous week, and how they were planning to change their use as restrictions were eased. the results of these questions are shown in figure . note that in wave questions were not asked about the relative change in active transport modes, but were added to the wave set given the anecdotal evidence from new media that active transport had increased. motor vehicle use exhibits the biggest fluctuations in usage, especially compared to the result from wave when % of respondents had decreased car use. now, however, half of respondents are using their car the same as they did the week prior, % have decreased car use relative to the previous week and % have increased usage. in terms of planned future use, in the week following data collection a small majority of respondents are planning to use their car the same amount ( %), but we start to see the number of people planning to increase car use exceed those who are planning to decrease. older respondents are less likely to increase car use than the middle-aged and younger age groups. breaking down changes in car use in a little more detail, for those respondents who said they decreased use of their car, the average reduction is % (σ = %), which is largely the same result as discovered in wave (µ = %, σ = %). for those that stated increased car use, the average increase is % (σ = %), which also mirrors wave (µ = %, σ = %). across the sample, including those who stated they use their car about the same ( % change), there is an overall average reduction in car use of . % (σ = %). these averages are invariant to gender, age, or income. in terms of the active modes, what is most striking in these figures is how reported use in wave and planned use moving forward are largely identical. with respect to walking, more respondents reported an increase in wave ( %) than a decrease ( %), with younger respondents more likely to have reported an increase. with regards to running or jogging, the number who have increased ( %) or decreased ( %) are roughly balanced, younger people again are more likely to have stated an increase in this activity and unsurprisingly older respondents are more likely to not engage in running. the number of people who reported an increase in bicycling ( %) exceeds the number who have decreased use ( %), again older respondents are less likely to engage in this activity. in terms of future use, for each of the active modes more respondents report an intention to increase their use of that activity than decrease: % vs % for walking (with younger respondents more likely to plan an increase in use); % vs % for walking (with younger respondents more likely to plan an increase in use); and % versus % for bicycling. while there is evidence that participation in these activities has increased overall, it is has not grown by a sizeable amount, though perhaps growth may be more pronounced in metropolitan areas even more so in locations where population density is high. interestingly while more respondents plan to increase their use of active modes as compared to decrease, it remains to be seen if this behaviour will eventuate or if it just an indication of good intentions. the perception that people have about the cleanliness and hygiene of public transport was also tracked in wave , and the results are shown in figure . compared to wave we have seen a large moderation in concern, with reduction in the number of people extremely concerned about these modes of transport. indeed, the average response to the concern scale in wave (µ = . ) is significantly lower than in wave (µ = . ), however average concern still remains at a level that is significantly higher than that prior to covid- (µ = . ). females are significantly more concerned about the cleanliness of public transport, as too are younger respondents relative to those in middleaged and older age categories, this last result perhaps explaining why train, bus and ferry use in this age bracket is significantly higher in wave , and planned to be higher than other age groups moving forward. the impact of covid- on the nature and availability of work continues to be profound. the government regulations designed to limit the spread of covid- , while in the process of being eased, ripple through the economy, as shown in figure a and b. only % of sample have not been impacted by government regulations, just over a quarter have been personally impacted, one in five ( %) also report someone in their household having been impacted and one-third know someone whose employment has been impacted as a result of the restrictions. those in the younger age group are more likely to have been personally impacted ( %) and/or have a household member who has been impacted ( %). respondents were also asked if their pay had been impacted by covid- measures and while the impact here is lesser than that on employment (two-thirds have not been impacted), a number of respondents are working for less income than prior to covid- . looking at the impact on households in more detail, figure a and b show the number of household members (including the respondent) who were working fulltime and part-time before covid- and during the wave data collection period. note that while these figures are in aggregate and includes respondents who are unemployed, retired or home makers, the number of households who report zero household members in fulltime employment rises from % before covid- to % in the wave data, an increase of approximately %. the impact on part-time employment thus far, has been less extreme. in terms of the number of days worked over the last week among those who were working prior to covid- , the average number of days has increased from . days in wave , to . days in wave , but remains significantly less than the average of . days, before covid- . the number of people working zero days has fallen from % in wave to % in wave . males are working more days on average in wave , and middle-aged respondents are working more on average than those in the younger age group. with respect to working from home, levels still remain well above those prior to covid- (µ = . days), with respondents spending an average of . days working from home per week., however this number is down from the wave average of . days. respondents were further asked to nominate the type of environment they normally work in, the results of which are shown in figure . the "other" category predominantly includes those who work from home, out of vehicle, or in hospitals or schools. females are more likely to work in open plan or shared space offices ( % vs. %) and retail environments ( % vs. %), whereas males are more likely to have their own office ( % vs. %). younger respondents are less likely to have their own office ( %) and more likely to work in retail environments ( %) . lower income groups are more likely to work in retail environments, indoor spaces with small teams, or outdoor spaces with small teams and less likely to work in open plan offices. as income increases, respondents are more likely to have their own office. respondents were also asked to state their level of concern about covid- given the nature of the environment in which they worked. while the average is at the middle point of the scale (µ = . σ = . ), figure shows a wide variety of views with approximately the same number of respondents exhibiting either no or slight concern as showing moderate or extreme concern; females are significantly more concerned on average. following the noted increase in working from home observed in wave , wave attempted to explore the experiences with working from home in more detail (introducing new questions) to better understand the scope of experiences, given that for many there was little time to prepare and while it may work well for some, others face barriers such as children, other household members working from home, inadequate space for working from home, and so on. with respect to the ability of a respondent to work from home, figure shows a decrease in the number of respondents whose work cannot be done from home, but an increase in the number whose work place has no plans for working from home and, unfortunately those whose work place has closed. we also observe a reduction in the number of employees who are directed to work from home, perhaps reflecting the erosion in the average number of days worked from home in the last week, discussed in the previous section. males are more likely to be employed in workplaces that have no current plans to allow working from home, and females more likely to be in workplaces that are now closed. respondents in the younger age category are more likely to be employed in a position where work cannot be completed from home. lower income groups are more likely to be in workplaces that have no plans to allow work from home, or whose workplace has closed. as income increases, it is more likely that a respondent works in a position where they are being directed to work from home. respondents were also asked how many hours of work they feel they can complete when working from home. as displayed in figure , % of the sample complete somewhere between to hours of work, with an approximate average of . hours. those on higher incomes are more likely j o u r n a l p r e -p r o o f to report a higher number of hours worked per day, when working from home. respondents were also asked to assess their level of productivity when working from home, and the sample average of . (σ = . ) indicates that in aggregate those working from home perceive little difference in productivity. indeed, almost double the number of respondents find working from home to be a lot more productive ( %) than a lot less ( %). middle-aged respondents and those on higher incomes report high levels of productivity, on average. to understand the positive and negatives of working from home, and thus obtain insight into what measures may be needed as restrictions ease in order to maintain current levels of work from home, respondents were asked to rank the benefits and challenges that they experience when doing so. the results of this task are presented in figure . with respect to the benefits, the highest ranked benefit is not having to commute followed by the creation of a more flexible work schedule. males are more likely to rank flexible work schedule as the biggest benefit as are those in the younger age bracket. older respondents are less likely to rank no commute as the biggest benefit than other age groups. with respect to the challenges of working from home, the disruption from family and children is the one most often ranked highest, but overall the ability to concentrate on work is perhaps the challenge faced by most (with the exception of older respondents who are less likely to rank this challenge as the biggest or second biggest relative to other age groups). additional questions were asked about the number of online meetings that are had and their relative effectiveness, the results of which are shown in figure . while many respondents do not have online meetings over the course of working from home ( %), among those that do the most common frequency is to per week. in terms of how productive the meetings are, in aggregate it appears that respondents find online meetings just as productive as face-to-face meetings, with those in the middle age reporting a significantly higher average productivity than other age categories. it should also be noted that there is no correlation between the number of online meetings a respondent has per week and their rating of the relative productivity of those online meetings. given the benefits and challenges experienced over the previous - months of working from home as a result of covid- , respondents were asked how much they agreed or disagreed with a series of statements related to working from home and more flexible work, the results of which are displayed in figure . overall agreement is similar across all statements, but there is more agreement (agree and strongly agree) that the appropriate balance between work and not working can be found, and that the space at home is appropriate for work. older respondents and higher income categories are more likely to agree that they have an appropriate space at home from which to work, and older respondents also are more likely to be able to find the balance between paid and unpaid work. higher and middle-income groups agree more so than low income groups that more flexible work schedules would be preferred in the future. to gauge the likelihood of working from home being a larger part of the transport mix moving forward, the final question in this set asked respondents whether working from home had been a positive experience for them. as seen in figure , overwhelmingly the experience has been positive with almost half the sample agreeing or strongly agreeing that this is the case, with % of agreement overall. as the work from home experience becomes more embedded and new routines are formed, it is also likely that the experience will improve. interestingly, females report a significantly higher average level of agreement, as do those on higher incomes. younger respondents report significantly less positive experience than other age categories. to build further on the likelihood of travel and commuting being disrupted by an increased take up of working from home, a series of questions about work in the future were asked. figure shows the number of days respondents would like to work moving forward as restrictions ease. interestingly the number of days worked moving forward, while higher than now, is less than the level of employment prior to covid- . this may be a function of people overall wanting to work less, but also being somewhat tentative when thinking about how much work might be available as we move forward. the average number of days is invariant across gender, age, and incomes. the future of working from home, shown in figure , follows a similar pattern to the numbers of days worked: the levels of working from home are lower than they are now, but respondents would like to work from home more than they did before covid- . younger and middle-age respondents would, on average, like to work more days from home as restrictions ease, than older respondents. to accommodate the different number of days worked by respondents, the number of days worked from home was converted to a proportion of the total number of days worked and is shown in figure . what is revealed in this graph is the interesting finding that right now, working from home is an all or nothing proposition, with the numbers working % to % of their days at home being very small, and the number working % of more having spiked to % during wave . however, as restrictions ease, we see a desire for the extreme levels of work from home to decrease, but a small albeit sustained rise in the number seeking to work somewhere between % to % from home. interestingly, there is a significant positive correlation between the proportion of time spent working from home now and the proportion of time someone would like to work from home in the future. an important component of increased work from home into the future is the ongoing support of companies and employers. as shown in figure , overall, there is an even split between workplaces that have had conversations about working from home and those that have not, which holds across employees, managers and employers. figure shows the perspective of employees about how they think their employer might support working from home. respondents who are managers are asked what they think the position of the company might be as well, and both managers and employers are asked to provide their personal view on what would be appropriate. the differences observed in the position that work cannot be done from home is likely a function of the nature of the industry employees versus employers are in, but also that managers and employers are able to take a more overarching view of the work done in the company rather than an individual function which would be the focus of the employee. nonetheless, support for some balance between working from home and the office is markedly higher among managers and employers than employees themselves. older employees are less likely to state that their employer would prefer a return to the office, middle-aged employers are less likely to be in roles where work cannot be completed from home and are more likely to state that their employer would support work from home as often as desired and that a balance would be support, relative to other age groups. in terms of the personal views of the employer or manager, as income increases there is a lower likelihood of stating the work of employers cannot be done at home; those on higher incomes are more likely to support working from home as often as desired and along with those on middle incomes, also support the balance of working from home and the office. it should be noted the majority of managers can either approve both the ability to work from home and the number of days ( %); or approve working from home but not the number of days ( %). managers and employers were also asked what number of days they felt was appropriate for an employee to work from home and why. figure shows the diversity of opinion surrounding the number of days, either at the extreme of no work (zero days = %) or all work (five or more days = %) being done from home, or some balance around two to three days. when asked to explain the reason for the number of days given, those arguing for high levels of work from home did so because it works, it minimises office space or they believe staff like it. those advocating for a balance tended to cite reasons around maintaining collegiality, keeping connections, generating value through interaction, the need for face to face meetings, and mentoring. lastly, in exploring working from home, managers and employers were asked to rate the productivity of staff whilst working from home. additionally, employees were also asked to give their perspective on the productivity of other staff for comparative purposes. plotted on figure are the result of this question, as well as the measure of productivity respondents gave themselves. the general pattern of productivity scores is generally similar across three measures, but interestingly employees assign a significantly lower average score to other staff than they assign themselves. though this is the only difference on average, managers and employers are more inclined to believe that productivity is about the same than either employees, and the rating respondents give themselves, but respondents also rate their own productivity marginally higher than their employer or other employees might. overall, the results indicate that importantly, the majority of employers and managers believe staff have been as productive working from home as they would be at the office, if not slightly more so. data was collected on employment as per the australian and new zealand standard classification of occupations (anzsco), and there are significant variations in the workplace policy with regards to working from home, as can be seen in figure . machine operators and drivers, community and personal service workers and labourers work in places where there are either no plans to work from home, or occupations where the work cannot be done from home. on the other hand, a large number of managers and professionals are being given the choice to work from home or being directed to do so. the workplace policy clearly translates to differences in the incidence of working from home observed in the last week, as shown in figure . machine operators and drivers, community and personal service workers and labourers are less able to do work from work, whereas clerical workers, professionals and managers have a greater propensity to do so. while different occupations have differing ability to work from home, and thus different preferences with regard to how many days they would like to work from home moving forward (figure ), it is interesting to also note that in every occupation there are some respondents who like to do some of their jobs from home. given this desire, it might be possible for employers to work together with employees to apportion some work to be done at home where feasible. similar patterns also emerge based on the type of work environment, with the work place policy differing (see figure ), the number of days worked from home in aggregate differing (figure ) , and the number of days respondents would like to work from home moving forward also differing by work environment (figure ). again, while some employees may like to work from home, it may not be feasible, but where some component of the work could be done from home for some respondents, employers could think innovatively about how they assign work and the location in which that work is done. though not directly related to travel or activity, the australian government has developed the covidsafe track and tracing mobile application, designed to identify and contact people who may have been exposed to covid- . the application uses bluetooth to look for other devices that have the app installed. it takes a note of a contact when it occurs, through a digital handshake. if a person tests positive for covid- , a state or territory health official will ask that individual (or parent, guardian, or carer) to consent to uploading the digital handshake information. this type of application is not too dissimilar to gps tracking applications widely used in travel behaviour research. the survey asked respondents if they had downloaded the application, and the results are shown in figure . as can be seen, while % of the sample are using the application, more than half have not downloaded, or are not using it. owners of apple mobiles are more likely to be using ( %) it than those who own android based phones ( %), younger respondents are less likely to be using it ( %), compared to those in the middle-age category ( %) who in turn are less likely to be using it than older respondents ( % have downloaded and are using). lower income groups are more likely to have not downloaded the application ( %), compared to middle ( %) and higher income groups ( % have not downloaded it). in terms of reasons given for not downloading the application ( figure , the leading reason is that respondents don't trust the government to protect the data (less prevalent among older respondents), and don't want to be tracked in this way (particularly true for middle aged respondents). as talk turned towards the easing of restrictions, one moderating factor on the propensity for respondents to begin to vary their travel behaviour would be how confident they would feel engaging in different types of activities. to that end, respondents were asked given the current conditions, how comfortable ( = very uncomfortable to = very comfortable) would they feel about completing each of the activities shown in figure (error bars reflect the % confidence interval). the darker bars represent an activity which a higher proportion of respondents stated was a regular activity interrupted by covid- (beck and hensher ). going to the doctors, meeting with friends, and going to the shops are the three activities that respondents feel significantly more comfortable in completing, followed by schooling or childcare activities, in turn followed by visiting restaurants. the level of comfort for the remained activities sit largely at the neutral point, with attending music events and gyms being the activities respondents would feel least comfortable completing. overall men generally exhibit a higher degree of confidence, being significantly more comfortable with going to the doctors, going to shops, visiting restaurants, attending work functions, playing organised sport, watching professional sport, going to pubs or bars, watching live entertainment, gyms or exercise groups, and attending music events. middle income groups are more comfortable going to the doctor. older respondents are more comfortable going to the shops than other age groups, but less comfortable visiting restaurants, going to the movies, going to pubs or bars, gyms or exercise groups, going to doctors, watching professional sport, attending music events, watching live entertainment, schooling or childcare, playing organised sport, and attending work functions. younger respondents are more comfortable than other age groups with respect to going to pubs or bars, gyms, or exercise groups, watching professional sport, attending music events, and watching live entertainment. the attitudes of respondents towards covid- and responses by government, business and the general public were re-examined, with respondents again showing significant agreement ( = strongly disagree to = strongly agree) with all statements listed in figure , with the exception of the idea of going to work from time to time to avoid social isolation. on average, there is significantly more agreement with the statements that covid- is a serious public health concern that requires drastic measures and will affect travel. trust in the response of government both now and in the future remains significant . overall, the results mirror those from wave , with a small erosion in the number of people who agree that people can be trusted to respond in the future (overall agreement falling from % to %), and a large fall in the number who agree that they will go to work from time to time to avoid social isolation (falling from % in wave to % overall agreement in wave ). females exhibit significantly higher agreement that covid- is a serious public health concern, that it requires drastic measures, that the state government response has been appropriate, and that business can be trusted to respond in the future. older respondents agree with all statements significantly more so than younger respondents. respondents were also asked their perception of the risk covid- presented to health and the economy (see figure ). the pattern is identical to wave , in that agreement is significantly stronger for the statement that covid- is a risk to the economy, followed by a risk to someone the questions regarding attitude towards government actions being appropriate and trust in their actions in the future are generic, and not attached to the easing or tightening of restrictions at any point in time, rather the overall appropriateness as felt by the respondent. agree strongly agree neither j o u r n a l p r e -p r o o f known to the respondent, a risk to the general public and lastly a risk to themselves. while this pattern is the same, the average strength of agreement is significantly lower for each statement in wave than it was in wave . as with wave , in wave females agree significantly more strongly that covid- is a risk to the general public and someone they know, but in wave females now agree more strongly than men that covid- is a risk to their own health. lower income groups exhibit significantly less agreement with the risk of covid- to themselves, than those respondents who are in middle or higherincome brackets. with respect to age, younger respondents have a significantly lower perception of the risk covid- presents to their health, and respondents in the oldest age bracket view covid- as a significantly higher risk to the economy than younger or middle-aged respondents. overall, the results reflect what is happening in australia as a period of low new covid- cases grows, and restrictions around movement starts to ease. we see an uptake in private vehicle use, as anticipated and people are returning to public transport in a much more measured fashion. while concern about public transport hygiene has diminished, it remains significantly higher than prior to covid- . it is our suspicion that confidence might diminish again rather than continue to improve, as more transport users return to the system and individuals become more wary of crowding. it is even more essential that transport authorities continue with demonstrable efforts of cleaning and sanitation to assuage community concern, as before we continue to advocate that it may need to be a requirement to wear a mask while on mass transit to help protect against community transmission, but also make public transport a mode that is more appealing as the number of users start to increase. in the sydney context, transport authorities have used signs/stickers to indicate where people may sit on buses and trains to help enforce social distancing, but perhaps authorities should also (or instead) consider labels to indicate where passengers cannot sit or stand, as these stickers are more easily seen (i.e., are not covered by people sitting on them) and perhaps are a better visual or behaviour que that close physical proximity is still not allowed. with regards to social distancing and travel activity, the data shows that travel for the purpose of social and recreational activities is returning more strongly than other activities, and that these were the activities most interrupted by covid- . people express comfort in meeting with friends and social activity is planned to return strongly. as restrictions are slowly rolled back, governments need to think carefully about how they allow the resumption of activities, which activities are indeed allowed, while messaging very strongly that the need for social distancing has not eased and that even close friends could be a source of transmission, or indeed you may be responsible for giving covid- to those you are eager to reconnect with. authorities need clear and concise messaging, consistently communicated and at most extreme even the adoption of a uniform campaign across the country, about the need to maintain social distancing and think carefully about the difference between essential and non-essential travel. lastly, we see some mobility differences across age groups, but also that younger respondents are more comfortable with more social activities than older respondents and exhibit a lower perception of the risk of covid- to their own health. efforts should be made to ensure that those who are in this age group are aware, not only of the risk posed to them, but to the wider community and potentially their loved ones, should they "lower their guard" with respect to appropriate social distancing and the new behaviours required during the pandemic. our research continues to explore the prevalence of and experiences with working from home. it is an important mechanism to alleviate the burden on the transport network in the form of increased potential congestion due to strong uptake of private motor vehicle and reduced capacity on transit systems due to physical distancing. indeed, if positive experiences and lessons learnt can be carried forward into a post-pandemic world, it will likely be the largest tool in the transport tool kit to reduce persistent congestion. the results herein suggest that the work from home experience is lumpy and more predominantly available to middle and high-income groups. we see that the extent of working from home remains well above the pre-covid- levels, but the degree to which people work from home has diminished from the degree seen in wave following the initial imposition of restrictions. many respondents state that their work cannot be done from home, and while this may be true, there are many who have not yet had a conversation with their employer about the ability to work from home. given the dividends to the transport network, more conversations about working from home, or the structuring of work so that some component can be completed from home should be encouraged by governments. there are dividends for employers in this regard as well. many employees stated that they work in open plan offices that would still require appropriate social distancing measures, and environments with hard surfaces that would require regular cleaning. working from home will enable this to be done more easily and more thoroughly, given that concern about returning to the work environment is split, with a lack of concern with work and trust in some colleagues being misplaced, making it early in the process of learning to live with covid- . should a business become a hub of transmission, the consequences could be devastating. overall, for those engaged in working from home the experience has been largely positive, with employees and employers alike finding productivity to be more or less the same than if the work was j o u r n a l p r e -p r o o f completed in the more traditional arrangement. indeed, our results suggest that it may be possible that employees are understating the degree to which their employer would support some work from home, with many employers suggesting that a balance between working from home and working at the office would be supported. in terms of that experience, the biggest challenges have been interruptions from family and children, and an inability to concentrate on work. as restrictions ease, however, and children go back to school or families begin to resume normal routines, distractions in the home will likely diminish over time. governments should look to support research into how the work from home experience can be improved, and business should look to guide staff in how to apportion focus and concentration over the course of a working day, and equally respect the boundaries between home and work. the biggest benefits of working from home nominated by respondents, are not having to commute and the creation of a more flexible work schedule. these benefits are a positive for transport authorities seeking to solve a congestion problem or encourage peak spreading through the generation of flexible work, and indeed the implications on longer term investment priorities. in totality these are positive initial signs that working from home will be a bigger part of the mix moving forward, and as the work from home experience becomes more embedded and new routines are formed, it is also likely that the experience will improve. while some countries have no overt national response to covid- , australia has pursued a suppression strategy where activities deemed high risk have been curtailed, especially in the main environments that encouraged large groups of people together indoors (hotels, pubs, clubs, gyms, restaurants, religious gatherings), whereas other economies such as new zealand have opted for elimination, with a large number of restrictions on travel and activity (for example, all schools were closed and all non-essential businesses, including large retailers, were shut, cafes and restaurants were shut and not allowed to provide takeaway). initially the suppression strategy pursued by australia was relatively successful in turning around the rate of new cases, and as a result the restrictions were slowly lifted, but in turn we have also seen a rise in the number of new cases. travel patterns are the key risk factor in the transmission of covid- ; the virus can only move if people move. first and foremost, other countries need to eliminate movement in areas or groups where the risk of covid- is high. in australia, this was not done well enough in the context of hotel quarantine in victoria, where the use of casually employed untrained security guards to ensure quarantine failed. it is also likely that these casual security guards, working many jobs not just in quarantine hotels, spread the disease across the city. the same issue occurred with aged care homes with rotated casual staff between sites. jurisdictions will likely need to move swiftly to contain travel from covid- hotspots and err on the side of caution in order avoid mass community transmissions. it is also likely that, with media reports of the relative success of australia in combatting covid- , risk perceptions dropped as seen in this research, and people who became excited about a return to interrupted social activities, may have been less cognisant of the behaviours that are no longer appropriate when combatting a pandemic. indeed, pandemic response fatigue is also something that may occur in a longer attempt at suppression, and this might need to be weighed against the merit of short and sharper responses. more research is needed here, but other nations should resist the urge to lift any restrictions on movement and gatherings too soon. with regards to working from home, australia saw a rather swift and widespread adoption of working from home that has thus far persisted even as restrictions have eased. this has meant that traffic congestion and crowding on public transport has not been as bad as could have otherwise been the case. government at all levels urged companies to support working from home wherever possible, and it seems that this has been supported by the majority of businesses. other nations may be able to see that, while not perfect for all, working from home is a viable option and that generally staff have been just as productive at home as from the typical work environment. much like argued in this paper for australia, other countries should also see that support of and investment in work from home strategies is a significant investment in transportation and ultimately sustainability. clearly experiences with travel and work in the context of covid- are still very much nascent stages and will be for some time. behaviours and attitudes are still in a great state of flux and it would not be possible for research conducted now to be definitive about what the future might look like. however, insights are needed and research, while beginning to be available, remains limited. it is important that ongoing, timely and consistent research be conducted, and will be beneficial in helping to identify trends and potential for positive intervention before "bad habits" are formed. we will continue to track the changing nature of travel and activity in the australian context. there is also great scope for work to bring together and synthesise the experiences that are being had around the world. each jurisdiction will no doubt benefit from learning about the experiences of others. preliminary research by currie et al. ( ) indicates that working from home may indeed be the only long term change that will emerge post pandemic (though the study also acknowledges that findings are also at an early stage much like any research conducted now). it is therefore important to examine the dynamics of this experience and those associated with increased work flexibility. one such allied policy response is peak spreading or staggered work hours, which may be as equally impactful a response to change transport demand and capacity, particularly for those unable to work from home. future research will look at the degree to which people may be able or willing to stagger working times, but there are unintended consequences of peak spreading such as decreased use of public transport, that also need to be examined (daniels and mulley ) . more research is needed on the prevalence of active transport. our survey did not detect any strong trends in the aggregate, but in this paper we only present overarching results of analysis, which are already extensive. the concept of working from home, mixed with active travel and places in which travel activity occurs given a rise in working from home continues to be important. if people increase working from home, then there are likely to be significant implications for more localised transport networks, rather perhaps more profound than those arterial links designed to move large numbers of people between residential and employment centres. additionally, australia was approaching the end of autumn during wave and winter had begun during wave . colder climates may be a reason why active transport was found to be less prevalent than media would suggest, in this study. however, using sydney as a proxy, the average temperature during wave was degrees (σ = . ) and daily rainfall . mm (σ = . ), compared to degrees (σ = . ) and . mm of rain per day (σ = . ). wave was conducted during a colder period, but only marginally so. likewise, any planned changes in activity could be attributable to likely improved weather, those changes in travel were asked for the next week (next days) at the time at which the respondent completed the survey. it is unlikely that their perception of the weather would change too significantly in that time frame when winter had only just started. lastly, winters are also relatively mild in australia compared to other parts of the world, so activity pattern changes may be more pronounced in warmer months, or in countries where the climate is more extreme. localised amenity may start to become increasingly more important moving forward and there may be more pressure on parking in places where there were previously few concerns. local streets may require more maintenance or will degrade more quickly with increased local traffic, more formalised organisation of traffic may be required on local roads than is currently the case, and local parks may become more important to wellbeing. politicians in australia are already acknowledging that the pandemic had underscored the importance of public space to people's mental, physical and social wellbeing, having launched an ideas competition to reimagine public spaces (o'sullivan ). indeed, in the very long term, covid- may change the way in which individuals make decisions about where they live, if working from home grows. reduced friction from the disutility of commuting (even if a reduced number of days) may mean that people are more able to prioritise the utility of living near social contacts (guidon et al. ). in the very long term, working from home may be an opportunity for regional centres (with cheaper housing and potentially greater local amenity) to capture new residents and new industry, as people may have greater freedom to choose where to live, or in the future need to travel to an urban location significantly less often. these issues are unclear, but research could be devoted to the implications of what we are observing now, desirably through a longitudinal panel survey. while looking at household travel in terms of repeated or more regular trips, this paper does not examine the impact on tourism or holiday travel. the impact to international travel and both the domestic and international aviation markets are well known and easily observed. what is less well known are future intentions around travel and how preferences towards international and domestic travel may change. in , tourism australia ( ) reported that tourism contributed $ billion towards gross domestic product and makes up approximately % of the australian workforce. changes to travel choices with respect to tourism will be important to understand, particularly with respect to generating greater domestic tourism when it is allowed. while these changes may occur, the preliminary finding by currie et al. ( ) that people initially state that very little may change long-term as a result of covid- , adds to the call in this paper for timely and ongoing research. much like with dealing with the pandemic itself, often a fast response is needed rather than one which is considered but loses efficacy due to its untimely nature. it has been long known in transport that humans are habitual (hensher , goodwin , banister , verplanken et al. , aarts and dijksterhuis and cognitive dissonance is common (de vosa and singleton ), and these habits are powerful and hard to change (bamberg et al. , walker et al. . any invention needs to be targeted and dynamic to the changes being experienced now, or it is likely that momentum will be lost. on a positive note, research in other fields suggest that the formation of new habits is possible with the appropriate interventions gardner , mergelsberg et al. ) , and reinforcement of positive attitudes (judah et al. ) . interestingly lally et al ( ) posit that habit formation takes an average of days, a point at which we are now approaching with regards to work and travel with covid- . will new transport and work habits take longer, and are "desirable" habits being formed? in may , the world conference on transport research society released a covid- task force with five recommendations for policy makers who are responsible for deciding when to end the covid- lockdown period (wctrs ). they discussed issues surrounding the timing of restriction j o u r n a l p r e -p r o o f relaxation, notably that influential decision makers would typically advocate for a shorter lockdown duration than is socially optimal due to the costs of the virus being spread being an external cost that may be discounted. they also noted a concern around increased private vehicle dependence, with priority investment being needed in transit systems to allow for proper social distancing and cleanliness along with an increased focus on active transportation modes. these recommendations, similar to those found in beck and hensher ( ) , are worth highlighting in the context of the results outlined in this paper and the discussion thereof. human beings are inherently social creatures and it is not surprising that social activities are planned to rebound given the widespread suppression witnessed during wave of this ongoing study. however, this does represent a known danger for increased community transmissions. younger people, who show greater propensity to travel, are also more comfortable with interaction in more dense social environments such as pubs and clubs, gyms and exercise and live events. authorities need to remain vigilant and carefully consider the risk of opening too soon (as is occurring with a spike or second wave in a growing number of locations), against the benefit of increased activity (which may end up being only for the short term). as the lockdown is ended, it is likely that governments will need to act quickly and decisively to quell any increase in transmission, and resist the urge to discount short-term activity over the potential impact of long-term disruption due to a re-emergence. as can be seen in the first figure presented in this paper, the risk of an increase in new covid- cases is on the rise and governments and authorities need to be alert. if the policy is the desire to return to social activity is strong, how will that translate to the behaviours that are designed to reduce the risk of transmission? will fatigue or habit erode social distancing and if so, what measures can be deployed to counter-act a lack of community vigilance? this is particularly important for the transport network that moves not only people and freight, but potentially the virus. with regards to the intervention of covid- strategies on transport in the longer term, it is clear that working from home should be viewed as a transport investment and should be encouraged with appropriate spending and support (i.e., investment in facilitating and tax breaks for individual uptake). as highlighted by wctrs; "this is clearly a unique and rare opportunity for policy makers and transport researchers to work together and seize the momentum to devise new policies in order to change our everyday living and choices toward more environmentally sustainable life and work". j o u r n a l p r e -p r o o f the automatic activation of goal-directed behaviour: the case of travel habit bike sales in anz skyrocket during covid- lockdown choice of travel mode in the theory of planned behavior: the roles of past behavior, habit, and reasoned action the influence of habit formation on modal choice -a heuristic model insights into the impact of covid- on household travel, work, activities and shopping in australia -the early days under restrictions citymapper mobility index smart public transport lab webinar the paradox of public transport peak spreading: universities and travel demand management travel and cognitive dissonance habit and hysteresis in mode choice google covid- community mobility reports the social aspect of residential location choice: on the trade-off between proximity to social contacts and commuting perception and commuter mode choice: an hypothesis promoting habit formation how are habits formed: modelling habit formation in the real world bicycles are the new toilet paper': bike sales boom as coronavirus lockdown residents crave exercise an intervention designed to investigate habit formation in a novel health behaviour untapped ideas': popularity of parks during covid sparks public space revolution attitude versus general habit: antecedents of travel mode choice old habits die hard: travel habit formation and decay during an office relocation recommendations on covid- policy decisions we thank the university of sydney business school for its financial support in funding the collection of wave data. the comments of two referees have materially improved the paper. we thank the university of sydney business school for its financial support in funding the collection of wave data. the comments of two referees have materially improved the paper. . the paper reports the findings from a the first two waves of a survey to identify the changing patterns in travel activity of australian residents as a result of the stage covid- restrictions and subsequent relaxations imposed in australia. . aggregate travel has increased by % since initial restrictions, but is still less than twothirds of that which occurred prior to covid- . . motor vehicle travel rebounding more than other modes, though those who are planning a return to train and bus intended to do so strongly. . concerns about public transport are lower than initial restrictions, but still significantly higher than prior to covid- . . large increases in activity planned for shopping and social and recreation purposes, with people feeling most comfortable about meeting with friends, going to the shops and also relatively comfortable visiting restaurants. . working from home continues, though concern about safety of work environment is widely varied. . work from home has been largely positive for those who have been able to do so, and the majority of respondents would like to work in increased proportion of days from home in the future. there is good employer support for doing so. . concern about the risk of covid- to the community, to someone known to the respondents or to the respondent themselves, has decreased significantly since the initial outbreak j o u r n a l p r e -p r o o f this paper is a revised version of a paper not submitted to any other journal.david hensher and matthew beck august j o u r n a l p r e -p r o o f key: cord- -cgktbqf authors: shaw, william s.; main, chris j.; findley, patricia a.; collie, alex; kristman, vicki l.; gross, douglas p. title: opening the workplace after covid- : what lessons can be learned from return-to-work research? date: - - journal: j occup rehabil doi: . /s - - - sha: doc_id: cord_uid: cgktbqf nan workers with a wide range of injuries, illnesses, and medical procedures (e.g., cardiac arrest, major trauma) [ , ] . within medical conditions, this variation has been attributed to demographic and health variables (age, fitness, health status, anthropometry), to workplace factors (e.g., supervisor support, ability to accommodate, physical demands), to psychological factors (e.g., perceived impairment, job stress, coping, fears of re-injury or worsening health conditions, catastrophizing), and to social factors (e.g., family caregiving roles, social support, economic factors) [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] . the covid- workplace opening process may also need to address this complexity of factors. just as injury and illness have variable effects on workability, the covid- crisis is likely to impact workers differently because of issues like threat of viral infection, health vulnerability, organizational perceptions, income levels, and seniority/job tenure. perhaps we can learn from studies in occupational rehabilitation [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] that have demonstrated how job stress, depressed feelings, job dissatisfaction, fears of injury or retaliation, catastrophizing, perceived incivility, and other factors can complicate rehabilitation and recovery. the covid- crisis has created a new workplace hazard that will be a significant source of stress and anxiety for many workers. this is especially true where infection risks are greatest, where workers are deemed essential to continue working, and for workers who are particularly vulnerable. opening of workplaces during covid- is occurring against a backdrop of heightened levels of psychological distress in the community that crosses all sociodemographic divides. distress may result from increased personal financial pressure, social isolation, fear of infection, or the threat of job loss. returning to an uncertain working environment presents an additional stressor that will further affect the mental health of workers [ ] . workers who experience covid- symptoms and return to work after a period of illness and quarantine may experience fatigue, anxiety, and/or reduced work tolerance [ ] . they may face difficulties in access/travel to work, restrictions in social contact with others, and new training, equipment, or responsibilities. the social stigma associated with a covid- diagnosis may alter social relationships and access to or interactions with colleagues. it is unclear how conjoint work that necessitates close physical proximity will be managed, though it seems that mandatory physical distancing will be a condition for workplace opening. the social support of longstanding colleagues may fracture, and it may be difficult or impossible to work side-by-side with peers for any prolonged duration. the workplace has never had such seismic shifts at a global level. one concern is that workers who have been away from physically demanding work for several months may experience deconditioning that poses risks upon returning to work. in occupational rehabilitation after injury, workers build tolerance for work gradually before resuming heavy physical work demands. the same opportunity may not be possible after a covid-related layoff, but workers should re-engage with work tasks gradually to allow re-adaptation to heavy loading. in addition, domestic pressures arising from the health or risk of ill-health in families can have a significant effect on workers' wellbeing, sleep, and mental health, with possible increases in presenteeism and work absence. the most prevalent of all will be fears of novel coronavirus itself, ironically a consequence of the strong public messaging that underpinned the initial lockdown. this new fear of unseen infection hazards in the workplace, rather than hazards of work itself, will be difficult to manage using traditional safety training and disability management strategies. the covid- crisis has led to an unprecedented need for employers to provide flexibility and leeway so their workers can continue to work productively from home, adopt different work habits, or work in a new or rapidly changing environment. from the occupational rehabilitation literature, we know that workers are highly variable in their need for job modification after injuries. similarly, workers will have substantially different needs for job modification related to covid- . supervisors will be an important resource for information and individual worker problem solving. authors have commented on the critical role of immediate supervisors for effective implementation of proactive employer policies and practices in workplace safety and return-to-work [ ] . with covid- , workers will rely heavily on immediate supervisors to interpret the policies and practices of owners and corporations. in providing support and guidance, managers will be asked to address a wide range of effects not only of the virus, but of the impact of physical distancing as well. this is particularly true if they are required to monitor and enforce new working arrangements. furthermore, the extent to which workers will have discretion to weigh virusrelated risks in relation to the need to be present at work is not yet clear. workplace flexibility and modification will be needed to support safe workplace openings, and this will vary substantially by industry and occupation. settings that involve working in close physical proximity to others will have elevated risk of infection (e.g., meatpacking), while in others, infection control measures are more feasible. the occupational rehabilitation literature shows that effective return to work programs are context specific [ ] , and it seems apparent that a similarly targeted approach will be required as workplaces re-open during the pandemic. some workers may choose to work from home indefinitely or take extended leave from work. in some workplaces that pose untenable risks, it is possible that workers will seek other job roles or file for disability or unemployment payments. the covid- pandemic will have a long-term societal impact both in and out of work. changes in social interaction will require that many standard practices within employing organizations be re-evaluated and revised. a substantial change in workplace interactions and work habits will require accommodation and leeway in workers with the most significant concerns, those with the greatest illness risks, and those who are working in the highest risk work environments. just as with return-to-work after injury, employers may struggle to maintain uniform and fair practices while also being responsive to the concerns of individual workers, and it will be important to involve multiple stakeholders in this process [ ] . the existing occupational rehabilitation literature has shown how return-to-work and other worker health and safety outcomes are stratified by income, language, immigration status, social rank, and other measures of socioeconomic advantage or disadvantage. data from the covid- pandemic will no doubt reflect that disadvantaged workers are overrepresented among essential workers and those deemed necessary for businesses to remain open or reopen. disadvantaged workers are at greatest risk of experiencing negative outcomes from covid- . low-income workers will be more likely to have jobs deemed as essential with no options for working from home, and workplace exposures may be more difficult to control. working from home may be impossible or impractical, and the threat of layoffs may lead low-income workers to accept workplace exposure hazards despite fears of infection and job loss. other disadvantages related to age, race and ethnicity, language, education, or social status may result in fewer advantages for alternative work and job flexibility. employer policies related to opening with covid- will need to pay particular attention to consequences to workers who have socioeconomic disadvantages. the covid- pandemic will challenge many of our existing conventional practices in occupational health and safety and work disability prevention, and the reopening process will see tremendous variation across workplaces and between workers in the same occupations. there is a complexity of multi-level factors that will influence whether individual workers will accept workplace safety risks, trust organizational measures and co-workers, modify work habits, return to shared working spaces, and resume productivity. based on the lessons learned from the occupational rehabilitation literature, we recommend the following: • employer plans and strategies for reopening the workplace should identify and anticipate individual worker circumstances that will affect worker covid- attitudes and behavior. policies that demand uniform compliance may be unsustainable or unrealistic. • occupational health and safety guidelines for reopening the workplace should be industry-or occupation-specific and consider the unique physical, psychological, and social workplace factors of different work settings. • workplace openings should prioritize the needs of disadvantaged workers, as they are most likely to have higher environmental exposures and inflexible job tasks, and they will be most threatened by job loss and unemployment. successful opening of workplaces during the covid- pandemic will require significant changes to organizational health and safety policies and practices to show flexibility to individual worker needs, to be fair to workers with less socioeconomic advantage, and to understand the backdrop of stress and social disruption being experienced at all levels of society. conflict of interest all authors declare no conflicts of interest. open access this article is licensed under a creative commons attribution . international license, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. the images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's creative commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. if material is not included in the article's creative commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. to view a copy of this licence, visit http://creat iveco mmons .org/licen ses/by/ . /. return to work and participation in society after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patterns and predictors of return to work after major trauma: a prospective populationbased registry study factors affecting return to work after injury or illness: best evidence synthesis of systematic reviews determinants of sickness absence and return to work among employees with common mental disorders: a scoping review common psychosocial factors predicting return to work after common mental disorders, cardiovascular diseases, and cancers: a review of reviews supporting a cross-disease approach sustainable return to work: a systematic review focusing on personal and social factors researching complex and multi-level workplace factors affecting disability and prolonged sickness absence association between illness perceptions and return-to-work expectations in workers with common mental health symptoms is it safe for me to go to work? risk stratification for workers during the covid- pandemic. nejm perspective supervisor and organizational factors associated with supervisor support of job accommodations for low back injured workers prevention of work disability due to musculoskeletal disorders: the challenge of implementing evidence return-to-work outcomes following work disability: stakeholder motivations, interests and concerns publisher's note springer nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations key: cord- - tc ksf authors: schaap, andrew; weeks, kathi; maiguascha, bice; barvosa, edwina; bassel, leah; apostolidis, paul title: the politics of precarity date: - - journal: contemp polit theory doi: . /s - - -z sha: doc_id: cord_uid: tc ksf nan forms that political agency and solidarity might take in response to it, and the appropriate site within which precarious social conditions can be contested and transformed, is controversial. precarity refers to a situation lacking in predictability, security or material and social welfare. importantly, this condition is socially produced by the development of post-fordist capitalism (which relies on flexible employment practices) and neoliberal forms of governance (which remove social protections) (see azmanova, ) . precarity entails social suffering, which is manifested in the declining mental and physical health of both working and 'out of work' people and compounded by the attribution of personal responsibility to individuals for their politically induced predicament (apostolidis, , pp. - ) . precarity leads to social isolation as workers find themselves segregated and alienated by work processes while the capacity to sustain community is undermined (pp. - ). moreover, precarity leads to temporal displacement with precarious workers finding they have no time to do much else than work: they must constantly make time to find and prepare for work and, in doing so, become out of sync with the normal rhythms of social life (pp. - ) . precarity involves social dislocation as people are forced to relocate to adapt to precarious situations at the same time as their movements are constrained and policed (pp. - ). importantly, precarity is distributed unequally, with people of colour, women, low-status workers and many in the global south experiencing its most devastating effects. at the same time, however, some of its aspects penetrate all social strata. as apostolidis ( , p. ) puts it, 'if precarity names the special plight of the world's most virulently oppressed human beings, it also denotes a near-universal complex of unfreedom'. recognizing that anti-capitalist struggle has always been a fight for time, apostolidis ( , p. ) reflects on how this fight should be adapted to our present political conjuncture. to develop this vision of radical democratic politics, he turns to the experience of migrant day labourers to both diagnose contemporary social pathologies and envision alternative social possibilities. the research for the book is based on apostolidis's involvement in the activities of two worker centres located in seattle, washington, and portland, oregon. in addition to participating in various activities of the centres (such as staffing phones and running occupational health and safety sessions), the research team conducted interviews with migrant day labourers. through interpreting the interviews, apostolidis practices a kind of political theory inspired by paulo freire, which he characterises as 'critical-popular analysis' (p. ). by attending to the self-interpretations of the research participants, apostolidis characterises precarity and considers the possibility of its transformation in terms of four generative themes around which the book is structured. the first three themes speak to the experience of precarity: 'desperate responsibility', 'fighting for the job' and 'risk on all sides, eyes wide open'. the fourth theme envisions an anti-precarity politics in terms of a 'convivial politics'. as apostolidis acknowledges, there is an ethnographic dimension to this project since it provides a thick description of the everyday experiences and practices of migrant day labourers. however, it also entails critical-popular analysis since apostolidis aims to co-create political theory with the research participants. he does so by staging a constructive dialogue between the self-interpretations and practical insights of day labourers and the systematic and defamiliarized perspective afforded by critical theory. the fight for time not only provides insight into how some of the most vulnerable people in society experience, negotiate and resist precarity: from this social perspective, it aims to generate a wider understanding, of what agency all working (and 'out of work') people have to challenge the precaritisation of social life. as such, the book pivots on a fundamental distinction between day labour as exception and day labour as synecdoche. as kathi weeks explains below, this paradigmatic understanding of the precarity of day labouring, enables a perspectival shift from the singular experiences and ideas of migrant day labourers to the more general social condition of precarity and the possibility of its transformation. on the one hand, apostolidis considers those exceptionalising forms of precarity that dominate day labourers' lives, differentiating them from other members of society. on the other hand, however, apostolidis considers the significance of day labour as synecdoche for how precarity permeates social relations on a much broader social scale. a synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a part represents the whole. an often remarked on synecdoche in political language is that of the people, whereby the poor (those who do not participate in politics) speak in the name of the citizenry (the people as a whole). similarly, apostolidis treats day labour as synecdoche, according to which the exceptional forms of precarity experienced by labourers might make visible the precarity that increasingly conditions all social relations. in the final chapters, apostolidis explores how worker centres might also function synecdochally insofar as the purpose of association is construed not only instrumentally, as protection against the risks associated with precarity, but in terms of their constitutive potential to sustain convivial networks of political possibility for more mutually supportive, creative and pluralistic forms of solidarity than those afforded by traditional unionised spaces. it is in these spaces, which are both mundane and potentially extraordinary, that apostolidis discerns a nascent form of radical democratic politics that consists in a struggle against precarity. this entails three key elements: first, the refusal of work, i.e. the refusal to allow one's life to be consumed according to one's role as worker within capitalist social relations; second, the constitution of spaces for egalitarian social interaction that resist the imperatives of neoliberal governance, and; third, the reclamation of people's time from capitalist and state powers (p. ) . this recuperation of time (the time robbed from people's lives, which is symptomatic of alienated labour) is fundamental to understanding how day labour might function as synecdoche both of the wider social condition of precarity and the possibility of its transformation. as apostolidis explains, 'working people are running out of time and living out of time ' (p. ; emphasis in original) . in this context, he suggests, day labourers' socialized activities within the 'time-gaps' of the precarious work economy indicate how the 'time of everyday precarity' might be remade into 'novel, unpredictable, and politically generative temporalities ' (p. ) . the contributors to this critical exchange engage with two key aspects of the politics of precarity. the first relates to the subject of an anti-precarity politics and the extent to which the exceptional but inevitably partial experiences of day labourers can function as a synecdoche for the precarity of all. edwina barvosa questions whether identification with precarity provides an adequate basis for an emancipatory politics, given that it may condition unreflexive modes of action. bice maiguashca suggests that an intersectional politics would require attending to multiple exceptions, each with their own set of experiences and aspirations, as the basis for a coalitional anti-precarity politics. leah bassel similarly advocates building a politics of migrant justice from the knowledge experiences that are generated by a matrix of oppression, which requires acknowledging struggles against patriarchy and racism as well as capitalist domination. in this context, she emphasises the political imperative of making settler colonialism visible in any analysis of migrant justice, including acknowledging the social position of migrants as settlers. in contrast, kathi weeks highlights how certain appropriations of the marxian category of lumpenproletariat resonate with apostolidis's synecdochal interpretation of day labour. as such, it can be interpreted as a conceptual articulation of a heterogenous -rather than a homogenizing -political subject. indeed, in his response, apostolidis clarifies that the use of the term synecdoche indicates that the perspectival shift from the experience of day labour to the general social condition of precarity is intended as a contingent act of representationrather than a reductive empirical truth. the second issue relates to the mode and site of political organizing against precarity, encapsulated in apostolidis's demand of 'workers' centres for all'. weeks emphasises the urgency of politicizing workplace death and injury, which is obscured by the managerial appropriation of discourses of health and well-being with increased productivity of workers. yet, she is concerned that workers centres might be susceptible to co-optation. moreover, she wonders whether workers centres require embodied social interaction to be effective or might also be realised in virtual spaces. bassel highlights how such anti-precarity spaces are both sustained by affective labour of women and may reproduce other forms of oppression. maiguashca wonders what the visionary pragmatism that apostolidis ascribes to day laborers has in common with the principled pragmatism that she and catherine eschle observed among feminist activists involved in the global justice movement. barvosa questions the assumption that global inequality is most effectively redressed through the mobilization of oppressed groups according to a salt-of-the-earth script. she invokes instead to an alternative keep-only-a-competency script, according to which social inequality might be more effectively reduced by the voluntary giving of the wealthy. in response, apostolidis elaborates on the benefits of the critical-popular approach he adopts in the book. while the practical focus of the fight for time supports a coalitional politics as a key mode of struggle, apostolidis highlights the limits of a 'coalitional epistemology', which would require a cumulative assemblage of particularised knowledges prior to envisioning a desirable form of mass solidarity. lois mcnay ( ) has rightly highlighted how radical democratic theory risks becoming 'socially weightless' to the extent that it treats the social world as contingent, devoid of any significance of its own and able to be reshaped in limitless ways through political action. radical democrats tend to over-estimate the agency of members of oppressed groups when they neglect the mundane experiences of social suffering, which undermine individuals' capacity to participate in politics (mcnay, , pp. , - ) . as this critical exchange demonstrates, the fight for time challenges theorists of radical democracy to recognise the weight of the world while reflecting on how political agency is shaped, constrained and enabled by the conditions that it seeks to transform. moreover it challenges us to reflect on how political solidarity is possible across the differences and inequalities that are currrently being exacerbated and intensified by the social production of precarity in response to the covid- pandemic. andrew schaap the future of anti-precarity politics the discussion that follows is constructed around three insights gleaned from the fight for time about how to formulate an anti-precarity politics in the u.s. today. the first concerns one target for such a politics, the second its political subject, and the third considers one of its organizational sites. all three draw on apostolidis's approach to day labouring as both singular and paradigmatic, as at once an exceptional case and an exemplar of precarious work in the contemporary economy. i will begin with one of the targets of an anti-precarity politics apostolidis identifies that seems critically important today: publicizing and politicizing the incidents of work-related death and injury. this is one of the aspects of day labouring, which might be distinctive insofar as it is more hazardous than many other jobs, but is also appallingly common to precarious work under postfordism more generally. (if we include the household as a site of unwaged work as well, the rate of workplace injury and death increases dramatically.) apostolidis mentions briefly an encounter with a nurse who talked about the dangers of working intimately with bodies in need, and this certainly squares with the literature on other forms of care work, especially of home health aides (one of the fastest growing jobs in the u.s.), whose privatized places of work, and complex as well as under-regulated employment relations, can easily render workers unsafe. publicizing this issue is difficult because, as apostolidis notes, the problem of workplace death and injury is strangely absent from popular consciousness. public awareness is only occasionally peaked when massive disasters are reported: 'intervallic evocations of shock enable an overall scheme of normalization' (p. ). the anarchist polemicist bob black, in his essay 'the abolition of work', speaks to this normalization -using his own inimitable brand of sarcasm in a bid for attention to the issue -by claiming that we have made homicide a way of life: 'we kill people in the six-figure range (at least) in order to sell big macs and cadillacs to the survivors' (black, , p. ) . in her book on emma goldman, i was struck by the effort with which ferguson ( ) attempts to make visible the violence that capital and the state used against workplace organizing in the late th and early th centuries, which was rarely reported at the time and remains largely absent from our history books. ferguson ( , p. ) even offered, to powerful effect, a visual aid in the form of a six-page list, a 'bloody ledger', of what she could find of the documented instances of violence levied by public and private armies against striking or resistant workers. for the most part, this spectacular, overt wielding of force and violence over workers by the state and capital has been replaced by brutality meted out through the tools and within the routines of the labour process, such that the perpetrators are typically less directly involved or clearly identifiable. i agree with apostolidis when he argues that anti-precarity political activism requires 'a self-conscious, strategically eclectic, affectively inventive politics of the body' (p. ). the trick, as i see it, is how not only to publicize but also to politicize the issue of bodily harm, given how extensively the idiom of health has been rendered amenable to the logics and aims of biopolitical management. what vocabulary can be used when the seemingly most obvious and most legible candidate, the language of health, has become so tightly sutured to measures of productivity and complicit with the 'workplace wellness' programs dedicated to its restoration and maximization? although it may still be a language through which the problem of work-related death and injury can be publicized, particularly in light of the ways it is currently deployed to pathologize various modes of indiscipline, i am less certain that the individualizing and biologizing vocabulary of health can be used as a tool of work's politicization. the second aspect of the analysis that i want to consider once again draws on the day labourer as both a specific figure and an archetype of precarious work in order to think further about how to conceptualize a political subject adequate to a broad anti-precarity politics. the case of day labourer activism would seem to lend support to the proposition that the marxist category of the lumpenproletariat is once again resonant. the concept is not offered as a form of self-identification, but rather as a mechanism of conceptual articulation, particularly across lines of gender, race, and citizenship, that might serve as alternatives to the analytical and political categories of proletariat and working class. famously disparaged by marx and engels as the sub-working class, or, more precisely, a de-classed and disparate collection that includes vagabonds, former prisoners, pickpockets, brothel keepers, porters, tinkers, and beggars (marx, , p. ) , the lumpenproletariat was negatively contrasted to the upstanding 'labouring nation' exemplified by the economically and socially integrated -hence, powerful and politically reliableindustrial proletariat. (although it should be noted that marx and engels include some discards from other classes as well, including the bourgeoisie.) even the unemployed members of the industrial reserve army were posited as fully inside capitalist relations, as opposed to the surplus population relegated to the outside: that subaltern, disorganized, and politically untrustworthy non-class of people 'without a definite occupation and a stable domicile' (engels cited in draper, draper, , p. . engels included day-laborers in his list of the lumpenproletariat, and those who have since tried to reclaim and revalue the category -most notably, bakunin, fanon, and the black panthers -have added as well various modes of petty criminality, maids, sex workers, and 'the millions of black domestics and porters, nurses' aides and maintenance men, laundresses and cooks, sharecroppers, unpropertied ghetto dwellers, welfare mothers, and street hustlers' with 'no stake in industrial america' (brown, , p. ) . while i am interested in the category as a way to make particular connections among prison workers, domestic workers, day laborers, sex workers, laborers in various underground economies, and undocumented migrants, it has also been used to identify linkages among a host of precariously employed people (see, for example, bradley and lee, ) . indeed, refusing the original distinction between proletariat and lumpenproletariat, the latter category could serve as the general designation that links the lumpen to the proletariat through the hinge category of the precariat. engels once criticized kautsky for using the label proletariat as inclusive of what engels sought to set apart as the lumpen class; kautsky's proletariat was a 'squinty-eyed' concept because it looks in both directions, thereby blurring an important distinction (draper, (draper, , p. . perhaps today the lumpenproletariat could serve as a squinty-eyed, broad category, more adequate to a u.s. political economy where the difference between formal and informal employment, employment and unemployment, work and nonwork are breaking down. the specific advantages of this formulation of the lumpen category include its breadth. stallybrass ( , p. ) notes how the lumpenproletariat is often described in terms of the 'spectacle of multiplicity' it evokes in contrast to the unified sameness of the conception of the proletariat. this heterogeneous breadth would seem especially appropriate to a political economy in which, as apostolidis notes, rather than determine who exactly counts as a precarious worker, 'the better question might be: who does not belong to the vast population of the precaritised?' (apostolidis , p. ; emphasis in original) . another attraction of the concept is how marx and engels's pejorative characterization of the lumpen class betrays some of the ways that the moralized understanding of work and family -recall the description of the lumpen as lacking or marginal to the stabilizing force of both occupation and family -haunts their analyses. for this reason, some, myself included, are interested in how the lumpenproletariat can, as thoburn ( , p. ) notes, be figured as the 'class of the refusal of work'-and, i would add, the refusal of family. finally, i am interested in how it was conceived as politically unreliable in a way that seems more realistic than the tendency for some to posit some kind of special 'wokeness' to the working class, only to be disappointed when they turn out to be politically erratic, sometimes acting against what are taken to be their class interests. the third and last point of particular interest for me in apostolidis's theorizing about the politics of work today was the argument about the worker centre as a mode of labour organizing for precarious workers. in thinking about analogous organizational innovations two examples come to mind. both share some resemblances with the worker centre even if they are associated with more privileged workers. the first is what might be characterized as a dystopian version of the worker centre that goes by the label coworking. interestingly, coworking originated from below as activist projects to create spaces of community and collaboration among elements of the white-collar precariat, but as de peuter et al. ( , p. ) note: 'inside a decade, an innovation from below was drawn out of the margins, harnessed by capital and imprinted with corporate power relations'. today, by way of these global real estate ventures, capital can both appropriate the value waged workers create and charge them rent, just as we pay for the households where so much of our free reproductive labour is enacted. but what might seem quite distant from the worker centres apostolidis describes comes a little closer if we take seriously the contradictory (merkel, ) or ambivalent (de peuter et al., ) status of coworking, which may provide opportunities for the convivial mutualism that apostolidis finds in the worker centre while also interpellating members as entrepreneurial individuals, and which 'is animated by a tension between accommodating precarity and commoning against it' (de peuter et al., , p. ) . i am left with a question that i think might be worth pursuing: is coworking best understood as a specular image against which we can recognize the progressive potential of the worker centre, or is it a cautionary tale about its potential to be co-opted? the second comparison is to a very different model of labour organizing for precarious workers. this is a project based in new york city called wage, an acronym for working artists in the greater economy. it started in as a project committed to help artists to be remunerated for all the work they do with non-profit arts organizations and museums. their 'womanifesto' says they demand payment 'for making the world more interesting' (wage, ) . among other initiatives, wage's efforts involve knowledge production about various arts organizations and the contracts they make with independent artistic workers, the development of a platform that helped artists negotiate fair compensation, and a certification for which arts institutions can apply. this approach to organizing precarious workers is comparable to the model of the worker centre in the sense that each of the projects seeks at once to facilitate work and to acknowledge anti-work critical languages and agendas. one of the questions that the comparison with this project raises is whether the forms of convivial mutualism and politicization apostolidis found in the worker centre require the kind of 'embodied social interaction' (p. ) and faceto-face encounters that platform models of organizing do not necessarily prioritize. kathi weeks in , i co-authored a book with catherine eschle entitled making feminist sense of the global justice movement which sought to make visible, audible and intelligible a strand of feminist anti-capitalist activism that was being consistently ignored in the international relations and social movement literatures (eschle and maiguashca, ) . driven by the conviction that taking the words and deeds of the women engaged in these struggles seriously would yield not only a more intricate and complete empirical map of the movement, but also prompt a re-conceptualisation of its meaning and trajectory, we embarked on fieldwork in several countries as well as interviews with activists over a period of several years. by seeking to expose the gendered power relations that marginalise women within the world social forum process, as well as in the academic literature about this movement, and by choosing to speak to and from the feminist struggles that emerged to confront them, the book was written in solidarity with feminist anticapitalist activists. paul apostolidis' book the fight for time encapsulates a very similar kind of intellectual-political project as it also seeks to capture the self-understandings of migrant day labourers in their everyday struggles, to reflect on how they resonate with contemporary critical theoretical concepts and to learn how, taken together, these empirical and conceptual insights may lead us to a renewed vision of what a left politics might look like for our age. like our book, paul's is unashamedly political in intent and, as such, it embodies a form of 'militant research', which 'activates enlivening moments of contact between the popular conceptions of day labourers and scholars attempts to describe and account for precarity in sociostructural terms' (p. ). like our project, paul's research wants to bring what has been rendered marginal, both politically and academically, to the centre of our scholarship and theorising. and like my own work, more generally, paul's is driven by a commitment to revitalising both the theory and practice of left politics. in my contribution to this critical exchange i will draw out the points of contact between our respective approaches as well as tease out what i take to be our differences. in doing so, i aim to underline not only what is distinctive about paul's efforts, but also the shared challenges that we face as critical theory scholars attempting to chart a path for the theory and practice of a collective, transformative politics. more specifically, i want to highlight two broad lines of inquiry that emerge when undertaking this kind of politicised scholarship. the first line of inquiry seeks to open up a dialogue about the challenges that implicitly accompany the quest of constructing a critical theory that can simultaneously speak to and from 'the exception' and 'the synecdoche', or, to put it otherwise, that can light a path from the particular to the universal. the second theme concerns the role of utopian thinking in galvanising and giving direction to a radical left politics that is inclusive and that is fit for purpose in the st century. turning first to the task of critical theory, understood in marx's terms as the selfclarification of the wishes and struggles of the age, it is imperative that one grounds one's analysis in the practices and aspirations of a particular marginalised subject. elaborating on this point leonard ( , p. ) states, 'without the recognition of a class of persons who suffer oppression, conditions from which they must be freed, critical theory is nothing more than an empty intellectual enterprise'. now, while apostolidis and i agree on this, and both of us have chosen 'addressees' that are subjected to oppressive power relations that undermine their life chances and denigrate their ways of knowing and feeling, the conditions and experiences which give rise to and shape their respective ideas and practices are significantly different. indeed, despite some important overlaps, the radical politics and utopian imagination that emerge from each constituency -precarious labourers, on the one hand and feminist activists, on the other -diverge considerably. so, what are these differences, and what lessons might be drawn from this comparative analysis for those of us seeking to develop a comprehensive critical theory that seeks to move seamlessly from the exception to the synecdoche? apostolidis' chosen addressee is the migrant day labourer living precariously from day to day in a hostile environment in the us. framed as an exploited class, apostolidis' chosen subject wages his struggle for survival and dignity on the terrain of labour relations. while paul rightly recognises that day labourers, as a group, are also gendered and racialised subjects, his study remains primarily focused on the collective efforts of male labourers to resist forms of denigration and harm that mark their lives as workers and to overturn the destructive and exploitative practices of an unregulated capitalist economy, more generally. by contrast, my feminist interlocutors were relatively privileged economically in comparison to other women in their respective societies -and certainly to the day labourers of apostolidis's book. moreover, most of these women were well educated and, although many lived precarious professional lives (e.g. their ngo funding was secured year on year), the women themselves were, in the main, leading comparatively secure lives both materially and socially (they had families and belonged to social movement networks). finally, all of our activists were already politicised and involved in consciousness-raising activities (e.g. our fieldwork in brazil exposed popular education as a common practice) and, to this extent, were engaged in a form of feminist praxis that quite self-consciously and explicitly sought to transform the world they lived in. in sum, pace apostolidis' claim that precarity is a 'near universal complex of unfreedom' (p. ), it is not the obvious starting point for conceptualising the challenges faced by these women. given these different starting points, what kind of politics emerges from each constituency, what utopian visions accompany them, and to whom are they directed? for apostolidis, an anti-precarity politics demands a 'post-work' future, one in which we all refuse to assume the responsibility for facing up to and accepting the consequences of precarity as an inevitable condition of life. instead, we are entreated to engage in a 'politics of demand' that seeks to reclaim our wages and our time ('for what we will') from predatory capitalist powers. more concretely, apostolidis outlines several attendant policies, including the introduction of a universal basic income and the creation of affective spaces of embodied social interaction, including multiple work centres. as he puts it, 'if all working people could gain access to workers centres like those that are inspiring such utopian effulgence … such a politics could well find masses of adherents and assume more fully developed form in our common precarious world' (p. ). this is a resolutely anti-capitalist vision of a transformed world demanded by and imagined for all workers. or, to put it in fraser's ( ) terms, this is a bold call for a social politics of redistribution. turning to the feminist activists of my project, we find an alternative vision of what a better, more just future looks like. and while it is also anti-capitalist in orientation, it refuses to centralise either the realm of 'work' or 'workers' as its central axis of liberation. instead, the politics of demand that emerges from this politicised subject targets, not only capitalism as a systemic power relations but also patriarchy and racism. in this context, all three systems of power are understood as interlinked and pervasive to the extent that they cut across all social realms (economy, society, political, cultural) and are reproduced in both the public and private sphere. each however is also sui generis, and therefore, requires specific strategies to be overturned. moreover, on the affirmative side, our feminist interlocutors articulated their vision for the future in terms of two sets of demands. the first took the form of multiple proposals for policy change that seek to address context specific problems, such as violence against women, reproductive health, labour rights including the women's right to work and environmental degradation. the second was normative and universal in nature and revolved around the identification and defence of a set of ethical values -bodily integrity, equality, fulfilment of basic needs, peace and respect for the environment -that go beyond the concrete wish lists of different groups and pertain to all human beings. thus, the feminist anti-capitalist activism that i explored embodied a self-consciously intersectional politics in which demands for material redistribution and social justice were combined with equally important claims for cultural recognition. thus, here we have different struggles, different self-understandings and different visions of a progressive left politics. but if, as apostolidis suggests, 'we need a politics that merges universalist ambitions to change history, which are indispensable to structural change, with responsiveness to group differences that matter because minimizing them means leaving some people out' ( , p. ; emphasis in original), then how do we knit together these connected and yet distinct visions of emancipation? how do we move from the exception to synecdoche if we have multiple exceptions, each with their own sets of experiences, analyses and aspirations? after all, linking 'universal ambitions' to radical social change requires that we have a shared understanding not only of which structures of power need to be transformed/challenged the most, but also of how we go about building a common struggle. and whatever the intellectual synergies, programmatic overlaps and emotional affinities between the struggles of day labourer in the us and that of women worldwide, their utopian dreams would take us along very different, perhaps even incommensurable, paths. given this challenge, the question becomes one of deciding whether we need multiple critical theories running parallel to each other animated by different kinds of oppressions and degrees of marginality or whether we are still looking for a singular revolutionary subject, the one catalyst for change who is able to be both an exception and a universal exemplar, thereby embodying all the demands of the oppressed? this is not just a quibble about who gets to lead the charge: it is about what radical, progressive change should actually look like. as a feminist scholar seeking to find and defend space for an intersectional politics that refuses to be contained and streamlined in any way, i think it is imperative that critical theorists resist the temptation of elevating one concrete subject to that of a universal one. instead, we must engage in far more patient, painstaking ethnographic work of the kind that apostolidis has undertaken on male migrant day labourers, with a range of other addresses or marginalised subjects (e.g. the experiences of female day labourers are, as apostolidis suggests, one good place to start). it is only once these varied, complex mappings of power and resistance are drawn, with the recognition that they cannot be easily merged, that we can begin to look for connections across them and identify possible sites of bridge building which may lead to a convivial politics of the left and to the emergence of a collective dream. whatever it ends up being, my sense is that it will have to take the form of a coalitional politics, one in which sui generis struggles fight alone and together for radical change. the second theme is the role of utopian thinking in galvanising and giving direction to a radical left politics. despite being burdened by a 'relentless presentism' that does not allow them to think about, let alone strive for, a better future, it is clear that apostolidis believes that the 'demand' politics of day workers is suffused with utopian aspirations (p. ). drawing on coles ( ), apostolidis describes their aspirations in terms of a 'visionary pragmatism' (p. ) that combines an overt disruptive politics, that makes them visible and audible to the wider public, with more mundane, everyday practices of solidarity, mutual aid and self-government. interestingly, this view of utopian thinking as granular, incremental and cumulative, as well as eventful, unruly and confrontational, resonates very strongly with the dreams and impulses of feminist anti-capitalist activists. in fact, we deployed the notion of 'principled pragmatism' as a way of capturing their mode of action, in general and its pre-figurative orientation, in particular. for what became clear to us as researchers is that our feminist activists were concerned with articulating not only the political substance of their alternative future and the values that underpin it, but also an ethos by which this future should be brought into being. in this way, the 'principled' part of principled pragmatism sought to underline the highly ethical nature of both the goals/ends of their mode of action, as well as the means designed to achieve them. moreover, we found that this normative mode of action embodied a specific temporality, which was open ended and processual as well as nonlinear. this is, in part, due to the commitment of feminist activists to enabling women to speak and act for themselves, a project which, by its very nature, is unpredictable. it is nonlinear because its pre-figurative orientation demands that the future be lived out in the present. in this way, principled pragmatism is anchored by the imperative of getting things done in the 'here and now' of everyday life, without giving up the goal of radical change in the future. as a mode of praxis that pursues incremental, context specific change, feminist anticapitalist activism presents us with an inspiring alternative to the clichéd dualism of reformism and revolution. the question here is whether the 'visionary pragmatism' of day workers is generalizable to other forms of contestation and, if not, in what ways it might be different from the 'principled pragmatism' of the feminist activists outlined above and what might be at stake in these differences. whatever our different starting points, what all the contributors to this exchange share is an abiding interest in generating explicitly normative, politicised scholarship or what apostolidis refers to as 'emancipatory scripts'. in other words, we all resist the path of what mcnay calls 'socially weightless' theorising, referred to by andrew schaap in his introduction to this critical exchange, opting instead to grapple with the messy world of politics, the material social conditions that hold it in place, and the suffering it engenders. to this extent, we all believe that what we write about and how we conceptualise it matters, not just intellectually, but also politically. for in the end, the stories we tell about the world and 'politics of resistance' that bubble up within it, can contribute to opening up (or closing down) the spaces of possibility for its realisation. pursuing this intuition is becoming harder, however, not only because academia continues to extol the virtues of scientific knowledge, but also because of changes in the political landscape. with 'populism' now elevated as the threat du jour, all resistance against the status quo is in danger of being discursively contained by politicians and academics alike. moreover, the increasingly trenchant calls to drop the left-right distinction in favour of other political cleavages (e.g. 'people vs elites', 'people from somewhere' vs 'people from nowhere') are making it harder to reclaim a politics for and by the left. in this context, critical theorists of all ilks need to stick together, learn from each other and engage in a form of 'epistemological coalition building'. while it may not be the only route to progressive change, as paul rightly points out, it is one worth sustaining, in my view, and critical exchanges of this sort provide one step in this direction. fighting from fear or creating collaboration across economic divides? in the fight for time paul apostolidis offers readers a powerful meditation on the problem and politics of precarity. he contends that precarity is a global problem shared by virtually all who toil in the global economy. through his study of latino day laborers in the us, apostolidis argues that day laborers present a proxy for the precarity of laborers worldwide (pp. - ). through his portrait of the cruel trials faced by day laborers, apostolidis wisely proposes that work centers for all, popular education practices and consciousness raising, as well as a 'demand politics' for better and safer labor conditions, fair pay, and flexible time are necessary to improve the lot of all laborers everywhere. his valuable work thus provides a vision of collective practices that might, if we are persistent and lucky, ease the plight of billions of precariously placed workers across all walks of life worldwide. along with my admiration, this book's fine and yet familiar tones raise for me two questions that i pose here in the spirit of conversation and in sharing in paul's quest for the best ways to realize global prosperity and peace that recoups the time that all human beings need to explore and express their best qualities and capacities. my first question is whether inviting widespread personal identification with precarity -as opposed to identifying with peace, justice, or other motivating concepts -is a necessary step to ignite awareness and action for economic change that recoups time for all (pp. - )? a recent national public radio/harvard university poll shows that in the us, the majority of both the wealthy ( %) and the poor ( %) already share the view that extreme economic inequality is a widespread and serious problem that presents risks to everyone in the global economy (harvard, ) . while wealth and poverty are facts of a balance sheet, precarity is experienced as a feeling or state of mind. this is acknowledged implicitly by apostolidis in his application of lauren berlant's concept of 'cruel optimism', in which precarity is not considered as economic hardship alone, but is an 'affective syndrome' (p. ). thus while wealth and poverty shape experience in material ways, the feeling of precarity is a choice to embrace and/or identify emotionally with a fearful state of dangerous insecurity. but is the choice to identify oneself with the feelings and fears of precarity wise or helpful? dangerous insecurities may arise for anyone, and even the comparatively well off may feel fear of sudden destitution. yet as frankl ( ) observed in man's search for meaning, the responses that we choose to a threatparticularly one's capacity to choose not to succumb to fear -is a central factor in securing human freedom under any conditions. as frankl himself exhibits, even in the life-threatening conditions of a nazi concentration camp, his humanity and true freedom could not be extracted from him because freedom lies in our capacity to choose our own responses to violent and destructive conditions, even unfathomable extremes. thus, in contrast to berlant's cruel optimism, frankl's observation is that even within the vicissitudes of illness, exposure, and hunger, those who faced the concentration camps with dignity, self-worth, and courage were far more likely to survive, and eventually escape those conditions, than those who surrendered to a mindset of fear-based terror and precarity. in short, our chosen mindsets under hardship also shape our prospects for resolution and escape from extremity for better or worse. thus, to choose to embrace affective fear and precarity may ultimately undermine the strength and survivability of the self. if fear of precarity is widely embraced, this may in turn subvert the capacity for collective action in pursuit of economic justice and the reclaimed time that all workers, as apostolidis deftly shows, so desperately need. beyond frankl's philosophy and experience, neuroscience also illuminates the possible hazards of self-identifying with a precarity mindset. in ledoux's ( ) influential work on the interface of emotion and human physiology, the emotion of fear, particularly mortal fear, triggers neurological subsystems of the body that enable rapid responses by bypassing and making temporarily inaccessible the neocortex -the brain-centers of conscious reflection -which are too slow to address risks to mortal safety. in other words, when humans are in fear, we cannot physically access our capacity for conscious reflection until our fear subsides (ledoux, , p. ) . instead, when in fear, the human body defaults to operating on autopilot through whatever neurologically encoded scripts the emergency systems of a given body happens to have for its fear responses, typically including, fight, flight or freeze. arguably, this can be seen in chapter three of the fight for time, in which paul shows day laborers -fearful of missing out on even an extractive job in their precarious conditions -inflict violent harm on one other in a 'surly wrestling match' as a car approaches (p. ). does such fearbased reaction help? not as much as it endangers people, fosters increasing fear and dissention among laborers, and drives away would-be employers. yet this kind of scrum is not a poor conscious choice. instead it is a scripted embodied impulse that is the anticipated neurological consequence of adopting a fearful approach to experience and thereby hobbling conscious response. on this analysis, choosing a precarity mindset risks disabling physical access to conscious, thoughtful reasoning and response in fearful moments in favor of fear-based impulses and reactions that are attendant to moments of fear. these risks of identifying with precarity raise my second question. what blind spots might exist in the familiar narrative of economic reforms championed in the fight for time? the proposed path to reform invites readers to embrace work centers for all and collective action based in common experiences of deprivation that address intra-group biases and divisions along the way. this is an inherited social script that is long-treasured and often invoked. as a common social inheritance among scholars and activists alike it has been portrayed eloquently before in such powerful retellings as that of salt of the earth, the once blacklisted film narrating a famous new mexico labor strike. in this valuable and familiar approach, echoed here by paul, laborers come together to confront and overcome their mutual biases, and then pursue together demands for better wages and benefits. paul's recruitment into one work center's 'theatre of the oppressed,' intended to help workers address their biases, is an example of this longstanding approach in action (p. ). in this script, rich capitalists appear as universally greedy and cruel hoarders whose victims, the long-suffering poor, must now muster the courage to see their commonalities within divisions of race and gender to demand a fair shake from capitalists. this story is rewarding. and it is true that workers everywhere would be better off if this familiar scenario were consistently fulfilled. yet the gains of this approach over time have been slow, sporadic, labor intensive, and often hobbled by the stubbornly persistent biases, suspicions, and enmities of many laborers -as well as owners -weaknesses to which all of humanity is still often prone. in contrast, from a chicana feminist perspective, such as that of gloria anzaldúa, the enduring problem of economic inequality does not call only for looking within worker's groups for sources of intra-group conflict and dissention. it also calls for searching across polarized social divides -of workers and owners, of the haves and the have nots -to explore and create the conditions for peaceful resolution of economic inequality. although venerated in death, anzaldúa was at times scorned in her lifetime for proposing that true peace and justice required people to eventually come together to work across trenchant social divides: people of color working with whites, women with men, immigrants with non-immigrants, and so on (anzaldúa, ) . this anzaldúan chicana feminist perspective urges us to not overlook the possibility of working generatively across the divides among workers and owners, a possibility in the blind spot of the salt of the earth narrative in which economic benefits must always be fought for and hard won rather than produced through collaborative vision and effort. following this traditional script, the fight for time's focus on work centers and the fight of traditional labor activism implies that attempts to collaboratively bridge the worker-owner divide may be futile, naïve, or at best irrelevant. yet among the ultra-rich, practices of large-scale philanthropy are emerging which suggest that there is more transformative common ground between laborers and some owners than the traditional salt of the earth viewpoint can yet acknowledge. if so, then attending to this common ground may help remedy the lack of time, economic freedom, and financial stability needed by everyone more quickly and effectively than the fights and struggles of work centers, strikes, and direct actions have historically achieved. specifically, in recent years carnegie's ( ) assertion that successful capitalists should ideally end their financial careers by giving away all of their wealth, retaining only a personal competency -defined by carnegie as enough wealth to meet their own life needs and that of one's family -has been gaining a following. reflecting this view, in two of the world's wealthiest billionaires, bill gates and warren buffet, created an organizational structure called the giving pledge ( ), in which ultra-wealthy people across the world pledge to give away the majority, or at least half, of their wealth in their lifetime or upon their death. to date, over ultra-wealthy individuals and families have made this pledge, including five of the top thirteen billionaires on earth (i.e. bill gates, warren buffet, elon musk, mark zuckerberg and mackenzie scott). in july , these five pledgers command a combined total net worth of $ billion usd (bloomberg bi, ), representing an estimated philanthropic giving over time of at least $ billion usd by those five pledgers alone. if a growing number of the ultra-rich are voluntarily committed to giving away their wealth for the benefit others, then -by adopting an anzaldúan perspective on working across economic and other social divides -it becomes valid to explore beyond the familiar salt of the earth script hailed in the fight for time. doing this would involve considering how engagement across social divides of workers and owners may help direct emerging philanthropy into social justice philanthropy that could potentially ease global financial inequities more quickly and resoundingly than the efforts of work centers and traditional labor actions have done to date. such a move could potentially recoup both time and transformative possibilities for the benefit of laborers, as well as owners, and provide sustainability benefits for the planet from a revised economy. by shining an anzaldúan chicana feminist perspective into the blind spots of the fight for time, apostolidis's project is not abandoned, but augmented by bringing unforeseen possibilities into view. new possibilities might arise from organizing with willing and openhearted owners, rather than fighting against them as a class to retrieve the time and financial freedoms precious to all. in moving beyond the view that labor and owners are always divided (rather than only often so), it becomes possible, for example, to imagine efforts in large-scale social justice philanthropy that could, for example, provide everyone on earth with a carnegiesque financial competency. for the sake of discussion let's imagine that such a personal competency would be $ million usd per person worldwide. with . billion people now on earth, the core funding for a $ million dollar safety-trust for each person at present on earth would require . billion usd. that sum seems large, yet it is less than % of the combined minimum pledge, of the five of the signatories to the giving pledge named above. of those five givers, mackenzie scott herself is committed to giving away all of her $ . billion, a sum that alone could handily endow a universal personal competency worldwide. thus at least in terms of core capital resources (even accounting for the illiquidity of many assets of the ultra-wealthy), a universal competency could be funded by a small fraction of the funds already pledged for giving by the world's ultra-rich. in this context, self-identifying with fearful precarity and fighting for traditional reforms through work centers and labor actions for the changes so urgently needed in the (now pandemic-stricken) world may be worthy in our traditional socially inherited script of salt of the earth-style social change. yet this accustomed approach arguably now may be less wise and expeditious than other emerging options. if so, it is worthwhile to explore the limitations of our commonplace labor-related scripts and to confront as needed our own potential blind-spots regarding the diversity among the ultra-rich that could -in an anzaldúan manner -help us to better see new possibilities for bridging economic divides and opening ourselves to collaboratively producing transformations that can benefit all people and the planet upon which we reside together. is resolving the pain of global poverty through philanthropic giving so farfetched? it is not as implausible as so often thought. alongside the kinds of labor actions hailed in the fight for time, in recent months one us billionaire chose to pay the college debt of an entire class of morehouse college totaling over $ million usd. another man paid the college debt of his uber driver, a single mother, thereby enabling her to finish her college degree. by chance, the latter giver is a well-off white man and the recent graduate an african american woman. meeting as strangers by chance, the two have now become friends and their story has gained popular attention. if giving to strangers in need is not merely feasible but also appealing, why is it perhaps emerging more visibly now? it may be because many humans are learning that beyond a meaningful competency, wealth does not necessarily create happiness, but that human connection and giving often do. if so, then a season of transformational giving may be on the near horizon. if these events reveal a nascent turning of the tide, there are still many obstacles on the path of philanthropic giving-for-global-prosperity. if a pathway to funding a universal competency could be created through social justice philanthropy, for instance, this would also need to involve further measures for healing the poverty-related traumas so aptly described in the fight for time. beyond a basic endowment, provisions would be needed to provide for new learning, safeguards, and other supports for recipients in order to truly solve the lingering problems of precarity. why? because those who come into sudden wealth from poverty and lack often risk experiencing poverty once again through missteps, fraud, or other hazards arising from a rapid change in economic conditions. thus even if furnished with a financial competency, in the context of hazardous grafts, frauds and other pitfalls that remain mainstays of us culture (young, ) , latino day laborerslike the vast majority of other workers alluded to in the fight for time -would need additional training to cultivate the skill sets and mindsets needed for living with meaningful wealth after having had little or no prior knowledge or instruction in how to hold, manage, or grow the would-be competency that could furnish them at last with time and freedom from extractive labor. is the idea of philanthropic solutions to global economic inequalities simply another example of 'cruel optimism'? by berlant's ( , p. ) definition, optimism is cruel only if the desired change is truly 'impossible or too possible and toxic'. clearly, however, changes are emerging that make meaningful large-scale social justice philanthropy possible, even if those changes are growing in the shadow of predatory economic practices. with these changes in view, it is worth asking whether paul apostolidis's fine call to 'fight' to retrieve time across all laborers might be best served by extending our willingness to also seek common cause not only among diverse workers, but also among those openhearted wealthy owners who are willing to give back their wealth to benefit the well-being of all humanity. if so, it may be worth our time not to fight for time, but instead to work collaboratively and creatively for time and wealth to become equitably available to everyone in unexpected ways. edwina barvosa whose politics? whose time? traditionally, political theory has not co-theorised. it has spoken from on high among 'male, pale, stale' companions. hence my defection from these ranks. in this dialogue with paul apostolidis' the fight for time, i would like to recognise the attempt to co-theorise. in this work some migrant day labourers' voices, described as latino, are represented through ethnographic moments. bodies, presumably cis-male, are portrayed in struggle. this day labour is proposed as 'synecdoche' -the part that stands for the whole -by which is meant precarity on the grand social scale (p. ). thus, the collective fight for time is staged. demands include: a politics that goes beyond seeking marginal relief from overwork and instead fundamental alternatives; a repudiation of the work ethic that prescribes personal responsibility in the face of desperation; the demand to restore time as well as wages to the people; a refusal of work 'as the axial concept that constricts working people's social and political imaginaries' (p. ). i can only respond from outside of the social and political world the book portrays. i am not latinx/latin@ (hence the unsatisfactory use of terms that are, themselves, the site of struggle), but white, cis female, and belonging to many other privileged social locations. from my vantage point i explore struggles for migrant justice and against austerity and precarity at the intersections, drawing on lessons from black feminism and indigenous scholars writing in the context of the ongoing violence of settler colonialism. i ask: whose politics? whose time? whose politics? whose knowledge counts as the basis for politics? i cannot accept proposals, as in this book, to radiate outwards from some bodies and experiences -people presented as cis-gender latino men, workers -as the part that stands as the whole, the synecdoche. this is a project of inclusion: generative themes are based primarily on these experiences, to which others must then align. this story has been told before. it is of a linear, sequential march toward 'justice'. some are at the centre, in the lead, and others need to wait their turn to then be included. add and stir. who must wait their turn? in this work, this sounds like (presumably cis) women domestic workers who are mentioned but peripheral to this study, as well as those who experience misogyny and harassment at the worker centres (pp. , , ) that are to be the incubators of progressive alternatives and the collective fight for time. we could add here the women who founded and run the worker centres in this book, who are barely visible but are also key protagonists of anti-precarity and antideportation struggles. those who must wait also surely encompass malepresenting others who do not identify with what are referred to in the book as the 'normative' masculinities deployed in the worker centres (p. ). what happens when the political knowledge of queer, non-conforming, differently gendered actors is parked for consideration later on? what politics is generated when these experiences and these intersections are named at the end of a book (pp. - ), after the contours of struggle have been determined against precaritisation 'as the array of social dynamics that structure these settings' (p. )? it becomes possible to call for 'workers centres for all workers'. and thus a space for the resistance of some is built on the oppression of others. theorising this as synecdoche does not name the problem or open up the space for resistance to multiple, intersecting oppressions. it does not centre as part of the theory the messy and vital struggles of workers' centres to change representation on governing boards, to reconfigure resistance to border control in recognition of the specific brutality experienced by lgbtq migrants (p. ) and to bring into focus all forms of work (p. ). this call, 'workers centres for all workers', chills me without scrutiny of all gender relations and all gendered labour -and i mean all, beyond gender binaries, at multiple intersections. what can the 'repudiation of work' mean without naming cis heteropatriarchal relationships of domination, in ableist and racialized capitalist systems that pervade all 'public' and 'private' realms? this book asks how various groups of workers articulate terms of their consent, how regimens and discontinuities of body-time on the job vary between different groups. but this undertaking is impossible without articulating at the same time the terms of consent to cis heteropatriarchal relations in and outside of the workplace. oppressors are not only employers. they are also other workers, community and family members, who are cis men and women embedded in hierarchies that include gender, class, race and legal status. what would it look like to build a politics for migrant justice, against austerity and precarity starting with the knowledge of experiences of a matrix of oppression (hill collins, ) ? this is no synecdoche. it is the challenge of forging justice at the intersections. these are not new lessons to learn and there is no way to do justice here to all the illustrations of this kind of politics in practice. from my past work, one example from france in the s, may provide purchase on us-based challenges. in paris, madjiguene cissé led movements for the regularisation of 'sans papiers' -people 'without papers'. she described the 'struggle within the struggle' by women 'sans papie`res' (the feminised version of 'sans papiers') for gender equality within the movement, as well as regularisation of immigration status. this was a struggle against patriarchy as well as the racism of the french mainstream. the knowledge that sans papie`res women imparted in the struggle meant that they were in charge of their own thought and politics but without excluding others (hill collins, , p. ) , and they did not project separatist solutions to oppression because they were sensitive to how these same systems oppress others (hill collins, , p. s ) . women revitalised the movement and kept it together: 'a role of cement' (cissé and quiminal, ) . cissé explains how women kept the group together particularly when the government attempted to divide them, by offering to regularise 'good files' of some families, but not of single men. sans papie`res very firmly opposed this proposal, arguing that if single men were abandoned, they would never get their papers. migrant justice, anti-austerity and precarity politics look different when built at these intersections. the difference lies in who is present and also in what results. care and self-care are centred as 'an act of political warfare' in a system in which some were never meant to survive (lorde, ). self-help, self-care and selforganising are alternative, sometimes complementary spaces, and an important source of personal support, resilience, information and community, beyond whitedominated, politically raceless, misogynistic anti-austerity/precarity spaces (emejulu and bassel, ) . no part can stand for any whole when other spaces are unsafe and sites of violence rather than a collective fight for time. whose time? in our work exploring the activism of women of colour across europe, akwugo emejulu and i have argued that epistemic justice is about women of colour producing counter-hegemonic knowledges for and about themselves to counter the epistemic violence that defines white supremacy (emejulu and bassel, , p. ). epistemic justice is not a correction or adjustment to 'include' unheard voices, but a break away from destructive hierarchical binaries of european modernity. it is a break away from the 'persistent epistemic exclusion that hinders one's contribution to knowledge production' (dotson, , p. ) and renders women of colour invisible, inaudible and illegitimate to both policymakers and ostensible social movement 'allies'. epistemic justice at the intersections makes settler colonialism visible, whether in the united states of this study or so-called canada, where i grew up. this means going much further than the possibilities briefly flagged in the book: kindling a critical sense of historical time and orientation to the future that is fuelled by an awakened sense of historical injustice (pp. - ). it is necessary to go much further because the fight for time cannot be founded on indigenous erasure. erasure does not create a path toward solidarity 'with other colonised populations who understand their past experiences in somewhat parallel ways' (p. ). this book discusses workers turning a day-labour corner where jobs are fought for in portland into a space of musical performance. these are important moments to explore and co-theorise. but when they are described as transforming the space into a 'site of freedom' (p. ), indigenous struggles are erased. these performances are taking place on stolen land in what is now referred to as 'portland'. tuck and yang's ( ) key work 'decolonisation is not a metaphor' rattles the kind of settler logic that allows for this erasure. they discuss the occupy movement and argue that claiming land for the commons and asserting consensus as the rule of the commons, erases existing, prior, and future native land rights, decolonial leadership, and forms of self-government. occupation is a move towards innocence that hides behind the numerical superiority of the settler nation, which elides democracy with justice and the logic that what became property under the % rightfully belongs to the other %. in contrast to the settler labour of occupying the commons, homesteading, and possession, some scholars have begun to consider the labour of de-occupation in the undercommons, permanent fugitivity, and dispossession as possibilities for a radical black praxis … [that] includes both the refusal of acquiring property and of being property (tuck and yang, , p. ). the fight against precarity and for migrant justice must be reconfigured, if it is to be in solidarity with indigenous struggles. this means changing whose understanding of time and labour are at the centre of analysis. the land where this study took place is not an 'immigrant-receiving country' but a settler colony, founded on indigenous genocide, dispossession and slavery. when time is decolonised, the refusal of work is recast in relation to the refusal of the settler colonial state (simpson, ) and the formations of race, class, gender that it engenders. these formations, rooted in settler colonialism, shape the lives of the migrant day labourers who are 'here' because the united states was 'there' (sivandandan, n.d.) and must contend with entangled colonial legacies from different social locations. this requires a shift in vocabulary, when 'migrants' are in fact settlers. but with this comes also a shift in politics. in undoing border imperialism, walia ( ) shows how movements such as no one is illegal (noii) in what is now called canada have reconsidered their understandings of migrant justice. this has required recognizing the ways in which their actions have been premised on an understanding of sovereignty and territory that perpetuates the colonial legacy that has dispossessed and disenfranchised indigenous peoples (walia, ) . noii activists consequently re-centre ongoing colonialism and reconfigure understandings of land, movement, and sovereignty when claiming that 'no one is illegal'. specifically, activists have tried to consider how their calls for 'no borders' undermine indigenous struggles for title and against land loss, to reclaim land and nation. solidarity means reshaping the political agenda of noii beyond token acknowledgements, to move from a politics of 'no borders, no nation' to 'no one is illegal, canada is illegal' (fortier, ) . and now? i asked two questions here: whose politics? whose time? they remain unanswered. but they are a path to solidarity rather than solutions. so it goes in the messy world of politics, not political theory. leah bassel representing precarity: health, social solidarity, and the limits of coalitional epistemology in her contribution to this critical exchange, kathi weeks poses an unexpectedly timely question about how to politicise precaritisation in the form of heightened bodily risk at work. writing prior to the coronavirus outbreak, weeks echoes my observation in the book that, apart from the temporary rush of reporting when an occupational safety and health (osh) disaster strikes somewhere in the world, 'the problem of workplace death and injury is strangely absent from public consciousness'. how quickly things can change. i am writing this response in april in london, now in its fifth week of 'lockdown'. in this context, weeks's reflections prompt two questions: first, in what specific ways has the covid- crisis made workplace threats to life and health newly legible? second, what ramifications do state and employer responses to the pandemic have for the pressing issue of how 'to politicise the issue of bodily harm given how extensively the idiom of health has been rendered amenable to the logics and aims of biopolitical management', as weeks aptly puts it? i still see the outlines of an answer to the second question in the politics of solidarity around osh matters that day labourers have developed through worker centres. today's work-culture construes the task of sustaining the worker's health as the worker's personal responsibility, which the worker also exercises as a productivity-oriented social duty. many day labourers abet this tendency through their own themes of meeting the 'risk on all sides' by individually keeping their 'eyes wide open'. yet day labourers also demonstrate how health-related language, desires and practices can be cathected with a different figuration of social and individual conscientiousness: responsibility as autonomously collective solidarity. day labourers pose this alternative in three main ways. first, through convivial relations at worker centres, day labourers bolster one another to stand up to abusive employers, to refuse dangerous jobs and to de-throne work and income from their primacy in everyday affairs. second, day labourers contest biopolitical powerknowledge by fusing their own analyses of work-hazards to responsive practices of their own devising, as they teach one another about risky work processes, materials and employer conduct through popular education. third, day labourers are hatching visionary ideas about how distinct working populations can recognise their common stakes in ending the bodily precaritising dimensions of work, such as by organising with, not just against, their middle-class employers. in all these ways, at day labour centres, the talk of putting 'health' first mobilises a complexly social vernacular. one's 'own' health is always a concern, but the worker's understanding of 'health' does not stop with the individual. instead, this idiom positions health as stemming from social interactions that are contingent on power-differences, which are amenable to workers' collective re-formulations, which, in turn, need not be determined by the ideal of productivity. politically, these initiatives by day labourers imply that disentangling health-talk from the corporate wellness apparatus depends on autonomous action from below in tandem with cross-class organising. the role of the wizened welfare state in such efforts, however, is not clear -and that brings us back to the coronavirus. talk about 'biopolitical management'. the crisis has precipitated massive deployments of state resources to expand public health knowledge-systems and to use statistical probability calculations to foster mass populations' biological vigour and protection from disease, albeit in racially selective and gender-unequal ways. must this tidal wave of emergency mobilisation re-sediment personal responsibility and productivism as the norms that regulate occupational safety and health? or, as this surge recedes, could it leave behind institutional beachheads for fighting precarity on the level, and within the sinews, of the working body? even as the present apotheosis of biopolitics applies itself globally and to entire nations, it targets micro-practices in the workplace and affects precarity's configuration of work as a zone of bodily hazard. overall, the covid crisis reduces to the point of vanishing the already quite faint and episodic awareness of how mounting osh threats have made the workplace increasingly dangerous to workers' health for decades, across occupations. the fight for time discusses how these threats principally entail work-environmental hazards, especially poor air quality as more work is done indoors, ergonomically dysfunctional work-processes, and debilitating stress due to corporate downsizing and rising job insecurity. ironically, the pandemic's sudden re-framing of the workplace as replete with health dangers focuses on the work environment. it does so, however, in terms that reproduce the moral individualism of the precaritised osh culture, while occluding the work-environmental systems that generate endemic hazards. thus the exhaled breath of a single co-worker becomes the respiratory threat, rather than the air circulation machinery in the office or warehouse. health-conscious bodily comportment means obeying the individual remonstrance to keep six feet away from any colleague rather than ensuring that the ergonomics of work-procedures avoid forcing workers to contort their bodies and overstrain their tendons. the stress of losing one's job, having work hours reduced, or fearing these things because of the virus's immediate economic effects, normalises the ongoing anxiety that is baked into precarious work-life and linked to heart disease. the hyper-individualisation of osh hazards in the covid- crisis and the fingering of co-workers as those who pose lethal hazards to us also clearly discourage building safer and healthier workplaces through solidarity among workers. such miscasting of fellow workers as the culprits whose irresponsible conduct explains why everyone's health is in jeopardy bedevils many day labourers' attempts to rationalise the contradiction between expectations of personal responsibility and the power-relations governing their work. the pandemic further embeds this thought-habit of precarity. meanwhile, consigning 'essential' workers in some occupations to higher risk exposures while others 'shelter at home' and assemble via zoom aggravates the difficulties of organising across class lines. in all these ways, the pandemic has made it harder to dislodge health discourses from their current ensnarement in norms of productivity and individual responsibility. yet the sheer size and weight of institutional responses to covid- also presents an opportunity to argue that, if states and employers can so speedily muster these titanic responses to this virus, then the capabilities are there, more obviously than ever, to tackle the endemic osh challenges that constitute the bodily mortifying facets of precarity even in 'normal' times. this will only happen, however, if working people redouble their organising efforts. and that makes the project of founding worker centres for all workers even more vital: extending the scaffolding for leadership development and autonomously collective organisationbuilding along with new ventures in state-sponsored redistribution, such as a universal basic income. bice maiguascha correctly observes that she and i share aspirations to pursue critical theory in ways informed by the ideas she cites from marx, leonard and militant research, and i am glad she sees in my book the work of a fellow traveller. for us both, this means doing theoretically evocative social research from positions of active engagement within political struggles against oppression and with the aim of contributing something tangible to those struggles. maiguascha and eschle's research with feminist anti-capitalist activists also illuminates how political agents quite different from those who occupy centre stage in my book can pinpoint 'systemic power relations', including gender, that are fundamental in their own right and need to be contested both as such and via the demands these women raise. in response to maiguashca, let me also underscore that, notwithstanding the near-exclusive focus of my fieldwork on male, latino day labourers, the fight for time affirms, explicitly and in its intellectual practice, the need to theorise politicaleconomic power and contestation in ways that attend to the complex gendered and racialised aspects of work. maiguashca allows that my book 'recognises that day labourers … are gendered and racialised subjects', but the book does more than this. it probes the masculine ideals woven into these workers' themes, explores how the racial state constitutes precarity through policing migrants, distinguishes day labourers' varied renderings of latino identity, and draws on my own supplementary field work and secondary literature to suggest how domestic workers' conceptions would likely both differ from and align with those of day labourers. maiguashca also implies that the book searches 'for a singular revolutionary subject' and anoints the day labourer as 'the one catalyst for change', but the fight for time does neither. if my statements in the book to the contrary do not suffice to show this, then it should still be apparent from the book's premise of basing a critique of capitalism on research with workers who, as weeks notes, resemble marx's disparaged and heterogeneous lumpenproletariat, rather than the traditional proletariat. i stand firmly in sympathy with the efforts of weeks and other theorists influenced by autonomism to widen and complicate the notion of 'the working class', as weeks does by training our attention on women's reproductive labour in households, and as studying day labourers does by foregrounding a liminal and ambiguously gendered realm between productive and reproductive labour. the analytical rubric that positions day labour as both exception and synecdoche in relation to precarity writ large appears to lie at the heart of what most troubles maiguascha and leah bassel. let me thus address further what this interpretive framework means, going somewhat beyond what is already in the book. the exception/synecdoche formulation is intended as a strategy of provocation: a prod to imagine how the critical language of one especially benighted group, which has done a remarkable job of building itself up politically, could shake loose new ways of construing overarching forms of power and domination. such general structures, systems and flows of power and domination exist, and they need to be named in order to be engaged politically. this does not obviate the fact that any act of naming by a situated subject is also bound to yield misnomers because of that person's or group's particularised social location. moreover, as mezzadra and neilson ( ) argue, capital itself regenerates, accumulates and dominates both through systemic processes that integrate the globe and through localised 'operations' that proliferate heterogeneities of experience, identity and activity (including work-activity). this, however, makes it imperative to theorise capital on both levels at the same time, through critical procedures that juxtapose the general and the particular, teasing out their resonances and tensions. one models the whole with the help of closely scrutinising an always-insufficient particular, then re-envisions the systemic through considering other concrete-particulars, and so forth. a synecdoche is a part that stands in for the whole, but this notion's origin in literary theory bespeaks selfawareness that this figuration is a contingent act of representation -rather than a straightforward declaration of truth. furthermore, critical-popular analysis does not simply infer the whole from a part but rather effects mutual mediations between self-expressions of the part and conceptions of general dynamics. the fight for time pursues this path by reading day labourers' themes together with allied concepts from critical and political theory about broad formations of precarity. this is certainly a different way of reaching a provisional sense of society-wide power than that preferred by maiguashca, but it has its virtues. one virtue has to do with the temporality and affectivity of collective action that seeks to confront thoroughly pervasive forms of social, political and economic power. having exhorted readers to pursue with other groups more of the finegrained ethnographic analysis that my book provides, maiguashca then cautions: it is only once these varied, complex mappings of power and resistance are drawn, with the recognition that they cannot be easily merged, that we can begin to look for connections across them and identify possible sites of bridge building which may lead to a convivial politics of the left and to the emergence of a collective dream. this statement conveys a political temporality of postponement as well as an ascetic tinge, and i question both. if capital and other systemic forms of power are perpetually in motion, always mutating, and never ceasing to employ both universalising and particularising modes of operation, then it makes little sense for theory to hold its own generalising capacities in reserve until it has amassed some critical mass of analyses of situated perspectives (and how could a non-arbitrary threshold be specified?). strategically, this appears unwise. affectively, something also seems awry with the gesture of renunciation one must make to defer the invigoration that comes from battling broad-scale domination, while also letting systemically generated suffering endure without being called out as such. the critical-popular approach, in contrast, partakes in the affective spirit of weeks's 'politics of the demand'. this means taking seriously both the re-constituting of desiring subjects in the midst of utopian struggle and the value of fighting for a 'collective dream' that is massive and radical -like 'worker centres for all workers' or 'wages for housework' -but neither totalising, nor conclusive. another virtue of the critical-popular approach to theorising the whole, in comparison to mapping specific differences and then building localised bridges, is that the former offers not just an alternative to the latter, but also a prelude to it. my book not only juxtaposes day labourers' popular themes with academic concepts to theorise precarity writ large and anti-precarity struggle, but also shows how worker centres, the day labour movement and a broader anti-precarity politics all depend on developing popular consciousness and political action-plans through molecular processes and alliance formation. the book's practical contribution to day labour centres' popular education programming, through workshops i conducted, as well as a report i wrote with additional dialogue options, further shows this project's commitment to fostering intersectional interactions of the kind that maiguashca and bassel endorse. the fight for time thus supports coalitional politics as one key mode of struggle needed to define and confront precarity. it takes issue, however, with what we might call a 'coalitional epistemology', or the idea that understanding power on the broadest levels and identifying desirable forms of mass solidarity, can only occur through the cumulative, piece-by-piece assembling of particularised knowledges into progressively larger composites. along these lines, it bears emphasis that the fight for time is one of two inaugural books in my publisher's series 'subaltern studies in latina/o politics', edited by alfonso gonzales and raymond rocco. i am honoured to have my book involved in this effort to support work that brings together latino studies and political theory. the series is also promoting research on latino/latin-american transnationalism (félix, ) , contentious citizenship and gender among salvadorans in the us, and religion, gender and local agency in mexican shelters for central american migrants. colleagues interested in how my book contributes to more wide-ranging discussions of race, ethnicity, migration and gender, and to coalitional politics, should be aware of this context. for the most part, my responses to maiguashca, and defence of the criticalpopular method above, comprise my answer to leah bassel as well. bassel shares with maiguashca a similar orientation toward critique and political action, which bassel describes as embracing 'the challenge of forging justice at the intersections'. bassel argues, however, that rather than either encouraging consideration of other oppressed groups' experiences or incorporating such analysis into the book, the fight for time suppresses and erases such experiences. i strongly disagree. as i have explained, there are good reasons for understanding the logic of the synecdoche as evoking provisional renderings of broad power dynamics in ways that invite -rather than discourage -contestation. readers hoping to join a 'linear, sequential march toward ''justice''' will search in vain for marching orders in my book. bassel also does not mention how the book frames day labour as both exception and synecdoche in relation to precarity writ large. this dual optic makes basic to the book an appreciation for the specificity of day labourers' social experiences. it thus signals clearly that attentiveness to situated subjectivity is a sine qua nonthough not the sole legitimate basis -of critique. in this way, my book underscores how the forms of precarity thematised by day labourers reflect, for instance, their particular position in the urban construction economy and their specific vulnerability to the racialized and gendered homeland security state. this implicitly affirms the value of hearing what other groups of workers, situated distinctly, would say about precarity. at the same time, bassel's commentary neglects a different problem with which my book grapples: the need to challenge the invidious naturalisation of assumed group differences. white middle-class americans, for instance, certainly need to understand better what makes the lives of working-class migrants in the us both different and harder. but the former also need a better grasp of how their own economic, political and bodily fortunes resemble those of the latter much more closely than most would like to admit. anderson ( ) calls for 'migrantizing citizenship' as a tactic for waking britons up to how the shrill demand to save 'british jobs for british workers' has precaritised work for everyone. in a similar spirit, the fight for time appeals for precaritised workers throughout society to recognise their shared stakes in a common struggle, even while observing how the stakes are graver, and different, for some than for others. i do see it as a limitation of my research that, although it delved into the complexities of day labourers' commentaries and traced their interactions with an eclectically convened set of theoretical interlocutors, it did not include substantial fieldwork with other precaritised workers. thus, i could not critically compare such workers' generative themes with the themes spotlighted in the book. the conception of critical-popular research is in its formative stages, and maiguashca's and bassel's comments, have fuelled my interest in exploring how a future project could bring such critical moves into the heart of the inquiry. planning such work with migrant and indigenous subjects (including indigenous migrants) would offer one attractive pathway for doing this, especially given the anti-capitalist trajectories of leading critiques of settler colonialism, which prioritise spatial and temporal politics that may both align and conflict with migrant endeavours (coulthard, ) . in the meantime, i appreciate maiguashca's and weeks's invitations to speculate about how day labourers' themes and organisational spaces might relate to those of other groups. i see an affinity between feminist wsf activists' embrace of an 'ethos' whereby organising processes 'prefigure' radically altered social relations and the day labourers' anticipatory enactment of the 'refusal of work', -even as they desperately pursue jobs, and even though the day labour network takes no stand for such a refusal. as these lines suggest, however, day labourers pursue social change by generating transformation from within, and by virtue of acutely contradictory circumstances. i wonder whether a similar catalysis of power-fromcontradiction plays a role in the wsf activists' undertakings, or whether perhaps these women's class privileges permit a more confident sense that an ethically consistent programme of action is possible in ways that are precluded for day labourers. that said, it would be intriguing to know if the activists in maiguashca's research feel subjected to class-transcending temporal contradictions of precarity, such as the clash between oppressively continuous and jarringly discontinuous patterns of work. even if precarity does not furnish the express 'starting point' for these women's advocacy, it might still provide a basis for solidarity with the day labour movement in the broad fight against capital. barvosa asks whether encouraging people to identify with the timorous mindstate of precarity might be politically counter-productive, given how fear induces corporeal responses that shut down complex thinking, induce self-preserving automatism and impede cooperation. as the book shows, however, the emotions that pervade precarity include not just fear but also guilt, hopefulness, selfsatisfaction, resentment, boredom, numbness and compassion, and more. precisely because precarity is so emotionally plural, it both acquires compelling force and spawns opportunities from within itself for its own contestation. in addition, precarity is more than a 'state of mind'. it is also a socially and politically constituted condition that stems from the convergence of protracted welfare-state austerity with the transformation of employment norms and institutions. precarity, moreover, is a hegemonic formation that relies on working people's consent, which day labourers provide, for instance, through the individualism of their generative themes. yet precisely for this reason and because it is structured in contradiction, especially temporally, precarity can be transformed from within. as my book argues, many workers prefer to see the worker centrecommunity as just a 'workforce' and in this way 'identify emotionally with a fearful state of dangerous insecurity', as barvosa fittingly puts it. yet more day labourers respond to fear -along with confusion, rash self-confidence, impatience and loneliness -by acknowledging these tangled emotions and converting their affective energy into bonds of solidarity. as to gates and buffet, i am glad they are giving away mounds of money and have updated philanthropy's ethical framework, but relying on a programme to broaden beneficent actions does not strike me as a viable response to precarity. as azmanova ( ) argues, in ways complementary to the fight for time, the systemic roots of precarity lie in the competitive pursuit of profit, and precarity's structural foundations abide in the re-organisation of work and de-funding of the welfare state. absent a coordinated and democratic (anti-oligarchic) movement by masses of working people to tackle power on these levels, precarity will persist. the emancipatory script proposed by my book, far from simply pitting poor downtrodden workers against greedy bosses, casts working people at all levels of the economic hierarchy as potential collaborators in the fight against precarity, which must also be a struggle against gargantuan wealth -and a fight for time. paul apostolidis new directions in migration studies: towards methodological de-nationalism now let us shift…the path of conocimiento…inner work, public acts the fight for time: migrant day laborers and the politics of precarity capitalism on edge: how fighting precarity can achieve radical change without crisis or utopia cruel optimism: on marx, loss and the senses the abolition of work a taste of power: a black woman's story ) the gospel of wealth. www.carnegie.org/about/our-history/gospelofwealth visionary pragmatism: radical and ecological democracy in neoliberal times red skin, white masks: rejecting the colonial politics of recognition the ambivalence of coworking: on the politics of an emerging work practice conceptualizing epistemic oppression the concept of the 'lumpenproletariat' in marx and engels the politics of survival. minority women, activism and austerity in france and britain making feminist sense of the global 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( ) life experiences and income inequality in the united states learning from the outsider within: the sociological significance of black feminist thought black feminist thought: knowledge, consciousness and the politics of empowerment the emotional brain: the mysterious underpinnings of emotional life critical theory as political practice the misguided search for the political freelance isn't free: co-working as a critical urban practice to cope with informality in creative labour markets the politics of operations: excavating contemporary capitalism mohawk interruptus: political life across the borders of settler states marx and heterogeneity: thinking the lumpenproletariat difference in marx: the lumpenproletariat and the proletarian unnameable decolonization is not a metaphor undoing border imperialism the a. sivandandan collection. race & class bunk: the rise of hoaxes, humbug, plagiarist, phonies, post-facts, and fake news key: cord- - u fme authors: van dalen, hendrik p; henkens, kène title: the covid- pandemic: lessons for financially fragile and aging societies date: - - journal: work aging retire doi: . /workar/waaa sha: doc_id: cord_uid: u fme the current covid- crisis teaches organizations and households harsh lessons about the necessity of having buffers, to deal with the consequences of the covid- virus. the financial fragility of households and the rising proportion of people becoming obese calls for intensified efforts, both by individuals and employers to create financial buffers and keep on investing in health. the financial fragility of organizations is a wake-up call that a short-term focus on efficiency can be counterproductive and may overturn the efforts to start working longer. the current covid- crisis teaches organizations and households harsh lessons about the necessity of having buffers, to deal with the consequences of the covid- virus. the financial fragility of households and the rising proportion of people becoming obese calls for intensified efforts, both by individuals and employers to create financial buffers and keep on investing in health. the financial fragility of organizations is a wake-up call that a short-term focus on efficiency can be counterproductive and may overturn the efforts to start working longer. "the market will test you and do what you don't expect it to do. " this practical warning was uttered by leo melamed-former chairman of the chicago mercantile exchange-when in , the asian financial crisis erupted. the same warning might be applied today when thinking about the economic and societal consequences of the covid- crisis that has caught the world by surprise. it is perhaps too early to see the full ramifications of how the covid- virus will impact our lives. however, this extremely large shock to the system has the unintended benefit that drives people to take a different look at what was common practice just a few months ago. when we consider the management of organizations, work, retirement, and pensions, an overarching theme is becoming clear. we have become so "lean and mean" in organizing societies that a lockdown of the economy reveals a very simple truth: we lack the buffers to weather a storm. in banking circles, banks are regularly checked by regulators on their ability to survive a crisis by using stress tests. however, compared to the financial crisis of , the covid- crisis is stress test of an entirely different character, one that is beyond anyone's imagination, and that applies to every citizen and organization. the lack of financial buffers, or more prosaically "firewalls," is an issue that plays out at every level in society. workers and pensioners often lack the buffers to survive a financial setback, and organizations, and certainly the self-employed, also lack the buffers to finance a temporary "lockdown. " a lack of these buffers has, of course, always been part of our societies. a large portion of the population are financially illiterate, may be overconfident, have invested highly in illiquid assets (e.g., houses) financed by debt (kaplan, violante, & weidner, ) , or simply lack the financial resources to create a buffer (lusardi & mitchell, ; lusardi, schneider, & tufano, ) . the modern welfare state is, in principle, a safety net for these people, but a number of developments have made this situation worse over time. one reason that societies have become more vulnerable to crises is their failure to recognize what john maynard keynes ( ) called "irreducible uncertainty": uncertainty that cannot be reduced to statistical probabilities. we simply do not know what is going to happen in, say, -or -years' time. put differently, there will always be "unknown unknowns. " this is important because, in everyday life, banks, insurance companies, and pension funds make decisions as if they do know the relevant risks, but this convention will only hold in less turbulent times. as soon as a society is in a state of flux-when a war erupts, a state or a city is flooded, or a pandemic spreads-anything can happen, and the rules and conventions are no longer of use. for those who think that every risk can be calculated, crises always seem unexpected. it is the price of becoming complacent: the tacit belief that the world will always be the same. pension funds and insurance companies can make calculations up to -or -years' time, but these calculations are based on the premise that the structure of society or population stays the same or seems to be predictable. however, what often was optimal in the old world is no longer sustainable in the new post-crisis era. the government, as a provider of public pensions, is this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution non-commercial license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc/ . /), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. for commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com work, aging and retirement, , vol. xx, no. xx, pp. - doi: . /workar/waaa commentary essentially the only player that can invoke the solidarity between generations (gordon & varian, ) . governments can spread risks across decades that would otherwise have to borne by a small set of generations (or in theory, eternity). if one goes back in time, organizations have undergone a metamorphosis. simply put, in striving for efficiency, organizations often tried to rid themselves of functions, tasks, and departments that were not considered "core business. " the focus on the short-run has been amplified by capital market participants in search for a high rate of return (rappaport, ) . the adverse consequences of this stance were quite apparent during the great recession (admati & hellwig, ) . to achieve even more efficiency, organizations cut inventories and make production run "just-in-time. " a car manufacturer does not need an entire storage building with nuts and bolts; it can streamline the logistics. as long as every part of the supply chain functions smoothly, things are fine. the darker side of this development is that once a pandemic hits the world economy, the efficiency of a global market breaks down, and supply chains dysfunction. in short, the paradoxical lesson of not accounting for uncertain events: organizations can become too efficient. this short-term focus is also visible in contractual labor relations in current labor markets. employment contracts are increasingly temporary and insecure (eichhorst, marx, & wehner, ) . a basic reason and defense for turning to such "nonstandard employment relations" is the constant striving for innovation and growth. innovation is a risky business. the burden of having a large work staff covered by strict employment protection laws is for many employers an incentive to aim for safe and small innovations and not for high-gain and risky innovations (bartelsman, gautier, & wind, ) . thus, the drive towards lower employment protections becomes an understandable move in some countries, but it has led to practices that increase the division between insiders and outsiders (lindbeck & snower, ) . insiders are those who have steady jobs and are well protected, and outsiders are those who are more vulnerable to atypical work and unemployment (e.g., lower educated young workers, unemployed older workers, and immigrants) for whom short-term contracts are the dominant option (biegert, ; eichhorst et al., ) . the big question is, of course, how can organizations and people turn this state of affairs around and focus on the current crisis: what should be a proper response if the development of vaccine takes longer than expected and the covid- crisis remains a part of everyday life? the key "asset" for societies is to acknowledge the importance of buffers at all levels in society. two types of buffers or "firewalls" strike us as particularly important in aging societies, although each has its own set of unresolved questions and calls for future research. it is well acknowledged that the need for buffers is paramount in today's world as pensioners and workers are in for hard times when they do not have a financial buffer. it is well established in the literature how pervasive financial fragility is among households in the united states (hasler, lusardi, & oggero, ; lusardi, ; munnell, sanzenbacher, & walters, ) and in europe (ampudia, van vlokhoven, & Żochowski, ) . this makes these households very vulnerable to unexpected financial setbacks, like a car repair or a trip to hospital, let alone events like becoming unemployed, or in case they are retired a cut in their pension benefits. a survey in among u.s. households shows that % of the households experienced an unexpected financial shock, and % of those households had difficulty making ends meet after the financial shock. predictably, this difficulty in recovering was particularly visible among low-income households and the younger generations (pew research, ) . inadequate pension savings among workers is a structural element of working life in most developed countries (oecd, ) . for instance, munnell, hou, and sanzenbacher ( ) show that the percentage of u.s. households at risk of having insufficient pension savings hovers around %. another recent study by gomes, hoyem, hu, and ravina ( ) focused only on u.s. households with defined contribution plans concludes that % are at risk of having saved too little. to correct this state of affairs, societies can resort to different measures such as the long-term route of investing in financial literacy (kaiser & menkhoff, ) , but they can also take a more direct approach, such as by making supplementary pension savings by employers mandatory, or by nudging and informing workers in the direction of making their households more financially stable (clark, morrill, & allen, ) . however, for households, it is also important to invest in their human capital and their health, which is essentially a form of human capital (becker, ; grossman, ) . structural economic reforms are needed to enhance households' financial ability to invest in human capital over the length of their career. spending on medical care and advice, as well as the development of lifestyles, can be just as productive as the development of skills, education, or on-the-job training. investing in human capital is not only essential to being productive over the life course, but is also essential to working in good health and enjoying retirement in good health. it has been clear that people who are obese and who also face complications such as diabetes and hypertension are more likely to become seriously ill and have a higher mortality risk if they are infected with the covid- virus (finer, garnett, & bruun, ; williamson et al., ) . before the crisis, the need for corrective measures for the spread of obesity was already clear. obesity itself is almost a pandemic-like phenomenon (vidra, trias-llimós, & janssen, ; zhang, saito, & crimmins, ) with strong implications for the quality of later life. given that the prevalence rate of obesity among u.s. adults in - is . % and . % is considered severely obese (hales, carroll, fryar, & ogden, ) , reducing obesity should be a top priority. although tackling obesity is complex, the role of the household in providing support and developing healthy lifestyles (e.g., diet choices, exercise) is important, and investments in "human capital" could not only save lives in the face of a pandemic, but also lessen the burden on the health care system (oecd, ). although a large part of this responsibility lies with the individual, employers should also bear part of the responsibility and play an active role in health promotion by means of workplace design. according to goh, pfeffer, and zenios ( ) , % to % of u.s. annual health care costs "are associated with and may be attributable to the way u.s. companies manage their work forces. " (p. ) a similar conclusion is drawn by gonzalez-mulé and cockburn ( ) , who show that employees working in high demand and low control jobs (e.g., those in frontline service and manufacturing) "carry above-average risks of mortality resulting, with accompanying large personal and societal costs. " (p. ). much of this excessive health expenditure in the united states can be prevented, according to goh, pfeffer, and zenios ( ) , by extending health care insurance and reducing exposure to workplace stressors. the concept of buffers also applies to firms that, over time, have become financially fragile in the search for efficiency. besides the importance of financial buffers, the covid- crisis draws attention to three types of buffers that have become particularly relevant for an aging workforce. the first is to create more flexibility in the working environment. flexibility in terms of work schedule and work location are generally seen as being beneficial work features that may promote continued employment of older workers (dropkin, moline, kim, & gold, ) . high levels of flexibility with respect to schedule and location are strongly associated with higher levels of work satisfaction among older workers (damman & henkens, ) . the recent "lockdown" of many economies has been a catalyst for this "strategy by necessity. " it has been put into practice by numerous organizations, by letting employees work from home, and offering products and services online. in the short-run, this has proven to be a lifesaver for employees and organizations who were able to do so. however, whether "going online" and working from home are good long-term approaches have yet to be proven over time. prolonged working from home without any physical encounters with colleagues may have adverse consequences for workers (e.g., reduced well-being, performance, and organizational commitment) and organizations (e.g., reduced productivity and corporate identity). organizations that have no or limited opportunities for providing flexible work environments are challenged to organize their activities around taking the restrictions of social distancing into account. performing your tasks in an environment where you have to remain at least feet apart from your coworkers and clients at all times will be demanding for every employee. older workers might be particularly worried and anxious because the risks associated with covid- infections are more severe at advanced ages (ferguson et al., ) . for example, older workers who work in so-called "essential jobs," where social distancing is not possible, will need to take many additional precautions. protecting older workers in such environments may, therefore, imply costly measures that, in turn, reduce employers' propensity to hire or retain those workers. in other words, for older workers, the covid- virus may not only be a health risk, but also a labor market risk. hence the prospect of working longer will become more difficult to realize despite the willingness of employers and employees over the recent years (clark & ritter, ; turek, oude mulders, & henkens, ) . the saying "never let a good crisis go to waste" is often heard. the covid- crisis may indeed be a crisis that should not be wasted as it offers an opportunity to discover new truths and rediscover old truths. the search for buffers-either financial or in kind-will be an essential part of dealing with a crisis like covid- . and one might add, this is even more the case than during a financial crisis like the one we experienced in . the importance of a solid welfare state as well as firms and households that build up reserves to prevent a liquidity crisis was at that point a clear message. "cash is king" is the standard expression among bankers in times of crisis. but what the current crisis shows is that capital-financial and human-is probably the most desirable asset to have. the bankers' new clothes: what's wrong with banking and what to do about it-updated edition financial fragility of euro area households employment protection, technology choice, and worker allocation health as human capital: synthesis and extensions labor market institutions, the insider/outsider divide and social inequalities in employment in affluent countries effectiveness of employer-provided financial information: hiring to retiring how are employers responding to an aging workforce? the gerontologist gender differences in perceived workplace flexibility among older workers in the netherlands: a brief report blended work as a bridge between traditional workplace employment and retirement: a conceptual review labor market reforms in europe: towards more flexicure labor markets impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions (npis) to reduce covid mortality and healthcare demand covid- and obesity the relationship between workplace stressors and mortality and health costs in the united states reducing the health toll from us workplace stress retirement savings adequacy in us defined contribution plans worked to death: the relationships of job demands and job control with mortality intergenerational risk sharing on the concept of health capital and the demand for health prevalence of obesity and severe obesity among adults: united states financial fragility in the us: evidence and implications does financial education impact financial literacy and financial behavior, and if so, when? the world bank economic review the wealthy hand-to-mouth the general theory of employment insiders versus outsiders financial literacy and the need for financial education: evidence and implications the economic importance of financial literacy: theory and evidence financially fragile households: evidence and implications how would more saving affect the national retirement risk index? how do older workers use nontraditional jobs saving for retirement and the role of private pension provision in retirement readiness the economics of short-term performance obsession the proactive shift in managing an older workforce - : a latent class analysis of organizational policies impact of obesity on life expectancy among different european countries: secondary analysis of population-level data over the - period opensafely: factors associated with covid- -related hospital death in the linked electronic health records of million adult nhs patients changing impact of obesity on active life expectancy of older americans key: cord- - tt k authors: chauhan, priyanshi title: gendering covid- : impact of the pandemic on women’s burden of unpaid work in india date: - - journal: gender issues doi: . /s - - -w sha: doc_id: cord_uid: tt k the covid- pandemic has exacerbated the already existing gender inequalities with substantial implications on women. with the closure of offices and educational institutions, and the emerging norm of work from home and online education, along with the lack of services of domestic worker, the need to perform unpaid chores in the household has increased. simultaneously, the requirements of social distancing and sanitization have created new unpaid chores. owing to the sexual division of labour, and gendered roles and social norms of performing domestic and care work, the burden of unpaid work falls disproportionately on women. in this context, the objective of the paper is to study the impact of covid- on time spent on unpaid work and the underlying gender differences in the urban centres in india. specifically, the paper will do a comparative analysis of the gender differences in time spent on unpaid work before and during the lockdown, and analyse the reasons for the same. the covid- pandemic has wreaked havoc across the world and brought the world to a standstill with unprecedented changes in our society and economy. as has been the case, the novel coronavirus spread with such a speed and intensity across the world due to the interconnectedness of the globalized world that most countries imposed temporary shutdowns as a strategy to contain its spread. the government of india imposed a nationwide lockdown on march , initially for days only, which was eventually extended till may in various phases. the impacts of the lockdown have been disruptive and changed the way in which humans perform their daily activities and go about their routine lives. such impact has however not been the same across all social groups, with the most vulnerable and marginalized groups being affected differently due to the already existing social inequalities [ ] . specifically, the lockdown has widened the existing gender inequalities and limited the opportunities for women [ , ] . one of the ways in which the pandemic has affected women differently than men is through increased burden of unpaid work. owing to the sexual division of labour, and gendered roles and social norms of performing domestic and care work in a household, the burden of unpaid work falls disproportionately on women. such tasks are time-consuming and physically tiring, and subject women to time poverty, leaving little or no time for them to undertake productive activities like education or employment, or leisure. the pandemic has worked to exacerbate the already existing gendered nature of unpaid work at home [ , ] . with the closure of offices and educational institutions, and the simultaneously emerging norm of work from home and online education, along with the lack of services of domestic workers, the need to perform unpaid chores like cooking, cleaning, washing, child care among others by household members has increased [ ] . for working women, the lockdown has meant the collapse of the demarcation of their professional spaces and domestic life which has led to the simultaneous performance of their office work and household responsibilities. in this context, the objective of the paper is to study the impact of covid- on time spent on unpaid work and gender differences for the same in the urban centres in india. specifically, the paper will do a comparative analysis of the gender differences in time spent on unpaid work before and during the lockdown. furthermore, the paper will study the gendered impact of lockdown on unpaid labour of women on various parameters like marital status, employment status, income levels and average weekly office hours. finally, the paper will analyse the reasons for the observed gendered differences in unpaid household chores. the term unpaid work, as given by the international labour organization [ , p. ] , is the 'non-remunerated work carried out to sustain the well-being and maintenance of other individuals in a household or the community, and it includes both direct and indirect care (i.e. routine housework)'. the ilo estimates show that time spent in unpaid work accounted for ' . billion hours per day, with women contributing more than three-fourths of the total' which is 'equivalent to . billion people working on a full-time basis without pay' [ , p. ]. in india, women spend an average of . min/day on unpaid work as compared to an average of . min/ time poverty is the burden of competing claims on an individual's time that reduce their ability to make unconstrained choices in how they allocated their time leading to trade offs among various tasks. the burden of unpaid work causes time poverty as it prevents women from participating in paid labour and social activities, thus feeding back to their low status [ , pp. - ] . day by men [ ] . in addition, data show that time spent on total paid and unpaid work by women in india is . min/day as compared to an average of . min/ day being spent by men [ ] . this implies that for women engaged in paid employment, the drudgery of unpaid work is so high that they work longer than men. overall, the data highlight the gendered nature of unpaid work and shows that the burden of such activities falls disproportionately on women (table ) . there are two theoretical strands in the existing literature that explain the gendered nature of unpaid work and its disproportionate burden on women, namely the economic perspective and the gender perspective. the economic perspective emphasizes the principles of rationality and comparative advantage. accordingly, it states that women's engagement in unpaid labour depends on the comparative advantage relative to the paid work which can be changed with changes in various factors like educational attainment and wages [ ] . within the economic perspective, there are two models, namely the unitary model and intra-household bargaining model that explain the burden of unpaid work. as originally given by becker [ ] , the unitary model assumes household as the basic unit of analysis with common preferences and common utility curve of all members. the argument in the unitary model leads to role specialization where one partner invests more time in producing income and the other spends more time in non-market work [ ] . the feminist economists however reject the unitary model as it does not consider the role of gender as a factor in different preferences for women [ , , ] . the basis for this is that gender plays a significant role in determining power relations within a household where men are often more privileged than women, and the allocation of resources is in favour of men leaving women worse-off who could be effectively in poverty, even when the household aggregates indicate otherwise [ , ] . in addition to determining the intra-household allocation of resources, gender also affects the decision making power and responsibilities within a household [ , ] . as such, households are sites where gender roles are both produced and performed through various means like the sexual division of labour. going further, the assumption of unitary models that the household is a rational unit is criticized as it not only neglects the gendered nature of household and the consequent inequalities in resource distribution but also justifies them in "favour of economic rationality" [ , p. ] , thereby seeing intrahousehold power dynamics and inequalities across genders as excusable and even preferable. according to the intra-household bargaining models, the partner with greater resources, who are generally men owing to power dynamics of gender, will use these resources to avoid unpaid work [ ] . the gender perspective derives from the sociological understanding of gender as a power relation. accordingly, the approach emphasizes reinforcing masculine and feminine behaviour through unpaid labour. specifically, by avoiding unpaid work men tend to display masculinity whereas performing unpaid household chores is considered integral to being an 'ideal' wife or mother [ , ] . interestingly, this is evident in situations where both men and women in a household are engaged in full time employment and earn equal incomes, there is a tendency for women to do more household work [ , , ] . this is because, women making more money than the husband is considered as a deviance from the gender norm where a husband is to provide for the household, and therefore to neutralize this deviance women take more responsibility of the unpaid household chores, thereby reinforcing the gender norms [ ] . since the burden of unpaid work is relatively greater on women as compared to men, it raises various concerns for them. the chores that fall into the category of unpaid labour are physically exerting and time consuming. as such, the unpaid work of women takes away most of their time and subjects women to time poverty, leaving little or no time for them to engage in productive activities like education and paid employment [ , , ] . in india, women's labour force participation is dismal and has been showing a declining trend for more than a decade. according to the world bank data, female labour force participation has decreased from % in to % in [ ] . simultaneously, women's time poverty has increased manifold [ , p. ], despite the drop in their labour force participation, clearly suggesting that women experience extreme time poverty due to their responsibilities of unpaid labour. consequently, lack of personal income affects their economic status, financial independence, bargaining power and decision making within the household, thereby affecting the intra-household distribution of resources in favour of men as guided by the power dynamics of gender relations. furthermore, women's lower labour force participation also disincentivizes investment in education and skill development of girls and young women, and they further get pushed into undertaking unpaid labour. thus, disproportionate burden of unpaid work pushes women out of the labour force which not only affects their financial status but also makes education and skill upgradation less attractive which reduces their opportunities of participating in formal economy, therefore raising equity concerns for women's participation in the process of development. simultaneously, the designation of household chores as 'women's work' does not include the element of choice and is instead governed by the norms of gender division of labour and norms, and feeds into the existing power relation across genders [ , p. ] . for women in paid employment, the drudgery of unpaid work is so high that they work longer than men owing to the triple burdens of unpaid work, reproductive work and paid employment. consequently, there are only limited opportunities for social and political participation, which has significant bearing for their empowerment, and for leisure which affects their overall well-being [ ] . this also affects their opportunities for career advancement, as women's participation in paid work reduces the time spent on unpaid work but less than proportionally as compared to the increase in time in paid work, thereby effectively increasing the number of hours women spend working which is often compensated from the time spent for leisure, sleep, or personal care activities [ , ] . finally, the unpaid labour performed by women in not accounted for in the national accounting systems, and are therefore excluded from the realm of policy making [ , p. ]. efforts to integrate women in the development process to make it inclusive have not considered the drudgery of unpaid work on women. for instance, the much recognized 'efficiency approach' that calls for integration and increased participation of women in the development process on grounds of costs of excluding women from the formal economy and the resulting inefficiencies in the markets, seeks to bring women into the ambit of development without considering the impact on their overall well-being. the literature highlights that such development, though inclusive, is bound to put stress on women, increase their drudgery and affect their overall well-being [ , p. ; ] . the research follows a qualitative approach and primary data is collected in two stages. in the first stage, a survey is conducted with the objective to understand patterns of time spent on household chores for men and women, both before and during the lockdown. at the second stage, semi-structured interviews are conducted with the objective to understand the reasons for responses received in stage one. since the objective is to do a gender analysis of the impact of covid- on unpaid work, the unit of analysis for the research is the individual, with focus on two genders, namely men and women. the chores included in the unpaid work comprise of cleaning the house, cleaning the dishes, cooking, childcare, elderly care and laundry among others. non-probability sampling techniques were used to make decision regarding the sample population. specifically, convenience sampling techniques and judgemental sampling techniques were used for the purpose of the survey and interviews respectively. for interviews, a sub-sample from stage one was taken based on the characteristics like marital status, employment status, use of services of domestic help, and the responses received on change in time spent on unpaid chores during the lockdown. the total sample size for survey comprised of and individuals for stage one and two respectively. the geographical scope of the research is limited to urban and semi-urban areas in india. owing to the conditions of lockdown and the social distancing norms, the data have been collected through virtual mode only, via the internet and telephonic conversation only. further, the survey was conducted in english language, and the interviews were conducted in both english and hindi language based on the preferences of the interviewee. details of the descriptive characteristics of the respondents who participated in the survey are presented in table . out of the total sample population of respondents for the survey, % are men and % are women. based on the marital status, % of the population is married and % is unmarried. the employment status of the respondents is such that % of them are employed and % are unemployed. sixty-four percent of the respondents have stated post-graduation as their highest qualification, followed by % being graduates, % with m.phil. and above, and % who studied till class . based on the educational qualifications and the average monthly income, all the respondents to the survey are from the middle class. furthermore, % of the total population, and approximately % and % of men's and women's population respectively availed the services of domestic workers before the lockdown to perform multiple household chores like cooking, cleaning, child care, elderly care, laundry among others which are otherwise unpaid when performed by a member of the household. it should be noted that the category of 'unemployed men' includes only two respondents, and therefore does not provide sufficient information regarding their time-use patterns and how the lockdown has affected their burden of unpaid labour. figure shows the comparative burden of household chores on men and women, and is consistent with the theoretical exposition that the burden of unpaid work fell disproportionately on women. it can be observed from fig. that the highest percentage of both men and women spent a maximum of h/week to perform unpaid work. however, more men spent up to h/week as compared to women. specifically, % men spent a maximum of h/week on unpaid work as compared to % women before the lockdown. furthermore, there is a virtual absence of men from the higher time intervals spent on domestic work as compared to a significant presence of women in these time intervals. approximately, % women spent - h/week on domestic chores as compared to zero men, and . % women spent - h/week on domestic chores as compared to . % men. interestingly, no man spent more than h/week on unpaid work as compared to approximately % women. this is significant considering the fact that spending more than h/week on unpaid work is greater than the maximum limit of h/week for paid employment set by the law but do not get remunerated for the same. figure , therefore clearly highlights that despite a comparable use of the services of domestic workers for domestic chores in the survey sample, it is women who bear a higher and disproportionate burden of unpaid household chores as compared to men. differences in the burden of unpaid work are observed based on the marital status of the respondents. to assess the same, the respondents have been categorized as -married men, married women, unmarried men and unmarried women. as shown in fig. , the highest percentage of population from all the four categories spent up to h/week on unpaid chores. however, there are differences in the percentage of population of each category spending - h per week on such tasks, with the least percentage of married women ( . %), followed by married men ( %) and unmarried women ( %) and the highest percentage of unmarried men ( %). all unmarried men spent only a maximum of h/week on household chores. simultaneously, % of unmarried women and % of married men spent a maximum of h/week on household chores. this stands in stark contrast to the burden of unpaid household chores on married women, with % spending - h/week, and . % spending more than h/week on domestic chores in the household. marital status is therefore a key determinant of the burden of unpaid labour in a household, with survey respondents showing that married women share the highest burden. other than the marital status, the gendered burden of unpaid domestic chores also depends on the employment status of each individual. as shown in fig. , approximately % of employed men and % of employed women spent a maximum of h/week on unpaid work, as compared to only % of unemployed women. ninetyfive percent of employed men and % of employed women spent a maximum of who identified themselves as 'housewives/homemaker' are married, meaning that the employment status and marital status intersect, and affect women's burden of unpaid labour in a household. for employed respondents, the gender-wise burden of unpaid labour is similar across different income groups, and average office hours as shown in figs. and respectively, and these variables did not significantly affect the burden of unpaid labour across genders in the pre-covid period. the following inferences can be drawn from the above for the burden of unpaid work and its gendered nature before the lockdown. first, despite a similar and comparable use of the services of domestic workers in the sample population, the burden of unpaid work fell disproportionately on women. second, marital status and employment status are key determinants of time spent on domestic work. third, in the context of marital status being a variable, married women share the highest burden of unpaid labour at home. fourth, based on the employment status, it is the unemployed women, particularly those who identify themselves as housewives/ homemakers, who share the highest burden of domestic work. fifth, for employed individuals, no significant gendered differences in the pattern of sharing the load of household chores is found based on their average monthly income or average weekly office hours. during the lockdown, % of the total survey population reported to avail no services of the domestic workers as compared to % before the lockdown. therefore, the domestic work including cleaning, cooking, laundry, child care, elderly care among others which were earlier performed by the domestic workers for income, are now performed by the household members without any remuneration. therefore, the burden of unpaid work during the lockdown increased for all. a comparison of the time spent on such tasks before and during the lockdown in terms of change in percentage points is shown in fig. . highest decrease has been observed for the percentage of population spending up to h/week on unpaid work during the lockdown for both men ( . percentage points) and women ( . percentage points). however, the disparity across genders has increased. approximately, only . % of women now spend a maximum of h/week on unpaid household chores as compared to . % men during the lockdown. furthermore, for men the highest increase in population of . percentage points is observed in the time interval of ( - ) h/week whereas highest increase for women of percentage points has been observed for more than h/week being spent on unpaid work. interestingly, no man in the survey population spent more than h on household tasks during the lockdown. it should be further highlighted that during the lockdown, % men dedicated up to h/week on unpaid household responsibilities as compared to only . % women. simultaneously, % and % women spend more than h/week and h/week respectively on unpaid work during the lockdown as compared to % and . % women before the lockdown. therefore, the conditions of lockdown to contain the spread of covid- has increased the burden of household work for all, but the responsibility has increased relatively more and disproportionately for women who were already spending more time in unpaid work than men before the lockdown. based on the marital status, a comparison of time allocated to unpaid work before and during the lockdown, is shown in fig. . there has been a highest decrease in the percentage of population spending up to h/week on unpaid work during the lockdown, being approximately percentage points for married men, percentage points for married women, percentage points for unmarried men, and percentage points for unmarried women. while the decline has been greater for unmarried individuals, it should be noted that the percentage of unmarried men and women spending a maximum of h/week is % and % respectively, which is higher than that of married individuals. in addition, the data also highlight that the percentage of both married and unmarried men spending up to h/week on unpaid work is greater than that of married and unmarried women. furthermore, % unmarried men spent up to h/week on such tasks during the lockdown which is the same as before the lockdown, as compared to approximately % unmarried women. for married men, the highest increase in population of percentage points and . percentage points has been observed in the time interval of ( - ) h/week followed by ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) h/week. all this is in stark contrast to the increase in the percentage of women who spent more than h/week and has observed an increase of percentage points during the lockdown. not only has the increase been the largest, the highest percentage of married women, approximately . %, worked for more than h/ week. before the lockdown, the highest percentage of married women worked maximum of h/week on household chores. interestingly, no men and unmarried women worked for more than h/week during the lockdown. in addition, one-fourth of married women spent more than h/week to unpaid household activities as compared to zero unmarried men and women, and only % married men. based on the employment status, fig. shows that there has been a highest decrease in the percentage of population spending a maximum of h/week on household tasks during the lockdown, for both employed men ( . percentage points) and employed women ( . percentage points). however, the percentage of men ( %) spending a maximum of h/week is more than double than that of women ( week interval during the lockdown and highest increase of . percentage points for those who spent more than h/week on unpaid work. it has been observed that all those unemployed women who spent - h/week on domestic work before the lockdown now spent more than h/week during the lockdown. interestingly, a significant population of unemployed women also spent a maximum of h/week on household chores. it has been found that all the unemployed women respondents who spent less than h/week on unpaid work are students, and all the unemployed women respondents who spent more than h/week on unpaid work identify themselves as housewives/homemakers. for the employed respondents, similar patterns were observed in the burden of unpaid labour for men and women across all income groups before the lockdown. however, during the lockdown, the burden of unpaid labour has increased more for women as compared to men across all income groups. for instance, in the highest income group for the survey of > , inr/month, . % women now spend - h/week on unpaid work as compared to % before. this is also significantly higher as compared to men in the same income group, only . % of whom spend - h/week on domestic chores. similarly, in the income group of , - , inr, % and . % women spend - h/week and > h/week on household chores respectively as compared to % men during the lockdown. similar observations have been made in the context of average weekly office hours, where there was no significant gendered burden of unpaid work before the lockdown. during the lockdown, the burden has increased for all, but disproportionately so for women. for instance, for the respondents whose average office hours are more than h/week, lockdown has increased the percentage of such women spending - h/ week on household chores to . % as compared to . % before the lockdown. simultaneously, the percentage of men in the same interval of - h/week has been increased to . % as compared to % before the lockdown. similarly, for respondents whose average office hours are - h/week, lockdown has increased the percentage of women who spend - h/week and - h/week on household chores to . % and . % respectively during the lockdown from % before the lockdown. interestingly, only . % men with same working hours spend - h/week on household chores and no man spends more than h/week on such tasks during the lockdown. in a nutshell, the lockdown has increased the burden of unpaid work for all members of the household. however, there are differences in the share of such burden across gender lines when explored within the household. first, despite an increase in the time spent for everyone on unpaid work, the burden has increased more for women. second, marital status and employment status are key determinants of the gendered nature of such an increase of women's labour on unpaid chores during the lockdown. as such, the burden has increased the largest for married women and unemployed women, who already spent the highest time on domestic work even before the lockdown. third, for unemployed women, it is those who identify themselves as the housewives/ homemakers who spent maximum time on unpaid household chores during the lockdown. fourth, for the individuals who are employed, the burden has increased more for employed women. fifth, based on changes in average monthly income and average weekly office hours, there was a similarity in trends on the burden of household labour for men and women before the lockdown. however, during the lockdown, stark differences are observed where women spend more time on household chores than men in the same income groups and average weekly office hours groups. overall, women are more burdened across all parameters including marital status, employment status, average monthly income and office hours. it would be fair to say that the burden of unpaid work has increased for all, but increased more for women who were already responsible for such chores even before the lockdown, thus exacerbating the already existing inequalities. based on the interviews conducted, it is observed that the covid- pandemic and the consequent lockdown have created needs of social distancing, hygiene and care, and sanitization. simultaneously, the lockdown has imposed new restrictions on the mobility of individuals with emerging norms of work from home, and online education, accompanied by no services of domestic workers to perform the household chores. the responsibility to perform these tasks both directly or indirectly facilitate them has fallen more on women as is discussed below: along with the restrictions on mobility, the covid- pandemic has shifted the office spaces and classrooms to the homes of the people, meaning that individuals who would go out of their homes into the professional spaces for the purpose of income earning or educational opportunities now spend more time at home doing the same activities. young people who were living away from their hometowns in pursuit of education and jobs have also returned to their homes due to the flexibility of performing these activities from within the house. this implies that the services including buying cooked meals and snacks, the entire process of cooking, and finally cleaning the dishes that were earlier purchased to facilitate working and studying are now to be procured within the house. furthermore, the activities like laundry and cleaning the house which were earlier performed by domestic workers for a wage while the members of the household were allocating the same time for other activities, for example, preparing for office, are now to be performed by the members of the household at a time that does not conflict with the office hours. thus, the norms of work from home and online education increased the demand for services that were earlier purchased both within and outside the household, and are to be now performed without pay during the lockdown, therefore increasing the burden of unpaid work which is gendered in nature. as amrita, a -year old homemaker and a mother of two adults who reported to work for more than h/work during the lockdown states, "before the lockdown, i was living with my husband and my son and my daughter was staying away to pursue her education and later job. the lock down has permanently moved all their work to home. i cook for all of them which takes longer than earlier. but cooking is not the most time-consuming activity. with four of us living in the house all the time, cleaning the dishes has to be done multiple times during the day." akriti, a -year old single woman working in delhi, who has moved back to her hometown in uttar pradesh and reported spending a maximum of h/week on unpaid work during the lockdown narrates, "work from home has increased my working hours. the concept of weekend has almost collapsed with my organization assuming that work from home means being available × . and with no domestic help, it was getting very difficult for me to manage professional space and household chores. so, i came back home at the first opportunity. now cooking and food needs are taken care of by my mother, and i can focus on my job." meera, a -year old woman, who is married and is working in an it firm and has two school going children, has to spend more time with her children during their online classes, cater to their personal needs and also keep them constantly engaged in fun activities as they cannot go to public places to play anymore. she states, "with schools being shut and education being done through online mode, i have to constantly look after my children, get involved in their virtual classes and also do my office work. in the pre-covid world, we all used to spend time together in the evening, and go out on weekends. now, i have to devote a lot more time to child care. it has started affecting my professional life as i am missing deadlines and am constantly tired. my husband is a big support, but his working hours are more rigid than mine." another manifestation of the lockdown is visible in the recurring need to maintain social distancing and hygiene through sanitising everything that has physically been in the public space, which has created a new set of activities that need to be performed daily and are time consuming. as amrita states, "since the onset of the pandemic, i sanitize all the vegetables and grocery items that are purchased for the household. other than that, i separately wash and sanitize all the footwear and clothes that are used while going to the supermarket." akriti highlights a similar concern and narrates, "the pandemic has created so much extra work in terms of sanitizing everything from milk packets to vegetables and fruits. after buying vegetables and fruits we soak them in a tub of water for about - h, then wipe them with a sanitized cloth, and then use for consumption. it is time-consuming considering we are a family of five people." not only this, the pandemic has also created the need to boost immunity and promote intake of herbal products or home-made kadha. this has also added to the burden of the unpaid household chores. as meera states, "i make sure all of us consume kadha two times a day. we have also increased consumption of indian herbs and immunity boosting products like cinnamon, raw turmeric, basil, ginger and honey, and we either consume it with milk, tea or make a paste of some of it. as me and my husband are particularly concerned about the well-being of our children, we make sure that we buy it only in solid form and grind it at home to get a powdered form. it has added to some of my original kitchen work, but i think this is inevitable." in her interview, akriti also highlighted the increase in care work due to probable covid- suspect at home that increased everyone's time spent at home, but more so of the mother in the kitchen work. as stated by her: "the assumption that my brother might be infected with covid- increased all our workloads, and most of all my mother's. she was making him kadha, boiling water for the purpose of steaming and drinking, making separate immunity boosting food items for him, serving him food, cleaning his clothes and maintaining everything related to his cleanliness and hygiene. plus, she was also regularly monitoring his overall health and her own health in isolation to all of us, in case the infection spread to her as well. me and my dad were busy procuring medicines, consulting doctors, and preparing for the day if things got worse." the requirements to maintain social distancing and hygiene in the pandemic, has also led to procuring luxury eating and leisure eating within the house that was earlier done in restaurants and was paid for. as rita, a -year old school teacher who lives with her husband and has school going child highlights: "i love eating out. before the onset of the pandemic, all of us would go out every weekend and try some new food or place to eat. with the lockdown, my daughter and my husband crave for that kind of food, so i cook it at home. during the first month of the lockdown itself, i made gulab jamun thrice, samosas twice and other items like chilli potatoes, rasgullas, momos, barfi, cakes and brownies." an examination of the perception regarding gender roles and the responsibility of unpaid work highlighted that while none of the interviewees believed that women are more responsible for household chores than men just because of their gender, two observations are significant in this context. first, is the fixation on unemployed women who are housewives/homemakers to share a greater burden of household chores for every member in the family. the reason most cited for this is that since these women are not engaged in any type of income generating activities, they have more time available to perform the domestic work. in addition, the interviewees also stated that since other members of the household are working full time, they do not have any spare time to contribute to domestic chores, which are therefore inadvertently taken up by the unemployed women of the house, either mothers or wives. this has been observed in the interviews with both men and women. as amrita states, "all the other members of my family are working full-time jobs and do not have much time available to help me with household chores. so, they help me as and when they can. i am a housewife, it is my responsibility to keep the house running. and the house will come to a halt if i stop doing the domestic work." aman, a -year old single working professional states that, "the lockdown has increased all our work at home, particularly so for my mother. but considering that she is a homemaker, she was already doing many of these chores even before the pandemic. i try to help her as much as i can, particularly with work that is more physically demanding like cleaning the house. but i cannot take full time responsibility of running the house as i have professional commitments as well." second, is the inefficiency argument where the interviewees have stated that they do not contribute much to the household as they take longer to perform the same activity as compared to other member of the household who is more responsible for the domestic work. akshay, a -year old working man, who lives with his wife, son and daughter states that, "i do not think that women are more responsible for running the house because of their gender. i can pursue all the household activities on my own including cooking, cleaning the house, laundry and doing the dishes. but i have not done these things for a long time on regular basis. i take much longer than my wife to complete the same household chores." similar perceptions have been observed in interviews with both men and women. however, the inefficiency argument is just an extension of the gender roles and norms which have to be fulfilled with the performance of certain activities like domestic work. since, women have been fulfilling these roles and responsibilities even in normal situations before the pandemic set in, they are more efficient at these activities as compared to individuals, generally men, who are new at these activities during the lockdown. related with this are the results around the independence in taking employment related decisions. as shown in fig. , for employed respondents, approximately % of employed men take such decisions by themselves as compared to only % employed women. furthermore, approximately % employed women's work-related decision making is influenced by the spouse and family members as compared to only % employed men. this is indicative that men have relatively more control and independence in decision making related to employment as compared to women who are more influenced by their family. this becomes significant, considering that time spent on paid work and the inefficiency argument is an important determinant of the burden of unpaid work shared in the household as is highlighted above. gender norms and roles are therefore constantly working and making women share a greater burden of unpaid work. however, there is also a growing perception where it is acknowledged that men and women should equally share the burden of unpaid work. as ritu, a -year old working woman living with her husband and a -year old kid states: "i don't think that me being a woman is enough for me to contribute more to the household. my husband and i are both working, and live in the same house, so we share the tasks based on our interests and work hours, and also help each other in case there are some other engagements, particularly at work similar perceptions regarding sharing of household chores were observed among other respondents, particularly among married individuals where their partner is also engaged in full-time employment. none of the interviewees endorsed women quitting their jobs to take greater responsibility of unpaid household chores that had increased manifold during the lockdown. this, therefore, creates an opportunity to bring a change in gender norms regarding unpaid household chores, particularly when women are engaged in full-time employment and are financially independent. however, such perceptions are limited to individuals where all their household members are employed. in households where one or more member is unemployed, the interviewees suggested that the unemployed member, generally a woman (housewife/homemaker), should take up greater burden of unpaid work. this paper highlights the impact of covid- on gender equality, specifically on the burden of unpaid work for women. the paper shows that women were already sharing a higher burden of unpaid work, and covid- and the consequent lockdown has worked to exacerbate the existing gender inequalities and increased their burden of unpaid work even more. among women, marital status and employment status are the key determinants of women's burden of unpaid work where time spent on unpaid work has increased the highest for married women and unemployed women, who were already spending the highest time on such work even before the lockdown. specifically, during the lockdown, approximately . % of married women, as compared to zero men and unmarried women, worked for more than h/ week. similarly, unemployed women witness the highest increase of . percentage points for those who spent more than h/week on unpaid work as compared to employed women who show the highest increase of . percentage points for those spending - h/week and - h/week each. the emerging norms of work from home and online education, and the new needs of sanitization are responsible for the increased burden. for unemployed women, particularly the housewives/homemakers, the excessive burden is due to the perception that their share of responsibility for unpaid work should be more due to not being engaged in full-time employment and is more efficient in performing these tasks. as such, unemployed women have to perform the unpaid domestic work for all members of the household. for employed women, the collapse of the distinction of the professional and personal lives, both of which are now confined to the household, means that office commitments and domestic responsibilities are to be fulfilled simultaneously. this has created time poverty for most women which impacts their opportunities for engaging in employment, professional performance, career advancement, and leisure, thereby affecting their overall well-being and empowerment. in the context of perceptions regarding gender roles for unpaid work, while it was found that individuals did not overtly believe in putting the burden on women by the virtue of their gender, but rationalized it with the time spent on full-time paid work (for unemployed women) and their own inefficiencies in performing such tasks. in addition, the results on employment related decision-making shows that gender roles and responsibilities, though overtly rejected, remain entrenched in the social norms of the society. however, there is a ray of hope in reversing gender roles in the household work during the pandemic as both men and women are looking for gender equality in performing unpaid work, particularly when all members of the household are engaged in full-time employment. for this, it is suggested that the work from home norms and online education becomes more flexible and suits requirements of the employees. furthermore, such flexibility needs to be extended not only to women, but also to men to facilitate their contribution in the unpaid domestic work. however, caution should be exercised in terms of policy making as flexibility in working will not automatically translate into gender equality in unpaid work and will have to be catalysed through awareness, knowledge and opportunities. finally, the new norms of work and related policy, by both the government and the private players should focus on gender mainstreaming, where gender perspectives are integrated into the designing, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation of policies, rather than addressing these concerns in isolation. conflict of interest the author declares that there is no conflict of interest. informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study. the survey respondents had consented to their data being used for the purpose of the study and verbal informed consent was obtained prior to the interview. participants have consented to the submission of the case report to the journal. however, names of the interviewees have been changed for the purpose of anonymity with the consent of the participants. see tables , , , , , , , and . invisible work invisible workers: the sub-economies of unpaid work and paid work action research on women's unpaid labour bargaining" and gender relations: within and beyond the household the impact of covid- on gender equality altruism, egoism, and genetic fitness: economics and sociobiology when does gender trump money? bargaining and time in household work economic dependency, gender, and the division of labor at home time to care: unpaid and underpaid care work and the global inequality crisis intrahousehold bargaining and resource allocation in developing countries no work is easy! notes from the field on unpaid care work for women unpaid care work: the missing link in the analysis of gender gaps in labour outcomes ways we lack gender balance in the workplace economic dependence, gender, and the division of labor in the home: a replication and extension the coronavirus is not gender-blind, nor should we be missing labour force: an explanation care work and care jobs for the future of decent work international labour organization (ilo). (n.d.). gender equality tool the intra-household economics of voice and exit gender inequalities in time use the: distribution of caring, housework and employment among women and men in ireland. dublin: the equality authority and the economic and social research institute gender planning and development: theory, practice and training employment: time spent in paid and unpaid work, by sex gender equality perceptions, division of paid and unpaid work, and partnership dissolution in sweden household decisions, gender, and development: a synthesis of recent research wid, wad, gad: trends in research and practice gender, time and inequality: trends in women's and men's paid work, unpaid work and free time the impact of covid- on women moving from the household to the individual: multidimensional poverty analysis doing gender gender dimensions of the covid- pandemic the world bank data. labor force participation rate, female (% of female population ages +) (modeled ilo estimate)-india acknowledgements i thank my supervisor, prof. amita batra, chairperson, centre for south asian studies, jawaharlal nehru university for her support and guidance. i also thank pratiksha singh, parvendra kumar, prayrit and kaushik for their support and assistance. i also extend my gratitude to all the individuals who participated in the survey and interviews. please note that this research has not received any external funding.funding the research has not received any external funding. the data have been collected through surveys and interviews, as is provided in the manuscript. key: cord- - wq rc s authors: barakovic husic, jasmina; melero, francisco josé; barakovic, sabina; lameski, petre; zdravevski, eftim; maresova, petra; krejcar, ondrej; chorbev, ivan; garcia, nuno m.; trajkovik, vladimir title: aging at work: a review of recent trends and future directions date: - - journal: int j environ res public health doi: . /ijerph sha: doc_id: cord_uid: wq rc s demographic data suggest a rapid aging trend in the active workforce. the concept of aging at work comes from the urgent requirement to help the aging workforce of the contemporary industries to maintain productivity while achieving a work and private life balance. while there is plenty of research focusing on the aging population, current research activities on policies covering the concept of aging at work are limited and conceptually different. this paper aims to review publications on aging at work, which could lead to the creation of a framework that targets governmental decision-makers, the non-governmental sector, the private sector, and all of those who are responsible for the formulation of policies on aging at work. in august we searched for peer-reviewed articles in english that were indexed in pubmed, ieee xplore, and springer and published between and . the keywords included the following phrases: “successful aging at work”, “active aging at work”, “healthy aging at work”, “productive aging at work”, and “older adults at work”. a total of , publications were found through database searching, and , publications were screened. afterwards, screened publications were excluded from the further analysis, and a total of , article abstracts were evaluated for inclusion. finally, further qualitative analysis included articles, of which about are discussed in this article. the most prominent works suggest policies that encourage life-long learning, and a workforce that comprises both younger and older workers, as well as gradual retirement. the older population is growing rapidly. in , approximately million people were aged years or more in the world population. it is anticipated that this number will be doubled to . billion in order to answer the research questions, we examined studies on the aging labour force that were published between january and august , to recognize the trends in the literature written in english with respect to motivation issues and potential solutions. we focused on the trends starting from the recession in , when, although the economic growth slowed, the employment rate of older people remained strong, thus basically changing the position of older workers [ ] . an additional motivation for focusing on this time period was because in the last decade, many assistive technologies have emerged that can aid older adults in different environments. at the same time, many jobs are transforming and can be successfully performed from home, which has recently become evident with the covid- pandemic. considering these two observations, the goal of this research is to investigate whether there is an underlying trend that reveals opportunities for aging at work. we adopted the preferred reporting items for systematic review and meta-analysis (prisma) methodology [ ] to review the literature on aging at work policies. the prisma flow distinguishes separate stages of systematic reviews. these stages are the collection of papers, scanning of papers' text, evaluation of eligibility of papers, and meta-analysis. the collected papers on aging at work policies exceeded the capacity that would allow articles to be searched manually. thus, we used natural language processing (nlp) algorithms to perform an efficient search of the identified literature. the nlp toolkit [ ] was designed to automate the literature search by using different search phrases, scanning, and evaluating eligibility within the prisma framework while generating visualizations of aggregate results. the nlp toolkit provides increased efficiency of the review process by screening the title and abstract while using the predetermined properties and their synonyms to determine the literature search phrases. it should be noted that the nlp toolkit does not understand the context and, therefore, categorizes more articles as relevant than a human reader would. however, it is a valuable resource that increases the efficiency of the review process, as demonstrated in a scoping review [ ] that focused on wearable technology for connected health. the adopted prisma information flow is shown in figure . since the nlp toolkit automates the review process of publications that are indexed in only three digital libraries and because we have not taken into account the nonindexed publishers, some relevant publications (e.g., reference [ ] ) have been omitted from the analysis. this one and a few other papers were manually identified, and those publications originated from different digital libraries. they were used to confirm the findings of this review. however, we did not use these papers from other digital libraries to identify trends because the size of the searched digital libraries is sufficient for the purpose of the analysis. the nlp search strategy was applied in order to automatically screen irrelevant articles that have a low correlation with the topics of interest in the study. additionally, it helped in consolidating the collected articles by automatically merging results from multiple digital libraries as well as removing duplicate entries. moreover, it allowed us to iteratively fine-tune and modify the search phrases in the hope of identifying more relevant articles. finally, the nlp toolkit automatically generated charts (such as that highlight the trends of publications for certain topics. for more details about the inner workings of the nlp-based toolkit, we refer interested readers to [ ] , and also to [ ] , which applied it to review wearable technology for connected health. by using yearly graphs, we were able to analyze and report the potential trends in data by investigating articles in each property group (i.e., theme) separately. the nlp toolkit input parameters are a collection of phrases. keywords, together with their synonyms, are applied as search terms for the digital libraries used in the literature search. the input can be further expanded by nlp toolkit properties. properties are phrases that are being searched within the title, abstract, or keywords section of the articles identified from the previous keywords search. property groups are sets of properties that can be used for a more comprehensive presentation of search results. the input parameters used in this study are shown in table . these keywords, property groups and properties are the final versions after an iterative process in which all authors participated and considered different alternatives of keywords and properties, and analyzed the preliminary results. in the process of selecting articles to be included in the quantitative synthesis, four authors participated, of which at least two had to be in agreement. table . the nlp toolkit input parameters: keywords, property groups and properties. "active aging at work", "older adults at work", "successful aging at work", "healthy aging at work", "productive aging at work" motivations "deficit", "discrimination", "growth" solutions "eu policy", "assistance schemes", "eligibility criteria", "legislation", "national policy" active aging at work healthy aging at work older adults at work productive aging at work successful aging at work . solutions-related properties: "eu policy", "assistance schemes", "eligibility criteria", "legislation", and "national policy". the trends apply to the period from to . the titles and abstracts retrieved by the nlp-based search strategy were evaluated by two independent researchers. they compared their opinions in order to select articles that satisfied the inclusion and exclusion criteria. the inclusion criteria were as follows: . articles that consider the concept of aging at work, i.e., the aging labour force. (a) articles that discuss any of three motivation factors, i.e., discrimination, growth, and deficit; articles that support any of three solution pillars, i.e., assistance, policies, and legislation. . articles that use research methodology with any results. the exclusion criteria were as follows: . articles that are about aging and older people in general that do not consider the concept of aging at work; . articles that cover any of three motivation factors, i.e., discrimination, growth, and deficit, in a context other than the aging labour force; . articles that cover any of three solution pillars, i.e., assistance, policies, and legislation, in the context other than the aging labour force; . articles that do not provide sufficient information for classification. when researchers differed in their opinions about an article's suitability, the article was selected for further consideration. this resulted in an initial selection of articles. furthermore, the full texts of the chosen articles were reviewed in order to determine their suitability for further discussion. after the data abstraction of the final selected articles, two additional researchers separately reviewed % of randomly chosen articles. in the case of any disagreement on the suitability of articles, a third researcher was consulted for recommendation and assessment of the given article. this researcher was a specialist who drew a final conclusion regarding the article selection process. for the selection of the final articles, two of three authors needed to be in agreement, considering the completeness of the methods, relevance to the study goal, details about the population, and impact of the study. we used the inductive approach for the article review and analysis. the selected articles were systematically organized into two groups: . articles that focused on motivation factors (i.e., discrimination, growth, and deficit); . articles that focused on solution pillars (i.e., assistance, policies, and legislation). we generated a detailed summary of each article and extracted the following items: objective, methods, main findings, limitations, and keywords. the extracted items provided the input data for discussion and conclusions. after searching pubmed, ieee xplore, and springer, we identified , potentially articles. after performing the prisma steps shown in figure , the number of articles was reduced. specifically, the removal of duplicates reduced the number to , studies. the first screening process eliminated an additional studies with an out-of-scope publication year, or other parsing issues (no title, abstract, etc.). then, , papers were subject to the eligibility estimate using the automated nlp toolkit, which removed articles without any of the required properties. eventually, papers remained as potentially relevant and eligible for further manual inspection. a total of articles were initially selected to analyze the trends on the aging labour force, while articles were used to explore the motivation issues and solutions in the given context. the selected keywords aimed to show different aspects on the literature corpus on aging at work. figure presents the number of potentially relevant papers that contained the defined keywords and that were additionally filtered manually based on their relevance to the defined properties per year. a relatively similar number of identified articles can be observed in the evaluated time period. "active aging at work" is the keyword with the smallest number of occurrences. the most frequent keyword phrase in the identified publications is "older adults at work". the number of research articles did not grow in the period of interest, but articles that address the associated keywords seem to be distributed more evenly over time. findings related to property groups show that the number of papers related to "motivation" of the adult workforce is relatively constant, with a small decline in the last two years, while the papers focused on the "solutions" property group seems to be slightly more predominant in the last few years ( figure ) . a more granular analysis was carried out on the property groups data at the properties level, and the chart reveals that "growth" is the primary topic within the motivation group of papers, followed by "discrimination". the papers related to the topic of "deficit" appeared only in recent years ( figure ). the focus of papers within the "solutions" property group ( figure ) seems to move from "national policy" based to "legislation", while "assistant schemes" and "eu policies" seem to be of smaller interest for the scientific community. there was only one paper that addressed "eligibility criteria", which makes this topic interesting for further research. a total of articles out of were selected for the further analysis of motivations that drive the research on the aging labour force. the selected articles were organized into three focus groups according to the considered terms related to motivation, i.e., "discrimination", "growth", and "deficit". a more detailed analysis of these articles is presented in table . the remaining articles out of were used for a more detailed analysis of solutions for the aging labour force. the selected articles were organized into three focus groups according to the considered solutions, i.e., assistance, policy, and legislation. table shows results of the analysis. the ageing labour force could represent a risk both for society and economy unless it is well managed. therefore, the attention that researchers, governments and other stakeholders have devoted to this issue has grown over the time. according to analysis of motivations ( table ) and solutions ( table ) for ageing at work, possible policy implications have been identified and split into five parts: extend the length of work ability. different organizations implement changes by creating common policies and strategies, but they are not oriented toward the older workforce. intentionally interrupting the existing age-graded logic and its replacement with age-neutral logic are proposed in [ ] . the authors in [ ] found that the expected decline in employment could be partially offset by public policies that encourage the employment of older people. this causes problems for public finances due to expenditures on health, long-term care, pensions, etc. [ ] . in order to encourage policies to maintain work ability at an old age, it is necessary to invest in decreasing of both work stress and social inequalities in health care [ ] . however, extending the length of work ability does not just pose issues, but provides social and economic opportunities. avoid the age-based discrimination. the labour market will have to adapt working positions and eliminate the attitude of age-based discrimination, since it will have to fight for a working force older than because it is lacking. when facing age-based discrimination at work, the organizational help and friends and family support were found to be significant in achieving better health and adaptability [ ] . on the other hand, older workers with high job satisfaction without age-based discrimination remained longer in the labour market [ ] . finally, the authors in [ ] found that experiences of discrimination were rare and reduced with age among men, whereas almost no age differences were noticed among women. this indicates that age-based discrimination is possibly overstated, and age-related obstacles could have been miscomprehended. therefore, the flexibility of older workers can be seen as an opportunity for the active global aging trend [ ] . older workers with high job satisfaction, development possibilities, affirmative relations to management, and no age discrimination stayed longer in the work market. positive relations with colleagues did not affect older workers decisions on early pension. the measures were self-evaluated. the psychosocial factors were measured at single time point. successive changes in the psychosocial work conditions could cause early pension that would be missed by the study. early pension, work conditions, management quality, job satisfaction [ ] to examine the relation between successful aging and stress sources at work among older workers in china questionnaire study. study sample- workers aged > years. method variance. harman's one-factor test. factor analysis. perception of institutional support and social help from family and friends significantly corresponds to efficient aging at work. participants were surveyed at a single time point. the study relied on participants self-reports. successful aging, work stressor, social help, institutional support [ ] to improve comprehension of the discrimination at work, with a focus on age and gender challenges. survey study. study sample- workers with mean age years. computer-aided telephone interview. binary logistic regression. daily discrimination was unusual. it appears with age among men, and not among women. the nature of work market age obstacles is not understood correctly, and the degree of aging discrimination is overstated. there was a small number of workers who faced daily discrimination. the degree of daily discrimination has to be further investigated. ageism, employment discrimination, gender, work [ ] to investigate the age-related connection between job stress, extreme tiredness, prosperity, and associated personal, institutional, and community factors. survey study. study sample- participants aged years or older. descriptive statistics. linear regression. one-way analysis of variance. job stress was associated with several types of extreme tiredness and prosperity. personal work style, institutional and community factors were associated with prosperity. old age was connected to a poor perception of health. the study did not compare work differences. the data were cross-sectional and the causal relation of the work conditions and style with job stress, extreme tiredness, and prosperity could not be confirmed. age difference, exhaustion, prosperity, work stress, work condition growth [ ] to investigate the connection of social, demographic, economic and job related factors with disability. a decrease in job stress and sociable disproportion in healthcare is appropriate for the development of policies that support aging at work. the disability indices were not formulated based on functional testing. the evaluation of stressful work was performed by abbreviated scales. position, aging workforce, work stress, work ability, social disproportion [ ] to examine organizational work disrupting age-graded policies. interview study. study sample- organizations with employees aged - years. qualitative content analysis. organizations implement changes by creating common policies and strategies, but not those oriented toward an aging workforce. they propose to intentionally interrupt the existing age-graded logic and replace it with age-neutral logic. creative, high-tech, or communications organizations were not studied. sample size was small, so broader claims about minnesota or u.s. workers cannot be made. organizational logic, older workers, pension, flexibility [ ] to examine the influence of demographic trends on the economic growth and employment level that japan is expected to face in the next years the expected decline in employment could be partially offset by public policies that encourage the employment of older people. not reported. low fertility, population decline, population aging [ ] to provide a literature review on the need for the senior workforce and recognize main directions for research on this topic. there is a negative association between salary and employment outcomes for the senior workforce. the connection between efficiency and salary is defined by governmental conditions and motivation to take early pension. the variations in micro-, macro-, and meso-level factors were not captured, simultaneously. there is a need for improvements in the analysis of the impact of age-based discrimination on the employing of older workers. work market, employment protection, regulation, legislation deficit [ ] to examine the influence of organizational factors on work ability. cross-sectional study (online survey). study sample- employees. path analysis modeling. maximum likelihood estimation. organizational culture and professional effort indirectly enabled the prediction of work ability, with job satisfaction mediating these relations. the sample included mostly younger and female workers. the cross-sectional design of the study did not provide the possibility to understand causes and effects related to work ability. work ability, organizational culture [ ] to recognize professions prevailed by an older workforce and evaluate their vulnerability to hazards in these professions. survey study (interviews). study sample- workers aged or more. chi-squared test. work-related hazards should be decreased to inhibit professional disturbance in professions prevailed by an older workforce. self-informed data were included in the study. health issues, hazards, profession, musculoskeletal disorders [ ] to investigate job discrimination related to age and disability. integrated mission system data from to . descriptive statistics. job discrimination of aged or disabled workers is focused on challenges involving seating, revenge, and cancellation. data do not contain supplemental information regarding a secondary cause for each filed allegation. job/age/disability discrimination [ ] to investigate the relation between psychosocial factors and pension intention of older employees, while considering healthiness and work ability. survey study. study sample- workers aged years or older. pearson correlation. ordinal logistic regression. ageism and the absence of acknowledgement and growth opportunities are connected to older male workers' pension intention. work ability is strongly related to the pension intention of both genders. the pension age could depend on unfamiliar alternations in the worker's environment or health status. psychosocial factors, pension intention, healthiness, work ability table . detailed analysis of articles that focus on solutions. assistance [ ] to critically review the literature on older farmers in canada and the usa and describe how musculoskeletal disorders influence their ability to work. literature review. twelve articles analyzed in detail. musculoskeletal disturbance can lead to trauma or loss of ability to farm. it is necessary to develop safer work practices and encourage healthiness, efficiency, and professional longevity. some related articles may have been excluded from the study due to the specificity of the search strings. older farmers, work-related musculoskeletal disorders, pension age [ ] to investigate the action plans that workers use to acquire skills in software and complete assignments exploratory study (interviews, surveys). study sample- administrative assistants. grounded theory. non-parametric statistics. administrative assistants are regularly communicating and sharing knowledge. exclusion of workers from different organizations, lack of extensive investigation on behavior at work, and creation of software tool design instructions. workplace, generations, collaboration [ ] to collect information to direct the preparation of programs for returning older adults to work survey study (questionnaires). study sample- jobless participants aged - years. anova. chi-square test. participants who felt discriminated indicated the preference to acquire technological skills and get classroom-based education. work obstacles could not be generalized. older workers, absence of technological skills, work conditions, work experiences policy [ ] to investigate factors related to perceived work ability in a sample of brazilians sample aged years and more longitudinal study (surveys). study sample- workers aged years and over. multivariate analysis. poisson regression. work ability in old age depends on the life course, i.e., academic level, health conditions in younger and older age, minimum working age, etc. policies aiming to extend longevity in the work market must consider these factors. the collection of self-reported data associated with past experiences might have been affected by the preference to demonstrate an acceptable image, causing information bias. establishment of temporal relations for the variable related to current conditions is limited. work ability, health, socioeconomic factors [ ] to review the documentation about the influence of psychological health on staying at work after pension and discuss consequences of public health policies. systematic literature review. ten articles analyzed in detail. staying at work after pension can be positive for psychological health. pension action plans are required to provide national policies that will increase the pension age and not exacerbate any disproportion in the older population. only cross-sectional and longitudinal studies investigating the impact of unexpected variables on psychological health were involved in the review. pension, job status, psychological health, social policy [ ] to analyze the literature on workplace health promotion (whp) aimed at older workers systematic literature review. eighteen articles analyzed in detail. existing documentation does not demonstrate that whp enhance work ability, retention, efficiency, lifestyle, health, or prosperity of the senior workforce. the heterogeneity and low quality of the studies makes it difficult to synthesize the literature and draw the conclusions. workplace health promotion, senior workforce, health, lifestyle [ ] to investigate the results of unfulfilled expectations of staying at work after age on life satisfaction. longitudinal survey. study sample- workers aged and over. growth mixture modeling. descriptive statistics. linear regression. multi-nominal logistic regression. majority of men and almost no women expected to stay at work after age . the subjective prosperity of older adults is affected by unmet expectations of staying longer at work . the significance of different job options before full pension was not assessed. work expectations, pension, life satisfaction, subjective prosperity [ ] to find out whether the workers' ages determine the evaluation of their work-life balance. survey study. study sample- workers aged from to years. kruskal-wallis test. spearman's r correlation analysis. the maintenance of work-life balance will be indicated by older workers. all employees do not have the same possibilities to take advantage of solutions that provide the support of work-life balance. the diversity of the answers given by the participants according to the type and state of particpants affiliation was not analyzed. work-life balance, workers'assessment, aging workforce legislation [ ] to estimate the impact on the efficiency of the reduction of assortment mechanisms among senior employees. italian national institute of statistics data from to . descriptive statistics. multivariate regression analysis. the growth of pension age, as well as limitations on early pension intention, kept older workers at the work without a positive influence on efficiency. more efficient older employees are mroe likely to stay at work in comparison with those who are not as efficient. the number of employees kept at the work was underestimated. the reform's influence on the employees' structure is an additional issue. aging workforce, pension reforms, labor productivity [ ] to investigate the workforce participation and absence among older adults in sweden. data from the swedish population register. study sample-workers aged - years. descriptive statistics. the alternation in regulations affected the share of workers associated with illness and disability pension programs. simultaneously, the share of workers going to early pension has grown. this study noticed no alternation related to the difference in working-life exit patterns associated with hierarchical and academic positions in the organization. workforce participation, older worker, pension, illness benefits [ ] to review the expert way of thinking in relation to policies influencing the employment of older adults. survey study. study sample- participants aged years or older. descriptive statistics. a broad range of policies recommend possibilities for innovation. there is a sampling bias related to the language and review method. there were no participants from south america, while a few participants from africa demonstrated about limited internet access. aging workforce, older workers, employment policy, mandatory pension, government answers [ ] to investigate whether age and mental capabilities mitigate the connection between job stress and negative affect survey study. study sample- workers aged - years. descriptive statistics. correlation and regression analysis. johnson-neyman technique. cognition mitigated the connection between job stress and negative affect. crystallized cognition had a large influence on the connection between job stress and negative affect for senior workers. the mitigating influence of fluid cognition was unchanging. the study did not permit a setup of directionality among variables. better evaluation of professional features and job requirements is needed. job stress, negative affect, older workers improve the well-being of older workers. difficulties that older people experience at work indicates a need for healthcare strategies to adjust the work conditions so that they are suitable for older workforce with decreased physical ability. the authors in [ ] identified professions that are dominated by older workers and suggested that work-related hazards (e.g., noise, vibrations, etc.) should be reduced to prevent health problems. older workers and workers with disabilities can be used as the sources of required skills. such unutilized workers need to be recruited and well-managed to ensure that their skills are retained [ ] . in order to improve the well-being of older workers, the authors in [ ] considered the influence of organizational factors, whereas those in [ ] examined psychosocial factors at workplace. unfulfilled prospects for work in old age influenced the prosperity of older workers [ ] . therefore, it is necessary to perform workplace health promotion activities [ ] . promote the lifelong learning. the growth of the aging labour force and emerging technologies change the work environment, generating a need to train older workers to improve their skills. older workers gain benefits when well-designed training approaches are used. therefore, the authors in [ ] studied the training requirements and work experience, as well as the perception of ideal job features. to encourage technology adoption in the work environment, there is a need to understand how workers study software tools and complete assignments [ ] . therefore, further research should concentrate on developing safer work practices and supporting worker's productivity and professional longevity [ ] . encourage the late retirement. in order to achieve more successful inclusion of older people into labour market, there is a need for more comprehensive policies and harmonized all-age legislation. this is indicated by the fact that the overall decrease in the share of individuals in pension and disability programs is caused by changes in regulations [ ] . in this regard, the authors in [ ] studied the factors that affect the aging labour force and the range of current policies that suggest the possible opportunities for innovation. the implications for older workers are related to lifespan earnings, job retention, retirement savings, the possibility of changing jobs, or employment assurance [ , ] . increasing the pension age should not exacerbate social and health disproportion in the older workers [ ] . this is important since many older workers report unequal options to take advantage of solutions for supporting the balance between work and private life [ ] . the abovementioned policy implications may be useful from policy making perspective. they could lead to the creation of framework that targets government, the non-governmental sector, private sectors and other stakeholders. however, the creation of such policy framework should take into account many other contributing factors [ ] that can be the subject for future research activities. furthermore, a future research agenda should consider the concept of ageing at work at national level and intensify collaboration at international level. nevertheless, the following recommendations for governments and other stakeholders can be drawn from this research study: . encourage incentives to extend the working ability in old age; . eliminate age-based discrimination at work along with promotion of gender equality; . invest in education, lifelong learning, health and well-being while increasing the productivity; . improve the working conditions to increase the safety at work and health of workers; . support late retirement along with the increase of life expectancy; . reduce the use of early retirement if workers' health and work ability are satisfactory. this study provides a systematic review of articles related to the aging labour force in terms of recent trends and future directions. additionally, it identifies and evaluates the motivations that drive research on the aging labour force and potential solutions that address the issues related to the aging at work. sustainable growth and age-based discrimination are recognized as the main motivations to perform the research activities in the given context. on the other hand, policies that stimulate life-long learning are identified as a potential solution for the aging labour force. the additional value of this study lies in its identification of policy implications and recommendations for governments and other stakeholders. furthermore, along with this paper, we also provide a supplementary materials of all identified relevant articles that can be filtered in terms of different fields to recognize articles for further analysis in a particular subfield. this initial search for a systematic review design may provide useful results on the relevance, practicability, and time needed to carry out a systematic review. despite the valuable insights in this study, it suffers from several limitations as well. first, this study took into consideration only three digital libraries, so some relevant articles could be unintentionally omitted from the study because of the specificity of the search strings and the fact that we have not taken into account the non-indexed publishers. however, the size of the searched digital libraries is sufficient, so the obtained results are suitable for the purpose of the study. additionally, the articles obtained for this study are the results of a search query sent to different search engines with different retrieving and formatting rules from those that are used in the considered libraries. however, we are convinced that the specificities of the publishers' search engines had no influence on the findings of this study, taking into the account the number of analyzed articles. finally, the articles are categorized to provide the quantitative results that show the recent trends and future directions of aging at work, whereas the qualitative results are manually covered to a limited extent to describe the motivation issues and solutions for the aging labour force. the aging of the population raises many issues and provides many opportunities. it intensifies the requirement for long-term care, healthcare, and a better-skilled workforce, and increases the demand for age-friendly environments. on the other hand, it enables the contributions of older people to their family, local community, or broader society. in order to review articles related to the ageing at work in terms of recent trends and future directions, we performed a scoping literature review using an nlp-based framework to automate some of the steps in the prisma methodology and quickly identify potentially relevant articles. as a result, starting from over thousand potentially relevant articles, we analyzed in detail about of the most relevant approaches and discussed of them. we identified that the most prominent works suggest policies and practices that support life-long learning, a workforce that comprises both younger and older workers, and gradual retirement. approaches like these could be the best response to the globalization issues, reduction of workforce, maintenance of financial independence of the aging workforce, and other social benefits. future work could be focused on standardizing approaches to this problem across different countries, supported by different policymakers. the goal should not be to end up with the same approaches in different environments, as this would hardly encompass all cultural, sociological, and economic factors. instead, we believe that systematically documented and well-thought-out approaches will facilitate the measurement of the results and analysis of causality when investigating benefits and drawbacks. funding: v.t., e.z., i.c. and p.l. acknowledge the support of faculty of computer science and engineering, ss. cyril and methodius university in skopje, north macedonia. in addition, this manuscript is funded by fct/mec through portuguese national funds and when applicable co-funded by feder-pt partnership agreement under the project uidb/eea/ / (este trabalho é financiado pela fct/mec através de fundos nacionais e quando aplicável cofinanciado pelo feder, no âmbito do acordo de parceria pt no âmbito do projeto uidb/eea/ / ). this manuscript is based upon work from cost action ic -aapele-architectures, algorithms, and protocols for enhanced living environments and cost action ca -sheld-on-indoor living space improvement: smart habitat for the elderly, supported by cost (european cooperation in science and technology). cost is a funding agency for research and innovation networks. our actions help connect research initiatives across europe and enable scientists to grow their ideas by sharing them with their peers. this boosts their research, career and innovation. more information in www.cost.eu. based on ca project, ltc inter cost was proposed for national funding support of cost action framework by meys, czech republic. this work was also supported in part by the project ( / ), grant agency of excellence, university of hradec kralove, faculty of informatics and management, czech republic. the demand for older workers. in ageing, health and pensions in europe: an economic and social policy perspective healthy ageing and well-being at work ageing europe: looking at the lives of older people in the eu quality of life framework for personalised ageing: a systematic review of ict solutions workplace health promotion for older workers: a systematic literature review generations in the workplace: an exploratory study with administrative assistants joint report on towards age-friendly work in europe: a life-course perspective on work and ageing from eu agencies; publications office of the european union everyday discrimination in the australian workplace: assessing its prevalence and age and gender differences older women's responses and decisions after a fall: the work of getting "back to normal". health care women int transition from the labor market: older workers and retirement ageing workforce and productivity: the unintended effects of retirement regulation in italy understanding the psychology of diversity organizational change around an older workforce primary-and secondary-level organizational predictors of work ability population aging: opportunity for business expansion, an invitational paper presented at the asia-pacific economic cooperation (apec) international workshop on adaptation sustaining work participation across the life course supporting the labor force participation of older adults: an international survey of policy options accessibility and new technology mooc-disability and active aging: technological support one size does not fit all: uncovering older entrepreneur diversity through motivations, emotions and mentoring needs aging and work: an overview employers' use of older workers in the recession preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: the prisma statement automation in systematic, scoping and rapid reviews by an nlp toolkit: a case study in enhanced living environments literature on wearable technology for connected health: scoping review of research trends, advances, and barriers the sage handbook of aging, work and society population decline, labor force stability, and the future of the japanese economy socioeconomic position, psychosocial work environment and disability in an ageing workforce: a longitudinal analysis of share data from european countries an investigation of predictors of successful aging in the workplace among hong kong chinese older workers psychosocial work environment and retirement age: a prospective study of senior employees age differences in work stress, exhaustion, well-being, and related factors from an ecological perspective hazards and health problems in occupations dominated by aged workers in south korea age and disability employment discrimination: occupational rehabilitation implications the association between psychosocial work environment, attitudes towards older workers (ageism) and planned retirement work-related musculoskeletal disorders in senior farmers: safety and health considerations. workplace health saf training older workers for technology-based employment life course and work ability among older adults: elsi-brazil the impact of working beyond traditional retirement ages on mental health: implications for public health and welfare policy unexpected retirement from full time work after age : consequences for life satisfaction in older americans work-life balance: does age matter? work has the participation of older employees in the workforce increased? study of the total swedish population regarding exit from working life the moderating effects of aging and cognitive abilities on the association between work stress and negative affect this article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the creative commons attribution the authors declare no conflict of interest. the founders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results. key: cord- -nc uv va authors: caligiuri, paula; de cieri, helen; minbaeva, dana; verbeke, alain; zimmermann, angelika title: international hrm insights for navigating the covid- pandemic: implications for future research and practice date: - - journal: j int bus stud doi: . /s - - - sha: doc_id: cord_uid: nc uv va we show the relevance of extant international business (ib) research, and more specifically work on international human resources management (ihrm), to address covid- pandemic challenges. decision-makers in multinational enterprises have undertaken various types of actions to alleviate the impacts of the pandemic. in most cases these actions relate in some way to managing distance and to rethinking boundaries, whether at the macro- or firm-levels. managing distance and rethinking boundaries have been the primary focus of much ib research since the ib field was established as a legitimate area of academic inquiry. the pandemic has led to increased cross-border distance problems (e.g., as the result of travel bans and reduced international mobility), and often also to new intra-firm distancing challenges imposed upon previously co-located employees. prior ihrm research has highlighted the difficulties presented by distance, in terms of employee selection, training, support, health and safety, as well as leadership and virtual collaboration. much of this thinking is applicable to solve pandemic-related distance challenges. the present, extreme cases of requisite physical distancing need not imply equivalent increases in psychological distance, and also offer firms some insight into the unanticipated benefits of a virtual workforce – a type of workforce that, quite possibly, will influence the ‘new normal’ of the post-covid world. extant ihrm research does offer actionable insight for today, but outstanding knowledge gaps remain. looking ahead, we offer three domains for future ihrm research: managing under uncertainty, facilitating international and even global work, and redefining organizational performance. introduction covid- altered every person's reality overnight. individuals, cities, economies, countries, and continents have experienced the shock of lockdown and the fear of unknowing. managers have had to make many decisions in a very short period of time -decisions about who should stay at work and who should go home; how and where people could be moved into digital space; and what the priorities are and how those priorities can best be communicated to employees. in , ernst & young surveyed board members and chief executive officers (ceos) globally and found that only % of the executives surveyed believed their companies were prepared to respond to a large adverse risk (ey, ) . a few short months later, the covid- pandemic crisis arrived and proved that their concerns were well founded. concerns related to global supply chain vulnerabilities and financial resilience have come to the fore during the covid- pandemic, along with significant strategic human talent concerns. bcg has called the ongoing covid- pandemic a ''people-based crisis.'' we agree. the economist noted that just as the financial crisis in - highlighted the role of talented chief financial officers (cfos), the covid- pandemic is highlighting the role of chief human resource officers (chros). they wrote: ''when the financial crisis rocked the business world in [ ] [ ] [ ] , boardrooms turned to corporate finance chiefs. a good cfo could save a company; a bad one might bury it. the covid- pandemic presents a different challengeand highlights the role of another corporate function, often unfairly dismissed as soft. never before have more firms needed a hard-headed hr boss. the duties of chief people officers, as human-resources heads are sometimes called, look critical right now. they must keep employees healthy; maintain their morale; oversee a vast remote-working experiment; and, as firms retrench, consider whether, when and how to lay workers off. their in-trays are bulging.'' (the economist, march th, ). the covid- pandemic has pushed a massive number of employees, who were already facing stress from the health risk itself, to working from home. compounding this stressor, many managers are now leading remote teams for the first time. this sudden change has exacerbated the challenges of collaborating and leading from a distance, challenges we in the field of international business (ib) understand well, but that have remained largely unaddressed in management practice. in , rw surveyed employees from countries regarding their experiences working on 'global virtual teams' in multinational enterprises (mnes) . while most of the respondents identified their work on global virtual teams as important for job success, only % received training on how best to work in their geographically distributed teams, % of which had two or more cultures represented. the picture is not much better at the leadership level. among the virtual team leaders, only % described themselves as ''very effective'' with less than % receiving training on how to lead from a distance (rw , ) . the field of ib has long accounted for the challenges associated with significant global threats and issues concerning geographical distance. from the lens of ib generally, and international human resource management (ihrm) specifically, we can recast the issues emerging from the current covid- pandemic in terms of the existing academic knowledge base. by holding up this theoretical mirror, we can more clearly see the issues and offer insights to mne managers facing challenges in leading their people through this crisis. in this editorial, we will distil the knowledge and experience ib scholars, and more specifically ihrm, have accumulated over recent decades to offer some key learnings on managing people from a distance. our accumulated body of knowledge in ihrm has helped us understand the challenges people face when placed in a wide range of mne work arrangements, such as expatriate assignments, virtual international work, global project teams, and frequent international travel (shaffer, kraimer, chen & bolino, ) . this academic knowledge is particularly useful for human resource managers today, as they face new challenges and difficult decisions during this pandemic. the purpose of this editorial is not to conduct a comprehensive review of the literature; rather, the goal is to select a few key themes and opportunities for 'quick wins' that could be immediately applied in mne managerial practice. at the end of this editorial, we go back to the academic literature and offer suggestions for future research in ihrm. these suggestions represent the topics where practice would be better served from a deeper knowledge base. thus, our suggestions for future research in ihrm relate to the broader gaps in the ib literature that, if filled, could help answering the next 'big questions' in ib (buckley, doh, & benischke, ) . insights from ihrm's selection, training, and employee support literature the field of ihrm has long understood that when employees are in novel or uncertain contexts, they experience stress (anderzén & arnetz, ; richards, ; stahl & caligiuri, ) . to respond to such stress, employees leverage their dispositional traits and coping responses (shaffer, harrison, gregersen, black, & ferzandi, ; stahl & caligiuri, ) . stress affects employees' ability to empathize with others, consider plausible alternatives, remain open-minded, engage in cognitively challenging tasks, and expand one's experiences to learn and grow. as the literature suggests, when individuals encounter periods of stress and anxiety, they have a tendency to seek out and find comfort in the familiar, the people, places, and even food that are the most predictable; this is the reason there are expatriate communities, demographic faultlines, and comfort food in every culture around the world. the covid- pandemic has produced tremendous novelty and uncertainty which is affecting the mental health of many people around the world (world health organization, ). even as the health risks of the pandemic begin to wane in some countries and the probability of a vaccine appears high, the novel ways of working remotely and the fears around the global recession will continue to produce a state of uncertainty. in their stressinduced, cognitively reduced state, employees will have a particularly difficult time working effectively in different countries and with people from different cultures, especially in instances of high unfamiliarity. there is not enough bandwidth, so to speak, for even greater novelty and more uncertainty. based on knowledge from the ihrm literature, a number of selection, training, and support practices can positively mitigate the concerns at hand. ihrm has taught us that some people are naturally better than others at managing stress and uncertainty, enabling them to make better decisions and work more effectively across countries and cultures (shaffer et al., ) . employees with a higher tolerance of ambiguity are less likely to experience the negative effects of stress caused by working in a context with greater uncertainty (frone, ) . employees with resilience not only bounce back after stressful situations but also find positive meaning from them (tugade & fredrickson, ) . likewise, employees with natural curiosity can adapt better to novel situations, thrive in situations of anxiety and uncertainty, and be more creative and open-minded (hagtvedt, dossinger, harrison, & huang, ; kashdan, sherman, yarbro, & funder, ) . during this period of global stress and uncertainty, organizations (and especially mnes) should select for these three critical, cultural agility competencies: tolerance for ambiguity, resilience, and curiosity for all employees working multiculturally. employees working, even virtually, with clients, vendors, or colleagues from different cultures will now, more than ever, need these competencies to be effective. selection is key. companies can also use this time to better assess their bench strength for culturally agile talent in order to understand who will be most effective in situations of growing novelty and uncertainty. research suggests that a state of anxiety fosters a natural desire for affiliation (sarnoff & zimbardo, ; schachter, ) , especially amongst those who are living the same anxiety-inducing experience (gump & kulik, ; schachter, ) . for global teams in mnes that have existing familiarity, the covid- pandemic offers an ideal time to foster cross-cultural team cohesion and to validate expectations of reliability since the health-related stress is present everywhere in the world. training to support relationship formation would be wellreceived at this time when every team member, irrespective of country, is experiencing a similar stressor. the shared stress, anxiety, and frustrations can create ties that further bind already collegial global teams. this shared experience has the potential to enhance cohesion going forward. for the many team members who have not yet received cross-cultural training on relationship formation across borders, any lessons learned through training, (if offered today) would land on fertile soil, because team members already have a shared . this cross-cultural training in mnes would help reduce ambiguity for cross-cultural differences by offering skill-building on how to collaborate across cultures; how to actively seek similarities with colleagues from different cultures; how to use technology inclusively; how to set team-level ground rules for communication and work-flow, and the like. this training could also help colleagues from different cultures become mindful of situations where they might be rushing to judgement because of their ''reduced bandwidth'' state. it could also teach them how to add respectful questioning into cross-cultural work groups to thwart the negative aspects of stereotypes. just as the shared stressful experience among colleagues can facilitate their emotional bonding, there are other hrm practices that would land well if offered in this current covid- climate. for example, employees' need for professional growth is likely to strengthen many employees' desire to receive additional training. the psychology literature offers substantial evidence that one of our fundamental human motivators is the need for competence (deci, olafsen, & ryan, ) . during the covid- pandemic, the lack of professional stimulation while working from home is fostering more self-directed knowledge-seeking to satisfy the need to learn, grow, and demonstrate competence. for example, linkedin learning courses have seen a threefold increase in usage since the start of stay-athome orders (forbes, ) . with a growing interest in self-directed learning, companies should actively harness this time to invest in the skill development of employees. at a time when employees' desire to learn, grow, and demonstrate competence is heightened, companies that offer access to, or reimburse, employees' online training achieve a clear win-win; they increase talent capability and, concurrently, foster employee motivation. in ihrm, we understand how an individual's comfort or fit within a given environment can affect their success, and also that organizational support can positively affect adjustment in a novel environment (takeuchi, wang, marinova, & yao, ). those who work on global cross-national teams in mnes face health risks due to requirements to operate across time zones, with flexible schedules, and expectations of availability around the clock (lirio, ) . in the ambiguity of both global work and current covid- pandemic, the issues for which support is needed will vary depending on the person's work-life issues, but organizational support remains critical (kraimer, wayne, & jaworski, ; shaffer, harrison, & gilley, ) . companies should offer support practices to help mitigate stress such as webinars on resilience, tutorials on mindfulness (de cieri, shea, cooper, and oldenburg, ), employee assistance programs, and virtual counseling services. these stress-mitigating offerings would be particularly helpful for employees who engage in virtual work at the international level, as they face additional stress. the world is experiencing a collective state of stress, but the global economy will not pause for employees requiring time to be ready to come out of their comfort zone to work again in different countries and with people from different cultures. more than ever, human resources managers in the covid- pandemic has brought health and safety issues to center stage and has placed a spotlight on the role of the hrm function in managing the health and safety of the international workforce. while management researchers already know well that employees' health and safety are linked to the demands (such as a heavy workload) and resources (such as a supportive manager) at work, the international hrm field offers specific learnings about managing health and safety for a spatially dispersed and mobile workforce. in ihrm, we understand the challenges of protecting employees, and their families, from injury and illness across national boundaries and in different work arrangements (gannon & paraskevas, ; shaffer et al., ) . research in ihrm, alongside scholarship in fields such as health and psychology, has shown that globally mobile employees face specific job demands that can affect their health and safety (anderzén & arnetz, ; druckman, harber, liu, & quigley, ) . frequent travel, high workloads, long work hours, and job pressure lead to negative health consequences (bader, ) and also negatively affect psychological well-being and family relationships (jensen & knudsen, ) . we also know, however, that globally mobile work can be stimulating and rewarding in many positive ways (ren, yunlu, shaffer, & fodchuck, ) . during the pandemic, life has changed a lot for many who were international business travelers and globally mobile employees in mnes; their current ''grounding'' may mean they are experiencing a sense of loss. their frequent travel, hotel accommodation, and business dinners have been replaced by stay-at-home restrictions and virtual meetings. the stress caused by the demands of virtual global work is real; many employees are experiencing long work hours to accommodate time zones and performance challenges in less than ideal remote working conditions. these tangible work challenges all occur with the backdrop of job insecurity and future economic uncertainty. the changed work conditions during the pandemic present new challenges for employees' health and safety. communication and support for health and safety ihrm activities such as international family relocations provide a knowledge base that is of particular value in the pandemic because ihrm is more likely than other functional areas in the mne or domestic hrm to deal with the interface between employees' professional and private lives (mayerhofer, müller, & schmidt, ) . we know that understanding work-related demands and resources is important for all managers, and particularly for hr professionals, to support and maintain employees' health and safety. clear and consistent communication from managers and hr about health risks and available health resources is important. research on managing expatriate assignments in mnes shows that communication and support from managers is an important buffer against job stress experienced by employees (kraimer, bolino, & mead, ; stroppa & spiess, ) . this knowledge can be applied to the pandemic situation of working from home. for some people, social isolation as well as uncertainty about their health, job, and future will have a negative impact on their mental health. any stigma linked to mental health might prevent some employees from seeking help, and mne senior managers should therefore communicate with empathy, encourage wellness resources, and offer practical support for employees' health and safety. many managers will be familiar with flexible work arrangements (fwas) that formalize where, when, and how employees do their work (chen & fulmer, ) . fwas, such as flexible scheduling of work and working from home, have been shown to deliver positive benefits for employees' health (e.g., anderson, kaplan & vega, ) . ihrm has unique insights into fwas; for example, people working in global teams are accustomed to working from home and outside standard business hours. ihrm research has highlighted the importance of practices such as fwas that help mne employees to maintain their health and wellbeing to cope with the demands of working across geographical and temporal boundaries (adamovic, ) . in response to the covid- pandemic, many mnes have been forced to rely on one type of fwa: employees working from home. this is a new challenge for many, including ihrm scholars and practitioners. a survey conducted with global hr executives in march found that % of organizations had either encouraged or required employees to work from home during the covid- crisis (gartner, ) . because this shift has been involuntary, continues over a lengthy period, and requires entire households to be house-bound, there is more potential for employees to experience increased work hours, as well as increased work-life conflict. for employees who were globally mobile, and now find themselves working from home during the pandemic, the shift is particularly significant and borders between work and family may require re-negotiation and re-organization. there are several specific ways by which managers and hr can help their employees to work from home in a safe and healthy manner. there are many simple and cost-effective ways to encourage healthy lifestyle habits. for example, encouraging healthy work practices such as working within regular hours and taking regular work-breaks will help employees to switch off from work (adamovic, ; chen & fulmer, ) . communicating clearly and managing work expectations will help employees to maintain their family responsibilities. the pandemic offers an opportunity for managers to explore how to implement flexible work arrangements that can enhance the health and safety of employees well into the future, particularly that of globally mobile employees. over a decade ago, collings, scullion and morley ( ) identified health and safety as an important area of ihrm practice and pointed out the implications of employee ill-health for organizational performance as well as for the employee and their family. applying the insights from ihrm to the pandemic situation, managers should give priority to protecting and managing employee health and safety now and in the future. overall, our goal for employees is not only to protect and manage their health and safety but to enhance positive outcomes such as thriving and engagement with their work. during this pandemic, leaders in mnes have needed to make swift decisions with far-reaching consequences, communicate effectively to diverse stakeholders, manage resources judiciously, integrate organizational and local demands, and inspire expectations of reliability via authenticity. the competencies needed for leadership during the covid- pandemic in general are mirroring the competencies of effective leaders in mnes because the uncertainty, ambiguity, and importance of context are present in both leadership situations. those mne leaders who succeed in situations of novelty typically command three cultural-agility related responses that they can leverage like tools in a toolbox (caligiuri, ; caligiuri & tarique, ) . first, they have the skills to adapt to the demands of the context when needed, relying on those familiar with the local context to influence key decisions. second, they know how to integrate diverse perspectives and demands; even when the demands are conflicting, they can work to find an integrated solution. third, they know when to provide direction, even if it is not welcome or popular. a leader's ability to read the demands of the situation and respond, as needed, using the appropriate response out of the three alternatives above, are proving to be especially relevant during the pandemic. whether leaders in mnes adapt to the demands of a situation by wearing a face mask in public during the covid- pandemic, or follow to the tee other local public health recommendations affecting organizational functioning, they are acknowledging that they understand, appreciate, and are willing to abide by the norms of the situation. in some situations (but not all) adapting to the norms of the context will enable leaders to persuade, instill confidence, and influence those whose value system fosters certain behavioral expectations. in some circumstances, adaptation is the wrong approach and mne leaders need to integrate multiple, sometimes conflicting, perspectives to create a course of action. leaders in mnes do this when they integrate the cultures represented on their geographically distributed teams. during the covid- crisis we are observing highly effective leaders use the same approach, balancing health demands to protect employees with urgent, firmlevel requirements for economic performance. in other situations, neither adaptation nor integration is the correct approach. in some cases, a leader will need to decide and ''stick by it'' -even when the decision is unwelcome or unpopular. during the covid- pandemic, we saw this when business leaders quickly shifted operations, and made difficult decisions to close facilities, lay-off workers, or alter supply chains. in the international leadership context, we see this response used frequently in decisions involving safety standards, codes of conduct, quality standards, fiscal controls, corporate values, and codes of ethics. during this covid- crisis, we can observe a number of highly effective leaders, setting clear direction, and using their transparency and authenticity to effectively communicate the chosen course of action. these leaders are also acknowledging and communicating the trade-offs necessary to create plans that are responsive to public health concerns and economic imperatives. the ability to use effectively each of the three above responses is a hallmark of good leadership in complex mnes. the leaders able to navigate the tensions among these three possible responses during the pandemic will likely also be the best mne leaders going forward. more suddenly and widely than ever experienced before, the covid- crisis has moved collaborative work into the virtual sphere. large sections of society now find themselves relying exclusively on virtual communication media to complete collaborative tasks. ihrm research teaches us a lot on how managers should support virtual collaborations to facilitate success during the current crisis and beyond. we do not know how long this virtual set-up, spanning the entire world will need to last, but now is a good time for managers to learn from mistakes or at least imperfections in this realm, and to strengthen the quality of virtual work for the future. the current crisis sheds light on challenges of virtual collaboration that confirm long-standing research insights. for those who had not built strong working relationships before the crisis, working and managing at a distance and through virtual communication media has made it hard to maintain (and even more so to build) strong social ties and networks (hansen & lovas, ) , realistic expectations of reliability (gibson & gibbs, ) and a team identity (maznevski, davison, & jonsen, ) , thus impeding a common understanding of norms, goals and tasks as well as effective communication and knowledge sharing (cramton, ; fulk, monge, & hollingshead, ) . research on global teams tells us that these challenges are amplified when working internationally in mnes, where boundaries must be crossed between countries, regions, cultures, institutional contexts, firms, and firm units (see zimmermann, ) . as we know from research in ihrm and other disciplines, virtual work also has potential benefits. it can, for example, attenuate the effects of obvious cultural differences in demeanors, reduce misunderstandings due to verbal language struggles and accents, create electronic trails that document decision making processes, and save on meeting time. moreover, geographic distance is not always a measure of psychological distance, as virtual team members who communicate frequently and share a professional or personal identity can even feel closer to each other than people collaborating face-to-face (o'leary, wilson, & metiu, ) . in the current crisis, managers have an exceptional opportunity to learn, or refine means of mitigating the challenges and realizing the potential of virtual working, which may not have been obvious before, in spite of much past work advocating the benefits of the virtual workplace (illegems & verbeke, ; verbeke, schulz, greidanus, & hambley, ) . one prerequisite is to match the type of information and communications technology (ict) with the focal task (malhotra & majchrzak, ) . for example, asynchronous virtual communication can be most efficient for information gathering whilst regular face-to-face meetings (or in the current situation videoconferences) should be reserved for tasks such as problem solving and comprehensive decision-making that requires synchronous interactions (maznevski & chudoba, ) . managers can further support effective virtual working through each stage of the human resource management process (zimmermann, ) . the requirement of working over distances should be included in job advertisement and assessment centers, not just for managers but also for technical staff, to attract and select employees who regard this as part of their professional identity (zimmermann & ravishankar, ) . after recruitment, skills of virtual collaboration can be developed through formal training that covers ict as well as intercultural knowledge and experiential exercises (li, mobley, & kelly, ; sit, mak, & heill, ) . as mentioned, cross-cultural training is important for those who work virtually across countries, supporting cross-cultural relationship formation and teamworking skills. on the job, new recruits can early on be given the opportunity to work on virtual teams and visit remote offices to develop an awareness of different cultural and organizational contexts that may cause misunderstandings in the virtual collaboration. rotational assignments and short-term projects abroad serve to enhance the collaboration in global virtual teams by allowing members to develop a better shared understanding of their tasks, goals, and social norms, and to build stronger social ties and a shared team identity (zimmermann, ) . for this purpose, the organizational design must allow for the movement of staff in all geographic directions. research on virtual collaboration also suggests what measures managers can take to alleviate obstacles to virtual work; to create a more positive work experience for employees; and to increase employees' motivation to make good on their commitments in the team and the firm. first, managers can facilitate perceived proximity, by allowing employees to communicate frequently and share personal information with remote colleagues, including social media, to help identify personal similarities and to develop stronger relationships (o'leary et al., ) . shared understanding, in turn, must be supported by defining strong shared goals, a clear communication structure, interaction rules, and team member roles (e.g. earley & peterson, ) . to give virtual working skills the attention they deserve, managers should also include employees' effort in virtual communication and teamwork as criteria for employee performance appraisals. the process of virtual working, not just its outcomes, should thus become relevant for rewards and promotion. research on mne headquarters-subsidiary settings alerts us to additional challenges in managing virtual collaborations. in mnes, employees at headquarters and subsidiaries often compete for interesting tasks and career prospects. rather than prioritizing headquarters' employees, senior mne managers need to create a 'combined career pyramid' which balances the career aspirations of headquarters and subsidiary employees. this will help not only to motivate and commit employees at different locations, but also to break down collaboration barriers. for example, in offshoring settings, distributing widely the more attractive tasks and career paths across sites may help alleviate headquarters employees' fears of contributing to the 'offshoring' of their own jobs. the wide distribution of attractive tasks and career paths will make them more willing to provide support to offshore colleagues, which can in turn reinforce offshore employees' work motivation and affective and continuance commitment (zimmermann & ravishankar, ) . importantly, hr and general managers in the different mne sites need to work together rather than in silos, so to co-design career paths and achieve better virtual collaboration. in sum, research on virtual collaborations can teach managers much on how to handle the challenges and reap the benefits of collaborating at a distance, which the covid- crisis has brought to the fore. to cope with virtual collaboration on a large-scale during this crisis, managers must develop and reward employees' virtual collaboration skills, foster perceived proximity, and design ict, work goals, and the communication structure in a way to foster collaboration. if managers now use the opportunity to take on these insights, they can build their firm's capability of virtual working for the future. in the long run, virtual collaboration skills will become a more important part of employees' professional identity. in an international setting, this also implies that managers in different mne subsidiaries will need to collaborate to design career paths that balance the aspirations of employees at different sites and foster their motivation to work with each other. the covid- crisis has stretched organizational resources and has accentuated key organizational capabilities. the crisis has exposed 'holes' in supposed core competencies, both at the individual and collective levels, but it has also revealed new talents. in our conversations with managers we consistently heard the message of some surprising performances, emerging stars, or someone who really showed their new side. these stars are not the usual, more gregarious, employees, but those who tend to be more reserved. this, more introverted group of employees now feels comfortable suggesting new ideas and proposals in the format of virtual meetings (see the benefits of virtual collaboration described in the previous section). the crisis had pushed mnes to reconsider the key question as to whether they have the right people in the right places. extant research on global talent management (gtm) has become particularly salient in answering this question. in gtm we have long been arguing the necessity of establishing a differentiated hr architecture for managing talent globally (minbaeva & collings, ) , starting with two key decisions around strategic positions and talent pool. the key point of departure is the focus on strategic positions (becker & huselid, ) , especially those organizational roles that can have an above-average impact (boudreau & ramstad, ) . as minbaeva and collings ( ) explain, such positions: ( ) relate to company strategy and have a direct impact on the effectiveness of strategy implementation; ( ) exhibit high variability in the quality of the work completed by the various people occupying these positions; and ( ) require unique, firm-specific know-how, tacit knowledge and industry experience that cannot be easily found in the external labor market (see also evans, pucik, & björkman, ) . becker et al. ( : ) further explain that the process of identifying strategic positions begins with ''the development of a clear statement of the firm's strategic choice (how will we compete?) as well as the firm's strategic capabilities (what must we do exceptionally well to win?).'' the answers to these questions will be different after the crisis for each mne. hence, what are considered strategic positions must be re-evaluated. in doing so, managers may still be guided by the second and third elements listed above (high variability in performance and unique, firm-specific know how), but the first element may need to be reconsidered. in defining strategic positions, now and in the post-corona crisis, the emphasis needs to shift from a static and reactive strategy implementation role towards a more agile understanding of positions that have a direct impact on how fast the company can change its direction and adapt to new situations. notably, the strategic positions will seldom be at the top of the mne hierarchy. according to mark huselid: ''the sorting and selection process used to choose senior executives is very extensive. each step of this process is based on a variance-reduction system in which poor performers are sorted out or developed into good performers. however, at the bottom and middle of the organization, such variability can still exist.'' again, the covid- crisis revealed some unexpected and surprisingly key, pivotal positions. in gtm, the next step entails the creation of a pool of high-potential talents who can occupy the strategically important positions (see for example björkman, ehrnrooth, mäkelä, smale, & sumelius, ; collings, mellahi, & cascio, ) . usually, nomination decisions are made by representatives of mne subsidiaries or sub-units, and based on a combination of data on individuals' competencies, past performance, and development potential (fernandez-araoz, roscoe & aramaki, ). in the future, the evaluation of potential should also include cultural agility competences as highlighted above: tolerance for ambiguity, resilience, and curiosity. in the context of the current crisis, the talent pool is changing, expanding and being reconfigured. handling the crisis has become an overnight stretch assignment and employees' response to this stretch assignment has changed many mnes' perceptions of their talent pool. with the additional information on how well employees handled the crisis, variance across strategic positions has increased. the current situation will test all previous decisions regarding the leadership pipeline and talent management such that, on the other side of the crisis, the high-potential pool may well consist of a different group of employees. prior research has shown the potential correlation between personalities and nominations to the talent pool. for example, caligiuri ( ) has explained how different personality traits (e.g., extroversion) may be favored in global settings. mellahi and collings ( ) have argued that social and geographical distances may lead talented employees in foreign mne subsidiaries to be in ''blind spots'' because they are less visible. in contrast, talent located at the headquarters may be more visible to -and more valued by -key decision makers in the mne. the virtual reality imposed by covid- has had a levelling effect. introverts have been given an equal chance to participate in the virtual interactions and discussions. everyone, regardless of location, has had equal access to decision-makers in virtual meetings, and has had an equal opportunity to contribute. the work reality fostered by the covid- pandemic has helped to supersede structural, geographic, and social barriers that previously limited talent management decisions. in sum, the insights from gtm are especially relevant for companies during the crisis period, and they will be even more relevant in the next stagethe restart. the crisis has redefined not just where we work but has altered the work we do and how we do it. to succeed in the next 'new normal', mne senior managers will need to revisit the prevailing definition of talent and their understanding how economic value is created. in the first part of this editorial, we have drawn attention to several key insights from ihrm scholarship that provide the foundation for understanding, interpreting, and addressing covid- related workplace challenges. the insights we have outlined could serve to guide senior mne managers in hrm and beyond as they address novel, peoplerelated challenges in their organizations. however, the pandemic has also highlighted some gaps in our research: answers to questions we wish we had in the academic literature but, to date, do not. this section of our editorial turns to recommendations for future ihrm scholarship in the postpandemic reality. we think that novel and multidisciplinary research will be needed to address the context, processes, and outcomes of work postpandemic. below we focus especially on suggestions for research on: ( ) how to manage with global uncertainty; ( ) how to facilitate global work; and ( ) how to redefine organizational performance. the concept of volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (vuca) environments has been recognized for some time (schoemaker, heaton, & teece, ; van tulder, verbeke, & jankowska, ), yet the health and economic crises resulting from covid- have given the concept further significance. the covid- pandemic has revealed extraordinary vulnerabilities arising from widespread global uncertainty. uncertainty is no longer the context experienced by just senior mne leaders involved in managing complex global supply chains, volatile financial markets, and unpredictable geopolitical relationships. rather, uncertainty has become the context for numerous mne employees who are working from home for the first time, experiencing job instability and financial insecurity, and worrying about their and their loved ones' health and safety. the context, as we know in ihrm, sets an important boundary condition in understanding the efficacy of our theories (e.g., brewster, mayrhofer & smale, ; cooke, ; cooke, wood, wang, & veen, ) and this context of uncertainty, which has been exacerbated by the covid- pandemic, cannot be ignored. our view is that ihrm should explore new avenues of managing global uncertainty and that it can thereby contribute to answering some of the 'big questions' in ib (buckley et al., ) . while the context of uncertainty has created opportunities for many streams of ib research, we would like to focus on three key ones: leadership and talent management, collaborating under stress, and managing health and safety. the united states war college was the first institution to coin the term vuca. for decades, military institutions globally have been developing leaders who could lead through a vuca reality. partnering with scholars from the military, future research in ib could advance how leadership styles and behaviors might need to vary during situations of high uncertainty, and how specific interventions might lead to vastly improved outcomes (adler, bliese, mcgurk, hoge, & castro, ). this could be especially important when the high uncertainty context creates an emotional fear response, as we saw with some employees who were forced to work without adequate protective equipment during the covid- pandemic. if employees are sensing true fear, a leader's role would be to help employees process the context, allowing the rational response to supplant the emotional response. universally effective leadership skills might be in play during fear-inducing situations. however, given that both geert hofstede and the globe study identified ''uncertainty avoidance'' as a primary cultural difference, culturally bound leadership styles might be warranted for situations of high uncertainty and fear. future research should examine this further. in the case of the covid- pandemic, members on a global team might be experiencing the same tangible level of uncertainty but might have vastly different reactions. just as uncertainty might be experienced differently across cultures, so might the responses to fear, stress, and anxiety. thus, future research should examine whether global leaders are able to identify (and respond effectively) across cultures. for example, the same leadership communication to address employees' uncertainty might have differentially effective responses, depending on their cross-cultural context. ib scholars could partner with scholars in neuroscience to understand differences in cross-cultural emotional responses and how to recognize and address these in an international business context. the ever-growing global uncertainty shapes assumptions beyond talent management, especially with respect to the choice of selection and performance criteria for an mne's talent pool. despite recent advances in recognizing the importance of context (vaiman, sparrow, schuler & collings, ) , the gtm research assumes that what makes talent a talent is universal across cultures and homogeneous for all mne units. contrary to this, morris, snell, & björkman ( ) identified four types of human capital underlying the talent portfolio of mnes and explained that different configurations of the talent portfolio tend to be emphasized in different contexts. future research should examine whether different configurations of the talent portfolio should be emphasized in the context of global uncertainty, and whether different types of human capital could contribute differently to organizational resilience (see next section). in addition, as minbaeva ( ) points out, what constitutes 'talent' in the fluid context of emerging economies and developing countries differs significantly from the definition of 'talent' in the (comparatively) stable environment of developed economies. following the traditions of extreme context research (hällgren, rouleau & de rond, ) , gtm research needs to revisit its assumption that internal mne talent systems function in a globally uniform way, using a single, standardized understanding of what good performance and high potential entail. the covid- pandemic is a globally shared stressproducing experience which can, according to social psychology, foster a natural desire to connect with others (gump & kulik, ; sarnoff & zimbardo, ; schachter, ) . future research should examine whether collaborating through the covid- pandemic has strengthened relationships among colleagues from different cultures or, had the opposite effect, by creating a greater emotional distance because the ability to support one another was limited to virtual interactions filtered through diverse cultural lenses. delineating the circumstances under which fear facilitates cohesion (or division) among culturally diverse colleagues would be important for generating interventions. ihrm has long understood that certain competencies affect success when working under stress in different countries and with people from different cultures (shaffer et al., ) . future research should examine the extent to which this new way of collaborating under stress in a context of uncertainty will require additional competencies. in addition to competencies, future research should examine whether employees' experiences have better prepared them to succeed during the covid- pandemic. it might be the case that employees who have lived and worked abroad would be better able to collaborate effectively in a high-uncertainty environment. the covid- pandemic has shown that managing employees' health and safety is a key challenge for ihrm, and this is an important component of the grand challenge faced by mnes in understanding how to deal with social responsibility (buckley et al., ) . however, ihrm scholars (and practitioners) are unlikely to command the entire reservoir of requisite knowledge to investigate all the mental, physiological, and even physical problems that employees may experience during and after the pandemic. as for other complex challenges, our understanding of health and safety issues would benefit greatly from multidisciplinary collaboration, particularly with scholars in fields such as health. for example, we could apply health-based knowledge about the long-term health consequences of risk exposure, to investigate the longterm consequences of travel bans and stay at home orders on employees' mental health. ihrm scholars must also broaden their scope of attention. to date, ihrm scholars have largely focused on a narrow range of sub-clinical aspects of psychological wellbeing and adjustment. yet, the extreme situation of the pandemic challenges us to support managers who are dealing with health matters that include serious outcomes among employees, including depression, substance abuse, or suicidal ideation, which are already well understood by health scholars. future research should also give more attention to the positive aspects of global work. while most ihrm research has focused on global work as a context with negative consequences for health and safety, future research could investigate antecedents in global work that lead to positive outcomes such as thriving and resilience (ren et al., ) . the covid- pandemic has amplified new ways that global work can be accomplished, encouraging us to rethink how mnes use global teams and virtual collaboration and international assignments. for ihrm, the covid- pandemic has highlighted the importance of how employees can work effectively across borders while remaining at home. the focus on global teams has become particularly salient. with employees sharing the same global stressor, future studies should examine whether their experience of getting through it together has fostered greater cohesion and, if so, whether those mnes that have spent time to train their employees on cross-cultural virtual collaboration now have global teams with greater expectations of reliability among the members. working from home has exposed employees' full selves as conference calls are bringing colleagues into each other's homes, possibly seeing each other's pets, children, and home décor. future studies should examine whether the covid- pandemic has fostered greater global virtual team cohesion by providing visible evidence of each other's true selves. the crisis also offers a new opportunity to look at the fundamentals of virtual collaboration. ihrm researchers could use the current situation of largescale virtual working as an 'extreme case scenario' to examine the extent to which virtual collaboration can be effective. they could ask whether the methods that we have derived from virtual collaborations amongst managers or technical experts (e.g., information systems engineers) suffice for achieving effective work in the types of collaborations that were previously not virtual, for example among administration staff inside the mne. future research should thus use the current context of the covid- pandemic to study those who are working from home for the first time. this group would uniquely enable us to examine the cross-national, generational, functional, etc. differences in predicting employees' preferences for working from home in the future, post-pandemic. for example, are relationship-oriented or collectivist cultures more likely to want to return to the workplace? ihrm researchers can also use the extreme case scenario to study the pitfalls and levers of large-scale virtual conferences that have now been held for the first time. whilst this type of research may bring to the surface new psychological and practical barriers to virtual collaboration, which set its boundaries, it also promises to show how virtual collaboration can be expanded both in scale and scope -to different types of work and forms of collaboration. so far, insights into virtual collaboration have been gained in different academic disciplines that have largely operated as silos. besides ihrm and ib, important findings on international or global virtual collaboration stem from the areas of information systems (is) -which has studied dispersed is collaborations for a long time -organizational studies, and strategic management. the last two areas have highlighted the role of the organizational and strategic contexts respectively. ihrm researchers, therefore, need to draw on insights from these disciplines to achieve a better understanding of virtual collaboration and practices in order to optimally support these. with countries' borders closed for fear of the covid- virus spreading further, the idea of an upward trajectory of international assignments seems highly unlikely. assuming that fewer employees will be sent abroad to live and work in the context of international assignments, future research will need to investigate alternative control mne mechanisms for subsidiaries, alternatives for developing future global leaders, and alternatives for addressing skill shortages in host countries. for example, could technology-driven control mechanisms successfully replace an expatriate leader sent from headquarters to oversee operations? could domestic-based experiences in culturally diverse settings also foster cultural agility competencies the way a high-quality international assignment would? could skills be taught to host country nationals through virtually means, so as to prepare them for anticipated skill shortages in host countries? with fewer expatriates living abroad, those who are sent abroad will need to achieve greater success faster than previous generations of expatriates did because the stakes, so to speak, will be higher. speed of adjustment for those expatriates who are still going abroad will be of utmost importance. the expatriate literature has evolved to understand cross-cultural adjustment as an idiosyncratic person-environment relationship based on how people uniquely experience living abroad (haslberger, brewster, & hippler, ; hippler, caligiuri & johnson, ) . various facets of the host country environment -when compared to the home country -are individually determined for their influence on an individual's level of adjustment. for some, the change might be better or worse -or having no real effect. future research should mirror the approach in the expatriate adjustment literature to determine who is best able to adjust to the various facets of this novel work environment and to what extent the support practices offered have fostered employee adjustment to various facets of work-life during these uncertain times. for example, some employees might have adjusted well to working from home -even preferred it. others might adjust to working from home only after employer support practices were implemented, such as regular team meetings or training on how to work virtually. the experience of working from home during the pandemic could open new opportunities for ihrm research to examine flexible work arrangements for expatriates. while the ihrm literature has begun to examine flexible work arrangements in the context of global teams (adamovic, ) , there has been little attention to date to the fwas used in other types of international work. rethinking how mnes use global teams and virtual collaboration and international assignments, could constitute important elements in a reconfiguration of the ihrm function. there is an opportunity for ihrm research to collect relevant and useful evidence to facilitate global work in the future, by examining the role of the ihrm function during and after the crisis. even large organizations with sophisticated pre-pandemic ihrm policies are likely to be re-writing the rules. for example, as travel restrictions ease, employers and individuals will make decisions about whether, when, and where they feel safe to travel. ihrm scholarship can offer an evidence-base for global mobility policies that will help employees to adjust to new ways of working in teams and the inevitable stress and uncertainty of post-pandemic travel. minbaeva and de cieri ( ) wrote about the need for ihrm scholars to rethink their key dependent variable -organizational performance. they referred to enterprise resilience -the ability of an enterprise to respond or ''bounce back'' from shock events (e.g., branzei & abdelnour, ; de cieri & dowling, ) -as an important outcome variable for ihrm in the context of large-scale disasters. the covid- crisis adds to the long list of shock events in the twenty-first century that have included terrorism, corporate scandals, the global financial crisis that began in , natural disasters (e.g., the indian ocean tsunami in ; the icelandic volcano eruption in ), and environmental disasters (e.g., the bp/deepwater horizon oil rig explosion off the us's gulf coast) (minbaeva & de cieri, ) . the global pandemic once again stresses the importance of understanding the role of ihrm in building enterprise resilience. the crisis also brings home the point that sustainability, and more specifically organizations' contributions to the united nation's sustainable development goals (sdgs), should become a dependent variable in ihrm research. the un's sdgs, adopted as a non-binding agreement in by countries, are relevant not only to governments but also to all stakeholders in employment relationships (fowler & biekart, ; sachs, ; un general assembly, ) . these goals are part of the 'big picture' of global development, with environmental, humanitarian and economic implications. hrm scholars have been criticized for being slow to respond to these goals (alzola, ) . as is the case with other environmental disasters today, the covid- crisis has been directly linked to the unsustainable ways in which humans treat the world's ecosystem (the guardian, ; wwf, ) . when seen through this (albeit debatable) lens, the covid- crisis should alert us to the need to rethink our working practices to help address environmental sustainability. unintentionally, ihrm research may in the past have contributed to environmentally unsustainable working practices, e.g., by promoting frequent international travel in instances where such travel could have been easily avoided and replaced by more environment-friendly modes of professional interaction. the current crisis now provides an opportunity for ihrm researchers to guide mnes towards contributing to achieving the sdgs. they could do this especially by examining how virtual working can be optimized to reduce the extent of commuting and travel. in addition to examining the sustainability of global hr policy and practice, future research could address the sdgs with respect to global health and safety, e.g., by examining how global mobility practices integrate health and safety matters. specific areas where the ihrm function could demonstrate its relevance might include management of risk exposure in mne subsidiary locations and travel destinations, anticipative management of emergencies such as medical evacuations, and the reduction of work-related injuries and illnesses. in the above exposé, we have outlined how ihrm researchers should use the current extreme scenario of virtual working to scrutinize the boundaries of effective virtual collaboration and find means to support it at a broader scale (without compromising on organizational effectiveness or employees' mental health). during the 'lockdown', people have experienced improvements in air quality, noise levels and congestion, and have at the same time tested and practiced their virtual collaboration skills. through this, many of us may have become more open to the idea of reducing unnecessary travel, which at a larger scale contributes to reducing the environmental destruction that has fed into the crisis itself. even if unexpected barriers to virtual working surface, ihrm researchers may be more inclined than before to search for new avenues to capitalize on virtual working and to foster sustainable management practices in this realm. recognizing that much of the ihrm literature has focused on high-status professional employees, future research should give attention to the mne's entire workforce and beyond in the context of its csr strategy, to address the needs of individuals for whom the pandemic has exacerbated conditions of insecurity, disempowerment and vulnerability. this is particularly important given that the sdgs highlight the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, and reduction of inequality, which are issues that will be exacerbated as we enter a likely post-pandemic global recession. ib needs to better understand the role of globalization from the perspective of job creation and job loss globally. buckley et al. ( ) have identified the potential for ib scholars to collaborate with scholars in disciplines such as health economics and epidemiology to address grand challenges such as the impact of ''poverty and child mortality, on local employees and subsidiaries'' (p. ). we suggest that ihrm scholars have both a responsibility to join these conversations and an opportunity to contribute their insights about people in the global workforce. table presents a summary of our suggestions for future ihrm scholarship, informed by our extant knowledge base, our direct learnings from responses to the pandemic and new questions raised by the pandemic as we enter into the postpandemic 'next normal'. buckley et al. ( ) have pointed out that a ''narrow scope of research has potentially hindered ib scholars from studying more impactful research questions'' (p. ). the same can be said of ihrm. despite the intrinsic multi-disciplinary nature of the topics in which ihrm scholars are interested, there has been little cross-pollination of ideas and knowledge across disciplines (andersson et al., ) . the experience of the covid- crisis has showed again that useful knowledge of ihrm, which could inform and support management practice, remains dispersed and fragmented. there are many reasons for this, yet we cannot answer the 'big questions' unless we share knowledge and collaborate in multidisciplinary research. an employee-focused human resource management perspective for the management of global virtual teams battlemind debriefing and battlemind training as early interventions with soldiers returning from iraq: randomization by platoon decent work: the moral status of labor in human resource management the impact of telework on emotional experience: when, and for whom, does telework improve daily affective well-being? the ib/ihrm interface: exploring the potential of intersectional theorizing psychophysiological reactions during the first year of a foreign assignment: results of a controlled longitudinal study the power of support in high-risk countries: compensation and social support as antecedents of expatriate work attitudes strategic human resource management: where do we go from here the differentiated workforce: transforming talent into strategic impact talent or not? employee reactions to talent identification beyond hr: the new science of human capital another day, another dollar: enterprise resilience under terrorism in developing countries crossing the streams: hrm in multinational enterprises and comparative hrm towards a renaissance in international business research? big questions, grand challenges, and the future of ib scholarship developing global leaders cultural agility: building a pipeline of globally successful professionals cultural agility and international assignees' effectiveness in cross-cultural interactions fine-tuning what we know about employees' experience with flexible work arrangements and their job attitudes global talent management and performance in multinational enterprises: a multilevel perspective changing patterns of global staffing in the multinational enterprise: challenges to the conventional expatriate assignment and emerging alternatives concepts, contexts, and mindsets: putting human resource management research in perspective how far has international hrm travelled? a systematic review of literature on multinational corporations the mutual knowledge problem and its consequences for dispersed collaboration self-determination theory in work organizations: the state of a science strategic human resource management in multinational enterprises: developments and directions effects of work-related stressors and mindfulness on mental and physical health among australian nurses and healthcare workers assessing the risk of work-related international travel the elusive cultural chameleon: cultural intelligence as a new approach to intercultural training for the global manager the global challenge percent-of-board-membersfelt-unprepared-for-a-major-risk-event-like-covid- -ey-survey turning potential into success: the missing link in leadership development pandemic spike in ai learning -and what it means for schools multi-stakeholder initiatives for sustainable development goals: the importance of interlocutors intolerance of ambiguity as a moderator of the occupational role stress-strain relationship: a meta-analysis knowledge resource sharing in dispersed multinational teams: three theoretical lenses in the line of fire: managing expatriates in hostile environments gartner hr survey reveals % of organizations have encouraged or required employees to work from home due to coronavirus unpacking the concept of virtuality: the effects of geographic dispersion, electronic dependence, dynamic structure, and national diversity on team innovation stress, affiliation, and emotional contagion curiosity made the cat more creative: specific curiosity as a driver of creativity. organizational behavior and human decision processes a matter of life or death: how extreme context research matters for management and organization studies how do multinational companies leverage technological competencies? moving from single to interdependent explanations the dimensions of expatriate adjustment revisiting the construct of expatriate adjustment. international studies of management and organization moving towards the virtual workplace: managerial and societal perspectives on telework a two-wave cross-lagged study of business travel, work-family conflict, emotional exhaustion, and psychological health complaints how are curious people viewed and how do they behave in social situations? from the perspectives of self, friends, parents, and unacquainted observers themes in expatriate and repatriate research over four decades: what do we know and what do we still need to learn? sources of support and expatriate performance: the mediating role of expatriate adjustment when do global leaders learn best to develop cultural intelligence? an investigation of the moderating role of experiential learning style global boundary work tactics: managing work and family transitions in a - global context enhancing performance of geographically distributed teams through targeted use of information and communication technologies implications of flexpatriates' lifestyles on hrm practices bridging space over time: global virtual team dynamics and effectiveness global virtual team dynamics and effectiveness the barriers to effective global talent management: the example of corporate élites in mnes contextualizing the individual in international management research: black boxes, comfort zones and a future research agenda seven myths of global talent management the routledge companion to international human resource management an architectural framework for global talent management beyond being there: the symbolic role of communication and identification in perceptions of proximity to geographically dispersed colleagues expatriate success and thriving: the influence of job deprivation and emotional stability strangers in a strange land: expatriate paranoia and the dynamics of exclusion trends in high-performing global virtual teams achieving the sustainable development goals anxiety, fear, and social affiliation the psychology of affiliation: experimental studies of the sources of gregariousness innovation, dynamic capabilities, and leadership dimensions, determinants, and differences in the expatriate adjustment process you can take it with you: individual differences and expatriate effectiveness choices, challenges, and career consequences of global work experiences: a review and future agenda does cross-cultural training in tertiary education enhance cross-cultural adjustment? a systematic review the relationship between expatriate coping strategies and expatriate adjustment international assignments: the role of social support and personal initiative role of domain-specific facets of perceived organizational support during expatriation and implications for performance coronavirus: 'nature is sending us a message', says un environment chief resilient individuals use positive emotions to bounce back from negative emotional experiences transforming our world: the agenda for sustainable development macro talent management. a global perspective on managing talent in developed markets international business in a vuca world: the changing role of states and firms world health organization. . physical and mental health key to resilience during covid- pandemic to prevent the next pandemic, we must transform our relationship with nature interpersonal relationships in transnational, virtual teams -towards a configurational perspective managing virtual talent global talent management collaborative it offshoring relationships and professional role identities: reflections from a field study a systems perspective on offshoring strategy and motivational drivers amongst onshore and offshore employees this editorial has hopefully demonstrated that the most useful knowledge for management practice is derived from ihrm research with the following features: multidisciplinary in nature, multi-stakeholder oriented, multilevel, and methodologically pluralist. this is what the future of ihrm should look like, for it to perform a valuable role in ib scholarship (buckley et al., ) . the covid- crisis, as a global shock, illustrates once again that ihrm researchers have an opportunity -but also the shared responsibility -to make a difference. they can do so by providing inspired responses, grounded in state-of-the-art scholarly work, to the grand challenges of our time. as one senior executive explained: ''some s become s, but other s failed to s'' (the company is using the performance scale ranging from (min) to (max)). https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/ strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/the-restart? cid=other-eml-alt-mip-mck&hlkid= bde d df db ee b edb &hctky= &hdpid=d - d - - eb- e fccaebf . key: cord- -mz ucnxa authors: dobusch, laura; kreissl, katharina title: privilege and burden of im‐/mobility governance: on the reinforcement of inequalities during a pandemic lockdown date: - - journal: gend work organ doi: . /gwao. sha: doc_id: cord_uid: mz ucnxa in order to contain the covid‐ pandemic, nation states have focused on governance of im‐/mobilities: certain mobility restrictions were enforced, while simultaneously some forms of mobility were maintained or even enhanced in order to keep the system running in crisis mode. with a special focus on austria, we analyze specific politics of im‐/mobilities concerning the organization of paid work and show how the socio‐spatial conditions of who is permitted, denied or urged to work are inextricably linked to inequalities. it becomes apparent that while in principle all bodies are equally dependent on collective social relations and enduring infrastructure, not everybody contributes equally to their maintenance. in fact, the governance of im‐/mobilities follows and reinforces already prevalent inequality regimes based on class, gender and migration relations, thereby differentiating between bodies perceived as highly valuable and worth protecting and those categorized as less valued and potentially disposable. nation states all over the world warn against tourist travel to any foreign destination. the international monetary fund (imf) expects the "great lockdown" during the coronavirus pandemic to lead to the "worst economic downturn since the great depression" of the s. unemployment rates in europe are assumed to double in the coming months and might only fall back to pre-crisis levels by the end of . the daily news coverage focuses on 'coronavirus arithmetic' and connected measures. considering the omnipresence of the covid- outbreak, one could almost forget that the whole world switching simultaneously into crisis mode is not a 'logical consequence' to a 'natural disaster.' rather, also in this case, what is framed as a (global) crisis and which forms of crisis management are perceived as adequate are closely linked to prevalent power relations and societal inequality regimes. while the situation of the refugees at the external borders of the european union could also be described as an unignorable crisis that shakes the european union to its core, politics tend to individualize it as the result of the (wrong) choices of refugees themselves and externalize it as a problem of the neighboring regions. the refugees' fate is untied from that of eu citizens: the fact that "what gets crystallized at the margins of society (...) is embedded in a global social dynamic" (castel, , p. xxii) is denied, simply because it is possible, because the relationship between refugees and the populations of the eu member states is characterized by fundamental asymmetries assigning the refugees a subject status as exposed supplicants without any bargaining power. this works differently in the case of the covid- pandemic. established national institutions do not focus on denying the constitutive interdependence underpinning human https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/ / / /pr -imf-managing-director-statement-following-a-g -ministerial-call-on-the-coronavirus-emergency food supply). as the nation states' crisis management in the form of lockdowns and severe restrictions of public life disrupted the seamless (re-)production of basic living conditions, it became apparent that "the powerful and the secure are not placed on an olympian plateau from which they can dispassionately contemplate the misery of the world" (castel, , p. xxiii) . rather, an unintended consequence of the crisis management was to shed light on the fact that "everyone is dependent on social relations and enduring infrastructure in order to maintain a livable life" (butler, , p. ) . third, and this is connected to the first two points, as the coronavirus can potentially infiltrate any social relationship and keeping in mind that a fundamental relationality is constitutive for the viability of human existence as such, the covid- crisis management cannot simply follow established strategies of externalizing costs (as happened in the financial crisis - ) or blaming certain groups for 'their own failure' (as happened during the 'long summer of migration' of ). instead, because anybody can transmit the virus, everybody needs to be taken into account when measures for the containment of the pandemic are designed. for national crisis management, this meant first and foremost introducing governance of im-/mobilities: mobility restrictions such as closing national borders, avoiding contacts in public spaces, shutting down or decreasing public transport, home office incentives etc. were enforced, while simultaneously, some forms of mobility were maintained (going to work in 'system-relevant' jobs) or even enhanced (flying in care workers from eastern europe). by this specific governance of im-/mobilities, it becomes apparent that while in principle all bodies are equally dependent on collective social relations and enduring infrastructure, not everybody equally contributes to their maintenance. in fact, the governance of im-/mobilities follows and reinforces already prevalent inequality regimes based on class, gender and migration relations. thereby it reveals a categorization into those whose lives are highly valued and preserved and those whose lives are less valued and potentially disposable (bejan, ) . we illustrate this link between im-/mobility governance and pre-existing inequality regimes by the case of covid- measures of the austrian government and how they affected the organization of paid work. the focus on paid workwho is permitted, denied or urged to work under which im-/mobility circumstanceshas several reasons. first, within the political discourse, all the covid- measures are discussed against balancing health needs and economic needs, which also implies ensuring that a certain amount of the population keeps working. second, paid work is not only still a hugely significant enabler and indicator of one's inclusion but also a necessity in order to cover the needs of daily life (levitas, ) . third, how paid work is organized, its connected forms of rewards as well as the opportunity to work are fundamentally prestructured by class, gender and migration relations (acker ; avent-holt & tomaskovic-devey, ). the german writer carolin emcke describes the coronavirus as a "contrast medium" for social relations, a sort of magnifying glass for systemic cracks, societal vulnerabilities and inequalities. this does not merely affect the immediate impact of the disease and the distribution of health riskswho gets sick, who gets (good) treatment, who diesbut also the consequences of public health measures. it comes as no surprise that, when confronted income, the larger the share of home office among employees. a recent analysis of phone companies' mobility data draws a similar conclusion. in vienna, austria's largest city and capital, mobility patterns quite accurately depict social stratification regarding regionalities: while in wealthier districts, people mostly stay home, mobility in working-class neighborhoods has not changed much since lockdown policies were implemented. however, this is not merely a result of working patterns, but also a consequence of housing. the lockdown and restrictions of movement exacerbate inequalities of living conditions connected to educational, socio-economic and migration backgrounds. larger families and residents of urban areas have less space available, children being particularly affected by cramped housing. in total, around % of children living in austria are confined to cramped housing conditions. around % of children with migrant background have little or no personal space versus % of children with no recent ties to migration. children from parents with compulsory education have a % risk of living in cramped conditions versus % from those with high school or higher education level (bacher, ) . this also explains why people in working-class districts aremust bemore mobile. temporary retreats from family and/or roommates as well as the need for fresh air are easier met in larger houses and a garden of one's own. these inequalities are also reflected in the social phenomenon of correcting individuals who go outside. particularly during the first weeks of mobility restrictions, social media was buzzing with public shaming of proclaimed negligent, unaware or even 'stupid' people who strolled around in parks before more and more voices pointed out the moral and classist undertone of a privileged perspective. with the implementation of segmented mobility standards comes the classification of subjects into, as raluca bejan ( ) describes accurately, "those who deserve protection and those who do not." the first are, in our case, the austrian subjects, "whose lives and health are valued" while the eastern european workers are the "disposable subjects, those whose work matters more than their health, and whose health becomes vital only in relation to the domestic population." this also becomes evident in recently published pictures of harvest workers waiting for their planes to germany at the airport of cluj/napoca in romania. around , people were queuing up and cramped together for hours without being able to follow physical distance or hygiene regulations. however, when arriving in germany, they were put under quarantine for days in order to protect the domestic workforce. in a nutshell, during the coronavirus pandemic, certain groups of people were 'mobilized' while at the same time lacking motility. as we have argued, the specific characteristics of the virus lay open both the life-threatening and life-sustaining nature of social relations underpinning our common viability. through the sudden disruption of taken for granted encounters and interactions that have covertly kept our everyday lives going, the fundamental interdependence enabling any human existence becomes visible. however, interdependence should not be misunderstood as social harmony. in contrast, although everybody's being and becoming is dependent on and embedded in non- https://www.derstandard.at/story/ /eu-sozialkommissarin-kritisiert-indexierung-beifamilienbeihilfe https://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/rumaenien-erntehelfer-fluege- .html /human relations, the maintenance of these relations is disproportionately shouldered by only some bodies. by outlining the reaction of the conservative-dominated austrian government to the coronavirus pandemic in the form of im-/mobility politics, we could show that it is underpaid, undervalued and largely power-distant groups of peoplesuch as women care workers or migrant seasonal workersthat put their own lives at risk (by going out to work) in order to secure the other groups (who can stay home). we see that motilitythe capacity to stay or move under conditions of one's own choosingis highly unequally distributed, connected to prevalent class, gender and migration relations. many current media commentaries and public voices praise the 'new obviousness' of who is carrying the burden of 'system-relevant work' and express hope for a fairer financial and symbolic recognition of these professions post-covid- . however, we assume that this fundamental interdependence is not at all new for a globally operating economic elite, who is quite aware of its dependence on global value chains sustained through exploitative relationships. from our point of view, it is not the 'epiphany' of fundamental interdependence itself, but rather whether it is actually integrated into relationally oriented forms of (political) organizing "that are committed to fostering a sustainable interdependency on egalitarian terms" (butler, , p. ) . inequality regimes: gender, class, and race in organizations organizations as the building blocks of social inequalities . kinder leben in Österreich in beengten wohnungsverhältnissen covid- and disposable migrant workers precarious life, vulnerability, and the ethics of cohabitation notes toward a performative theory of assembly from manual workers to wage laborers: transformation of the social question mobility justice in the context of disaster key: cord- -rdu na g authors: cho, eunae title: examining boundaries to understand the impact of covid- on vocational behaviors date: - - journal: j vocat behav doi: . /j.jvb. . sha: doc_id: cord_uid: rdu na g the covid- has posed an unprecedented challenge to the global workforce. to better understand the impact of the pandemic on work and careers, i call for research taking a closer look at the boundaries in the career context. specifically, both the micro (boundaries that demarcate role domains) and macro (national borders) boundaries should be considered. the pandemic changes the existing boundaries and challenges the “usual” practices; while it blurs the micro, cross-domain boundaries, it strengthens the macro, cross-country boundaries. i propose that the changes in the micro and macro boundaries are one of the important mechanisms in how covid- affects many individuals' vocational behaviors and career outcomes. in this essay, i explain why we should pay more attention to the boundaries to learn about the impact of covid- on vocational and career behaviors. i conclude with a discussion of several directions for future research. j o u r n a l p r e -p r o o f examining boundaries to understand the impact of covid- on vocational behaviors the covid- has posed an unprecedented challenge to the global workforce. we need to better understand the impact of the pandemic on work and careers to guide individuals to navigate through this dynamic situation. to this end, i call for research taking a closer look at the boundaries in the career context, both at the micro and macro levels, given their critical relevance to vocational behaviors and career outcomes. at the micro level, much research examined boundaries that demarcate role domains (e.g., allen, cho, & meier, ; ammons, ; ashforth, kreiner, & fugate, ; kossek, ruderman, braddy, & hannum, ; olson-buchanan & boswell, ) . individuals create, maintain, and amend role boundaries in various forms, such as temporal, spatial, and psychological boundaries, in order to simplify the environment and manage multiple roles more efficiently. evidence suggests that the role boundaries are important determinants of work, career, and health outcomes. at the macro level, boundaries between nations have attracted considerable research attention (e.g., cohen, arnold, & o'neill, ; dickman & baruch, ; newman, bimrose, nielsen, & zacher, ; presbitero & quita, ) . studies have shown that the national boundary exerts substantial impact on individuals' work and careers such that the way national borders are maintained influences individuals' career outcomes. in this essay, i explain why we should pay more attention to the boundaries to learn about the impact of covid- on vocational and career behaviors. then, i discuss several directions for future research. the pandemic changes the existing boundaries and challenges the "usual" practices. the pandemic blurs the micro, cross-domain boundaries that shape day-to-day work behaviors. as covid- has spurred the adoption of remote work (duffy, ) , many individuals work from home while attending to various non-work demands (e.g., assisting j o u r n a l p r e -p r o o f children's home-based learning, running errands for the elderly family members who are advised to stay home at all times). these changes are likely to affect individuals' work and career outcomes in different ways. first, individuals have different preferences in terms of the role boundary characteristics (flexibility and permeability) and suffer from negative work and health consequences when the actual boundaries do not satisfy their desires (e.g., kreiner, ; park, fritz, & jex, ) . as such, the sudden shift to the work-from-home practice may create disruptions, especially for those who prefer work-family segmentation, those who have high family demands, and those who are not ready for remote working in terms of technological skills and equipment. second, given the self-imposed nature of role boundaries, various tactics individuals employ to manage boundaries and the degree of perceived control of boundaries have been shown to play a key role in successful boundary management (ashforth et al., ; kossek et al., ) . however, as the current extreme circumstances allow little individual choice, individuals may have to utilize novel strategies to compensate for the blurred physical role boundaries or try to re-gain perceived control over the situation. third, research underscores that the role boundaries have a far-reaching impact beyond the focal individual. that is, members of role domains (e.g., supervisors, coworkers, and family members) are involved in boundary creation and are affected by the boundary once it is set up (for review, see allen et al., ) . applying to the present situation, the pandemic likely necessitates boundary-related negotiation and communication among the members of role domains. also, the altered role boundaries likely affect multiple stakeholders in various domains. (gaskell, ) . similarly, many universities have suspended international exchange programs while recalling students who were studying abroad (redden, ). these changes may have subsequent ripple effects because there is a sizeable workforce in the global talent management and international education industries (e.g., international talent recruiting services, marketing and accommodation services for international education). second, related to the growth of international migration, research has shown that there are considerable number of transnational families whose members maintain familial ties with each other while living dispersed across nations (goulbourne, reynolds, solomos, & zontini, ) . workers and family members in transnational families encounter unique challenges in work performance, health, and work-family management (bryceson & vuorela, ; carrasco, ; cho & allen, ) . given the record-high unemployment rate (bbc, ) and the enhanced border control (salcedo et al., ), keeping in touch and providing necessary financial and emotional support to each other may become more difficult for these individuals. last, research suggests that fear and discrimination against outgroup members may be heightened during a pandemic (schaller & neuberg, ) . there have been more reported cases of violence against foreigners in various countries during the pandemic (e.g., chapman, journal pre-proof j o u r n a l p r e -p r o o f ; haynes, ) . this trend highlights that individuals working in a foreign country may be subject to discriminatory practices. the extant literature on the boundaries in the vocational context and the implications of the boundary changes that have occurred due to covid- urge us to examine boundaries to gain insights into work and vocational behaviors during this challenging time. i discuss a few important directions for future research. the first is the positive as well as negative outcomes of the boundary changes. given the chaotic and uncertain nature of the pandemic, many negative consequences, ranging from short-term (e.g., reduced work productivity) to long-term (e.g., a downward career trajectory), are expected. further, whether and why such harmful impact on work and careers differs depending on individuals' non-work circumstances merits attention. for instance, blurred role boundaries are likely to be disruptive for workers with family demands more so than those without. research should also explore positive outcomes; while the negative outcomes are logical given the situation, some people may reap benefits from the adversity. the extreme blend of work and family, for instance, may push more people to learn how to create and negotiate role boundaries or how to maintain daily productivity despite frequent interruptions. the second concerns the nature and effectiveness of various actions individuals take against the boundary changes. while it is undeniable that the pandemic situation is beyond one's control, it is still important to recognize and identify what one can do for optimal work and career outcomes. individual initiatives to amend the micro boundaries is one such example. encouraged (or forced) by the situation, people may revisit their assumptions and preferences about role boundaries and change their boundary management styles and tactics. given that support from other members of role domains is pivotal, another interesting j o u r n a l p r e -p r o o f question is how dual-earner couples create rules and negotiate their work and family involvement. when members of a dual-earner couple are working from home while taking care of dependents, what are some factors that explain their relative resource allocation (e.g., income, workplace flexibility, gender ideology, etc.)? a related question concerns work-, relationship-, and health-related consequences of the (un)satisfactory boundary amendment. concerning the macro boundary, an interesting question is what individuals do to minimize the disruptive impact of closed borders on their work, career, and family. would they change their career plans, and if so, what factors shape such changes? answers to these questions can help individuals to adapt adequately to the macro boundary changes. the third focuses on the organizational and institutional resources that help individuals to navigate through the boundary changes. regarding the micro boundary, what types of organizational and supervisory support are effective to help workers cope with the situation? research could examine whether various support constructs that are wellestablished in the literature (e.g., family-supportive organizational perception, allen, ; family-supportive supervisor behaviors, hammer, kossek, yragui, bodner, & hanson, ) are applicable and effective in supporting workers during this crisis. alternatively, research may identify a novel type of support that is effective in such unusual circumstances. for the macro boundary, what approaches should companies and educational institutions take to provide adequate and timely support for those individuals undergoing unexpected difficulties? family-supportive work environments: the role of organizational perceptions work-family boundary dynamics work-family boundary strategies: stability and alignment between preferred and enacted boundaries all in a day's work: boundaries and micro role transitions coronavirus: four out of five people's jobs hit by pandemic transnational families in the twenty-first century transnational family life among peruvian migrants in chile: multiple commitments and the role of social remittances global careers big tech firms ramp up remote working orders to prevent coronavirus spread global talent in a covid world transnational families: ethnicities, identities and social capital development and validation of a multidimensional measure of family supportive supervisor behaviors (fssb) as coronavirus spreads, so does xenophobia and anti-asian racism ilo global estimates on migrant workers: results and methodology. geneva: international labour office work-nonwork boundary management profiles: a person-centered approach key: cord- -pct oa authors: finell, eerika; vainio, annukka title: the combined effect of perceived covid- infection risk at work and identification with work community on psychosocial wellbeing among finnish social sector and health care workers date: - - journal: int j environ res public health doi: . /ijerph sha: doc_id: cord_uid: pct oa it has been well documented that both risk perception and group identification are related to psychosocial well-being. however, their combined effect has rarely been analyzed. we examined the combined effect of perceived risk associated with covid- infection at work and work community identification on psychosocial well-being (i.e., frequency of stress symptoms) among health care and social sector workers in finland (n = ). data were collected via an online questionnaire in june and analyses of covariance were conducted. perceived covid- infection risk at work was classified into high, medium and low risk. in total, % of participants reported a high risk. after all background variables were included, participants who reported high perceived infection risk and low work community identification reported stress symptoms more often than those who reported high perceived risk and high identification (p = . ). similarly, the former differed significantly from all other comparison groups (medium and low risk, p < . ), being the most stressed. we found that perceived infection risk and work community identification were not related to each other. our conclusion is that high work community identification can buffer employee stress when faced with a high perceived health risk. in the context of the covid- pandemic, work organizations with a high infection risk should advance the possibility of employees’ identification with their work community. a new coronavirus disease, caused by the sars-cov- virus and identified as covid- , was first acknowledged in china in and rapidly became a global threat to the health of many employees working in the social and health care sectors. there is evidence that covid- has a disproportional impact on health care workers both physically and psychologically, causing a high incidence of disease, death, and a number of psychological problems, including stress, depression and anxiety [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] . although psychological symptoms have been found to be particularly high among those working on the frontline during the pandemic [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] , non-frontline heath care workers have also reported such symptoms [ ] . moreover, these symptoms have been more severe among females and younger workers [ , , ] , as well as for those with prior mental health problems [ , ] . in addition to these cases, social sector workers, who have seldom been acknowledged in the recent covid- literature, have also faced risk of infection in their work [ ] . for example, in england and wales, social care workers had a significantly raised rate of death between march and may [ ] . it is clear that covid- is causing psychological stress to social sector and health care workers due to the increased risk of personnel infection, fear of spreading the disease, concern for one's own family if one becomes sick [ ] , lack of knowledge on the disease as well as deaths among other professionals [ ] . on the one hand, perceived health risk is important in order to motivate individuals to engage in health-protective behaviors [ ] . on the other hand, the perceived risk is associated with increased stress symptoms, in particular when the management of the risk is at least partly beyond one's own behavioral control [ , ] . among health care and social sector workers, the perceived infection risk is dependent on the protective measures taken by organizational infrastructures and governments. accordingly, confidence in protective measures has been found to be associated with reduced psychological symptoms [ , , ] . various protective strategies against covid- -related occupational stress and its negative effects have been considered, ranging from resilience enhancement to providing adequate organizational support systems [ ] [ ] [ ] . curiously, in the context of social sector and health care workers, the role of organizational group processes has rarely been discussed. according to the "social cure" perspective to social identity, group membership has a positive impact on well-being and health [ ] -an association shown to be prevalent among medical service workers [ ] . groups can provide powerful psychological resources to their members, such as social support, which can reduce stress symptoms [ ] [ ] [ ] . for example, people who identify with a group perceive other group members' social support more positively than people who do not. in addition, those reporting high levels of work community identification are more confident of receiving support from other group members when needed than those less inclined to identify [ , ] . thus, when occupational organizations consider protective strategies against stress that is related to covid- infection risk at work among social sector and health care workers, promoting identification with their work community might be one key protective factor that can buffer this stress. this article analyses the combined effect of the perceived risk associated with covid- infection at work with work community identification on psychosocial well-being (i.e., frequency of stress symptoms) among health care and social sector workers in finland. we analyze both groups because in finland, social sector and health care workers often work in the same organizations and institutions as part of multi-professional teams. to our knowledge, the buffering effect of group identification on the relationship between perceived health risk and stress symptoms has yet to be empirically tested. drawing on the "social cure" perspective [ ] , we test our main hypothesis that those social sector and health care workers who report both a high perceived covid- infection risk at work and low work community identification suffer significantly more often from stress symptoms than those who report high perceived covid- infection risk and high work community identification. the data were collected through the union of health and social care professionals in finland, which distributed the invitation and the link to an online questionnaire to its members. in total, members filled in and submitted the online questionnaire, with a response rate of %. in the first page, participants were informed about the aim of the research and had the opportunity to scroll through the form before answering questions; participants were not obliged to respond to any of the items, ensuring full voluntarism could be guaranteed, and informed consent was positively required. only participants who provided informed consent, were in paid or salaried employment, and were - years old were included. the final sample included participants. the data were collected between may and june using the limesurvey program. the ethics committee of the tampere region approved this study ( / ). the outcome measure was self-reported stress symptoms (i.e., stress symptoms) measured by four items: "during last two months, how frequently you have suffered from": (a) fatigue, apathy or lack of energy; (b) difficulties in falling asleep or recurrent awakenings at night; (c) tenseness, nervousness or irritability; (d) feeling that it is "all just too much"? these items were drawn from the finnish quality of work life survey [ ] and have often been used as indicators of stress and mental exhaustion [ , ] . in these analyses, the items were measured on a five-point scale, with the number selected corresponding to the frequency of symptoms experienced: = never, = less often, = once or twice a month, = a few times a week, and = almost daily. the items were summed and then divided by the total number of items the participants responded to. the rate was calculated if at least two items were answered. the reliability was good (cronbach's alpha = . ). the perceived risk associated with covid- at work (i.e., perceived risk at work) was measured by one item: how likely do you consider the following things will happen in relation to your work in six months: i will have covid- infection in my workplace. a similar item has been used elsewhere [ ] . see also [ ] . the response scale varied from "very likely" ( ) to "very unlikely" ( ) . responses reporting that the risk had already materialized (n = ), as well as those who reported that the question did not apply to them (n = ), were coded as missing values. the item was recategorized with corresponding to the risk is unlikely (values and in the original scale), corresponding to the risk is intermediate (value in the original scale) and corresponding to the risk is likely (values and in the original scale). the work community identification was measured by two items adapted by doosje et al. ("i feel strong ties with other members of my work community", "my work community is an important part of me") [ , ] . the five response options varied between 'totally disagree' ( ) and 'totally agree' ( ) . the items were summed and divided by the number of items (mean = . , standard deviation (sd) = . ). the rate was calculated if at least one item was answered. responses reporting that the question did not apply to them (n = ) were coded as missing values. the reliability was good (cronbach alpha = . ). then, the summed variable was recategorized into two categories, using the mean as a cut-off value ( = low identification; = high identification). finally, we formed one new combined variable. we combined perceived risk at work and work community identification as follows: = low risk and high identification, = low risk and low identification, = medium risk and high identification, = medium risk and low identification, = high risk and high identification, and = high risk and low identification. the background variables were gender, age, number of people living in the household, highest level of education, occupational group, working time pattern (e.g., two-shift work, three-shift work) and whether the participant belonged to a covid- infection risk group. the working time pattern was controlled because shift work is associated with insomnia [ ] . the occupational group was determined through the following response options: = social sector work and = health care work. if requested, participants had the possibility to report another occupational group. in total, participants reported that they worked both in social sector and health care work. due to the small frequency of this latter category, it was not included in the analysis and was coded as a missing value [ ] . a further participants reported that they worked in the education sector. these participants were categorized alongside those who worked in the social sector ( = social sector work, = health care work). in addition, we controlled the perceived risk associated with covid- in one's spare time (i.e., perceived risk in spare time): how likely do you consider the following thing will happen in your spare time in next six months: i will have covid- infection in my spare time. the response scale varied from very likely ( ) to very unlikely ( ) . the item was recategorized as the perceived risk at work, as explained above. responses reporting that the risk had already materialized (n = ) were coded as missing values. finally, we assessed trust in the finnish authorities by a single item: i trust the finnish authorities in their treatment of the coronavirus pandemic. the response scale varied from totally agree ( ) to totally disagree ( ). the effects of all the variables on perceived risk at work and work community identification were examined using cross-tabulations and analyses of variance. the effects of all the variables on stress symptoms were examined using analyses of variance and pearson correlation coefficients. the main and combined effects of perceived risk at work and work community identification on stress symptoms were subjected to an analysis of covariance (ancova). this analysis was carried out using ibm spss statistics for windows, version . . (ibm corp., armonk, ny, usa) the missing data were handled by using listwise deletion. the percentage of missing data varied from % (age) to % (perceived risk in spare time). the mean of the missing values was % per variable. the majority of the participants were women, aged between and years, and had tertiary education. table presents the frequencies and means of all the variables, as well as their associations with the predictors and the outcome variable. in total, % of participants reported a high risk of covid- infection at work. perceived risk at work was significantly associated with all background variables with the exception of gender, highest education, occupational group, and belonging to a covid- risk group (see table ). the risk perception decreased with age, so that whilst % of the youngest age group reported a high risk, only % of those in the age group - reported the same. those who reported medium risk lived in significantly bigger households (mean = . , sd = . ) than those who reported low (mean = . , sd = . ) or high risk (mean = . , sd = . ). a higher percentage of those who had two-shift work ( %), three-shift work ( %) or who worked atypical hours ( %) reported a higher covid- infection at work than those who had regular day ( %) or evening/night work ( %). in addition, % of participants who reported high perceived risk at work also reported high perceived risk in their spare time, whereas the percentage among medium-and low-risk groups was % and %, respectively. finally, those who reported high risk had significantly less trust in the finnish authorities to effectively manage the coronavirus pandemic (mean = . , sd = . ) than those who reported low (mean = . , sd = . ) or medium risk (mean = . , sd = . ). there was no significant association found between perceived risk and work identification. from the background variables, the work community identification was only significantly associated with working time patterns and having trust in the finnish authorities (see table ). those who had three-shift work, or worked atypical hours, reported higher work identification ( % and %, respectively) than those in two-shift work ( %), regular day work ( %), or regular evening or night work ( %). finally, those with low work identification had less trust in the finnish authorities to manage the pandemic (mean = . , sd = . ) than those with high identification (mean = . , sd = . ). stress symptoms were significantly associated with all the background variables except the number of people living in the household, occupational group, working time pattern and perceived risk in spare time (see table ). women reported stress symptoms (mean = . , sd = . ) more often than men (mean = . , sd = . ), participants from the age group - reported symptoms the most often (mean = . , sd = . ) and their stress level differed significantly from all the others except those in the - age group. similarly, those who had secondary education reported these symptoms more often (mean = . , sd = . ) than those with tertiary education (mean = . , sd = . ). in addition, participants who belonged to a covid- risk group reported stress symptoms more often (mean = . , sd = . ) than those who did not (mean = . , sd = . ). finally, the lower the level of trust participants reported in the finnish authorities to manage the coronavirus pandemic, the greater the propensity to report stress symptoms. both predictors were significantly associated with stress symptoms (see table ). participants who perceived a high risk of covid- infection in their workplace reported stress symptoms more often than those who perceived only a medium or low risk. this association was still significant after all the background variables were included in the model (f( , ) = . , p < . , ηp = . ). estimated marginal means and standard errors of unadjusted and adjusted models are reported in table below. similarly, participants with low work identification reported stress symptoms more often than those with high work identification. once again, this association was still significant after all the background variables were included in the model (f( , ) = . , p < . , ηp = . ). estimated marginal means and standard errors of unadjusted and adjusted models are reported in table . in light of these results, we examined the combined effect of perceived risk at work and work community identification on stress symptoms. the estimated marginal means, standard errors and pairwise comparisons of unadjusted and adjusted models are reported in table . in the unadjusted model, the combined effect was significantly associated with stress symptoms (f( , ) = . , p < . , ηp = . ). participants who reported high perceived risk and low work identification reported stress symptoms with significantly greater frequency than those who reported high perceived risk and high identification. all the mean differences between this category and other combined categories were significant. after inserting all the background variables into the model, the combined effect was still significantly associated with stress symptoms (f( , ) = . , p < . , ηp = . ). similarly, the means of participants who reported both high risk and low work identification still differed significantly from all the other categories. there were no statistically significant interactions between perceived risk and work identification in the unadjusted (f( , ) = . , p = . ) or fully adjusted models (f( , ) = . , p = . ). . . < ** ,a , < ***, < ***, < ***, < *** . low risk + low identification . . > ** ,a , < * ,b , < ***, < *** . medium risk + high identification . . > ***, < * ,c , < ***, < *** . medium risk + low identification . . > ***, > * ,b , > * ,c , < *** . high risk + high identification . . > ***, > ***, > ***, < * ,d . high risk + low identification . . > ***, > ***, > ***, < ***, < * ,d . low risk + high identification . . < ** ,e , < ***, < ***, < ***, < *** . low risk + low identification . . > ** ,e , < * ,f , < ** ,g , < *** . medium risk + high identification . . > ***, < * ,h , < ** ,i , < *** . medium risk + low identification . . > ***, > * ,f , > * ,h , < ** ,g . high risk + high identification . . > ***, > ** ,g , > ** ,i , < * ,j . high risk + low identification . . > ***, > ***, > ***, < ** ,g , < * ,j . low risk + high identification . . < ** ,k , < ***, < ***, < ***, < *** . low risk + low identification . . > ** ,k , < * ,l , < ** ,g , < *** . medium risk + high identification . . > ***, < ** ,i , < *** . medium risk + low identification . . > ***, > * ,l , < *** . high risk + high identification . . > ***, > ** ,g , > ** ,i , < * ,b . high risk + low identification . . > ***, > ***, > ***, < ***, < * ,b . low risk + high identification . . < * ,m , < ** ,i , < ***, < ***, < *** . low risk + low identification . . > * ,m , < ** ,n , < *** . medium risk + high identification . . > ** ,i , < ** ,a , < *** . medium risk + low identification . . > ***, < *** . high risk + high identification . . > ***, > ** ,n , > ** a , < * ,b . high risk + low identification . . > ***, > ***, > ***, < ***, < * our results support the hypothesis that those with low work community identification and high perceived covid- infection risk at work show greater frequencies of stress symptoms than those with high identification and high perceived infection risk. the former group differed significantly from all other comparison groups in reporting the most stress symptoms. in addition, participants who reported high work community identification and low perceived covid- infection risk at work reported significantly fewer stress symptoms than any other group. finally, participants who reported a medium infection risk and low identification only showed significant differences from those who reported either high risk and low identification or no stressors at all (e.g., no risk and high identification). these findings show that higher levels of work community identification may act as a buffer against stress factors in the field of social sector and health care work, especially when employees perceive a high health risk in their workplace. as the social cure model argues, group identification is an important source of security, support and belonging and its effect on well-being has been demonstrated in many studies [ ] . to our knowledge, however, this is the first study which has demonstrated this relationship in the context of the covid- pandemic and risk perception. our results contribute to the extant literature in a number of other ways. first, the findings lend support to previous analyses reporting a link between risk perceptions and stress [ , ] by showing a strong relationship between higher perceptions of covid- infection risk in the workplace and the increased frequency of stress symptoms. secondly, work community identification and stress symptoms were also related. participants reporting low levels of work community identification also reported stress symptoms more often than those reporting high levels of work community identification. this also supports findings that have been found before, albeit in a different context [ ] . in contrast, work community identification and covid- infection risk at work were not significantly associated with each other. this contradicts previous research suggesting that the greater the identification with a group, the lower the perceived risk is likely to be [ , ] . this claim was predicated on the basis that group identification increases trust. although it is likely that this occurs in particular contexts (e.g., family celebrations) [ ] , this is unlikely to be the case in all circumstances. one important factor that might explain this inconsistency is the degree to which people are able to control their risk. in our cases, social sector and health care workers rarely have sufficient control over the risk factors, or necessary resources, that are able to make meaningful reductions to their perceived risk (e.g., proximity to infection; having enough personal protective equipment). thus, people can report high levels of work community identification, and exhibit high levels of trust, but if the loci of risk controls are out of reach of the community, then group identification is unlikely to relate positively to perceptions of risk. this opens an important avenue for future research, namely, to explore in greater detail, and in more diverse contexts, how levels of control over risk-management resources affect the relationships between group identification and risk perception. finally, empirical research that has analyzed the well-being of social sector workers during covid- pandemic is rare [ ] . our social sector and health care workers did not significantly differ in risk perception, work community identification or frequencies of stress symptoms. these occupational groups often work in the same organizations and institutions as part of multi-professional teams and thus share the same covid- risk. more research analyzing the well-being of social sector workers is needed in the context of covid- . our results have strong practical implications. the findings can make a valuable contribution to the development of strategies for social sector and health care professionals to maintain their well-being under stressful working conditions during the covid- pandemic. given that risk perception and stress are mutually related [ , ] , their interplay may produce a vicious circle which can end up in exhaustion and burn out. the social cure approach suggests that developing greater group identity is a powerful psychological resource in a such context [ ] . our results highlight the role of work community identification in contributing to social sector and health care workers' ability to cope with stressors that cannot be avoided at work. for example, employers can strengthen the sense of community in their organizations by providing opportunities to share experiences within the group in a safe way and develop mutual trust as well as by recognizing and acknowledging the powerful role of collective strategies that the work community has successfully used in the past and adapting them to current environment [ ] . naturally, our findings have their limitations. the data are cross-sectional; thus, our reasoning is strongly based on previous research and theories. in addition, although our sample was representative of members of the union of health and social care professionals in finland, the response rate was lower than we would have preferred, and it is possible that those with higher levels of concern about their work condition had a greater motivation to answer than those who perceived that their work conditions were risk free or of low risk. these factors limit the generalizability of the results. in addition, the effect size was quite small. although work community identification may act as a buffer, practical factors such as having enough personal protective equipment are of course essential for controlling the stress caused by covid- infection risk. cross-cultural, longitudinal and experimental data are needed to confirm the findings. our findings have shown that participants who report low work community identification and high perceived covid- infection risk at work were significantly more stressed than other participants. this finding indicates that the combined effect of work community identification and risk perception needs to be considered in efforts to reduce the psychological stress social sector and health care workers face during the covid- pandemic. our findings provide further support to the notion that group processes are essential to people's psychosocial well-being and that this is especially salient in times of health crises. covid- and mental health: a review of the existing literature office for national statistics. coronavirus (covid- ) related deaths by 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amongst healthcare shift workers. a systematic review the chi-square test of independence analytic review of social identification and health in organizational contexts when trust goes wrong: a social identity model of risk taking the psychology of health and well-being in mass gatherings: a review and a research agenda a social identity perspective on covid- : health risk is affected by shared group membership we want to thank the union of health and social care professionals for the data collection. the authors declare no conflict of interest. key: cord- -qvmhuid authors: giorgi, gabriele; leon-perez, jose m.; pignata, silvia; topa, gabriela; mucci, nicola title: addressing risks: mental health, work-related stress, and occupational disease management to enhance well-being date: - - journal: biomed res int doi: . / / sha: doc_id: cord_uid: qvmhuid nan the importance of a contextualized health approach with a focus on organizational environments is becoming more strategic than ever due to covid- and the ensuing difficult situation that employees are experiencing worldwide. the prevention of workers' mental health problems is complex and multidimensional, and it is not always possible to protect the person by analyzing personality, psychopathology, and psychiatric syndromes. accordingly, a peer review process involving international experts, with papers accepted in this special issue, considered the important concept of work contextualized health. from this perspective, this special issue had the power to establish a dialogue between the multiple disciplines completing the majority of research on mental health constructs within clinical, neuroscientific, and psychiatric contexts, which usually led to a person-centered analysis or research conducted in artificial laboratory settings. as stated by giorgi et al. [ ] , trauma and diseases related to stress and mental health that originate in the workplace may have a different pattern of development or require an organization-centered treatment approach, including field and intervention studies. in addition, this special issue followed the united nations agenda for developing sustainable goals by [ ] and tried to contribute to two of these goals: ( ) promoting well-being at all ages, including mental health, and ( ) promoting safe and secure working environments to create a decent work for all. in doing so, this special issue assumed that addressing such goals required an interdisciplinary approach involving scientific fields ranging from occupational medicine to organizational psychology. regarding the promotion of well-being at all ages, g. giorgi et al. concluded in their narrative review that stress management strategies at work need to include "aging" as a crucial variable to tailor interventions and prevent workers' cognitive impairment processes. also, m. ziarko et al. pointed out the necessity to consider the health and wellbeing of workers with chronic disease. in particular, their paper analyzed the mental health consequences of the type of treatment received by participants affected by rheumatoid arthritis and confirmed the assumption that pain intensity, coping strategies, and ego resiliency depend on the severity of their levels of anxiety and depression. similarly, two papers emphasized the need to consider all agents involved in an organization, including students, as targets of safety and well-being measures. k. gerreth et al. analyzed the anxiety of dental students during their first clinical class involving performing a prophylactic procedure in a pediatric patient. their results indicated that more than % of students reported high levels of anxiety. these findings emphasize the need for students to be trained to deal with stress as a part of their academic curriculum. in addition, k. frömel et al. explored whether students reporting academic stressors differ in physical activity after school compared to those students that did not report being exposed to academic stressors. although their hypotheses were not supported, it seems that gender should be taken into account when promoting physical activity to reduce stress: girls in the academic stressor group walked more (steps/hour measured with accelerometers) than girls in the nonacademic stressor group. also, their study is a good example on how new devices such as accelerometers can be used to collect information in occupational health and safety research. with regard to promoting safe and secure working environments to create a decent work for all, some papers published in this special issue introduce advances in measuring psychosocial risk factors, mental health, and work-related issues. for example, n. tao et al. conducted a study in which they analyzed the relationship between occupational stress and secretory immunoglobulin a (siga) in a sample of military recruits during their basic military training period. as expected, siga measured in saliva and quantified by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay presented higher levels in the high occupational stress group than that in the low stress group. furthermore, the salivary siga level was also associated with perceived personal strain. another work using innovative approaches to assess psychosocial risks and their consequences is the paper by j. r. lópez-garcía et al. they proposed using bayesian networks to determine the probability of an occupational accident in a certain productive sector depending on the relationship between ergonomic and psychosocial factors. they used data from a national survey of working conditions in spain (n = , ) to illustrate their approach. their results suggest that ergonomic risks associated with physical strains and a lack of job satisfaction are associated with a higher probability of being involved in an occupational accident. in contrast to these new approaches, traditional approaches to conduct psychosocial risk assessments are based on self-rated scales. in that sense, it is important to validate well-known scales to facilitate cross-cultural comparisons. this is the case of the study conducted by a. s. n. isha et al. who validated the copenhagen psychosocial work environment questionnaire (copsoq) in malaysia. they also proposed the inclusion of physiological measures (blood pressure and body mass index) to monitor workers' health. similarly, v. katsari et al. validated the jefferson scale of patient perception of physician empathy in greece, which may be useful for monitoring both physicians' health and the quality of service that they provide. a noteworthy aspect of this study was the comparison between self-rated empathy and their patients' ratings. a similar approach was followed by i. schneider et al. in their research on the degree of agreement between self-rated and observer-rated occupational psychosocial risks. they compared the ratings of workers and occupational safety and health committees to occupa-tional psychosocial risks measured with the same instrument (n = ). their findings showed that observer ratings and self-ratings provided comparable results. therefore, they concluded that (a) the observer rating approach is especially suitable for small-to-medium enterprises that do not have access to a large anonymous survey assessment and (b) aggregation of item means at the group level is justified because their results showed a reasonable agreement and excellent reliability in workers' self-ratings, and therefore, the self-rating approach can be very useful for large enterprises. another way to improve existing scales to measure psychosocial risks at work is to add relevant dimensions that are associated with employees' health and well-being. in that sense, the work by k. kowalczuk et al. attempted to identify the most arduous and frequently occurring burdens in nursing workplaces. they found that ward type predicted the level of work arduousness beyond other factors such as age or gender, suggesting that trauma and diseases related to stress and mental health that originate in the workplace may have a different pattern of development or require an organizationcentered treatment approach that complements the personcentered approach derived from research conducted in clinical and psychiatric contexts. in a similar vein, m. martini et al. highlighted the importance of including both demands and support derived from interactions with students when conducting psychosocial risk assessments in higher education. with a sample of professors from a large public university, their results revealed that relationships with students can play a crucial role in how academics experience emotional exhaustion and engagement at work. also, findings from the study conducted by m. del mar molero jurado et al. in the education sector reaffirm that burnout is a pivotal psychosocial risk that requires prevention within the sector. they proposed that measures to prevent burnout need to consider the educational context when implementing preventative actions both at the individual (i.e., increasing self-efficacy) and organizational level (i.e., improving the education system). moreover, organizational level measures should include the promotion of healthy behaviors as emphasized by research on public health initiatives to prevent noncommunicable diseases [ ] . this is clearly exemplified in the study by a. habib et al. who analyzed the risk factors of noncommunicable diseases in a sample from saudi arabia (n = , ) . their findings revealed the need to promote healthy behaviors as a suitable public health strategy to reduce noncommunicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease or diabetes. in addition to these potential measures to promote health and well-being, the literature has indicated that active coping and recovery from work are crucial to avoid stress-related problems [ , ] . in that sense, the paper by y. hsu et al. reported that working more hours was associated with higher levels of occupational stress, which was related to lower levels of work-family balance and job satisfaction. they found that perceived control over time plays a protective role because it was associated with increased recovery-related self-efficacy. in addition, a focus on coping strategies by x. wang et al. revealed that biomed research international depressive symptoms in military institutions is a matter that needs to be considered, as they found that the relationship between coping (i.e., hardiness) and depressive symptoms is mediated by motivational dispositions. addressing psychosocial risks and introducing preventive measures at work are equally important as identifying who is exposed to the risks and what are the potential negative consequences on employees' health and well-being. first, a. przystanska et al. explored the psychosocial predictors of bruxism. they concluded that perceived stress is a crucial somatic factor in the occurrence and maintenance of awake bruxism. second, k. golonka et al. went beyond the usual negative effects of burnout and explored potential brain activity differences between burned-out and nonburned workers (control group). their results suggest that participants in the burnout group showed cortical hyperactivity, which results in reduced alpha power compared to participants in the control group. finally, t. mitake et al. analyzed the stigma related to mental illness in the workplace, such as the psychological consequences derived from burnout. this relationship is important to examine because being stigmatized at work due to mental illness can result in experiencing discriminative behaviors. following the abovementioned findings, another factor that deserves special attention to create a decent work for all is the promotion of working environments free from discrimination and violence, including sexual and psychological violence (i.e., sexual harassment or workplace bullying). the paper by s. a. jahnke et al. addressed the prevalence of chronic work discrimination and the harassment of women firefighters (n = , ) and its psychosocial consequences. their results revealed that a considerable percentage of women firefighters reported that they had experienced verbal harassment ( . %) and unwanted sexual advances ( . %) in their fire service work. furthermore, this discrimination and harassment at work were related to increased alcohol consumption and mental health problems, including depressive symptoms, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress symptoms. similarly, s. berlanda et al. analyzed the experiences of violence (emotional, physical, and sexual) perpetrated by patients and visitors against healthcare professionals working in emergency units. they found that greater age and higher scores in secure attachment are associated with reduced experience of emotional violence from patients and visitors, and the relationship between secure attachment and the amount of patient-and-visitor-perpetrated emotional violence experienced is mediated by levels of job satisfaction. finally, with regard to the ongoing situation and the economic crisis caused by the covid- pandemic, employee welfare and social support may not be the current priorities for companies as they attempt to maintain their survival by staff layoffs and budget reductions [ , ] . moreover, studies have shown that turbulent economic periods, in which job uncertainty is the norm, create a fertile soil for the increase of violence at work and stress-related mental health problems [ , ] . in this regard, s. de sio et al. studied the role of job insecurity in the perception of psychosocial risks at work in a sample of administrative technical workers and found that workers with temporary contracts perceived higher exposure to psychosocial risks at work than their colleagues with permanent contracts. the contributions to this special issue highlight the essential need to consider organizational practices and culture in the management of mental health problems linked to the workplace as organizational causes are often more harmful than individual antecedents. raising awareness of the organization's intervention politics, of organizationworker health relationships at work, and of an organizational science of mental health appears necessary. overall, the manuscripts included in this special issue reported the perspectives of authors, reflecting a valuable cross-cultural point of view on health prevention and promotion. in conclusion, we would like to share a reflection on what we have seen during the covid- pandemic as workers' mental health still represents a point of fragility of the systems-countries, where an overly medicalized and pathologizing model of mental health risks hiding not only organizational causes and responsibilities creating an image of stigmatized workers but also hiding potential and successful organizational interventions in prevention, safety, and health areas. there is therefore a disharmonious relationship between business and health while, as strongly supported by the business@health laboratory of the european university of roma, there is no business without employee health, and in the same way, employee health becomes business. addressing risks: mental health, work-related stress, and occupational disease management to enhance wellbeing sustainable development goals knowledge platform social determinants and noncommunicable diseases: time for integrated action recovery from job stress: the stressor-detachment model as an integrative framework after work is done: psychological perspectives on recovery from work fear of nonemployability and of economic crisis increase workplace harassment through lower organizational welfare orientation psychosocial factors and economic recession: the stormont study going beyond workplace stressors: economic crisis and perceived employability in relation to psychological distress and job dissatisfaction the editors declare that they have no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this special issue. silvia pignata gabriela topa nicola mucci key: cord- -rg gcc authors: aoyagi, yumiko; beck, charles r; dingwall, robert; nguyen-van-tam, jonathan s title: healthcare workers' willingness to work during an influenza pandemic: a systematic review and meta-analysis date: - - journal: influenza other respir viruses doi: . /irv. sha: doc_id: cord_uid: rg gcc to estimate the proportion of healthcare workers (hcws) willing to work during an influenza pandemic and identify associated risk factors, we undertook a systematic review and meta-analysis compliant with prisma guidance. databases and grey literature were searched to april , and records were screened against protocol eligibility criteria. data extraction and risk of bias assessments were undertaken using a piloted form. random-effects meta-analyses estimated (i) pooled proportion of hcws willing to work and (ii) pooled odds ratios of risk factors associated with willingness to work. heterogeneity was quantified using the i( ) statistic, and publication bias was assessed using funnel plots and egger's test. data were synthesized narratively where meta-analyses were not possible. forty-three studies met our inclusion criteria. meta-analysis of the proportion of hcws willing to work was abandoned due to excessive heterogeneity (i( ) = · %). narrative synthesis showed study estimates ranged from · % to · % willingness to work, depending on context. meta-analyses of specific factors showed that male hcws, physicians and nurses, full-time employment, perceived personal safety, awareness of pandemic risk and clinical knowledge of influenza pandemics, role-specific knowledge, pandemic response training, and confidence in personal skills were statistically significantly associated with increased willingness. childcare obligations were significantly associated with decreased willingness. hcws' willingness to work during an influenza pandemic was moderately high, albeit highly variable. numerous risk factors showed a statistically significant association with willingness to work despite significant heterogeneity between studies. none of the included studies were based on appropriate theoretical constructs of population behaviour. although variable in severity, , one consistent feature of pandemic influenza is a surge in demand for health care. , hospitalization due to influenza a(h n )pdm in the usa was estimated at approximately cases between april and april contrasting with annual influenza-associated primary hospitalizations from to . in - , the availability of intensive care unit beds came under pressure in most national health systems. , healthcare workers (hcws) play key roles during an influenza pandemic, but a serious shortage of personnel may occur at peak times or in severe pandemics because of absenteeism due to illness, caring for family members who are ill, or refusal to work. effective preparation for the next pandemic requires estimates of hcws' willingness to work and an understanding of influencing factors. the available data are highly variable. one nigerian study found only one quarter of hcws stating they would be willing to work in a unit treating patients with influenza a(h n )pdm , whilst an australian qualitative study of family physicians found % of participants willing to work. chaffee first reviewed willingness to work during disasters and reported that the following factors would be influential: type of disaster, concern for close family, friends and pets, responsibility for dependants, the perceived value of one's response, belief in a duty of care, access to personal protective equipment (ppe), provision of basic needs (water, food, rest, shelter and communication tools) and prolonged working hours. three published reviews reported that similar factors would be associated with willingness to work during an influenza pandemic, [ ] [ ] [ ] but the data were not summarized quantitatively. we addressed this evidence gap by conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis in accordance with the preferred reporting items for systematic review and meta-analyses (prisma) statement. the review questions sought to elucidate the proportion of hcws willing to work during an influenza pandemic, and to identify risk factors associated with willingness to work. our findings are interpreted with reference to sociological understandings of population behaviour, which have to date largely been absent from the peer-reviewed literature, but are highly relevant to the development of appropriate interventions to minimize refusal to work. the study protocol was registered with the national institute for health research international prospective register of scientific reviews (prospero; #crd ) prior to executing the literature search strategy. the prisma checklist is available as supporting information. we sought to analyse data collected exclusively from hcws including doctors, nurses, hospital workers, emergency healthcare service workers, public health workers, medical and nursing students, non-clinical support staff and retirees. the outcome measures of interest were the proportion of hcws reporting willingness to work during an influenza pandemic, and odds ratios or case counts allowing the derivation of odds ratios pertaining to factors associated with willingness to work. we included study manuscripts written in english reporting original quantitative research derived from a cross-sectional design, studies pertaining to a prior or hypothetical influenza pandemic, and studies reporting data pertaining to the aforementioned outcome measures, with no limitations on the time and place of publication. the following databases were searched from their inception to april : medline, embase, web of knowledge, scopus, amed, assia, bioethicsweb, cinahl, cochrane library and psycinfo. google scholar and opengrey were also searched. search terms were 'pandemic + influenza + willingness to work/report to work' to avoid including studies on willingness to accept vaccination. these terms were used in both keyword and mesh searches as appropriate for each database as follows: # . pandemics (mesh); # . influenza, human (mesh); # . 'attitude of health personnel' (mesh) or willingness (keyword); # . hospital administration (mesh) or report to work (keyword); # . willing* adj work (keyword); # . respon* adj work (keyword); # . would come (keyword); # . # or # or # or # or # ; # . # and # and # (see also table s ). reference lists in eligible articles were also searched. all identified records were imported to endnote software x (thomson reuters, toronto, ca, usa) and duplicate entries removed. the remaining records were screened by a single researcher (ya) against the protocol eligibility criteria following a sequential assessment of the study title, abstract and full-text article. where this was unclear, agreement on eligibility of each study was achieved through discussion with a second researcher (rd or jsn-v-t). data extraction was performed by a single researcher (ya) using a piloted form collecting details of study characteristics {title, author, publication year, place, study period, study design, participants, subject [pandemic of avian influenza origin/influenza a(h n )pdm /non-specified, hypothetical influenza pandemic]}; definition of outcome measures; questionnaire type; validation; statistical analysis and any stated limitations; percentage of willingness to work; and risk factors association with willingness. odds ratios (ors) of factors both unadjusted and adjusted were extracted to estimate the association with willingness to work. crude case counts and the percentage of people in each risk factor stratum were extracted where available. risk of bias was assessed for each study using a newcastle-ottawa assessment scale modified for crosssectional studies by herzog et al. descriptive statistics were calculated using microsoft â office excel â (microsoft corporation, richmond, va, usa). random-effects meta-analysis estimated the proportion of hcws (including % confidence intervals [cis]) who reported willingness to work during an influenza pandemic. random-effect meta-analysis of pooled odds ratios (including % cis) estimated the association of factors with willingness to work. heterogeneity between studies was assessed using the i statistic. we considered it statistically inappropriate to perform meta-analysis where i exceeded %. to explore sources of heterogeneity, we planned to conduct subgroup analyses according to the type of influenza pandemic; geographical region; survey time period; type of questionnaire; type of participants; sex of participants; and newcastle-ottawa assessment scale score. we used galbraith plots to detect those studies that contributed substantial heterogeneity and conducted sensitivity analyses excluding them from our pooled estimates. for each meta-analysis, publication bias was assessed graphically using a funnel plot of effect size versus standard error and statistically using egger's regression test. meta-analysis of pooled proportions was conducted using statsdirect version . . (statsdirect ltd., cheshire, uk), and meta-analysis of pooled odds ratios was conducted using we identified a total of unique records of which studies met protocol eligibility criteria (see figure ). two the included studies comprised entirely of cross-sectional surveys including two pre-/post-intervention studies and are summarized in table . the participant population sizes ranged from to with a median of (interquartile range [iqr] - ). the earliest publication was in , and the majority of articles were published in ( ; Á %) and ( ; Á %). of ( Á %) studies used a hypothetical influenza pandemic as the subject, ( Á %) were conducted in the usa, and ( Á %) investigated both clinical and non-clinical staff within hospital settings. assessments using the modified newcastle-ottawa scale showed that of studies were at moderate risk of bias ( - of five stars) for the selection domain, whilst studies were at low risk ( - stars) and ten studies were at high risk ( - stars); many studies used convenience sampling and few justified the study sample size, appropriately considered nonresponders and used a validated measurement tool. for the comparability domain, were at high risk ( of two stars), eight at moderate risk (one star) and at low risk of bias (two stars). many studies did not clarify how statistical adjustment for confounding variables was carried out, or reported unadjusted estimates only. for the outcome domain, studies were at moderate risk of bias (two of three stars) and four were at high risk (one star). willingness to work was self-reported in all studies although the statistical test used was clearly described in only studies (see figure s ). the percentage of participants who expressed a willingness to work ranged from Á % (community nurses during the influenza a(h n )pdm pandemic in hong kong in ) to Á % (a study of us medical students targeting a hypothetical influenza pandemic). we abandoned metaanalysis to estimate a pooled mean proportion of hcws willing to work due to very high statistical heterogeneity between studies (i = Á %). our planned subgroup analyses were unable to adequately explain the sources of heterogeneity between studies as this remained above our threshold of % in each analysis. the percentage of willingness to work seemed to depend on the particular context of the study. studies of hypothetical influenza pandemics, which did not include detailed conditions such as virulence of the strain and availability of protective equipment, tended to show a high level of willingness to work. however, studies of precise scenarios or those which investigated willingness during the relatively mild influenza a (h n )pdm pandemic tended to present relatively low levels of willingness. this finding may correspond with earlier work by syrett et al. which showed that willingness factors associated with willingness to work data were extracted from studies. pooled estimates from meta-analyses of individual factors associated with willingness to work are summarized in table . overall, females were one-third less likely to be willing to work compared with males. by occupational group, physicians were most likely to be willing to work, followed by nurses, then other health workers. urban or metropolitan area workers were less likely to be willing to work than rural area workers. full-time workers were more likely to be willing to work than parttime employees. respondents living with children or having childcare obligations were one-third less likely to be willing to work compared with those without these obligations. one study identified that pregnancy in a family member reduced willingness to work. marital status (not meta-analysed) did not influence willingness to work. perceived personal safety at work and perception of pandemic risk (aware that a pandemic was likely) were both associated with increased willingness to work. likewise, the provision of protective measures (mainly personal protective equipment) increased willingness to work, although metaanalysis was abandoned due to high heterogeneity (i = Á %). training in pandemic preparedness, general and specific role knowledge, confidence in personal skills, good communication skills and perception of role importance all had positive effects on willingness to work. confidence in employers as judged by 'belief that the employer can provide timely information' also positively influenced willingness to work, although meta-analysis was abandoned due to high heterogeneity. the funnel plot of the percentage of hcws willing to work did not present a clear funnel shape, appeared to scatter widely without any detectable association with the standard error and overflowed the false % ci range. egger's regression test reached statistical significance and showed that studies reporting a lower percentage were more likely to be published (p = Á ). funnel plots and egger's regressions tests pertaining to meta-analyses of factors associated with willingness to work revealed no evidence of publication bias except for previous training and comparison of physicians and nurses (see table ), which suggested possible underreporting of studies with an adverse result. this study advances knowledge from previous reviews on willingness to work during influenza pandemics by adding further new studies and subjecting the findings to statistical evaluation where possible. the search was conducted comprehensively and yielded studies from countries. however, quality of the included studies was not uniformly high and excessive statistical heterogeneity prevented metaanalysis of the primary outcome measure. whilst it was not possible to identify a single clear source of the heterogeneity encountered, almost certainly the wide variation in settings, scenarios and respondents contributed significantly. metaanalysis suggested that sex and job category would affect willingness to work although studies varied greatly in the composition of their samples. hypothetical scenarios varied in virulence, stage and the amount of information provided to respondents. studies of influenza a(h n )pdm were conducted at different junctures during the evolution of the - pandemic. there was no consistency in terms of how respondents were asked about their willingness to work, and the design of questionnaires used to collect outcome data from respondents varied between studies. remarkably, despite such high heterogeneity, some factors emerged showing a consistent association with willingness to work. whilst previous reviews suggested these from a narrative approach, this study has confirmed them statistically. being male, a physician or nurse (especially the former), and a full-time worker were all positively associated with willingness to work. these factors are essentially nonmodifiable; without access to the raw data, we could not disentangle any potential confounding between being male and the likelihood of being a physician or full-time worker in studies providing only unadjusted ors. nevertheless these were consistent findings across most studies and firm knowledge that these are reliable and statistically proven influencers of willingness to work is important information for both policy makers and healthcare service managers, even though they are difficult factors to influence. childcare obligation was a consistent barrier to hcws' willingness to work. the importance of this factor may be an artefact of the high participation of women in the hcw workforce in most countries, combined with traditional cultural expectations that they will take primary responsibility for childcare. it is, nevertheless, an important finding for managers. it is not clear whether this is driven mainly by practicality, that is the need to provide childcare at home, or by concerns about whether the safety of children might be compromised by infection brought in from the parental workplace. paradoxically, the evidence that hcws are at increased risk of influenza infection is rather mixed and somewhat inconsistent, whereas the evidence that children (rather than adults) are usually the introducers of influenza infection into households is firmly established. this question should be further investigated because it has implications for appropriate organizational responses. if it is simply a practical matter, then managers need to consider what help could be given in emergencies through the expansion of onsite or community childcare provision. if it is a concern about cross-infection, then appropriate education and information programmes may resolve the problem. in either case, it is unlikely that simple disciplinary sanctions will be effective, because of the social force of parental obligations. indeed, these may well be counterproductive, if other workers perceive them to have been unreasonably applied by managers unsympathetic to real personal dilemmas. confidence in safety, risk perception, prior training, general and role knowledge and confidence in skills were statistically proven facilitators for willingness to work. these are all addressable by detailed pandemic preparedness educational activities at healthcare unit level. importantly, one message arising from assessments of pandemic planning activities prior to the - pandemic was that whilst national level pandemic planning was generally successful, the level of planning at local level was insufficient, including training on pandemic influenza for hcws. a particular feature of pandemics is the level of anxiety provoked by the disruption of 'business as usual' and the destabilization of usually stable organizational environments. whilst it is not necessary to retrain hcws frequently, this is a topic that should be addressed in their basic education and managers should ensure that updating materials are readily available, and regularly revised, so that programmes can rapidly be rolled out when a pandemic is identified. evidence of organizational preparedness will contribute to the confidence of hcws that they will not be placed at undue risk by being asked to work in different ways or in different environments from those that they are accustomed to. a number of limitations with the present study warrant discussion. our literature search was limited to records published in english. therefore, we cannot exclude the possibility of having omitted outcome data published in other languages. many of the included studies were at moderate or high risk of bias. moreover, only a small number were available for analysis in relation to some risk factors; these results should be interpreted cautiously. the possibility of publication bias might also be a limitation. however, considering that the percentage of willingness was relatively high in most studies, this suggests that unpublished data may not have found statistically significantly higher percentages of willingness to work. whilst some studies used questionnaires based on recognized psychological theories, these were commonly 'fear-appeal' theories. unfortunately, this may not be appropriate as the preferable behaviour (working during an influenza pandemic) would not result in release from personal fear. we did not identify any studies that investigated the interaction between individual and organizational responses, which biased the findings towards individual fears rather than the social conditions that might provoke or alleviate these. as important as our specific results themselves, is the fact that we identified a multiplicity of approaches to studying the issue of hcw willingness to work during a pandemic; mainly small, ad hoc enquiries, not based on any consistent scenarios or theoretical approaches. to solve this, a consistent methodological framework is needed before any further studies are undertaken. the outbreaks of ebola virus disease in west africa and mers-cov in the middle east offer two very different settings in which to improve study designs and understanding of hcws' willingness to work where infectious disease creates appreciable personal risk. in the meantime, policy makers should recognize that hcw willingness to work during an influenza pandemic is likely to be improved by practical measures to support childcare responsibilities and by the timely provision of relevant and high-quality training and information as a pandemic develops. whilst the above would hold true for influenza, the actual risks and perceptions are not consistent across all novel respiratory viruses. for example, % of nurses in ontario refused to work during the sars crisis when the risk to hcws was almost exclusively nosocomial (compared with pandemic influenza where the risk is community-wide). similarly, in the ongoing mers-cov epidemic, the risk of nosocomial infection is presently greater than in wider community settings. , conclusions hcws' willingness to work during an influenza pandemic is moderately high although highly variable, and substantial statistical heterogeneity precluded formal meta-analysis. numerous risk factors are associated with willingness of hcws to work during an influenza pandemic, revealing potential points of intervention to increase willingness to work. we identified a wide variety of approaches to the study of willingness to work. for improved future understanding, we advocate a coordinated global approach with standardized protocols and based on appropriate theoretical constructs; and the evaluation of packages of intervention through controlled studies. additional supporting information may be found in the online version of this article: table s . full electronic search strategy (medline). figure s . summary of risk of bias of included studies using the modified newcastle-ottawa scale (n = ). data s . prisma checklist. pandemic influenza preliminary estimates of mortality and years of life lost associated with the a/h n pandemic in the us and comparison with past influenza seasons world health organization. pandemic influenza preparedness and response: a who guidance document. geneva: world health organization america's forgotten pandemic estimating the burden of pandemic influenza a (h n ) in the united states influenza-associated hospitalizations in the united states complications among adults hospitalized with influenza: a comparison of seasonal influenza and the h n pandemic pandemic influenza and hospital resources pandemic ): how prepared are healthcare providers in calabar, nigeria? the gp's response to pandemic influenza: a qualitative study willingness of health care personnel to work in a disaster: an integrative review of the literature healthcare workers willingness to work during a pandemic factors associated with the willingness of health care personnel to work during an influenza public health emergency: an integrative review healthcare workers' willingness to report to work during an influenza pandemic: a systematic literature review an international registry of systematic-review protocols are healthcare workers' intentions to vaccinate related to their knowledge, beliefs and attitudes? a systematic review meta-analysis in clinical trials measuring inconsistency in meta-analyses influenza vaccination for immunocompromised patients: systematic review and meta-analysis from a public health policy perspective graphical display of estimates having differing standard errors bias in meta-analysis detected by a simple, graphical test will the community nurse continue to function during h n influenza pandemic: a cross-sectional study of hong kong community nurses? perspectives of future physicians on disaster medicine and public health preparedness: challenges of building a capable and sustainable auxiliary medical workforce will emergency health care providers respond to mass casualty incidents? how would australian hospital staff react to an avian influenza admission, or an influenza pandemic incidence of influenza in 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knowledge, attitudes, and expected behaviors of critical care clinicians regarding an influenza pandemic hospital disaster staffing: if you call, will they come? survey of alberta family physicians' reactions to the spring and summer phase of ph n (pandemic swine flu) outbreak willingness of university nursing students to volunteer during a pandemic preparing for an influenza pandemic: healthcare workers' opinions on working during a pandemic willingness of frontline health care workers to work during a public health emergency factors associated with the ability and willingness of essential workers to report to duty during a pandemic will the nhs continue to function in an influenza pandemic? a survey of healthcare workers in the west midlands healthcare workers' perceptions of the duty to work during an influenza pandemic evaluation of a pandemic preparedness training intervention of emergency medical services personnel pre-pandemic planning survey of healthcare workers at a tertiary care children's hospital: ethical and workforce issues anticipated behaviors of emergency prehospital medical care providers during an influenza pandemic assessing public health department employees' willingness to report to work during an influenza pandemic local public health workers' perceptions toward responding to an influenza pandemic senior clinical nurses effectively contribute to the pandemic influenza public health response pandemic-related ability and willingness in home healthcare workers mitigating absenteeism in hospital workers during a pandemic knowledge and anticipated behavior of health care workers in response to an outbreak of pandemic influenza in georgia a national survey of emergency nurses and avian influenza threat are belgian senior medical students ready to deliver basic medical care in case of a h n pandemic ensuring adequate human medical resources during an avian influenza a/h n pandemic nurses' fears and professional obligations concerning possible human-to-human avian flu survey of hospital healthcare personnel response during a potential avian influenza pandemic: will they come to work knowledge and attitudes of healthcare workers in chinese intensive care units regarding h n influenza pandemic perception, attitudes and knowledge regarding the swine-origin influenza a (h n ) virus pandemic among health-care workers in australia influenza vaccination and intention to receive the pandemic h n influenza vaccine among healthcare workers of british columbia, canada: a cross-sectional study nurses' perspectives and concerns towards an infectious disease epidemic in egypt influenza a h ni (pandemic ): how prepared are healthcare providers in calabar, nigeria? factors associated with motivation and hesitation to work among health professionals during a public crisis: a cross sectional study of hospital workers in japan during the pandemic (h n ) we thank the authors of the articles cited in this paper. we also thank nicola darlington (university of nottingham) for assistance with developing the search terms and john mair jenkins (health education east midlands) and roshni joshi (university of nottingham) for help with manuscript preparation. this research was supported by the university of nottingham as a master of public health dissertation project. jsn-v-t and crb are respectively editor-in-chief and associate editor for influenza and other respiratory viruses; however they played no role whatsoever in the editorial process for this paper, including decisions to send the manuscript for independent peer-review or about final acceptance of a revised version. all of the above functions were handled alone by dr john wood, senior editor (reviews). key: cord- - b edg authors: romanelli, john; gee, denise; mellinger, john d.; alseidi, adnan; bittner, james g.; auyang, edward; asbun, horacio; feldman, liane s. title: the covid- reset: lessons from the pandemic on burnout and the practice of surgery date: - - journal: surg endosc doi: . /s - - - sha: doc_id: cord_uid: b edg background: burnout among physicians is an increasing concern, and surgeons are not immune to this threat. the ongoing covid- pandemic has caused dramatic changes to surgeon workflow, often leading to redeployment to other clinical areas, slowdown and shutdown of elective surgery practices, and an uncertain future of surgical practice in the post-pandemic setting. paradoxically, for many surgeons who had to prepare for but not immediately care for a major surge, the crisis did allow for reflective opportunities and a resetting of priorities that could serve to mitigate chronic patterns contributory to burnout. methods: sages reimagining the practice of surgery task force convened a webinar to discuss lessons learned from the covid pandemic that may address burnout. results: burnout is multifactorial and may vary in cause among different generation/experience groups. those that report burnout symptoms often complain of lacking purpose or meaning in their work. although many mechanisms to address burnout are from a defensive standpoint—including coping mechanisms, problem solving, and identification of a physician having wellness difficulties—offensive mechanisms such as pursuing purpose and meaning and finding joy in one's work can serve as reset points that promote thriving and fulfillment. understanding what motivates physicians will help physician leaders to develop and sustain effective teams. reinvigorating the surgical workforce around themes of meaning and joy in the service rendered via our surgical skills may diminish burnout through generative and aspirational strategies, as opposed to merely reactive ones. fostering an educational environment free of discriminatory or demeaning behavior may produce a new workforce conducive to enhanced and resilient wellbeing at the start of careers. conclusion: surgeon wellness and self-care must be considered an important factor in the future of all healthcare delivery systems, a need reaffirmed by the covid- pandemic. to practice. many became disconnected from the purpose and meaning derived from being able to care for patients, continually improving techniques, belonging to a team, teaching the next generation and feeling appreciated by our colleagues and communities for our contributions. some of us were just trying to survive, let alone thrive, both at work and in life. strategies such as mindfulness training, exercise, taking time-off and ways to improve work/life integration seemed to say that the problem was with the doctors, failing to target significant underlying problems related to the electronic medical record (emr), performance metrics and lack of flexibility and autonomy that diverted us from activities to improve patient care while taking care of ourselves [ ] . with concerns about surgeon health and happiness, the society of gastrointestinal and endoscopic surgeons (sages) president dr. horacio asbun convened a group tasked with "reimagining the practice of surgery". the objectives were to identify strategies that promote joy in the practice of surgery, both through identification of surgeon habits that support optimal performance but also through encouraging institutions to commit to healthier, more efficient and positive work environments. could surgical practice be redesigned to allow us to reconnect with what motivated us to go into surgery in the first place? and then, the covid- crisis resulted in a complete reset at work and life. elective surgery ground to a halt and while many surgeons were re-deployed on teams providing front-line treatment, many others had significantly curtailed elective practices and provided only acute care surgery support. the losses have been enormous and ongoing, and the personal and economic impacts will be felt for years. the lack of knowledge and information, safety concerns at work and at home, worry about the impact on surgical patients, shutting down of research programs and financial repercussions are all substantial. but we also noticed some potentially positive lessons of the pandemic. within our institutions, we were all pulling together with a singular purpose and collegiality. we found common cause with other healthcare workers providing essential services and our work was recognized and appreciated by our communities. we may have been stressed and tired, but did not question the importance of the work. for many of us, the stay at home orders had other side effects: we were spending a lot of time with family, working less, using telehealth for patient interactions and online platforms for teaching and meetings, and could not travel. we were more rested, exercising more, and rediscovering non-surgical interests. although this is not meant to minimize the ongoing impact of the crisis, it is cause for reflection on which of these lessons and opportunities we can potentially use post-pandemic in how to reimagine the practice of surgery. this manuscript is a summary of a sages webinar presentation from may , reflecting on these issues. it begins with a discussion of the challenges in wellness and burnout pre-and post-pandemic, then provides insights for rediscovering meaning and even joy in surgical practice. surgeon wellness is of significant concern and may impact the future health of the profession. burnout (or moral injury), a term used in medical literature, hospital lexicon, and societal documents, is more prevalent in the surgical community and impactful to surgeons and patients than one might be aware. a surgical community with declining health and wellbeing threatens the provision of safe, high-quality, and patient-centered care. surgeon wellness is described as "a multi-dimensional commitment that encompasses occupational, mental, physical, emotional, and social domains" [ ] . according to maslach and colleagues, the most commonly cited definition of burnout is the "triad of emotional exhaustion (overextension), depersonalization (negative, callous, and detached responses to others), and reduced personal accomplishment (feelings of competence and achievement in one's work) [ ] . expanding on the definition by maslach et al., burnout refers not only to a decline in wellness but more precisely the culmination of failed wellness and mental wellbeing. factors associated with burnout include loss of professional control, autonomy, and flexibility; inefficient processes; disjointed workplace relationships and goals; excessive administrative burdens; frustrations with medical record systems, and poor work-life balance [ ] . given the prevalence and importance of surgeon burnout, it makes sense to investigate if and how the covid- pandemic impacted surgeon wellness. a pre-covid survey of , respondents who practice in one of specialties in the usa revealed that % had symptoms of burnout, down % from [ ] . results stratified by physician generation showed that almost half ( %) of respondents identifying as generation x (born - ) reported burnout compared to % of millennials (born - ) and % of baby boomers (born - ) . of note, % of general surgeons reported feeling burned out [ ] . these findings suggest a disturbing trend away from wellness and mental wellbeing-a trend that may result in the premature loss of talented physicians and surgeons. various aspects of healthcare delivery can contribute positively or negatively to surgeon wellness. one contributing frustration among physicians and surgeons is the time spent performing administrative tasks, specifically those related to use (or misuse) of the emr. the surgeon and author atul gawande made valid comments about emr systems and their impact on physician and surgeon wellness in his essay published in the new yorker. in his essay, "why doctors hate their computers," gawande highlights that "a system that promised to increase my mastery over my work has, instead, increased my work's mastery over me. i'm not the only one…. physicians devoted half of their patient time facing the screen to do electronic tasks. moreover, these tasks were spilling over after hours…. the result has been epidemic levels of burnout among clinicians" [ ] . the voice of dr. gawande is poignant for sure, but his voice is not the only one calling attention to the impact of emr on wellness and mental wellbeing. survey data suggest that frustrations associated with emr use represent the fourth most impactful stressor leading to self-reported physician burnout [ ] . other causes of burnout among physicians included excessive administrative tasks ( %), excessive work hours ( %), lack of respect ( %), inadequate compensation ( %), and lack of control or autonomy ( %) [ ] . another survey including only surgeon respondents listed factors that may be associated with burnout [ ] . in this study, % of responding surgeons were burned out. personal factors associated with increased burnout included younger age and having a spouse employed as non-physician healthcare professional; having children was protective, but among those with children, those with younger children were at higher risk than those with older children. professional characteristics associated with higher burnout were incentive compensation based purely on billing, area of specialization, increased on-call responsibilities, and more hours worked per week. in addition, compensated time (> % of total work time) for administrative tasks and research seemed to be protective [ ] . factors that may contribute to or protect against burnout are important to appreciate, but identifying the problem is just the first step toward reclaiming wellness and mental wellbeing. various coping strategies are critical components of this effort to reclaim and/or maintain wellness. a pre-covid survey of physicians found that % of respondents chose social isolation or exercise as means to cope with negative feelings associated with their doctor role [ ] . others felt that talking with family and friends ( %), sleeping more ( %), and playing or listening to music ( %) helped them stave off symptoms of burnout. while positive coping strategies may be of significant benefit, others have a negative influence on feelings and behavior. physician respondents claimed to eat junk food ( %), consume alcohol ( %), binge eat ( %), or use tobacco, marijuana, and/or other drugs ( %) to combat feelings of burnout [ ] . wellness and mental wellbeing are not issues limited to attending physicians and surgeons. stressors in medical school and residency training may contribute to burnout as well. a recent survey of , postgraduate year (pgy- ) residents across all specialties revealed that % of respondents reported burnout, % expressed career choice regret, and % would "definitely not" or "probably not" choose to become a physician again. general surgery was one of five specialties associated with a higher rate of burnout symptoms among pgy- residents [ ] . another recent survey of surgical residents reported that % of respondents tested positive for burnout on at least one subscale [ ] . these data strongly suggest the need for further reform in surgical education, and for faster identification of at-risk learners sliding toward the negative end of the wellness spectrum. initial efforts at reform are evident among surgical residency programs, but the ultimate effectiveness of these initiatives is as yet unknown. given the prevalence of impaired wellness and even burnout among physicians and surgeons at all experience levels, the covid- pandemic, particularly in the hard-hit areas of north america, seriously threatens mental wellbeing. health systems and surgeons alike face new hardships such as government restrictions on patient care, financial losses, ill-equipped staff, administrative burden, struggle to identify best practices related to covid- , and so many more. these new challenges compound an already distressing problem and may push physicians and surgeons already suffering impaired wellness toward full-fledged burnout. sages examined concerns about surgeon wellness during the pandemic [ ] . sages concluded that the covid- pandemic is taking a significant emotional toll which is exacerbated by fears about personal and family safety, transmission of the covid- virus, clinical redeployment, financial hardship, and reestablishment of a new normal in clinical practice. moreover, the jarring changes in the conduct of a typical day let alone the practice of surgery may lead vulnerable persons to social isolation [ ] . however, there is reason to be optimistic as the covid- pandemic presents an opportunity to reimagine surgery and address factors that contribute to impaired wellness and burnout. during this global pandemic, health systems and surgeons stepped out of their traditional roles and clinical comfort zones to care for patients and/or colleagues in need, and their efforts should be recognized. they adopted existing or new positive coping mechanisms to fight off social isolation and overcome challenges to their wellness. surgeons are reporting more rest with longer hours of sleep and feeling more refreshed. some found additional time for physical fitness, hobbies outside of work, and family. time outside of work allows for introspection about family and occupational priorities, and whether or not previous levels of clinical productivity remain aligned with more balanced priorities. technology, telepresence and time management are aspects of our modern daily life that contribute to the alignment of our priorities and may allow for sustained clinical, educational, and research productivity without sacrificing parts of our humanity that make us well. as one considers the issues surrounding physician wellness, it is apparent that many of our current efforts are on the defensive or mitigation front. while this is clearly important, flourishing as people involves active pursuit and engagement with energizing, meaningful and fulfilling activities, and not just avoiding pitfalls or managing stressors. in this regard, contemporary commentators note a default toward technical problem solving and systemic management strategies, as opposed to solutions based on character growth and the fulfillment of purpose [ , ] . having an offensive rather than defensive or compensatory strategy for wellness is needed in the present context. studies on the theme of resilience in populations enduring high levels of stress identified practices that deter burnout and promote thriving [ ] . in studies of prisoners of war, landmine victims, and other groups suffering unusual pressures and trauma, southwick and charney highlight several practices that characterize thriving individuals [ ] . these practices include optimism, adaptive responses to fear, developing a moral compass, dependence on faith, nurturing social support networks, using role models, maintaining physical and mental fitness, developing flexibility, and finding meaning and purpose in circumstances [ ] . other masterful philosophers and psychologists expressed similar themes regarding the issue of meaning and purpose. for example, neitzsche said, "he [or she] who has a why can endure almost any how" [ ] . viktor frankl commented on his experience counseling survivors of the holocaust by saying, "life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose" [ ] . analogous to the 'band of brothers' theme of stephen ambrose's writing and later film portrayal, it turns out that when seen as an opportunity for growth and contribution to the lives of others, even the most difficult circumstances can become the crucible for unusual human thriving, social connection, and contributions of enduring personal and social meaning and impact. the relevance of these themes and their relationship to human motivation are summarized in daniel pink's book, "drive" [ ] . pink points out that studies on productivity in domains that involve even a modicum of cognitive effort demonstrate that financial reward does not improve productivity and performance. what does matter is autonomy-the sense of ownership of the outcome and responsibility for the same; mastery-the hope that continued investment will lead to a product that is not only acceptable, but exquisite in its refinement and merit; and purpose or meaning-the awareness that what has been done is of enduring value as seen by the person responsible [ ] . clearly all these things are threatened in the current western medical paradigm that includes an emphasis on compliance with regulatory protocols, a disintegrated and volume-focused care delivery and reimbursement strategy, and commodification of the profession extending into areas of personal moral conviction and moral injury. the recent pandemic has demonstrated the bankruptcy of such a model not only literally, but in the failure to deliver population health, especially to the neediest elements of society. accordingly, the present initiative focuses on reimagining or recapturing the meaning and purpose of the significant investment of time and energy involved in a surgical career. the existential implications of this initiative for surgeons, and the society that benefits from their presence and care, cannot be overstated. while more complex and nuanced than a simple outline can capture, the following elements proved worthy of investment, offered in the spirit of one beggar telling another where they have found food. first, it is important to set and honor, meaning and fulfillment-based priorities in life. the illustration of 'getting the rocks right' captures this well, in which one tries to fit a few large rocks, a handful of small gravel, and a handful of sand into a glass jar. the only way to succeed at placing the rocks, gravel, and sand inside the jar is to place the largest objects first. repeated decision making that does not reflect personal beliefs and priorities correlates with burnout, which may be reflected as not spending at least % professional time on an area of passion [ ] , or as repeatedly favoring work in settings of work/home life temporal conflict [ ] . more importantly for the present discussion, chronic time deployment can exclude important and sustaining elements of life from the overall orchestration and undermine purpose and meaning in work. second, 'restore points' keep people whole; examples include spiritual disciplines such as meditation, prayer, and gratitude, physical exercise, enjoyment of nature or art in its various forms, or simply regular rest, such as observing sabbath or taking a sabbatical. abandoning these 'restore points' undermines purposeful and strategic living, and may lend itself to a sprint, rather than the marathon of a surgical career. third, given the nature of self-centered behavior and implosion of soul and society that accompanies it, focusing on investment in relational activities is important, both in work and non-work lives. fourth, overcoming chronological snobbery, whereby people today compared to a prior age believe they possess a more mature understanding of what is meaningful and worthwhile in life because of the benefits enjoyed from science and technology. the recent -year decline in life expectancy related to so-called 'deaths of despair' (not witnessed in western countries since world war i and the influenza pandemic that took , american lives) highlights the fact that despite our technologic and consumer amusements, people may know little of the meaning and value of life, which our science by definition cannot answer [ ] . seeking to give our attention not only to current flavors of thought but timeless themes by reading and giving attention to the wisdom of history is a helpful way to overcome chronological snobbery. a former president of the university of southern california, steven sample, felt that great leaders shouldn't read anything not at least years old, just to be sure the ideas they are imbibing are timelessly relevant [ ] . people can also cultivate reflective habits and daily rhythms creating time to spend on what is important but not urgent, and therefore easily neglected [ ] . these reflective habits and daily rhythms may be a common feature of genius and sustained high performance. individuals can adopt a curricular view of life, especially with regard to character flaws, and recognize that much of character formation comes from facing those deficits and weaknesses [ ] . people can build habits around these themes by becoming involved in communities both professionally and personally that enable and sustain such practices, and by learning from others with similar commitments [ ] . learning from like-minded individuals can be sustaining as the energy level of younger years fades into patterns sustainable only with collective strength and a broadened resource foundation. relationships can minimize the error of thinking identity is only a product of career achievements and enable living that contributes to what will be said at our eulogy rather than what is on our resumes alone. the pursuit of purpose, meaning, and fulfillment enfranchise patterns that make lives and careers sustainable, meaningful, and of enduring value. the prevention of burnout and despair is as valuable as or more so, than strategies to mitigate and alleviate stressors. where does joy come from? does joy stem from professional pursuits alone, or from free time enjoying personal relationships? does joy arise from financial security and the material goods or personal freedoms it can deliver? surgeons may be vulnerable to a lack of joy, even burnout when professional pursuits lose their meaning and purpose, a negative influence which can impact personal lives and relationships. a paradigm shift in the profession of surgery would facilitate the rediscovery and reinvigoration of joy among surgeons and their family, friends, patients, and learners. such a shift requires strong and dedicated leadership but also buy-in from those who operate within the paradigm. burnout, evidenced by a lack of interest, loss of love for, and leaving the profession of surgery affects not only practicing surgeons but learners at various stages in their career. in truth, burnout is a consequence of changes that deprive learners of the meaning and purpose they once found in their chosen profession. one study keyed in on potentially negative side effects from the current training paradigm. the second trial queried surgical residents from training programs about discrimination and/or abuse in the workplace [ ] . in all, % of respondents reported some form of discrimination during their training period. significantly more learners who experienced discrimination and/or abuse reported symptoms of burnout (odds ratio . ; % ci . to . ) and suicidal thoughts (odds ratio . ; % ci . to . ) compared to learners who did not experience discrimination [ ] . in addition to this disturbing finding, learners today deal with increased patient workload, more documentation using emr systems, decreased autonomy (cognitive and psychomotor), decreased camaraderie, decreased mentorship, and decreased team building events (social and academic). while anyone of these may be considered a challenge to overcome, it is no wonder that all combined may result in depersonalization, loss of meaning, and loss of purpose in work. healthcare is a universal connector so revitalizing joy in surgery must be multidisciplinary and community-based to respect and foster connectivity and teamwork. when a colleague or teammate shows personal or professional disconnect, intuitive and empathetic surgeon leaders must recognize these as symptoms suggestive of burnout and take appropriate action. however, before taking action, the surgeon leader must understand the concept of mindfulness skills or mental coping strategies, which may be effective in mitigating stress in various work environments [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] . one mental coping strategy-achieving a restful mental state prior to performance-is known to improve performance of surgical residents [ ] . likewise, mental coping strategies can help improve technical skills particularly when delivered through organized curricula aimed at increasing resilience and self-reflection [ ] . moreover, surgeon leaders, as members of the healthcare team, should consider the lessons of improvement science to aid in developing a framework that would reinvigorate the pursuit of meaning and purpose by removing small, persistent impediments to joy. the institute for healthcare improvement outlined those lessons and framework in the joy of work [ ] . the team-based framework fashioned by the institute for healthcare improvement uses a simple but effective four-step process to reintroduce joy to the work environment. the first step is to query colleagues and staff by sincerely and receptively asking, "what matters to you?" as a surgeon leader, it is important to empower other team leaders to ask the same question of their colleagues and staff, then close the loop of communication. as impediments to joy are identified, leaders should strategize solutions and sanction others to do the same. for best results, these impediments should be small, specific-a pebble in one's shoe. oftentimes it may be best to divide the work among reliable and effective members of the team, thereby granting them both responsibility, authority and a level of autonomy for a given task. honesty in such conversations opens doors to work as a team and develop mutual respect. the process itself can bring empowerment and joy regardless of the size of the pebble in the shoe. the third step involves a multidisciplinary team tasked with systematically and longitudinally removing impediments to joy. this step is critical to anticipate needs and mitigate risk of those impacted by any change. the fourth step is to use improvement science methodology for tracking, studying, and sharing all improvements to members of the healthcare community. in order to meet the criteria set forth in the final step, and as a matter of honor and respect to all those who labor with passion, surgeon leaders and healthcare systems should create quality improvement projects aimed at removing impediments to joy. in fact, joy and positive patient outcomes are not coincidental. it is for surgeon leaders to remember that inspiring and empowering joy among a healthcare community may be a matter of finding the pebble and shaking it free from the shoe. physician and surgeon burnout has been a significant and progressively increasing issue over recent years. burnout's rippling effects negatively influence patient care and health system effectiveness. the covid- pandemic created a unique practice environment, providing surgeons with the opportunity to reflect and realign their personal and professional priorities toward wellness and away from burnout. initiatives such the rapid adoption of telehealth with minimal insurance-related hurdles, changed practice routines and delivery of care in ways which may prove to be beneficial. the increase in virtual meetings reduced travel and away time and may find a permanent place in our lives as we move forward. opportunities exist in the face of the covid- pandemic to apply technology, consider meaning and purpose, and maintain quality patient care while improving self-care. while not a panacea, telehealth, rapidly accepted by patients, surgeons, health systems and payers, as well as online meeting platforms, allow for virtual yet personal interactions with patients and colleagues. likewise, reflection on and identification of meaning and purpose in work and home life help surgeons strive for wellness. surgeon wellness, finding joy at work and self-care, must be considered important factors in the future of all healthcare delivery systems. this need has been strongly reaffirmed by the covid- pandemic. groopman j ( ) physician burnout, interrupted surgeon burnout: defining, identifying and addressing the new reality professional burnout: recent developments in theory and research why doctors hate their computers burnout and career satisfaction among american surgeons national survey of burnout among us general surgery residents sages primer for taking care of yourself during and after the covid- crisis the common language of science. broadcast for science conference choruses from the rock. collected poems resilience: the science of mastering life's greatest challenges nietzsche f ( ) the twilight of the idols man's search for meaning: an introduction to logotherapy drive: the surprising truth about what motivates us career fit and burnout among academic faculty relationship between work-home conflicts and burnout among american surgeons: a comparison by sex the second mountain: the quest for a moral life the contrarian's guide to leadership the road to character. random house, new york . duhigg c ( ) the power of habit: why we do what we do in life and business discrimination, abuse, harassment, and burnout in surgical residency training mental skills training effectively minimizes operative performance deterioration under stressful conditions: results of a randomized controlled study effectiveness of a mental skills curriculum to reduce novices' stress implementation results of a novel comprehensive mental skills curriculum during simulator training effects of a novel mental skills curriculum on surgical novices' attention effectiveness of a comprehensive mental skills curriculum in enhancing surgical performance: results of a randomized controlled trial ihi framework for improving joy in work. institute for healthcare improvement disclosures dr romanelli reports personal fees from new view surgical, outside the submitted work. dr gee reports ownership interest in new view surgical, personal fees from medtronic, personal fees from coviden, piuotside the submitted work. dr bittner reports personal fees from intuitive surgical inc., grants and personal fees from bd, inc., personal fees from cmr surgical ltd, personal fees from cook biotech inc., outside the submitted work. drs auyang, alseidi, feldman, asbun and mellinger have no conflicts or interest or financial ties to disclose. key: cord- -emfdv oa authors: chung, sheng-chia; providencia, rui; sofat, reecha title: association between angiotensin blockade and incidence of influenza in the united kingdom date: - - journal: n engl j med doi: . /nejmc sha: doc_id: cord_uid: emfdv oa nan at the time of manuscript acceptance, journals will ask authors to confirm and, if necessary, update their disclosure statements. on occasion, journals may ask authors to disclose further information about reported relationships. based on the above disclosures, this form will automatically generate a disclosure statement, which will appear in the box below. section . dr. chung has nothing 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information about reported relationships. based on the above disclosures, this form will automatically generate a disclosure statement, which will appear in the box below. section . dr. providencia has nothing to disclose. please visit http://www.icmje.org/cgi-bin/feedback to provide feedback on your experience with completing this form. the purpose of this form is to provide readers of your manuscript with information about your other interests that could influence how they receive and understand your work. the form is designed to be completed electronically and stored electronically. it contains programming that allows appropriate data display. each author should submit a separate form and is responsible for the accuracy and completeness of the submitted information. the form is in six parts. the work under consideration for publication. this section asks for information about the work that you have submitted for publication. the time frame for this reporting is that of the work itself, from the initial conception and planning to the present. the requested information is about resources that you received, either directly or indirectly (via your institution), to enable you to complete the work. checking "no" means that you did the work without receiving any financial support from any third party --that is, the work was supported by funds from the same institution that pays your salary and that institution did not receive third-party funds with which to pay you. if you or your institution received funds from a third party to support the work, such as a government granting agency, charitable foundation or commercial sponsor, check "yes". this section asks about your financial relationships with entities in the bio-medical arena that could be perceived to influence, or that give the appearance of potentially influencing, what you wrote in the submitted work. you should disclose interactions with any entity that could be considered broadly relevant to the work. for example, if your article is about testing an epidermal growth factor receptor (egfr) antagonist in lung cancer, you should report all associations with entities pursuing diagnostic or therapeutic strategies in cancer in general, not just in the area of egfr or lung cancer. report all sources of revenue paid (or promised to be paid) directly to you or your institution on your behalf over the months prior to submission of the work. this should include all monies from sources with relevance to the submitted work, not just monies from the entity that sponsored the research. please note that your interactions with the work's sponsor that are outside the submitted work should also be listed here. if there is any question, it is usually better to disclose a relationship than not to do so. for grants you have received for work outside the submitted work, you should disclose support only from entities that could be perceived to be affected financially by the published work, such as drug companies, or foundations supported by entities that could be perceived to have a financial stake in the outcome. public funding sources, such as government agencies, charitable foundations or academic institutions, need not be disclosed. for example, if a government agency sponsored a study in which you have been involved given name (first name) reecha . surname (last name) manuscript title acei-arb and incident respiratory infections in electronic health records in the united kingdom section .did you or your institution at any time receive payment or services from a third party (government, commercial, private foundation, etc.) for any aspect of the submitted work (including but not limited to grants, data monitoring board, study design, manuscript preparation, statistical analysis, etc.)?are there any relevant conflicts of interest?yes no ✔ relevant financial activities outside the submitted work. are there any relevant conflicts of interest? yes no ✔ place a check in the appropriate boxes in the table to indicate whether you have financial relationships (regardless of amount of compensation) with entities as described in the instructions. use one line for each entity; add as many lines as you need by clicking the "add +" box. you should report relationships that were present during the months prior to publication. section .do you have any patents, whether planned, pending or issued, broadly relevant to the work? yes no ✔ key: cord- -dw n f authors: nash, meredith; churchill, brendan title: caring during covid‐ : a gendered analysis of australian university responses to managing remote working and caring responsibilities date: - - journal: gend work organ doi: . /gwao. sha: doc_id: cord_uid: dw n f covid‐ is dramatically reconfiguring paid work and care. emerging evidence in the global media suggests that academic women with caring responsibilities are being proportionately impacted. this article fills a key knowledge gap by examining how australian universities are supporting academics to manage remote work and caring during the covid‐ pandemic. we conducted a desktop analysis of public information about remote working and care from australian universities and compared them to the world’s top ranked universities. findings suggest that during the pandemic, the australian higher education sector positions decisions about caring leave and participation in the paid labour force as ‘private’ matters in which employees (mainly women) design their own ‘solutions’ when compared with international institutional counterparts. we argue that covid‐ provides another context in which universities have evaded their responsibility to ensure women’s full participation in the labour force. in april , alessandra minello, an italian social demographer and mother of a toddler, attracted global attention with her essay entitled, 'the pandemic and the female academic' (minello, ) . minello documents the additional physical and emotional labour required to be productive as an academic mother working from home during the covid- crisis:…'[w]hen i record lessons for my students to watch online, minimizing background noise is a must…night and dawnwhen [my son] is asleepare my only options for recording'. as she observes, working from home means that she has '…less time for writing scientific articles' as her focus is to merely 'make it through daily life' (minello, ) . trying to make it through daily life during covid- is a narrative echoed by many women in academia. for instance, kitchener ( ) highlights the story of us sociologist whitney pirtle who is up for tenure in but has been granted a one-year extension to finish her book whilst caring for her child at home in order to increase her chances of tenure success. pirtle acknowledges that delaying her tenure confirmation because of covid- is high-risk because it could lead to her losing her job or having to find another job in an economic recession. much like the 'baby penalty' that haunts women at every stage of their academic careers (mason, wolfinger & goulden, ) , pirtle's story illustrates that the 'short-term reorganisation of care and work time' during covid- can have long-term effects on women's academic careers (minello, ) . this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. indeed, during the pandemic, it appears that men are 'aiming for the stars' (minello, ) while women's publication track records are suffering. anecdotal evidence suggests that women are submitting fewer papers to peer-reviewed journals compared to men (kitchener, ) . in the field of astrophysics, some editors estimate a percent drop in submissions from women (kitchener, ) . in comparison, men's submissions to a politics journal increased by more than percent (kitchener, ) . these trends are also reflected in the number of publications being uploaded to pre-print servers for science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (stemm) disciplines. according to frederickson ( ) , submissions from male authors between march and april increased by . percent on arxiv whereas submissions from women increased by only . percent compared to the same period last year. in a seemingly extraordinary academic feat, one male management professor wrote and published a book about the economics of the pandemic in a total of days (gans, a) . professor joshua gans ( b) notes the presence of teenage and college-age children in his home at the time of writing his book but the only mention of exhaustion in his narrative is that he had to occasionally 'retire to the couch' from thinking too much. even at the best of times, women with caring responsibilities rarely have the luxury of being overwhelmed with their own thoughts. for many decades, feminist scholars have drawn attention to the differences in time that women and men spend on domestic tasks such as housework and care (craig & mullan, ) , particularly in countries where the 'male breadwinner' model ideologically predominates (crompton, lewis & lyonette, ; pocock, ) . while, the gender gap in both paid and unpaid work is narrowing slowly over time in australia as in other parts of the industrialised world, women are still responsible for this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. the majority of all unpaid and care work even when they earn more (craig & sawrikar, ). caring is not just limited to children, it includes caring for the disabled, those with long-term health problems, or elderly family members. in australia alone, . million people contribute $ billion to the economy through unpaid caring work (australia bureau of statistics, ). yet childcare, in particular, remains the main barrier to australian women's labour force participation (pocock, ) . the lack of adequate social policy supports like free universal childcare combined with short school days means that australian women are constantly juggling paid work and caring responsibilities. the global pandemic has magnified the effects of this as schools have closed and sources of formal and informal care became unavailable due to social distancing and shelter-in-place measures. the pandemic has thus demanded that families make decisions about how they manage unpaid caring labour (price, ) . unsurprisingly, this extra domestic labour is falling to women, exacerbating existing gender inequality. as sociologists, we recognise that the gendered inequalities associated with caring and paid work are collective and structural, yet public discourse on this issue in academia has mainly focused on how women are individually managing the challenges raised by covid- (e.g. minello, ; kitchener, ) . this is a neoliberal framing of the issue which ultimately responsibilises academic women with their own career success. while we acknowledge that men in academia do face pressures of combining care with paid work, we have not yet seen comparable media stories focused on fathers, for example. in general, there has been little public discussion in australia or elsewhere of how universities are supporting academics to manage caring responsibilities whilst working from home. this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. this observation serves as the context and impetus for the present study. in the forthcoming sections, we review the relevant literature and discuss the findings of a desktop analysis of the first wave of responses to remote working and caring responsibilities from australian universities. in doing so, we highlight the different approaches taken in australia compared to the world's top universities (in the united kingdom and the united states). we argue that covid- provides an another context in which universities have evaded their responsibility to ensure women's full participation in the labour force via the introduction of 'family-friendly' flexible working policies which put the onus on families to make choices about how to do paid work and care for children. neoliberalism has been routinely referred to as 'shorthand for an array of complex economic, political, and cultural dynamics' shaping social institutions in the contemporary west (grzanka, mann, & elliott, : ) . while most theorists situate neoliberalism as a political theory based on free market economics (e.g. harvey, ) , others argue that neoliberalism has broader social implications (e.g. chen, ) . under neoliberalism, individuals are positioned as self-governing citizens responsible for their own choices, while state responsibility for social provision is withdrawn and privatised (see hale, ; rose, ) . accordingly, neoliberalism favours privatisation of state-owned enterprises and reduction of government regulation to prioritise individual freedom and choice (chen, : ) . in this article, we define neoliberalism as the constellation of practices by which the state influences and evaluates individual behaviours through self-discipline and surveillance (grzanka, mann, & elliott, : ) . this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. in the contemporary neoliberal context, organisations and professions are broadly constructed as logical and rational (morley, ) . however, feminist scholars assert that organisations are gendered despite their gender-neutral façade (kelan, ) . neoliberal organisations are also constructed as neutral in terms of class, race, sexuality and (dis)ability. neoliberal ideologies of individualism and meritocracy naturalise inequality by denying structural privilege or disadvantage based on social identity (rottenberg, ) . acker's ( : ) concept of 'inequality regimes' or the 'loosely interrelated practices, processes, actions, and meanings that result in and maintain class, gender, and racial inequalities within particular organizations' is especially pertinent. yet the inequality regimes which advantage particular groups of workersthose that are straight, white, middle-class, able-bodied and male (for exceptions, see acker, ) and disadvantage others are obscured (kelan, ; morley, ) . all individuals, regardless of gender, class, race, sexuality or ability, are positioned as having equal opportunity to succeed (blackmore, ) . within this framework, gendered (and other) inequalities are invisible and legitimated (acker, ) , or 'unspeakable' (gill, ; reilly et al., ) , rendering inequality more difficult to articulate and address (kelan, ; sullivan & delaney, ) . the effects of neoliberalism are wide ranging in academic research cultures where the 'ideal' worker is an unencumbered man whose private life does not impinge on his availability and commitment to the organisation (acker, ; pullen et al., ) . a primary concern for feminist scholars is that academic research cultures are constructed as meritocratic and employees are promised that 'talent, hard work and commitment will be identified and rewarded' (morley, , p. ) . this may produce affective attachments in academic research for women, in particular, that may be experienced as cruelly optimistic. berlant ( , p. ) defines 'cruel optimism' as a 'relation of attachment to compromised conditions this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. of possibility whose realization is discovered either to be impossible, sheer fantasy, or too possible and toxic'. thus, women in academia are positioned as having equal opportunity to succeed within gendered inequality regimes, the existence of which is denied. as a result, women are globally underrepresented in senior academic leadership and more inclined to leak out of the academic pipeline and quit the profession, especially in male-dominated fields like stemm (see nash & moore ). feminist scholars have also argued that 'female academics are disproportionately affected by…masculinist care-free norms of geographic mobility and the / availability of the 'idea academic'" (ivancheva, lynch, & keating, : - ) . in other words, even though women remain the primary caregivers, they are continually judged in 'modalities of academic masculinity' in which research success is premised on a strong career drive and the prioritisation of organisational commitments over relational ties to children, parents, and other family members (ivancheva, lynch, & keating, : ; see also o'connor, o'hagan, & brannen, ) . we argue that this brand of 'careerist masculinity' has become more visible during the pandemic when australian universities instructed staff to work remotely (o'connor, o'hagan, & brannen, ) . as feminist philosopher fiona jenkins ( ) argues, australian universities '…[requisitioned] the home as a condition of continuing to work, and they have taken away the office as part of what was previously offered to enable people to work'. thus, this move implicitly privileges the entrepreneurial [male] academic worker as 'home' is imagined in particular [gender-neutral] ways by neoliberal employers and governments-as a 'costless resources' and 'frictionless site of interpersonal relations' (jenkins, ) where caring for children and other family members is invisible. this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. higher education is a major australian industry with revenues approaching $ . billion in (tertiary education quality and standards agency, ). australia currently has institutions of higher education including full universities, one specialist university, and two overseas universities (tertiary education quality and standards agency, ). however, universities are in the minorityin addition, there are higher education providers such as colleges, institutes, and schools that offer higher education qualifications. the distinguishing feature of universities compared to the rest of the sector is the fact that universities are mostly public institutions which prioritise teaching and research (collyer, ) . eight of australia's leading research-intensive universities are in a coalition called 'the group of eight' (go ) (for a listing, see go australia, ). these universities are highly ranked internationally and receive the bulk ( %) of australian competitive research funding (go australia, ). this grouping is similar to the ivy league in the us and the russell group in the uk. the varied effects of neoliberal economics and political ideologies on australian universities is exemplified in the gradual marketisation and privatisation of higher education (raciti, : ) . according to dever ( ) , under neoliberalism, australian universities have replaced the value of education as a public investment in wider social good with individualised notions of graduate marketability. similarly, increasing intervention from the commonwealth government and the push for economic rationality has encouraged corporatised university systems that are oriented toward international competitiveness and the production of 'large numbers of job-ready graduates cheaply in minimum time to serve the needs of industry' (thornton, : ) . universities derive about % of revenue from the commonwealth governmenthowever, the government is providing a decreasing share of this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. revenue than in the past (norton, cherastidtham, & mackey, ) . therefore, universities are forced to look to external/private sources to fill their funding gaps. for example, profits from international student fees fund a substantial portion of research costs and are now the largest driver of growth in the sector (norton, cherastidtham, & mackey, ) . contemporary references to the 'higher education sector' reflect this 'focus on tertiary education as a marketable commodity and a decline in the public resourcing of research' (collyer, : ) . given this context, in australia, the neoliberalisation of higher education has meant that for academic staff '…precariousness rather than security is one of the defining experiences of academic lifeparticularly, but not exclusively, for younger or 'early career' staff…' (gill, : ) . for instance, it is estimated that % of undergraduate courses at australian universities are taught by casually employed academics (klopper & power , ) . australian higher education is also highly feminised with almost percent of the workforce comprising women (workplace gender equality agency (wgea), ). the feminisation of the australian higher education sector means that there is a growing institutional recognition of the need for supports and strategies to advance institutional gender equality. for example, percent of all higher education employers have a gender equality policy or strategy compared with percent of all australian industries (wgea, ). in , the right to request flexible work (e.g. change to hours, location, or patterns of work) was embedded as one of the national employment standards of the australian fair work act, (see fairwork ombudsman, ) . flexible working arrangements were originally designed to enable workers (especially women) to remain attached to the labour market. ninety percent of all australian higher education employers offer flexible working this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. arrangements compared to percent of all industries (wgea, ) . this is, in part, due to the fact that knowledge work is more amenable to flexible and remote work. however, while there are minimum standards and procedures for flexible work to which all employers must adhere, universities can decide whether to grant additional benefits to employees through an individual bargaining process between the university and the bargaining units representing employees. this means that the higher education sector is relatively uneven in terms of the generosity of its work-life balance policies. research from the uk shows that universities with more generous parental leave provisions, for instance, tend to have more women in higher academic positions (e.g. at professor level) and of childbearing age (epifanio & troger, ) . similarly, research intensity is another factor that may determine how well universities accommodate employee caring responsibilitiesresearch-intensive universities want to recruit and retain high calibre (women) researchers with generous work-life balance policies (epifanio & troger, ) . highly ranked universities also constantly benchmark their policies against 'peer' institutions (e.g. the go in australia or the russell group in the uk) and therefore, tend to offer more in order to uphold the shared values of the group and remain internationally competitive (epifanio & troger, ) . feminist scholars argue that 'flexible work' is a neoliberal strategy to deflect attention away from the federal government in solving the unpaid care impasse (e.g. gill, ) . in order to access flexible work, most australian universities direct employees to first go to a line manager to individually negotiate flexible working arrangements. here, the emphasis is on free individual 'choice' and is positioned as a gender-neutral strategy whereby working flexibly to accommodate caring arrangements is akin to wanting more time for leisure this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. activities like travel or sport (todd & binns, ) . as todd and binns ( : ) observe, this is problematic because: …it disguises the reality that a request to reorganize work time due to care commitments is often not a matter of individual choice in the same way that a similar request to participate in sporting activities may be. the notion of individual choice in wlb [work-life balance] may well be applicable to many activities but if it is applied to care then it absolves organizations and society from any responsibility to address the difficulties associated with birth rates, quality childcare and care for aged people. moreover, research shows that although australian workers have the procedural 'right to request' flexible working arrangements, it is not a guarantee of approval (cooper & baird, ) . as cooper and baird ( ) show, australian managers' personal experiences and commitment to flexible working arrangements plays a significant role in whether flexibility is granted. managers often lack a clear understanding of organisational policies and application procedures to facilitate flexible working (cooper & baird, ) . therefore, managers can be less accommodating when the requested flexible work arrangements are more disruptive to traditional working arrangements (todd & binns, ) . this neoliberal and individualist institutional approach to flexible work means that academics with caring responsibilities (mainly women) are deemed responsible for their own families because they are located in the 'private' sphere and separate from 'work'. when caring responsibilities are positioned as private matters, women often feel guilty for accessing worklife balance policies (weststar, ) . as a result, the social value of caring is not recognised organisationally. the long-term effect of this is that households and care regimes in australia this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. remain gendered and constituted around heterosexed norms and nuclear family formations where women are twice as likely to use flexible work arrangements compared to men (coffman & hogey, ) . research shows that australian fathers still rarely reduce their working hours to accommodate caring responsibilities (baxter, ) and only . percent of all australian men take parental leave (wgea, ) . this study emerged as the australian higher education sector was responding to the evolving landscape of covid- on multiple fronts. the first covid- case in australia was reported on january , and on march , the australian government closed its borders to all non-australian residents and rolled out social distancing measures on march . around this time, australian states and territories closed 'non-essential' services including restaurants, cafes, and small businesses. several universities reported cases of infected students and staff on campus. during march and april , most australian universities shifted all activities online. non-essential staff were directed to work remotely from home. given this context, this study explores two research questions:  how are australian universities supporting academic staff with caring responsibilities during covid- ?  how do australian institutional responses to remote work and caring responsibilities compare internationally? to address these research questions, in the early weeks of april , we conducted a desktop analysis of australian university websites with a focus on covid- related this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. webpages that provided specific guidance to staff on remote working and caring responsibilities. we excluded australia's two overseas universities from the sample. this data was supplemented by the websites of the world's top universities in the times higher education world rankings ( ) to provide a basis for international comparison. given that the world's top ten universities are located in the us and uk, the international comparative data is limited to countries in the anglosphere and to universities that are recognised as the wealthiest and most prestigious in the world (e.g. harvard, oxford). this sample is relevant for our purposes, however, because australian institutions are intensely competitive and position their market power in relation to the us and uk via these world rankings (see collyer, ) . a summary of the sources used in this study is provided in table . of the australian institutions reviewed, percent (n = ) provided publicly available information about remote working arrangements for staff during covid- (see table ). twenty-six of the australian universities in our sample put covid- related information behind password-protected portals only accessible by university staff. the australian institutional websites that we could access provided employees with information about remote working in a variety of formats including fact sheets, faqs, and links to external resources. nine of the institutions ( %) provided guidance to employees about managing caring responsibilities while working remotely during the pandemic. five of the nine institutions ( %) with this available information were part of the go of australia's leading universities (e.g. australia's national university (anu), university of western australia, monash university, university of queensland, university of new south wales). this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. the nine australian universities that provided guidance to staff about managing caring responsibilities with paid work consistently communicated that staff had three options: ) take leave (e.g. annual, carer's leave, or a special form of 'covid- ' leave) (n = ; ) discuss flexible working arrangements with a line manager or supervisor (n = , %); ) or both (n = , %). it is important to note that provisions for the special form of 'covid- leave' were variable and did not directly address the generalised need for employees to negotiate multiple impacts of the pandemic. for example, four institutions offered a form of covid- leave (ranging from - days) which could only be accessed for specific circumstances once personal leave was exhausted (e.g. self-isolation or diagnosis of covid- ; caring for someone selfisolating or sick with covid- ). federation university was the only employer to offer five days of paid working leave for employees to use for any circumstance related to covid- . in the case that an employee exhausted all forms of paid leave, all universities in the sample encouraged staff to take unpaid leave. only anu acknowledged the collective nature of caring responsibilities in its description of pandemic workloads, noting that 'staff members will continue to be paid their full-time hours if they can work at least % of their work hours from home' (anu, ). % of the top international universities (n = ) according to the times higher education world rankings had public information about remote working arrangements for this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. staff during covid- . of those institutions with publicly available information, eight institutions mentioned caring while working from home/remote working. notably, seven of the institutions in the international list are members of prestigious university groupings including the ivy league in the us (harvard, princeton, yale) and the russell group in the uk (oxford, cambridge, imperial college). as with australian institutions, the international institutional websites we reviewed emphasised personal leave as a primary way of responding to caring responsibilities in the context of covid- . similarly, half of all international institutions reviewed had dedicated types of 'covid- leave'. for example, princeton university ( ) offered employees 'covid- days' 'to assist employees who are unable to work, either on campus or remotely, because of hardships related to the coronavirus'. however, the difference here is that the use of this leave is not dependent on the exhaustion of other forms of personal leave. this approach was mirrored at massachusetts institute of technology (mit) ( ) where staff were told in a website faq that they were not expected to use personal/annual leave to care for children or other family members whilst working remotely. whereas australian universities had strict provisions surrounding the use of different types of leave, the international universities had more flexible approaches. for example, harvard ( ) did not have special 'covid- ' leave but advised staff to use dependent sick leave or carer's leave flexibly as a way to look after immediate family and household members who 'are not ill but need care due to any covid- related disruptions in schools, childcare or elder care'. this is a unique reinterpretation of 'leave' seeing as harvard ( ) ( ) and oxford ( ) advise staff that they will be paid normally even if they cannot work a full-time load due to caring responsibilities. most ( %) of the us institutions provided staff with information about emergency care arrangements that were not present in any of the australian institutional sample. this was often described as 'back up care' or 'crisis care'. 'back up care' or 'crisis care' was provided for children and adults/elderly for academic staff who are unable to use their regular care provider or rely on their regular care arrangements during covid- . these services are often outsourced, but princeton, for example, had their own childcare services in addition. further, these care arrangements are available to use flexibly meaning that staff could work at home with a paid carer present. the amount of back-up care however differed across some institutions: back up or crisis care was limited to days or hours (princeton, ) some ( %) international institutions went beyond childcare and leave provisions by providing access to specific services. in this category of special supports, yale led by example with a variety of services for staff that are designed to facilitate their working lives during shelter-in-place orders. for example, yale university staff were given access to a homework service to help parents manage home-schooling. there were additional resources for helping children experiencing learning issues, behavioural issues and developmental disabilities. staff were also directed to another service to help with appointments and meal deliveries during shelter-in-place (yale, ) in this article, we reviewed publicly available information from australian universities to assess how these institutions were communicating with staff about working remotely during this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. the pandemic and how negotiating caring responsibilities featured in these responses. to further contextualise our findings, we included the world's top universities in the times higher education world rankings ( ) in the analysis. we undertook this study because the uptake of flexible working is highly gendered as is the higher education sector globally. because of this, higher education institutions excel at offering flexible working options, however, anecdotal evidence and personal accounts suggest that academic women with caring responsibilities are facing significant challenges in negotiating paid work and care during the pandemic with little available support from universities (minello, , kitchener, . findings revealed that australian institutional responses to covid- and remote working are premised on neoliberal assumptions including the public-private divide and gendered division of labour. overall, the results of our desktop analysis highlight the continuing challenges of combining work and care for australian women in academia and that a lack of institutional policy supports during the pandemic reinscribes and privileges a male 'ideal' worker. however, our results also show australian institutions can look to their international counterparts in supporting academic staff to reconcile work and family challenges during the pandemic. overall, it was very difficult to access the relevant australian institutional information for our analysis. a relatively small number of australian universities provided public details about their covid- related work-life balance policies. while it is possible that the university websites that we were not able to access do provide more specific guidance or details about working remotely or with children during covid- , anecdotal evidence suggests that this is this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. unlikely. we argue that the lack of transparency around this issue perhaps is another example of how neoliberal universities obscure the ways in which they disadvantage particular groups. of the institutional websites that we did review, we were particularly surprised to find that there seemed to be no agreed 'standard' or consistent pattern in the guidelines across institutions on how academic employees are supposed to do their paid work and manage caring responsibilities in their private homes during covid- . this is despite the fact that the majority of the higher education workforce in australia is female (wgea, ) and that there remains a deep-seated idea in australian culture and social policy that women are primary caregivers (pocock, ) . in this way, the absence of substantive references to care and caring responsibilities might be read as the maintenance of a 'gender-neutral façade' during the pandemic which prioritises a childless, male 'ideal worker' who is able to work from home remotely (acker, ; jenkins, ) . furthermore, it suggests that institutions assume that work and home are separate domains and that employees can easily remain productive and demarcate their varied roles at home even though the spheres of paid and unpaid work are co-located. however, for most women the home represents yet another workplaceone where they are expected to take on a 'second shift' of caregiving and domestic labour (hochschild, ) . most of the publicly available guidance from australian universities about caring responsibilities whilst working remotely was limited to discussing the situation with a supervisor or line manager or taking a period of leave. we argue that the direction to discuss work and caring arrangements with a line manager implies that individual circumstances will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. this is problematic because it suggests that caring responsibilities are 'exceptional' circumstances, rather than what are more far-reaching this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. circumstances affecting all academic workers. this directly illustrates how neoliberal universities make gender inequalities like caring during covid- invisible and thus difficult to solve (acker, ) . many of the university directives that we examined, seemed to rely on the empathy and goodwill of the line managers to accommodate employee requests. this is despite australian research that shows that managers are often ill-equipped to facilitate flexible working (cooper & baird, ) . this point is especially pertinent to covid- as it is highly likely that many academic women have considerably disrupted working lives and therefore, are requesting altered workloads or periods of leave which may challenge the organisation's operational goals. moreover, considering that flexible working is gendered and so deeply entwined with women/mothers, manager bias may make it difficult for fathers to request flexibility under covid- . this is likely given that men are reluctant to take up parental leave and worry about workplace stigma in general (walsh ) the supervisory meeting also relies on the employee leveraging their occupational capital to access flexible workinga problem for the precariously employed (weststar, ) . the overreliance on 'leave'paid, unpaid, special, crisis -as a solution to work and care during covid- is problematic because leave in this context is only temporary but the fact remains that care permanently disrupts dominant constructions and experiences of time. findings show that australian employees are being asked to use their annual/personal leave, carer's leave, and then to go to a special type of covid- leave or unpaid leave if required. a period of leave is generally defined as a temporary absence from paid work. in general, there is much anxiety around paying employees to undertake caring work (as per the stringent requirements for employees to qualify for parental leave). the same expectations do not fall this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. on staff taking annual or personal leave where there is no expectation that the employee is engaged in paid work at this time (hargita, ) . the reliance on carer's leave is particularly problematic during the pandemic because it is implicitly a short-term type of leave that does not accommodate children being out of school or childcare for months at a time. as hargita ( : ) argues, 'this 'take all [leave] at once' approach does not allow for disruptive temporalities, nor does it allow for other unexpected transformative experiences and temporalities of care'. rather, in this arrangement, those employees who are able to minimise their caring and spend their time 'productively' in paid labour will receive paid leave whereas those who allow their waged labour to be disrupted by caring responsibilities do not receive paid leave. this directive implies that not working due to caring responsibilities is a 'choice' and it also similarly assumes that employees have the capital to take unpaid leave if necessary. precariously employed university staff, for instance, do not have leave entitlements and therefore are unprotected should they need to manage caring with paid work. these findings suggest that decisions about caring leave and participation in the paid labour force are still seen as an essentially 'private' matter in which employees design their own 'solutions'. the only australian institution to acknowledge the collective nature of caring responsibilities was anu in their institution-wide designation that a full-time workload during covid- is equivalent to working hours of a -hour work week. this progressive move likely reflects anu's ranking as the second-best university on the times higher education world rankings of all australian universities but also its determination to be a national leader on family-friendly/flexible workplace policies for its workforce (anu, ) . however, as feminist sociologists have argued for several decades, 'flexibility' this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. inherently disadvantages women in general because they remain tethered to caring and the domestic sphere in ways that men still are not (pocock, ) . the findings from our international review of the top ten international higher education institutions provides important insight into how the problems of work and care in the time of covid- and beyond might be positively addressed in the australian higher education sector. indeed, some of the provisions provided by the world's top universities offer a roadmap for higher education institutions and others in reconciling work and care for its employees. the international institutions in our sample, for the most part, made information about policies related to remote working and caring during covid- transparent and publicly available unlike the majority of australian institutions. however, it is important to note that our sample of international institutions is less diverse than our sample of australian institutions, which includes universities outside of the go . most of our international sample comprised ivy league and russell group institutions which are wealthy and well-endowed and have shared values around attracting and retaining academic talent. we included these institutions as a point of comparison because australian institutions not only aspire to reach the top of international rankings but are heavily influenced by higher education policy from the us and uk (epifanio & troger, ) . like australian institutions, taking leave from work was a primary means by which employees were encouraged to manage their caring and paid work in the international institutions. however, most of the international institutions in the sample did not individualise the issue of caring by exclusively directing staff to discuss flexible working with a line manager or supervisor. rather, the institutions transparently communicated all flexible working options for staff with care responsibilities during covid- . the starkest this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. difference between australian and international institutions was the provision of childcare or access to 'crisis' services mediated through the institutions. almost all of the international institutions we reviewed offered some kind of emergency or crisis care that most staff could access. there were some differences across international institutions in terms of how much access employees were entitled to, but access to care providers for children and other family members during covid- appeared to be de rigueur. yale stood above the rest of the international sample in its provision of caring and other services to help with home-schooling and meal delivery during shelter-in-place orders. this is unique given that the international institutions are based in what are deemed 'liberal' welfare states (lewis, ) like australia where the organisation of childcare or care in general is largely left to the individual to manage. however, these arrangements, in part, reflect the privilege and status of these international institutionsall of them well-endowed, top performing research-intensive universities that can afford to provide these services to retain (female) staff (epifanio & troger, ) . nevertheless, it also shows the way forward for australian institutions if they too are to compete internationally. while half of the australian go made some mention of caring in the context of remote work, there is a still a large gap between the go universities and their international counterparts in the ivy league and russell group in terms of supports. to illustrate, at the time writing this article, the university of new south wales, a go university, announced it would mitigate financial losses from the pandemic by cutting all of its on-campus childcare services and various equity and diversity measures including a career advancement fund to support women following a period of parental leave (mason, ) . further, these findings highlight how organisations might overcome the deficiencies of the welfare state in helping to reconcile work and family challenges by providing more generous work-life balance supports. this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. a key study limitation was our inability to access many australian institutional websites due to the information being locked being staff portals. it is possible that australian institutions reviewed here have more detail around work and caring arrangements during covid- . our international sample was biased towards top performing international institutions. further analyses might include a more diverse international sample outside of elite, researchintensive institutional groupings to make comparisons with non-go universities in australia. however, we note that most of the non-go universities in our sample did not discuss care in their publicly available information. future researchers might also qualitatively examine the individual experiences of academics within the different institutional types both in australia and internationally to compare the impact of these policies on productivity and well-being. inequality regimes: gender, class, and race in organizations a profile of carers in australia. information sheet this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved new family friendly committee launched work from home guidelines fathers and work: a statistical overview cruel optimism deconstructing diversity discourses in the 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warwick economics research papers flexible working arrangements covid- 's gendered impact on academic productivity may) how i wrote and published a book about the economics of coronavirus in a month. the conversation academics, cultural workers and critical labour studies this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved group of eight austraia ( ) about the neoliberalism wars, or notes on the persistence of neoliberalism neoliberal multiculturalism: the remaking of cultural rights and racial dominance in central america care-based temporalities and parental leave in australia working from home a brief history of neoliberalism the second shift precarity, gender and care in the neoliberal academy did our employers just requisition our homes? canberra time gender fatigue: the ideological dilemma of gender neutrality and discrimination in organizations women academics seem to be submitting fewer papers during coronavirus the casual approach to teacher education: what effect does 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australian hgher education at the turn of the st century: a précis of reforms. commercialisation and the new university hierarchy confronting gender inequality in a business school powers of freedom: reframing political thought the rise of neoliberal feminism a femininity that 'giveth and taketh away': the prosperity gospel and postfeminisim in the neoliberal economy key financial metrics on australia's higher education sector _ .pdf?v= (accessed through a glass darkly: the social sciences look at the neoliberal university world university rankings work-life balance: is it now a problem for management? gender australian institute of family studies negotiating in silence: experiences with parental leave in academia workplace gender equality agency (wgea) ( ). data explorer covid- childcare resources this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. key: cord- -i q olv authors: cobos-sanchiz, david; del-pino-espejo, maría-josé; sánchez-tovar, ligia; matud, m. pilar title: the importance of work-related events and changes in psychological distress and life satisfaction amongst young workers in spain: a gender analysis date: - - journal: int j environ res public health doi: . /ijerph sha: doc_id: cord_uid: i q olv a relentless stream of social, technological, and economic changes have impacted the workplace, affecting young people in particular. such changes can be a major source of stress and can cause a threat to health and well-being. the aim of this paper is to understand the importance of work-related events and changes in the psychological distress and life satisfaction of young workers in spain. a transversal study was carried out on a sample comprising men and women aged between and years old. the results showed that there were no differences between the men and women in the number of work-related events and changes experienced in the last months, nor in terms of job satisfaction. the results from the multiple regression analysis showed that a greater number of work-related events and changes experienced during the last months were associated with increased psychological distress and reduced life satisfaction amongst men, but this was not the case for women. although job satisfaction was independent from the men and women’s psychological distress when self-esteem and social support was included in the regression equation, greater job satisfaction was associated with greater life satisfaction for both men and women. it concludes that work-related events and job satisfaction are important for the health and well-being of young people, even though a larger number of work-related events and changes is associated with increased psychological distress and reduced life satisfaction for men only. profound social change has been taking place in recent decades in technological and economic terms, having an impact on work and workers. these changes are taking place at increasingly faster speeds and affect most countries across the world. from the late s and, in particular, in the s, researchers supporting different theoretical perspectives have recounted the consequences of the changes in manufacturing systems; the move from an industrial to post-industrial society. these changes go beyond the methods of organizing production, having a clear impact on working conditions and employment opportunities [ ] . there is discussion around an environment characterized by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (vuca) where companies, in response to almost unpredictable social expectations, undergo constant and rapid change [ ] . among the effects of globalization, it is worth highlighting that economic, social, and health crises are no longer confined to just one country, but rather they spread to other countries-sometimes more quickly than others. within this context, working life has experienced significant changes, caused by an ever more global and flexible system [ ] ; these are changes that are contributing to a significant loss of work, with an increase in unemployment, underemployment, and precarious employment throughout the world [ ] . according to the international labor organization (ilo), the main problem in the world's labor markets is poor quality employment. millions of people are compelled to accept poor working conditions. recent data show that, in , the majority of the total global working population of . billion did not have an adequate level of economic security, material well-being, and equal opportunities [ ] . this tends to affect young people most of all, as individuals that are extremely vulnerable to an ever-changing environment, where situations of abnormal employment, temporary employment, part-time work, outsourcing, individual contracts, and self-employment prevail. the changes in the world of work that young people are facing, whether due to the introduction of new technologies or the type of employment in itself, take place in such a way that young people often do not have the chance to adapt to the position [ ] . for millions of young people in the european union, finding a job is extremely difficult. in some southern european countries, more than half of all young adults are unemployed, a situation that was made even worse by the last financial crisis. this entails problems of a psychosocial nature, but can also have devastating consequences for the countries concerned-and the european union itself [ ] in a post-brexit context, due to the social tensions that can arise from unemployment. in spain, in particular, youth unemployment rates double those of the adult population and affect more than half of the population [ ] . the most relevant aspect has been the change in the industrial trend of male employment: stable jobs for life have made way for constant change with periods of unemployment, instability, and precariousness throughout one's working life. in addition to the difficulty of entering the labor market for the first time, replicated across europe, the problems arising from the spanish economy based on unstable productive industries must also be considered [ ] . it could be assumed that this dynamic reflects the stamina of young people, but in reality it shows an overwhelming situation that hinders them in their daily routine, characterized by an uncontrolled flow of new demands that constantly force them to search for new jobs, which consistently fail to meet their expectations due to their temporary nature. according to vendramin [ ] , switching jobs is part of a "normalized" journey of employment instability for young people. these changes are involuntary for . % of women and % of men. the reality of young workers has been put in the spotlight by different visions. according to data from the ilo [ ] , women are more likely to take casual work, and just like young people, they are prone to establishing weak ties with the employment market. it is undeniable that working is fundamental for the economic and psychological well-being of an individual, and of society in general [ ] . in current day society, a person's job is one of their most important sources of identity and it plays a vital economic and social role for the majority of people [ ] . however, employment and working conditions can involve factors that are not people-oriented, and this affects their well-being. the links between work and health have become a central issue in organizational literature, and workers are becoming more and more aware of the importance of health in their work-life balance [ , ] . in terms of young workers, it is particularly important to understand that their initiation into the world of work is taking place under adverse circumstances; due to the lack of jobs currently on offer on the market and also due to the lack of appreciation for their personal conditions due to inexperience [ ] . although work can be a source of stress, it is a fundamental aspect of life, as working age adults spend the majority of their waking hours at work [ ] . work is particularly important for a young person's personal development, and due to the restricted possibilities of entering the labor market, they can end up accepting precarious employment with unfavorable conditions that put their physical and mental integrity at risk. it is worth nothing that, despite the employment crisis and the aforementioned changes in production systems, the vision and expectations of young spanish people with regard to work and professional life continue to be largely similar to those of previous generations. for them, work is a fundamental part of their lives, whether it is more instrumental and utilitarian (young people from an industrial background or from peripheral rural and semi-rural areas), or more self-fulfilling (young urbanites) [ ] . in this respect, despite the fact that, among the realistic expectations of young spanish people is just how difficult it is to gain a foothold in the labor market, this does not mitigate a major psychological and social impact, which can trigger severe and significant consequences for individuals that endure over time [ ] . such circumstances may be, in fact, an important source of stress that can alter the physiology and mental well-being of individuals [ ] . work-related events and changes thus pose a threat to the health and well-being of women and men alike. in recent decades ample research has been carried out on the psychosocial risks of work, such as stress in the workplace, and a link was found between psychosocial risks and their consequences on physical, mental, and social health [ ] . in accordance with data from the quebec national institute for public health [ ] , there are several scientific studies that have shown that the presence of one or more psychosocial risks in the workplace can impinge upon workers' mental and physical health, increasing the risk of accidents. it was also stressed that workers with a low level of education working in precarious employment have to face increased psychosocial risks at work, which affects their health and hinders the possibility of improved life conditions. likewise, it was highlighted that men and women are not exposed to the same psychosocial risks in the workplace, but that women tend to be more exposed. it is important to understand that when assessing work-related psychosocial factors, analyzing job satisfaction is also important. although there is no sole definition, it is believed that job satisfaction reflects a pleasant emotional state where people value their work or work experience positively [ ] . job satisfaction is a global concept that covers several aspects and is determined by specific work elements, such as the workplace or the job's characteristics, by specific personal factors such as skill or psychological status, and by non-specific factors such as demographic, cultural, and community aspects [ , ] . there is evidence that job satisfaction has an impact on individual performance and company results, as well as affecting the health and lifestyle quality of the worker. for example, it has been found that job satisfaction is associated with trust in the company [ ] , work performance [ ] , and self-efficacy [ ] , whilst workers that are unsatisfied can see their mental and physical health suffer due to mood changes or psychosomatic complaints, reduced efficiency, more time off, and more requests for a change in role [ ] . symptoms of depression and anxiety have been named collectively as psychological distress [ ] , although other symptoms such as somatic issues or insomnia are also included within psychological distress [ ] [ ] [ ] . both clinically and in research, psychological distress is a commonly used indicator for mental health and psychopathologies [ ] , as well as being associated with physical health. there is evidence showing that psychological distress is associated with higher mortality rates for various reasons [ ] , and with several inflammatory markers [ ] . it has also been found to increase the risk of diseases such as arthritis, cardiovascular disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder [ ] . many of these effects have been studied less in young people than they have been in adults, perhaps due to morbidity and mortality rates being comparatively lower in the former group. it should be noted, however, that various health issues onset at a young age, which may affect the individual throughout the rest of their life [ ] . self-esteem and social support stand out amongst the psychosocial factors related to health and well-being [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] . self-concept refers to describing and evaluating oneself, including one's psychological and physical characteristics, qualities, skills, and roles. self-esteem is the degree to which such qualities and characteristics are perceived as being positive [ ] . there are many factors that determine a person's self-esteem, including individual values, attitudes, wishes, family issues, and social factors related to work and the type of work [ ] . there is evidence that self-esteem has consequences on central aspects of life and high self-esteem leads to good mental and physical health, satisfaction with close relationships, and social support [ , ] , as well as being associated with job performance [ ] and professional prestige and income [ ] . across all societies, gender is fundamental in organizing work, and work is fundamental for socially constructing gender. although there is empirical evidence that men and women are similar in the majority of their psychological features [ , ] , most societies believe that differences remain, and that they should take on different roles; and they are treated differently depending on the gender assigned to them at birth. gender is a social construct [ ] that restricts people and gives them different roles and positions. traditional gender roles consider women as carers and men as the backbone of the family [ ] , assuming that working is vital for a man's mental health, but somewhat secondary for women, whilst the opposite assumption occurs within family roles [ ] . these assumptions are not supported by the empirical evidence that shows that the quality of job positions is associated with less psychological distress amongst men and women [ , ] , and that the similarities between men and women are clearer than the differences, amongst a series of factors that are important for the family-work association [ ] . despite this, it is still believed that the commitment of a woman to work is lower than that of a man, and the classification of gender is an important deciding factor when it comes to professional interests [ ] . although there has been a trend towards more equal gender roles in recent decades [ ] , gender stereotypes that present significant differences between men and women in terms of their features, occupations, and behavior still exist [ , ] . in spite of a woman's role in the workplace having become more widespread in recent years in many countries [ ] total working equality has not yet been achieved, with salary gaps and job segregation remaining [ ] [ ] [ ] . an example of this is that men still dominate the more prestigious and creative roles, as well as the technical positions [ ] . although the importance of research in the psychological aspects of work has received more recognition in recent decades, and research has been done on the psychosocial risks inherent to the workplace and the working environment [ ] , the impact on health due to stress at work understood as work-related events and changes has been studied less. furthermore, the positive aspects of work such as job satisfaction or the presence of personal resources such as self-esteem, and social resources such as social support, are rarely considered in these studies. these are all variables that can differ from men to women and can be important in determining health and well-being. the aim of this paper is therefore to understand the importance of work-related events and changes experienced in the last year in psychological distress and life satisfaction for young people in spain, including satisfaction with the job role, self-esteem, and emotional and instrumental social support in the prediction model, all of which will be assessed by analyzing men and women separately. the hypotheses are: men and women who have experienced a greater number of work-related events and changes, and who report low job satisfaction, low self-esteem, and low social support will also report greater psychological distress. men and women who have experienced a lesser number of work-related events and changes, and who report high job satisfaction, high self-esteem, and high social support will also report greater life satisfaction. the sample consisted of men and women aged between and years old. the average age of the men was . (sd = . ) and for women was . (sd = . ), the difference was not statistically significant, t( ) = . , p = . . their professions were different: % was non-manual labor, . % was manual labor, and . % had professions that required university studies. there were also differences in their level of education, even though it was most common for them to have studied at university ( . %), . % had secondary school education and . % had only basic education. more than half of the sample ( . %) was single, % was married or in a civil partnership, and . % was separated or divorced. psychological distress was assessed using scales of somatic symptoms, anxiety and insomnia, and severe depression as per the ghq- [ ] , each of which includes items that gathers information on general health over recent weeks. example items are "been feeling nervous and strung-up all the time?", "felt constantly under strain?", "felt that life isn't worth living?", and "felt that life is entirely hopeless?". the likert scale was used, allocating weightings from (no symptoms) to (greater discomfort). the internal consistency in the sample group of this paper for the items is . . life satisfaction was assessed with the satisfaction with life scale (swls) [ ] . it is made up of items with a likert-style -point response scale ranging from (completely disagree) to (completely agree). it is a tool that has been used in many countries, spain included, and has shown suitable psychometric properties for men and women [ , ] . the internal consistency in the sample group of this paper was . . the work-related events and changes were assessed using four items where participants were asked whether in the last months they had experienced the following: ( ) change of employment, ( ) loss of employment, ( ) starting new employment; and ( ) change in employment conditions. each item was scored with a if the person had not experienced it in the previous months and with if they had. the total score for work-related events and changes was obtained by adding together the responses from the items, so the score range is between (for the complete absence of work-related events and changes) and , which is the maximum score. job satisfaction was assessed using the job satisfaction questionnaire [ ] . it is an open response test where there are questions about whether the person is satisfied in their job, if it is the job they chose, if they want a change, and to what extent they feel fulfilled. the responses to each of the questions were scored quantitatively by applying a code created and approved by matud [ ] . the internal consistency for the sample group in this paper was . . self-esteem was assessed using the spanish version of the york self-esteem inventory [ ] , a questionnaire made up of items that takes an overall measurement of self-esteem, reflecting the assessment of several skills including personal, interpersonal, family, achievement, physical attractiveness, and the assessment of the degree of uncertainty in themselves. the answer format is on a -point scale that ranges from "never" (scored with a ) to "always", which is scored with a . with this sample group in this paper the internal consistency was . . social support was assessed using the social support scale [ ] . it is made up of items, answers to which are given on a -point likert scale that ranges from (never) to (always), and they assess the social support perceived emotionally ( items) and instrumentally ( items). the internal consistency of the sample in this paper was . for emotional social support and . for instrumental social support. furthermore, each participant was given a sociodemographic and employment data collection sheet. participants were volunteers and were not paid for their participation in this study. the sample was chosen through various work centers of spanish companies all over spain, from all production sectors. to collect data, the social networks of psychology and sociology students at spanish universities were analyzed, who were trained for the testing step and received course credits for this task. after verbal informed consent was received, the questionnaires were completed individually on paper by people that met the following criteria: ( ) aged between and years old; ( ) with work experience and either working (work experience means having, or having had, a formal employment contract) or not; and ( ) able to understand and speak spanish. this study is part of broader research on the importance of personal and social factors in men and women's well-being, and it was assessed positively by the animal research and well-being ethics committee at the university of la laguna (study approval no. - ). descriptive analyses were carried out to understand the socio-demographic characteristics of the participants. the reliability of the internal consistency of the study factors was calculated using cronbach's alpha coefficient. the comparisons between men and women were calculated using the student's t-test. the bivariate associations between variables were calculated using pearson's r correlation coefficient except for the educational level where spearman's rho was used as it is an ordinal variable with levels, from (for no studies) to (for university studies spanning years). to test the hypotheses and determine the importance of the number of work-related events and changes, job satisfaction, self-esteem and social support in psychological distress, and life satisfaction amongst men and women, hierarchical multiple regression analyses were made. the age and level of studies were incorporated at the first step (model ) to control their effect. at step (model ), the number of work-related events and changes and job satisfaction. finally, at step (model ), self-esteem and emotional and instrumental social support were incorporated. the correlations and the multiple regression analyses were made independently for the sample of women and the sample of men. the statistical analyses were performed using the ibm spss statistics for windows software, version . (ibm corp., armonk, n.y., usa). sectors. to collect data, the social networks of psychology and sociology students at spanish universities were analyzed, who were trained for the testing step and received course credits for this task. after verbal informed consent was received, the questionnaires were completed individually on paper by people that met the following criteria: ( ) aged between and years old; ( ) with work experience and either working (work experience means having, or having had, a formal employment contract) or not; and ( ) able to understand and speak spanish. this study is part of broader research on the importance of personal and social factors in men and women's well-being, and it was assessed positively by the animal research and well-being ethics committee at the university of la laguna (study approval no. - ). descriptive analyses were carried out to understand the socio-demographic characteristics of the participants. the reliability of the internal consistency of the study factors was calculated using cronbach's alpha coefficient. the comparisons between men and women were calculated using the student's t-test. the bivariate associations between variables were calculated using pearson's r correlation coefficient except for the educational level where spearman's rho was used as it is an ordinal variable with levels, from (for no studies) to (for university studies spanning years). to test the hypotheses and determine the importance of the number of work-related events and changes, job satisfaction, self-esteem and social support in psychological distress, and life satisfaction amongst men and women, hierarchical multiple regression analyses were made. the age and level of studies were incorporated at the first step (model ) to control their effect. at step (model ), the number of work-related events and changes and job satisfaction. finally, at step (model ), selfesteem and emotional and instrumental social support were incorporated. the correlations and the multiple regression analyses were made independently for the sample of women and the sample of men. the statistical analyses were performed using the ibm spss statistics for windows software, version . (ibm corp., armonk, n.y., usa). in table are the correlation coefficients between the age, level of studies, number of workrelated events and changes, job satisfaction, self-esteem and social support with the psychological distress, and life satisfaction amongst men and women. as it is possible to observe, age is independent from the psychological distress and life satisfaction amongst men and women, and although for men said variables are also independent from the level of studies, women with a higher level of studies have less psychological distress and greater life satisfaction. for both men and women, a higher number of work-related events and changes are associated with increased psychological distress and less life satisfaction, whilst more job satisfaction, self-esteem, and social support are associated with more life satisfaction and less psychological distress. table . correlations between the dependent and independent variables amongst men and women. table shows the main results from the hierarchical multiple regression analysis in which the dependent variable was psychological distress for the male sample, with table showing the female sample. as it is possible to observe, model was only statistically significant in the female sample, albeit with the only statistically significant predictor being the level of studies (β = − . , p < . ). including the number of work-related events and changes and job satisfaction in model produced a statistically significant increase in r , with the beta weights being statistically significant for both variables amongst men but only job satisfaction amongst women. including self-esteem and emotional and instrumental social support in model also produced a statistically significant increase in r , although for the female sample only self-esteem was statistically significant (β = − . , p < . ), whilst in the male sample self-esteem (β = − . , p < − ) and instrumental social support (β = − . , p < . ) was. model , with all the independent variables in the equation, predicted % in table are the correlation coefficients between the age, level of studies, number of work-related events and changes, job satisfaction, self-esteem and social support with the psychological distress, and life satisfaction amongst men and women. as it is possible to observe, age is independent from the psychological distress and life satisfaction amongst men and women, and although for men said variables are also independent from the level of studies, women with a higher level of studies have less psychological distress and greater life satisfaction. for both men and women, a higher number of work-related events and changes are associated with increased psychological distress and less life satisfaction, whilst more job satisfaction, self-esteem, and social support are associated with more life satisfaction and less psychological distress. table shows the main results from the hierarchical multiple regression analysis in which the dependent variable was psychological distress for the male sample, with table showing the female sample. as it is possible to observe, model was only statistically significant in the female sample, albeit with the only statistically significant predictor being the level of studies (β = − . , p < . ). including the number of work-related events and changes and job satisfaction in model produced a statistically significant increase in r , with the beta weights being statistically significant for both variables amongst men but only job satisfaction amongst women. including self-esteem and emotional and instrumental social support in model also produced a statistically significant increase in r , although for the female sample only self-esteem was statistically significant (β = − . , p < . ), whilst in the male sample self-esteem (β = − . , p < − ) and instrumental social support (β = − . , p < . ) was. model , with all the independent variables in the equation, predicted % of the variability in psychological distress amongst men and % of psychological distress amongst women. for the male sample, psychological distress was associated with lower self-esteem, a higher number of work-related events and changes in the past year, and less instrumental social support whilst for the females it was only associated with a lower self-esteem. . ( , ) ** . ( , ) *** . ( , ) *** note: β = standardized regression coefficient. * p < . ; ** p < . ; *** p < . . table shows the main results from the hierarchical multiple regression analysis in which the dependent variable was life satisfaction for the male sample, with table showing the female sample. as it is possible to observe, model was only statistically significant in the female sample where a higher level of study was associated to greater job satisfaction. including the number of work-related events and changes that had taken place in the last year and job satisfaction in model produced a statistically significant increase in r for men and women, with the beta weights being statistically significant for both variables, and showing that greater life satisfaction was associated to greater job satisfaction and a lower number of work-related events and changes in the previous year. including self-esteem and emotional and instrumental social support in model produced a statistically significant increase in r for men and women, with the beta weights for self-esteem and emotional social support in the male sample and self-esteem and instrumental social support in the female sample being statistically significant. model , with all the regression variables, predicted % of the variance in life satisfaction for men and % for women. for men, increased life satisfaction was associated with increased job satisfaction, greater emotional social support, higher self-esteem, and less work-related events and changes during the last year. for women, increased life satisfaction was associated to higher self-esteem, more job satisfaction, and greater instrumental social support. the aim of this paper was to understand the importance of work-related events and changes experienced in the last year in assessing psychological distress and life satisfaction for male and female young workers in spain, including these factors in the prediction model together with the number of work-related events and changes, and job satisfaction. self-esteem and emotional and instrumental social support were also included in the regression equation, with the aim of understanding the relative weight that social, personal, and work factors have on psychological distress and life satisfaction. a hierarchical regression model was used, and men and women were analyzed separately, given the evidence that gender is an important distinction in the workplace. it highlights that, in regression analysis, work-related events and changes experienced in the previous year and job satisfaction were statistically significant for men, but for women, only job satisfaction, was statistically significant. this coincides with what has been reported in literature [ , ] ; for both men and women, the quality of job positions is associated with less psychological distress and better health. the fact that only job satisfaction was statistically significant for women could be a reflection of women facing situations of inequality, segregation, imbalances, and gender stereotypes in the labor market [ , ] , which is still happening regardless of the academic level reached by this group in recent years. it is well known that gender places young men and women unequally in both the education and the labor market [ ] . there is extensive literature on the gender gap, in general and in the spanish labor market in particular, which looks at employment discrimination, its evolution throughout the life cycle and, specifically, pay discrimination [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] . employers still hold stereotypes about women's productivity and, in general, tend to regard women as being less committed to paid work than men [ , ] . this reality is reported in studies that reveal the distribution of roles in accordance with gender in workplaces [ ] [ ] [ ] , aspects, which are often highlighted in female working environments. with regard to the predictors of psychological distress and life satisfaction, there were some significant differences between men and women. in both groups, age was independent from psychological distress and life satisfaction, as was the case with the level of studies for men. for women, a higher level of studies was associated with less psychological distress and greater life satisfaction, despite the small size of the effect and its greatly reduced statistical significance when self-esteem and social support were included in the regression equation. the first hypothesis, proposing that men and women who have experienced a greater number of work-related events or changes, and who report low job satisfaction, low self-esteem, and low social support would also report greater psychological distress, was only partially supported. although in the male sample a larger number of work-related events and changes taking place in the last year and less job satisfaction predicted psychological distress (model ), when self-esteem and social support (model ) were included in the regression equation, job satisfaction ceased to be statistically significant in predicting psychological distress. for women, although in model less job satisfaction predicted increased psychological distress, job satisfaction ceased to be statistically significant in predicting psychological distress when self-esteem and social support (model ) were included in the regression equation. self-esteem ended up being an important predictor of psychological distress for the male sample and the only predictor for the females. these results coincide with those of other studies [ , ] and confirm the importance of self-esteem on psychological well-being for both men and women. these results force us to consider the value of self-esteem and psychological well-being as health contributors, as highlighted by some authors in studies on psychological distress and the workplace [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] . the results highlight the lack of importance of social support in predicting psychological distress, as it was only statistically significant in the male group, despite literature reporting social support as a protective factor of psychological distress. the second hypothesis, which proposed that men and women who have experienced a lesser number of work-related events and changes, and who report high job satisfaction, high self-esteem, and high social support would also report greater life satisfaction, was also only partially supported. in fact, in the male group, greater life satisfaction was associated with greater job satisfaction, increased emotional social support, higher self-esteem, and less work-related events and changes. however, for women, in the final model, when self-esteem and social support were incorporated, the number of work-related events and changes ceased to be statistically significant, and the social support, which was associated in a statistically significant way with greater life satisfaction, was instrumental and not emotional. this suggests that self-esteem and social support are valuable factors when surveying disrupting situations in life satisfaction for both groups. it should be noted that the perceived social support in particular has been considered by several authors as an element that facilitates protection against situations that create psychological distress. the results found highlight that there are differences between men and women in the predictive value of work-related events and changes in psychological distress, with job events and changes being much more associated with psychological distress in young men rather than women. this could perhaps be a consequence of traditional social practices and gender stereotypes that further underscore working roles amongst men more so than women [ , , , ] , and therefore work-related events and changes could equate to a bigger threat for men's mental health than for women's. in any case, it also highlights that there were no differences between men and women in terms of their job satisfaction, and this was important for predicting life satisfaction for both sexes. the results allow us to broaden our knowledge about the relevance of work-related events and changes on the health and well-being of women and men. in this respect, the findings of our research serve as a basis for further studies aimed at the in-depth research into distress in young workers, including looking into factors that implicate the work environment as a potential trigger of psychological distress. in particular, the difference between men and women in the predictive importance that work-related events and changes have in psychological distress and life satisfaction (a construct that refers to the feeling of well-being with oneself in one's surroundings) has been highlighted, with this being much greater amongst young men than young women. in conclusion, work-related events and changes and job satisfaction are important for the health and well-being of young workers, even though a larger number of work-related events and changes amongst only men are associated with greater psychological distress and reduced life satisfaction. it is important to highlight that, for young workers, life satisfaction, social support, and self-esteem were shown to be important factors to considered in research in relation to the psychological distress created by adverse circumstances in the working environment. the study has some limitations and it should be noted that a convenience sample was used, so there can be no guarantee that this is representative of young spanish people. moreover, the study is transversal, so we cannot speak of cause-effect relationships. in addition, the percentage of variance explained in psychological distress and in life satisfaction does not exceed %. certain aspects could have been studied in greater depth, and remain open to subsequent study in greater detail. in particular, it would be interesting to use the holmes-rahe life stress scale, a psychological scale used 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discrimination when professionals become mothers, warmth doesn't cut the ice this article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the creative commons attribution (cc by) license the authors declare no conflict of interest. the funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results. key: cord- - rftzv n authors: schor, juliet b.; attwood-charles, william; cansoy, mehmet; ladegaard, isak; wengronowitz, robert title: dependence and precarity in the platform economy date: - - journal: theory soc doi: . /s - - -y sha: doc_id: cord_uid: rftzv n the rapid growth of uber and analogous platform companies has led to considerable scholarly interest in the phenomenon of platform labor. scholars have taken two main approaches to explaining outcomes for platform work—precarity, which focuses on employment classification and insecure labor, and technological control via algorithms. both predict that workers will have relatively common experiences. on the basis of in-depth interviews with workers on seven platforms (airbnb, taskrabbit, turo, uber, lyft, postmates, and favor) we find heterogeneity of experiences across and within platforms. we argue that because platform labor is weakly institutionalized, worker satisfaction, autonomy, and earnings vary significantly across and within platforms, suggesting dominant interpretations are insufficient. we find that the extent to which workers are dependent on platform income to pay basic expenses rather than working for supplemental income explains the variation in outcomes, with supplemental earners being more satisfied and higher-earning. this suggests platforms are free-riding on conventional employers. we also find that platforms are hierarchically ordered, in terms of what providers can earn, conditions of work, and their ability to produce satisfied workers. our findings suggest the need for a new analytic approach to platforms, which emphasizes labor force diversity, connections to conventional labor markets, and worker dependence. which companies abandon long-term contracts in favor of task-based work, employeefree organizations, and an organizational structure akin to a "web page" rather than the modern corporation (davis a, b; vallas ) . economist arun sundararajan also foretells an "end to employment" (sundararajan ) , but in this view, independent agents are able to self-employ profitably, using technology to gain freedom, autonomy, and livelihood. a third position sees platforms as twenty-first century entities that use digital tools, and specifically algorithms, to control and manipulate workers (rosenblat ; rosenblat and stark ; lee et al. ) . these examples represent the three main approaches with which scholars have attempted to analyze this new economic form-precarity, efficiency, and algorithmic control. while each of these approaches focuses on an important aspect of platform labor, their emphasis on a single feature is misleading. in contrast, we argue that what is distinctive about the platforms is that the combination of open employment and earners' authority to self-schedule and organize work with considerable centralized power afforded by the firm's software. while we agree that platform work represents a new type of labor regime, our findings suggest that existing accounts have not recognized important implications of this combination. like precarious work itself (vallas and kalleberg ) platform labor is undertheorized, due to particularities in the evolution of the literature. one is a heavy focus on whether sharing platforms are beneficial or exploitative for workers, at the expense of a more analytic approach (schor and attwood-charles ) . a second is the "ubercentricity" of research. much of the interview and ethnographic data of in-person platform labor comes from ride-hailing, and uber in particular (robinson ; rosenblat ; malin and chandler ; peticca-harris et al. ; manriquez ; dubal a) , with a smaller group of studies on food delivery (attwood-charles a; drahokoupil and piasna ; ivanova et al. ; shapiro ) . while ride-hail is the largest employer on labor platforms, it is not representative of many other platforms in terms of the characteristics of its labor force and degree of algorithmic management. our approach, emphasizing analytic features of multiple platforms, yields different conclusions. in contrast to precarity scholars, we show that the openness of the employment relation yields a heterogeneous workforce with high variation in conditions of work and by extension, levels of precarity. heterogeneity results because the firm "retreats" from controlling hours, scheduling, and the labor process, a ceding of management direction made possible by technology. however, in contrast to efficiency scholars, we find that firms do have power over workers in ways that competitive market theory cannot account for. and in contrast to algorithmic control theorists, we argue that control is mediated by workers' market situations, and that levels of control vary across platforms. our research is one of the few qualitative studies of different types of platform-based services. to date, there is no comparable multi-platform dataset, as previous efforts involve fewer platforms (ravenelle ; ticona et al. ) . we argue that a multiplatform study offers the ability to develop a more general account of platform labor. our finding of heterogeneity in workers' situations and experiences also casts doubt on a common assumption in labor market theorization, which is that workers doing the same job for the same employer will have broadly similar experiences. we find that platform labor belies that assumption. the openness of the employment relation yields diverse outcomes even when the formal category of employment (i.e., independent contractor) and technology are identical. we find strong differentiation across platforms, as well as across workers on a single platform, with respect to job satisfaction, remuneration, autonomy, and management control. our research is based on a seven platform qualitative study of providers in the boston area. we confine our focus to consumer-oriented companies, frequently referred to as "the sharing economy." we have conducted in-depth interviews with providers on airbnb, taskrabbit, uber, lyft, postmates, favor, and turo. we find that the combination of open employment and technological management results in providers' experiences that are driven in large part by the economic situations they bring to the platforms, and in particular by how economically dependent they are on platform earnings. we describe platform conditions for providers, focusing on the adequacy of earnings, the effort/earnings bargain, autonomy and flexibility, and overall satisfaction. we find that when platform income is supplemental (i.e., the provider has multiple sources of income), satisfaction is higher, autonomy is greater, hourly wages are generally higher and conditions are better. by contrast, those who are dependent on the platform to fund basic living expenses express more dissatisfaction and experience more precarity. while economic dependence is also relevant in other workplaces, its importance is heightened in this context because the labor force is more situationally diverse than in conventional employment. ours is the first article to analyze explicitly the role of economic dependency in the platform context, although the concept has been noted in the literature (kuhn and maleki ; lehdonvirta ; berg and rani ; ravenelle ) . we also find a second axis of variation across platforms. although platforms are generally open to almost everyone, the asset requirements and skill levels needed to succeed vary considerably, as do outcomes. the platform economy is nested within the general labor market and larger trends in the availability and quality of jobs influence experiences of platform labor. we find that in order to achieve positive outcomes for their workers, platforms are free-riding on the security provided by conventional employment, suggesting a parasitic relationship between the two labor markets. we believe that our emphasis on economic dependence, the hierarchy of the platform eco-system, and the parasitic relationship between platform and conventional labor, represents a new way to understand the phenomenon of platform work. across the social sciences, there are marked differences in how scholars understand platform activity. economists offer a common narrative of platform work, emphasizing efficiency and opportunity (edelman and geradin ; sundararajan ) . within sociology, there are two major camps-precarity and algorithmic control (vallas and schor ) . precarity scholars see platform labor as the next stage in an ongoing process of precarization (vallas and kalleberg ; scholz ; ravenelle ) which has replaced the full-time, stable employment of the postwar era. many focus on policy choices, most notably employment versus independent contracting (dubal a, b; rogers ; cherry ; tomassetti ; rahman and thelen ; kennedy ) . the second camp argues that digital technologies distinguish platforms from conventional firms, and that algorithmic control is the crucial factor in workers' experiences. these scholars emphasize discontinuity with previous systems of labor control (rosenblat and stark ; rosenblat ; calo and rosenblat ; wood et al. ; cameron ; lee et al. ; ivanova et al. ) . precarity scholarship is part of a larger, longstanding body of research across the social sciences that understands labor outcomes within the context of historically varying institutional regimes that align state and corporate policy. examples include the french "regulation school" (boyer and saillard ) and the american "social structures of accumulation" approach (bowles et al. ) , both of which focus on the institutional specificity of regimes of capital accumulation and labor control. scholars distinguish the laissez-faire labor regime of the nineteenth century from the post-wwii social contract, in which employers afforded high levels of security to their workers, passed on productivity increases as higher wages, and tolerated labor unions (marglin and schor ; burawoy ; kalleberg ) . some scholars emphasize varieties of capitalism and national differences (hall and soskice ; thelen ) , however they also focus on dominant national institutional frameworks. the breakdown of the postwar regime is understood as a return to nineteenth-century market-based processes for managing and remunerating labor, described as the "great risk shift," "fissured workplace," "precariat," and "polanyian double-movement" (hacker ; kalleberg kalleberg , standing ; weil ; beck ; hatton ). this literature identifies firm-led institutional restructuring as the driving force undermining the security and liveable wages of the postwar regime and creating precarity. marketbased labor regulation also entails more frequent and longer durations of unemployment, including for the white-collar and highly educated workers (chen ; lane ; sharone ) , who eventually became a source of platform labor. from this perspective, precarity reaches its apogee in the platform economy, which is seen as part of this larger trend, rather than something fundamentally new (collier et al. ; rahman and thelen ; van doorn ; vallas ) . this approach has focused on the use of independent contractor status rather than traditional employment, and the charge of misclassification, particularly by uber (dubal a, b; cherry ; kennedy ; rogers ) . misclassification is seen to give "immunity" (van doorn ) to companies and buyers, by shifting responsibility and risk onto workers (ravenelle ; robinson ; ladegaard et al. ). re-classification as employees and achieving collective voice is therefore key to improving working conditions and altering platform outcomes, although some are pessimistic about the likelihood of such reforms (collier et al. ) . while the precarity approach has obvious strengths, it can downplay the role of digital technology, including how it enables freedom and autonomy as it obviates direct control. furthermore, some of these accounts are very pessimistic, seeing only risk and downward mobility, and over-emphasizing continuity with past practices. by contrast, those who focus on either efficiency or algorithmic control emphasize the role of technology. economists credit digital matching, seamless payment systems, and reduced transaction costs (edelman and geradin ; horton and zeckhauser ; cramer and krueger ) in these efficient multi-sided markets (rochet and tirole ; evans and schmalensee ; hagiu ). others argue that algorithms increasingly determine social and workplace outcomes, often in problematic ways (pasquale ; ajunwa and greene ). aneesh's ( ) research on a software firm that outsourced tasks to indian programmers described its labor control as an "algocracy," (rule by algorithms) which is distinct from both markets and bureaucratic control. platform researchers have made similar arguments, for example that ratings-triggered deactivation of drivers on ride-hailing apps represents a form of "algorithmic management" (robinson ; rosenblat and stark ; lee et al. ; rosenblat ; griesbach et al. ; ivanova et al. ; rahman ) . using online postings from uber drivers, rosenblat and stark find that algorithmic management is facilitated via informational asymmetries. these include continuous data collection and surveillance via the app, the production of driver uncertainty about how surge pricing works, and the fact that drivers must accept rides blindly. they also argue that the algorithm achieves "soft control" via techniques such as gamification and behavioral nudges (see also scheiber ) . this approach posits enhanced management control, an informational panopticon, high worker compliance, and a reduced zone of autonomy for earners. it emphasizes technological innovations and discontinuity with past labor management strategies. while there is little doubt that technological developments have both enabled and structured platform firms, the algorithmic management approach can suffer from technological determinism. algorithmic control involves human action and in the platform labor context is always paired with bureaucratic policy, such as the ratings cutoff for deactivation. furthermore, as we and attwood-charles ( b) argue, the power of the algorithm to control behavior and influence outcomes is variable across workers. in addition, there is a growing literature on worker resistance to and mastery of algorithms (shapiro ; chen ; wood et al. ; cameron ; ivanova et al. ) . cameron ( ) , in a departure from earlier more deterministic accounts, argues that ride-hail drivers have multiple ways of interacting with the algorithm (compliance, engagement, and deviance) and experience it as an opportunity to earn money and carve out zones of autonomy. ivanova et al. ( ) make a different but related point, which is that while algorithmic management enables autonomy it can also paradoxically increase management control. this argument echoes earlier research, such as michael burawoy's finding that workers "consent" to their own work intensification (burawoy ) . finally, both the precarity and algorithmic management approaches typically assume homogeneous outcomes for workers because the labor policies and forms of technological management are uniform within and across platforms. by contrast, we find marked differences across our respondents. for some earners, platform income mitigates precarity and algorithmic management is partially ignored. to support our claims, we turn now to our conceptualization of platform labor. a new analytic approach: platform dependence our formulation rests on two aspects of the platform economy that scholars have not sufficiently emphasized-weak institutionalization of labor control, or what we term the "retreat from control," and the use of economic dependency to discipline labor. while the discourse about platforms frequently references issues of labor flexibility and autonomy, analysts have mostly been concerned about how much de facto flexibility workers have (hall and krueger ; berg and johnston ) rather than analytic implications of the absence of management control over scheduling and hours. we find that workers' right to choose their hours and schedules is central to what is innovative about platform work. conventional firms generally exercise control over workers' hours, and variation is mainly across job type, rather than person (altonji and paxson ; schor ) . by contrast, among platform workers, there is high variation of hours within jobs. hall and krueger found that % of uber drivers work - h per week, % work - h, % work - h and % work more than h (hall and krueger ) . robinson ( ) has similar findings for boston drivers. a growing survey literature also finds a large number of earners with low hours per week hours and a small number with high hours (manyika et al. ; huws et al. ; berg and rani ; forde et al. ) . platforms also cede control over many aspects of the labor process, in contrast to highly scripted service encounters in many low-wage jobs. our research, as well as that of others, suggests that workers often choose platform work because there is no "boss," and they appreciate the scheduling flexibility and autonomy (cameron ; malin and chandler ) . platforms' willingness to accept providers irrespective of their other work commitments results in a more "situationally" diverse workforce than in conventional firms (altonji and paxson ; schor ) . this diversity is also manifest in a lack of common economic behaviors. schor ( ) finds that platform workers do not conform to a single behavioral model, but differ based on whether or not they are income maximizers and the extent to which social and ethical considerations determine their actions. the existence of a diverse workforce also results in varied levels of economic dependency on platform earnings. economic dependence functions as a disciplinary device for workers who do not have other income to rely on, and serves as an alternative to other methods of labor control. while economic dependence is also relevant in conventional workplaces, its analytic importance is heightened in this context because it is a key feature of diversity of situation, and by extension, workers' experiences. while scholars have recognized that the platform workforce is diverse in terms of hours and orientation (robinson ; ravenelle ; malin and chandler ; rosenblat ; manriquez ) the implications of this heterogeneity have not been adequately explored. one reason may be the uber-centricity of previous research. uber's size makes it an obvious object of study, but it is also unusual in that it has entered an industry with large economic rents and attracted unprecedented amounts of capital. driving is a widely available skill, so the industry is prone to excess supplies of labor (dubal a, b) . over time, ride-hailing has attracted a higher percentage of full-time (dependent) earners than most platforms (parrott and reich ; ucla institute for research on labor and employment ; wells et al. ) . it is also well-documented that uber is a harsh manager. journalistic accounts and qualitative studies of drivers provide evidence of poor working conditions, dissatisfaction, and even desperation (paul ; ravenelle ; rosenblat ; ladegaard et al. ). some of these findings have contributed to a normative rather than analytic focus in the literature, with considerable attention to whether platforms are beneficial or exploitative for workers (schor and attwood-charles ) . our data suggest that workers' experiences vary according to their economic dependency, necessitating an approach that recognizes how the novel features of platforms yield heterogeneous outcomes. a second insight is that the platform economy must be partially understood in relationship to the general labor market (schor ) . in the early days, we found that many providers opted for platform work because they were unable to find conventional employment in the wake of the great recession. farrell and greig ( ) find that the rate of growth of platform labor is influenced by conventional labor market conditions. the platform sector is nested within the larger labor market and trends in the availability and quality of jobs influence the experiences of platform workers. more specifically, the positive experiences of many platform workers are due to the benefits and security they simultaneously receive from their main employers, suggesting that platforms are free-riders. as noted above, we believe a multi-platform design is best for developing theories of platform labor. we selected seven platforms (airbnb, taskrabbit, uber, lyft, postmates, favor and turo (originally named relayrides)) that conform to the commerce department's four criteria for "digital matching firms." these are ) the use of information technology to facilitate peer-to-peer transactions, ) crowdsourced ratings systems, ) hours flexibility for workers, and ) worker-provided tools and assets (telles , pp. - ) . these criteria cover labor services as well as rental platforms such as airbnb in which the bulk of the revenue is a rent or return to capital. while one may question the inclusion of airbnb and turo, we argue they should be included for two reasons. first, they share all the characteristics identified by the commerce department. second, all platform services require some combination of labor and capital. ride-hail drivers need cars, couriers use bicycles, and taskrabbits sometimes need tools. none of our airbnb hosts is a commercial entity, and most of them rented rooms rather than whole apartments. while airbnb and turo are outliers in one direction (high capital, low labor) their inclusion provides the kind of range that spurs analytic conceptualization. if we only focus on high labor, low capital platforms we run the risk of missing part of the range of outcomes. we conducted semi-structured interviews that were scheduled for min although some went considerably longer. almost all interviews were with people in the boston area and were mostly done in person, although a few airbnb and taskrabbit interviews were conducted via skype with people in other cities. recruitment differed slightly by platform. in most cases we eliminated users who were outside our age range or did not have at least five trades on the platform. (the vast majority have done far more jobs/hostings, with some providers doing hundreds of jobs.) on taskrabbit, we posted the interview as a task, which readily yielded informants. on airbnb we queried providers via the platform, and once we made contact we let them know we were interested in interviewing them. the platform repeatedly deactivated our account when it realized that we were attempting to interview hosts. we created multiple accounts but eventually reverted to snowball sampling. on postmates and favor our researcher attended orientations and met people who he later attempted to interview. he also joined online fora (facebook primarily) and recruited there. for uber and lyft we also tried to recruit via online groups but were unsuccessful. we ended up taking rides and asking our driver if he/she would be interested in an interview. we also attended meetings of drivers. we posted on twitter and occasionally used facebook ads to recruit, however these methods were unsuccessful. we started with a payment of $ per interview and raised it to $ over time. respondents also completed a short survey about their earnings and demographic profiles. interviews are concentrated among people aged - because this group constituted nearly all users when the research was begun and they continue to be overrepresented in the sector. interviews began in with airbnb, turo, and taskrabbit providers, and in and we added delivery and ride-hailing. in , we conducted second interviews with nine providers from the earlier round. we are aware that our sampling strategy introduces a selection bias, because it does not include people who are no longer active on the platforms. however, because we are explaining the coexistence of satisfied and dissatisfied providers, rather than satisfaction levels, this bias is not disqualifying. here we offer a very brief description of each platform. airbnb is a peer-to-peer housing exchange that offers whole home and shared listings, and uses online descriptions, and ratings and reviews to match guests and hosts. turo is a peer-to-peer car rental service, akin to airbnb for vehicles. taskrabbit is a general labor services site on which customers hire "taskers" to perform services such as housecleaning, deliveries, handyman work, pet care, moving, and furniture assembly, as well as online tasks such as being a virtual assistant or product tester, or doing translation. uber and lyft are ride-hailing platforms that match drivers to people who need rides. our interviews were with drivers on the lower-priced uberx. postmates and favor are uber-like delivery services that were originally envisioned as bicycle courier services offering a range of deliveries. they now specialize in delivering items from convenience stores, takeout from restaurants, and miscellaneous items from various retailers, and deliveries are carried out via a range of transportation options-bikes, cars, public transport, and walking, with bikes and cars predominating. we have amalgamated uber and lyft as one case, and postmates and favor as another because the services are so similar and because most of the providers we interviewed worked on both platforms simultaneously. descriptive statistics about our sample can be found in table . the breakdown by case is from airbnb, from favor/postmates, from turo, taskrabbits, and drivers from lyft/uber. some respondents are active on multiple platforms, for example airbnb and taskrabbit, and we have assigned each person to the platform they were more involved with or earned more from. as noted, our sample is young, with a mean age of . . our sample is a bit more than two-thirds male. while this is not surprising for delivery and driving, it is somewhat unexpected for the other apps. for the survey included a number of case specific questions as well as some open-ended questions, and respondents were free to answer as they liked. case differences included the units in which earnings were measured, to conform to platform custom. this resulted in differences in how respondents interpreted questions so we have done some re-coding to create comparability across cases. furthermore, as the project evolved we introduced some changes in the survey to reflect changing practice as well as some shifts in research questions. a pew survey of gig labor platforms found that % were aged - and another % were in the - year old range (pew research center ). favor subsequently left the boston market. airbnb it is partly because in some heterosexual host couples we interviewed the man. for taskrabbit it may be due to a favorable labor market for women in boston, given the preponderance of medical and educational institutions. with respect to race, % of our sample is white, with proportions african american, latinx and asian at %, %, and % respectively. our sample is highly educated, with . % holding graduate and . % college degrees. another . % have completed some college and while there are a few college dropouts, most in this category are currently enrolled. only . % did not go beyond high school and just one person in the sample did not finish high school. our demographics differ from some of the national surveys (pew research center ), partly due to our location and because our age range is different, but mostly because we do not include crowd work, and we have a small driver sample. table also includes respondents' reported monthly earnings on all sharing economy platforms, broken down by case. we find that the largest two groups earn less than $ and $ or more. only four respondents, two of whom are airbnb hosts, report earnings of more than $ per month (not shown). platform experiences vary by the extent to which providers rely on the platform for their primary earnings. based on answers to survey questions about what they use their money for as well as the interview data, we coded our respondents into three categories, shown in table . dependent earners are those who are wholly or primarily dependent on the platform for their livelihoods. this group is roughly equivalent to full-time workers. the partially dependent group consists of those who rely to some extent on platform earnings, but either work on multiple platforms or have part-time jobs, small businesses, or other sources of income. supplemental earners are those for whom the income is not part of their regular income, is not relied upon for basic expenses, and is considered extra. many of the providers in this third category have full-time employment or activity (i.e., schooling). using this categorization, we estimate that % of our sample are dependent on the platform, % are partially-dependent, and % are supplemental earners. the fraction of dependent earners in our sample is similar to other surveys in the united states and europe (berg and rani ; forde et al. ; pesole et al. ; pew research center ) . as expected, the distribution varies considerably by platform. none of our airbnb or turo respondents rely on this rental income as a primary source. more than half of the earners on both platforms are supplemental earners, and . % and . % respectively are partially-dependent. among taskrabbits, . % use the platform for supplemental income, . % are partially-dependent and % are dependent. postmates and favor workers show a more equal distribution across the three levels of dependency, with . % using their earnings as an income supplement, . % partially-dependent, and . % fully-dependent. drivers are much more dependent than earners on the other platforms, with . % driving for a living, and . % and . % in the partiallydependent and supplemental categories. we have also calculated monthly earnings broken down by platform dependency, as shown in table . as expected, those who use income as a supplement earn less, with % in the under $ category. among partial dependents, the largest group is in the middle income range. finally, although . % of those who are dependent on the platform for their primary income source earn $ or more, a larger fraction take in less than $ per month. we find that platform dependency has strong relationships to both satisfaction and precarity. those who are not dependent on the platforms have better experiences and more control over when and how they work. they are more discriminating about whom they accept as customers, the amount of time they work, their conditions of work, and their schedules. they can more easily avoid exchanges they suspect will be unsafe or financially risky or will yield low earnings, or end up being negative experiences. these axes of control serve to enhance satisfaction, raise earnings, and ensure safer and *column percentages reported for each variable more pleasant working conditions. by contrast, participants who rely on the platforms to pay their basic expenses feel more pressure to accept exchanges. they express more concern about their reputations and the ratings systems. they experience their situations as more precarious, although the extent of dissatisfaction varies by platform. because both platform dependency and the specifics of the work vary across platforms, we have organized our findings by case. to avoid repetition we have interwoven the intermediate findings on partially-dependent earners into the two main categories. airbnb providers are earning not mainly from their labor effort, but from the economic rents they can command from property they own or control via leases. they have valuable assets to rent and hosting does not require much labor effort, which results in strongly positive experiences. hourly earnings are by far the highest across the sample, and work burdens are low. a large subset also reap a substantial non-pecuniary benefit from hosting-meeting and getting to know strangers. this is an appealing combination: high earnings, low work effort, and significant social benefit. albert, a -year-old software worker, was drawn to the platform because "well, it's good income, first of all, for not very hard work i would say." he also likes "meeting different people" and "having people around." to most of our participants, the least enjoyable aspect of ravenelle ( ) groups respondents into three categories-success stories, strivers, and strugglers. the latter have affinities with our dependent earners-strugglers are financially precarious, experience sexual harassment, workplace injuries, threats to bodily safety, are cheated out of earnings by unscrupulous customers, and find themselves unwittingly drawn into criminal acts such as drug dealing, prostitution, or violence. only a few of these outcomes surfaced in our data. ravenelle does not provide estimates on the numerical breakdown of her sample, so we cannot be confident that her outcomes are overall more negative, but they seem to be. hosting is the cleaning-but even this is seen as a simple task. one host reports that cleaning is "fairly easy. we had like a washer machine in the apartment, and so we just changed the sheets, washed them, and good to go. … i guess i don't mind doing it, and in some ways it's simpler than dealing with [a professional cleaner] and scheduling them especially if it's like every two or three days or whatever." even among those who are partially dependent on the platform to help pay rent, the effort bargain is attractive. dennis and his wife began hosting to earn some extra money and because "life is expensive here…. someone, you know, sleeps in the bedroom for a couple days, and you got a couple hundred bucks. so, good deal.… like, oh this is really easy, you don't have to do much. people just want to be kind of left alone most of the time and so do we." some of the most satisfied hosts we talked to live in cambridge, where there is strong demand from guests who are highly educated and highly employed, often attending academic conferences or graduations. karen, a -year-old harvard researcher, had friends renting space in her home for "next to nothing" until she discovered airbnb. she now has dozens of guests every year, has hired a professional cleaner, and makes about $ a month. i honestly think it was within five minutes [after creating a profile], somebody booked the room for days. it was $ within two seconds. a really amazing woman from japan was coming to visit her daughter who was graduating from harvard. and so it's sort of been like that ever since, where there are definitely lulls. i mean, you're not going to get rentals really between november and march…. but from march to november, you can. turo owners earn much less than airbnb hosts, but report similarly positive experiences. will, a political operative whose expensive car sits idle while he travels, reports that "the juice is worth the squeeze." he loves that his car is no longer a drain on his finances, and has become an income-earning asset. he is able to mitigate risk by refusing potential renters he considers "sketchy." nathaniel, who rents out on both airbnb and turo explains that part of his comfort with the exchanges is his limited downside risk. he does not rely on his car to get to work, and the airbnb property is a rather than creating precarity, as we find on other platforms, airbnb and turo add to respondents' economic security and sense of agency and enable lifestyles that they could not otherwise afford. thirty-year-old hannah moved into the expensive beacon hill neighborhood, "which i didn't think i could even live in on a teacher's salary because it's like a joke in boston." for charvak, who earns in the six figures, turo income financed a high-mileage hybrid vehicle he bought to make long car trips cheaper and greener. a number of our hosts are using their earnings to pay off educational debt, finance luxury spending (such as a spectacular wedding), or travel. taskrabbit providers who have other jobs and use the platform for supplemental income also report high satisfaction. they like the flexibility, control, and high hourly wages they can earn. in one national survey (pew research center ), % of gig workers reported they work on platforms "for fun or to do something in [my] spare time." many of our taskers note the appeal of using their time off work "productively," explaining that they are otherwise bored. even those who did "personal organizing" or "house cleaning" explained that they enjoyed the work. earning money under these circumstances is a boon. members of this group tend to have flexible schedules, low living costs, and are more likely to be students. lenny is a -year-old chinese american graduate student in social work who earned roughly $ per month over his months on taskrabbit. he regarded his earnings as "kind of like a safety net income, i guess" and stressed, like many, the flexibility of the platform. even though lenny's skill set is not particularly specialized, he can wait for higher paying, more convenient tasks. taskrabbit has replaced the income he earned from a catering job that was an "undesirable position" where managers treated workers poorly. for people like lenny, platform labor is an alternative to low-end work in the conventional economy, rather than spurring a race to the bottom. the ability to be discriminating about tasks also matters for ernest, a -year-old african american mechanical engineering student who earns most of his income driving for an upscale furniture store. ernest is able to vary his hourly rate by the desirability of the task, earning from a low of $ , to $ for tasks he does not like such as standing in line. he reports being "really picky" about tasks, and only does about three per month. ernest is able to charge high wages because he does not need the work. he likes heavy lifting because "nothing can go wrong with the heavy lifting" and he often finishes the task in min, but is paid for the full hour. other providers also tell us they have learned to pick up tasks they know will take much less time than advertised (such as snow-shoveling), thereby yielding high hourly rates. diversification is another strategy for non-dependent workers. maria optimizes her labor across a parttime hotel job (which gives her benefits), taskrabbit, and uber. a -year-old immigrant from brazil with only a high school education, maria reduced her hours at the hotel after a divorce in order to accommodate her children's schedules. when we interviewed her, she was working h a week driving for uber, grossing $ an hour. however, because she is responsible for expenses with uber, she prefers $ on taskrabbit. eventually maria was able to raise her hourly housecleaning rates to $ and $ (for basic and deep cleaning), and likes the fact that once a task is booked, she will definitely be paid for it, unlike with uber where low demand may reduce earnings. we find that some taskers, especially those with longer histories on the platform, build stellar reputations via large numbers of successful tasks, putting them in a position to command high rates. they are helped by the platform's algorithm, which pushes "elite" or "lead" taskers to the top of the list, where customers see them first. christopher is a -year-old haitian american with a bachelor's degree from harvard who earns $ per month on taskrabbit, in addition to having a full-time, but flexible emergency medical technician job. christopher has been active on the site for years and has done more than tasks. he tends not to maximize his hourly rate, but prefers to get more work. however, his rate is high-$ per hour for physical labor jobs-and he explains that he has "so many reviews at this point, like, if someone doesn't want to hire me at the price that i set it at then, like, i'm not going to feel bad." similarly, mark, for whom managing airbnb apartments is his main source of income, says he has "learned how to really push, really push up my rates" by completing many jobs and earning positive reviews. part-time or casual drivers on ride-hailing apps who are supplementing a main source of income report similarly positive experiences. they feel liberated from the nine-to-five work structure, and perhaps more than anything else, like that they don't have to report to a boss. they are enthusiastic about the software that creates novel economic opportunities and enables strangers to connect in an environment of trust. nathan says uber is "probably the best thing ever," because he now has an easy and convenient way to make extra cash, for example, when he picks up passengers on the commute to his full-time job or when he has some spare time. "when i'm bored, instead of playing videogames i just turn on the app, wait for a ride and just go on my hustle." he is not earning as much in his full-time job as he would like and feels he is not saving enough for retirement because his employer does not give a k match, so he is putting his uber earnings into a retirement account. twenty-eight-year-old bobby, who is white and works as a digital media instructor in a public school while also pursuing an ma in education, has used ride-hailing as a means to supplement the income from his teaching job and to reduce commuting expenses. he says that he drives to h a week, depending on "where i am financially" and if "i want to do specific things that are going to cost more money." the weekend before the interview he "ran like straight out of money on a friday," so he drove some hours to pay for concert tickets. more than a third of the couriers on postmates and favor are supplemental earners. tamara was an african american woman in her late twenties who regaled our interviewer with stories of thrift. tamara came from a military family, married a plumber, and moved from the south to boston to work as a special education assistant. she and her husband had a young baby and were trying to create a stable middle-class life for themselves. while tamara did not make much in her regular job, she prided herself on being resourceful. she began making deliveries as a postmates courier, which she liked because the baby slept well in the car. as she put it: my husband and i, we're really, we're kind of entrepreneurs ourselves. he actually just started an airbnb thing…. we are subletting in our house, and then we are running two other houses. so we're on craigslist a lot, and i saw it on craigslist about a year ago, and i was like, hey, i think i will give this a try. he was like, well, yeah we could kind of use the money. i was like, well, i mean, it's something i can take a little one with me while you are at work or you're late. i was like; it's something we don't really have to worry about. tamara did not feel pressure to accept jobs she didn't want to take, and didn't hesitate to speak up when she thought a customer was being unreasonable. asked about safety concerns, she explained: "i don't feel any. i like it [postmates] because i don't have to go in their house, and that's a perk for me. then plus, when it gets dark out, i don't get out of the car. i make them come down and get it. which, i love being able to do that." tamara provides an example of how a supplemental earner can afford to risk low customer ratings and violate company policy (by not getting out of the car) to reduce risks and achieve job satisfaction. chris was an undergraduate at a local university who occasionally worked on postmates when surge pricing was in effect and the premium made it worth his while. he didn't depend on postmates for an income, stating, "most of it goes towards student loans or car payments. and some of it's for recreation." he liked that it allowed him to be noncommittal, being on the app only when he wanted to. chris enjoyed listening to fantasy football and driving, which fit well with the work. he thought that postmates paid well, even if they did not pay what was advertised. because the income is supplemental for him, chris also has the luxury of being unconcerned about how ratings are determined and how the system allocates work. when asked if he ever worried about his rating, he replied: "i have a . and i'm, like, what they would call an 'awful worker.' like, they give you these food bags to keep the food fresh, and these stickers that you put on the bag that say, like, 'have a nice day.' i, like, don't use my food bag unless it's going to be more than minutes." because of his situation, chris was unconcerned about violating company policy concerning food bags and stickers. michelle, a japanese american woman in her late-twenties, worked as a software engineer before quitting to "explore music as a hobby" at the berklee college of music. she was quick to point out that she did not need the income, stating that she only joined the platform because she met a courier outside her apartment who said if she attended an orientation and provided his name, he would receive a promotion. michelle's discretionary approach is revealed by the way she earmarked her earnings. "i think of it as going towards food expenses, because i'm delivering food. and it's not really that much, you know?" in general, delivery providers who do not need the income avoided the undesirable aspects of the work. they did not feel pressure to work during disagreeable hours, accept difficult orders, or hesitate to say "no" to a task or customer out of fear about the impact on their rating. they expressed greater satisfaction with the pay than couriers whose earnings were used for basic expenses. our findings are markedly different for dependent providers from those for providers who use the platforms to supplement full-time earnings. many dependent providers also enjoy the work or prefer it to their existing alternatives, as we would expect given that they remain active on the platforms. however, they are far less satisfied, report less flexibility, and have less freedom to hold out for higher wages than their non-dependent counterparts. their situations are more precarious, particularly if they do not have housing from parents or spousal incomes to rely on. among the taskers, nine are attempting to earn full-time on the platform. some were recent college graduates, hoping to land regular jobs. they were more sanguine about their experiences, and their dissatisfaction related more to the labor market than their treatment on the platform. however, a number of them were interviewed in the early period, a time when providers felt the platform "had their back," which a number of respondents felt was no longer the case after the platform abandoned its auction model in for less variable rates. providers further removed from college, or who had experienced job loss, were not so positive. derek lost a $ , a year job and has been unable to find new employment in software, picking up jobs on taskrabbit and craigslist. he also finds off-platform work through contacts he meets on taskrabbit, which he considers a great benefit of the platform and he did discuss some lucrative tasks. however, he also expressed considerable bitterness. he described a day when he had no other work, so he picked up a delivery job that in the end yielded only $ an hour and was "the stupidest thing i ever did.… i mean like there are many times that you do this and you think, i'd be way better off working at mcdonalds because i'd make the same amount of money and i'd have free fries." julian, a single white -year-old male, is also articulate about the pitfalls of relying on the platform. with taskrabbit, it is "actually really a race to the bottom." he reports that one poster told him "it's almost exploitative the things she can get people to do for $ ." julian was trying to be an entrepreneur, selling and writing about software. he had lost a full-time job as a surgical technician, and along with it his home. so he sold all his possessions and bought a membership in a co-working space that offered internet and some free food. he tried to hide his homelessness by running to the coworking space every morning so that it looked like he needed a shower because of his exercise routine, rather than his homelessness. "it's absolutely mentally exhausting to keep up all these projects and this farce about my living situation." at the time of the interview, he'd earned only $ on the platform. julian discussed his situation in frightening terms: "it's like i'm going to die because i'm not going to buy food, or i'm going to freeze to death in the wintertime…. i made it work though." but he saw his situation as temporary. he was learning a programming language that he felt confident would guarantee him a job and $ , a year. "so it's really going to be a for me to go from, like, hustling around and doing taskrabbits for dollars to being really employable and having a really valuable skillset." at the same time, he really enjoys a lot of the work, finds it "pleasurable" and rates the platform a " ." while our respondents mentioned race to the bottom a number of times, the platform's switch away from the auction model raised hourly wages, and many taskers can find jobs at good rates. racquel reports her personal wage floor is $ per hour. another tasker reports a $ per hour wage. but the higher wages that have prevailed since mid- are likely a key factor explaining why demand is not more robust, and they must be seen in the context of low total earnings. (the company also increased its first time service fee, which is folded into the cost, to a hefty %. taskers complained that clients do not know the company takes that portion.) racquel's $ per hour was only yielding her about $ , the year of her first interview. derek is earning $ , - , a year. our experience trying to do ethnographic research on the platform bears out the lack of demand-while it was easy to sign up, over a period of months our researcher was unable to get any tasks. as derek explains: "working for taskrabbit is just a fantastic way to always stay at the poverty level, right? but at least you can pay your phone bill and you can buy some food and the landlord isn't upset with you." we also found evidence of deteriorating provider conditions on the platform. a number of our early respondents stopped participating. among those who stayed active for a while, ratings of the experience dropped sharply. "they used to really, like, i don't want to say fight for us, but they were definitely like more responsive, i should say…. most taskrabbits feel that way though, it's not just me." another explained that the company used to care about the individual rabbits, but no longer does." a third went farther: "we really are just cannon fodder…. they don't really care about us." some of the dependent providers were able to make it work, but a number of them live with their parents. mark, a white -year old, is an evening college student who does tasks during the day and earns about $ per hour. he puts % of his earnings into savings and the rest is for his personal expenses, which mostly includes transportation and eating out. he takes the : am train to the major urban area and then works until he takes the train back for evening classes. since he is already committed to spending the day working, mark places his wages below the average price for a given task so that he can fill his day with work. he is not comfortable with some tasks, like building ikea furniture, and does not own a car to do deliveries, so he relies heavily on the "quick assign" market. (quick assign is when a purchaser does not select the tasker but puts out a request and the first tasker to accept the job wins it.) mark also feels he needs to take almost every task he can. he has lost the much-vaunted temporal flexibility of the platforms and has adopted the regular early commute and full day of work. he has also lost the ability to choose or to set a good rate, because he needs to underbid for tasks in order to get enough work. similarly, dependent delivery couriers accept nearly every request. it was not uncommon for these participants to work on multiple courier platforms simultaneously, waiting in their car or on their bike for one of their apps to come through with a job. favor was preferred by these couriers, as it offered an hourly guarantee, unlike postmates, where respondents reported waiting for hours without receiving a request or earning anything at all. but favor shifts are limited, and tended to go fast. there's also a downside to favor's wage guarantee, which is that couriers cannot turn down deliveries without incurring a penalty. this means that they must take jobs they know or suspect will be problematic for one reason or another. this becomes especially difficult if they also add a postmates shift for hours they have already committed to favor. this was worth doing because postmates gives algorithmic priority to people who reserve shifts in advance rather than to those who just turn on the app. however, none of our respondents knew how much that priority actually helped. but simultaneously committing to both apps also increased the likelihood of penalties on favor. all of our dependent respondents articulated critiques of their situations and felt it was a less-than-ideal working arrangement. however, many felt they had no other options. some had lost conventional jobs or were unable to find work. others were shut out of other platforms. ervin, an african american man in his late twenties, had worked for uber before signing up with favor, but was deactivated when uber changed the minimum model requirements for its drivers. he had moved to boston from oakland, california to attend graduate school for social work. ervin described himself as "lower class," and when asked how he settled on favor, replied, "so i needed the money and i have a car. i actually was doing uber before, but my car is too old. i have a or . they changed their policies…. the money [on uber] was better than favor, yeah." ervin had just graduated but was struggling to find work and was desperately trying to save enough money to move to philadelphia. as the interview progressed, he appeared increasingly overwhelmed. when asked what he needed the money for, ervin said, "saving to move, my credit card bill, car repair because i need to get that in the shop, so yeah. i've been kinda, you know, not knowing because i know it's gonna be expensive. all i know is it's only gonna get worse. but it's like, do i keep my car and risk it getting worse or do i take it in now and take this huge financial blow?" ervin's one asset, besides his graduate degree (which was not paying off at this time) was breaking down when he needed it the most. another courier, charles, came from an impoverished town, had a criminal record, and found getting steady work very difficult. he was hoping to start college eventually with the dream of becoming a therapist, but for now, he was taking the bus from connecticut to sleep in his brother's dorm room. charles was only able to work in spurts, as his scooter would break down and, in the winter, he would have to find a car. one day, on an online courier group, it was announced that charles won $ for his excellent customer service. he was delivering a lunch order when he was rear-ended in traffic. although he complained of whiplash, the post proclaimed that charles nonetheless completed the order in the time allotted. by the logic of the platform, it was his lucky break, but in terms of physical well-being, he felt compelled to keep working immediately after an accident, foregoing needed medical attention. erratic earnings are another problem. while supplemental earners are able to turn off their apps when business is slow, traffic is bad, or weather is forbidding, dependents find themselves locked into undesirable situations. for drivers and deliverers this can be because they have to front money for a vehicle. this was the case for horatio, a courier who did not own a car. at times, he would take advantage of zipcar promotions, explaining that any money was better than no money, regardless of the razor thin margin. i don't have to pay for gas with a zipcar. because you pay $ . monday through thursday if you get the car from p.m. to a.m., so with favor you could have probably a good four or five hours, so if you make at least the $ within the first two hours, then the rest of it is profit. it depends. sometimes you get better nights than others, sometimes it's worth it and sometimes it's not. despite having a bachelor's degree in business, horatio was unable to find full-time work and was cobbling together an income on various delivery platforms. he seemed genuinely at a loss in terms of what he should be doing. he was tired and lacked optimism about his future. daria, a white woman in her early twenties, came from a poor family and seemed to be constantly on the move. she described her dad as a "deadbeat," and was not in contact with her mother. after following an ex-boyfriend to boston, daria looked for work that would keep her from having to live on the streets, and she found it at a downtown convenience store making breakfast sandwiches for construction workers. this was not enough to cover rent, so she began looking for additional work and stumbled across favor. while it gave her an opportunity to earn some extra money, it was a grueling schedule. as daria recalled: i would bug my boss at the convenience store for the schedule to be on time please for that week and then as soon i had that i would put every hour that i wasn't working at the convenience into my like favor availability and then i'd just like work all the time. i would do like weird hours at the store. i'm like not really much of a morning person. so i would start favor when they opened, which i think changed from like : - : or like : - : or : - : , something like that. it got earlier during the time i was working there and i would just take first shifts and then i would go over to the convenience store like : and work from : until : and then i would go back to favor from like : until midnight or : until : or whatever, depending on the day. eventually daria began to work full-time as a courier, first for favor, and then for a local non-platform courier company, which paid better and was more consistent. like horatio, daria seemed tired, fatalistic, and resigned to a future of low-wage, unsteady work. twelve of the seventeen uber and lyft drivers we interviewed are dependent on the platform. dependence undermines the flexibility and autonomy that ride-hailing companies tout and many drivers desire. respondents who have resisted full-time driving were especially articulate at explaining why. thomas, a -year-old uber driver is partially dependent, earning about $ , a year from the platforms. he says it is "impossible" to have a decent hourly wage if you simply drive whenever you want. "so in order to be a fulltime driver and make a living wage you have to drive every rush hour." to match the hourly wage of a bus driver, he has to catch the rush both in the morning and in the afternoon, and ideally also be on the road as early as five in the morning, when there is substantial airport traffic. forty-one-year-old alice, who has two children and drives between and h a week to boost her family's household income resembles thomas in that she is unwilling to drive full-time but feels compelled to drive when the demand is high. maybe : , and then i know it's busy, and then i maybe stop for a little bit and go back out at : when there is rush hour. then again in the nighttime, there might be a game and i take everyone to the game. then after the game i'm out there again, you know. … i'm a hustler, you know. i'm a very hard working person. it's just me. because everyone, we all like, we have bills, and we all like, we like nice things. we all want better things in life, so yeah, sometimes i, i starve myself. i'll just eat later, you know. it's not the best thing to do, but if it's busy, and i'm needed on the road i'm going to be on the road you know. i don't think i'm going to starve myself to death, you know. eventually i will get something to eat.… it's like, why work from : [to : ] pm for half the price when you know, i can work from : to : and make double the money in less time. you know? our respondents explain that the workday of a driver has a substantial vacuum of activity in the middle of the day and the lost income will have to be recouped by driving when the app tells them there is demand. in many cases, that means that they feel compelled to work outside of the conventional office hours, e.g., weekends and late evenings. rather than freeing up time for family and social leisure activities, drivers have little business when everyone else is at work, and more when everyone else is free. changing conditions also lead to added precarity and anxiety. drivers report that platform rules and rates are in continual flux and that they cannot rely on conditions at any point in time. many of our participants are anxious about the direction the platform is going, in large part because they feel powerless about the changes. drivers might not have a boss who tells them what to do, but they are constrained by the platform's measuring stick and the threat of sanctions. boris, , has been driving for uber for several years and is currently leasing a few cars to other drivers. he suggests these jobs are precarious. uber … kind of force people to…. they say that there is no … need to stay online on certain hours unless you want to. but then, if you are online and you don't accept certain trips, basically your acceptance rates go down…. and they require like at least, what, % acceptance rate. and then when you go lower than acceptance rate, you have a chance of being deactivated…. and that goes not only by acceptance rates as well as like by canceling the trips. although they are saying like you have a full right to cancel the trip.… so, whenever the time comes, they will have an excess of drivers or they will need to get rid of some bad drivers … they hold their right to cancel you. boris says that drivers are also squeezed by top-down decisions that hit everyone, regardless of their ratings and scores. i mean, you're kind of limited to those rules that are set by uber. and then you're looking right in terms of the profits. and then, on top of all that, the rate can be decreased at any time without any explanation … [if] you figured, like, okay, here it is, $ . a mile [for gas], and i think i can make money out of it, you went on and bought a brand-new prius.… and then when you put all this stuff together and you have a great tool to operate, and then … the rate cuts half, you're like, what should i do? the only thing left is just to cry and say, like, oh, these are bad guys. we find that outcomes vary by platform, a finding also noted by ravenelle ( ) . we summarize our findings in fig. . while much of the literature has treated the sector as a monolith we argue it is better understood as a vertical hierarchy in which some platforms are better to work on because they yield higher earnings and have better conditions. in this way, the sector is similar to the conventional labor market. this hierarchy is largely determined by requirements for participation. the first is capital requirements for participation. airbnb requires access to an apartment, either via ownership or lease. in addition, the location of the property determines its ability to attract guests. hosts who live in neighborhoods that are whiter, higher income, and with more highly-educated residents are more likely to earn successfully on the platform. (cansoy and schor ) . turo requires only a vehicle to participate, although we found very high educational and professional attainment among that group. taskrabbit appears to have an informal educational requirement of either a college degree or at least college enrollment. in addition, nearly a quarter of taskers have graduate degrees. this platform yields much higher wages than those that specialize in delivery or driving, so lack of formal education is likely functioning as a barrier to high earnings. one reason may be that customers are themselves highly educated and prefer to hire others of their educational class, even for manual or low skilled work, such as housecleaning or moving. driving and delivery platforms require less in the way of assets. driving apps only require a car of relatively recent vintage, although both uber and lyft offer deals for low lease rates, but only if drivers satisfy a quota of weekly rides. delivery apps can be joined with no physical assets or education. while we do not have accurate hourly wages to compare remuneration structures, our data do show a rough ordering across the platforms that matches the asset requirements. airbnb yields the highest earnings, with our hosts mostly earning in the $ per night range. some earn less, and the high in our sample is $ per night, with variation by desirability of the property and whether the rental is an entire apartment or a room within a unit. turo earnings are not high, but they require almost no effort, yielding an excellent hourly return. taskrabbit wages are generally above $ an hour, and can range to more than $ . we do not have good data on net hourly earnings from drivers, in part because of the need to subtract expenses, which not all drivers do, as well as the complex bonus structures now in place. robinson ( ) suggests net hourly earnings can be as low as $ . , a figure that accords with other studies, although many drivers earn more. favor couriers could sometimes secure a $ per hour guarantee, but on postmates the rate is often less, with workers reporting hourly wages as low as $ per hour, without accounting for waiting time. airbnb hosts face the lowest levels of threat, although one was sued by his condo board and another, who could not afford his apartment without hosting, was forced to stop by other building residents. taskers experience precarity of earnings, but have more control over their work than drivers or couriers. drivers are experiencing declining levels of autonomy and control and increasing competition for business. couriers who are not platform-dependent are able to retain control and autonomy but dependent earners are often desperate. the platform hierarchy also roughly correlates with the fraction of dependent workers. airbnb and turo have the fewest dependent earners, ride-hail has the most. this raises the question of whether dependence on the platform is a proxy for socioeconomic status, which itself is the cause of more negative platform experiences, rather than dependence itself. our sample is too small within each platform to be able to answer this question. however, our respondents have very high levels of education overall, even on the less remunerative platforms. some of our most dependent and desperate earners previously had thriving high income careers and marketable skills or are training for lucrative careers. most are not low ses in conventional terms. in addition, even if dependency is highly correlated with socio-economic status, the results show that even with an identical technology and set of workplace rules, outcomes vary, in contrast to more optimistic views that digital technology will be a great leveler. analyses of platform labor should ultimately be nested within the larger landscape of technology labor. there is now an expansive and illuminating literature on work in this sector, from andrew ross's early account of high tech workplaces (ross ) and gina neff's description of "venture labor" that may or may not be remunerated (neff ) , to more recent expositions, such as gray and suri's pioneering treatment of global crowd workers (gray and suri ) . a number of observers have produced typologies of types of work in the platform economy (kenney and zysman ; vallas and schor ). one observation from this literature is that the kinds of work that are now provided through platforms has expanded rapidly-from well-known services such as driving and image tagging, to caring labor, artistic production, athletic coaching, long distance teaching, legal services, and telemedicine. differences across these types include the level of skill, the spatial dispersion of the work (vallas and schor ) and the nature of the employment relation. there are highly skilled platform architects and designers, most of whom are extremely well compensated employees for whom companies have been competing fiercely. at the other end of the spectrum are gig workers who possess only generalized skills (e.g., driving, housecleaning) and are independent contractors with little market power. this group is divided into those who work in the cloud and are spatially dispersed and those in the faceto-face service provisioning segment also referred to as the "sharing economy" (see schor on terminology). kenney and zysman ( ) use a more expansive categorizationplatform mediated work. this includes in-person gig labor, marketplaces such as amazon and etsy that service independent businesses, and remote service provision for discrete digital projects on platforms such as upwork, fiverr, and amazon mechanical turk. the latter category ranges from the very poorly paid (e.g., amt) to higher skilled graphic design and coding (upwork). kenney and zysman also include an additional class of platformmediated content creators, which includes instagram and you tube influencers and content providers, only some of whom earn anything at all. a key feature of most of the types of platform work discussed above is that the distributions of work and income tend to be bi- fig. platform hierarchy modal and markets are often winner-take-all. for example, while most uber drivers work few hours, a portion of long-hours drivers do the majority of the rides. there are similar distributions among upworkers (popiel ) , etsy sellers (etsy ) , content providers, and crowd workers. in our research on a platform cooperative for stock photographers we found a highly skewed distribution in which the top % of earners received more than a quarter of the site's revenue (schor ) . indeed, this is a general feature of platforms in which there is open employment. another important finding in this literature is the extent to which human management remains important, even in the most digitized or algorithmicallymanaged applications. shestakofsy's ( ) ethnography of a matching platform for household services found high complementarity between human and machine functions; irani ( a) and gray and suri ( ) also find that behind the growing capabilities of artificial intelligence are millions of human decisions and hours of labor. attwood-charles (attwood-charles b) finds that app-based delivery workers often get calls from human managers. this brief discussion barely scratches the surface of this rich literature, which includes important new contributions elsewhere in this special issue. but it serves as a reminder of a crucial insight for studying gig labor made some years ago by kenney and zysman ( ) : to understand any segment of the platform economy (such as the gig labor segment addressed in this article), we must situate it within the larger context of the technology platforms and their ongoing re-organization of economic activity and life. we have emphasized the importance of platform dependency, as well as variation across platforms as key axes of differentiation in the sharing economy. our findings suggest that access to alternative sources of income and security are almost a precondition to achieve satisfying experiences for workers. this implies that platforms are free-riding on conventional employers, who provide the security and stability to make platform labor desirable. these findings highlight the need to study those who exit the platforms. we also believe our findings would be strengthened by testing the robustness of our findings with a large-scale survey. another important issue is the trajectory of platforms. in addition to questions of institutionalization, there is strong evidence of declining conditions on the ride-sourcing platforms as they cut rates and increase control (schor ) . another unexplored but important dynamic in the platform sector is its role in exacerbating inequality. the high education levels of providers, coupled with the predominance of supplemental earners suggests that platforms have been facilitating a new kind of opportunity-hoarding by the more privileged segments of the middle class (schor ) . we find that the novelty of these apps has reduced the stigma associated with manual tasks such as driving, housecleaning, and delivery and has induced many highly educated people to take on this work. in the current era of downward economic mobility, this is not surprising. but it does suggest an even more complex situation for those interested in constructing an equitable labor market. a persistent theme in the critical literature is the fear that platforms are inducing a race to the bottom, which will end in worker exploitation and misery (ravenelle ; rosenblat ; scholz ; dubal b) . recent regulatory efforts to classify gig workers as employees, such as california's assembly bill # , passed in , may presage a wave of reclassification, although company resistance and non-compliance remain potent. whatever the outcome of that fight, our findings suggest that the race to the bottom is less likely if the weak institutionalization we found persists. for platforms, the ability to attract highly educated, productive workers who provide good service and reliability is a great benefit. for this reason, one might expect them to continue hours flexibility. however, there are indications of a push for longer hours on a number of paltforms. on uber and lyft, gamification, nudges, and other behavioral strategies attempt to keep drivers behind the wheel longer (rosenblat and stark ; scheiber ) , likely on account of high attrition (hall and krueger ) . similarly, anecdotal evidence suggests airbnb is trying to get its hosts to make their properties more available. if platforms become less tolerant of supplemental earners and the proportion of dependent workers grows over time, satisfaction, hourly wages, and autonomy will decline. conversely, the availability of alternative options in the larger labor market will regulate this pressure. if jobs are plentiful elsewhere, platforms will be forced to improve conditions. the converse is true for slack labor markets. if substantial 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precarious work: theory, research, and politics what do platforms do?: understanding the gig economy the fissured workplace: why work became so bad for so many and what can be done to improve it the uber workplace in d.c. washington, dc: kalmanowitz initiative for labor and the working poor good gig, bad gig: autonomy and algorithmic control in the global gig economy publisher's note springer nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations schor teaches at boston college. an economist and sociologist, schor's research focuses on issues of work, consumption, and climate. her books include the overworked american, the overspent american, true wealth, and most recently, after the gig. she is currently part of an nsf-future of work project entitled "the algorithmic workplace his research is on postbureaucratic workplaces. he has studied health care institutions, a makerspace, and a delivery platform. his work has appeared in sociology compass his research is focused on the relationship between technological change and inequality, especially in the sharing economy he is interested in economic sociology, technology and social change, and crime and deviance. his work has appeared in socio-economic review, social forces, and british journal of criminology. ladegaard is currently in the final months of a four-year research project on digital drug markets his teaching and research focus on understanding power and inequality and how individuals and groups can work to create a more socially just and ecologically sustainable world. an environmental sociologist by training, dr. wengronowitz has expertise in social movements and cultural studies. his multiple ongoing projects examine challenges to inequality-widening business-as-usual key: cord- -higq wje authors: bahn, kate; cohen, jennifer; van der meulen rodgers, yana title: a feminist perspective on covid‐ and the value of care work globally date: - - journal: gend work organ doi: . /gwao. sha: doc_id: cord_uid: higq wje the shared response to the covid‐ crisis demonstrates that the vast majority of society believes human well‐being ‐ not economic growth ‐ should be at the center of policy. covid‐ exposes the foundational role of care work, both paid and unpaid, to functioning societies and economies. focusing on "production" instead of the sustainable reproduction of human life devalues care work and those who perform it. women's physical and mental health, and the societies that rely on them, are at stake. when these policies are formulated, the field of feminist economics has valuable lessons for mitigating hardships as countries navigate the related economic fallout. a comprehensive response to the covid‐ crisis must recognize this gendered work as an integral part of the economic system that promotes human well‐being for all. natural disasters and health crises have gendered dimensions, a point repeatedly demonstrated across disciplines and an important argument raised in this publication by boncori ( ) in the case of the coronavirus pandemic and academic lives. early evidence of a gender disparity in mortality in china indicates a disadvantage for men, who are more likely to have a laboratory-confirmed case, but the gender differential is reversed for other, less clear-cut dimensions of the disease (chen et al., ; guan et al., ) . of particular concern is the overrepresentation of women among low-wage workers on the frontlineincluding home health aides, nurses, and nursing assistantsand at the other end of the supply chainincluding those employed in the logistics and packing industry (himmelstein and venkataramani, ) . women also stand to face the starkest employment losses, as retail, food service, and hospitality are among the industries already hardest hit. in most developed countries, low-wage workers at risk of unemployment are disproportionately minority women, particularly women of color (averett, argys, and hoffman, ) . the gendered dimensions of this crisis also apply within the home, where the gendered division of work has been slow to change. women still do more of the unpaid care work than men around the globe (ilo, ; sayer, ) . the covid- outbreak has increased the need for home-based caring labor not only because of the closing of schools and childcare facilities, but also because more people are sick and need care. women's physical and mental health, and by extension, the societies that rely on women and the work they do, are at stake (cohen and venter, ; geurts et al., ) . this crisis points a spotlight on the need for care, both medical care by paid healthcare personnel as well as care in the home. yet care work is often undervalued and invisible (himmelstein and venkataramani, ; sayer ) . the perceived low value of care work paid and unpaid -and women's disproportionate responsibility in performing this work is an issue that has garnered long-term attention in the field of feminist economics, with valuable lessons for understanding how women are impacted by covid- and mitigating hardships as countries navigate the related economic fallout (power, ) . feminist research in economics has consistently highlighted the ways production depends on paid and unpaid work (laslett and brenner, ; power, ; vogel, ) . social reproduction includes the day-to-day work assigned largely to womenhousehold labor, physical and emotional caregiving, and other work to meet human needsrequired to "maintain existing life and to reproduce the next generation" (laslett and brenner, ) . without the day-to-day work of social reproduction, entire social systems would collapse. the value of women's paid and unpaid labor is increasingly apparent with the spread of covid- : as school close, the role of teachersdisproportionately womenand public education as a mechanism of support and care-giving for families is laid bare, as women working for pay scramble to arrange childcare. across many countries, womenespecially women of colorare overrepresented among low-wage workers on the front line during the covid- crisis. many have no choice but to go to work even when they are at risk of contracting the virus or they are sick, and they cannot telecommute. nursesdisproportionately womenand other first responders must continue to work for pay. women in grocery stores, where task segregation often places them in face-to-face interactions with customers, are essential workers and are newly being recognized as such (tolich and briar, ) . time-use surveys show that, as a group, women work longer than men in total, and they perform more unpaid work than men (ilo, ; sayer, ) . because women bear responsibility for social reproduction, during crises they may face increased pressure to substitute unpaid work for lost income, for example taking care of an ill relative at home rather than taking them to a clinic (ilo, ). all over the world, women are also more likely to be single parents, meaning that women and their households are often more dependent on a single source of income and women provide financial support to more dependents on that income (cohen, ) . intensified pressure is likely to impact women's mental and physical health (cohen and venter, ; geurts et al., ) . gender-aware policies recognize women's work outside of paid employment. more broadly, policy responses from national to local levels should be developed with a feminist perspective that puts due emphasis on the value of care and the power of interdependency, as the interchange of care and resources can sustain families and communities through difficult times (banks, ; power, ) . in wealthier countries, a key policy response is to expand paid sick leave and family leave benefits. in the u.s., the second federal covid- relief package passed march includes for the first timepaid family and medical leave during this crisis to care for a sick or at-risk family member or oneself. this emergency paid leave policy applies to employees who need to care for children whose schools or daycare facilities closed. this legislation helps to meet the needs of some workers who are balancing care responsibilities, but almost half of the u.s. private sector workforce is not eligible. other oecd countries are well ahead of the u.s. in terms of paid leave benefits. further stimulus policy responses being implemented or considered across developed countries include expanded unemployment insurance, targeted cash transfers, universal basic income, and support for small businesses. in poorer countries, the impacts of covid on care-takers will be dire. the "social distancing" recommended in developed countries will be difficult to observe in overcrowded households, and may be impossible for women to adopt. information advising people how to care for ill household members and themselves must be made available, along with hand sanitizer in urban areas, and tippy taps in rural areas. assistance with obtaining food, medications, and maintaining access to utilities is likely to be needed. community health workers and friendship bench-type mental health support for care providers may be valuable interventions for helping people cope with psychological distress (chibanda et al., ) . efforts to mitigate intimate partner violence as tensions mount within households from the health crisis and associated economic insecurity should be prioritized. domestic violence intensifies during disasters and crises (gearhart et al., ) . the covid- crisis is longer term, more people are confined to their homes, there is an uncertain endpoint, many are struggling financially, and people are scared and grieving. it is difficult to overstate the scale of this problem for those who are subject to abuse of all kinds. this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. moreover, the crisis cannot be used as an excuse to divert resources away from women's reproductive health care and maternal and child health. for example, under directives to free up hospital beds and medical supplies, legislators in several u.s. states have classified abortions as elective and nonessential procedures that need to be postponed until the crisis is over. however, these restrictions do little if anything to divert necessary resources toward hospital care for coronavirus patients. using covid- as a rationale to limit women's access to reproductive health care services is a political maneuver that defies numerous studies in public health and social sciences showing the beneficial effects of investing in reproductive health. such benefits, which include women's economic empowerment, expanded choice, and a sense of greater control over their lives, are critical in times of crisis (bärnighausen et al., ; gammage, joshi, and rodgers, ) . conclusion covid- is not only a major economic and health shock, it may also be a major shock to social norms around the gendered distribution of work at home. like natural disasters, a public health crisis alters daily living in such a way that may re-entrench gender norms, but also offers the opportunity to disrupt them. more parents are staying home due to workplace closures, with many employees in white collar jobs telecommuting if that is feasible. the home, usually a black box in neoclassical economics, has suddenly become a sphere of close scrutiny in academic and media discourse around caring labor and its power relations. in twoparent households, the allocation of work within the home depends not only on gendered social norms but also bargaining power and the opportunity cost of time allocated to domestic work. these issues have garnered attention during the covid- crisis as families have been confined to their homes while attempting to work and care for children at the same time. changing the gender distribution caring labor within the home and causing conflict in negotiating boundaries between work and family. we expect that telecommuting in the context of covid- places disproportionate burdens on women. this question fits into the broader goal of seeking to understand how the nature of workboth paid and unpaidis changing during the enormous social and economic upheaval caused by the covid- pandemic. the institutionalization of telecommuting may bring wider acceptance and adoption of other workplace policies such as job sharing and flex-time that place value on labor within the home. covid- exposes how the usual functioning of the labor market combines with gender roles to require more work from women than from men. although many of the challenges for women are not unique to this time, covid- exacerbates their impacts, and making this an important moment to advocate for policies that support their wellbeing, and that of the society their work sustains. economic policy should be constructed within a broader, feminist framework of human wellbeing and justice, rather than being solely concerned with the achievement of output-based metrics such as financial stability and economic growth. at minimum, in addition to capabilities (the ability to do or be) and self-efficacy, human well-being requires adequate provisioning through three interconnected channels: paid labor, unpaid care activities, and support from the government (nussbaum, ; sen, ) . paramount in this approach is the need to address other types of injustice that may intersect with gender inequality, especially by race and class. hence a comprehensive response to the covid- crisis the oxford handbook of women and the economy women of color and unpaid community work. pathways to gender equity conference this is mine, this is for me': preexposure prophylaxis as a source of resilience among women in eswatini the neverending shift: a feminist reflection on living and organising academic lives during the coronavirus pandemic. gender, work & organization. epub ahead of print epidemiological and clinical characteristics of cases of novel coronavirus pneumonia in wuhan, china: a descriptive study effect of a primary care-based psychological intervention on symptoms of common mental disorders in zimbabwe: a randomized clinical trial how the global economic crisis reaches marginalised workers: the case of street traders in johannesburg the integration of occupational-and household-based chronic stress among south african women employed as public hospital nurses the intersections of women's economic and reproductive empowerment the impact of natural disasters on domestic violence: an analysis of reports of simple assault in florida work-home interaction from a work psychological perspective: development and validation of a new questionnaire, the swing clinical characteristics of coronavirus disease in china economic vulnerability among us female health care workers: potential impact of a $ -per-hour minimum wage care work and care jobs for the future of decent work gender and social reproduction: historical perspectives capabilities as fundamental entitlements: sen and social justice social provisioning as a starting point for feminist economics gender, time and inequality: trends in women's and men's paid work, unpaid work and free time development as freedom just checking it out: exploring the significance of informal gender divisions amongst american supermarket employees marxism and the oppression of women: toward a unitary theory key: cord- -v n jeeb authors: stiles, jonathan; smart, michael j. title: working at home and elsewhere: daily work location, telework, and travel among united states knowledge workers date: - - journal: transportation (amst) doi: . /s - - - sha: doc_id: cord_uid: v n jeeb the mediation of work practices by information and communication technologies enables knowledge workers to telework from remote non-office locations such as their homes, or to work nomadically from multiple locations in a day. this paper uses data from the american time use survey to explore the relationship between daily work locations and travel in the united states from to . outcome variables include travel duration and travel during peak periods. home is by far the most common non-office work location, but working from other people’s homes, cafés/libraries, vehicles, and combinations of multiple locations are also measured. findings show that working from home only on a day (full-day telework) decreases daily travel duration and increases the likelihood of avoiding peak hour travel for both work and non-work related travel. however, for homeworkers who also conduct work from their workplace on the same day (part-day telework), there is no reduction in daily travel time, and avoiding peak hour travel is limited to work-related travel. working from other locations such as cafés/libraries or vehicles increases the likelihood of not traveling at peak hours. findings also indicate that morning peak periods are more affected by work location decisions than evening peak periods. a survival analysis of daily departure times for both full-day and part-day homeworkers provides insight into this mechanism. we conclude on the basis of these findings that demand management policies and peak avoidance incentives would be more effective if they encourage both temporal and spatial flexibility for employees when partnering with regional employers. the notion of commuting for work often assumes a neat division between a distant single workplace and home. yet not all jobs take place entirely in a single workplace location. truck drivers, repairpersons, and traveling salespersons have long challenged this simple conception of work location, and conducting work remotely from one's home has been a viable option for some workers for decades. recent advances in information and communication technology (ict) may further diversify work locations for those knowledge workers whose occupations are most capable of being done remotely. principally, the adoption of mobile cloud computing infrastructure allows workers to be better connected to colleagues, clients and work information from home, but also from locations beyond the home such as cafés, and anywhere else by connection through internet networks. this paper explores the relationship between work location and travel among united states knowledge workers using american time use survey data from to . in this study we seek to test recent findings using canadian time use data (lachapelle et al. ) in an american context, and build upon it using different analyses on knowledge workers and including trip purpose. these years encompass a large time period of knowledge work practice utilizing internet software enabled by mobile cloud computing, such as the widespread use of web-accessible email. we define four categories of alternate work location: working from one's own home, working from other people's homes, working from cafés/libraries, and working from vehicles, and construct a nominal variable that captures both single location and multiple location workers. using this variable, we first highlight time trends and spatial patterns in the practice of alternate work location in the united states. secondly, we apply this variable in determining how alternate work location practices interact with daily travel patterns considering both work and non-work-related travel. we do this by modeling the relationship of work location with duration of daily travel and participation in morning and evening peak hour travel period, answering the following two research questions: which daily work location arrangements are related to decreased or increased travel duration? which daily work location arrangements are related to peak or off peak travel? we also describe a potential mechanism within this relationship through a survival analysis of daily departure times based on work locations. the conclusion considers how telework might play a larger role in travel demand management strategies in light of our findings. daily travel patterns in a region are related to the participation of individuals in varied activities (kitamura ) . golob and mcnally ( ) define three categories of activities that influence travel in different ways: work activities, household maintenance activities including shopping, drop-offs, and medical care, and discretionary activities that are related to leisure, such as social visits. individuals are constrained in their participation in activities and related travel by their capabilities, relationships, and agency (hägerstraand ) . as such, social and demographic factors exert influence on the demand for activities, and the inclusion of activity participation alongside such factors in travel demand models has led to better explanation of travel outcomes (lu and pas ) . demand for activities differs between workers and non-workers, and between workdays and non-workdays (yamamoto and kitamura ) . furthermore, time spent working and time spent commuting, measured through time-travel ratios, indicate that individuals trade-off time spent participating in each within a day (schwanen and dijst ) . telework allows work activities to be conducted remotely without necessitating a trip, potentially disrupting such constraints and tradeoffs, and influencing both work and non-work-related travel (dijst ) . as early as , the person who coined the term "telecommuting" offered it as an alternative practice to the problems of traffic congestion derived from daily work commuting (nilles et al. ). in an early pilot study conducted in california, travel diary data was collected from state workers enrolled in a telecommuting program as well as from members of a control group; results showed an expected reduction in weekly work trips, but also a reduction in non-work trips by family members (kitamura et al. ) . a time series analysis (choo et al. ) found that growth in telecommuting had a small negative effect on vehicle miles traveled. a meta-analysis (andreev et al. ) considered empirical studies of the effects of telework, and found that nearly all of them showed the relationship between telecommuting and travel to be one of substitution, in which telecommuting reduces travel. obstacles to the adoption of telework by organizations have included manager preference for having employees in the office, and concerns from both employees and managers about professional isolation and career development (duxbury et al. ; cooper and kurland ) . motivations for the decision to telework include commute time, stress, and a desire for independence, yet distractions at home and missing out on workplace socialization act as deterrents (mokhtarian and salomon ) . additionally, while telework in some structured cases has improved productivity, these effects have not been widely seen. an analysis of fortune company pilot programs found that productivity was unchanged among home workers compared to in-office workers (olson ) . recent telework research has strived for more complex modeling such as the distinction between types of telework based on time of day, duration, and interaction with work done at the workplace. asgari and jin ( ) consider different patterns of telecommuting, such as the possibility of additional work-related trips over the course of the day. haddad et al. ( ) find that in the united kingdom "part-day" homeworking-defined as working from home in addition to attending work on the same day-is more prevalent than full-day homeworking among full-time workers, but that only full-day homeworking is associated with a belief that commuting is a struggle to be avoided. deng et al. ( ) add "overtime" workers-defined as those who work from home while maintaining their regular commute patterns-to create a three-part categorization of home-based telework. the effects of partday teleworking on travel may take the form of temporal shifts in commute time rather than the elimination of trips (lyons and haddad ) . asgari et al. ( ) additionally explore differences in departure times for different types of teleworkers to shed light on such shifts. finally, authors have recently been more fully exploring the implications of telecommuting for sustainability. a particular challenge to the reduction of travel through telework is how its benefits may be offset by residential location choice. hu and he ( ) studied differences in the travel outcomes between part and full-time telecommuters, finding that those who telecommute less frequently tend to have longer trips to work than either those who telecommute more frequently or those who don't telecommute. however lachapelle et al. ( ) used canadian time use data to explore the relationship of working from different locations with travel, finding that some patterns of working from home were associated with less overall travel, a decreased likelihood of traveling at peak travel times, and an increased likelihood of using a non-motorized form of transport. shabanpour et al. ( ) forecast how the increased adoption of full-day telecommuting could reduce traffic congestion and travel-related emissions based on travel diary data from chicago. yet despite empirical findings about telework, doubt has remained about the nature of the relationship between telecommunications and travel. mokhtarian ( ) argued that even if many short-term studies show a minor substitution effect, in the long-term telecommunications-based interactions and travel-based interactions will grow together, so that even as we interact more online we may also be traveling more. others similarly argue that the relationship between telecommunications and travel is a complex one requiring new concepts. the notion of activity fragmentation is offered by couclelis ( ) who argued that activities are now being spread across time and space in ways that they never could before icts and that this change is embedded in people's perceptions of action. alexander et al. ( ) found that icts supported a spatial and temporal fragmentation of work activities like emailing, participating in meetings, and web-based work. in a special issue introduction, schwanen et al. ( ) argued that the substitution/complementarity dichotomy represents a form of technological determinism in that it assumes that a generalizable effect of technology on travel exists. they suggested that the specific contexts in which digital activities interact with physical ones must be considered. the infrastructure of mobile cloud computing is driving further research into remote work practices, especially for knowledge workers. kleinrock ( ) noted that in the s, being disconnected from a network was a more normal state than being connected and called for technological infrastructures to better support a lifestyle he called "nomadicity." hardware technologies to address these challenges have developed in subsequent years, and now a patchwork framework enables mobile computing devices to access the internet through g and g data networks and wi-fi hotspots. through mobile cloud computing infrastructure, software is provided "as a service" through the internet (mell and grance ) . this "anytime/anyplace" computing is especially suited to knowledge work in how it can enable remote collaboration (davis ) . a simple dichotomy of home and office may be inadequate to capture the routines of project-based and team-based knowledge workers in this new context. for teams, collaborative technologies have a centralizing effect on knowledge sharing (bélanger and allport ) . virtual teams using mobile cloud computing infrastructure can flexibly and remotely collaborate on projects with fewer face-to-face interactions (townsend et al. ) . additionally, nomadic knowledge workers structure their work lives around projects, and both use and reshape the digital infrastructure of nomadicity as they traverse multiple spaces in service of the tasks and relations that comprise a day's tasks (erickson et al. ). the broad category of "mobile workers" include such nomadic workers, as well as those whose work necessitates changing locations or those for whom mobility is work, such as mobile hairstylists and vehicle drivers (cohen ) . this paper contributes to the existing literature by creating knowledge about four aspects of the relationship between work location and travel in the united states. firstly, empirical research has focused largely on remote working from home only. here we will additionally explore working from locations such as cafés, vehicles and other people's homes, which may be conducted through icts. secondly, while much past research has largely considered full-time and full-day telework, this paper's analysis allows for the inclusion of multiple work locations in a single day, thus including part-day teleworking in order to contribute to that important growing body of research. thirdly, because working affects travel outcomes related to activities beyond work, we will also explore the effects of diverse work locations on non-work maintenance and discretionary activities. finally, in addition to looking at total travel duration, this research considers the relationship of work location with both peak hour travel and initial departure times in part to inform demand management and peak hour avoidance policies. in doing so it supports an application of telework knowledge as a policy tool to be applied in specific contexts for specific purposes. all analyses in this paper use data from the american time use survey (atus) conducted by the census bureau on behalf of the bureau of labor statistics (bls). this annual crosssectional survey was first conducted in , and seeks to shed light on the amount of time americans spend doing various activities by asking respondents about the -h prior to a telephone interview. the unit of analysis for atus is a -h period of activities for members of selected households that participate in the current population survey. these households are originally selected using a multistage stratified sampling strategy. atus observations are weighted to ensure that final estimates demographically reflect the us population, and to adjust for the oversampling of weekend days. these atus-provided survey weights are applied to all our modeling and estimations. a primary shortcoming of the atus is that it only allows respondents to report doing one activity at a time. a respondent who dined with friends has to choose between reporting such an activity as "eating/drinking" or as "socializing," but could not report both. similarly a respondent who composes and sends a work email while watching tv cannot report that activity as both "work" and "leisure/relaxing." however we consider this to not be problematic, but rather beneficial for this study, as our intention is to capture the more focused and intentioned episodes of work that both respondents and employers would consider as time spent "working." occasional smartphone check-ins with work is an interesting practice, but one that would be best captured in a different study. our sample of us knowledge workers on a workday was constructed by limiting the full atus sample in several ways. firstly we limited the sample to non-holiday weekdays, and excluded unemployed individuals or any employed individuals who reported conducting no work on that day. secondly, because the focus of this study is on knowledge work, individuals in manual occupations were excluded, such as food prep, cleaning, personal care, construction, maintenance, and transportation. thirdly, we excluded workers who travelled by plane on the diary day because it likely indicates an atypical day of travel for them. finally, we exclude self-employed workers, who are overrepresented among alternate location workers, yet whose lack of an employing firm makes for different policy prescriptions regarding trip reduction and peak-avoidance. using repeated cross-sectional data from to , there are , observations used for descriptive and trend analysis, and , observations used for modeling due to missing income and work classification data. the levels of measurement for all variables included in all analyses and models are shown in table . our primary variable of interest is a work location summary variable indicating whether an individual worked at a given location on the diary day, and the time and duration they worked at that location. these locations include workplace, own home, other person's home, café/library, vehicle, or unspecified. these variables alone do not constitute a mutually exclusive nominal categorical variable, since individuals may work from multiple locations in a single day, such as the combination of workplace and home. therefore a single nominal work location variable was constructed that accounts for both those who worked from a single location and those who worked from different combinations of multiple locations. the variable for total daily travel time sums all time periods when the respondent indicated they were traveling by any mode in categories for work, maintenance, and discretionary purpose. work-related travel includes time spent commuting and time spent working in a vehicle such as in a car or on transit. the study also creates a measurement of daily participation in peak hour travel. the choice of whether or not to participate in peak hour travel on a given day is often highly constrained by organizational norms, however the enabling of remote work through the capabilities of ict can loosen these constraints to the extent that occupational requirements allow it. for the purpose of this analysis, peak travel times are defined as being a.m. to a.m. in the morning and p.m. to p.m. in the evening, although other levels were tried yielding similar findings. each case of a us worker on a workday is tagged as having traveled during these peak times or not on that day. the final nominal peak participation variable indicates whether an individual traveled at peak times in both the morning and evening, in the morning only, in the evening only, or during neither peak travel time. after an analysis of alternate work location prevalence and trends, we analyze the relationship between our measure of work location with both daily travel duration and peak hour travel, using firstly, three ordinary least squares regression models with natural logtransformed daily minutes of work-related, maintenance, and discretionary travel time as dependent variables, and secondly, three multinomial logistic regression models with peak travel participation across the same three categories as the dependent variables. the independent variables in all models are nominal workplace location, along with employment, family, demographic, locational and time characteristics as listed in table . the year variable was tried as both a continuous trend variable and as year-specific dummies to loosen the linear assumption of a time trend and to investigate potential effect from a period economic recession. weekend days were excluded from all models. while this study's goal for assessing relationships is in part exploratory, expected findings are that home-based working is associated with decreased overall travel, and a decreased likelihood of participation in peak hour travel. the peak hour model is finally augmented with a survival analysis of initial departure times for workers who conduct some or all work at home. results are presented in four sections below. the first section describes the prevalence of working from locations other than the workplace during the study period, as well as year-to-year trends for work location, and the characteristics of workers that reported conducting work from home and elsewhere. the second section presents the results of the daily travel duration ordinary least squares regression models. the third section presents the results from the peak hour travel participation multinomial logistic regression models, and the final section augments this with a survival analysis of initial departure times to shed light on a mechanism of morning peak hour avoidance related to homebased work. more than % of us knowledge workers on a workday reported working from a location other than just their workplace over the study period. figure shows all the categories of the nominal work location variable except for the largest category of "workplace only" which accounted for . % of us non-self employed knowledge workers on a workday. of the remaining . %, . % worked from a single type of locationown home, other home(s), café/library, vehicle, or unspecified. the remaining . % worked from some combination of types of these locations and/or their workplace. for both one-location workers and multiple-location workers, the most prevalent categories involve homeworking, with . % working from their own home only (full-day homeworkers), and . % working from their own home and their workplace on a workday (part-day homeworkers). it is also notable that nearly % of workers worked from their own homes plus one or more non-workplace locations, and . % worked from their workplace and or more other locations. the "unspecified" categories are assumed to be largely those who are working from others' work locations, such as auditors, consultants, and salespeople. trends in alternate work location across these location types are shown in fig. . full-day homeworking among non-self employed knowledge workers shows a clear upward trend, and more than doubled, from a low of % in to a peak of % in . part-day homeworking was consistently more prominent but only shows a slight growth trend. working from vehicles-only or in combination with other locations-also appears to show an upward trend from . % in to a high of . % in although with an unexplained outlier in . finally conducting some or all work from cafes or libraries shows a slight downward trend although with a higher degree of variability. the peak in of . % could be related to a recession during that period. the distribution of non-self employed homeworking is shown in fig. for only the latter years of the study period ( - ) to reflect recent changes. there are clear differences between states and differently-sized urban areas. appalachian states such as west virginia and kentucky, and southern states such as mississippi and louisiana have notably lower levels of homeworking. coastal states generally have higher levels, and there are several exceptional states such as vermont, massachusetts, colorado, north dakota, and wyoming. despite some rural states excelling, homeworking tends to occur at a higher rate in larger urban areas as shown in fig. . metropolitan statistical areas larger than . million persons and five million persons had the highest rates of . % and . % respectively. there are statistically significant differences in the characteristics of those who work from home and other alternate work locations compared to the general population of us workers over the study period (table ). in terms of gender, a higher percentage of knowledge workers are female, and full-day homeworking reflects this, however part-day homeworkers and those who work from other locations including cafes or vehicles tended to be slightly more male. higher levels of education and income are also seen among alternate location workers, especially both full and part-day homeworkers. in terms of occupations, those who work from home and other non-workplace locations are more likely to have a management occupation and less likely to have an administrative position. computer, education, and design occupations are also correlated to alternate work location among knowledge workers. home-only workers work for less minutes in the day than part-day homeworkers or overall knowledge workers. differences also exist in travel between each subgroup and overall knowledge workers, both in terms of daily travel times and participation in peak travel. these differences will be explored through modeling in the two subsequent sections. the first set of models seeks to explain daily travel duration through work location, while controlling for characteristics of employment, family, demographic, location, and day of the week. table shows results from three log-linear regressions with daily work-related travel time, daily maintenance travel time, and daily discretionary travel time as dependent variables. work-related travel time is composed of time spent commuting, other self-reported time spent traveling for work, and any time spent working in a vehicle. an initial examination of residuals from ordinary least squares multiple linear regressions showed that the normality assumption would be violated without transforming the dependent travel time variables. both log transformation using constants to address the presence of zero values, and square-root transformation were tried yielding similar results, and only the former strategy is presented here. model fits as measured by r suggest that work-related travel is explained much better by these variables than non-work related travel. work-related daily travel time is significantly lower for full-day homeworkers, compared to the base category of workplace only. the coefficient of − . , indicates that working from home only is associated with a change in work-related travel time by a factor of . (e − . = . ) or a decrease of %. this is not surprising since full-day home-based workers do not engage in a commute at all. working from another person's home or an unspecified location are also associated with less work-related travel. working at the combination of home and workplace only-part-day homeworking-has no significant effect on workrelated travel time. other categories of multiple work location are all predicted to increase work-related travel time. vehicle-based work is associated with the largest increases in work-related travel time, both as part of multiple locations or on its own. for example, working from both a vehicle and workplace in a day is associated with an increase of work-related travel by a factor of . ( %). however these categories represent only a small percentage of knowledge workers as shown in fig. . non-work maintenance and discretionary travel are also reduced by full-day homeworking, by % and % respectively. additionally, the duration of time worked on a given day is associated with more non-work travel. this finding helps explains why home-only workers-who work less per day on average-have slightly higher average maintenance and discretionary travel times than overall knowledge workers as shown in table , suggesting they may reallocate work time towards other activities. for part-day homeworkers, maintenance travel is estimated to be % higher than for workplace only workers. finally, working from two or more locations in addition to a workplace is associated with both more maintenance and discretionary travel, which could be related to trip chaining patterns among these more mobile workers. results for the multinomial logistic regressions on peak hour travel participation are shown in table for the independent variable of interest, daily work locations. as in the previous section, three models are presented with dependent variables for peak hour travel for work purposes, peak hour travel for maintenance purposes, and peak hour travel for discretionary purposes. working from home only on a workday greatly decreases the likelihood that a worker will participate in any period of peak travel that day. someone working from home only is at least % less likely to engage in any or both periods of peak hour travel for work purposes than someone working from their workplace only. again this is expected because of the lack of a work commute altogether. however they are also less likely to travel during peak periods for non-work maintenance or discretionary purposes, such as being over % less likely to travel for maintenance reasons during the morning peak. part-day homeworking while also attending a workplace has mixed effects on participation in peak hour travel. these workers are % less likely to travel for work purposes during both peaks and % less likely to travel during the morning peak only. yet they are also more likely to travel in those same peak periods for maintenance purposes-and in the morning peak period for discretionary travel, suggesting there is either some offset or that they travel for maintenance before their commute as part of a trip chain. as with full-day homeworking, part-day homeworking lacks significant effects that lower the likelihood of evening only peak travel across models. furthermore this pattern is seen in other categories, such as those working from two or more locations in addition to a workplace, suggesting workers are more likely to avoid peak hour morning travel than to avoid peak hour evening travel for work purposes. finally, just as in the previous set of models, participation in peak period travel for work purposes is better explained by these variables than participation in peak period travel for non-work purposes. the final analysis looks at the extent to which workers that work from home may use work location to delay their morning departure in a way that avoids peak hour commuting. in the model just presented, homeworkers are shown as more likely to engage in just one period of peak hour travel (morning or evening) over engaging in both morning and evening peak table odds ratios from multinomial logistic regression for peak travel outcome (us knowledge workers on workday - ; n = , ) control variables are shown in "appendix"; stars indicate significance: *p < . ; **p < . ; ***p < . (bases: no peak travel) hour travel, with a greater likelihood of avoiding morning peak hour commutes. other categories of work location also showed an orientation towards greater likelihood of not participating in morning peaks. the following survival analysis seeks to show how homeworkers-in particular part-day homeworkers-offset their departures in a way that results in avoiding morning peak hour travel. the kaplan-meier estimator is a statistical technique used to estimate survival probabilities over time for groups under study. before settling on this approach we first tried a cox hazard regression, which would have allowed for the inclusion of the same independent variables as in the above models. however testing indicated that the assumption of proportionality required by cox regression was not met. kaplan-meier survival analysis is most frequently applied in health studies to estimate the survival of patients in different treatment groups over time (jager et al. ) , however it has also been applied by other disciplines to the analysis of events such as exit from homelessness (caton et al. ). in our usage, time is represented as minutes on a workday and rather than surviving, our subjects are merely delaying their initial departure from home. in place of treatment groups we use the following categories of work location on the diary day: workplace only, home only, home in the morning and workplace, workplace and home in the afternoon or evening, and more than types of locations. the plots shown in fig. indicate clear differences in probability of departure at given times based on work location practices that contribute to shaping the morning peak period. workplace-only workers, with a mean departure time of : a.m., have the steepest curve indicating that they have a higher probability of earlier departures. at a.m., % are estimated to remain at home not having engaged in any travel, and at a.m., only % remain at home. for part-day teleworkers who conduct work at both their workplace and home on a given day, the survival plots differ depending on whether home-based work was done in the morning before attending the workplace, or in the afternoon/evening after attending the workplace. knowledge workers conducting work at home before attending work, with a mean departure time of : a.m., have a similarly shaped plot to workplace-only workers yet it is shallower and shifted to the right indicating delayed departures. by a.m., % are estimated to remain at home, and by a.m., % remain at home. the plot for workers attending their workplace first and conducting work in the afternoon or evening afterwards, begins very slightly offset to the right, but is otherwise nearly identical to the plot for workplace-only workers. the shallowest curve is for home-only workers, which we consider to be full-day teleworkers. these workers have a much later mean departure time of : a.m. at a.m., % of home-only workers are estimated to remain at home not having engaged in any travel, and by a.m. that number has only declined to %. the final plot is shown for workers who indicated that they work from more than two types of locations in a day. beyond work and home these may include conducting work from a café, vehicle or other office. this group shows a pattern of delayed departure very similar to that of part-day teleworkers who conducted work from home in the morning. at a.m., % of these multiple-location workers are estimated to remain at home, and by a.m. that number has declined to %. this survival analysis shows that three groups have higher probabilities of later departures compared to workplace-only workers: home-only workers, part-day teleworkers who conduct work from home in morning, and multiple-location workers. within the sample, the number of workers in these three groups ( total) is small compared to workplace-only workers ( , ), yet it is still consequential for travel outcomes, and points to one mechanism of the reduced participation in morning peak period travel based on work location that was observed in the previous model. over % of non-self employed american knowledge workers on a workday conducted work from one or more alternate work locations, such as homes, vehicles, cafés, other offices, and combinations of such locations with their workplace. in this study we have confirmed in an american context previous findings from the canadian context (lachapelle et al. ) , such as that teleworkers are more likely to avoid some peak periods and that full-day telework is associated with reduced travel time. this agreement shows how alternate work location practices matter to travel outcomes and deserve a place in policy making and demand forecasting. we have also extended this topic through a focus on knowledge workers, an exploration of interactions of work location with work and non-work trip purposes, and through an analysis of departure time by daily work location. the major findings of our study, based on data from the american time use survey spanning to are as follows: findings show that work location has a strong effect on peak hour travel among knowledge workers. full-day homeworkers are more likely to avoid peak hour travel in the morning only, evening only, or at both times on a workday. this effect is strongest for work-related travel as these workers by definition have no commute. however the effect is also seen for non-work maintenance and discretionary travel. part-day homeworkers who also attend their workplace are more likely to avoid travel for work purposes during peak periods, but are less likely to avoid travelling for non-work purposes at those times. this may indicate workers with household responsibilities using traditional commute times to complete discretionary or maintenance activities while strategically using telework to compensate for lost office time. other work location practices such as café working, working from other homes, and working from vehicles, are also associated with avoiding peak hour travel for work purposes. when we combine homeworking with other non-workplace locations, such as someone who works at home in the morning and goes to a café to work later in the day, the higher likelihood of avoidance of at least some peak hour work travel remains. those who work from alternate locations are more likely to avoid peak hour travel in the morning than in the evening. with homeworking being the largest category of alternate work location, the analysis points to a mechanism of shifted morning departure times. according to our survival analysis, both part-day homeworkers who conduct work in the morning, and full-day homeworkers are seen as shifting their departures to later times within or after peak hours. additionally many of the other categories of both single-location and multiple-location work, showed strong or significant effects for avoiding peak hour morning work-related travel but not for avoiding peak hour evening travel. however it is notable that this difference in morning and evening peaks holds true largely for workrelated travel, and not for non-work related travel. our full models ("appendix") showed that number of children is correlated with peak period maintenance travel, and as such we consider that working parents in particular lack the flexibility to avoid morning peaks altogether. full-day homeworking influences both work and non-work travel in ways that reduce travel with benefits for sustainability. findings show that working from home only on a workday is predicted to decrease work-related travel time by % and maintenance-related travel time by %. while full-day homeworkers were found on average to travel slightly more for non-work purposes than workplace workers as they reallocate time from shorter daily working hours, their overall daily travel time remains much lower on average. furthermore, this additional non-work travel may have benefits for wellbeing. part-day homeworkingworking at home and attending the workplace on the same day-was not predicated to reduce daily travel time among knowledge workers. furthermore, all other work locations and combinations of work locations were predicted to increase either work or maintenancerelated travel time. working from vehicles was predicted to greatly increase daily time spent traveling, based on an imperfect assumption that vehicle-based work is comprised of traveling. homeworking is on the rise in the united states for knowledge workers. the upward trend appears especially strong for those who only work from home, whose prevalence nearly doubled between and . but it also appears for those who work from home and from one or more other locations including their workplace. the associations of homeworking with the highest level of education, and with management and professional occupations suggest that homeworking is related to information and communication technologies. vehicle-based working also is on the rise, although it remains relatively rare. there are limitations to this study related to both its data and the national scale of its analysis. first and foremost, the lack of smaller geographies for this dataset, such as census tracts, mean that our models don't effectively account for the role of the built environment in the relationships being studied, such as the distinction between urban and suburban contexts. another key limitation is the absence of data about particular individual work tasks. the broad categories of industry and occupation supported by the american time use survey do not give us an accurate measurement of the daily tasks in which a worker is expected to engage and the suitability of those tasks for being done remotely, which also form an important part of these relationships. in terms of the national scale of analysis, because peak travel periods are different in different metropolitan areas, our choice of how we broadly defined these periods may not be accurate in some locations. altogether these limitations mean that we are limited in how we strongly we can speak to the applicability of our findings in particular contexts, however we can draw conclusions about these relationships applicable to the united states broadly. our findings firstly have implications for travel demand forecasting, as models that do not account for the likely continued adoption of full-day home-based telework may overestimate peak period travel demand. models should consider the role of part-day telework in contributing to reduced or flattened peak periods, especially regarding the morning commute. additionally, the forced adoption of telework by many knowledge workers in relation to covid- draws attention to its practice, and creates an opportunity for promoting its strategic application as part of demand management solutions to transportation-related challenges such as congestion and greenhouse gas emissions. in light of this, our findings could contribute to the development of more effective regional travel demand management (tdm) and incentive-based peak hour avoidance policies. tdm is the collaborative effort among private and public sector actors to manage demand for usage of the transportation system through the elimination or altering of peak hour trips. it can be enacted as regular policy to reduce congestion, or implemented during events that may worsen congestion, as tdm was used during the los angeles olympics (giuliano ) . a recent demand management policy of interest is peak hour avoidance incentives, in which rewards are given to users in exchange for avoiding travel during peak times ). telework has long been considered as one strategy for the elimination of trips in tdm (meck ) . however implementations of tdm have in practice focused more on encouraging temporal flexibility, such as through work schedule shifts (ferguson ). our findings concerning the relationship of work location to peak hour travel, supports the usefulness of also encouraging spatial flexibility in tdm such as through telework. given a choice, some employees may choose to temporally shift their work schedule by traveling before peak times and arriving at the workplace early. other employees may choose to shift spatially only, by starting work at home, commuting after the peak hour, and then continuing work in the workplace. still other employees may creatively combine spatial and temporal flexibility to suit their own needs. employers and employees benefit from less time wasted in travel congestion while transportation agencies benefit from reduced peak hour usage. furthermore full-day teleworking has the benefit of reduced travel and can be oriented toward lowering greenhouse gas emissions. the message to employers from tdm partnerships could thus be one of permitting flexibility of both schedule and location for those employees for whom it is possible. and incentive programs can adapt to this dual flexibility by not providing overly narrow targets for incentivized outcomes. for example the trial "bart perks" peak avoidance program provided incentives to riders in the form of points, to nudge morning commutes into small windows either one hour before or one hour after the peak morning hour (bay area rapid transit ). a preliminary evaluation of the program found that out of , signups, an average of riders shifted their commute time each day of the program, while companies signed up as partners in encouraging flexible work schedules. (bay area rapid transit ). the effect of the program on peak hour travel might have been larger if a wider window were granted for shifts in travel, and if the partnership with employers was designed to encourage both temporal and spatial flexibility. similar programs can also encourage occasional full-day teleworking to reduce emissions. based on the findings of this analysis of american time use survey data, we argue that only by including spatial flexibility can the full benefits from new flexible work styles be realized. stars indicate significance: *p < . ; **p < . ; ***p < . fragmentation of work activity as a multi-dimensional construct and its association with ict, employment and sociodemographic characteristics review: state of teleactivities toward a comprehensive telecommuting analysis framework: setting the conceptual outline investigation of commute departure time to understand the impacts of part-day telecommuting on the temporal displacement of commute travel bay area rapid transit incentives shift bart riders out of the morning rush collaborative technologies in knowledge telework: an exploratory study risk factors for long-term homelessness: findings from a longitudinal study of firsttime homeless single adults does telecommuting reduce vehicle-miles traveled? an aggregate time series analysis for the u rethinking 'mobile work': boundaries of space, time and social relation in the working lives of mobile hairstylists telecommuting, professional isolation, and employee development in public and private organization pizza over the internet: e-commerce, the fragmentation of activity and the tyranny of the region anytime/anyplace computing and the future of knowledge work factors influencing full-day, part-day, and overtime telecommuting: investigation of northern california workers icts and accessibility: an action space perspective on the impact of new information and communication technologies attitudes of managers and employees to telecommuting more than nomads: mobility, knowledge work, and infrastructure using incentives as traffic management tool: empirical results of the "peak avoidance" experiment transportation demand management planning, development, and implementation testing the limits of tsm: the los angeles summer olympics a model of activity participation and travel interactions between household heads an examination of determinants influencing the desire for and frequency of part-day and whole-day homeworking what about people in regional science? association between telecommuting and household travel in the chicago metropolitan area the analysis of survival data: the kaplan-meier method an evaluation of activity-based travel analysis telecommuting as a transportation planning measure: initial results of california pilot project nomadicity: anytime, anywhere in a disconnected world telecommuting and sustainable travel: reduction of overall travel time, increases in non-motorised travel and congestion relief? urban stud socio-demographics, activity participation and travel behavior commute replacement and commute displacement: the rise of part-day home working growing smart legislative guidebook: model statutes for planning and the management of change the nist definition of cloud computing telecommunications and travel: the case for complementarity modeling the desire to telecommute: the importance of attitudinal factors in behavioral models telecommunications-transportation tradeoff: options for tomorrow work at home for computer professionals: current attitudes and future prospects travel-time ratios for visits to the workplace: the relationship between commuting time and work duration icts and the decoupling of everyday activities, space and time: introduction analysis of telecommuting behavior and impacts on travel demand and the environment virtual teams: technology and the workplace of the future an analysis of time allocation to in-home and out-of-home discretionary activities across working days and non-working days full model results for tables and (see tables , ).publisher's note springer nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.jonathan stiles is a postdoctoral researcher in the department of geography and the steam factory at the ohio state university. his research interests include sustainable transportation, road safety, and the ways information technologies influence travel.michael j. smart is an associate professor of urban planning at the edward j. bloustein school of planning and public policy at rutgers university. his research focuses on travel behavior and the linkages between transportation and economic upward mobility. key: cord- - ekgb zx authors: hjálmsdóttir, andrea; bjarnadóttir, valgerður s. title: “i have turned into a foreman here at home.” families and work‐life balance in times of covid‐ in a gender equality paradise. date: - - journal: gend work organ doi: . /gwao. sha: doc_id: cord_uid: ekgb zx this article explores the gendered realities of work‐life balance in iceland during the covid‐ pandemic, in particular how these societal changes reflect and affect the gendered division of unpaid labor, such as childcare and household chores. the study draws on open ended real‐time diary entries, collected for two weeks during the peak of the pandemic in iceland. the entries represent the voices of mothers in heteronormative relationships. the findings imply that, during the pandemic, the mothers took on greater mental work than before. they also described intense emotional labor, as they tried to keep everyone calm and safe. the division of tasks at home lay on their shoulders, causing them stress and frustration. the findings suggest that, even in a country that has been at the top of the gender gap index for several years, an unprecedented situation like covid‐ can reveal and exaggerate strong gender norms and expectations towards mothers. this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. the covid- pandemic is not only a health emergency and economic hazard but has also resulted in dramatic changes in people's personal lives, and roles within families have been disrupted. during the pandemic, many countries have taken drastic measures to reduce the spread of the virus, such as social distancing, lockdowns, and closing schools, public institutions, and workplaces. children and adults alike have been forced to stay at home for a shorter or longer time and upturn their lives as the home became the school, the workplace, the playground, sports facility, and family sanctuary. unesco has estimated that more than % of the world's student population, or around , billion students, has been affected by either temporary school closings or restricted services (unesco, ) . this entails increased care responsibilities for parents across the world. even though the number of dual earner households has been increasing for the last decades, findings of several studies indicate that women still bear the burden of childrearing and household labor in industrialized countries (alon, doepke, olmstead-rumsey, & tertilt, ; carlson, petts, & pepin, ; friedman, ; knight & brinton, ; t. miller, ; schwanen, ) . it can therefore be assumed that they are more affected by the closing of schools than their male partners. in fact, several studies (alon et al., ; andrew et al., ; carlson et al., ) and media coverage (see e.g. ascher, ; c. c. miller, ; topping, ) on the impact of covid- on families have indicated complications and challenges, as this unprecedented situation appears to have revealed or exaggerated existing gender inequalities and divisions within families. some have even referred to this strange situation as the s was revisiting homelife (ferguson, ) , indicating a backlash in terms of gender equality and power positions in the home during these circumstances. during previous crises, women have been more likely to either reduce their working hours or temporarily step down from work (alon et al., ; andrew et al., ) . we still pressure for the last few months and that mothers have spent less time on paid work and more time on household responsibilities as compared to fathers during the pandemic (andrew et al., ; carlson et al., ; collins, landivar, ruppanner & scarborough, ; craig & churchill, ; hennekam & shymko, ; manzo & minello, ; qian & fuller, ) . studies have indicated that young children tend to seek help and attention by interrupting their mothers, and that the mothers in turn experience time as more fragmented (collins, ; collins et al., ; sullivan & gershuny, ) which can become a bigger challenge in lockdown as the one during covid- . since the lockdown, more mothers participating in andrew's et al. ( ) research have reduced their working hours and those who have stopped working do twice as much child care and household duties as their male partners who are still working. conversely, in families where the male partner has stopped working but not the female, the parents share childcare and household duties equally even though the mother works at least five hours of paid work a day. qian and fuller ( ) argue that the pandemic is far from being an equalizer when it comes to gender equality, as their research indicates a widening gender employment gap among canadian parents with young children. the pandemic has not only affected schools, as many companies and businesses have been forced to adopt to the circumstances with more working-from-home and telecommuting opportunities for their workers (alon et al., ) . juggling childcare and paid work has been very challenging for parents, but then again, this has meant increased flexibility for many employees, flexibility that has often been discussed as the solution to a better work-life balance, especially for women (gatrell, burnett, cooper, & sparrow, ; sullivan, ; wheatley, ) . however, there are various intricacies around the interactions of gender equality and work-life balance in normal times, which seem to have intensified during the this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. pandemic as the pressure on parents' time increases (e.g. andrew et al., ; carlson et al., ) . iceland has been considered a frontrunner, even among the other nordic countries, in gender equality (the world economic forum, ), which makes it a particularly interesting setting in this regard. we believe that times like the covid- pandemic provide a unique opportunity to explore and shed light on deeply entrenched and gendered social structures within the organization of the family. in fact, research has already pointed in that direction (auðardóttir & rúdólfsdóttir, ) . thus, the focus of this study is to look at how the societal changes reflect and affect the gendered division of labor, especially concerning the unpaid labor of childcare and household chores, from the perspectives of mothers in heterosexual relationships. this was done by collecting daily real-time diary entries from almost mothers for two weeks during the peak of the pandemic in iceland while severe restrictions were being followed. important steps towards gender equality have been taken in the western part of the world over the years, not least in the nordic countries. these include improved legal frameworks, rising female employment and educational levels, and improvement in fathers' involvement in childrearing (evertsson, ; eydal & gíslason, ; gíslason & símonardóttir, ; jóhannsdóttir & gíslason, ) . despite these steps, the gender pay gap remains unbridged, reflecting the persistent idea of male provider roles (petersen, penner, & høgsnes, ; snaevarr, ) . iceland's reputation as the most gender equal country in the world has been quite prominent in public discourse and in the media, both in iceland and around the world. this media discourse has portrayed iceland as a paradise for women, implying that gender equality has more or less been achieved in iceland (hertz, ; jakobsdóttir, ; kilpatrick, ; this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. tuttle, ), which has even been used for international branding purposes (einarsdóttir, ) . despite the importance of recognizing that the ranking of gender equality as practiced by the global gender gap index, among others, has its limitations and overlooks important institutional variables such as social norms and values (einarsdóttir, ) , certainly iceland is doing well in international comparisons. women's educational attainment in iceland has steadily increased over the last few decades (bjarnason & edvardsson, ) , and in the year , icelandic women had the highest labor ratio among the oecd countries at . %. the same applies to men's labor force participation of . % (oecd, ) . despite this active participation in the labor force, icelandic women have established families at relatively young ages and the average birthrate has been rather high up until very recently in comparison with other northern european countries (hognert et al., ; jónsson, ) . in iceland, as elsewhere, women work part-time jobs in higher numbers, and mothers reduce their labor participation following childbirth more often than do fathers (gíslason & símonardóttir, ) . regardless of international trends towards increased active female participation in the workforce, the labor market is still very gender divided, and the rates of gender segregation both in line of work and educational choices are striking (dinella, fulcher, & weisgram, ) . the same manifestation applies to iceland (snaevarr, ) . over the last few decades, the government of iceland has taken some important steps in making laws and policies to facilitate fathers' involvement in childrearing responsibilities. the most substantial step is probably an act on shared parental leave passed in , which gave parents nine months in total, "dividing the nine months so that three are sharable while each parent has three that are strictly non-transferable" (gíslason & símonardóttir, , p. ) , and was lengthened by a month on january , (act on maternity/paternity leave and parental leave no. / with amendments). in iceland, research has indicated that discourses on motherhood in this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. relation to breastfeeding imply more intensive mothering that starts when the children are very young. this is somehow in opposition to the governmental emphasis on gender equality that aim to get fathers more in involved in parenting (gíslason & símonardóttir, ) . despite all these advancements, there are some signs that these have been achieved at a cost and there are some cracks in icelandic's glossy image as the frontrunner of gender equality (einarsdóttir, ) . in recent years, media coverage about people experiencing burnout has been more common, especially among professions like nurses and elementary school teachers (halldórsdóttir, skúladóttir, sigursteinsdóttir, & agnarsdóttir, ; the icelandic nurses' association, ; the icelandic teachers union, n.d.) , which in iceland are typically female professions. it appears that people are increasingly experiencing stress in their everyday live, which, if prolonged, can result in both poor physical and mental health (jónsdóttir, ) . over the last few years, research results from iceland have indicated that conflicts between work and family are quite frequent among icelandic parents, even though they do not consider housework alone to be a great burden (Þórsdóttir, ) . family obligations and issues related to the care of children are more likely to be woven into the mothers' working hours than fathers' (hjálmsdóttir & einarsdóttir, ) . there are also indications that parents are more likely to express difficulties when it comes to everyday chores than are workers without children and that parents experience conflict in balancing work and family (eyjólfsdóttir, ; hjálmsdóttir & einarsdóttir, ; Þórsdóttir, ) . work-life balance refers to the ability of every individual, regardless of gender, to coordinate work and family obligations successfully. work, in this context, refers to paid labor performed outside the home (wheatley, ) . studies have found that, when parents manage to balance family and working life, they are more satisfied with their life, which positively this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. impacts their mental and physical health (haar et al., ) . successful work-life balance can, therefore, be considered to be an important public health issue (lunau, bambra, eikemo, van der wel, & dragano, ) . a growing number of people describe increased time pressure in their daily lives and experience time being a scarce resource for all the task in their daily schedules (fyhri & hjorthol, ) . time is gendered, and bryson and deery ( ) have claimed that gender inequalities are sustained by differences in the use and experience of time among men and women and "that 'time cultures' are bound up with power and control" (p. ). research has indicated that men have, on average, more control over their time outside work than women. more claims are laid on women's time from family members. they feel more rushed in their daily lives and are more likely to be expected to attend to household work. women are also more inclined to multitask than men (bryson, ; craig & brown, ; friedman, ; rafnsdóttir & heijstra, ; sullivan & gershuny, ) . for the last few decades, some countries have been changing their policies to improve the opportunity parents have to balance work and family (gatrell, burnett, cooper, & sparrow, ; sullivan, ; wheatley, ) . such policies are often based on more access to subsidized childcare or flexibility. work flexibility has been argued to be desirable and a step towards gender equality, since it has enabled people's work-life balance (gatrell et al., ; haar et al., ; sullivan, ; wheatley, ) . alon et al. ( ) predict that the somehow forced flexibility of many workplaces caused by covid- might last after the pandemic has run its course and be beneficial for both mothers and fathers. nevertheless, work related flexibility has both pros and cons and can even cause stress. the division between work and home can become more blurred when the employees bring their work home and take care of family matters during working hours (hjálmsdóttir & einarsdóttir, ; wheatley, ) . it has also been argued that not all professions offer an this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. opportunity to enjoy the of taking work home or having different working hours. such flexibility is often dependent on educational level, as well as being related to the gendered division of the labor market (pedulla & thébaud, ) . female dominated profession, like teachers and nurses, often have strict attendance obligations in their workplaces and less opportunity for work flexibility (pétursdóttir, ; wheatley, ) . men enjoy the opportunity to have flexible working hours or work from home more often, and flexibility can be more likely to have a negative effect on women's careers (friedman, ) . as such, seemingly supportive policies can have different consequences for men and women (pedulla & thébaud, ) . the structure of the family as an institution has changed in recent years, including the composition of families and the roles of the genders, and each family member now has more complex roles (júlíusdóttir, ) . starting a family and having children has turned out to have different effects on the lives of men and women, and it seems to be less beneficial for mothers. more families now rely on dual-earnings, and although the number of females working in paid labor has been on the increase, there is still a lack of active participation among men in the home. this applies to iceland and many other countries (gíslason, ; petersen, penner, & høgsnes, ) . having children and family relations maintain and support gendered positions and divisions of labor in public and private lives. petersen et al. ( ) underline how important it is to take such aspects into consideration when it comes to the positions of men and women on the labor market. t. miller ( ) claims that the reasons behind caring practices and their gendered performances "can be multiple and are interrelated, operating at the interpersonal and broader structural, political, policy and cultural levels" (p. ). research has indicated that social structures and prevailing attitudes can influence the gendered division of labor in relationships this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. (dotti sani, ; evertsson, ) . household labor has often been referred to as invisible work (hochschild & machung, ) , and the conceptualization of family work can be ambiguous since scholars often use different explanations of what such work actually entails (robertson, anderson, hall, & kim, ) . here, we follow these lines of thought and the three constructs of family work, commonly referred to in family work studies: housework, childcare, and emotional labor. emotional labor relates to activities relevant to the emotional wellbeing of other family members and giving them emotional support (curran, mcdaniel, pollitt, & totenhagen, ) . in an attempt to distinguish between emotional labor and mental work, robertson et al. ( , p. ) suggest mental work as the fourth construct of family work which "includes the invisible mental work related to managerial and family caregiving responsibilities", such as managing, monitoring, scheduling, knowing, and organizing the family life. mental work cannot be delegated to someone who does not belong to the family, and within families, mothers are much more likely to be household managers (ciciolla & luthar, ; curran et al., ; hjálmsdóttir & einarsdóttir, ; robertson et al., ) . this type of work often goes unnoticed by other family members along with the mental burden that such responsibilities require but impacts the mother's wellbeing with feeling of being rushed and strained in everyday life (ciciolla & luthar, ; craig & brown, ) . it has also been pointed out that it can be difficult to detect mental work since it is quite often closely connected with other activities related to the family (robertson et al., ) . in addition, many parents, especially mothers, experience work-family guilt when combining work and family, experiencing conflict between the tasks in the public and private spheres (borelli, nelson, river, birken, & moss-racusin, ) , which can add to the mental load of everyday life. this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. also, people had to ensure that they kept a distance of at least two meters between individuals. this entailed closing of swimming pools, gyms, pubs, and museums. however, no changes were made to the organization of schools (government of iceland, b) from the previous measures. due to these actions, those who possibly could work from home were encouraged to do so (sveinsdóttir, ) . health, ), including no more than children in the same group and groups not being allowed to interact. it was common for students to attend school every other day, for school days to be shorter and for meals to be available for a small part of the student body. parents were, in some cases, encouraged to let their children stay at home if they possibly could, while parents in occupations such as doctors, nurses, and police were identified as priority groups. this meant that they were somewhat less affected by school closures and restrictions. students in th to th grade ( -to -year-olds) had to study from home via distance education. this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. after-school care was closed; sports and other extra curriculum actives were cancelled, and children were encouraged to only meet with the kids in their small groups outside school (icelandic association of local authorities, ). as in other countries, all these measures had severe impact on families with children, even though the schools technically never closed, and lockdowns were not imposed. this is the context in which this study was conducted in march and april of . on may , , social distancing restrictions were eased, meaning that all children's activities were more-or-less back to normal (government of iceland, a) -at least for the time being. this article draws from a real-time diary study conducted during the ban on public gathering in iceland. the first week of the diary study started on march th , and the second week kan, ; kitterød & lyngstad, ) . for the purpose of this study, we only analyze and present findings from the open diary entries. according to bolger et al. ( ) , diary studies are well suited to capturing the experiences and particulars of the life of the participants. since this is a real-time study with a minimum of time lapse between the experience and reflections, the likelihood of retrospection is minimized. one of the benefits of real-time diary studies like this one is that events are reported in a natural, spontaneous context. by doing so, the data becomes richer and important contextual information and meanings are pieced together to include in the study. this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. the sample is self-controlled as it consists of individuals who responded to an advertisement that we posted in various large and active icelandic facebook groups, such as brask & brall (a sales group with around . members), and through our own extended networks. facebook is the most popular social media in iceland, used regularly by nearly all icelanders (facebook nation, ), which makes it a good forum for reaching a considerable part of the population. in all, parents participated in the study, seven male and female. in an effort to shed light on the everyday life of mothers during covid- , we analyzed the open diary entries from female participants in heteronormative relationships, or mothers. about half of them lived in the reykjavík metropolitan area (n = ) while the others were spread around the country. the number of children in the homes of these mothers varied from one to six, but the majority (n = ) of the mothers had two children. the educational level of the participants was rather high, as a majority of participants held a university degree, with bachelor's degrees and with master's degrees. twenty-eight were in paid labor, four were on parental leave, one was an independent laborer, one was a student, one was both studying and working, one was on sick leave, and one was on disability. in most of the cases, both parents primarily or solely worked from home during the time of the study, and most of them were working full-time the whole period, even though some worked reduced hours due to the pandemic. in all cases, the children could attend schools up to some extent, but with severe restrictions of many sorts. after providing informed consent, participants were asked to answer a questionnaire consisting of background questions. then, they received a daily questionnaire via microsoft forms for two weeks. the purpose of the questionnaire was twofold; to collect structured time-use data (fisher, et al., ) , and open-ended diary entries in which participants would this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. write an "old style" diary, reflecting on everyday life during covid- . in the diary entries, participants were asked to reflect on their day, the impact of covid- on their life, division of household duties and responsibilities, and other issues they wanted to share. it is important to consider the risk of failure in distinguishing participants' reports of atypical experiences related to or caused by a major event or general experiences (bolger et al., ) . therefore, participants were asked to reflect specifically on their experiences in the context of covid- . the total word count of the written reflections was around . words, which provided us with rich qualitative data. we analyzed the written reflections drawing on braun and clarke's ( ) phases of thematic analysis. the text was sorted by date and participant before we read it several times, added notes, and discussed the content together. then, we coded the text, applying an inductive approach. this means that the initial coding of the diary entries was open and emphasized understanding the participants' experiences without engaging too much with existing literature and theories. similar codes and text segments were then collated in order to identify repeated patterns of meaning across the data: stress, work-life balance, and division of household duties. participants were promised confidentiality and that measures would be taken to prevent identification. we provided participants with a random personal participant number to ensure their anonymity. information that could link participants' names to the number was deleted right after the data collection period. participants were able to withdraw from the study at any time, and some did for unknown reasons. due to the limited time for the study, we decided to use the most convenient way possible to share information about the research and recruit participants, facebook. that probably affected both the number of participants, as the window of time to recruit this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. participants was limited, and how homogeneous the group became, particularly in terms of educational level. analysis of the data generated two themes, presented in two sections. the first concerns the complexities of work-life balance in covid- times, particularly the gendered interactions of stress, work-life balance, and mental work. the second section specifically draws on the emotional labor performed by the women in the study, some of which is represented by how conscious the women were of the well-being of their family members. the diary entries quite clearly described complications and stressful situations as the women were trying to juggle their time between work duties and childcare. they described how strained they were and how their stress level was increasing, using words like overwhelmed, frustrated, tired, annoyed, and angry to describe their situations. below are a few diary entries from mothers who were all working - % that reflect this. in the following example, a mother of a -year-old working in mass media, who worked entirely from home as did her husband, described one of her days like this: "i'm a little anxious because of all this, the situation in society. then, i do not have the energy to do much, only the necessary things. the child wore pajamas the whole day." she mentioned how the whole situation made her feel anxious and drained her energy. this was true of many of the other women, like this mother of three ( , and ) who worked in a nursing home explained: "now we have spent more than a month in quarantine and home-schooling. it has started to take its toll mentally, and the day today was difficult. i was almost in tears." her husband was still working in his workplace while she had taken a leave for the first weeks of covid- . juggling home-schooling, childcare, and work created a lot of pressure on the mothers and some of them described the guilt they were experiencing from feeling that they could not keep this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. up with everything. the next example is from a mother who worked full time at her workplace. she had two children, and years old, and wrote about her experience in the follow way. i experienced a slight panic attack on the way home over juggling all these different duties, and i cried a little. i went to the grocery store to get some time for myself and shopped for my sister who is in quarantine . . . no one has energy to start putting the kids to bed, so they went to sleep too late. . . jesus, how the parental-fuse is short, and i feel guilty about that. as these examples show, the mothers experienced stress, a lack of energy, and even guilt. as during 'normal' times mothers are more likely to experience work-family guilt, as they feel guilty about not being the best while not spending enough time with their kids, despite being on the run all the time (borelli et al., ; hjálmsdóttir & einarsdóttir, ) . during covid- , this pattern seems to have intensified, supported by research from other contexts as well (e.g. hennekam & shymko, ) . the levels of guilt and how it affected them was addressed by more participants. this mother had two children ( and years old) and was working full time. she and her husband were both working from home. i feel as if i should be able to organize my time better. the day passes, and i have not had time to enjoy one cup of coffee in peace. i do not sit down, but still the apartment is in chaos, the children neglected, and work unfinished. these examples show how much time pressure these mothers were under, and how they experienced guilt over not being able to complete their tasks, neither work nor family related. studies have shown that parents are under significant time pressure in their daily lives (fyhri & hjorthol, ) , especially women (sullivan & gershuny, ) . this pressure seemingly this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. increased greatly during the pandemic, as other research has indicated as well (alon et al., ; andrew et al., ) . the above example also indicates a level of multitasking as did entries from several other mothers in the study. according to previous studies (e.g. bryson, ; craig & brown, ; friedman, ; rafnsdóttir & heijstra, ; sullivan & gershuny, ) , women multitask more often than men. the experiences of these women indicate that their perceived time pressure and increased need for multitasking laid heavily on their shoulders. towards the end of the study, when restrictions because of covid- were somewhat lifted, some mothers mentioned that they had just realized how much constraint was caused by having to erase the boundaries between work and family life. in the following diary entry, a mother with a six-month-old child, who worked as a manager in a half time job, explained how. i went to my workplace for the first time in weeks. it was so different. i do not think that i realized until yesterday how much constraint comes from working from home with a child at home. i cannot wait until i can return to my workplace every day and create these boundaries between private life and work. this description is interesting in the light of how flexibility and working from home has often been portrayed as the solution to work-life balance, especially for women, to improve parents' opportunities to better balance work with home life (gatrell et al., ; wheatley, ) . some of the other mothers also described how the boundaries between home and work had been blurred. these experiences indicate that working from home can be difficult for parents, particularly mothers, since they find their work time being interrupted by other duties. this has been documented in previous research (e.g. wheatley, ) . alon et al. ( ) predicted that changes in working practices adopted during covid- might be permanent, but we argue that it is important to consider that working from home and having this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. flexible working hours must be considered very carefully in favor of the working parents, bearing in mind gendered social structures. it was clear from the diaries that these unprecedented times revealed or intensified unequal divisions of duties at home, which made the mothers realize and reflect on their positions at home. a mother of two ( and years old), who was a teacher working full time but had started working from home, as well as her husband, said that: today, there was a little clash at home. i have noticed that i usually write the diary before dinner, and a lot of work awaits me afterwards. i usually put the kids to bed, bathe them, tidy up endlessly (usually in the evenings when they are asleep), read, and tuck them in. today, i threw a tantrum over this, . . . but we had a good conversation, and everyone agreed to contribute more . . . [my husband] agreed with me that he could be more present in these daily routines around the kids and home. this example shows how being responsible for the kids and home was on her shoulders, as well being responsible for taking action to change the balance. a few days later, the same woman explained how she was starting to realize how the situation affected the division of tasks, partially because her husband prioritized differently, e.g., around work or exercise, and also because the children asked her for help even though their father was also at home. we knew that the division of tasks is rather equal in our everyday life, but now that we are both working from home, it is obvious that he takes his space when he needs to attend to 'his' things, and i run, and i sprint from my work much more than he does. this example shows how the mother was easily interrupted with household responsibilities, which is in accord with other research findings that suggest that mother's time is more often fragmented (collins, ; collins et al., ; sullivan & gershuny, ) . according to this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. andrew's et al. ( ) study, mothers more frequently combined their paid work with other activities during the pandemic. this illustration also supports the notion of time being gendered (bryson & deery, ) , as she perceived that her husband had more control over his time to tend to matters unrelated to work or family. this is in accordance with previous studies on gendered control of time among parents (bryson, ; friedman, ) and new research conducted during covid- that indicate that unpaid work performed by mothers has increased during the pandemic (craig & churchill, ; manzo & minello, ) . the responsibility to divide duties at home lay on the mothers' shoulders, as they explained in several diary entries. this shows how mental work (robertson et.al., ) was central to their gendered realities. as one said, "everyone has to have certain duties in the home if domesticity is supposed to work without me losing my mind." this mother had two teenagers and was working full time from home while her husband worked in his workplace. another one, who had two children ( and years old) and was working full time, explained her situation in this way. it is not easy working from home with a two-year-old. i had to make sure that his father takes him to his parent's home, who were away, so that i could get some peace. then, i put him down to nap after lunch and had to make sure that father and son woke up at the right time . . . usually, i must make sure that things work . . . how are you supposed to be an employee, parent, leisure worker, cook, and a teacher all at once? this outlines quite well how she experiences the responsibility of managing the household. the father is a participant, but she is the manager and carries responsibilities that add to the mental burden of everyday life (ciciolla & luthar, ) , exacerbating to the mental draining women have felt during covid- (hennekam & shymko, ) . another this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. mother, with a two-year-old child, who worked full time from home along with her husband, similarly wrote that: i have turned into a foreman here at home. i am trying to get clearer oversight over what has to be done and activate my husband to prevent everything from becoming a mess, and i do not want to take care of it all by myself. so, i had a family meeting and put up a clear division of duties. this mother also wrote that, on an everyday basis, they did not have a clear division of tasks, but during covid- , it became necessary. this indicates that times of crisis can reveal deeply rooted norms and structures on gender roles within the home. the experience of another mother, who had three children ( , and years old), further supports this. she was a care worker and she and her husband were both working in their workplaces. i became tired today and reprimanded my husband. i take care of the management, division of tasks and responsibility for the children's education and practices. i feel like we are dangerously close to the gender development as it was before the middle of the last century. also, it is my responsibility to remind [him] of that this is not supposed to be like this, so that also adds to my basket of duties. all of these examples show how the situation during the pandemic revealed and exaggerated the mothers' roles as household managers (ciciolla & luthar, ; curran et al., ) . they planned and organized family life to make sure that everything worked. this is consistent with research from australia where mothers felt unsatisfied with the division of labor in their homes during the covid- (craig & churchill, ) . drawing on previous studies (e.g. craig & brown, ) , this invisible mental work became a burden for the women and clearly affected their everyday wellbeing. interestingly, this also added to their this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. duties, as they became somewhat responsible for getting other people in the household, particularly the fathers, to take on more responsibility to even the load. some of the women in the study described how they made an effort to hide their stress and anxiety from their children and other family members in order to ease the atmosphere and keep the family calm. in accordance with studies and theories of gendered aspects of emotional labor (ciciolla & luthar, ; craig & brown, ; robertson et al., ) , the women performed that kind of labor in addition to other duties. this is reflected in the words of a mother of two children, nine and ten, working full time mostly from home with a husband who mostly worked away from home. the days are getting really difficult, and i will take my first summer holiday tomorrow. the younger child is not happy about [the situation] and cries over everything that seems like adversity, even as little things like when she is asked to read or tidy up. the little patience i have is running out, but i try my best not to let her see it. the day after, the situation became worse, as the family was facing possible quarantine and they were waiting for further directions from a national team of contact tracers. she wrote this in her diary. now we possibly have to start days of quarantine. we will know tomorrow. at least we have to remain in quarantine for hours until the test results. i am pained by this situation, but i try to stay positive, especially with my husband and children. they cannot may not see [my] anxiety because then they become afraid. i continue to meditate and do yoga; everything will be ok. this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. as these diary entries show, this mother found it important to keep her anxiety to herself in order to keep the family calm. another mother with a five-and eight-yearold who worked in an elementary school was working full-time from home as did her husband. she described how difficult her day was, as one of her children cried a lot because she missed her friends so dearly. the day "was spent tending emotionally to the children." the women in the study had to devote time to emotional labor instead of work. another reflected on how she tried to calm the people around her. i am really focused on being well informed so that i can answer [questions] and calm elderly people and children around me. i am very cautious and try to follow up with my children on how to be careful without frightening them. one of the women explained how her husband was irritated because of the situation and tired because he was working shifts, so much so that he "exploded" at times. therefore, she made an effort to try to make sure that his irritation did not affect the children ( , and years old) too much. she was working % from home while he was working away from home. she explained. i take care of the children and the home every day, since he is asleep until he has to go to work or loafs around on the computer. everyone has a short fuse, but i make sure that i intervene and suggest a break, that everyone goes out, plays or when the children are starting to nag. it is difficult to be able to concentrate on work. this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. another example of the women's emotional labor included dealing with difficult thoughts and decisions related to the pandemic. a mother of two ( and years old) wrote that: despite a lot of physical resting lately, my mind has been spinning around worries and difficult decisions. should the children attend school or not? can i meet my father [who has heart problems] if i keep a m distance? is it necessary to disinfect all the groceries? according to curran et al. ( ) , this kind of work can be called emotional labor, as these women emphasize how they tend to the emotional wellbeing of other family members. this kind of labor was not limited to their children; it also applied to other relatives. for example, the emotional labor involved phone calls to parents or other relatives, sometimes several times a day. other studies have shown that this is often part of women's routines (ciciolla & luthar, ; robertson et al., ) . the months of covid- have been and are quite challenging for many families, and the drastic measures that have been taken to prevent its spread have meant severe changes to people's participation in everyday live and social contact (brooks et al., ) . in accordance with new research on the effect of covid- on everyday life (andrew et al., ; carlson et al., ; collins et. al., ; craig & churchill, ; manzo & minello, ; qian & fuller, ) , the time during the social restrictions was not easy. it is apparent from the diary entries of our participants that the period with the tightest restrictions was challenging for the mothers and their families, and they expressed feelings of frustration and being overwhelmed. despite advances in gender equality over the last decades, drastic events such as during the this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. covid- pandemic, can elicit situations that we do not necessarily pay attention to in our busy daily lives or even resist recognizing. in iceland, which has been portrayed as a "paradise for women" (jakobsdóttir, ) and which is considered a global frontrunner when comes to gender equality (the world economic forum, ), parents face challenges related to gendered realities, and gender equality has not been achieved regardless of what the dominant discourse may say. despite remarkably high labor participation, there are indications that women in iceland shoulder the greater burden of childcare and household labor (hjálmsdóttir & einarsdóttir, ; Þórsdóttir, ) , as elsewhere around the world (alon et al., ; knight & brinton, ; t. miller, ) . the diary entries of the mothers in the study demonstrates a gendered reality in which they experience burdens that seem to have escalated during the pandemic. it was stated in a media coverage that the covid- pandemic had brought back the s regarding gendered division of labor (ferguson, ) . the same phrase was used by one of our participants. some of the women wrote about how surprised they were about how much of the household chores and the childcare remained on their shoulders. despite some steps towards gender equality in the last few decades, there are few signs of a revolution, especially within the home. the focus on the struggle for gender equality has somehow been more on the public sphere, as reflected in the measures used for gender equality indexes that overlook the gendered division of labor in the home along with social norms and values (einarsdóttir, ) . one of the patterns identified in the reflections of the women in our study was how they seemed to be stunned by how uneven the division of labor turned out to be during the pandemic and how much time and energy they devoted to household chores and the management of the household, carrying out the mental work within the family. their experiences support the idea of time being gendered (bryson, ) , as they described how this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. their time was more restricted from childcare and household chores and how they prioritized their children's needs over work. when the families were pushed into the home due to lockdowns and social restrictions, women faced an uneven division of labor that they might have been too busy in our daily lives to observe or might have found difficult to acknowledge. we argue, based on this study as well as emerging findings from larger studies from different countries (andrew et al., ; collins et. al., ; craig & churchill, ; manzo & minello, ; qian & fuller, ) , that the situation caused by the pandemic brought to light pre-existing gendered performances and social structures, more than it caused drastic gendered division of labor in the home. in iceland, where the dominant discourses have centered on the country as a global leader in gender equality, the existing inequalities have been overlooked. our findings suggest that there is an uneven division of labor within icelandic homes as the mothers in the study bore the burdens of housework, childcare, emotional labor, and household mental work. if the aim is to close the gender gap both in the public and the private sphere, a focus on the gendered division of labor within the home is essential. the impact of covid- on gender equality. crc tr discussion paper series how are mothers and fathers balancing work and family under lockdown? 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(m.sc. dissertation) iceland magazine i feel like a s housewife': how lockdown has exposed the gender divide. the guardian exploring new ground for using the multinational time use study. iser working paper series still a "stalled revolution"? work/family experiences, hegemonic masculinity, and moving toward gender equality children's independent mobility to school, friends and leisure activities work-life balance and parenthood: a comparative review of definitions, equity and enrichment parents, perceptions and belonging: exploring flexible working among uk fathers and mothers faeðingar-og foreldraorlof á Íslandi: Þróun eftir lagasetninguna árið mothering and gender equality in iceland: irreconcilable opposites? iceland eases restrictions -all children's activities back to normal stricter measures enforced in iceland: ban on gatherings of more than people outcomes of work-life balance on job satisfaction, life satisfaction and mental health: a study across seven cultures tengsl streituvaldandi þátta í starfsumhverfi, svefns og stoðkerfisverkja hjá millistjórnendum í accepted article this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. heilbrigðisþjónustu [correlation between stressful factors in the working environment coping with the covid- crisis: force majeure and gender performativity. gender, work & organization why iceland is the best place in the world to be a women. the guardian mér finnst ég stundum eins og hamstur í hjóli the second shift: working parents and the revolution at home high birth rates despite easy access to contraception and abortion: a cross-sectional study icelandic association of local authorities how to build a paradise for women. a lesson from iceland vinnutengd streita. orsakir, úrraeði og ranghugmyndir [work related stress. causes, resources, and misbeliefs Ársrit um accepted article this article is protected by copyright childbearing trends in iceland, - : fertility timing, quantum, and gender preferences for children in a nordic context fjölskyldur -umbreytingar, samskipti og skilnaðarmál reykjavík: félagsvísindastofnun háskóla Íslands measuring housework participation: the gap between "stylised" questionnaire estimates and diary-based estimates iceland has become the first country to officially require gender pay equality diary versus questionnaire information on time spent on housework-the case of norway one egalitarianism or several? two decades of gender-role attitude change in europe a balancing act? work-life balance, health and well-being in european welfare states ) mothers, childcare duties, and remote working under covid- lockdown in italy: cultivating communities of care nearly half of men say they do most of the home schooling. percent of women agree. the new york times paternal and maternal gatekeeping? choreographing care auglýsing um takmörkun á skólastarfi vegna farsóttar labour force statisics can we finish the revolution? gender, work-family ideals, and institutional constraint from motherhood penalties to husband premia: the new challenge for gender equality and family policy, lessons from norway within the aura of gender equality: icelandic work cultures, gender relations and family responsibility covid- and the gender employment gap among parents of young children balancing work-family life in academia: the power of time mothers and mental labor: a phenomenological focus group study of family-related thinking work gender differences in chauffeuring children among dual-earner families launamunur karla og kvenna [the pay gap between men and women key figures, statistics bad mum guilt': the representation of 'work-life balance'in uk women's magazines speed-up society? evidence from the uk and time use diary surveys kórónuveiran: fyrirtaeki hvött til að þjálfa fólk í fjarvinnu [the coronavirus: companies encourage to train workers for distance work the directorate of health and the department of civil protection and emergency management the icelandic teachers union. (n.d.). streita og kulnun the global gender gap report working mothers interrupted more often than fathers in lockdown -study. the guardian one country is making sure all employers offer equal pay to women covid- educational disruption and response good to be home? time-use and satisfaction levels among home-based teleworkers vinna og heimilislíf reykjavík: félagsvísindastofnun háskóla Íslands this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. key: cord- -ph vrba authors: de’, rahul; pandey, neena; pal, abhipsa title: impact of digital surge during covid- pandemic: a viewpoint on research and practice date: - - journal: int j inf manage doi: . /j.ijinfomgt. . sha: doc_id: cord_uid: ph vrba the covid- pandemic has led to an inevitable surge in the use of digital technologies due to the social distancing norms and nationwide lockdowns. people and organizations all over the world have had to adjust to new ways of work and life. we explore possible scenarios of the digital surge and the research issues that arise. an increase in digitalization is leading firms and educational institutions to shift to work-from-home (wfh). blockchain technology will become important and will entail research on design and regulations. gig workers and the gig economy is likely to increase in scale, raising questions of work allocation, collaboration, motivation, and aspects of work overload and presenteeism. workplace monitoring and technostress issues will become prominent with an increase in digital presence. online fraud is likely to grow, along with research on managing security. the regulation of the internet, a key resource, will be crucial post-pandemic. research may address the consequences and causes of the digital divide. further, the issues of net neutrality and zero-rating plans will merit scrutiny. a key research issue will also be the impact and consequences of internet shutdowns, frequently resorted to by countries. digital money, too, assumes importance in crisis situations and research will address their adoption, consequences, and mode. aspects of surveillance and privacy gain importance with increase digital usage. by late may , at the time of writing of this article, over countries and territories in the world were affected by the coronavirus pandemic. this included most urban clusters and even rural regions. with the spread of the pandemic, almost all regions have implemented lockdowns, shutting down activities that require human gathering and interactions -including colleges, schools, malls, temples, offices, airports, and railway stations. the lockdown has resulted in most people taking to the internet and internet-based services to communicate, interact, and continue with their job responsibilities from home. internet services have seen rises in usage from % to %, compared to pre-lockdown levels. video-conferencing services like zoom have seen a ten times increase in usage, and content delivery services like akamai have seen a % increase of content usage (branscombe, ) . cities like bangalore have seen a % increase in internet traffic. the lockdowns across countries have entailed a rise in the use of information systems and networks, with massive changes in usage patterns and usage behaviour. employees are adjusting to new "normals" -with meetings going completely online, office work shifting to the home, with new emerging patterns of work. these changes have come across all organizations, whether in business, society, or government. the changes have also come suddenly, with barely any time for organizations and people to plan for, prepare and implement new setups and arrangements; they have had to adjust, try, experiment, and find ways that did not exist before. though now, in late may , the pandemic is receding and stabilized in certain countries, it is still on the increase in many others, and with serious threats. experts in most countries are wary of the possibility of the disease spread re-emerging, and that lockdown norms may be relaxed carefully and slowly with social distancing at the core of the new normal. it is in this context that we see the use of information systems to continue in the same vein for some time in the foreseeable future as during the lockdown. we examine the possible scenarios in this surge in information technology usage during and post the pandemic. our estimation of these effects assumes that there was a digital transformation already underway, before the pandemic set in, and it will take certain forms owing to the impact of the lockdowns. in the next section, we examine the impact of the covid- pandemic on the use of digital technologies where we discuss some possible scenarios and research issues of the post-pandemic world. the next section summarizes the implications for research and practice, and in the last section, we present our conclusions. in this section, we discuss some of the most pressing issues regarding the post-pandemic digital surge. these themes reveal the multiple directions in which is research can focus in relation to impacts on technology. as the use of video-and audio-conferencing tools increases significantly, organizations will ramp up their technology infrastructure to account for the surge. this will lead to increased investment in bandwidth expansion, network equipment, and software that leverages cloud services. with employees becoming j o u r n a l p r e -p r o o f acclimatized with the idea of work-from-home (wfh), meeting and transacting online, firms will shift to wfh as a norm rather than as an exception. this is being adopted by many firms (akala, ; bbc news, ; khetarpal, ) , which have the digital infrastructure in place to handle the required load and bandwidth. education is another domain in which there a dramatic shift to the online mode of transacting. since the beginning of the lockdown, schools, colleges, and universities around the world have shifted their classes to video conferencing platforms like zoom and google meet. along with these synchronous modes of teaching, asynchronous platforms like edx and coursera have also seen an increase in enrolments (shah, ) . some institutions are now shifting entirely to the online mode for the forthcoming academic year, with the exception of sessions that require a physical presence, such as the university of cambridge in the uk and the california state system in the us (new york times, ). digital transformation technologies such as cloud, internet-of-things (iot), blockchain (bc), artificial intelligence (ai), and machine learning (ml), constitute a bulk of the of what is being adopted by organizations as part of their transformation effort. blockchain (bc) technology presents an opportunity to create secure and trusted information control mechanisms (upadhyay, ). as education and healthcare services witnesses a shift to the digital domain, bcs enable a way to secure and authenticate certificates, health records, medical records, and prescriptions. research on the design of such systems, along with maintaining their ease-of-use and usefulness will gain importance. another issue is that of designing systems that work with smart contractshow the contracts are authenticated, how these contracts will be designed in a complex chain of processes with many agents involved, and how arbitration related to contracts will be handled. further, is research may point to regulatory aspects of bcs with regard to what must be encrypted and shared (such as for authenticating news and information sources), and how security will be managed. for instance, governments demand access to private keys to view blocks for surveillance and monitoring, versus the requirements of privacy and protection from persecution. the gig economy is driven by online platforms that hire workers on an ad hoc, short-contract, and mostly informal basis. well-known examples of these include uber and airbnb globally and ola and swiggy in india. these platforms have grown immensely since the wide availability of smartphones from onwards. during the lockdown, workers employed by these platforms have suffered heavily, as the demand for their services, taxi rides, rentals, or skill work, has disappeared (bhattacharya, ) . further, since these workers had no guaranteed salaries, their incomes dropped dramatically. in the post-pandemic scenario, there is likely to be, in the short term, a slow return of gig economy workers, as manufacturing and service firms return to their old activities. however, we anticipate that in the longer term as the threat of infection and spread recedes, the gig economy will thrive. this will also be driven by the wfh culture. work-from-home and gig work has received attention in is research, through topics in telecommuting, digital nomads, and virtual teams. one key issue is that of work allocation and collaboration, across and inside teams, and across projects. this issue will face a rise in scale and importance in the post-pandemic world, as the numbers of wfh and gig workers increase. research may focus on aspects of the design of work norms, work contracts, trust-building, and team-building, amongst others. research on telecommuting and virtual teams (belanger, collins, & cheney, ; morrison-smith & ruiz, ) has a long history in is literature. issues include the nature of "distance" whether temporal, spatial, or cultural, and the psychological needs of workers, the technological support and design for this kind of work, and many others. this research is important for the post-pandemic period. we anticipate that the "dark side" of virtual teams and dispersed work also assumes importance in the postpandemic world. substantive issues related to technostress -particularly work overload and presenteeism arise in these situations. research will have to address issues of design of collaborative work, evaluation, team performance and motivation, stress, and the issue of continuous learning. another aspect of digital use by large sections of the working population is that of constant workplace monitoring and being on-the-job continuously. those working from home using video conferencing technology find themselves under intense scrutiny and all interactions are "hyper-focused" (kalia, ) . digital technology makes it easier for bosses and managers to call and locate subordinates at any time, knowing that they can be reached at all times. though there is anecdotal early evidence that this has led to an increase in productivity, it has also led to increased technostress (ayyagari, grover, & purvis, ; tarafdar, tu, ragu-nathan, & ragu-nathan, ) where employees must learn new technologies, be available for work at almost all times, stay with digital devices all the time, and cope with multi-tasking. post-pandemic, it is likely that workers' organizations will demand no-digital hours, where they will find refuge from the constant work pressure. research may address the concerns of work equity, balance, and managing stress. along with the surge in the use of digital technologies, we are now witnessing a rise in online fraud, scams, intrusions, and security breaches. the pandemic has created a scenario of insecurity that is inviting fraudsters to exploit the crisis situation by extracting money or information or by creating vulnerabilities (agarwal, sengupta, kulshrestha, anand, & guha, ) many users are beginning to rely on digital resources extensively, some for the first time, and are becoming targets for fraud and scams. organizations and governments are aware of this threat and are taking countermeasuresfor instance, some governments took a strong stand against zoom sessions for education, forcing the platform provider to upgrade security (yu, ) . it is likely that these scams and frauds will increase in intensity after the pandemic. organizations will implement massive security arrangements, along with extensive information campaigns by government departments. security innovations and firms that offer security services will rise. research will likely focus on managing security, assess the causes of breaches, and the economic and social loss from them. information technology, and particularly the internet, will remain central to the post-pandemic scenario, where innovations will drive the surge in use. a key aspect of this surge will be the management and regulation of the internet itself. though the internet is a global resource and no one country can control its protocols and features, its local access and availability remain an in-country issue. during the pandemic to some countries have restricted access to the internet (chhibber, ) , for certain reasons. the regulation of the internet will become crucial after the pandemic as it will remain a policy tool for governments. they can intercede on aspects of monitoring, bandwidth control, surveillance, intermediary liability, and e-commerce. the pandemic has brought the world to a situation where those not connected to the internet are facing total exclusion. with strict social and physical distancing measures in place, new routines require accessing the internet for most services. hence, those on the wrong side of the digital divide are completely left out. reasons for the divide are many: unaffordable device access, unaffordable internet access, content relevance, access skills or government ordered internet shutdowns (armbrecht, ; scheerder, van deursen, & van dijk, ) in developing countries, the condition is more serious. thus, it becomes extremely important to explore the possibilities of ensuring connectivity. although these issues have been researched and discussed earlier (warschauer, ) , covid- has brought about a situation where internet access seems to have become necessary for survival. as a few studies have suggested, access or no-access to icts may reinforce societal inequalities (ragnedda, ) , where the post-pandemic situation may enhance this further. with the substantial use of technology in accessing basic requirements like health and education, it is imperative to understand the impact of the digital divide on social equality. therefore, it calls for researchers to examine the impact of connectivity to draw policymakers' interest and, perhaps, offer ways to enhance it towards better inclusion. the heavy use of the internet during the pandemic, for various purposes, has raised people's data requirements. with a significant digital divide in societies, this surge in the internet data requirement has revived the discussion on zero-rating plans. zero-rating plans enable firms to let users access data from their sites and services, without having to bear data charges. usually, this is not strictly permitted as it violates the basic principles of net neutrality, where internet traffic has to have the same priority and cost. india, for instance, had an exemplary record of regulating zero-rating plans. although the government did not permit the implementation of such plans, in the aftermath of the pandemic, the telecom regulatory authority of india (trai) decided to allow waiving charges for data and voice for certain websites (coai, ) (coai, ). the list primarily consisted of the sites related to covid- -such as the world health organisation and india's ministry of health and family welfare. the list also included some private players. the principal aim was to allow people, across all socio-economic levels, access covid- related information. given that zero-rating plans can be useful in exceptional circumstances, as is evident from the example of india, research on the conditions on various parameters where allowing zr plans may increase social welfare has enormous practical implications, both for firms as well as regulators. the existing literature on net-neutrality regulations and zero-rating plans (belli, ; cho, qiu, & bandyopadhyay, ) forms the basis to enhance literature in this aspect. issues to be studied include: expanding telecom infrastructure, providing subsidized internet devices, free extra data, or waiving off users' subscription fees (shashidhar, ) in current times, when the productivity of people depends significantly on the internet, its shutdown can be extremely detrimental to societies(isoc, ) however, internet shutdowns are not uncommon even in times like these. the internet was shutdown in kashmir, a union territory in india, since august th, j o u r n a l p r e -p r o o f and continued till may , making it the longest ever imposed in a democracy (masih, irfan, & slater, ) basic internet services, such as filing for driving licenses, were accessed by locals using the internet express, which is a train that shuttles kashmiris to the nearest town where they can get online. the kashmir chamber of commerce estimates $ . billion in losses owing to the internet shutdown (masih et al., ) . similar events are regularly noted across various other countries, arab spring being the significant starting point. with the pandemic, when the internet has become the most important tool available to citizens the impact of internet shutdowns has become grimmer. shutdowns lead to severe implications for all aspects of life, and there are many issues that require research in this regard. the impacts resulting from a climate of uncertainty can potentially discourage foreign investors and spillover on a wide range of sectors, including education, healthcare, press & news media, and e-commerce (kathuria, kedia, verma, bagchi, & sekhani, ) . it is important to understand the far-reaching human rights impact of internet shutdowns, which are exacerbated in the current scenario. shutdowns have deep political reasons and in many cases the consequences are indeterminate. research can focus on aspects of domino-effect consequences leading to grave political crises. digital payments and digital currencies to have a key role in the post-pandemic situation. as digital payments are contact-less they will be encouraged by governments, will likely see a surge. this will also be boosted by the gig economy and wfh situations. there are two distinct phenomena related to digital money that has aided the fight during the pandemic. first, banknotes and coins were suspected to be carrying the virus and digital payment was preferred to the 'dirty money' (gardner, ; samantha, ) . online delivery services were encouraging customers to make payments through digital payment systems like a credit/debit card or mobile payments, with mandates by the government in several parts of india (bhandari, ) . this is likely to result in a surge in digital payment usage, which will lead to work on the diffusion of digital payment technology. second, during the lockdown, there was a loss of jobs, and governments provided aid through payment apps and digital payment modes. these are a convenient mode of fund transfer from donors to recipients, as seen in previous crisis relief cases as well (pollach, treiblmaier, & floh, ) . in various crisis and disaster events, where the mobility of civilians was restrained, many mobile payment service providers (e.g. vodafone in afghanistan, safaricom in kenya, and orange in africa) provided quick funds transfer of remittances from migrants to their homes, and relief aid from the government to victims (aker, boumnijel, mcclelland, & tierney, ; pega, liu, walter, & lhachimi, ; wachanga, ) . this is once again observed in the covid- crisis and needs further examination. issues of surveillance and privacy are gaining prominence with digital usage during lockdowns. commentators, such as yuval harari, have written about the potential for state surveillance "under the skin" (harari, ) as governments rely on digital means to monitor the spread of the pandemic. as many governments have started using apps on smartphones to monitor infected persons and trace their contacts, civil society organizations have raised privacy and state surveillance concerns (pant & lal, ) . postpandemic, these measures of monitoring populations for epidemiological reasons with digital means are likely to continue and become prevalent. though the concerns of privacy and surveillance are valid and have to be addressed, these digital platforms are the most reliable and efficient way of tracking disease spread. "surveillance is a distinctive product of the modern world" (misa, brey, & feenberg, , p. ) , and today we are living in a surveillance society where any internet-based activity using a mobile phone or other electronic gadgets can be monitored and accessed in unfathomable ways (gilliom & monahan, ; lyon, ) . this has resulted in a surge in is research on implications of such web or app-based surveillance in applications including mobile health apps (lupton, ) , environment monitoring and pollution control apps (castell et al., ) , self-tracking apps (barassi, ) , and parental surveillance (ghosh, badillo-urquiola, guha, laviola jr, & wisniewski, ) . covid- has introduced a new application of surveillance for tracking citizens with the symptoms of the virus. this includes the covid- tracker in china (davidson, ) , the aarogya setu app for tracking infectious citizens in india (shahane, ) , and contact tracking apps in the united states (guynn, ) . while these technologies are innovations for fighting the global pandemic today, the issue of government surveillance on citizens has evolved repeatedly. research can focus on the multiple benefits of these apps, but also should not ignore the potential social complications that are possible to arise, including the historic problem of bureaucratic control by the government, using it (gandy, ) . closely related to surveillance is the issue of privacy that mobile apps, including covid- trackers, often tend to threaten users' personal information (gu, xu, xu, zhang, & ling, ; joy, ) . for example, online classes during the pandemic lockdowns have suffered issues of 'intrusion of privacy' as students and teachers are on camera in the private spaces of their homes (garcia, ) . privacy in the digital age has remained a research topic of high priority for is researchers (belanger et al., ; smith, dinev, & xu, ) . privacy has also been considered by is adoption and usage researchers, with privacy risk as a dominantly recurring factor in studies on mobile payments (e.g., johnson, kiser, washington, & torres, ; luo, li, zhang, & shim, ) , location-based mobile services (zhou, ) , and social networking sites (aghasian, garg, gao, yu, & montgomery, ; youn & hall, ) . it would be interesting to examine the different privacy concerns of users while adapting both covid- tracking apps, and online classroom applications. the risks involved in the breach of privacy by these two technologies are unalike and must be investigated with adequate contextual references. in this section, we revisit some of the key issues that are important for research and practice. our discussion is based on the assumptions about the post-pandemic situation and the aspects of is research presented above. . while deploying security technologies like the blockchain, it will be important to understand the implications of smart contracts, their integration in workflows, and their effectiveness in complex resource-constrained settings, as in developing countries. further, understanding the implications of secure and non-erasable technologies like blockchains will become relevant for regulation. . many research issues arise with regard to work-from-home and gig work, which include aspects of trust, measurement of performance, communication effectiveness, and collaboration. j o u r n a l p r e -p r o o f . it can be expected that the dark side of virtual work and gig work, will raise questions of stress, presenteeism, work overload, surveillance, and monitoring. new and severe forms of digital surveillance will have to be understood and their implications gauged. . though much work has been done in understanding the parameters and impact of the digital divide, it will be important to understand how those without access suffer more from the consequences of the pandemic when the world survives on digital communications and operations. . management of the internet within countries is important, and aspects of enhancing networks include regulating zero-rating plans cautiously, seeing their implications for welfare, and how they can enhance access. . internet shutdowns during and after a pandemic lead to severe difficulties for citizens, who have come to depend on these services. research has to examine the direct, second-order, and thirdorder impacts of these shutdown measures. . research on digital payments and their impact in crisis situations, for providing aid and subsidies to affected populations, and for disaster management. . surveillance issues about the extent of data collection by contact tracing apps are important areas of research. issues of persistence and elimination of data, the expanse of data collection, sharing of data between apps, and the multiple trade-offs involved. . design of secure technologies, like blockchain-based applications, for the surge in online education and healthcare activities. . policy for regulating digital infrastructure needed for increased digital transformation. . design of technologies for managing secure online interactionsfor education, healthcare, payments. . design of apps for contract tracing and disease surveillance that balance privacy versus public health. . managers will have to understand resistance to technology and ways to manage change, both among employees as well as customers. . given the significant role which the internet is about to play in times to come, internet intermediaries will work with government and civil society to address privacy and surveillance issues for better adoption of technology. we understand that a pandemic can have severe consequences (keys, ) , including changing the political contour of the world, destroying empires, and creating nations. for the covid- pandemic, we envisage a dramatic shift in digital usage with impacts on all aspects of work and life. how this change plays out remains largely dependent on our responses to and shaping of the emerging trends. in this paper, we have outlined what we see as some key trends and research issues that need to be examined urgently. they will have substantial consequences in the future. internet users to touch million by scoring users' privacy disclosure across multiple online social networks more big employers are talking about permanent work-from-home positions payment mechanisms and antipoverty programs: evidence from a mobile money cash transfer experiment in niger. economic development and cultural change reasons billion people are still offline society for information management and the management information systems … babyveillance? expecting parents, online surveillance and the cultural specificity of pregnancy apps twitter allows staff to work from home "forever technology requirements and work group communication for telecommuters net neutrality, zero rating and the minitelisation of the internet ahmedabad says no to cash on delivery to stop spread of covid- coronavirus lockdown has exposed the serious flaws of india's gig economy the network impact of the global covid- pandemic. the new stack mobile technologies and services for environmental monitoring: the citi-sense-mob approach militancy in kashmir peaked without g, but modi govt keeps forgetting this in court. the print less than zero? the economic impact of zero rating on content competition. the economic impact of zero rating on content competition request-for-non-charging-of-data.pdf.pdf chinese city plans to turn coronavirus app into permanent health tracker. the guardian the surveillance society: information technology and bureaucratic social control it's a new territory": professors and students face struggle to adapt to online classes. the collegian dirty banknotes may be spreading the coronavirus, who suggests. the telegraph safety vs. surveillance: what children have to say about mobile apps for parental control supervision: an introduction to the surveillance society privacy concerns for mobile app download: an elaboration likelihood model perspective apple and google release coronavirus contact tracing technology for public health mobile apps yuval noah harari: the world after coronavirus | free to read limitations to the rapid adoption of m-payment services: understanding the impact of privacy risk on m-payment services coronavirus: centre tones down mandatory clause on the zoom boom: how video-calling became a blessing -and a curse. the guardian anatomy_of_an_internet_blackout.pdf. indian council for research on international economic relations post-covid, % of . lakh tcs employees to permanently work from home by ' ; from % examining multi-dimensional trust and multi-faceted risk in initial acceptance of emerging technologies: an empirical study of mobile banking services m-health and health promotion: the digital cyborg and surveillance society the electronic eye: the rise of surveillance society india's internet shutdown in kashmir is the longest ever in a democracy challenges and barriers in virtual teams: a literature review aarogya setu app: a tale of the complex challenges of a rights-based regime. the wire unconditional cash transfers for assistance in humanitarian disasters: effect on use of health services and health outcomes in low-and middle-income countries the third digital divide: a weberian approach to digital inequalities dirty money: the case against using cash during the coronavirus outbreak determinants of internet skills, uses and outcomes. a systematic review of the second-and third-level digital divide moocwatch : pandemic brings moocs back in the spotlight -class central opinion: does aarogya setu really work? livemint net neutrality in the time of covid- information privacy research: an interdisciplinary review the impact of technostress on role stress and productivity ethnic differences vs nationhood in times of national crises: the role of social media and communication strategies technology and social inclusion: rethinking the digital divide gender and online privacy among teens: risk perception, privacy concerns, and protection behaviors singapore allows schools to resume zoom use for home-based learning examining location-based services usage from the perspectives of unified theory of acceptance and use of technology and privacy risk key: cord- -ozm f dy authors: naqvi, zainab batul; russell, yvette title: a wench’s guide to surviving a ‘global’ pandemic crisis: feminist publishing in a time of covid- date: - - journal: fem leg stud doi: . /s - - - sha: doc_id: cord_uid: ozm f dy it has been quite a year so far(!) and as the wenches we are, we have been taking our time to collect our thoughts and reflections before sharing them at the start of this issue of the journal. in this editorial we think through the covid- pandemic and its devastating effects on the world, on our lives and on our editorial processes. we renew our commitment to improving our operations as a journal and its health along with our own as we deploy wench tactics to restore, sustain and slow down to negotiate this new reality, this new world. we conclude with an introduction to the fascinating contents of this issue along with a collaborative statement of values on open access as part of a collective of intersectional feminist and social justice editors. through all of the pain and suffering we focus our gaze on hope: hope that we can come through this global crisis together engaging in critical conversations about how we can be better and do better as editors, academics and individuals for ourselves, our colleagues and our journal. in these strange times…in these uncertain times…in these unprecedented times. how quickly our conversations and communications have become prefixed with a constant reminder of our current situation. our concern, our sympathies and our connectedness have all increased for one another as we 'check in' with those we interact with regularly, and crucially, those we don't. as pandemic-related lockdowns in the uk and many parts of the world continue, causing many to experience restrictions in their movement and routines that they have never encountered before along with the enforced closure of businesses and places of work, we have been reflecting on the spaces and positions we inhabit as feminist individuals, academics and editors. in this editorial we think through some of the consequences of the covid- pandemic and state responses to the spread of the virus in the context of our ongoing efforts to employ decolonising techniques and deploy wench tactics (fletcher et al. ; naqvi et al. ) . in doing so, we seek to make sense of our new lived realities, although in many ways, just this attempt to make sense of the effects on our existence is both bewildering and revealing. one way this lack of sense is most starkly manifest is in the way it plays with and disrupts time. we experience time as both exponentially sped up and painfully slowed down. over the three months during which we have tried to draft this editorial there have been political, social and economic changes and events too numerous to detail; literally thousands of people have died. but somehow this flux is accompanied by a nagging sense of stasis; we're mulling the same issues, many of us are 'stuck' in our homes with or away from family, and we are still beholden to the virus. this discombobulating confrontation with the contingency of linear time leads us here to feminist work that contemplates time and timeliness and to a necessary reflection on the nature of scholarly work and publishing and the temporal imperatives driving them. in mulling our work and the time in and according to which it occurs, we are also led inevitably to a rumination on health: what is 'health', and who possesses it? the oversimplified answer is that human health refers to our state of physical, mental and emotional wellbeing; and that surely everyone has health which makes it a global concern. unfortunately, we have seen that it really isn't that simple or tidy. fassin ( ) warns us that concern for global health is not something we can take for granted. both 'global' and 'health' are contested concepts (bonhomme ) . global health is neither universal nor worldwide; it is not free from the politics of life and the value-giving processes that lead to lives being weighed against each other. the term 'global' is not only a geographical signifier but a "political work in progress that calls on us to remain ever mindful of the imperial durabilities of our time" (biehl , referring to stoler . in what follows we reflect further on the lessons of the pandemic and how we view health: as a global public good that we should all be working together to improve and maintain for everyone? or as a privilege that in this patriarchal capitalist society is only available to those who can afford it? we return to the question of time and the timely and try to think collectively with our feminist colleagues about publishing, 'slow scholarship' and wench tactics. we consider what feminist leadership looks like in a time of covid- and renew our calls for a firm commitment to decolonising academic publishing and the university. for us, this has recently manifested in a collective statement on publishing and open access, which we have jointly produced and signed with several other intersectional feminist and social justice journal editorial boards. the editorial concludes with an acknowledgement of recently retired editorial board members and an introduction to the copy included in this issue of fls. they are dirty, they are unsuited for life, they are unable, they are incapable, they are disposable, they are non-believers, they are unworthy, they are made to benefit us, they hate our freedom, they are undocumented, they are queer, they are black, they are indigenous, they are less than, they are against us, until finally, they are no more. (indigenous action ) a pandemic is the worldwide spread of a new disease (who ) in her discussion of affliction, disease and poverty, das ( ) discusses the way in which definitions of global health centre on the control of communicable diseases. controlling the spread of infectious disease between us then, is how we measure the success of global health. along the same vein, the world health organization (who) has defined a pandemic as "the worldwide spread of a disease" ( ). these two statements may seem innocuous but contain layers of historical and contemporary oppressions trapped within their layers of meaning. it would be naive to claim that the covid- crisis is the first phenomenon to lay bare the structural injustices and inequalities which already plague us. and that is the key takeaway for us: we are already plagued and have always been plagued with communicable diseases including war, poverty, racism, colonialism, sexism (bonhomme ; siyada ) . all around the world, lives are lost unnecessarily because of these diseases and now the privileged among us are personally at risk we urgently realise that the status quo is a problem-that we are all fragile (msimang ) . these existing diseases have spread worldwide and mutate into new forms all the time: we have been living through multiple, simultaneous pandemics our entire lives and for many of us, this is only now being thrown into stark relief. if we broaden this out further, the editors in us start to inquire into health as a broader concept. health is not only relevant to the human condition but can be applied to systems, processes and institutions such as the academy and the academic publishing industry. the crisis has highlighted the urgent need for us to reflect on the health of our academic lives and spaces along with the ways in which social plagues have infected our ways of writing, editing, working and being. in doing so, we plan and strategise the best ways to be 'wenches in the works' (franklin ) taking advantage of this period to deploy wench tactics and rest, restore and sustain. we aim then, to take an all-encompassing approach to health to interrogate the sicknesses and weaknesses that afflict our spaces and worlds and then try to act for change. whilst the who states that a pandemic involves a new disease spreading throughout the world, the current situation shows us that it is not just the spread of this viral pathogen that is causing the pandemic. it is the combination of intersecting oppressions with the spread of the covid- viral molecules that make up the pandemic. we always benefit from employing decolonising techniques, by looking back to the past to better understand the present. the history of global health is a neo-colonial project (biehl ; magenya ) mired in imperialist and eurocentric attitudes towards disease control. disease control has been repeatedly used "to bolster the moral case for colonialism" (flint and hewitt , ) with colonialist administrators considering their ability to control the spread of infectious diseases in the colonies as an important skill. this speaks to their civilising missionary attitude that in purportedly tackling the spread of infectious disease, they were benefitting the natives and their presence was therefore positive (flint and hewitt , ) . this is further reflected in the international regulations for containing infectious disease spread, which have historically emphasised controls to protect european and north american interests. the us' endorsement of the who prior to its inception in was predicated on concerns for trading relationships, which were central to us economic growth (white ) . the us was only dedicated to "wiping out disease everywhere" when there was a risk disease would enter its borders and affect its economy (white (white , . these imperialist attitudes around prioritising the health and economies of majority white countries in europe, north america and australia display the lack of regard for the deaths of those outside of these territories. the spread of cholera in haiti in , the ebola outbreaks (one of which is still ongoing in drc), avian flu, swine flu, and bse have all been deemed epidemics which are not seen as serious or widespread enough to count as pandemics despite the alarming number of sufferers and fatalities. these disease outbreaks all have one thing in common: they affected racialised people in "exotic, far-away and (made-to-be) poor lands" . these are lands that have deficient healthcare systems and resources because of imperial exploitation. this perception of communicable disease outbreaks as afflicting unhealthy and dirty others in far-away places underpins global health approaches and policy along with responses to the outbreaks in the west. even the labelling of the covid- crisis as a 'global pandemic' is loaded with meaning: it represents that the disease has spread to and is also killing white people in the west on a mass scale. if it were not affecting this subset of the population in a meaningful way, it would 'just' be an epidemic. this is clearly demonstrated by the uk government's woeful response to the disease and the increasing mortality rate we are experiencing. aaltola states that "diseases exist, flourish and die wider than physical environments where they adapt to local memories, practices and cultures" ( , ). by thinking that the uk is invincible because of imperial arrogance, the government has wilfully ignored the memories, practices and cultures of other countries with experience of managing such crises. instead of rushing to save lives, there was a rush to save the economy telling us that there has been no progress in mindset since the s. who suffers the most as a result of this? the marginalised, the poor and the underpaid key workers who are disproportionately not white because diseases are "embedded in and violently react with the fabric of political power" making them "signifiers of the underlying patterns of power" (aaltola , ; asia pacific forum on women, law and development ). the virus may not discriminate but systems and structures by which the imperial state dictates who lives and survives do (anumo ; rutazibwa ) . this discrimination has spilled onto our streets and into our living rooms with the racist and xenophobic discourses that have led to the unjust treatment of vulnerable minorities in society. from the us president deliberately calling covid- the 'chinese virus' to the abuse shouted at east asian people on the streets, reactions to the virus have been rooted in intolerance and ignorance. these unsurprising (and imperialist) responses are further manifested in policy responses which disadvantage the most vulnerable of us including minorities with greater representation in lower socioeconomic groups; victims of abuse who are now told to stay locked up in the house with their abuser; elderly people in care homes or congregate living arrangements; those with 'pre-existing' conditions or disabilities and; immigrants who are being subjected to yet more nationalist rhetoric around border control and surveillance (see also step up migrant women uk amidst these waves of pain and suffering we reel as we witness the continual devaluing of life with the deaths of breonna taylor on march; belly mujinga on april; george floyd on may; bibaa henry and nicole smallman on june; dominique rem'mie fells on june and riah milton on june. these are just a few of the black women and men whose lives have been cruelly and callously taken this year. the list is endless: bleeding and weeping like an open wound. the black lives matter movement was given the attention it deserves by the national and international media as people took to the streets in solidarity, but the wheels of justice move slowly, grinding regularly to a halt leaving us feeling helpless and hopeless at times. we wanted to express our support and decided to share links to free downloads of our articles on a twitter thread written by black authors and papers that adopt critical race approaches. we have now provided a period of openaccess to some key contributions made by black scholars and activists to fls over the last years. what might have always been an inadequate response/intervention quickly revealed some undeniable shortcomings in the journal, its processes and the academic publishing context we negotiate every day. the lack of contributions published in the journal by black scholars is undeniable and something we intend to reflect further on as a board. we know that this needs to be better and we need to have more critical conversations around realising this. we are not looking for an immediate fix or cure. much like the coronavirus, there is none forthcoming yet. but health for humans and for journals is in a state of constant flux, it is an ongoing journey and we can only keep trying to take steps in the right direction to be the best we can: to affirm the value of black scholarship and black lives and counter the appalling racism of the institutions and operations that has heightened in visibility throughout this pandemic. so, yes, we are afflicted and have been since before this pandemic spread, but amongst the fear and the trauma, this situation has revealed hope in humanity and offered an opportunity to step back and re-evaluate. if what they say is true, things will never be the same again and that's exactly what we need: for things to change for the better; to remind us that our health is our wealth and that we need a (genuinely) global effort towards achieving this and not just for certain parts of the world. as feminist academics, writers, dreamers and above all wenches, we have been thinking about how to best deploy our tactics, our resources and our energies to change the 'global' health of academic publishing for the better. an approach to health which is not geared towards saving the economy of the industry first, but the people, their ideas and creativity, their knowledges from all over this suffering world. this leads to us to try and make sense of the gendered and racialised impacts of the virus and this 'new reality' on the workforce and our work as part of an industry: the academic industry. as is to be expected, the recent crisis has laid bare and exacerbated existing socioeconomic inequalities. in the united kingdom, for example, british black africans and british pakistanis are over two and a half times more likely to die in hospital of covid- than the white population (platt and warwick ) . researchers speculate that among the reasons for the higher death rates among black, asian and minority ethnic (bame) populations in the uk include the fact that that a third of all working-age black africans are employed in key worker roles, % more than the share of the white british population. pakistani, indian and black african men are respectively %, % and % more likely to work in healthcare, where they are particularly at risk, than white british men (siddique ) . underlying health conditions which render people more vulnerable to risk from infection are also overrepresented in older british bangladeshi men and in older people of a pakistani or black caribbean background. over % of those national health service workers who have died due to covid- thus far were from bame ethnic backgrounds (cook et al. ) . in addition to these stark ethnic and racial mortality disparities, research continues to emerge attesting to the disproportionate health, social protection and security, care, and economic burdens shouldered by women as the pandemic progresses (united nations ). while men appear to carry a higher risk of mortality from the virus, the differential impacts on men and women of covid- remain largely ignored by governments and global health institutions, perpetuating gender and health inequities (wenham et al. ) . in terms of labour politics, a noticeable shift in working patterns during the pandemic has, perhaps unsurprisingly, disproportionately impacted women. as joanne conaghan observes, the effects of the pandemic are compounded for women due variously to "…their weak labour market position in low paid, highly precarious, and socially unprotected sectors of employment, their greater propensity to be living in poverty, along with the practical constraints which a significant increase in unpaid care work is likely to place on women's ability to pursue paid work" ( ). conaghan points out that the gender division of labour manifests itself in different ways throughout history, affecting the social and economic status of women. but what the covid- crisis reveals in this historical time period is the extent to which labouring practices for many have been 'feminised', "not just in the sense that the proportion of women participating in paid work has exponentially increased but also because the working conditions traditionally associated with women's work-lowpaid, precarious, and service-based rather than manufacturing-have become the norm" (conaghan ). thus women workers, but also vulnerable young people, migrants, and low-paid precarious workers are further exposed by the "perfect storm of poverty, destitution, sickness and death" generated by covid- (conaghan ) . how then are these labour realities relevant to us in the academic publishing sector? some editors are reporting a noticeable downturn in submissions by women authors and, in some cases, an upturn in submissions by men (fazackerley ) , which would be consistent with conaghan's thesis. the current paradigm, however, provides us with another opportunity to look at the mode of production operating in journal publishing, one that we at fls are implicated in and have long been critical of (fletcher et al. (fletcher et al. , . our insistence that academic publishing, and feminist publishing in particular, be seen as a political endeavour drives a lot of our editorial policies including an emphasis on the importance of global south scholarship, employing decolonising techniques in our editorial practice, our involvement in the recent global south writing workshops (naqvi et al. ) and our continuing support for early career researchers (ecrs), particularly those from marginalised or minoritised communities. we remain troubled, however, by the insidious ambivalence of the neoliberal university as it lumbers on, undeterred and uninterested in the new lives we are all trying to adjust to. it was of serious concern to us, for example, that the ref publication deadline remained unaltered well into the onset of the pandemic with associated impacts on journal editors and boards, reviewers and authors. in another appalling example of how structural disadvantages for black researchers are embedded in the zainab naqvi and kay lalor have recently secured a grant from feminist review trust to run a workshop for 'global south' feminist ecrs based in the uk who work in the social sciences and humanities. see https ://www.femin ist-revie w-trust .com/award s/. we joined with many colleagues in signing this open letter to demand an immediate cancelation of the publication deadline: https ://femre v.wordp ress.com/ / / /call-for-the-immed iate-cance llati on-ofthe-ref- -publi catio n-perio d/. may . academy, we are currently watching the unfolding saga of none of the £ . million worth of funding allocated by ukri and nihr to investigate the disproportionate impacts of covid- on 'bame' communities being awarded to black academics. this is compounded by the revelation that of the grants awarded, had a member of the awards assessment panel as a named co-investigator. many of those in our feminist community have come together over the last four months in various fora to share ideas and to support one another as we both adjust to this new paradigm, and resist the continued imposition of the old one (see, for example, graham et al. ) . we took part in collective discussion in july with colleagues on the editorial boards of feminist theory, feminist review, european journal of cultural studies, european journal of women's studies and sociological review about the academic publishing in the context of covid- . that discussion enabled us to share resources and build morale with a view to envisioning a future for feminist and critical academic publishing. a future in which we challenge existing models of open access in publishing as a starting point. the issues with open access are manifold and we have reflected on these previously (fletcher et al. ) . we aim to build and strengthen the links between the board and our fellow social justice and feminist journals to address this along with the other problems that we have identified, experienced and maybe even fed into as editors. as a first step, we have written a collaborative statement on our joint reflections concerning open access which sets out a non-exhaustive list of some of the values we wish to embody as journals and imbue our editorial work and processes with going forward. you can read the collective statement below at the end of this editorial, and we encourage other journals to join and sign the statement. reflecting on what has changed in this time of covid- and what has stayed the same has led us back in many ways to where we started with wench tactics (fletcher et al. ) . how do we engender our own time and space when what little time and space there is isn't really for us? returning to a conscious consideration of timeliness and to the promise of the decolonial public university might be a way to carve out time and space anew or to resist the pull back to 'normality'. one way of undoing time in the institutional contexts in which we find ourselves is through attempting to articulate and practice an ethics of slowness. mountz and colleagues deploy a feminist ethics of care in trying to reimagine working conditions that challenge the imperatives of the neoliberal university ( ). the authors emphasise the need to prioritise "slow-moving conversation[s] on ways to slow we support this open letter that has been produced by ten black women colleagues to call on ukri for transparency and accountability regarding this: https ://knowl edgei spowe r.live/about /. august . the letter points out that according to hesa data, only . % of full-time research positions in the uk are awarded to black and mixed heritage women exposing the seriousness of this marginalisation where black researchers cannot even get grants to do research with their own communities. down and claim time for slow scholarship and collective action informed by feminist politics" (mountz et al. (mountz et al. , . this understanding of slow scholarship is predicated, of course, on a thoroughgoing critique of neoliberal governance and its drivers, which have fundamentally transformed the university in the uk (and elsewhere) over the last years. karin van marle points out how neoliberal epistemologies crowd out other ways of knowing and being such that they become common sense. this has a chilling effect on the university, which "instead of being a space where multiple views and knowledges are celebrated… becomes a very specific place of exclusion and limitation" ( ). van marle insists that we try and think of the university by reference to a different set of aesthetics: "at least it should be one that acknowledges bodily-presence, sensory experiences, complexity and the need to slow down, to step aside from counting, competitiveness and suffocation" ( ). amid covid- we are on the precipice of an economic catastrophe for higher education in which many of our colleagues will lose their jobs and the futures of early career researchers and those without permanent jobs is looking more precarious than ever. we are also concerned about those vulnerable and disabled colleagues, pregnant people and others who can't acclimatise to the changes that are going to be demanded of us. we need to combine our ethos of slow scholarship with sustainable collective labour politics that prioritises the most vulnerable among us, and one that is particularly attentive to the disadvantages that devolve in line with the socio-economic/class, race and gender disparities discussed above. that the sector has long been poised on a knife-edge is something that many of our colleagues and unions have been warning about, and in the uk this has become more and more acute as austerity politics ravage the state sector, of which the university used to be a part. the notion of the public university feels often like a concept that is fast fading in our collective consciousness, but publishing, teaching and living in a time of covid- makes it prescient once again. as corey robin puts it: "public spending, for public universities, is a bequest of permanence from one generation to the next. it is a promise to the future that it will enjoy the learning of the present and the literature of the past. it is what we need, more than ever, today" ( ). that imagining how we want our world(s) and universities to be is also a profoundly decolonial imperative is something that we must reckon with and take responsibility for (see also, otto and grear ). as many institutions of higher learning in the global north have been forced to confront their complicity in the global slave trade and in other forms of imperialism in the wake of #blacklivesmatter, we have to insist on meaningful accountability and not, as foluke adebisi warns, pr stunts or marketing sops to 'diversity' politics ( ). adebisi makes clear the importance of locating ourselves as researchers and teachers as a continuing part of the university's legacy, and the need to acknowledge racism and colonialism as ongoing processes: "my constant fear is that in the process of universities 'coming to terms', our proposals can turn out to be non-contextualised recommendations that do not take into account the embedded and extended nature of slavery and the slave trade" ( ). what if we showed to our students, asks adebisi, "in very concrete terms, exactly how the past bleeds into the present, how we walk side by side with histories ghosts, how we breathe coloniality every day, how our collective history is literally present in every single thing we do?" ( ). in other words, how can we effectively distinguish, asks olivia rutazibwa, between teaching and learning that foregrounds the will to power versus the will to live? by this she means that in our attempts at decolonising we "go beyond the merely representational" by engaging with and understanding the very materiality of being and the systems that determine and produce our lives (and deaths) (rutazibwa , ) . that such pedagogical and activist praxis necessarily requires time, space and slow conversations is immediately clear. trying to think through slowness in the context of feminist decolonial editorial praxis is also a key aspect of wench tactics (fletcher et al. ; fletcher ) . being a wench in the works entails us deploying tactics to influence how our journal is used, accessed and circulated. we add to this by now utilising wench tactics to influence how our journal is produced. intrinsic in this is the timeline around production, use, access and circulation. as we work from home, experiencing lockdowns and shielding and distancing, time simultaneously runs away from us and stretches out before us. to ground ourselves then, we take a step back: we step out of the rat race that life has become and prioritise health; for ourselves, for others and for the journal. we first set out to rest and restore. we break out of the increasingly frantic rhythms and deadlines that are being fired at us by our institutions and do something else-we aim to remind ourselves of who we are and what we do. in practical terms, this has reminded us that the production and success of our journal are not dependent on us alone but on others including our amazing authors, reviewers, copyediting team and of course our readers. in recognition of the hard work, commitment and engagement of all these people, we have given extended periods for the different steps in the issue production process from reviews to revisions and even writing this editorial. as we do this, we remain defiant and difficult in the face of the publishing industry's environment which requires constant, enthusiastic engagement. this is mirrored in higher education more broadly as we are inundated with email after email about all the changes we must effect to our teaching, research and general working practices in the upcoming year. we need to rest and take restoration measures; we need time and resources to return to ourselves and using wench tactics is an important way to achieve this. to support our rest and restoration, we have also been guided by slow scholarship principles which sideline the measures of productivity, competition and finances underpinning the current institutional and structural approaches to this crisis. instead we emphasise slower conversations and work to sustain ourselves, our health and the journal. we withdraw from institutional priorities which value automation-levels of speed so that we can sustain critical engagement with ourselves, our editorial practices and one another. we place worth and value then on ways of being and working which sustain us, nourish us and keep us grounded, reminding ourselves and one another that it is completely understandable things will take time, need more time, deserve more time than the industry wants us to believe. again, this requires us to be difficult and defiant; a decolonial feminist technique which reconfigures what is seen as valuable and worthy. here, we critically question what is currently being positioned as valuable and worthy in industrial terms and then re-order the list to move our rest, restoration and sustenance to the top. getting things done is valuable and worthy but ensuring that we are rested and restored so that we can sustain ourselves, our engagement with the work we do, and our health are more so. fls is a community and we have been taking time in our meetings to make the space to check in with one another, hear how each member is doing and to practise building care and solidarity with and for one another. this is not limited to our meetings but even the spaces and platforms outside of our 'formal', scheduled interactions. we aim to be there for each other on social media and in collective and individual ways. in doing so, we seek to model best practices of feminist leadership. inspired by leila billing's writings ( ), we first make the invisible, visible and cultivate cultures of mutual care. we make ourselves visible to one another, and to others-we want to be accessible to all of you and remind our colleagues and readers that like you, we are human beings struggling with our lives, health and commitments during this crisis. we are there for each other in an ongoing state of mutual care. in response to the terrible impacts this crisis and the already toxic aspects of the academy are having on minoritised ecrs and to make us more visible and model these mutual care principles, zainab and kay have secured funding to run a writing and mentoring workshop for 'global south' feminist ecrs in the social sciences and humanities based in the uk. more information will be released on our social media channels, so please look out for it and apply if you are eligible and interested. finally, we want to model feminist leadership by imagining and celebrating alternatives. this is exhibited in our recent work to imagine what a life after existing models of open access could and should look like with our colleagues from other feminist and social justice journals (see below). the dreamers inside us envisage alternative ways to share our research and celebrate forms and productions of knowledges that are not given enough attention by us or the academy. in her work around complaint sara ahmed advances the formation of the 'complaint collective' ( ). when we complain, we object to something that should not be happening, but also because we are hopeful about how things could be different (ahmed ) . as we speak out against existing publishing models, we are optimistic about how things can change and become connected with others who have the same complaints and same hope. this leads us to form a complaint collective with our fellow editors and those who are also concerned about the status quo giving us the necessary space, time and opportunity to collaboratively imagine, celebrate and speak out in hope for an alternative model of publishing that is healthier, more equitable and representative. change and movement are inevitable and as we face the challenges of the present and dream about how we can make things better for the future, we now celebrate several of our cherished colleagues who are moving on to new and exciting things. before we introduce the papers that make up this issue of the journal, we want to acknowledge the work of our colleagues who have recently retired from their roles on the editorial board of fls. julie mccandless, nicola barker and diamond ashiagbor are irreplaceable members of our collective and we already miss their sage wisdom, warmth and dedication to fls. all three joined the fls editorial board in , when the journal became independent of the university of kent and were instrumental in guiding the journal as it has grown over the last six years. julie mccandless is a powerhouse whose commitment to and influence on fls cannot be overstated. she was a co-ordinating editor for the journal for most of her tenure and authors will remember her thoroughness, care and generosity as an editor. nicola barker was a book reviews editor during her time on the board and her invaluable contributions to our lively discussions and decision-making processes filled our time together with warmth and laughter. finally, diamond ashiagbor, as well as serving as a book review editor for a significant period of her tenure, brought such vast experience and rigour to her role on the editorial board we will dearly miss her wise counsel. we send our love and solidarity with these wonderful colleagues (and fellow wenches) and wish them well as they continue to blaze a feminist trail for us. and so, we are on the lookout for some more wonderful colleagues to join our editorial board. we have released a call for members aiming to recruit colleagues from the uk and ireland through an application process. if you are interested in joining the board, please do apply. we want the board to be as representative as possible and especially encourage colleagues with a feminist background at any career stage from minoritised groups to apply. if you have any questions about applying, please do get in touch with us, we would be delighted to tell you just how much fun it is to be a wench in the works. this issue of the journal includes some remarkable feminist legal scholarship, notable for its breadth, both scholarly and geographically. caroline dick's article entitled 'sex, sexism, and judicial misconduct: how the canadian judicial council perpetuates sexism in the legal realm' is a fascinating and sobering look bias in decisions of the canadian judicial council. dick considers two separate judicial misconduct complaints adjudicated by the council, one in which a male judge exhibited bias against women while adjudicating a sexual assault trial and a second in which graphic, sexual pictures of a female judge were posted on the internet without her knowledge or consent. dick concludes that the decisions of the council indicate that it is itself perpetuating gendered stereotypes informed by the notional ideal victim, further perpetuating sexism both in canadian courtrooms and among the judiciary. in our second article of this issue, maame efua addadzi-koom carefully examines the history and effectiveness of the maputo protocol, a uniquely african instrument on women's rights that was established with the promise of addressing the regional peculiarities of african women. analysing what little case law there is invoking the protocol and concerning gender-based violence against women, addadzi-koom takes stock of the potential of the protocol and the burgeoning due diligence principle on the women's rights jurisprudence of the ecowas community court of justice (eccj). addadzi-koom concludes her discussion with some recommendations arguing that the protocol and the due diligence principle should be more widely applied by the eccj to centre women's rights in the sub-region and beyond. in '"is this a time of beautiful chaos?": reflecting on international feminist legal methods' faye bird delves deep into feminist jurisprudence with an intriguing interrogation of margaret radin's work, and in particular, her distinction between 'ideal' and 'non-ideal' to evaluate different methodologies for critiquing international law and institutions. bird asserts that (re)viewing radin's framework in this context presages a new and more fruitful feminist pluralism through which we might better navigate institutional strategising. having featured heavily in faye bird's foregoing article, in our next paper dianne otto reflects artfully on the latest iteration of the feminist judgments project in her review essay: "feminist judging in action: reflecting on the feminist judgments in international law project". otto observes aspects of the feminist judgments that were transformative, before turning to the contributors' 'reflections', which highlight some of the obstructions encountered and compromises made in the processes of judging. otto concludes that the new collection makes a useful and compelling contribution to concretising feminist methods and highlighting the role of international jurisprudence as a feminist endeavour, while contributing to the insight of the feminist judgments project more broadly by exposing the scope and limits of justice delivered by the legal form of judging. the issue is completed by book reviews of three exciting new titles, all of which speak to issues of immediate concern to feminist legal scholars: eva nanopoulos reviews honor brabazon's wonderful edited collection neoliberal legality: understanding the role of law in the neoliberal project; lynsey mitchell considers the research handbook on feminist engagement with international law, edited by susan harris rimmer and kate ogg and; felicity adams reviews emma k russell on queer histories and the politics of policing. we are, as always, eternally grateful for the generosity and collegiality of our reviewers, without whom the journal could not function. we conclude this editorial with the recently written feminist and social justice editors' collaborative statement of intent on the values and principles we wish to adopt and embody in our work and efforts to survive, thrive and maybe even dismantle parts of the academic publishing machine. our journey and vital conversations around and towards health continue as we try to become better editors, academics and women: taking the time and resources, to be our best (and healthiest) wench selves. we are a collective of intersectional feminist and social justice journal editors. we reject the narrow values of efficiency, transparency and compliance that inform current developments and policies in open access and platform publishing. together, we seek further collaboration in the development of alternative publishing processes, practices and infrastructures imbued with the values of social and environmental justice. the dominant model of open access is dominated by commercial values. commercial licenses, such as cc-by are mandated or preferred by governments, funders and policy makers who are effectively seeking more public subsidy for the private sector's use of university research, with no reciprocal financial arrangement (berry ) . open access platforms such as academia.edu are extractive and exploitative. they defer the costs of publishing to publishers, universities and independent scholars, while selling the data derived from the uses of publicly funded research. as such they represent the next stage in the capitalisation of knowledge. commercial platforms are emphatically not open source and tend towards monopoly ownership. presenting themselves as mere intermediaries between users, they obtain privileged access to surveil and record user activity and benefit from network effects. a major irony of open access policy is that it aims to break up the giants of commercial journal publishing but facilitates existing or emerging platform monopolies. the tech industry-now dominating publishing, and seeking to dominate the academy through publishing-having offered open access as a solution to the ills of scholarly publishing is currently offering solutions to the problems caused by open access including discoverability, distribution, digital preservation and the development and networking of institutional repositories that stand little to no chance of competing with academia.edu. platforms are not only extractive but have material effects on research, helping to effect a movement upstream in the research cycle whereby knowledge is redesigned, automatically pre-fitted for an economy based on efficiency, competition, performance, engagement or impact. alongside the transformative agreements currently being made between commercial journal publishers (mainly) and consortia led by powerful universities, publishers such as elsevier are gaining greater access to the research cycle and to the data currently owned by universities. open access benefits commercial interests. the current model also serves to sideline research and scholarship produced outside of universities altogether, creating financial barriers to publishing for scholars outside of the global north/west and for independent scholars, as well as for early career researchers and others whose institutional affiliation is, like their employment status, highly precarious and contingent, and for authors who do not have the support of well-funded institutions and/or whose research is not funded by research councils. moreover, stem fields and preprint platforms are determining the development of open access publishing cultures. these are forms of content management that offer cost reduction and other efficiencies by erasing the publisher and minimising editorial function. they raise questions of quality assurance and further the technologisation, standardisation and systematisation of scholarly research such as the automation of peer review, and the disaggregation of journals and books into article or article-based units that can be easily monitored and tracked. therefore, the underlying values of widening participation, public knowledge and the fair sharing of resources need to be reclaimed. platforms should be refitted for ahss scholarship (where speed, for example, is not an indicator of the importance of research) and integrated with more conventional modes of dissemination and distribution more suited to the field and its preference for print monographs. platform development should be distributed and institutionally owned and instead of replacing the publisher-as-problem, it should recognise and represent a more diverse set of publishing interests, stemming from scholar-led and university press publishers that are mission-driven and not-for-profit. it should enable and sustain the innovation generated through intellectual kinship across diaspora spaces. open access reaches into, and disrupts the academy through policy mandates that are, at present, unfunded or underfunded and that defer more of the costs of publishing onto a sector that could not support them even before the covid- pandemic and its catastrophic effect on institutional finances as well as individual lives and wellbeing. as a collective of feminist and social justice journal editors we believe that journal publishing during and after the pandemic should seek to end the exploitation of scholarly labour and foreground a new ecological economics of scholarly publishing based on cooperation and collaboration instead of competition; responsible householding, or careful management of the environment rather than the extraction; and the fair-sharing of finite resources (such as time and materials). rather than extracting more resource (including free labour) from an already depleted and uneven sector, thereby further entrenching inequalities within and between universities globally, and sidelining scholarship produced outside of universities altogether, journal publishing after open access should be responsive and responsible toward the wellbeing, values and ambitions of diverse scholars and institutions across ahss and stem in the global south and the global north. we will learn from, and engage with other collaborative ventures such as amel-ica in latin america, coko in the us and copim in the uk. building on these initiatives, which are primarily concerned with implementing open science or open humanities agendas, we are inaugurating a more radical project of reevaluating and reorganising journal publishing: • replacing the values of efficiency, transparency and compliance with those of equality, diversity, solidarity, care and inclusion • providing a more sustainable and equitable ecological economics of scholarly publishing in tune with social and environmental justice • working collectively and collaboratively rather than competitively • thinking and acting internationally, rather than through parochial national or regional policies • working across publishing and the academy with a view to responsible householding and accountability in both sectors • seeking to work across funding and institutional barriers, including between stem and ahss scholars • seeking further collaborations and partnerships in order to build new structures (disciplines, ethics, processes and practices of scholarship including peer review, citation, impact, engagement and metrics) and infrastructures to support a more healthy and diverse publishing ecology • challenging the technologisation and systematisation of research by working to increase our visibility as editors and academics making us and our publications more accessible and approachable for those who are minoritised in academic publishing publishing after open access does not have a resolution (let alone a technological solution) or endpoint, but rather is a continual process of discussion, controversymaking and opening up to possibilities. we do not know what journal publishing after open access is, but we do know that we must work together in order to create a just alternative to the existing extractive and predatory model, an alternative that operates according to a different set of values and priorities than those that dominate scholarly publishing at the moment. these values and priorities need to inform or constitute new publishing systems committed to the public ownership rather than the continued privatisation of knowledge. we recognise that the choice we face is not between open and closed access, since these are coterminous, but between publishing practices that either threaten or promote justice. we fully recognise the scale of the challenge in promoting justice against the global trend of entrenched populism, nationalism and neoliberalism. collective action and intervention is a start point, and we take inspiration from the recent statement issued by the black writers' guild. our open exploration of the future of journal publishing will be informed by the history of radical and social justice publishing and by intersectional feminist knowledge and communication practices that are non-binary, non-hierarchical, situated, embodied and affective. against the instrumentalisation and operationalisation of knowledge, we will foreground both validation and experimentation, authority and ethics. we will ask, against a narrow implementation of impact and metrics, what really counts as scholarship, who gets to decide, who gets counted within its remit, and what it can still do in the world. we believe that knowledge operates in, rather than on the world, co-constituting it, rather than serving as a form of mastery and control. the re-evaluation of knowledge and its dissemination is, therefore, we believe, a necessary and urgent form of re-worlding. we are open to other journals joining this collective. if you are interested please get in touch with any of the signatories below: european journal of cultural studies european journal of women's studies feminist legal studies feminist theory the sociological review understanding the politics of pandemic scares: an introduction to global politosomatics complaint as diversity work why complain? feministkilljoys unchecked corporate power paved the way for covid- and globally, women are at the frontlines. cambridge core covid- highlights the failure of neoliberal capitalism: we need feminist global solidarity the uses of open access. stunlaw, philosophy and critique for a digital age theorizing global health what does feminist leadership look like in a pandemic? medium epidemics and global history: the power of medicine in the middle east coronavirus, colonization, and capitalism. common dreams exclusive: deaths of nhs staff from covid- analysed covid- and inequalities at work: a gender lens. futures of work affliction: disease health and poverty (forms of living) that obscure object of global health women's research plummets during lockdown -but articles from men increase. the guardian on being uncomfortable wench tactics? openings in conditions of closure playing with the slow university? thinking about rhythm, routine and rest in decelerating life. presentation at qmul sexism as a means of reproduction: some reflections on the politics of academic practice colonial tropes and hiv/aids in africa: sex, disease and race dialogue on the impact of coronavirus on research and publishing indigenous action. . rethinking the apocalypse: an indigenous anti-futurist manifesto making a feminist internet in africa: why the internet needs african feminists and feminisms for slow scholarship: a feminist politics of resistance through collective action in the neoliberal university homesick: notes on a lockdown back at the kitchen table: reflections on decolonising and internationalising with the global south sociolegal writing workshops international law, social change and resistance: a conversation between professor anna grear (cardiff) and professorial fellow dianne otto (melbourne) are some ethnic groups more vulnerable to covid- than others? the institute for fiscal studies the pandemic is the time to resurrect the public university. the new yorker on babies and bathwater: decolonizing international development studies the corona pandemic blows the lid off the idea western superiority https ://olivi aruta zibwa .wordp ress.com/ / / /the-coron a-pande mic-blows -the-lid-off-the-idea-ofweste rn-super iorit what they did yesterday afternoon british bame covid- death rate 'more than twice that of whites'. the guardian coronavirus pandemic in the shadow of capitalist exploitation and imperialist domination of people and nature-statement by the regional secretariat for the north african network for food sovereignty. committee for the abolition of illegitimate debt migrant women: failed by the state, locked in abuse duress: imperial durabilities in our times. durham: duke up. united nations. . policy brief: the impact of covid- on women. april life is not simply fact" -aesthetics, atmosphere & the neoliberal university covid- : the gendered impacts of the outbreak the art of medicine -historical linkages: epidemic threat, economic risk, and xenophobia key: cord- -qxkopvot authors: schreibauer, elena christina; hippler, melina; burgess, stephanie; rieger, monika a.; rind, esther title: work-related psychosocial stress in small and medium-sized enterprises: an integrative review date: - - journal: int j environ res public health doi: . /ijerph sha: doc_id: cord_uid: qxkopvot background: work-related psychosocial stress can cause mental and physical illnesses resulting in high costs for the individual, the economy and society. small and medium-sized enterprises (smes) employ the majority of the world’s workforce and often have fewer financial and human resources compared to larger businesses. the aim of this review is to summarize current knowledge on work-related stress in smes according to well-established guidelines categorizing psychosocial factors at work. methods: a systematic database search was carried out in pubmed, psycinfo, psyndex and business source premiere from march to june , updated in january . data of included studies were analyzed and mapped into five themes: “work content and task”, “organization of work”, “social relations”, “working environment” and “new forms of work”. results: after full-text screening, out of studies were included for data extraction. studies were very heterogeneous and of varying quality, mostly applying a cross-sectional study design. psychosocial factors in smes have been researched with a focus on the work patterns “work organization” and “work content and task”. conclusions: this review underlines the need for more and better quality research of psychosocial factors in smes, particularly in relation to ongoing and new challenges in the workplace, including stressors related to the process of digitalization or the development of safe working conditions during the emerge of new infectious diseases. according to the international labour organization (ilo), . million workers die from work-related diseases each year and there are about million non-fatal work-related injuries annually [ ] . this results in human and economic costs of about % of the annual global gross domestic product [ ] . additionally, work-related psychosocial risks, comprising issues such as work-related stress, have been identified as significant risks in the field of occupational health and safety over the last two decades [ , ] . however, as of yet only a few countries have drafted specific regulations on psychosocial risks (e.g., the belgian royal decree on the prevention of psychosocial risks at work or the colombian resolution on risk assessment and management of psychosocial hazards from ) or have implemented existing policies in their national occupational safety and health legislation [ , ] . furthermore, there is little evidence whether and how these recommendations and policies can be implemented in a working environment with limited human and financial in order to support enterprises with the development of instruments and interventions to reduce psychosocial risks, knowledge on relevant work-related psychosocial factors is essential. between - , the german federal institute for occupational safety and health (baua) conducted several literature reviews to describe the scientific evidence regarding mental health in the working world [ ] . based on well-established theoretical models including the job-demand-control-model [ ] , the effort-reward-imbalance-model (eri) [ ] or the organizational justice (oj) model [ ] , a framework was developed to categorize the results into four subject areas: "working task", "leadership and organization", "working time" and "technical factors". the reviews did, however, not specifically focus on the situation of employers and employees working in smes. furthermore, the joint german occupational safety and health strategy (gda) published recommendations for implementing psychosocial risk assessments listing five work patterns (i.e., work characteristics) that have been identified as primary stress factors in the workplace [ ] : • work content and task (e.g., job autonomy, completeness of tasks, emotional demands); • organization of work (e.g., working time and processes); • social relations (e.g., aspects of hierarchy, leadership and managerial abilities); • working environment (e.g., physical factors, working equipment); • new forms of work (e.g., spatial and temporal mobility). to organize the results of this review, we used this classification because it comprises all of the psychosocial factors published by the baua [ ] and integrates factors published by other well-established international frameworks (eu-osha (the european agency for safety and health at work) [ ] , who (world health organization) [ ] and ilo [ ] ). furthermore, the gda-classification includes a systematic table and detailed examples of work-related psychosocial demands which provided a useful framework for a clear assignment of the studies identified in this review. to the best of our knowledge, this review is the first to summarize and categorize the current evidence on work-related psychosocial demands with a specific focus on small and medium sized enterprises to identify gaps in current knowledge and provide a systematic overview of which psychosocial factors, outcomes and economic sectors have been considered to date. the subsequent research questions guided our review: ( ) what is the current state of knowledge on psychosocial demands in smes? ( ) which outcomes and economic sectors have been examined? we conducted an integrative review according to the five-stage method described by whittemore et al. [ ] . to select relevant studies, we used the peo criteria (population, exposure, outcome) which are applied frequently in evidence-based health research [ , ] . for our study, we defined the criteria as follows: p = workforce in smes (with smes defined according to the eu definition: number of employees < [ ] ) and e = psychosocial demands as defined by the gda [ ] . we did not predefine any outcomes for the literature search because we did not want to limit our review to certain health or health-related outcomes. the literature search was carried out between march and june and updated in january with individually adapted search strings in medical (pubmed), psychological (psycinfo, psyndex) and economic (business source premiere) databases. additionally, we performed a hand search of the reference lists of the studies included. the search terms followed this general scheme: terms related to "workforce in smes" and terms related to "psychosocial demands". we also considered relevant medical subject headings (mesh)-terms and search terms previously published [ ] . terms including "family business(es)" were excluded because this resulted in a considerable number of articles not relevant in our context. for example, many articles dealt with the financing of micro-enterprises or the family income situation in developing countries. the complete search strategy for pubmed and the applied search string is presented in supplementary table s . we included all types of peer-reviewed quantitative and qualitative studies as well as literature reviews relevant to the sme setting considering at least one of the psychosocial demands listed by the gda [ ] . articles that did not report employment figures, but whose surveyed enterprises were designated as smes, were included if their sme definition complied with the european definition [ ] . if multiple publications were based on the same dataset, all papers meeting the inclusion criteria were selected. we limited our search to articles published in german or english from january onwards, the beginning of the fourth industrial revolution promoting digital processes in the working environment [ , ] introducing new stressors to the workforce such as digitized performance monitoring or information overload [ , ] . furthermore, we excluded study protocols as well as publications which tested and/or validated questionnaires on psychological demands or work-related stress. we also excluded reviews because we considered the original research and did not consider any kind of "grey literature". after the removal of duplicates, all studies were transferred to rayyan [ ] , a free web application for systematic review screening. two raters (e.c.s. and s.b.) screened titles and abstracts independently, according to the predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. articles that could not be judged by title and abstract were included in the full text screening, also independently executed by two raters (e.c.s. and m.h.). lack of agreement was solved in consensus discussions with a third reviewer (e.r.). a tabular scheme for data extraction (author, year, country, year of data collection, topic, study design, data collection methods, type of enterprise, sample size, industrial classification of the business, investigated psychosocial demands, outcomes, and data collection instruments) was compiled and used for data extraction. we used the agency for healthcare research and quality ahrq study design algorithms [ ] to classify the study design if it was not reported. the allocation of the studies to economic sectors was carried out according to the international standard industrial classification of all economic activities (isic) [ ] . we amended the classification of the baua-project [ ] to categorize the outcome variables of the studies into these subcategories: general (work-related) stress outcomes, health, well-being, factors affecting cardiovascular health, mental health, musculoskeletal system, social relations, and business-related outcomes. different tools were used for critical appraisal: the special unit for review evidence (sure) checklist for cross-sectional studies [ ] the sure-checklist of randomized controlled trials and other experimental studies [ ] , the sure-checklist for qualitative studies [ ] , and the joanna briggs insitute (jbi)-critical appraisal tool [ ] for text and opinion articles to assess the quality of narrative reviews. we identified studies through electronic data base searching (see prisma-flowchart [ ] figure ). after the removal of duplicates, studies remained for title and abstract screening, including eleven articles detected by hand search. for the full-text-screening, articles were eligible, of which were included in the full text analysis (figure ). the first article suitable for this review was published in . since then, the annual number of publications was relatively low (< /year) with a peak in , when nine articles were published. due to our main database search in the first half of (hand search update march ), it can be assumed that studies published in were not completely indexed at that time. the first half of (hand search update march ), it can be assumed that studies published in were not completely indexed at that time. the samples of the studies were very heterogeneous. the number of participants varied between seven and , . five studies included only sme-managers and enterprise owners [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] . some studies used data from nationwide surveys that provided a large sample size and included a range of economic sectors and branches [ , , [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] . other studies included only participants of a single enterprise [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] . a complete summary of the study characteristics can be found in supplementary table s . most of the studies included were carried out in europe (n = ) and in asian countries (n = ). other studies were conducted in australia [ , ] , the united states [ ] and new zealand [ ] . four studies from japan [ , [ ] [ ] [ ] seemed to use data from the same survey but examined different outcomes. no studies from africa or south america met our inclusion criteria, and four studies were transnational [ , [ ] [ ] [ ] . the majority of studies were cross-sectional (n = ), analyzing a variety of psychosocial factors in the sme-setting, mainly using data from nationwide surveys or specifically designed questionnaires for particular companies or settings. we also identified qualitative studies (n = ), narrative reviews (n = ), and intervention studies (n = ). one qualitative study [ ] looked at the samples of the studies were very heterogeneous. the number of participants varied between seven and , . five studies included only sme-managers and enterprise owners [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] . some studies used data from nationwide surveys that provided a large sample size and included a range of economic sectors and branches [ , , [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] . other studies included only participants of a single enterprise [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] . a complete summary of the study characteristics can be found in supplementary table s . most of the studies included were carried out in europe (n = ) and in asian countries (n = ). other studies were conducted in australia [ , ] , the united states [ ] and new zealand [ ] . four studies from japan [ , [ ] [ ] [ ] seemed to use data from the same survey but examined different outcomes. no studies from africa or south america met our inclusion criteria, and four studies were transnational [ , [ ] [ ] [ ] . the majority of studies were cross-sectional (n = ), analyzing a variety of psychosocial factors in the sme-setting, mainly using data from nationwide surveys or specifically designed questionnaires for particular companies or settings. we also identified qualitative studies (n = ), narrative reviews (n = ), and intervention studies (n = ). one qualitative study [ ] looked at psychosocial resources instead of focusing on psychosocial risks like most other studies. however, as a single-case study, there are issues with the transferability of the results. the other qualitative study [ ] aimed to identify challenges faced by novice community pharmacists at transition to independent practitioners. the three narrative reviews [ ] [ ] [ ] focused on changing work characteristics in smes during the first years of the th century. cooper [ ] analyzed the changing world of work and its impact on employees and their families in that period. he focused on new forms of work, affecting most of all employees in smes, as well as self-employed and workers outsourced in virtual organizations. allan et al. [ ] investigated challenges of online learning in smes. yuhshy [ ] discussed work-and family-related stress as significant problems of smes. we identified only three intervention studies [ , , ] : casteel et al. [ ] evaluated an intervention to reduce violent crimes in smes. magnavita [ ] reported an intervention to reduce psychosocial risks at the workplace in smes. he described a cost-effective participatory model and emphasized the usefulness of regular health examinations as they can be used to identify problems in the workplace climate and work organization. in a controlled intervention study, torp [ ] reported results of a -year training program for managers of small and medium-sized enterprises. he examined the program's impact on the companies' health and safety management systems and on the mental and physical health of employees. applying the sure-criteria [ ] , the internal validity of these studies was rated as medium quality, because of some methodological limitations and limited representativeness. furthermore, we identified four studies investigating the differences of job stress in smes compared to large firms [ , , , ] . whereas tsai et al. [ ] found higher levels of job stress and "higher favorable attitudes toward managers" in smes, lai et al. [ ] obtained no firm size effect on overall job stress after adjusting for covariates including individual and organizational characteristics (information on job tenure, contractual status, gender, age, marital status, number of children, caring responsibility, long-term illness, academic qualification, weekly pay, work condition changes, organizational support) in an european (u.k.) sample. yeh et al. [ ] reported higher job demands, higher job insecurity, lower job autonomy and lower career prospect in smes, compared to those of large private enterprises and the public sector. encrenaz et al. [ ] investigated the influence of the size of enterprises on mental health and the mediating role of perceived working conditions in this relationship by measuring the outcome "anxious/depressive episodes" in employees. between micro-enterprises compared to the others, there were differences in perceived working conditions: taking working conditions into account, the risk of "depressive/anxious episodes" was larger in micro-enterprises. as summarized in table , most studies investigated several work characteristics with a focus on factors related to 'work content and task' (n = ) and 'organization of work' (n = ), followed by factors related to 'social relations' (n = ), 'new forms of work' (n = ) and the 'working environment' (n = ). only one study considered all five work characteristics to measure work quality in smes [ ] . a relatively high number of studies assessing the work characteristics 'work content and task' included the factors 'freedom of action' (n = ), 'responsibility' (n = ) and 'emotional demands' (n = ). multiple studies also investigated factors related to 'organization of work', mostly looking at 'work time' (n = ), 'work process' (n = ), and 'communication/cooperation' (n = ). however, the correlations of these factors with the outcomes were not always reported. many studies also investigated the work characteristics 'social relations'. for example, berthelsen et al. [ ] measured perceived social support in the workplace among danish dentists, and agervold et al. [ ] measured social contact, social climate and management style in a danish manufacturing company. intragroup conflict and social support were assessed by three japanese studies [ , , ] . the work characteristics 'social relations' in general were measured by four studies [ , , , ] and one study referred to siegrist's effort-reward-imbalance model (eri) [ ] , in which the eri questionnaire was used to asses occupational stress with items on esteem and job promotion. the work characteristics 'working environment' and 'new forms of work' have received less attention. only three studies measured physiochemical factors: 'lighting' was measured by two studies [ , ] , 'climate' was measured only by isahak et al. [ ] . rhee et al. [ ] assessed the variables "hazardous work condition" and "handling of hazardous materials". three studies investigated physical factors: "physical occupational activity" [ ] , "poor physical working conditions" [ ] and "heavy physical work, repetitive activities, forced postures and risks of falls" [ ] . the factor 'workplace and information structure' was only studied by díaz-chao et al. [ ] ("workspace"). the factor 'work equipment' was taken into account by sonnentag et al. [ ] looking at "situational constraints associated with malfunctioning, missing, incomplete, or outdated equipment, tools, or information". myers et al. [ ] investigated "staff and technical problems", including 'equipment breakdown and defective materials'. the characteristics 'new forms of work' was taken into account by eight studies. job insecurity was measured by five studies [ , , , , ] . flexible work hours and work-life-balance was taken into account by three studies [ , , ]. cooper's [ ] theoretical exploration focused on several aspects of new forms of work, including free-lancers, flexible working hours, and work-family-conflicts related to new forms of work. there was only one study [ ] focusing on accessibility and expected availability of workers due to new communication methods. another study investigated the work-home interference and well-being of self-employed entrepreneurs [ ] . mental health risks and resources were the most commonly studied outcomes. as shown in table , many studies examined mental health outcomes (n = ), with general (work-related) stress outcomes being the second most studied (n = ), followed by outcomes representing business-related outcomes. coping self-efficacy [ , ] seven-item coping self-efficacy scale (cse- ) depressive symptoms [ ] japanese version of the center for epidemiologic studies depressive symptoms scale (ces-d) depressive episodes [ ] hospital anxiety and depression scale (hads-d) training needs [ ] unspecified questionnaire (probably self-developed) importance of work [ ] mow's question on the centrality of work general stress and mental health outcomes were assessed more often as risks, business outcomes were assessed almost equally as risks and resources and social relations were examined more often as resources. the only non-self-reported outcomes were blood pressure and the observed rate of violent crimes; all other outcomes were assessed as self-reported outcomes, mostly via questionnaires. several studies (n = ) examined manufacturing enterprises (please see supplementary table s ). each of the other economic sectors was considered by less than six studies. eight studies [ , , , , , , , ] included several sectors; for example; lai et al. [ ] used data of a nationwide survey with participants of all industrial sectors, godin et al. [ ] and cocker et al. [ ] examined entrepreneurs of several sectors. seven studies [ , [ ] [ ] [ ] , , ] did not provide information on particular economic sectors. in this review, we evaluated the current evidence on work-related psychological stress in smes, also summarizing the type of outcomes investigated as well as the economic sectors considered. the majority of the studies were cross-sectional (n = ). we also identified qualitative studies (n = ), narrative reviews (n = ), and intervention studies (n = ). as most studies applied a cross-sectional design investigating relationships between various outcomes and psychosocial factors in the workplace, the number of studies investigating causal relationships was relatively low. only one study conducted an intervention specifically developed for the sme setting [ ] indicating a lack of studies applying a high quality research design (e.g., randomized controlled trials) with a focus on psychosocial stress in the smes. all studies were published from to considering very heterogeneous populations of smes. we did not find suitable studies from to . as the definition of smes was inconsistent at the beginning of the century, articles from this period may not have met the inclusion criteria of the european definition of smes. since smaller enterprises have become a focus for researchers and policy makers in recent years, this may have resulted in an increased number of publications from onwards. only one study [ ] investigated all five dimensions of work-related psychosocial demands as defined in the gda recommendations [ ] . although these recommendations are based on the european council directive [ ] and have great similarities with other international classifications (e.g., [ ] , p. ), we appreciate that the gda recommendations have been developed with a focus on the german context and may not be transferable entirely to other settings. nevertheless, since the job-demand-control model [ , ] and the extended job-demand-control-support-(jdcs-) model [ ] have been used for decades, work characteristics based on these models, have found their way into many study-designs and work-stress questionnaires. this resulted in a frequent examination of the work pattern 'work content and task' although some of the subcategories were hardly considered ('variability) or not mentioned at all ('completeness of task'). the work patterns 'organization of work' and 'social relations' have also been considered frequently. although the psychosocial health effects of the working environment have been studied as a cause for work-related illness for decades e.g., [ ] , this work characteristics including 'physicochemical factors' or 'physical factors' have received little attention from the psychosocial perspective in the studies we identified in this review. in terms of advancing digitalization, topics such as 'workplace and information structure' are important fields of research as they involve the risk of information and stimulus satiation [ ] . their psychosocial impact on employees in small and medium-sized enterprises appears to have been poorly researched to date. this may be related to the slow pace of digitization in smes requiring financial and human resources, frequently exceeding the means of small enterprises [ ] . the european agency for safety and health at work (eu-osha) recognized job insecurity, precarious work, intensification of work and higher requirements for flexibility and mobility from workers as emerging risk for health and safety [ ] ; nevertheless, 'new forms of work' also have received little attention in the setting of smes [ ] . we also classified the outcomes considered according as defined by the baua-project [ ] including these subcategories: general (work-related) stress outcomes, health, well-being, factors affecting cardiovascular health, mental health, musculoskeletal system, social relations, and business-related outcomes. most outcomes were related to the fields of general stress, mental health and business. there appears to be a gap in the investigation of outcomes on physical health, particularly those representing cardiovascular health, even though the link between work-related stress and physical illness is well established [ , ] . promoting and maintaining the health of employees is the fundamental purpose of occupational medicine. prevention is therefore particularly important. work-related resources were, however, less frequently studied than risks, and most outcomes considering resource were related to the fields of 'social relations' and 'business-related outcomes'. factors considering the prevention of work-related stress and the promotion of a healthy working environment should therefore be considered more frequently in sme-research. finally, we categorized the studies identified to the international standard industrial classification of all economic activities (isic) [ ] . with few exceptions, the number of studies allocated to economic sectors corresponded to the frequency with which smes in europe and asian countries are represented in these sectors [ , ] . in the eu- , for example, employment was highest in smes active in the sectors 'construction' ( , %) and 'wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles' ( , %) between and [ ] . although we identified a number of studies (n = ) investigating psychosocial demands in these sectors, the highest number of studies looked at smes active in 'manufacturing' (n = ) where the percentage of employment was considerably lower ( . %). this may be related to differences in lobbying activities which have been shown to be relatively high in the manufacturing sector compared to other sectors including 'wholesale trade' [ ] . the other economic sectors were partly more typical for large enterprises (e.g., electricity suppliers, oil companies, insurance companies) or public and civil-service institutions (hospitals, schools, public offices) and, as expected, fewer studies were identified here. within the sector 'human health and social work activities' four studies were identified looking at psychosocial factors in the setting of general dentists' practices, pharmacies and a welfare and assistance agency for professionals. although the setting of myers et al. [ ] and magola [ ] was not clearly in the sme area (myers et al. examined dental practices that were also partly funded by the british national health service (nhs), magola included pharmacists who also worked for larger chains), the studies were included in this review because they represented the sector of healthcare and the organizations under review (dental practices and pharmacies) which ultimately had the structure of an sme. we also expected family or medical practices to be characterized as small businesses, but no corresponding study was identified also indicating that these "enterprises" were unlikely to be categorized as a typical sme [ ] . this review also has some limitations. our broad research objective was very useful to give an overview of the current state of research and to detect gaps in knowledge. however, it was not suitable for a "classic" systematic review design and resulted in a heterogeneous sample of included studies and a high number of irrelevant hits, particularly in the database "business source premiere" which identified numerous entries on "financial stress" not related to our research objective. the bias risk has been minimized by a strict application of review methods like systematic literature search and reviewing by independent reviewers. the broad question and the application of the peo scheme could also be the reason for finding only three intervention studies. it may be appropriate to search particularly for intervention studies in smes; however, a recent review from examined health interventions in smes and only one of the included studies met our inclusion criteria [ ] . the reasons for this may be related to applying different sme definitions, the inclusion of public institutions or the exclusion of work-related psychological factors as most of the interventions considered in the review [ ] dealt with physical fitness or work-safety-interventions. to provide a more manageable and specific set of results, we have refrained from using 'family business terms' in our search string. apart from using a european definition of smes, this could also be a reason why we did not identify studies from south america and africa. to study psychosocial factors in the family business setting, a new search with a more specific search term would be required. the same may be true for micro-enterprises which may not be covered by our search string in all databases. furthermore, the consideration of "grey literature" (e.g., governmental reports) may provide further evidence in this context. finally, we aimed to categorize all studies identified in this review according to well-established frameworks [ , , , ] . nevertheless, the process of systematization was partly subjective since psychosocial factors are mostly interdependent or interrelated; hence, we could have also chosen different categorizations for some of the studies identified. psychosocial risks differ between large companies and smes [ , , ] . since smes represent the majority of all companies worldwide, it is important to conduct research specifically focused on smaller enterprises, also including micro-enterprises. as early as , cooper et al. [ ] called for further studies to investigate the long-term effectiveness of stress intervention strategies. with the findings of this review we can renew this demand for the sme setting. in order to offer smes effective interventions for the primary prevention of psychosocial risks, the long-term effects of the interventions should be examined applying high-quality study designs. for the development of interventions, it would be desirable to measure all dimensions in which psychosocial risks may occur and resources can be established and consolidated, rather than limiting the assessment of psychosocial stress to single factors. hereby, the dimensions of psychosocial risks defined by the gda [ ] proofed to be a good framework for the classification of the studies identified. furthermore, we would like to point out that about one third of the outcomes identified were measured using self-developed items, scales or questionnaire, or by using adapted preexisting questionnaires. on the one hand this complicates the comparison of results with prior research and may impact the validity and reliability of previously established measures. on the other hand, it may be necessary to develop new instruments suitable for a particular research question or setting. previous research has provided valuable context for the development of new research instruments, also emphasizing the necessity to carefully discuss the pro and cons of using preexisting or newly developed measures e.g., [ ] . working conditions do not only influence the physical but increasingly impact the mental wellbeing of employees [ ] . the process of transforming to industry . with the resulting digitization and emergence of new forms of work (e.g., platform work, remote work, freelancers, home office) has been researched for the last decade and provided valuable insight in central issues or smes adapting to the accelerating change of the working environment (e.g., lack of operational capacity for systematic reorganization) [ , ] . moreover, the trajectory of climate change and the current covid- pandemic have accelerated these processes [ , ] . particularly the necessity of infection control has resulted in an even greater necessity of work-related mobility and flexibility and is expected to impact the working environment in the long term. as a result, employers and employees are facing new psychosocial risks, e.g., social isolation, increasing technical and social challenges related to electronic communication [ ] which has been related to the development of depression, anxiety, self-reported stress, and sleeping disorders [ ] . especially in smes, where frequently fewer (financial) resources are available compared to larger companies, the redesign and adaption of a continuously changing working environment is particularly challenging. new evidence of the effectiveness of workplace enhancements in the sme setting could facilitate necessary changes. the results of this review highlight that the various psychosocial factors in smes have been researched with varying intensity. as chirico [ ] pointed out in , the new work-related risks have not received sufficient attention from the scientific community. this can be recognized here by a lack of studies for the work characteristics "new forms of work" and "working environment". within the context of the current covid- pandemic, the relevance of these aspects becomes even more evident. smes from the economic sectors "professional, scientific and technical activities" and "wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles" should also be subject to more research, as they appeared to be underrepresented. due to the lower financial and human resources available in smes and a lower awareness of the resulting costs of inadequate health and safety management [ ] , research for cost-efficient and effective interventions to improve mental health in smes is of high relevance to convince entrepreneurs of the 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intervention strategy for workplace stress measurement instruments and data collection: a consideration of constructs and biases in ergonomics research institute of world health organization. health impact of psychosocial hazards at work: an overview; world health organization back to the future: policy pointers from platform work scenarios new forms of employment series, new forms of employment series; publications office of the european union living, working and covid- data european agency for safety and health at work. covid- : back to the workplace the work is associated with, but not funded by a project funded by the federal ministry of education and research of the federal republic of germany (bmbf gl a improvejob). many thanks to the four reviewers for their constructive and valuable suggestions during the review process of this manuscript. many thanks to anke wagner for her advice regarding the development of the search strategy and quality assessment of the papers. we would also like to thank the members of the seminar "health services research" (coordination centre for health services research, university hospital tuebingen) for their constructive feedback during the development of the research questions and the search string, and benjamin lee for his linguistic advice on the manuscript. the authors declare no conflict of interest. the funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results. key: cord- - ub xzsv authors: ralph, paul; baltes, sebastian; adisaputri, gianisa; torkar, richard; kovalenko, vladimir; kalinowski, marcos; novielli, nicole; yoo, shin; devroey, xavier; tan, xin; zhou, minghui; turhan, burak; hoda, rashina; hata, hideaki; robles, gregorio; milani fard, amin; alkadhi, rana title: pandemic programming: how covid- affects software developers and how their organizations can help date: - - journal: empir softw eng doi: . /s - - -y sha: doc_id: cord_uid: ub xzsv context: as a novel coronavirus swept the world in early , thousands of software developers began working from home. many did so on short notice, under difficult and stressful conditions. objective: this study investigates the effects of the pandemic on developers’ wellbeing and productivity. method: a questionnaire survey was created mainly from existing, validated scales and translated into languages. the data was analyzed using non-parametric inferential statistics and structural equation modeling. results: the questionnaire received usable responses from countries. factor analysis supported the validity of the scales and the structural model achieved a good fit (cfi = . , rmsea = . , srmr = . ). confirmatory results include: ( ) the pandemic has had a negative effect on developers’ wellbeing and productivity; ( ) productivity and wellbeing are closely related; ( ) disaster preparedness, fear related to the pandemic and home office ergonomics all affect wellbeing or productivity. exploratory analysis suggests that: ( ) women, parents and people with disabilities may be disproportionately affected; ( ) different people need different kinds of support. conclusions: to improve employee productivity, software companies should focus on maximizing employee wellbeing and improving the ergonomics of employees’ home offices. women, parents and disabled persons may require extra support. in december , a novel coronavirus disease emerged in wuhan, china. while symptoms vary, covid- often produces fever, cough, shortness of breath, and in some cases, pneumonia and death. by april , , the world health organization (who) recorded more than million confirmed cases and , deaths (who a). with wide-spread transmissions in countries, territories or areas, the who declared it a public health emergency of international concern (who b) and many jurisdictions declared states of emergency or lockdowns (kaplan et al. ) . many technology companies told their employees to work from home (duffy ) . thinking of this situation as a global natural experiment in working from home-the event that would irrefutably verify the benefits of working from home-would be naïve. this is not normal working from home. this is attempting to work from home, unexpectedly, during an unprecedented crisis. the normal benefits of working from home may not apply (donnelly and proctor-thomson ) . rather than working in a remote office or well-appointed home office, some people are working in bedrooms, at kitchen tables and on sofas while partners, children, siblings, parents, roommates, and pets distract them. others are isolated in a studio or one-bedroom apartment. with schools and childcare closed, many parents juggle work with not only childcare but also home schooling or monitoring remote schooling activities and keeping children engaged. some professionals have the virus or are caring for ill family members. quarantine work !== remote work. i've been working remotely with success for years, and i've never been close to burn out. i've been working quarantined for over a month and i'm feeling a tinge if burn out for the first time in my life. take care of yourself folks. really. -scott hanselman (@shanselman), april , while numerous studies have investigated remote work, few investigate working from home during disasters. there are no modern studies of working from home during a pandemic of this magnitude because there has not been a pandemic of this magnitude since before there was a world wide web. therefore, software companies have limited evidence on how to support their workers through this crisis, which raises the following research question. research question: how is working from home during the covid- pandemic affecting software developers' emotional wellbeing and productivity? to address this question, we generate and evaluate a theoretical model for explaining and predicting changes in wellbeing and productivity while working from home during a crisis. moreover, we provide recommendations for professionals and organizations to support employees who are working from home due to covid- or future disasters. to fully understand this study, we need to review several areas of related work: pandemics, bioevents and disasters; working from home; and productivity and wellbeing. madhav et al. ( ) defines pandemics as "large-scale outbreaks of infectious disease over a wide geographic area that can greatly increase morbidity and mortality and cause significant economic, social, and political disruption" (p. ). pandemics can be very stressful not only for those who become infected but also for those caring for the infected and worrying about the health of themselves, their families and their friends (kim et al. ; prati et al. ) . in a recent poll, "half of canadians ( %) report[ed] a worsening of their mental health" during the covid- lockdown (ari ). in australia, the pandemic appears to have doubled the incidence of mental health problems (fisher et al. ) . a pandemic can be mitigated in several ways including social distancing (anderson et al. ) : "a set of practices that aim to reduce disease transmission through physical separation of individuals in community settings" (p. - rebmann ), including public facility shutdowns, home quarantine, cancelling large public gatherings, working from home, reducing the number of workers in the same place at the same time and maintaining a distance of at least . - m between people (rebmann ; anderson et al. ) . the extent to which individuals comply with recommendations varies significantly and is affected by many factors. people are more likely to comply when they have more selfefficacy; that is, confidence that they can stay at home or keep working during the pandemic, and when they perceive the risks as high (teasdale et al. ) . however, this "threat appraisal" depends on: the psychological process of quantifying risk, sociocultural perspectives (e.g. one's worldview and beliefs; how worried one's friends are), "illusiveness of preparedness" (e.g. fatalistic attitudes and denial), beliefs about who is responsible for mitigating risks (e.g. individuals or governments) and how prepared one feels (yong et al. (yong et al. , prati et al. ) . people are less likely to comply when they are facing loss of income, personal logistical problems (e.g. how to get groceries), isolation, and psychological stress (e.g. fear, boredom, frustration, stigma) (digiovanni et al. ). barriers to following recommendations include job insecurity, lack of childcare, guilt and anxiety about work not being completed, and the personal cost of following government advice (teasdale et al. ; blake et al. ) . for employees, experiencing negative life events such as disasters is associated with absenteeism and lower quality of workdays (north et al. ) . employers therefore need work-specific strategies and support for their employees. employers can give employees a sense of security and help them return to work by continuing to pay full salaries on time, reassuring employees they they are not going to lose their job, having flexible work demands, implementing an organized communication strategy, and ensuring access to utilities (e.g. telephone, internet, water, electricity, sanitation) and organisational resources (north et al. ; donnelly and proctor-thomson ; blake et al. ) . work-specific strategies and support are also needed to ensure business continuation and survival. the disruption of activities in disasters simultaneously curtails revenues and reduces productive capacity due to the ambiguity and priorities shifting in individuals, organizations and communities (donnelly and proctor-thomson ) . as social distancing closes worksites and reduces commerce, governments face increased economic pressure to end social distancing requirements prematurely (loose et al. ) . maintaining remote workers' health and productivity is therefore important for maintaining social distancing as long as is necessary (blake et al. ) . as we prepare this article, many other studies of the covid- pandemic's effects are underway. early evidence suggests complicated effects on productivity, which vary by person, project and metric (bao et al. ) . some evidence suggests programmers are working longer hours, at an unsustainable pace (forsgren ). pérez et al. ( ) defines teleworking (also called remote working) as "organisation of work by using information and communication technologies that enable employees and managers to access their labour activities from remote locations" (p. ). it includes working from home, a satellite office, a telework centre or even a coffee shop. remote working can help restore and maintain operational capacity and essential services during and after disasters (blake et al. ) , especially when workplaces are inaccessible. indeed, many executives are already planning to shift "at least % of previously on-site employees to permanently remote positions post-covid " (lavelle ) . however, many organizations lack appropriate plans, supportive policies, resources or management practices for practising home-based telework. in disasters such as pandemics where public facilities are closed and people are required to stay at home, their experience and capacity to work can be limited by lack of dedicated workspace at home, caring responsibilities and organizational resources (donnelly and proctor-thomson ) . in general, working from home is often claimed to improve productivity (davenport and pearlson ; mcinerney ; cascio ) and teleworkers consistently report increased perceived productivity (duxbury et al. ; baruch ) . interestingly, baker et al. ( ) found that organizational and job-related factors (e.g. management culture, human resources support, structure of feedback) are more likely to affect teleworking employees' satisfaction and perceived productivity than work styles (e.g. planning vs. improvising) and household characteristics (e.g. number of children). while increasing productivity, "working from home is associated with greater levels of both work pressure and work-life conflict" (russell et al. ) because work intrudes into developers' home lives through working unpaid overtime, thinking about work in off hours, exhaustion and sleeplessness (hyman et al. ) . moreover, individuals' wellbeing while working remotely is influenced by their emotional stability (that is, a person's ability to control their emotions when stressed). for people with high emotional stability, working from home provides more autonomy and fosters wellbeing; however, for employees with low emotional stability, it can exacerbate physical, social and psychological strain (perry et al. ) . the covid- pandemic has not been good for emotional stability (ari ). research on working from home has been criticized for relying on self-reports of perceived productivity, which may inflate its benefits (bailey and kurland ) ; however, objective measures often lack construct validity (ralph and tempero ) and perceived productivity correlates well with managers' appraisals (baruch ) . (the perceived productivity scale we use below correlates well with objective performance data; cf. section . ). previous studies suggest that productivity affects project outcomes and is affected by numerous factors including team size and technologies used (mcleod and macdonell ) . however, existing research on developer productivity is rife with construct validity problems. productivity is the amount of work done per unit of time. measuring time is simple but quantifying the work done by a software developer is not. some researchers (e.g. jaspan and sadowski ) argue for using goal-specific metrics. others reject the whole idea of measuring productivity (e.g. ko aj ) not least because people tend to optimize for whatever metric is being used-a phenomenon known as goodhart's law (goodhart ; chrystal and mizen ) . furthermore, simple productivity measures such as counting commits or modified lines of code in a certain period suffer from low construct validity (ralph and tempero ) . the importance and difficulty of a commit does not necessarily correlate with its size. similarly, some developers might prefer dense, one-line solutions while others like to arrange their contributions in several lines. nevertheless, large companies including microsoft still use controversial metrics such as number of pull requests as a "proxy for productivity" (spataro ) , and individual developers also use them to monitor their own performance (baltes and diehl ) . copious time tracking tools exist for that purpose-some specifically tailored for software developers. while researchers have adapted existing scales to measure related phenomena like happiness (e.g. graziotin and fagerholm ) , there is no widespread consensus about how to measure developers' productivity or the main antecedents thereof. many researchers use simple, unvalidated productivity scales; for example, meyer et al. ( ) used a single question asking participants to rate themselves from "not productive" to "very productive." (the perceived productivity scale we use below has been repeatedly validated in multiple domains; cf. section . ). meanwhile, a programmer's productivity is closely related to their job satisfaction (storey et al. ) and emotional state (wrobel ; graziotin et al. ) . unhappiness, specifically, leads to "low cognitive performance, mental unease or disorder, and low motivation" (graziotin et al. , p. ) . however, little is known about the antecedents or consequences of software professionals' physical or mental wellbeing in general. the related work discussed above suggests numerous hypotheses. here we hypothesize about "developers" even though our survey was open to all software professionals because most respondents were developers (see section . ). these hypotheses were generated contemporaneously with questionnaire design-before data collection began. hypothesis h : developers will have lower wellbeing while working from home due to covid- . stress, isolation, travel restrictions, business closures and the absence of educational, child care and fitness facilities all take a toll on those working from home. indeed, a pandemic's severity and the uncertainty and isolation it induces create frustration, anxiety and fear (taha et al. ; digiovanni et al. ; teasdale et al. ) . it therefore seems likely that many developers will experience reduced emotional wellbeing. hypothesis h : developers will have lower perceived productivity while working from home due to covid- . similarly, stress, moving to an impromptu home office, and lack of child care and other amenities may reduce many developers' productivity. many people are likely more distracted by the people they live with and their own worrisome thoughts. people tend to experience lower motivation, productivity and commitment while working from home in a disaster situation (donnelly and proctor-thomson ) . assuming hypotheses h and h are supported, we want to propose a model that explains and predicts changes in wellbeing and productivity (fig. ) . hypotheses h and h are encapsulated in the change in wellbeing and change in perceived productivity constructs. the model only makes sense if wellbeing and productivity have changed since developers began working from home. hypothesis h : change in wellbeing and change in perceived productivity are directly related. we expect wellbeing and productivity to exhibit reciprocal causality. that is, as we feel worse, we become less productive, and feeling less productive makes us feel even worse, in a downward spiral. many studies show that productivity and wellbeing covary (cf. dall'ora et al. ) . moreover, evers et al. ( ) found that people with increasing health risks have lower wellbeing and life satisfaction, leading to higher rates of depression and anxiety. conversely, decreasing health risk will increase physical and emotional wellbeing and productivity. hypotheses h and h : disaster preparedness is directly related to change in wellbeing and change in perceived productivity. disaster preparedness is the degree to which a person is ready for a natural disaster. it includes behaviors like having an emergency supply kit and complying with directions from authorities. we expect lack of preparedness for disasters in general and for covid- in particular to exacerbate reductions in wellbeing and productivity, and vice versa (cf. paton ; donnelly and proctor-thomson ) . hypotheses h and h : fear (of the pandemic) is inversely related to change in wellbeing and change in perceived productivity. fear is a common reaction to bioevents like pandemics. emerging research on covid- is already showing a negative effect on wellbeing, particularly anxiety (harper et al. ; xiang et al. ) . meanwhile, fear of infection and public health measures cause psychosocial distress, increased absenteeism and reduced productivity (shultz et al. ; thommes et al. ) . hypotheses h and h : home office ergonomics is directly related to change in wellbeing and change in perceived productivity. here we use ergonomics in its broadest sense of the degree to which an environment is safe, comfortable and conducive to the tasks being completed in it. we are not interested in measuring the angle of a developer's knees and elbows, but in a more general sense of their comfort. professionals with more ergonomic home offices should have greater wellbeing and be more productive. donnelly and proctor-thomson ( ) found that availability of a dedicated work-space at home, living circumstances, and the availability of organisational resources to work relate to the capacity to return to work after a disaster and employees' productivity. hypothesis h : disaster preparedness is inversely related to fear (of the pandemic). it seems intuitive that the more prepared we are for a disaster, the more resilient and less afraid we will be when the disaster occurs. indeed, ronan et al.'s systematic review found that programs for increasing disaster preparedness had a small-to mediumsized negative effect on fear. people who have high self-efficacy and response-efficacy (i.e. perceive themselves as ready to face a disaster) will be less afraid (roberto et al. ). on march , , the first author initiated a survey to investigate how covid- affects developers, and recruited the second and third authors for help. we created the questionnaire and it was approved by dalhousie university's research ethics board in less than hours. we began data collection on march th. we then recruited authors through , who translated and localized the questionnaire into arabic, (mandarin) chinese, english, french, italian, japanese, korean, persian, portuguese, spanish, russian and turkish, and created region-specific advertising strategies. translations launched between april and , and we completed data collection between april and . next, we recruited the fourth author to assist with the data analysis, which was completed on april . the manuscript was prepared primarily by the first four authors with edits from the rest of team. this section details our approach and instrumentation. this study's target population is software developers anywhere in the world who switched from working in an office to working from home because of covid- . of course, developers who had been working remotely before the pandemic and developers who continued working in offices throughout the pandemic are also important, but this study is about the switch, and the questions are designed for people who switched from working on-site to at home. in principle, the questionnaire was open to all sorts of software professionals, including designers, quality assurance specialists, product managers, architects and business analysts, but we are mainly interested in developers, our marketing focused on software developers, and therefore most respondents identify as developers (see section . ). we created an anonymous questionnaire survey. we did not use url tracking or tokens. we did not collect contact information. questions were organized into blocks corresponding to scale or question type. the order of the items in each multi-item scale was randomized to mitigate primacy and recency effects. the order of blocks was not randomized because our pilot study (section . ) suggested that the questionnaire was more clear when the questions that distinguish between before and after the switch to home working came after those that do not. the questionnaire used a filter question to exclude respondents who do not meet the inclusion criteria. respondents who had not switched from working in an office to working from home because of covid- simply skipped to the end of the questionnaire. it also included not only traditional demographic variables (e.g. age, gender, country, experience, education) but also how many adults and children (under twelve) participants lived with, the extent to which participants are staying home and whether they or any friends or family had tested positive for covid- . the questionnaire used validated scales as much as possible to improve construct validity. a construct is a quantity that cannot be measured directly. fear, disaster preparedness, home office ergonomics, wellbeing and productivity are all constructs. in contrast, age, country, and number of children are all directly measurable. direct measurements are assumed to have inherent validity, but latent variables have to be validated to ensure that they measure the right properties (cf. ralph and tempero ) . the exact question wording can be seen in our replication pack (see section ). this section describes the scales and additional questions. to assess emotional wellbeing, we used the who's fiveitem wellbeing index (who- ). each item is assessed on a six-point scale from "at no time" ( ) to "all of the time" ( ). the scale can be calculated by summing the items or using factor analysis. the who- scale is widely used, widely applicable, and has high sensitivity and construct validity (topp et al. ) . respondents self-assessed their wellbeing twice: once for the four weeks prior to beginning to work from home, and then again for the time they have been working from home. to assess perceived productivity we used items from the who's health and work performance questionnaire (hpq). the hpq measures perceived productivity in two ways: ( ) using an eight-item summative scale, with multiple reversed indicators, that assesses overall and relative performance; and ( ) using -point general ratings of participants' own performance and typical performance of similar workers. these scales are amenable to factor analysis or summation. of course, people tend to overestimate their performance relative to their peers, but we are comparing participants to their past selves not to each other. hpq scores are closely related to objective performance data in diverse fields (kessler et al. ) . again, respondents self-assessed their productivity for both the four weeks prior to working from home, and for the time they have been working from home. to assess disaster preparedness, we adapted yong et al.'s ( ) individual disaster preparedness scale. yong et al. developed their five-item, five-point, likert scale based on common, important behaviors such as complying with government recommendations and having emergency supplies. the scale was validated using a questionnaire survey of a "weighted nationally representative sample" of canadians. we adapted the items to refer specifically to covid- . it can be computed by summing the responses or using factor analysis. tool for assessing patients' reactions to bioevents (including pandemics). the fr checklist places the patient on a scale from intense fear to hyper-resilience (bracha and burkle ) . we dropped some of the more extreme items (e.g. "right now are you experiencing shortness of breath?") because respondents are at home taking a survey, not arriving in a hospital emergency room. the fr checklist is a weighted summative scale so it has to be computed manually using bracha and burkle's formula rather than using factor analysis. it has multiple reversed indicators. we could not find a reasonable scale for evaluating home office ergonomics. there is comparatively less research on the ergonomics of home offices (inalhan and ng ) and ergonomic instruments tend to be too narrow (e.g. evaluating hip angle). based on our reading of the ergonomics literature, we made a simple six-item, six-point likert scale concerning distractions, noise, lighting, temperature, chair comfort and overall ergonomics. again, we evaluated the scale's face and content validity using a pilot study (see section . ) and examine convergent and discriminant validity ex post in section . . organizational support (os) we could not find any existing instrument that measures the degree to which an organization supports its employees during a crisis. the first author therefore interviewed three developers with experience in both co-located and distributed teams as well as office work and working from home. interviewees brainstormed actions companies could take to help, and we used open-coding (saldaña ) to organize their responses into five themes: . equipment: providing equipment employees need in their home office (e.g. a second monitor) . reassurance: adopting a tone that removes doubt and fear (e.g. assuring employees that lower productivity would be understood) . connectedness: encouraging virtual socializing (e.g. through video chat) . self-care: providing personal services not directly related to work (e.g. resources for exercising or home-schooling children) . technical infrastructure and practices: ensuring that remote infrastructure (e.g. vpns) and practices (e.g. code review) are in place. we generated a list of actions (four or five per theme) by synthesizing the ideas of interviewees with existing literature on working from home, distributed development and software engineering more generally. for each action, respondents indicate whether their employer is taking the action and whether they think it is or would be helpful. organizational support is not a construct in our theory per se because we have insufficient a priori information to produce a quantitative estimate, so we analyze these answers separately. we solicited feedback from twelve colleagues: six software engineering academics and six experienced software developers. pilot participants made various comments on the questionnaire structure, directions and on the face and content validity of the scales. based on this feedback we made numerous changes including clarifying directions, making the question order static, moving the who- and hpq scales closer to the end, dropping some problematic questions, splitting up an overloaded question, and adding some open response questions. (free-text answers are not analyzed in this paper; open response questions were included mainly to inform future research; see section . ). we advertised our survey on social and conventional media, including dev.to, développez.com, dnu.nl, eksisozluk, facebook, hacker news, heise online, infoq, linkedin, twitter, reddit and wechat. upon completion, participants were provided a link and encouraged to share it with colleagues who might also like to take the survey. because this is an anonymous survey, we did not ask respondents to provide colleagues' email addresses. we considered several alternatives, including scraping emails from software repositories and stratified random sampling using company lists, but none of these options seemed likely to produce a more representative sample. granted, if we sampled from an understood sampling frame, we could better evaluate the representativeness of the sample and generalizability of the results; however, we are not aware of any sampling frames with sufficiently well-understood demographics to facilitate accurate inferences. instead, we focused on increasing the diversity of the sample by localizing the survey and promoting it in more jurisdictions. we translated the survey into arabic, (mandarin) chinese, french, italian, japanese, korean, persian, portuguese, spanish, russian and turkish. each author-translator translated from english into their first language. we capitalized on each authors' local knowledge to reach more people in their jurisdiction. rather than a single, global campaign, we used a collection of local campaigns. each localization involved small changes in wording. only a few significant changes were needed. the chinese version used a different questionnaire system (https://wjx.cn) because google forms is not available in china. furthermore, because the lockdowns in china and korea were ending, we reworded some questions from "since you began working from home" to "while you were working from home." we did not offer cash incentives for participation. rather, we offered to donate us$ to an open source project chosen by participants (in one of the open response questions). respondents suggested a wide variety of projects, so we donated us$ to the five most mentioned: the linux foundation, the wikimedia foundation, the mozilla foundation, the apache software foundation and the free software foundation. the portuguese version was slightly different: it promised to donate brl to ação da cidadania's (a brazillian ngo) action against corona project rather than a project chosen by participants (which we did). we received total responses of which did not meet our inclusion criteria and were effectively blank (see below) leaving . this section describes how the data was cleaned and analyzed. the data was cleaned as follows. . delete responses that do not meet inclusion criteria. . delete almost empty rows, where the respondent apparently answered the filter question correctly, then skipped all other questions. . delete the timestamp field (to preserve anonymity), the consent form confirmation field (because participants could not continue without checking these boxes so the answer is always "true") and the filter question field (because all remaining rows have the same answer). . add a binary field indicating whether the respondent had entered text in at least one long-answer question (see section . ). . move all free-text responses to a separate file (to preserve anonymity). . recode the raw data (which is in different languages with different alphabets) into a common quantitative coding scheme; for example, from for "strongly disagree" to for "strongly agree" the recoding instructions and related scripts are included in our replication package (see section ). . split select-multiple questions into one binary variable per checkbox (google forms uses a comma-separated list of the text of selected answers). . add a field indicating the language of the response. . combine the responses into a single data file. . calculate the fr scale according to its formula (bracha and burkle ) . we evaluated construct validity using established guidelines (ralph and tempero ) . first, we assessed content validity using a pilot study (section . ). next, we assessed convergent and discriminant validity using a principle component analysis (pca) with varimax rotation and kaiser normalization. bartlett's test is significant (χ = ; df = ; p < . ) and our kmo measure of sampling adequacy is high ( . ), indicating that our data is appropriate for factor analysis. as table shows, the items load well but not perfectly. the bold coefficients suggest possible issues with change in productivity ( productivity) and , as well as ergonomics . we dropped items one at a time until the loadings stabilized, starting with productivity , followed by productivity . as shown in table , dropping these two indicators solved the problem with ergonomics , so the latter is retained. we evaluate predictive validity by testing our hypotheses in section . . here, response bias refers to the possibility that people for whom one of our hypotheses hold are more likely to take the questionnaire, thus inflating the results. there are two basic ways to analyze this kind of response bias. the first-comparing sample parameters to known population parameters-is impractical because no one has ever established population parameters for software professionals. the second-comparing late respondents to early respondents-cannot be used because we do not know the time between each respondent learning of the survey and completing it. however, we can do something similar: we can compare respondents who answered one or more open response questions (more keen on the survey) with those who skipped the open response questions (less keen on the survey). as shown in table , only number of adult cohabitants and age have significant differences, and in both cases, the effect size (η ) is very small. this is consistent with minimal response bias. respondents were disproportionately male ( % vs. % female and % non-binary) and overwhelmingly employed full-time ( %) with a median age of - . participants were generally well-educated (fig. ) . most respondents ( %) live with one other adult, while % live with no other adults and the rest live with two or more people. % live with one or more children under . % indicate that they may have a disability that affects their work. mean work experience is . years (σ = . ). mean experience working from home is . years (σ = . ); however, % of respondents had no experience working from home before covid- . participants hail from countries (table ) and organizations ranging from - employees to more than , (fig. ) . many participants listed multiple roles but % included software developer or equivalent among them, while the rest were other kinds of software professionals (e.g. project manager, quality assurance analyst). seven participants (< %) tested positive for covid- and six more (< %) live with someone with covid- ; % of respondents indicated that a close friend or family member had tested positive, and % were currently or recently quarantined. hypothesis h : developers will have lower wellbeing while working from home due to covid- . participants responded to the who- wellbeing scale twice-once referring to the -day period before switching to work from home and once referring to the period while working from home. we estimate wellbeing before and after by summing each set of five items, and then compare the resulting distributions (see fig. ). since both scales deviate significantly from a normal distribution (shapiro-wilk test; p < . ; see fig. ), we compare the distributions using the two-sided paired wilcoxon signed rank test. to estimate effect size, we use cliff's delta (with % confidence level). hypothesis h is supported. (wilcoxon signed rank test v = ; p < . ; δ = . ± . ). hypothesis h : developers will have lower perceived productivity while working from home due to covid- . like the wellbeing scale, participants answered the hpq fig. organization sizes productivity scale twice. again, we estimate productivity before and after by summing each set of items (after correcting reversed items and omitting items and ; see section . ). again, the distributions are not normal (shapiro-wilk test; p < . ; see fig. ), so we use the wilcoxon signed rank test and cliff's delta. hypothesis h is supported. (wilcoxon signed rank test v = ; p < . ; δ = . ± . ). to test our remaining hypotheses, we use structural equation modeling (sem). briefly, sem is used to test theories involving constructs (also called latent variables). a construct is a quantity that cannot be measured directly (ralph and tempero ) . fear, disaster preparedness, home office ergonomics, wellbeing and productivity are all constructs. in contrast, age, country, and number of children are all directly measurable. to design a structural equation model, we first define a measurement model, which maps each reflective indicator into its corresponding construct. for example, each of the five items comprising the who- wellbeing scale is modeled as a reflective indicator of wellbeing. sem uses confirmatory factor analysis to estimate each construct as the shared variance of its respective indicators. next, we define the structural model, which defines the expected relationships among the constructs. the constructs we are attempting to predict are referred to as endogenous, while the predictors are exogenous. sem uses a path modeling technique (e.g. regression) to build a model that predicts the endogenous (latent) variables based on the exogenous variables, and to estimate both the strength of each relationship and the overall accuracy of the model. as mentioned, the first step in a sem analysis is to conduct a confirmatory factor analysis to verify that the measurement model is consistent (table ) . here, the latent concepts ergonomics and disasterpreparedness are captured by their respective exogenous variables. fear is not included because it is computed manually (see section . ). wellbeing is the difference in a participant's emotional wellbeing before and after switching to working from home. this latent concept is captured by five exogenous variables, wb , . . . , wb . similarly, productivity represents the difference in perceived productivity, before and after switching to working from home. the confirmatory factor analysis converged (not converging would suggest a problem with the measurement model) and all of the indicators load well on their constructs. the lowest estimate, . for dp , is still quite good. the estimates for p through p are negative because these items were reversed (i.e. higher score = worse productivity). note that factor loadings greater than one do not indicate a problem because they are regression coefficients, not correlations (jöreskog ) . having reached confidence in our measurement model, we construct our structural model by representing all of the hypotheses stated in section as regressions (e.g. wellbeing ∼ disasterpreparedness + fear + ergonomics). in principle, we use all control variables as predictors for all latent variables. in practice, however, this leads to too many relationships and prevents the model from converging. therefore, we evaluate the predictive power of each control variable, one at a time, and include it in a regression only where it makes at least a marginally significant (p < . ) difference. here, using a higher than normal p-value is more conservative because we are dropping predictors rather than testing hypotheses. country of residence and language of questionnaire are not included because sem does not respond well to nominal categorical variables (see section . ). since the exogenous variables are ordinal, the weighted least square mean variance (wlsmv) estimator was used. wlsmv uses diagonally weighted least squares to estimate the model parameters, but it will use the full weight matrix to compute robust standard errors, and a mean-and variance-adjusted test statistic. in short, the wlsmv is a robust estimator which does not assume a normal distribution, and provides the best option for modelling ordinal data in sem (brown ) . we use the default nonlinear minimization subject to box constraints (nlminb) optimizer. for missing data, we use pairwise deletion: we only keep those observations for which both values are observed (this may change from pair to pair). by default, since we are also dealing with categorical exogenous variables, the model is set to be conditional on the exogenous variables. the model was executed and all diagnostics passed, that is, lavaan ended normally after iterations with free parameters and n = . we evaluate model fit by inspecting several indicators (cf. hu and bentler , for in summary, all diagnostics indicate the model is safe to interpret (i.e. cfi = . , rmsea = . , srmr = . ). figure illustrates the supported structural equation model. the arrows between the constructs show the supported causal relationships. the path coefficients (the numbers on the arrows) indicate the relative strength and direction of the relationships. for example, the arrow from disaster preparedness to fear indicates that the hypothesis that disaster preparedness affects fear was supported. the label (− . ) indicates an inverse relationship (more disaster preparedness leads to less fear) and . indicates the strength of the relationship. hypotheses h -h , h , h , and h -h are supported; hypotheses h and h are not supported. that is, change in wellbeing and change in perceived productivity are directly related; change in perceived productivity depends on home office ergonomics and disaster preparedness; change in wellbeing depends on ergonomics and fear; and disaster preparedness is inversely related to fear. inspecting the detailed sem results (table ) reveals numerous interesting patterns. direct effects include: -people who live with small children have significantly less ergonomic home offices. this is not surprising because the ergonomics scale included items related to noise and distractions. -women tend to be more fearful. this is consistent with studies on the sars epidemic, which found that women tended to perceive the risk as higher (brug et al. ). -people with disabilities are less prepared for disasters, have less ergonomic offices and are more afraid. -people who live with other adults are more prepared for disasters. -people who live alone have more ergonomic home offices. -people who have covid- or have family members, housemates or close friends with covid- tend to be more afraid, more prepared, and have worse wellbeing since working from home. -people who are more isolated (i.e. not leaving home at all, or only for necessities) tend to be more afraid. home office ergonomics some indirect effects are also apparent, but are more difficult to interpret. for example, changes in productivity and wellbeing are closely related. hypothesis h may be unsupported because change in productivity is mediating the effect of disaster preparedness on change in wellbeing. similarly, hypothesis h may not be unsupported because change in wellbeing is mediating the relationship between fear and change in productivity. furthermore, control variables including gender, children and disability may have significant effects on wellbeing or productivity that are not obvious because they are mediated by another construct. some variables have conflicting effects. for example, disability has not only a direct positive effect on productivity but also an indirect negative effect (through fear). so, is the pandemic harder on people with disabilities? more research is needed to explore these relationships. above, we mentioned omitting language and country because sem does not respond well to nominal categorical variables. we tried anyway, and both language and country were significant predictors for all latent variables, but, as expected, including so many binary dummy variables makes the model impossible to interpret. while our analysis suggests that country, language (and probably culture) have significant effects on disaster preparedness, ergonomics, fear, wellbeing and productivity, more research is need to understand the nature of these effects (see section . ). table shows participants' opinions of the helpfulness of numerous ways their organizations could support them. several interesting patterns stand out from this data: -only action # -paying developer's home internet charges-is perceived as helpful by more than half of participants and less than % of companies appear to be doing that. -the action most companies are taking (# , having regular meetings) is not perceived as helpful by most participants. -there appears to be no correlation between actions developers believe would help and actions employers are actually taking. -there is little consensus among developers about what their organizations should do to help them. in hindsight, the structure of this question may have undermined discrimination between items. future work could investigate a better selection of actions, and possibly ask participants for their "top n" items to improve reliability. moreover, the helpfulness of actions may depend on where the participant lives; for example, in countries with a weaker social safety net, reassuring employees that they will keep their jobs, pay and benefits may be more important. this study shows that software professionals who are working from home during the pandemic are experiencing diminished emotional wellbeing and productivity, which are closely related. furthermore, poor disaster preparedness, fear related to the pandemic, and poor home office ergonomics are exacerbating this reduction in wellbeing and productivity. moreover, women, parents and people with disabilities may be disproportionately affected. in addition, dissensus regarding what organizations can do to help suggests that no single action is universally helpful; rather, different people need different kinds of support. organizations need to accept that expecting normal productivity under these circumstances is unrealistic. pressuring employees to maintain normal productivity will likely make matters worse. furthermore, companies should avoid making any decisions (e.g. layoffs, promotions, bonuses) based on productivity during the pandemic because any such decision may be prejudiced against protected groups. if a member of a protected group feels discriminated against due to low productivity at this time, we recommend contacting your local human rights commission or equivalent organization. because productivity and wellbeing are so closely related, the best way to improve productivity is to help employees maintain their emotional wellbeing. however, no single action appears beneficial to everyone, so organizations should talk to their employees to determine what they need. helping employees improve the ergonomics of their work spaces, in particular, should help. however, micromanaging foot positions, armrests and hip angles is not what we mean by ergonomics. rather, companies should ask broad questions such as "what do you need to limit distractions and be more comfortable?" shipping an employee a new office chair or noise cancelling headphones could help significantly. meanwhile, professionals should try to accept that their productivity may be lower and stop stressing about it. similarly, professionals should try to remember that different people are experiencing the pandemic in very different ways-some people may be more productive than normal while others struggle to complete any work through no fault of their own. it is crucial to support each other and avoid inciting conflict over who is working harder. the above recommendations should be considered in the context of the study's limitations. sampling bias random sampling of software developers is rare (amir and ralph ) because there are no lists of all the software developers, projects, teams or organizations in the world or particular jurisdictions (baltes and ralph ) . we therefore combined convenience and snowball sampling with a strategy of finding a co-author with local knowledge to translate, localize and advertise the questionnaire in a locally effective way. on one hand, the convenience/snowball strategy may bias the sample in unknown ways. on the other hand, our translation and localization strategy demonstrably increased sample diversity, leading to one of the largest and broadest samples of developers ever studied, possible due to a large, international and diverse research team. any random sample of english-speaking developers is comparatively ethnocentric. the sample is not balanced; for instance, many more respondents live in germany than all of southeast asia, but we attempt to correct for that (see internal validity, below). response bias meanwhile, we found minimal evidence of response bias (in section . ). however, because the questionnaire is anonymous and google forms does not record incomplete responses, response bias can only be estimated in a limited way. someone could have taken the survey more than once or entered fake data. additionally, large responses from within a single country could skew the data but we correct for company size, language and numerous demographic variables to mitigate this. to enhance construct validity, we used validated scales for wellbeing, productivity, disaster preparedness and fear/resilience. post-hoc construct validity analysis suggests that all four scales, as well as the ergonomics scale we created, are sound (section . ). however, perceived productivity is not the same as actual productivity. although the hpq scale correlates well with objective performance data in other fields (kessler et al. ) , it may not in software development or during pandemics. similarly, we asked respondents their opinion of numerous potential mechanisms for organizational support. just because companies are taking some action (e.g. having regular meetings) or respondents believe in the helpfulness of some action (e.g. paying their internet bills), does not mean that those actions will actually improve productivity or wellbeing. there is much debate about whether -and -point responses should be treated as ordinal or interval. cfa and sem are often used with these kinds of variables in social sciences despite assuming at least interval data. some evidence suggests that cfa is robust against moderate deviations from normality, including arguably-ordinal questionnaire items (cf. flora and curran ) . we tend not to worry about treating data as interval as long as, in principle, the data is drawn from a continuous distribution. additionally, due to a manual error, the italian version was missing organizational support item : "my team uses a build system to automate compilation and testing." the survey may therefore under-count the frequency and importance of this item by up to %. we use structural equation modeling to fit a theoretical model to the data. indicators of model fit suggest that the model is sound. moreover, sem enhances conclusion validity by correcting for multiple comparisons, measurement error (by inferring latent variables based on observable variables), testing the entire model as a whole (instead of one hypothesis at a time) and controlling for extraneous variables (e.g. age, organization size). sem is considered superior to alternative path modeling techniques such as partial least squares path modeling (rönkkö and evermann ) . while a bayesian approach might have higher conclusion validity (furia et al. ) , none of the bayesian sem tools (e.g. blaavan) we are aware of support ordered categorical variables. the main remaining threat to conclusion validity is overfitting the structural model. more research is needed to determine whether the model overstates any of the supported effects. to infer causality, we must demonstrate correlation, precedence and the absence of third variable explanations. sem demonstrates correlation. sem does not demonstrate precedence; however, we can be more confident in causality where precedence only makes sense in one direction. for example, having covid- may reduce one's productivity, but feeling unproductive cannot give someone a specific virus. similarly, it seems more likely that a more ergonomic office might make you more productive than that being more productive leads to a more ergnomic office. meanwhile, we statistically controlled for numerous extraneous variables (e.g. age, gender, education level, organization size). however, other third-variable explanations cannot be discounted. developers who work more overtime, for example, might have lower wellbeing, worse home office ergonomics, and reduced disaster preparedness. other confounding variables might include individual differences (e.g. personality), team dynamics, organizational culture, family conflict, past medical history and wealth. for researchers, this paper opens a new research area intersecting software engineering and crisis, disaster and emergency management. although many studies explore remote work and distributed teams, we still need a better understanding of how stress, distraction and family commitments affect developers working from home during crises, bioevents and disasters. more research is needed on how these events affect team dynamics, cohesion, performance, as well as software development processes and practices. more specifically, the dataset we publish alongside this paper can be significantly extended. abundant quantitative data is available regarding different countries, and how those countries reacted to the covid- pandemic. country data could be merged with our dataset to investigate how different contexts, cultures and political actions affect developers. for example, the quality of a country's social safety net may affect fear. furthermore, the crisis continues. more longitudinal research is needed to understand its long-term effects on software professionals (e.g. burnout), projects (e.g. decreased velocity) and communities (e.g. trust issues). research is also needed to understand how the crisis affects different kinds of professions. we focus on software developers because that is who software engineering research is responsible for, in the same way nursing researchers will study nurses and management researchers will study managers. only comparing studies of different groups will reveal the extent to which our findings are specific to software professionals or generalizable to other knowledge workers. this study does not investigate typical software engineering practices (e.g. pair programming, mutation testing) or debates (e.g. agile methods vs. model-driven engineering) because we do not believe that a team's software development methodology is a key antecedent of pandemic-induced changes to productivity and wellbeing. further research is needed to confirm or refute our intuition. this study taught us two valuable lessons about research methodology. first, collaborating with a large, diverse, international research team and releasing a questionnaire in multiple languages with location-specific advertising can generate a large, diverse, international sample of participants. second, google forms should not be used to conduct scientific questionnaire surveys. it is blocked in some countries. it does not record partial responses or bounce rates, hindering analysis of response bias. url parameter passing, which is typically used to determine how the respondent found out about the survey, is difficult. exporting the data in different ways gives different variable orders, encouraging mistakes. responses are recorded as (sometimes long) strings instead of numbers, overcomplicating data analysis. we should have used a research focused survey tool such as limesurvey(.org) or qualtrics(.com). the covid- pandemic has created unique conditions for many software developers. stress, isolation, travel restrictions, business closures and the absence of educational, child care and fitness facilities are all taking a toll. working from home under these conditions is fundamentally different from normal working from home. this paper reports the first largescale study of how working from home during a pandemic affects software developers. it makes several key contributions: -evidence that productivity and wellbeing have declined; -evidence that productivity and wellbeing are closely related; -a model that explains and predicts the effects of the pandemic on productivity and wellbeing; -some indication that different people need different kinds of support from their organizations (there is no silver bullet here); -some indication that the pandemic may disproportionately affect women, parents and people with disabilities. furthermore, this study is exceptional in several ways: ( ) the questionnaire used previously validated scales, which we re-validated using both principal components analysis and confirmatory factor analysis; ( ) the questionnaire attracted an unusually large sample of responses; ( ) the questionnaire ran in languages, mitigating cultural biases; ( ) the data was analyzed using highly sophisticated methods (i.e. structural equation modelling), which rarely have been utilized in software engineering research; ( ) the study investigates an emerging phenomenon, providing timely advice for organizations and professionals; ( ) the study incorporates research on emergency and disaster management, which is rarely considered in software engineering studies. we hope that this study inspires more research on how software development is affected by crises, pandemics, lockdowns and other adverse conditions. as the climate crisis unfolds, more research intersecting disaster management and software engineering will be needed. a comprehensive replication package including our (anonymous) dataset, instruments and analysis scripts is stored in the zonodo open data archive at https://zenodo.org/record/ . yong ag, lemyre l, pinsent c, krewski d ( ) risk perception and disaster preparedness in immigrants and canadian-born adults: analysis of a national survey on similarities and differences. risk anal ( ): - yong ag, lemyre l ( ) getting canadians prepared for natural disasters: a multi-method analysis of risk perception, behaviors, and the social environment. nat hazards ( ): - publisher's note springer nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. paul ralph phd (british columbia), is a professor of software engineering in the faculty of computer science at dalhousie university where his research centers on empirical software engineering, humancomputer interaction and project management. paul also co-chairs the acm sigsoft paper and peer review quality initiative. for more information please visit: https://paulralph.name. phd (university of trier), is a lecturer in the school of computer science at the university of adelaide, australia. his research empirically analyzes software developers' work habits to derive tool requirements and to identify potential process improvements. for more information please visit: https://empirical-software. engineering. gianisa adisaputri master of emergency management (auckland university of technology), md (islamic state university syarif hidayatullah jakarta), is an emergency and disaster management consultant in halifax, canada. her research interests include community resilience, disaster preparedness and emergency risk communication. there is no random sampling in software engineering research how will country-based mitigation measures influence the course of the covid- epidemic? worry, gratitude & boredom: as covid- affects mental, financial health, who fares better a review of telework research: findings, new directions, and lessons for the study of modern work satisfaction and perceived productivity when professionals work from home towards a theory of software development expertise sampling in software engineering research: a critical review and guidelines how does working from home affect developer productivity? a case study of baidu during covid- pandemic self performance 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the role of fear-related behaviors in the - west africa ebola virus disease outbreak helping our developers stay productive while working remotely towards a theory of software developer job satisfaction and perceived productivity intolerance of uncertainty, appraisals, coping, and anxiety: the case of the h n pandemic the importance of coping appraisal in behavioural responses to pandemic flu absenteeism impact on local economy during a pandemic via hybrid sir dynamics the who- well-being index: a systematic review of the literature who ( a) coronavirus disease (covid- ): situation report detail/ - - -statement-on-the-second-meeting-of-the-international-health-regulations emotions in the software development process the covid- outbreak and psychiatric hospitals in china: managing challenges through mental health service reform acknowledgements this project was supported by the natural sciences and engineering research council of canada grant rgpin- - , the government of spain through project "bugbirth" (rti - -b- ), dalhousie university and the university of adelaide. thanks to brett cannon, alexander serebrenik and klaas stol for their advice and support, as well as all of our pilot participants. thanks also to all of the media outlets who provided complementary advertising, including dnu.nl, eksisozluk, infoq and heise online. finally, thanks to everyone at empirical software engineering for fast-tracking covid-related research. rashina hoda phd (victoria university of wellington), b.sc. hons (louisiana state university), is an associate dean (academic development) and an associate professor in software engineering at the faculty of information technology at monash university where her research focuses on human-centred software engineering, agile software development, and grounded theory. rashina serves on the ieee tse reviewer board, the ieee software advisory panel, and as associate editor for jss and on the organising committees for icse , xp , and ase . for more information please visit: www. rashina.com.hideaki hata phd (osaka university), is an assistant professor in the division of information science at nara institute of science and technology, where his research centers on empirical software engineering, software ecosystems, human capital in software engineering, and software economics. he is an associate editor for ieice transactions on information and systems and has served on the pc of several conferences like ase, msr, and icgse. for more information please visit: https://hideakihata.github.io/.gregorio robles phd, is an associate professor at the universidad rey juan carlos, madrid, spain. gregorio is specialized in free/open source software research. he is one of the founders of bitergia, a software development analytics company. his homepage can be found at http://gsyc.urjc.es/ ∼ grex. gregorio acknowledges the support of the government of spain through project "bugbirth" (rti - -b- ). amin milani fard phd (university of british columbia), m.sc. (simon fraser university), is an assistant professor in computer science at new york tech vancouver, and a visiting scholar at simon fraser university. his research and industry experience are in software engineering, data analysis, and cybersecurity. for more information please visit: http://www.ece.ubc.ca/ ∼ aminmf/.rana alkadhi phd (technical university of munich), is an assistant professor in computer science at king saud university where her research centers on empirical software engineering, human aspects of software engineering and natural language processing. rana has several publications in highly recognized outlets. for more information please visit: https://fac.ksu.edu.sa/ralkadi affiliations paul ralph · sebastian baltes · gianisa adisaputri · richard torkar , · vladimir kovalenko · marcos kalinowski · nicole novielli · shin yoo · xavier devroey · xin tan · minghui zhou · burak turhan , · rashina hoda · hideaki hata · gregorio robles · amin milani fard · rana alkadhi key: cord- -jjdkwalk authors: moretti, antimo; menna, fabrizio; aulicino, milena; paoletta, marco; liguori, sara; iolascon, giovanni title: characterization of home working population during covid- emergency: a cross-sectional analysis date: - - journal: int j environ res public health doi: . /ijerph sha: doc_id: cord_uid: jjdkwalk evidence about the characterization of home workers in terms of both work-related outcomes and health issues is lacking. the purpose of this cross-sectional study was to examine the impact of home working on perceived job productivity and satisfaction, work-related stress, and musculoskeletal (msk) issues. we included mobile workers, collecting data about demographic characteristics, working experience, job productivity, and stress. job satisfaction was assessed through the utrecht work engagement scale (uwes), while msk pain was investigated by the brief pain inventory (bpi) and fear avoidance beliefs questionnaire (fabq). moreover, a home workplace analysis had to be carried out according to current italian regulations. participants declared that they were less productive ( . %) but less stressed ( . %) and equally satisfied ( %) compared to the time of office working. regarding msk disorders, low back pain (lbp) was referred by . % of home workers and neck pain by . % of them. neck pain worsened in % of home workers, while lbp did not exacerbate in . % of cases. home workers with msk pain reported a lower job satisfaction. depending on our data, the home environment seems to be not adequate in the mobile worker population, with an increased risk for mental health and msk problems, particularly affecting the spine. addressing these issues can significantly reduce risks for health, thus, improving job productivity and satisfaction and reducing cost. the covid- health emergency has profoundly changed working life. to minimize physical contact among individuals and prevent new infections, many companies implemented "mobile working" or "home working" or "remote working", a form of carrying out a job without specific place of work restrictions, with the possible use of technological tools [ ] . in , italy had the lowest percentage of remote workers across all europe [ ] , and this percentage amounted to about % of total employment at the end of april . during the covid- pandemic, the number of remote workers increased by % in italy, while it has been estimated that about % of the worldwide workforce has been affected by workplace changes [ ] . for most remote employees, it has probably been the first experience. among advantages, there are reduced commuting time, possible productivity gains, increased staff motivation, better work-life balance, and better control over time schedule, while among disadvantages there are difficulties monitoring performance, cost of working from home, communication problems, no clear separation between home and work tasks, and unsuitability with all works [ , ] . the home environment is likely to be faulty in many aspects in comparison to the workplace. in particular, the absence of ergonomic office furniture at home may impede the adoption of a healthy posture and may promote the onset of musculoskeletal (msk) disorders [ , ] . working in a sedentary position for prolonged periods increases the risk of neck pain and/or low back pain (lbp) [ , ] . home working may cause also stress, anxiety, and isolation, which influences job effectiveness, well-being, and work-life balance [ , ] . even if the effects of home working on various aspects (e.g., quality of life, health and safety, and productivity) have been also investigated, this research area is still developing. whilst the psychological benefits of home working-e.g., higher work engagement, work-related flow, and connectivity among staff-can attract many organizations to consider its implementation, the negative impacts such as blurred work-home boundary, fatigue, and mental demands should be addressed when/if home working is implemented [ ] . for many workers, the opportunity to work from a home office makes everyday life easier. among positive effects the most expected are higher efficiency at work, better concentration, reduction of psychological stress, and a better family life [ ] . working at home permits a better work-life balance, and this is important for workers caring for sick family members or children, but this results in little time for personal leisure activities [ , ] . on the other side, there are negative effects associated with remote working. for example, it has been found that home workers experience overlaps between work and home lives [ ] . moreover, they often experienced increased irritability and negative emotions, which were attributed to social isolation and being unable to share the troubles at work and find possible solutions with colleagues [ ] . however, studies concerning the characterization of the mobile worker population in terms of both work-related outcomes and health issues are lacking. the aim of this study is to investigate the role of home working on job satisfaction, occupational stress, perceived productivity, and msk issues. a population of mobile workers was included in the present cross-sectional study. participants were contacted by phone; they received a full explanation of the study and signed an informed consent about privacy regulations regarding their personal data. all individuals were employed as administrative officers that moved to work remotely since the beginning of covid- health emergency. office work lasted for h a day, with a h lunch break. this study was conducted in accordance with the declaration of helsinki and its later amendments. we prepared a questionnaire consisting of items. we investigated employees' subjective data such as age, gender, weight, height, education, job levels, and cohabitants, in particular children. subsequently, we asked participants about their previous remote working experience, focusing on the kind of job and its differences from traditional work (tasks, schedule, and salary). we also included questions about productivity, work-related stress, and job satisfaction. in particular, we asked about factors that might improve productivity (saved travel time to go to the office, time flexibility, autonomy, reconciliation of work life with personal and family life, enhanced attention) or might decrease it (distractions in the domestic environment such as children to look after, planning difficulties, impaired interaction with colleagues, technical failures). for questions about advantages and disadvantages of working at home on job productivity, it was possible to choose multiple answers. finally, the workers were asked whether they would continue working remotely after the end of the covid- emergency. low back pain was assessed by the brief pain inventory (bpi) [ ] . the pain intensity section of the bpi is composed by four items that are scored from (no pain) to (worst pain), while the functional interference section is composed by seven items that are scored from (no interference with activities of daily living, adls) to (total interference). the severity index is calculated on the basis of the mean of the four pain intensity items, and interference index is calculated from the mean of the seven pain interference items. workers' beliefs about how physical activity and work affect lbp and neck pain were rated using the fear avoidance belief questionnaire (fabq), which consists of items investigating how physical activity and work affect employees' pain [ ] . the fabq physical activity (fabq-pa) evaluates atti tudes and beliefs related to general physical activities (five items, range - ), and the fabq work (fabq-w) assesses attitudes and beliefs related to occupational activities (eleven items, range - ). each item is scored from ("do not agree at all") to ("completely agree"). the overall score is calculated by adding fabq-pa and fabq-w scores (range - ). job satisfaction was assessed by the utrecht work engagement scale (uwes) [ ] . this tool includes items divided into three dimensions (i.e., vigor, dedication, and absorption). items were measured on a -point rating scale, from (never) to (always). participants were asked about structural aspects of their workplace at home: chair (adjustable seat height, back height, back inclination), table (type, height), type of computer (desktop/laptop), monitor (adjustable in inclination, height, rotation), eye distance from the monitor, presence of external keyboard and its distance from the edge of the table, presence of a footstool. presence of breaks and periods with increasing amount of work were also investigated. for the general health risk assessment, we referred to current regulations and the italian organization for standardization (uni) standards (uni en - -"office work chairs-dimensions-determination of dimensions"; uni en - "office furniture-work tables and desks-dimensions"; uni -a "indoor lighting with artificial light") ( figure ). descriptive statistical analy sis was performed using the spss v. . software (spss inc.; chicago, il, usa). continuous variables are expressed as means ± standard deviations, while categorical ones are reported as absolute values and percentages, whereas the ordinal data are represented as medians. we performed the shapiro-wilk normality test for all the continuous data. if data followed a normal distribution, the student's t test was used to compare data across groups; if not, the two-sample wilcoxon rank-sum (mann-whitney) test was used when appropriate. statistical tests were carried out on a two-sided significance level of . . a total of home workers were included. the mean age was . ± . years, and the percentage of women was . %. most of the participants had three or more cohabitants ( . %), but only . % had children to look after. fifty-five percent of workers had a second level degree. the main population characteristics are reported in table . in % of cases, no differences were recorded between home and office working in terms of tasks, schedule, and salary. thirty-nine percent of the subjects self-perceived to be less productive but less stressed, while % were equally satisfied. among mobile working advantages, the most appreciated was saved travel time ( . %) and the least appreciated was greater autonomy ( . %). impaired interaction with colleagues ( . %) and distractions in the domestic environment ( . %) were judged to be the worst disadvantages. thirty-nine percent of employees stated that they would like to continue working at home only occasionally. characteristics and quality of remote work are showed in table . note: values are expressed as counts (percentages). * for these items, more than one answer was possible. concerning health problems, . % of participants reported msk pain, most frequently at the low back ( . %) or neck ( . %), and . % in multiple sites (table ) . pain severity and pain interference during everyday activities have been found slightly higher for neck pain compared to lbp (table ). in the fabq subscales, the mean score was higher in the work component than in the physical activity component for subjects affected by lbp or neck pain. moreover, workers with neck pain reported a higher mean score on the fabq work component than those with lbp (table ) . worsening of previous neck pain was reported by % of participants, while in . % an improvement of neck pain occurred. in . % of subjects, there was no exacerbation of lbp since they work remotely, whereas . % reported an increase of lbp severity, and only . % showed pain improvement (table ). home workers without pain reported a significantly higher job satisfaction assessed by uwes than those with pain (p = . ) ( table ) . regarding structural aspects of the home workplace (tables and ), most of the participants reported using a conventional four-leg kitchen chair ( . %), and that the seat was not adjustable in height ( . %). in most cases, the back was concave ( . %), not adjustable in height ( . %) or inclination ( . %). although most workers used a worktable with height ± . cm (home table) the number of home workers who used a desktop computer was higher ( . %), with monitor adjustable in height only for . %. in two-thirds of cases, eye distance from the monitor was - cm. external keyboard was used by . % of individuals, and in almost all workers ( . %) there was enough space for the upper limbs as the keyboard was positioned cm away from the table edge. nobody used a footstool. forty-one percent used a laptop. finally, all participants reported taking self-managed breaks. periods with increasing amount of work were reported by % of home workers. to the best of our knowledge, this is the first study investigating how home workers set up their home workplace and the impact of existing equipment on msk health. moreover, no previous study had ever measured mobile working-related job satisfaction on a specific scale. we characterized a population of mobile workers in terms of work-related outcomes, such as perceived productivity and job satisfaction, and onset or changes of previous msk disorders, particularly lbp and neck pain. over % of workers reported no difference in tasks, although . % had a different schedule, with % of the population declaring, surprisingly, less than working hours per week, according to regular hours of employment for office workers in italy. in our population, working at home resulted in relevant productivity changes (a decrease in . % and an increase in . % of participants). these data are in contradiction with results publicized by flexjobs' th annual survey, where about % of workers assessed their productivity as higher at home than in a traditional office [ ] . the reduction of productivity in our study could be explained by the presence of distractions in the domestic environment and impaired interaction with colleagues, whereas in participants reporting increasing productivity, a main role may be played by reduced stress and/or commuting time. in our population, about half of the participants did not report any variation in job satisfaction between remote and office work. this finding might likely be due to unchanged job type and amount during the home working period. our data are consistent with that of other studies [ , ] demonstrating a negative correlation between job satisfaction and the increased amount of home working. forced social isolation coupled with a marked reduction in physical activity could negatively impact both physical and mental health [ ] [ ] [ ] . therefore, remote working seems to also be associated with an increased risk of mental and physical health issues. regarding occupational stress, no significant change occurred in mobile workers, considering that . % of participants declared a reduced stress level since they work remotely, . % reported an unchanged level, and one-third of subjects experienced increased stress. on the contrary, in the research conducted by the international labour organization and eurofound, about % of home workers declared that they felt stressed compared with % of their colleagues who work in the office [ ] . the stress reduction reported in our study could be due to saved travel time to go to the office, higher time flexibility, and better family life. concerning physical health issues related to remote working, increased sedentariness and poor posture due to the use of non-ergonomic equipment in our population seemed to promote the onset of msk disorders, particularly lbp and neck pain. this finding is not surprising, considering that spine pain is one of the most frequent health problems in the working-age population worldwide. according to a recent study, the prevalence and incidence of lbp ranged from . % to % and from . % to %, respectively, in workers [ ] . the overall mean prevalence of neck pain in the general population is . % [ ] , with a higher incidence in office and computer workers [ ] . italian estimated lifetime prevalence is % for lbp and % for neck pain [ ] . literature offers controversial evidence about the relationship between lbp and sedentary jobs. it has been argued that the risk of lbp seems to increase when office workers stay seated for more than h per day. however, no significant association between sitting itself and the risk of lbp has been demonstrated [ ] . this finding could be explained by the multifactorial nature of lbp [ ] . the incidence of this condition is significantly associated with anthropometric, ergonomic, and psychosocial factors, in particular age, gender, body mass index, body distance from computer screen, adjustable back support, body position while sitting, job satisfaction, and repetitive work [ ] . as stated by burdorf et al., a sustained sedentary job in a forced non-neutral trunk posture is a risk factor for lbp [ ] . due to low-grade activation of lumbar muscles while sitting, the load is conducted by passive structures such as ligaments and intervertebral discs. because of the viscoelasticity of these structures and deactivation of lumbar muscles, the lumbar spine may be predisposed to deconditioning and lbp [ ] . similarly, while an association between the increased use of computers and work-related neck pain has been observed, it is unclear whether this is a causal relationship, considering the complex etiology of neck pain that comprises physical, psychological, and environmental factors [ ] . office workers with neck pain usually show limited range of motion of the cervical spine and enhanced activity of the cervical flexors and cervical extensors muscles [ ] , which might prolong neck pain. a comfortable workplace may help in preventing msk disorders. some experts recommend [ ] that the worktable and chair must be adjustable in height so that the feet are supported to be always well placed on the ground. in the absence of a height-adjustable chair, the use of a footrest is recommended. moreover, the monitor must be at the appropriate eye level so as not to force a persistent head tilt. in our study, we found that most of the participants used a common kitchen chair, not adjustable in height, and nobody used a footrest during working hours. therefore, these factors may contribute to lbp, although no relevant changes in the onset and/or worsening of this condition were reported in our population. on the other side, both frequency ( . %) and worsening ( %) of neck pain were stepped up in workers who used laptops without any height-adjustable support. however, pain intensity and interference with adl (bpi scores) seemed to be negligible in home workers with lbp or neck pain. furthermore, the work component of fabq in people reporting low back and neck pain was mild. these data testify that remote working seems to not significantly affect spine pain, probably because subjects were practicing this job type since about months, a too brief period to produce the putative adverse effects of prolonged use of non-ergonomic equipment. according to a national survey [ ] , lbp and neck pain got worse during the lockdown, and % of individuals attributed this worsening to home working. our results are consistent with these data only for neck pain, while the participants have not declared a worsening of lbp during home working period. furthermore, participants with pain were less satisfied with working at home. however, . % of participants expressed the wish to continue remote working in the future, at least occasionally. the first limitation of our study is the small sample size, which can lead to unpersuasive findings. second, our results refer to italian workers from the campania region, so they may be not generalizable across different regions or countries. third, the cross-sectional design is not able to establish a cause-effect relationship because exposure and outcome are simultaneously assessed. finally, productivity, satisfaction, and msk issues in workers often have a variety of simultaneous influences that need to be accounted for. in the face of increasing use of home working, we did not find an adequate home environment, with a higher risk for health issues, particularly affecting the spine. our study suggests solutions for adapting the home environment, such as adjustable seating and worktable, which in our opinion can significantly reduce risks for health. this would lead to better productivity, lower costs, and enhanced job satisfaction. our results show reduced remote workers' perception about productivity. effective organization of the working day at home may improve job performance. it could be nice to make a list of daily goals, to create a space specifically reserved for work, and to reduce sources of distraction (i.e., by family members). in our perspective, management strategies should be provided to enhance productivity, particularly by adapting the home environment to allow comfortable working posture (height-adjustable chairs, tables, and monitors). these adjustments might lead to improving overall health and job performance. the covid- outbreak and social distancing have radically changed the work organization. current research investigated the impact of mobile working on work-related outcomes, mental health, and msk issues. in this survey, we have investigated for the first time how remote workers set up their home workplace and the impact of existing equipment on lbp and neck pain. in our study, home workers perceived themselves to be less productive, less stressed, and equally satisfied compared to their office working period. remote workers appreciated particularly saved travel time to go to work and were not pleased to be isolated from colleagues. the use of non-ergonomic equipment (conventional four-leg kitchen chair not adjustable in height, not height-adjustable monitor, the absence of a footstool) may increase msk disorders. most participants complained of worsening of neck pain, but no exacerbation of lbp was reported, probably due to the short duration of the study. moreover, our results suggest that msk disorders related to remote working might reduce job satisfaction. data provided by this survey would be useful to improve the home working environment and time organization in order to promote the mental and physical health of remote workers. further studies with a greater sample size are needed to examine, in a longer time span, the risks for msk well-being and the health-related burden of home working. funding: the authors would like to acknowledge the vanvitelli per la ricerca (valere) program for the allocation of funding that aims to publish university of campania "luigi vanvitelli" research products. the authors declare no conflict of interest regarding this study. eurofound and the international labour office. working anytime, anywhere: the effects on the 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implications of smart working for management and workers' mental health real-world incidence and prevalence of low back pain using routinely collected data global, regional, and national burden of neck pain in the general population the epidemiology of neck pain social cost of chronic pain in italy low back pain and its relationship with sitting behaviour among sedentary office workers simulation of multifactorial causes of low back pain prevalence of low back pain in greek public office workers occupational risk factors for low back pain among sedentary workers lumbar posture and muscular activity while sitting during office work perceived muscular tension, job strain, physical exposure, and associations with neck pain among vdu users; a prospective cohort study neck movement and muscle activity characteristics in female office workers with neck pain your how-to guide. mayo foundation for medical education and research il mal di schiena è stato il disturbo più diffuso durante il lockdown, ne ha sofferto italiano su federchimica assosalute-associazione nazionale farmaci di automedicazione this article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the creative commons attribution (cc by) license key: cord- - k b u authors: rudolph, cort w.; rauvola, rachel s.; costanza, david p.; zacher, hannes title: generations and generational differences: debunking myths in organizational science and practice and paving new paths forward date: - - journal: j bus psychol doi: . /s - - - sha: doc_id: cord_uid: k b u talk about generations is everywhere and particularly so in organizational science and practice. recognizing and exploring the ubiquity of generations is important, especially because evidence for their existence is, at best, scant. in this article, we aim to achieve two goals that are targeted at answering the broad question: “what accounts for the ubiquity of generations despite a lack of evidence for their existence and impact?” first, we explore and “bust” ten common myths about the science and practice of generations and generational differences. second, with these debunked myths as a backdrop, we focus on two alternative and complementary frameworks—the social constructionist perspective and the lifespan development perspective—with promise for changing the way we think about age, aging, and generations at work. we argue that the social constructionist perspective offers important opportunities for understanding the persistence and pervasiveness of generations and that, as an alternative to studying generations, the lifespan perspective represents a better model for understanding how age operates and development unfolds at work. overall, we urge stakeholders in organizational science and practice (e.g., students, researchers, consultants, managers) to adopt more nuanced perspectives grounded in these models, rather than a generational perspective, to understand the influence of age and aging at work. people commonly talk about generations and like to make distinctions between them. purported differences between generations have been blamed for everything from declining interest in baseball (keeley, ) to changing patterns of processed cheese consumption (mulvany & patton, ) . in the workplace, generations and generational differences have been credited for everything from declining levels of work ethic (e.g., cenkus, ; cf. zabel, biermeier-hanson, baltes, early, & shepard, ) , to higher rates of "job-hopping" (e.g., adkins, ; cf. costanza, badger, fraser, severt, & gade, ) . despite their ubiquity, a consensus is coalescing across multiple literatures that suggests that all the attention garnered by generations and generational differences (e.g., lyons & kuron, ; twenge, ) has been "much ado about nothing" (see rudolph, rauvola, & zacher, ; rudolph & zacher, ) . that is to say, the theoretical assumptions upon which generational research is based have been questioned and there is little empirical evidence that generations exist, that people can be reliably classified into generational groups, and, importantly, that there are demonstrable differences between such groups that manifest and affect various work-related processes (heyns, eldermire, & howard, ; jauregui, watsjold, welsh, ilgen, & robins, ; okros, ; stassen, anseel, & levecque, ) . indeed, a recent consensus study published by the national academies of sciences, engineering, and medicine (nasem) concluded that "categorizing workers with generational labels like 'baby boomer' or 'millennial' to define their needs and behaviors is not supported by research, and cannot adequately inform workforce management decisions…" (nasem, a; see also nasem, b) . of equal importance to the theoretical limitations, common research methodologies used to study generations cannot unambiguously identify the unique effects of generations from other time-bound sources of variation (i.e., chronological age and contemporaneous period effects). given all of this, some have argued that there has never actually been a study of generations , and thus, the entire body of empirical evidence regarding generations is, to a large extent, wrong. still, it is easy to find examples of empirical research that claim to find evidence in favor of generational differences (e.g., dries, pepermans, & de kerpel, ; twenge, ; see costanza et al., , for a review) and theoretical advancements that aim to direct such empirical inquiries (e.g., dencker, joshi, & martocchio, ) . moreover, some see generations as a useful heuristic in the process of social sensemaking: generations are recognized as social constructions, which help give meaning to the complexities and intricacies of aging and human development in the context of changing societies (e.g., campbell, twenge, & campbell, ; lyons, urick, kuron, & schweitzer, ) . considering all of this, we are faced with a variety of competing and contradictory issues when trying to sort out what bearing, if any, generations have on organizational science and practice. on the one hand, evidence for the existence of generations and generational differences is limited. on the other hand, the idea of generations is pervasive and is used to explain myriad patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving that we observe day-to-day, especially in the workplace. thus, there exists a tension between what science "says" about generations and what people "do" with the idea of generations. given this, the continued popularity of generations as a means of understanding work-related processes is worthy of closer investigation. this popularity begs the question, "what accounts for the ubiquity of generations, despite a lack of evidence for their existence and impact?" this manuscript explores two answers to this question. one answer to this question is a lack of knowledge about what the science of generations tells us, leading to misunderstandings of the evidence about generations, their existence, and their purported impact. thus, the first goal of this article will be to review and debunk ten common myths about generations and generational differences at work and beyond. a second answer to this question is a lack of knowledge regarding, and exposure to, alternative theoretical explanations for understanding (a) the role of age and aging at work and (b) the persistence of generations as a tool for social sensemaking. more specifically, we argue that, owing to a lack of knowledge about alternative explanations and supported by their ubiquity and popular acceptance (e.g., in the popular business and management press; see howe & strauss, ; knight, ; shaw, ) , generations are more often than not the "default" mode of explanation for complex age-related phenomena observed in the workplace and beyond (e.g., because they are familiar and comfortable explanations, which are easy to adopt, and seem legitimate on their face). accordingly, the second goal of this paper is to further advance two alternative models for understanding age and aging at work that do not rely on generational explanations and that can explain their existence and popularity-the social constructionist perspective and the lifespan development perspective. this is an important contribution, because simply pointing out the obvious pitfalls of generations and generational explanations can only go so far toward changing the way that people think about, talk about, study, and enact practices that involve generations. just advising people to drop the idea of generations without providing alternative models would be counterproductive to the goal of enhancing the credibility of organizational science and practice. thus, our hope is that by providing workable alternatives to generations, researchers and practitioners will be encouraged to think more carefully about the role of age and the process of aging when enacting the work that they do. the social constructionist perspective offers that generations and differences between them are constructed through both the ubiquity of generational stereotypes and the socially accepted nature of applying such labels to describe people of different ages (e.g., consider the recent "ok boomer" meme; hirsch, ) . the social constructionist perspective helps address and explain the question of why generations are so ubiquitous. complementing this, the lifespan perspective is a well-established alternative to thinking about the process of aging and development that does not require one to think in terms of generations. the lifespan perspective frames human development as a lifelong process which is affected by various influences-not including generations-that predict developmental outcomes. despite its longstanding role in research on aging at work (e.g., baltes, rudolph, & zacher, ) , the lifespan perspective has been infrequently considered as an alternative model to generations, perhaps because it has not often been treated in accessible terms. these complementary approaches-the social constructionist and the lifespan development perspective-offer alternative paths forward for studying age and age-related processes at work that do not require a reliance on generational explanations. thus, as described further below, these perspectives by-and-large circumvent the logical and methodological deficiencies of the generations perspective. they also offer actionable theoretical and practical guidance for identifying the complexities involved in understanding age and aging at work. first, we outline and "bust" ten myths about generations and generational differences (see table for a summary). these myths were chosen in particular, because we deemed them to be the most pressing for research and practice in the organizational sciences, broadly defined, in that they reflect commonly highlighted topics, and bear potential risks if not properly addressed. then, we introduce and outline the core tenets of the social constructionist and lifespan development perspectives, giving examples of how their applications can complement each other in supplanting generational explanations in both science and practice. finally, we conclude by drawing lines of integration between these two perspectives, in the hopes that these alternative ways of thinking will inspire myth # : generational "theory" was meant to be tested -the sociological concept of "generations" has been re-characterized and misappropriated over time. -generational "theory" is not falsifiable, nor was it intended to be. -culture, and the generational groups it forms and is formed by, cannot be disentangled. myth # : generational explanations are obvious -the mechanisms by which generations emerge are oversimplified in the literature. -explanations for social phenomena are more likely associated with other time-based sources of variation than generations. -sources of time-based variability are often conflated and confused with one another in popular discourse and in research. myth # : generational labels and associated age ranges are agreed upon -the specific birth year ranges that define each generational grouping vary substantially. -there are notable differences in the ways researchers address cross-cultural variability in generational research. -inconsistencies in labeling have significant conceptual and computational implications for the study and understanding of generations. myth # : generations are easy to study -the conceptualization of generations as the intersection of age and period make them impossible to study. -there exists no research design that can disentangle age, period, and cohort effects. -artificially grouping ages into "generations" does nothing to solve the confounding of age, period, and cohort effects. myth # : statistical models can help disentangle generational differences -no statistical model exists that can unambiguously identify generational effects. -as long as age, period, and cohort are defined in time-related terms, they will be inextricably confounded with one another. -this issue has befuddled social scientists for so long that it has been called "a futile quest." myth # : generations need to be managed at work -research generally does not and cannot support the existence of generational differences, so there is nothing to "manage" in this regard. -generations give a convenient "wrapper" to the complexities of age and aging in dynamic environments. -generations are highly deterministic. -it is more rational and defensible to suggest that individuals' age, life stage, social context, and historical period intersect across the lifespan. myth # : studying age at work is the antidote to the problems with studying generations -age and aging research are neither remedies for nor equivalent approaches to the study of generations. -despite its limitations, aging research draws on sound theories, research designs, and statistical modeling approaches. -studying age alone is not a substitute for generational research; rather, it transcends generational approaches and engenders more useful and tenable conclusions for researchers and practitioners alike. myth # : talking about generations is largely benign -talking about generations is far from benign: it promotes the spread of generationalism, which can be considered "modern ageism." -generationalism is defined by sanctioned ambivalence and socially acceptable prejudice toward people of particular ages. -use of generations to inform differential practices and policies in organizations poses great risk to the age inclusivity, and the legal standing, of workplaces. researchers and practitioners to adopt alternatives to thinking about aging at work in generational terms. myth # : generational "theory" was meant to be tested the sheer number of empirical studies purporting to test generational "theory" would suggest that such theory was intended for testing. however, this is far from the case. the concept of generations as we know it stems from early functionalist sociological thought experiments, derived from foundational work by mannheim ( mannheim ( / and others (e.g., ortega y gasset, ; see also kertzer, ) . adopting the term in a largely historical, rather than familial or genealogical, sense, these authors offered "generations" as social units that account for broad societal and cultural change. generations were suggested to emerge through "shared consciousness," which developed across individuals (e.g., those at similar life stages) after common exposure to formative events (e.g., political shifts, war, disaster; see ryder, ). this consciousness, in turn, was theorized to shape unique values, attitudes, and behaviors that characterize a given generation's members, especially to distinguish one generation from its predecessor. these attributes subsequently impact how these individuals interact with and influence society. here, a tautology emerges: culture begets generations and generations beget culture. this is a potentially useful perspective for describing macro-scale interactions between social groups and the social environments in which they live-that is, it is useful as a functionalist sociological mechanism, as the concept of generations was intended. however, this perspective also implies that culture, and the generational groups it forms and is formed by, cannot be disentangled. generational "theory" is not falsifiable, nor was it intended to be. attempts to empirically study generations have extended these ideas into positivist and deterministic practices for which they were not intended. even life course research (e.g., elder, ) , which centers on the impact of social change and forces on individuals' lives as opposed to societal change, does not directly "test" for generational differences, per se. instead, it uses generations conceptually in explicating the roles that historical, biological, and social time play in life trajectories. in fact, mannheim's ( mannheim's ( / work was partly a critique of the overemphasis on absolutist/biological perspectives in the study of social and historical development, including the objective treatment of time (pilcher, ) . this makes it all the more puzzling and problematic that generational "theory" has been applied to discrete quantitative increments (i.e., age and year ranges to define cohorts), and in a fashion that ignores the "non-contemporaneity of the contemporaneous" (i.e., the fact that being alive at the same time, or even being alive and of a similar age at the same time, does not mean history is experienced uniformly; troll, , p. ) . when considering the roots of "generations," it is apparent that the concept has been re-characterized and misappropriated. one appealing, if overstated, quality of generations is that there are unique characteristics that are (assumed to be) associated with various cohorts. moreover, it is assumed that lines can be drawn between generations to distinguish them from one another on the basis of such characteristics. these characteristics, which are said to be influenced by the various events that supposedly give rise to generations in the first place, "make sense" in a way that give generations an air of face validity. for example, it seems very rational and indeed quite self-evident to many that living through the great depression made the silent generation more conservative and risk-avoidant and that helicopter parents and the rise of social media made millennials narcissistic and cynical. these and other observed social phenomena such as job-hopping and materialism are frequently ascribed to generations. however, looking more deeply into the identification of these critical events, as well as the mechanisms by which generations supposedly emerge, reveals a far more complex, nuanced picture than a generational explanation would have us believe. in order to understand why the events that created generations may, or may not, have been impactful, it is important to understand how the critical events purported to give rise to them are identified. as one example, in their popular book, strauss and howe ( ) offer a taxonomy of generations, developed by tracing historical records in search of what they called "age-determined participation in epochal events…" (p. ). to strauss and howe, such events were deemed to be so critical that they contributed to the creation of a unique generation. this post hoc historical demographic approach benefits from the passage of time: it is far easier to identify critical events retrospectively, rather than when they are actually occurring. although major events like economic depressions and wars likely qualify as epochal, dozens of other events have been proposed to be critical in the formation of generations, only to fade into historical oblivion within a matter of a few years. for example, in defining supposedly seminal events in the development of the millennial generation, howe and strauss ( ) cite the case of "baby jessica" (n.b. on october , , -month-old jessica mcclure morales fell into a well in her aunt's backyard in midland, texas. after h, rescue workers eventually freed her from the -in. well casing ft below the ground; helling, ) . why this event should help form a generation is uncertain, as is whether or not millennials were or have been systematically impacted by her saga and subsequent rescue. rather than being obviously generational, explanations for many social phenomena are more likely to be associated with age or period effects, both of which are other time-based sources of variation that are often conflated with generational cohorts. specifically, there are three sources of time-based variation that need to be accounted for to make claims about generations: age, period, and cohort effects (see glenn, glenn, , . age effects refer to variability due to time since birth, in that chronological age is simply an index of "life lived" (e.g., wohlwill, ) . period effects refer to variability due to contemporaneous time and refer to the effects of a specific time and place (i.e., the year ). finally, cohort effects are those that are typically taken as evidence for generations, referring to the year of one's birth. to make claims about generations, therefore, it is necessary to rule out the effect of age (i.e., developmental influences) and period (i.e., contemporaneous contextual influences). there are numerous examples of how these sources of variability are conflated and confused with one another. consider that popular press accounts of millennials have until recently painted them to be dedicated urban dwellers who favored ridesharing services and eschewed traditional families (e.g., barroso, parker, & bennet, ; godfrey, ) . however, adults in this age range have more recently been observed moving to the suburbs, buying houses and cars, and having children (e.g., adamczyk, ) . this is not a generational effect but rather a phenomenon attributable to the fact that millennials are reaching the normative age where people get married, start families, and purchase houses. this is a product of age and context, not generation or period. the picture becomes even more complex given other contextual factors not necessarily bound to time, for example, when considering that the average age of first conception is higher in urban, compared to rural, areas (bui & miller, ) . another example comes from data showing that high school and college students are less likely to hold summer jobs today than years ago (desilver, ) . this is not a generational effect, but rather is attributable to contemporaneous economic conditions. as a final example, after / , there was a modest increase in the number of people enlisting in the united states army, which is an example of a period effect (dao, ) . however, this change has also been misattributed in various ways to a generational effect (e.g., graff, ) . notably, iñ (i.e., when those born in~ turned~ and were eligible to join the army), there were historically low rates of enlistment (goodkind, ) . if this rate had been particularly high, one might conclude evidence for a generational effect, such that people born in grew up in a time and place that demanded enlistment. however, this is not the case-growing up in a post / world did not make this cohort more likely than others to join the army. in summary, whereas certain historical events might be easily identifiable as epochal, the extent to which recent events are defined as such might not be known for some time. moreover, this idea assumes that epochal events actually matter for the formation of distinct generations, a key argument in generations theory that is by-and-large untested, and indeed untestable. moreover, consider that "global" events (i.e., those that affect all members of a population regardless of age, not just those born in a particular time and place, like a global pandemic) almost certainly manifest as period, not generational cohort effects (rudolph & zacher, a . generations and the events that are purported to give rise to them are far from obvious and to attribute current individual characteristics to the occurrence of specific events is misguided. furthermore, many of the "obvious" generational effects often attributed to such events are much more likely due to other factors associated with age and/or period. whereas generational labels are well-known and widely recognized, the specific birth year ranges that define each generational grouping and the consistency with which such groupings are applied across time, studies, and location, vary substantially. for example, smola and sutton ( , p. ) identified a great deal of variation in the start and end years that define different generational groups and the names used to describe various generations, noting "gener-ations…labels and the years those labels represent are often inconsistent" (p. ). in their meta-analysis, costanza et al. ( ) found similar discrepancies with variations in start and end dates ranging from to years depending on the study, the variables of interest, and the source of the generational year ranges being used. similar conclusions were reached by in their review of generations in the leadership literature. beyond these definitional inconsistencies, there are notable differences in the way researchers address cross-cultural variability in generational research. the ubiquity of the labels and their pervasiveness in the literature has led researchers from countries other than the usa to use labels (e.g., "baby boomers") when doing so does not make sense, as the events that supposedly influenced individuals and gave rise to these generations in the first place clearly differ from country to country. moreover, consider that the term "millennials" is not meaningful in countries that use chinese, islamic, jewish, buddhist, sakka, or kolla varsham calendars (deal, altman, & rogelberg, ) and that generations are often labeled based on political or cultural events and epochs. for instance, members of the greek workforce have been categorized into the divided generation, the metapolitefsi generation, and the europeanized generation (papavasileiou, ) . in israel, generations are identified by wars and thus have shorter ranges (deal et al., ) . the german media has variously labeled younger people as generation c , generation golf, or generation merkel. in china, generations are pragmatically called the post- s generation, post- s generation, and so on, whereas in india, the three main generational groups are labeled conservatives, integrators, and y k (srinivasan, ) . one approach researchers have adopted for dealing with the complexities of cross-cultural variation in generational labeling is to ignore the issue and simply use us-based generational labels and years when studying individuals in other countries. for example, yigit and aksay ( ) looked at turkish gen x and gen y health professionals, roughly using us date ranges for these groups. a second approach has been to use the date ranges associated with us generations but assign country-specific labels to those same periods. utilizing this approach, weiss and zhang ( ) picked birth year ranges and adopted or developed generational labels in three different countries. for example, for the years - , they labeled the generations as the " er generation" in germany, "baby boomer" in the usa, and the "new china generation" in china. a third approach has been to develop country-specific generational groups based on local events that impacted people in that county, a strategy used by to and tam ( ) who identified four distinct post-wwii generations in china. inconsistencies in labeling have significant conceptual and computational implications for the study and understanding of generations and especially so if one wishes to conduct comparative cross-national and/or cross-cultural research. importantly, we would argue that the validity of the generations concept and its utility for understanding individual, group, and organizational phenomena is very limited due to a number of factors, including (a) researchers' inability to agree on the start and end dates for different generations; (b) inconsistencies in the classification and labeling systems that characterize them; (c) disagreement on the specific significant influencing events that supposedly gives rise to them, such as the extent to which the timing of events plays a role, including the length of time that is associated with their influence, and the lag required to observe such influences; and (d) the issue of cross-cultural equivalencies. as such, defining generations represents a moving target, which is a significant liability for science and evidence-based practice. although there have been numerous attempts to study generations and generational differences, it is clear that these phenomena have not been studied very well. indeed, it is not only difficult to study generations as they have been framed in the literature but also impossible. as noted above, research on generations is typically based upon birth year ranges, which is to say that they are derived from information about birth cohorts. a common problem emerges when one tries to study cohort effects in cross-sectional (i.e., single time point) research designs, which are the most commonly applied designs used to make inferences about generations (see costanza et al., ) . namely, age, period, and cohort effects are confounded with each other in such designs. this confounding is best understood through an example. let us assume that a hypothetical cross-sectional study is conducted in the year (i.e., the year constitutes the "period effect" in this case). if we reduce the logic of generations a bit and define a cohort effect in terms of a single birth year (e.g., those born in ), then the effect of age (i.e., time since birth; years) is completely confounded with cohort. this is because: in this example, any differences that researchers observe as a function of assumed cohort variability may instead be due to the age of the individuals when they were studied. this pattern would likewise be extrapolated to any age-cohort combinations studied in a single period. the linear dependency among the three effects means that unique effects of age cannot be separated from whatever cohort effect might exist and vice versa. one common attempt to circumvent this confounding is to artificially group members of different cohorts together to form generational groups. however, this practice is likewise fraught with the same issues raised just above. another hypothetical cross-sectional study helps to illustrate why: in this study, let us assume that we want to define two arbitrary groupings of birth cohorts, representing people born between and ("generation a") and those - ("generation b"), to disentangle age and cohort effects from one another. the variability due to birth cohort in each generation is years; however, as in our previous example, the age range within cohorts is likewise years. thus, this approach does little to solve the dependency other than shifting the scaling of age. as the rank order of cohort versus age has not changed (relatively older people are in "generation a" and relatively younger people are in "generation b"), there is still a correlation between age and generational groups in this study. moreover, this approach has other limitations, including the loss of statistical power to detect age effects (see rudolph, ) and a confusing logic of cohort versus age effect interpretations (e.g., the oldest members of "generation a" are closer in age to the youngest members of "generation b" than to the average age of their own generational group). from a research design standpoint, this issue of confounding represents an unresolvable problem, which has long been known and lamented in the literature (e.g., glenn, glenn, , . other research designs are unfortunately no better geared than cross-sectional designs to address this issue, or they do not address variability in cohort effects at all. for example, in typical longitudinal designs, cohort effects are held constant (i.e., from the first time point, people's birth year does not vary) and period is allowed to vary (i.e., as data are collected from the same people across multiple time points). however, in such designs, period effects are conflated with age (i.e., as people "get older" across time). expanded longitudinal approaches, such as cohort sequential designs (e.g., sampling -year-olds at each time point, t − t k , adding successive cohorts of -year-olds at each time point) may be able to separate age/aging from period and cohort effects, depending on how "cohort" is defined. however, such studies require immense resources and time (e.g., + years or more of data collection, including long-term data management and subject retention efforts; see baltes & mayer, ) . as such, and perhaps not surprisingly, we are unaware of any applications of such designs to the study of generations at work. an alternative that has been employed by some researchers (e.g., twenge, konrath, foster, campbell, & bushman, ) is a cross-temporal approach, often employing time-lagged panels or cross-temporal meta-analyses (discussed further below). cross-temporal approaches use data collections from members of different cohort groups, collected during different periods, holding age constant (e.g., data from panels of year-olds and -year-olds collected in , , and or research done on college students every year from to the present). the logic of cross-temporal methods is to compare groups of similarly aged individuals (i.e., to "control" for age by holding its value constant) across time and then argue that cohort effects are more likely the cause of any observed differences than period effects. among other issues, crosstemporal approaches have been criticized for their reliance on ecological correlations (i.e., correlations among variables that represent group means) and design assumptions (see trzesniewski & donnellan, ; trzesniewski, donnellan, & robins, ) raising significant concerns about them as a way to study generations. specifically, ecological correlations can misrepresent relationships when contrasted with correlations among individual observations (see robinson, ) . overall, the methodological and design challenges associated with studying generations are substantial and the conceptualization of generations as the intersection of age and period makes them impossible to study. thus, studying generations is only "easy" to the extent that one is willing to ignore the issues raised here. given these concerns, we echo the recommendations of rudolph and zacher ( ) , who suggest that "…both research and practice would benefit from a moratorium on time-based operationalizations of generations as units for understanding complex dynamics in organizational behavior" (p. ). given the design challenges noted above, it is perhaps not surprising that researchers have tried a variety of statistical techniques to resolve the age, period, and cohort confounding problem. unfortunately, the great majority of generational studies to date have employed the least useful approach to doing so, pairing cross-sectional designs with comparisons of generational cohort means (e.g., typically via linear models, such as t tests or other variants of anova-type models). as noted, cross-sectional approaches control for period effects but confound cohort and age effects with one another and this confounding cannot be resolved statistically through any means. to be clear, this is not a function of a lack of innovation regarding statistical modeling techniques. on the contrary, as long as age, period, and cohort are defined in timerelated terms, they will be inextricably confounded with one another in cross-sectional research designs. with respect to cross-temporal approaches, some researchers have implemented a specific technique referred to as "cross-temporal meta-analysis" (ctma). ctma shares certain features with traditional meta-analysis (e.g., studies assumed to be representative of a population of all possible studies on a given phenomenon are taken from the literature and synthesized). in a typical ctma, age is more or less held constant by narrowing the sampling frame of studies included (e.g., by only considering studies of college age students). by holding age constant and looking at the effects of time on outcomes (i.e., by considering the relationship between year of publication and mean levels of a given phenomenon derived from contributing studies), ctma models change over time in a phenomenon. however, although age is to some extent held constant, recall that cross-temporal methods inherently confound period and cohort effects with one another. thus, any identified cohort effect cannot be unambiguously separated from period effects in ctma. although research employing ctma has argued that generations are more likely than period effects to explain observed differences, such work also recognizes that period effects are equally likely explanations for any results derived therefrom (e.g., twenge & campbell, ) . furthermore, a recent paper by rudolph, costanza, wright, and zacher ( ) used monte carlo simulations to test the underlying assumptions of ctma, finding that it may misestimate cohort effects by a factor of three to eight times, raising questions about both the source and magnitude of any differences identified. a final analytic technique that has been occasionally employed to disentangle age, period, and cohort effects is cross-classified hierarchical linear modeling (cchlm; yang & land, . applying cchlm to generational research, age is treated as a fixed effect and period and cohort are allowed to vary as random effects. importantly, however, decisions about how such effects should be specified are somewhat arbitrary, because it is also possible that cohort and period could be fixed and age random in the population, resulting in different outcomes and conclusions from such models that are largely dependent on analytic decisions rather than reflecting "true" population effects. thus, without generally unknowable insights into "what" to hold constant in estimating such models, cchlm results in ambiguous parameter estimates for age, period, and cohort effects. to this end, a series of simulation studies by bell and colleagues (bell & jones, ; see also bell & jones, , for further commentaries) has shown that the yang and land methodology for separating age, period, and cohort effects simply does not "work." even ignoring this issue, cchlm does little to solve the problem of age, period, and cohort confounding, because the three variables are still linearly dependent upon each other and hence computationally inseparable. something (typically age) has to be held constant in such models to separate these variables from one another, and even then, ambiguities in how to interpret confounded effects of period and cohort still abound. in short, none of the statistical techniques that have been used to study generations can fully separate age, period, and cohort effects (see costanza, darrow, yost, & severt, , for a full discussion) and cannot solve the conceptual or design problems noted earlier. this known issue has befuddled social scientists for quite some time. for example, more than years ago glenn ( ) referred to this problem as "a futile quest." given the proliferation of research and popular press articles identifying generational differences, it is not surprising that practitioners and academics have suggested that people in different generations need to be managed differently at work (e.g., baldonado, ; lindquist, ) . there are two main problems with these recommendations. first, as has been noted, research generally does not and cannot support the existence of generational differences. conceptual, theoretical, methodological, and statistical issues abound in this literature, and absent clear, convincing, and valid evidence for the existence of generational differences, there is no justification for managing individuals based on their supposed generational membership (nasem, a (nasem, , b rudolph & zacher, c) . eschewing the notion of generations does not mean that one must ignore that individuals change over the course of their lifespan or that their needs at different stages in their careers will vary. however, it is important to note that there is not a credible body of evidence to suggest that such changes are generational or that they should be managed as "generational differences" at work. indeed, as already noted, much of what lay people observe as "generational" at work is likely more accurately attributed to either age or career stage effects masquerading as generational differences. there is a broad and well-supported literature on best practices for hr, leadership, and management (e.g., kulik, ) and customizing policies and practices based on those recommendations rather than generational stereotypes makes much more sense. furthermore, there is a burgeoning literature on the positive influence that agetailored policies (e.g., age-inclusive human resource practices that foster employees' knowledge, skills, and abilities, motivation, effort, and opportunities to contribute, irrespective of age) for building positive climates for aging at work and supporting worker productivity and well-being (see böhm, kunze, & bruch, ; rudolph & zacher, d) . for example, research suggests that workers of all ages benefit from flexible work policies that allow for autonomy in choosing the time and place where work is conducted (see rudolph & baltes, ) . second, as alluded to earlier, management strategies that are based on generations have the potential to raise legal risks for organizations. for example, in the usa, provisions of the civil rights act of , the age discrimination in employment act of , and the americans with disabilities act of disallow the mistreatment of individuals from certain groups based on a variety of characteristics. although generational membership is not directly covered by such legislation, under the adea, age is a protected class for workers aged +. given the conflation of generational effects with age, life, and career stage, employment-related decisions tied to generations could be interpreted as prima facie evidence of age-related discrimination (e.g., swinick, ) . indeed, organizations that market themselves to and build personnel practices around generations and generational differences have been implicated in age discrimination lawsuits (e.g., rabin vs. pricewaterhousecoopers, ). combined with the absence of valid studies supporting generationally based differences, organizations open themselves up to an unnecessary liability if they manage individuals based on generational membership (costanza & finkelstein, ; for a related discussion of various policy implications of managing generations, see rudolph, rauvola, costanza, & zacher, ) . recently, costanza, finkelstein, imose, and ravid ( ) reviewed the applied psychology, hr, and management literatures looking for studies about how organizations should manage generations in the workplace. they identified a range of inappropriate inferences and unsupported practical recommendations and systematically refuted them based on legal, conceptual, practical, and theoretical grounds. we echo their conclusion here, regarding advice from managing based on generational membership (p. ): "instead of customizing hr policies and practices based on such [generational] differences, organizations could use information about their overall workforce and its characteristics to train recruiters, develop and refine policies, and offer customizable benefits packages that appeal to a broad range of employees, regardless of generation." that said, we do not think that the idea of generations should be ignored altogether in the development of management strategies. instead, the focus should be shifted away from managing assumed differences between members of different generations and toward managing perceptions of generations and generational differences. considering evidence that people's beliefs and expectations about age and generations feed into the establishment of stereotypes that interfere with work-relevant processes (e.g., king et al., ; perry, hanvongse, & casoinic, ; raymer, reed, spiegel, & purvanova, ; van rossem, ) , this is a particularly important consideration and is, in and of itself, a topic worthy of further study. while it may feel "new" to blame members of younger generations for changes in the work environment, this is a form of uniqueness bias: we think our beliefs and experiences are new, when in reality similar complaints have been levied against relatively younger and older people for millennia. indeed, generationalized beliefs about the inflexibility and "out of touch" nature of older generations, or the laziness, self-centeredness, and entitlement of younger generations, have repeated with remarkable consistency across recorded history (rauvola, rudolph, & zacher, ) . one of the more obvious examples is in referring to generations with self-referent terminology: new york magazine wrote about youth in the so-called "me" decade (wolfe, ) over years prior to twenge's ( ) work on "generation me," time magazine's (stein, ) publication on the "me me me" generation, and even the british army's recent use of the phrase "me me me millennials…your army needs you and your self belief" in recruitment ads (nicholls, ) . lamentations about young people "killing things" are far from radical as well. modern claims are made about youth ending an absurd number of facets of life, ranging from institutions such as marriage and patriotism to household products like napkins, bar soap, and "light" yogurt (bryan, ) . moreover, similar concerns have been voiced throughout the years regarding the rise and fall of consumer preferences, including concerns about young people upending and revolutionizing romantic relationships and transportation (e.g., thompson, ) , or being corrupted by new forms of popular media like the radio in the s (schwartz, ) . a more realistic explanation exists for both shifts in consumer preferences as well as changes and disruptions in the nature of work: the contemporaneous environment, and innovations and unexpected changes therein. to take a recent example, the global covid- pandemic has tremendously impacted and transformed how and where work is conducted (kniffin et al., ; . while "non-essential" workers are conducting more work virtually and with more flexible hours, other workers deemed "essential" are working in environments with new health and safety protocols and often with different demands and resources in place (e.g., with respect to physical equipment, coworker and customer contact). even more workers have been furloughed or laid off altogether, with the need to turn to alternative forms of work to maintain income or, when feasible, resorting to early retirement (see bui, button, & picciotti, ; kanfer, lyndgaard, & tatel, ; van dalen & henkens, ) . these changes have led to a dramatic pivot for many organization, managers, and individual workers, far surpassing the speed and degree to which more gradual, "generational" workplace changes have supposedly occurred. not only this, but such changes have had outcomes for workers and society that contradict what generational hypotheses would predict. for example, generational stereotypes suggest that relatively older workers would struggle with technological changes at work while relatively younger workers would thrive. however, the move to work-from-home arrangements has resulted in positive benefits for some, including helpful and flexible accommodations, or health and safety protections, as well as new challenges for others, such as the need to balance childcare or eldercare with work while at home, while still others face newfound isolation and lack of in-person social support coupled with great uncertainty (alon, doepke, olmstead-rumsey, & tertilt, ; douglas, katikireddi, taulbut, mckee, & mccartney, ) . these changes create a diverse set of advantages and disadvantages for individuals of all ages. rather than blaming those of younger generations for disrupting work and life more generally, societal trends and events are a more appropriate, fitting, and ultimately addressable explanation (i.e., through non-ageist interventions and policies). myth # : generations explain the changing nature of work (and society) generations are an obvious and convenient explanation for the changing nature of work and societies. however, as discussed previously, convenience and breadth in applying generational explanations does not translate into validity. because they can easily and generally be applied to explain age-related differences, generations give a convenient "wrapper" to the complexities of age and aging in dynamic environments (i.e., both within and outside of organizations). however, this wrapper restricts and obscures the complexities inherent to both individuals and the environments in which they operate. generations are highly deterministic, suggesting that individuals "coming of age" at a particular time (i.e., members of the same cohort) all experience aging and development uniformly (i.e., cohort determinism; walker, ) . with so many other demonstrable age-related and person-specific factors (e.g., social identities, personality, socioeconomic status) that have bearing on individuals' attitudes, values, and behaviors, as well as how these interact with contextual and environmental influences, the prospect of generations overriding all such explanations is implausible. assuming otherwise wipes away a tremendous amount of potentially useful detail and heterogeneity. moreover, this perspective stipulates that events in a given time period impact younger people and not older people, such that historical context only influences individuals up to a certain (early) point in their development. this aligns with the idea that identity is "crystallized" or "ratified" at a certain age and development or change is more or less halted thereafter (ryder, ) . however, ample evidence suggests that this is far from the case, with age-graded dynamics in such areas as personality emerging across the breadth of the lifespan (e.g., bianchi, ; donnellan, hill, & roberts, ; staudinger & kunzmann, ) and alongside external forces (e.g., economic recessions). our ability to dismiss crystallization claims is not merely empirical: although current methods and analyses used cannot fully disentangle age from cohort, lifespan development theory promotes the ideas of lifelong development, multiple intervening life influences, and individuals' agency in shaping their identity and context (e.g., baltes, ) . accordingly, it is more rational and defensible to suggest that individuals' age, life stage, social context, and historical period intersect across the lifespan. these intersections, in turn, produce predictable as well as unique effects that translate into different attitudes, values, and behaviors, but not as a passive and predetermined function of an individual's generation. myth # : studying age at work is the antidote to the problems with studying generations age and aging research are neither remedies for nor equivalent approaches to the study of generations. first, there are a broad range of phenomena encompassed in both research on "age at work" and "aging at work" (e.g., see discussion of "successful aging" research components in zacher, a). these two areas are related but distinct, spanning the study of age as a discrete or sample-relative sociodemographic (i.e., age as a descriptive device, especially between person), age as a compositional unit property (e.g., age diversity in a team, organization), and age as a proxy for continuous processes and development over time (i.e., age representing the passage of time, especially within-person in longitudinal research). each of these forms has a multitude of potential contributions to our understanding of the workplace, and these contributions should not (and cannot) be reduced to generational cohortbased generalizations. second, and as noted earlier, although aging research is confounded by cohort effects, it draws on sound theories, research designs, and statistical modeling approaches (bohlmann, rudolph & zacher, ) . the study of generations at work, however, relies upon theories unintended for formal testing and flawed data collection methods and analyses (costanza et al., ) . moreover, whereas both age and aging research treat time continuously, generational research groups people into cohort categories. this results in a loss of important nuance and information about individuals, with results prone to either over-or underestimated age effects. the practice of cohort grouping also creates a "levels" issue in generational research to which age and aging research are not subject: studying aging focuses on the individual level of analysis, whereas (sociological) generational research "groups" individuals into aggregates and then incorrectly draws inferences about individual outcomes. this mismatch of levels can produce ecological or atomistic fallacies (i.e., assumptions that group-level phenomena apply to the individual level and vice versa), depending on whether group-or individual-level data are used to draw conclusions (rudolph & zacher, ) . thus, although age and aging research present robust opportunities for understanding how to support the agediverse workforce, generational research provides incomplete conclusions about, and unclear implications for, understanding trends in the workplace. studying age alone is not a substitute for generational research; rather, it transcends generational approaches and engenders more useful and tenable conclusions for researchers and practitioners alike. talking about generations is far from benign: it promotes the spread of generationalism, which can be considered "modern ageism." just as "modern racism" is characterized by more subtle and implicit, yet no less discriminatory or troubling, racist beliefs about black, indigenous, and people of color (bipoc; e.g., mcconahay, hardee, & batts, ) , generationalism is defined by sanctioned ambivalence and socially acceptable prejudice toward people of particular ages. these beliefs are normalized and pervasive, reiterated across various forms of popular media and culture to the point that they seem innocuous. however, generationalism leads to decisions at a variety of levels (e.g., individual, organizational, institutional) that are harmful, divisive, and potentially illegal. media outlets play a large role in societal tolerance and acceptance of generationalism (rauvola et al., ) . new "generations" are frequently proposed in light of current events, and age stereotyping becomes further trivialized with each iteration. adding to this, an abundance of generational labels "stick" while others do not-"igen," "generation wii," "generation z," and "zoomers" all vie to define the "post-millennial" generation (raphelson, ) , and "generation alpha" (a name inspired in part by naming conventions during the hurricane season; mccrindle & wolfinger, ) now faces competition from "gen c" to define the next generation. "gen c" (or "generation corona;" see rudolph & zacher, a has gained traction in the media alongside the recent covid- pandemic, with some suggesting that "coronavirus has the potential to create a generation of socially awkward, insecure, unemployed young people" (patel, ) . these labels differ markedly by country as well, as noted earlier, adding to the trivialization and confusion. more and more, these labels are also used to add levity, and/ or to avoid blatant ageism, to deep-seated sociopolitical divides and conflicts portrayed in the media. take, for example, the rise of "ok boomer" alongside resentment toward conservatism (romano, ) , or the labeling of the "karen generation" to encapsulate white privilege and entitlement, especially among middle-to upper-class suburban women (strapagiel, ) . although often treated as harmless banter, this lexicon filters into influential research and policy-based organizations (e.g., "gen c" in the lancet, ), legitimizing the use of generational labels and associated age stereotypes in discourse and decision-making. as suggested above, in many countries, age is a protected class and the use of generations to inform differential practices and policies in organizations (e.g., hiring, development and training, benefits) poses great risk to the age inclusivity, and the legal standing, of workplaces (see also costanza et al., ) . whether a generational label is new and catchy or accepted and seemingly mundane, it is built on the back of modern ageism, and generationalism-just like other "isms"-is far from benign. with the preceding ten myths serving as a backdrop, we next introduce two models-the social constructionist perspective and the lifespan development perspective-that serve as alternative and complementary ways of thinking about, and understanding thinking about, generations and generational differences. indeed, we propose that these are complementary models. specifically, whereas the social constructionist perspective serves as a way of understanding why people tend to think about age and aging in generational terms, the lifespan development perspective serves as an alternative to thinking about age and aging in generational terms. considering the ten myths reviewed above, it is clear that the evidence for the existence of generations and generational differences is lacking. moreover, when applying a critical lens, what little evidence does exist does not hold up to theoretical and empirical scrutiny. what, then, are we left to do with the idea of generations? that is to say, how can we rationalize the continued emphasis that is placed on generations in research and practice despite the lack of a solid evidence base upon which these ideas rest? on the surface, this may seem to be a conceptually, rather than a practically, relevant question. however, there is a booming industry of advisors, gurus, and entire management consulting firms based around the idea of generations (e.g., hughes, ) . in whatever form it takes, generationally based practice is built upon the rather shaky foundations of this science, putting organizations and their constituents at risk-not only of wasted money, resources, and time, but of propagating misplaced ideas based on a weak, arguably non-existent evidence base . as the organizational sciences move toward the ideals of evidence-based practice, generations and assumed differences between them are quickly becoming yet another example of a discredited management fad (see abrahamson, abrahamson, , røvik, ) . borrowed from sociological theoretical traditions, the social constructionist perspective focuses on understanding the nature of various shared assumptions that people hold about reality, through understanding the ways in which meanings develop in coordination with others, and how such meanings are attached to various lived experiences, social structures, and entities (see leeds-hurwitz, )-including generations. comprehensive treatments of the core ideas and tenets of the sociological notion of social constructionism can be found in burr ( ) and lock and strong ( ) . the social constructionist perspective on generations, which is based upon the idea that generations exist as social constructions, has been advanced as a means of understanding why people often think about age and aging in discrete generational, rather than continuous, terms (e.g., rudolph & zacher, ; see also lyons & kuron, ; lyons & schweitzer, ; weiss & perry, ) . the social constructionist perspective has utility as a model for understanding various processes that give rise to generations and for understanding the ubiquity and persistence of generations and generationally based explanations for human behavior. in an early conceptualization of this perspective, zacher and rudolph ( ) proposed that two processes reinforce each other to support the social construction of generations. specifically, ( ) the ubiquity and knowledge of generational stereotypes drive ( ) the process of generational stereotyping, which is by-and-large socially sanctioned. these two processes fuel the social construction of generational differences, which have bearing on a variety of work-related processes, not least of which is the development of "generationalized" expectations for work specific attitudes, values, and behaviors. such generationalized expectations set the stage for various forms of intergenerational conflicts and discrimination (i.e., generationalism; rauvola et al., ) at work. the social constructionist perspective on generations is grounded in three core principles: ( ) generations are social constructs that are "willed into being"; ( ) as social constructs, generations exist because they serve a sensemaking function; and ( ) the existence and persistence of generations can be explained by various processes of social construction. the social constructionist perspective is gaining traction as a viable alternative to rather rigid, deterministic approaches of conceptualizing and studying generations, even among otherwise staunch proponents of these ideas. for example, campbell et al. ( ) offer that "…generations might be best conceptualized as fuzzy social constructs" (p. ) and lyons et al. ( ) echo similar sentiments about the role and function of generations. to further clarify this perspective, we next expand upon these three core ideas that are advanced by the social constructionist perspective, providing more details and examples of each, and offering supporting evidence from research and theory. first, the social constructionist perspective advances the idea that generations and generational differences do not exist objectively (see berger & luckman, , for a classic treatment of this idea of the "socially constructed" nature of reality). rather, generations are "willed into being" as a way of giving meaning to the complex, multicausal, multidirectional, and multidimensional process of human development that we observe on a day-to-day basis, especially against the backdrop of rapidly changing societies. adopting a social constructionist framework motivates an understanding of the various ways in which groups of individuals actively participate in the construction of social reality, including how socially constructed phenomena develop and become known to others, and how they are institutionalized with various norms and traditions. to say that generations are "social constructs," or that generations reflect a process of "social construction," implies that our understanding of their meanings (e.g., the "notion" of generations; the specific connotations of implying one generation versus another) exists as an artifact of a shared understanding of "what" generations "are," and that this is accepted and agreed upon by members of a society. moreover, and to the second core principle, the social constructionist perspective suggests that generations serve as a powerful, albeit flawed, tool for social sensemaking. generations provide a heuristic framework that greatly simplify people's ability to quickly and efficiently make judgments in social situations, at the risk of doing so inaccurately. in other words, generations offer an easy, yet overgeneralized, way to give meaning to observations and perceptions of complex age-related differences that we witness via social interactions. this idea is borrowed from social psychological perspectives on the development, formation, and utility of stereotypes. when faced with uncertainty, humans have a natural tendency to seek out explanations of behavior (i.e., their own, but also others'; see kramer, ) . this process reflects an inherent need to makes sense of one's world through a process of sensemaking. an efficient, albeit often flawed, strategy to facilitate sensemaking is the construction and adoption of stereotypes (hogg, ) . stereotypes are understood in terms of cognitive-attitudinal structures that represent overgeneralizations of others-in the form of broadly applied beliefs about attitudes, ways of thinking, behavioral tendencies, values, beliefs, et cetera (hilton & von hippel, ) . applying these ideas, the adoption of generations, and the accompanying prescriptions that clearly lay out how members of such generations ought to think and behave, helps people to make sense of why relatively older versus younger people "are the way that they are." additionally, generational stereotypes can be enacted as an external sensemaking tool, as described, but also for internal sensemaking (i.e., making sense of one's own behavior). indeed, there is emerging evidence that people internalize various generational stereotypes and that they enact them in accordance with behavioral expectations (i.e., a so-called pygmalion effect, see eschleman, king, mast, ornellas, & hunter, ) . third, the social constructionist perspective offers that generations are constructed and supported through different mechanisms. the construction of generations can take various forms, for example, in media accounts of "new" generations that form as a result of major events (e.g., pandemics; rudolph & zacher, a , political epochs (e.g., "generation merkel" mailliet & saltz, ; "generation obama," thompson, ) , economic instability (e.g., "generation recession," sharf, ) , and even rather benign phenomena, such as growing up in a particular time and place (e.g., "generation golf," illies, ) . a major source of generational construction can be traced to various "think tank"-type groups that purport to study generations. from time to time, such groups proclaim the end of one generation and the emergence of new generational groups (e.g., dimock, ) . these organizations legitimize the idea of generations in that they are often otherwise trusted and respected sources of information and their messaging conveys an associated air of scientific rigor. relatedly, authors of popular press books likewise tout the emergence of new generations. for example, twenge has identified "igen" (twenge, ) as the group that follows "generation me" (twenge, ) , although neither label has found widespread acceptance outside of these two texts. importantly, all generational labels, including these, exist only in a descriptive sense, and it is not always clear if the emergence of the generation precedes their label, or vice versa. for example, consider that twenge has suggested that the term "igen" was inspired by taking a drive through silicon valley, during which she concluded that "…igen would be a great name for a generation…" (twenge, as quoted in horovitz, ) , a coining mechanism far from mannheim's original conceptualization of what constitutes a generation. the contemporary practice of naming new generations has its own fascinating history (see raphelson, ) . indeed, the social constructionist perspective recognizes that the idea of generations is not a contemporary phenomenon; there is a remarkable historical periodicity or "cycle" to their formation and to the narratives that emerge to describe members of older versus younger generations. as discussed earlier, members of older generations have tended to pan members of younger generations for being brash, egocentric, and lazy throughout history, whereas members of younger generations disparage members of older generations for being out of touch, rigid, and resource-draining (e.g., protzko & schooler, ; rauvola et al., ) . likewise, the social constructionist perspective underlines that generations are supported through both the ubiquity of generational stereotypes and the socially accepted nature of applying such labels to describe people of different ages. in summary, the social constructionist perspective offers a number of explanations for the continued existence of generations, especially in light of evidence which speaks to the contrary. specifically, by recognizing that generations exist as social constructions, this perspective helps to clarify the continued emphasis that is placed on generations in research and practice, despite the lack of evidence that support their objective existence. moreover, the social constructionist perspective offers a framework for guiding research into various processes that give rise to the construction of generations and for understanding the ubiquity and persistence of generations and generationally based explanations for human behavior. next, we shift our attention to a complementary framework-the lifespan perspective-which likewise supports alternative theorizing about the role of age and the process of aging at work that does not require the adoption of generations and generational thinking. then, we will focus on drawing lines of integration between these two perspectives. the lifespan development perspective is a meta-theoretical framework with a rich history of being applied for understanding age-related differences and changes in the work context (baltes et al., ; baltes & dickson, ; rudolph, ) . more recently, the lifespan perspective has also been advanced as an alternative to generational explanations for work-related experiences and behaviors (see rudolph & zacher, ; zacher, b) . contrary to generational thinking and traditional life stage models of human development (e.g., erikson, ; levinson, darrow, klein, levinson, & mckee, ) , the lifespan perspective focuses on continuous developmental trajectories in multiple domains (baltes, lindenberger, & staudinger, ) . for instance, over time, an individual's abilities may increase (i.e., "gains," such as accumulated job knowledge), remain stable, or decrease (i.e., "losses," such as reduced psychomotor abilities). baltes ( ) outlined seven organizing tenets to guide thinking about individual development (ontogenesis) from a lifespan perspective. specifically, human development is ( ) a lifelong process that involves ( ) stability or multidirectional changes, as well as ( ) both gains and losses in experience and functioning. moreover, development is ( ) modifiable at any point in life (i.e., plasticity); ( ) socially, culturally, and historically embedded (i.e., contextualism); and ( ) determined by normative age-and history-graded influences and nonnormative influences. regarding the final tenet, normative age-graded influences include person and contextual determinants that most people encounter as they age (e.g., decline in physical strength, retirement), normative history-graded influences include person and contextual determinants that most people living during a certain historical period and place experience (e.g., malnutrition, recessions), and non-normative influences include determinants that are idiosyncratic and less "standard" to the aging process (e.g., accidents, natural disasters). finally, baltes ( ) argued that ( ) understanding lifespan development requires a multidisciplinary (i.e., one that goes beyond psychological science) approach. in summary, the lifespan perspective recognizes that individuals' development is continuous, malleable, and jointly influenced by both normative and non-normative internal (i.e., those that are genetically determined; specific decisions and behaviors that one engages in) and external factors (i.e., the sociocultural and historical context). a generational researcher may ask research questions like (a) "how does generational membership influence employee attitudes, values, and behaviors?" or (b) "what differences exist between members of different generations in terms of their work attitudes, values, or behaviors?" then, likely based on the results of a cross-sectional research design that collects information on age or birth year and work-related outcomes, a generational researcher would likely categorize employees into two or more generational groups and take mean-level differences in outcomes between these groups as evidence for the existence of generations and differences between them. contrary to this, a lifespan researcher would be more apt to ask research questions like (a) "are there age-related differences or changes in work attitudes, values, and behaviors?" or (b) "what factors serve to differentially modify employees' continuous developmental trajectories?" they would seek out cross-sectional or longitudinal evidence for age-related differences or changes in attitudes, values, and behaviors, as well as evidence for multiple, co-occurring factors, including person characteristics (e.g., abilities, personality), idiosyncratic factors (e.g., job loss, health problems), and contextual factors (e.g., economic factors, organizational climate) that may predict these differences or changes. the lifespan perspective generally does not operate with the generations concept, but does distinguish between chronological age, birth cohort, and contemporaneous period effects. as described earlier, generational groups are inevitably linked to group members' chronological ages, as they are based on a range of adjacent birth years and typically examined at one point in time. accordingly, tests of generational differences involve comparisons between two or more age groups (e.g., younger vs. older employees). in contrast to tenets # , # , and # of the lifespan perspective, generational thinking is static in that differences between generations are assumed to be stable over time. the possibility that members of younger generations may change with increasing age, or whether members of older generations have always shown certain attitudes, values, and behavior, are rarely investigated. moreover, generational thinking typically adopts a simplistic view of differences between generational groups (e.g., "generation a" has a lower work ethic than "generation b") as compared to the more nuanced lifespan perspective with its focus on stability or multidirectional changes, as well as the joint occurrence of both gains and losses across time. with regard to the lifespan perspective's tenet # (i.e., plasticity), generational researchers tend to treat generational groups as immutable (i.e., as they are a function of one's birth year) and their influences as deterministic (i.e., all members of a certain generation are expected to think and act in a certain way; so-called cohort determinism). in contrast, the lifespan perspective recognizes that there is plasticity, or within-person modifiability, in individual development at any age. changes to the developmental trajectory for a given outcome can be caused by person factors (e.g., knowledge gained by longterm practice), contextual factors (e.g., organizational change), or both. for instance, lifespan researchers assume that humans enact agency over their environment and the course of their development. development is not only a product of the context in which it takes place (e.g., culture, historical period) but also a product of individuals' decisions and actions. this notion underlies the principle of developmental contextualism (lerner & busch-rossnagel, ) , embodied within the idea that humans are both the products and the producers of their own developmental course. research on generations and intergenerational exchanges originated and still is considered an important topic in the field of sociology (mayer, ) , which emphasizes the role of the social, institutional, cultural, and historical contexts for human development (settersten, ; tomlinson, baird, berg, & cooper, ) . in contrast, the lifespan perspective, which originated in the field of psychology, places a stronger focus on individual differences and within-person variability. nevertheless, the lifespan perspective's tenet # (i.e., contextualism) suggests that individual development is not only influenced by biological factors but also embedded within the broader sociocultural and historical context. this context includes the historical period, economic conditions, as well as education and medical systems in which development unfolds. even critics have acknowledged that these external factors are rather well-integrated within the lifespan perspective (dannefer, ) . that said, most empirical lifespan research has not distinguished between birth cohort and contemporaneous period effects. for example, studies in the lifespan tradition have suggested that there are birth cohort effects on cognitive abilities and personality characteristics (elder & liker, ; gerstorf, ram, hoppmann, willis, & schaie, ; nesselroade & baltes, ; schaie, ) . possible explanations for these effects may be improvements in education, health and medical care, and the increasing complexity of work and home environments (baltes, ). an important difference to generational research is that these analyses focus on individual development and outcomes and not on group-based differences. in contrast to research in the field of sociology, the lifespan perspective generally does not make use of the generations concept and associated generational labels. instead, in addition to people's age, lifespan research sometimes focuses on birth year cohorts (baltes, ) . however, the lifespan perspective does not assume that all individuals born in the same birth year automatically share certain life experiences or have similar perceptions of historical events (kosloski, ) . according to baltes, cornelius, and nesselroade ( ) , researchers interested in basic developmental processes (e.g., child developmental psychologists) that were established during humans' genetic and cultural evolution may treat potential cohort effects as error or as transitory, historical irregularities. in contrast, other researchers (e.g., social psychologists, sociologists) may focus less on developmental regularities and treat cohort effects as systematic differences in the levels of an outcome, with or without explicitly proposing a substantive theoretical mechanism or process variable that explains these cohort differences (e.g., poverty, access to high-quality education). empirical research on generations is typically vague with regard to concrete theoretical mechanisms of assumed generational differences (i.e., beyond the notion of "shared life events and experiences," such as the vietnam war, / , or the covid- pandemic) and typically does not operationalize and test these mechanisms. in proposing the general developmental model, schaie ( ) suggested decoupling the "empty variables" of birth cohort and time period from chronological age and reconceptualizing them as more meaningful variables. specifically, he re-defined cohort as "the total population of individuals entering the specified environment at the same point in time" and period as "historical event time," thereby uncoupling period effects from calendar time by identifying the timing and duration of the greatest influence of important historical events (schaie & hertzog, , p. ) . thus, the time of entry for a cohort does not have to be birth year and can include biocultural time markers (e.g., puberty, parenthood) or societal markers (e.g., workforce entry, retirement; schaie, ) . similarly, the more recent motivational theory of lifespan development has discussed cohort-defining events as age-graded opportunity structures (heckhausen, wrosch, & schulz, ) . thus, from a lifespan perspective, cohorts are re-defined as an interindividual difference variable, whereas period is re-defined as an intraindividual change variable (schaie, ) . tenet # of the lifespan perspective suggests that individuals have to process, react to, and act upon normative age-graded, normative history-graded, and non-normative influences that co-determine developmental outcomes (baltes, ) . the interplay of these three influences leads to stability and change, as well as multidimensionality and multidirectionality in individual development (baltes, ) . importantly, the use of the term "normative" is understood in a statistical-descriptive sense here, not in a value-based prescriptive sense; it is assumed that there are individual differences (e.g., due to gender, socioeconomic status) in the experience and effects of these influences (baltes & nesselroade, ) . moreover, the relative importance of these three influences can be assumed to change across the lifespan (baltes, reese, & lipsitt, ) . specifically, normative age-graded influences are assumed to be more important in childhood and later adulthood than in adolescence and early adulthood (i.e., due to biological and evolutionary reasons). in contrast, normative history-graded determinants are assumed to be more important in adolescence and early adulthood than in childhood and old age (i.e., when biological and evolutionary factors are less important). finally, non-normative influences are assumed to increase linearly in importance across the lifespan (baltes et al., ; see also rudolph & zacher, ) . indeed, the assumed differential importance of these influences across the lifespan differs markedly from the cohort deterministic approach implied in generational theory and research. according to baltes et al. ( ) , idiosyncratic life events become more important predictors of developmental outcomes with increasing age due to declines in biological and evolutionary-based genetic control over development and the increased heterogeneity and plasticity in developmental outcomes at higher ages. despite the assumed relative strengths of these normative and non-normative influences across the lifespan, they are at no point completely irrelevant to individual development. for example, in the work context, the theoretical relevance of history-graded influences on work-related outcomes may be a factor that determines the strength of potential effects (zacher, b) . for instance, experiencing a global pandemic is more likely to influence the development of individuals' attitudes-not an entire generations' collective attitudes-toward universal health care than it is to influence their job satisfaction. moreover, individuals' level of job security may not only be influenced by the pandemic but also by their profession and levels of risk tolerance. in summary, the lifespan development perspective offers a number of alternative explanations for the role of age and the process of aging at work that do not rely in generational explanations. specifically, by recognizing that development is a lifelong process that is affected by multiple influences, this perspective helps to clarify the complexities of development, particularly the processes that lead to inter-and intraindividual changes over time. with a clearer sense of these two alternative perspectives, we next shift our attention to outlining various points of integration between them. with a clearer sense of the core tenets of the social constructionist and lifespan development perspectives, we now turn our attention to clarifying lines of integration between these two approaches. while seemingly addressing different "corners" of the ideas presented here, there are a number of complementary features of the social constructionist and lifespan development perspectives to be noted. first, both perspectives generally eschew the idea that generations exist objectively and are meaningful units of study for explaining individual and group differences. second, both perspectives offer that the complexities that underlie the understanding of age and the process of aging at work cannot be reduced to rather simple mean-level comparisons. third, both perspectives are generative, in that they encourage research questions that go beyond common ways of thinking. fourth, and relatedly, both perspectives provide frameworks for more "directly" studying aging and development-whether in the form of how we collectively understand and conceptualize these processes (the social constructionist perspective), or how individuals continuously and interactively shape their own life trajectory (the lifespan development perspective). together, rather than relying on determinism, these perspectives capitalize on the subjective, dynamic, and agentic aspects of life in organizations and society, allowing for more rigorous and representative research into meaning, creation, stability, and change in context. beyond these complementary features, we propose six additional commonalities that serve as the basis for a more formal integration of these two perspectives with one another (see table for a summary). first, both perspectives recognize the role of context, in that both development (the lifespan development perspective) and sensemaking (the social constructionist perspective) occur within social contexts. second, both perspectives describe processes of action, creation, negotiation, and/or codification. whereas the lifespan perspective focuses on how these processes create identity, beliefs, and habits or behaviors that emerge over time through active self-regulatory, motivational processes, discovery, and (self)acceptance/selectivity, the social constructionist perspective focuses more so on the development of truths and meaning that emerge from collective dialogues, understandings, and traditions through acceptance and institutionalization. third, both perspectives acknowledge the fundamental roles of internal and external comparisons. for example, the lifespan perspective offers that successful development is judged both externally (e.g., in comparison with important others, normative age expectations, or timetables) and internally (e.g., in comparison with younger or desired state selves). similarly, social constructions can be focused externally (e.g., in the form of stereotypes) as well as internally (i.e., to make sense of one's own behavior or identity). fourth, both perspectives highlight learning and reinforcement processes that are derived from environmental sources. the lifespan perspective offers that adaptiveness (e.g., how successfully someone is developing/aging) and the self (as well as identities, values, behaviors, etc.) are learned from and reinforced by feedback from various aspects of the environment. similarly, social constructions are derived from and reinforced by multiple environmental sources, including those with perceived status, "weight," and legitimacy. fifth, by offering that development is a modifiable, discontinuous process (the lifespan development perspective) and that social constructions are constantly re-defined and re-emerge into public consciousness (the social constructionist perspective), both perspectives focus on continuous evolution, revision, and change. the final commonality to be drawn across these two perspectives is that they both focus on predictable influences that characterize certain spans of time, especially around significant events or "turning points." the lifespan perspective offers that, although complex and plastic, development does have some predictable aspects and influences due to their significance in the life course (e.g., age-graded events). complimenting this, many social constructions, although in constant flux and redefinition, fall back on the same key concepts due to their pervasiveness in public consciousness (e.g., the laziness of youth) at certain "key moments" in history (e.g., to explain or cope with societal change). beyond the benefits of considering alternative models to generations, and integrations thereof, it is important to mention the limitations of these alternative perspectives. for example, it could be argued that, because it does not provide formalized predictions, the social constructionist perspective is "hard to study." additionally, the lifespan perspective can be -identity, beliefs, and habits or behaviors emerge over time through active self-regulatory and motivational processes, discovery, and (self-)acceptance and selectivity. commonality # : fundamental roles of internal and external comparison -social constructions are applied externally (e.g., stereotypes) as well as internally (i.e., to make sense of one's own behavior and identity). -"successful development" is compared externally (e.g., in comparison with important others, normative age expectations and timetables) and internally (e.g., in comparison with younger or desired state selves). commonality # : learning and reinforcement from environmental sources -constructions are derived from and reinforced by multiple sources, including those with perceived status, "weight," and legitimacy. -both adaptiveness (e.g., how "well" someone is developing/aging) and the self (as well as identities, behaviors, etc.) are learned from and reinforced by feedback from various aspects of environment. commonality # : continuous evolution, revision, and change -social constructions are constantly re-defined and re-emerge into public consciousness. -there is no single linear or normatively staged process that can define development; development is modifiable across the full lifespan. commonality # : predictable influences characterize certain spans of time, especially around a significant event or "turning point" -many social constructions, although in constant flux and redefinition, fall back on the same key concepts due to their pervasiveness in public consciousness (e.g., laziness of youth) at certain "key moments" in history (e.g., to explain or cope with societal change). -although complex and plastic, development has certain predictable aspects and influences due to their significance in the life course (e.g., age-graded socialization events). criticized, just as it is lauded, for its focus on individual agency: as noted earlier, psychological perspectives often place a premium on studying individual-level mechanisms rather than other levels of influence . thus, without directed efforts on the part of researchers to attend to these aspects of lifespan development theory in their work, it can be easy to fall into the "trap" of ignoring structural factors (e.g., socioeconomic status, governmental policy, institutionalized discrimination) that have bearing on and may constrain individuals' agentic influence on their life trajectory (for an integration of the psychological lifespan perspective and the sociological life course perspective in the context of vocational behavior and career development, see zacher & froidevaux, ) . still, and for the many reasons noted throughout this manuscript, we do not contend that generational cohort membership is one of these structural factors, and a generational approach ignores these other forces even more flagrantly. overall, we argue that organizational researchers and practitioners should move beyond the notion of generations for understanding the complexities of age at work. to do so, we urge the adoption of the alternative theoretical models we have outlined here, as well as considerations of their integration. to this end, those interested in studying the role of age at work should adopt a lifespan, rather than a generational, perspective, whereas those interested in studying the persistence of generational thinking would be well served to consider the adoption of a social constructionist perspective. moreover, to understand more holistically the role of age and the construction of aging at work, it may be useful to adopt an integrative view on these two perspectives, embodied within the six commonalities between them that we have outlined above (see also table ). generational thinking is problematic because it assumes that aggregate social phenomena can explain individual-level attitudes, values, and behavior. in contrast, adopting a lifespan perspective means taking a multidisciplinary lens to understanding age-related differences and changes at work by specifically focusing on how the interplay between person characteristics and contextual variables serve to modify individual development. moreover, the social constructionist perspective offers guidance for unpacking the meanings people attach to assumptions that are made about these aggregate social phenomena, further aiding in understanding the complexities at play here. we consider recommendations for research and practice adopting these perspectives, next. the social constructionist perspective on generations highlights a number of potential areas for research and practice. given their longstanding and culturally/historically embedded nature, the social constructionist perspective recognizes that the idea of generations is not likely to go away, even with a lack of empirical methods or evidence to support their existence. instead, this perspective calls for a paradigm shift in generational research and practice, away from the rather positivist notion of "seeking out" generational differences and instead toward a focus on studying and understanding those processes that support the social construction of generations to begin with. considering research, the focus could be on those antecedents (e.g., intergroup competition and discrimination; north & fiske, ; i.e., to address the question, "why do these social constructions emerge?") and outcomes (e.g., selffulfilling prophecies-i.e., to address the question, "what are the consequences of willing generations into being?") of socially constructed generations. conducting research from a social constructionist perspective requires adopting methodologies that may not be common in organizational researchers' "tool kits." for example, rudolph and zacher ( ) used sentiment analysis, a natural language processing methodology, to analyze the content of twitter dialogues concerning various generational groups to understand the relative sentiment associated with each. indeed, it would arguably be difficult to study generations from this perspective by adopting a typical frequentist approach to hypothesis testing. this perspective is less about gathering evidence "against the null hypothesis" that generations or differences between them exist in a more or less "objective" (i.e., measurable) way. instead, it is more about understanding, phenomenologically, the various processes that give rise to people's subjective construction of generations, the systems that facilitate attaching meaning to generational labels, and the structures that support our continued reliance on generations as a sensemaking tool in spite of logical and empirical arguments against doing so. more practically, understanding why people think in terms of generations can help us to develop interventions that are targeted at helping people think less in terms of generations and more in terms of individuating people on the basis of the various processes outlined in our description of the lifespan perspective (i.e., personal characteristics; idiosyncratic and contextual factors). the social constructionist perspective also encourages changing the discourse among practitioners, shifting the focus away from managing generations as discrete groups and toward developing more age-conscious personnel practices, policies, and procedures that support workers across the entirety of their working lifespans (e.g., rudolph & zacher, c) . we thus urge practitioners to adopt a social constructionist perspective and shift focus away from promoting processes to manage members of different generations to a focus on managing the perceptions of generations and their differences. by recognizing the constructed nature of generations, the social constructionist perspective decouples beliefs about generations from these broad and overgeneralized assumptions about their influence on individuals. just as the social constructionist perspective highlights a number of potential areas for research and practice, so too does the lifespan perspective. to this end, and to move research on the lifespan perspective on generations forward, rudolph and zacher ( ) argued that, at the individual level of analysis, the influence of age-graded and historical/contextual influences are inherently codetermined and inseparable. accordingly, in their lifespan perspective on generations, they proposed that the influence of historically graded and sociocultural context variables occurs at the individual level of analysis only, and not as a manifestation of shared generational effects (proposition ). they suggested that future research should focus on individual-level indicators of historical and sociocultural influences. furthermore, they argued that age, period, and cohort effects are both theoretically and empirically confounded and, thus, inseparable (proposition ). finally, consistent with schaie's ( ) general developmental model, they suggested that cohorts should be operationalized as interindividual differences, whereas period effects should be defined in terms of intraindividual changes (proposition ). in terms of more practical implications of the lifespan perspective, we urge practitioners to adopt principles of lifespan development in the design of age-conscious work processes, interventions, and policies that do not rely on generations as a means of representing age. indeed, researchers and practitioners alike should take steps to avoid the pitfalls of "generational thinking," which yields several dangers that can be overcome by lifespan thinking (rauvola et al., ; rudolph & zacher, c) . first, generational thinking categorizes individuals into arbitrary generational groups based on a single criterion (i.e., birth year) and is therefore socially exclusive rather than inclusive; in contrast, the lifespan perspective conceptualizes and operationalizes age directly as a continuous variable (baltes, ) . second, generational thinking reduces complex age-related processes into a simplistic dichotomy at a single point in time; the lifespan perspective adopts a multidimensional, multidirectional, and multilevel approach to represent the complexities of aging more appropriately. third, generational thinking overemphasizes the role of (ranges of) birth cohorts in influencing work outcomes; in contrast, the lifespan perspective emphasizes interindividual differences and intraindividual development (as well as interindividual differences in intraindividual development). finally, generational thinking is dangerous because it assumes that generational group membership determines individual attitudes, values, and behavior. in contrast to this, the lifespan perspective, which entails the notion of plasticity, suggests that intraindividual changes in developmental paths are possible at any age and that individuals can enact control and influence their own development. this manuscript sought to achieve two goals, related to helping various constituents better understand the complexities of age and aging at work, and dissuade the use of generations and generational differences as a means of understanding and simplifying such complexities. first, we aimed to "bust" ten common myths about generations and generational differences that permeate various discussions in organizational sciences research and practice and beyond. then, with these debunked myths as a backdrop, we offered two complementary alternative models-the social constructionist perspective and the lifespan perspective-with promise for helping organizational scientists and practitioners better understand and manage age and the process of aging in the workplace and comprehend the pervasive nature of generations as a means of social sensemaking. the social constructionist perspective calls for a shift in thinking about generations as tangible and demonstrable units of study, to socially constructed entities, the existence of which is in-and-of-itself worthy of study. supplementing these ideas, the lifespan perspective offers that rather than focusing on simplified, rather deterministic groupings of people into generations, development occurs in a continuous, multicausal, multidirectional, and multidimensional process. our hope is that this manuscript helps to "redirect" talk about generations away from their colloquial use to a more critical and informed perspective on age and 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work ethic: fact or fiction? successful aging at work using lifespan developmental theory and methods as a viable alternative to the study of generational differences at work. industrial and organizational psychology life stage, lifespan, and life course perspectives on vocational behavior and development: a theoretical framework, review, and research agenda publisher's note springer nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations key: cord- - ll hzfr authors: giordano, chiara title: freedom or money? the dilemma of migrant live‐in elderly carers in times of covid‐ date: - - journal: gend work organ doi: . /gwao. sha: doc_id: cord_uid: ll hzfr nan dana is a -year-old romanian woman, who works as a live-in elderly carer in brussels. after ten years as a caregiver first in italy and then in france, she moved to belgium years ago, when a friend proposed her a better working opportunity. for the last year and a half, she has been working for the same employer, where she looks after an old lady, seriously impaired due her mobility problems and a cognitive degeneration linked to the alzheimer's disease. thanks to her job as a caregiver, she managed to provide her two daughters with secondary schooling and to help them buy the apartments where they currently leave with their own families. with the money that she sends home she helps her husband, unemployed, and contributes to the bank mortgages of her daughters. when the covid- stroke belgium and the lockdown measures were announced by the belgian government on the th of march, she used to live with the older woman six days per week, and she used to spend her day off in the small apartment that she rents with other romanian caregivers. during her day off, she was used to go to the church and enjoy the apartment, talking in romanian and cooking romanian food together with her friends. she was planning to welcome her husband in june and eventually move to a day-time hourly job. since the th of marcha few days before the official lockdown startedshe lives permanently with the older woman. at the request of the employer family, concerned about the health of the elderly woman, dana has not left the elderly person's residence: she has lost her day off, which represented her only time of leisure and social activities, and the freedom to go out for a small walk or for grocery shopping during the day, as she was used to do before. the only people she meets in person are the frail elderly lady and the lady's daughter, who comes by once a week to bring supplies. with her family, confined to romania, and with her friends all over europe, she remains connected through the internet. dana is one of the many invisibles of our era: invisible in normal times and even more invisible in covid- times. to preserve and protect the safety of another invisible (the older lady confined to her private domicile), dana had to choose between keeping her jobat the detriment of her personal freedom and her psychological, physical and mental healthand preserving her freedom but losing her jobjeopardising her survival in a country other than her own, and the survival of her family in her country of origin. as it is the case of other livein elderly caregivers, she had to choose between freedom and money. this paper explores the dilemma faced by migrant live-in elderly carers in times of covid- , by focusing on five interlocking systems of oppressionor domains of powerwhich are likely to determine both their experiences (namely, their living and working conditions during the pandemic) and their choices (namely, their solutions to the dilemma). drawing from the intersectionality theory (hill collins, ; hill collins and bilge, ) , which highlights the centrality of interlocking systems of oppression in forging the identities and experiences of women, i use the term 'identity locations' to refer to the positioning of migrant live-in elderly carers within these systems of oppression (or domains of power). specifically, i look at their 'identity locations' as women, as migrants, as elderly care workers, as family breadwinners, and as 'quasi-family members' in their employing families, which are in turn related to larger domains of power (namely gender, ethnicity/citizenship, labour market, care economy and interpersonal power relations, respectively). i argue that the position of migrant live-in elderly carers at the intersection of these five interlocking systems of oppression transposes the dilemma to a purely symbolic level. their economic survival and that of their families, as well as the ethical dimension associated to their work as caregivers, among other factors, resolves the dilemma by turning it into a nondilemma, where the decision to keep the job and to accept the newly defined working conditions and the consequent loss of freedom becomes unavoidable. what are the consequences of the unprecedented crisis generated by the covid- on our lives and on our society at large? this question, so vast and so simple, has become in the past few months the new mantra in politics, in the media, as well as in the academia. while the attention of governments is currently focused on analysing the economic consequences of this crisis, in order to contain its effects and to 'relaunch the economy' after the covid- , many voices have raised to emphasise other aspects of this phenomenon, such as the social, psychological and emotional consequences that this pandemic has had, has and will have on our lives and livelihoods. as an article appeared in the belgian press highlights (le soir, / / ), visions diverge greatly when it comes to identifying the predominant social reactions triggered by the covid- crisis. on the one hand, there are those who, mainly referring to the health dimension of the crisis, highlight the 'social justice' of the virus. the fact that everyoneincluding doctors and politicians, who symbolise the true powerful in our societyhave been indiscriminately affected by the virus would demonstrate the equalising power of the pandemic. on the other hand, other analyses, mainly referring to the economic, social, family and psychological dimensions, highlight the intensification of existing inequalities and of social hierarchies, and the resurgence of class divisions, in a marxist structuralist interpretation. from a purely health perspective, although certain categories at the top rungs of the socioeconomic ladder, such as medical doctors, are among the highest-risk categories as a result of their position at the front line of the emergency, the first available data show that vulnerable populations have suffered higher rates of infections, proving that even the health equality in front the pandemic is an illusion (fassin, ) . leaving aside the inevitable preponderance of the health dimension over any other, what strikes the most in this chaotic and unprecedented situation is the dramatic intensification of existing inequalities and the resurgence of structural inequalities sank into oblivion. in a broader perspective and including other dimensions of our livelihoods, the crisis has proved to disproportionately affect two segments of the population: the most vulnerable, in terms of economic, social and cultural capitalthat is, lower classes (major and machin, ; adams-prassl, )and women, regardless of their socioeconomic position (alon et al., ; etuce, ; eige, ; iweps, ) . concerning the latter, as it has repeatedly been stressed, the covid- crisis has and will have an impact on various aspects of gender equality, including the economic hardship falling on women whose economic position is precarious, which is the case of many single-parent households; the sharpening of domestic violence; the hazardous situation of workers in the frontline, the majority of whom are women; and the increased burden of unpaid care and housework responsibilities during the lockdown period . trapped in a sort of reverting vortex, some women saw the resurgence of those inequalities that were supposedly become obsoleteor at least hiddenfor many. as emphasised by feminist scholars, despite the progress made by european women in terms of equal opportunities and gender equality, their equality remains intrinsically precarious (evans, ) . this risk of relapse affects not only women's performances in the labour market, but alsoand especiallythe division of labour within households. in the context of this crisis, the closure of schools and childcare facilities and the imposition of a system of teleworking have disproportionately affected working women, who 'reassumed' the greatest part of housework and caring responsibilities, regardless of their ability to telework and/or to reduce their working hours. rather than representing for working women a real backlash in the labour market, the crisis had the effect of bringing back to the fore the traditional dichotomy that assigns men the economic function and women the private sphere (anderson, ; gerhard et al., ; lutz, ) . in other words, the crisis reopened the debate, well-known to the feminist literature, on the division between productive and reproductive work and the essentialisation of gender roles around these criteria, which visibly still represents a crucial node of gender relations. however, although this crisis had consequences in terms of unequal gender relations even for the most privileged segments of the population, it has not affected all women in the same way. as the literature based on intersectionality has long stressed, the identities of women are heterogeneous and distinct, and depend on the ways in which interlocking systems of oppression intersect and act upon them in a matrix of domination (carastathis, ; hill collins, ) . women's experiences are profoundly shaped by these systems of oppression and depend on their position as actors at their intersection. their 'identity locations'that is, their position within these systems of oppressionare not fixed and static, nor mutually exclusive, but they represent the place at the intersection of which women's experiences and choices are distinctively negotiated. looking specifically at the situation of migrant live-in elderly carers, at least five interlocked systems of oppression can be recognized which act simultaneously in shaping their work and livelihood, as well as their agency and their responses in times of covid- . their position as women, as migrants, as care workers, as family breadwinners, and as 'quasi-family members' in the employer's family, represent specific 'identity locations' which are likely to affect their experiences and their choices. specifically, it is their position at the intersection of without neglecting the importance of the debate on the misappropriation of intersectionality by western scholars and the displacement from the gender/class/race triad to a variety of other categories, adapted to the european context (davis, ) , in this paper i position my analysis in this stream. therefore, i use an intersectional approach for the analysis of the 'identity locations' which are specifically relevant to migrant elderly carers in the context of belgium. these systems of oppression, which correspond to different 'identity locations', which make their situation unique and determine their work and living conditions in times of covid- . this paper digs into these five 'identity locations' and in the way in which they interact in determining their response, when faced with the dilemma between freedom and money. the material used for this paper draws from two main sources. first, it draws from the material collected in the framework of an ongoing research on the undeclared work in the home elderly care sector in brussels. in the framework of this research, whose fieldwork had to be interrupted as a result of the covid- lockdown measures, i had collected qualitative data in the form of in-depth interviews, one focus group and fieldwork notes on migrant women working as elderly carers in belgium, without a regular contract. the second source derives from the exchanges i had during the lockdown period with the migrant elderly carers i had previously interviewed. thanks to the strong relationship that i had built with some of them, and in preparation for a longitudinal study that will be pursued in the following years, i had the chance to regularly exchange with them, mainly by text messages (whatsapp or sms), during the lockdown period. the direct quotations, as well as the empirical situations that i describe in this paper and the resulting reflections are issued from these exchanges and are based on their experiences. as long stressed by the scholarship, domestic and care work are different from any other employment relationship, for a variety of reasons (anderson, ; gerhard et al., ; cox, ; lutz, lutz, , devetter et al., ). this has important consequences on the working conditions and lives of elderly carers. on the one hand, the private nature of the workthat is, the fact that it is performed in the private home of the care receiverhas direct consequences for caregivers, including the lack of control over their working conditions (rollins, ; devetter et al., ) . because the work is not subject to inspections or control by third parties, not only care workers are potentially at risk of abuse, be that physical, verbal, or psychological, but they are also subject to poor working conditions, such as low salaries, physical and emotional hardship and long working hours, among others. the latter element is especially problematic for live-in caregivers: even when working hours are contractually defined, live-in elderly carers are practically required to work on a system of uninterrupted availability, resulting in a lack of separation between leisure and working time. linked to this element is the fact that for live-in caregivers the work itself implies a lack of separation between 'home' and 'work', with a dangerously skewed predominance of the latter. because their living environment is a type of home with diminished characteristicsa 'quasi-home', which is never completely felt as home the result is that the caregiver always feels 'on duty', without having the opportunity to completely disconnect from work. on the other hand, the work itself is endowed with specificities which make it essentially different from other employment relationships and which have enormous consequences for caregivers. first, even when remunerated, care work involves tasks which are traditionally part to the realm of the reproductive labour. the demarcation line between productive and reproductive labour remains blurred and contributes to the difficulties in recognising it as 'real work' (anderson, ; cox, ; devetter et al., ) . furthermore, because of its association with the reproductive function of the family, it is traditionally associated to feminine attributes and expected to be assumed by female members of the family (anderson, ; lutz, ) . the main consequences of the naturalisation and essentialisation of care work as feminine are the lack of valorisation of care work, the persistence of marked gender stereotypes and the persistence of employers' expectations in the form of love and abnegation from the caregiver, which correspond to what a female family member would supposedly do. other elements that are found to be problematic for caregivers include the ambiguous employment relationship at the basis of care work, which continuously oscillates between a real employment relationship and a family relationship (rollins, ; cox, ) and the emotional labour required from caregivers (hochschild and ehrenreich, ; anderson, ) the two elements being closely linked. given the emotional bonds that are established between the caregiver and the care receiver and the ambiguity of the employment relationship, the worker is no longer considered as a worker, but rather as 'a member of the family', as employers tend to define her/him (rollins, ; cox, ; lutz, , parreñas, . the fact that the main qualities (or 'soft skills') which are usually requested and appreciated in elderly carers are the ability to establish emotional ties, empathy, humanity, as well as a sort of vocation, testifies of the importance of the emotional dimension in care work (anderson, ) . these features of care work assume a crucial importance for live-in elderly carers, who are neither treated as workers, nor as members of the family. their status as 'quasi-family members' is such that they are required hard physical and mental labour (very long hours, h availability, nurse-like competencies, among others), but also self-denial, sacrifice and love, just as one would expect from a family member. the fact that the employer may coincide with the person who receives care further complicates the picture and makes the relationship between the different parties highly ambiguous. both elementsthe emotional ties between caregiver and care receiver and the position of live-in caregivers as 'quasi-family members'have crucial consequences on the lives and choices of live-in elderly carers in times of covid- as mentioned in the previous section, the very nature of care work, including the gendered construction of the ideals and values associated to it and the emotional labour that shapes their this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. position as 'quasi-family members', are all crucial locations at the core of the identity formation and the experiences of live-in elderly carers. looking at the situation of live-in elderly carers under the prism of migration and family relationship allows to identify other important elements that are likely to affect their livelihoods and their specific responses to the covid- crisis. as the literature on domestic and care work and on global care chains has long emphasised, the position of domestic and care workers cannot be reduced to their employment situation, but is defined and continuously reshaped by other factors, such as their administrative status and work permits, which are in turn determined by the migration regime specific to each country; their transnational lives and that of their families; as well as their family situation and caring responsibilities in the host country and in the sending country (hochschild and ehrenreich, ; parreñas, parreñas, , yeates, ; lutz, ; anderson and shutes, ) . concerning family and caring responsibilities, the existence of a family in the country of origin and the intensity of the caring responsibilities 'left behind' (the presence, for instance, of young children and/or frail elderly parents), as well as the economic responsibilities linked to the maintenance of the family, are all elements that affect the livelihood and the choices of elderly carers (hondagneu-sotelo and avila ; fresnoza-flot, ; parreñas, parreñas, , kabeer, ) . the fact that domestic and care workers are often the main family breadwinners has different consequences. on the one hand, it may have an emancipatory power and contribute to a redefinition of gender roles within their families. on the other hand, it means that various members of the family (husbands, younger or older children, parents, but also other kinship relationships) will depend of the income of the elderly carer and of her ability to adapt to adverse circumstances. these economic and caring responsibilities have gendered meanings for elderly carers. because they have to assume the economic function within their family at the same time as maintaining their caring responsibilities, they bear a double burden. to use the traditional distinctions between productive/reproductive labour, public/private sphere and the gendered constructions associated to it, not only they incarnate both masculine and feminine attributes, but they do so in a complex matrix. in their migration journey they first undergo a process of emancipation from the caring responsibilities linked to their own families, and then they reassume these same responsibilities, in a double form: they financially (and emotionally) support their families left behind, while taking care of the members of another family in the host country, as part of their job. as the scholarship has stressed, this has important social, psychological and emotional consequences, for both elderly carers themselves and their families abroad (hochschild and ehrenreich, ; parreñas, ; graham et al., ; fresnoza-flot, ) . a last element to be taken into account with regard to their position as migrants is the impact of their migration status, which include the conditions of entry, stay and work permits enforced in the country of destination (shutes, ; anderson, ; anderson and shutes, ) . the migration status is likely to influence not only their professional and migratory career, but also their living conditions, including their access to health, leisure, loans and educational opportunities, among others. as scholars highlighted, among all the possible migration statuses, it is undocumented workers who are more susceptible to be found in live-in jobs, for a series of reasons (ambrosini, ) . first, by reason of the poor reputation and the low value accorded to care work, and especially to live-in types of arrangements, live-in care work is often the first and only entry point of the most vulnerable segments of the migrant population into the economy (lutz, ) . because undocumented migrants are less likely to find better paid jobs and/or to negotiate better working conditions, they are more likely to accept live-in jobs, which are discarded by locals and other migrants (ambrosini, ; schutes, ) . second, live-in care work may be considered an advantage for migrants, because it allows to save money on food and accommodation, and because at the same time it represents a sort of protection. this latter point may be a crucial element of the migratory strategy of undocumented workers, as the house of the employer becomes a sort of shelter, which protects against the risk of being caught by the authorities (ambrosini, ) . in order to understand the impact of covid- on the lives and work of migrant live-in caregivers in brussels and their choices during the lockdown period, i explore their position as women, as migrants, as care workers, as breadwinners of their families, and as 'quasi-family members' in the host families for which they work. by looking at the intersection of these 'identity locations', i focus on how their situation affected their choices and how they resolve the dilemma between stayingat the detriment of their freedom and healthand leavingat the detriment of their survival and that of their families. as mentioned in the introduction, the exacerbation of the inequalities between men and women during the lockdown period of the covid- crisis has been especially visible in the domestic sphere. not only women have suffered the harshest consequences in terms of domestic violence, but they also had to assume a disproportionate increase of domestic and care responsibilities compared to their male counterparts, with a parallel reduction in the number of hours allocated to paid work and an increase in the physical and mental chargewhich in turn will have repercussions on their professional career (eige, ; alon et al., ). one of the greatest difficulties encountered by (tele)working women is related to the lack of separation between 'work' and 'home', which corresponds to the lack of a clear demarcation this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. between professional and domestic spheres. as already pointed out by the scholarship, although it allows to combine work and caring responsibilities, the system of teleworking may have clear disadvantages for women, who may end up trapped in their home and be disproportionally located in the peripheral labour market (haddon and lewis, ) . the imposition of a teleworking system upon adults with caring responsibilities had the result of blurring the boundaries between all life domains: when all activities (work, leisure, family, etc.) are realised in the same environment the result is a mental charge, experienced as a feeling of being always 'on duty'. ironically, what working mothers (and fathers, to a certain extent) experienced during the lockdown is part of the 'usual business' for live-in caregivers. similarly to other women, also live-in caregivers experienced an intensification of caring responsibilities, which in their case were distributed between their own families and the families who employ them. on one side, some of them had to intensify the financial support to their families, because of health and/or financial problems, which in some cases were engendered by the pandemic in their countries. also, to counteract the fears and anxieties linked to the pandemic, and in order to provide an emotional and symbolic support to their families at distance, they intensified the contacts with the different members of the family, through the use of technology (emails, chats, video). on the other side, their care duties and responsibilities increased dramatically in the framework of their jobs as caregivers. starting from the announcement of the lockdown measures by the government, and to compensate for the potential health risk of having multiple external actors intervening in the care of the older person, live-in caregivers were required to cover the whole care needs of the older person. when asked whether she had received any support from the employing family or from external people, maria replies: this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. maria takes care of an older woman who does not have any relatives. because the other caregiver who was taking over during maria's day off was dismissed, since the beginning of the lockdown the responsibility for the care of the elderly woman falls entirely on maria, who is now alone to cover her duties as a caregiver while at the same time replacing the support of the family. according to maria, live-in caregivers are left with the full responsibility for the elderly people, regardless of the existence or not of a family behind. indeed, she reports that also the other elderly caregivers with whom she remained in contact are facing the same situation, despite the presence of a family who could potentially take over the responsibilities linked to the care of the older persons. the growth of both productive and reproductive labour, which in the case of live-in caregivers accumulate within the same employment relationship, as well as at their family level, results in a significant increase of the care burden. while other working women had to learn to combine their external professional responsibilities with the care of their own families, live-in elderly carers had to take over the whole caring responsibility of another family, while ensuring the care of their own families at distance (hochschild and ehrenreich, ) . the migrant status of live-in elderly carers affected their life and their response to the covid- crisis with many respects. first of all, the situation of lockdown, including the closure of borders and the reduction on the freedom of movement inside and outside the country, meant that migrants had to live the covid- crisis within the host country, without any possibility to travel or to draw near their own families. this equally affected all migrants, irrespectively of their country of origin. moreover, the interruption of the economic activities not considered 'essential' (that is, a certain number of activities, with the exception of mainly health and medical jobs and scientific research, food processing industry and grocery shops, but also chemical and building industry, among others) disproportionately hit the migrant population, whose presence in the labour market is more precarious. this had dramatic consequences for many working migrants, who lost their jobs and incomes without a system of safety net behind them (social protection, social networks, etc.). the loss of income had tremendous consequences for their survival in the host country, but also in terms of sending of remittances and for repaying the indebtedness engendered by migration. the situation of migrant caregivers followed two separate paths. on one side, the majority of domestic and care workers working on an hourly basis lost their jobs and were faced with the above-mentioned obstacles, without means of support and without the possibility to move closer to their families. in some cases, the possibility of survival entirely depended on the good will of the employers, as it is the case for kristina, a young filipino domestic and care worker: kristina, who had lost her primary job as a live-in elderly carer because of the death of the older woman she was looking after, had maintained her secondary job as a domestic worker in another family, where she used to clean once per week to complete her weekly salary. when the covid- emergency stroke the country, she had not found another full-time employment. during the lockdown period, her only means of living depended on the generosity of her employer, thanks to whom she managed to go through her living expenses. this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. on the other side, live-in elderly carers experienced other difficulties: while they were given the possibility to save their jobsin return for the intensification of their efforts (working extra hours, performing health tasks which were not allowed in normal times, renouncing their time off, etc.)they were locked down with a family other than their own. therefore, live-in elderly carers had to bear both the practical disadvantages of the lockdown (not being able to go out, being always 'on duty', among others) and the emotional and psychological burden of being confined in the private home of strangers, rather than their own families. being confined to other people's intimate space, without being able to take care of your own confined family abroad, certainly contributed to amplify the distress of migrant elderly carers. the experience of elena, a spanish elderly carer, exemplifies the inner torment of the separation from her loved ones in a country other than her own. immediately after the outbreak of the pandemic she was ready to leave belgium to join her family in spain: in addition to the increased amount of work and of care responsibilities that they have experienced as women and as care workers, migrant live-in elderly carers have suffered from a sense of displacement. this sense of displacement is not only the result of the geographical and physical distance from their countries and their families, but also to the unprecedented situation of experiencing the covid- lockdownand the enormous emotional charge associated to itbeing lonely and isolated (from their loved ones) and at the same time nearby and wanted (by non-family members). if the isolation and the lack of social activities imposed by the lockdown measures represent a burden that hit the entire population, regardless of their socioeconomic level or their origin, it had harshest consequences for migrants. first, contrary to the majority of the population, they were physically isolated with respect to their families and their countries, which, as mentioned above, constitutes a source of emotional distress. second, they suffered from the sudden isolation from the social networks they have built in belgium, which represent for many migrants a crucial element for the construction of community ties and of their sense of belonging. if some of them managed to maintain some of the activities with the community, mainly through the use of technology, other live-in caregivers entirely lost the connexion with their community. as it emerges from the words of dana, this double isolation is likely to have important psychological and mental health consequences and to contribute to serious forms of anxiety and distress. despite the lack of a global and long-term vision on the effects of the covid- , the data on the infection rates registered in all countries affected by the pandemic suggest that elderly people, as well as the professionals who take care of them (home carers, domiciliary nurses, health and care personnel in rest homes, etc.) are among the most affected by the covid- , in every respect. if the elderly population has been heavily impacted because of its health vulnerability to the virus, health and care workers have been greatly affected, because of the high risk of contamination given by their front-line position at close contact with the most vulnerable population. thus, elderly caregivers have suffered specific consequences, including from a health point of view. as attested by numerous articles appeared in the belgian press during the first two months of the lockdown, the lack of adequate equipment (masks, hand sanitiser and screening tests, among others) for home carers and the personnel working in rest homes has been a crucial factor in the spread of the virus and the deterioration of their working conditions. however, while the working conditions of 'official' care workers in times of covid- have been relatively visible in the media, the situation of the most invisible among care workersthat is migrant live-in carers, sometimes with an irregular administrative statushave been completely hidden from the public opinion. the story of carmen highlights the situation that some of the live-in caregivers had to face in terms of their own health conditions. Ça c'est bien passé, je étais contaminée après le carnaval, mais tout était bien passé sans complications. après je suis restée avec une certaine distance avec la dame, son fils a pris en charge jusque j'étais bien. je suis bien, et la famille que je travaille aussi. [it went well, i was infected after the carnival period, but everything went well, without complications. afterwards, i kept a certain distance from the lady and his son took over until i felt better. now i feel fine and the family for which i work is fine too] -carmen carmen, a brazilian undocumented migrant who works as a live-in caregiver, did not have access to public health services. after being hit by the covid- virus, she spent the quarantine and the convalescence period in the home with the older person, where her work was partially replaced by the son of the older lady. the experience of carmen not only confirms the crucial role that these women play within the family and the essentiality of their work in times of covid- , but it also says a lot about the particular situation of live-in elderly carers with regards to their own access to health services and with regards to their working conditions. in addition to the health consequences, elderly carers suffered from a deterioration in their working conditions in other respects. contrary to most sectors of the economy, forced to stop or to drastically reduce their activities, care workers had to guarantee the continuity of their services and even intensify their efforts, because of the vital nature of their work during the pandemic. however, the intensity of the activities of care during the lockdown period depended on multiple factors, including the wish of the care receivers and their families (whether or not the family was ready to take over the caring responsibilities, thus dismissing the worker) and the professional status of care workers (whether they worked on hourly basis or as live-in carers, for instance). this means that while some workersmainly elderly carers working on an hourly basis for more than one employerlost their job or drastically reduced their work and their income, othersmainly live-in elderly carershad to consistently increase their work commitment. the situation of live-in elderly carers is unique with this respect. as mentioned in the introduction, they had to choose between losing their jobs or losing their freedom. those who have chosen the loss, albeit temporary, of their personal freedoms have been locked up in the home of the care receiver for several months so far. maria, talking about her own situation and that of her friends, who are also live-in elderly carers, describes the situation by saying that they are all 'stuck' in the house of the older person. oui, nous sommes bloquée en permanence dans la maison avec les personnes âgées qui nous soignons. [yes, we are stuck permanently in the house with the elderly people who we take care] -maria far from being a simple redistribution of time and tasks, this new working arrangement heavily affects their livelihoods. not only have they had to deal with the profound stress and anxiety generated by this health emergency situationand have had to do so in a situation of isolation and distance from their loved onesbut they have also suffered a considerable deterioration of their working conditions. longer hours, heavy tasks without any external support, especially in the case of heavy physical and mental dependencies on the side of older people, no time off, permanent availability, isolation, no social contact, no access to basic services, are just a few examples of what they recall when they describe their work during the lockdown. as the literatures on global care chains and on transnational motherhood have emphasised, many of the women who emigrate for economic reasons and go to fulfil the shortages of reproductive labour in western societies, are also mothers with caring responsibilities in their countries of origin (hochschild and ehrenreich, ; fresnoza-flot, ; parreñas, parreñas, , yeates, ; lutz, ; anderson and shutes, ) . whether or not their migration contributes to changing gender roles within their families and how roles are renegotiated within couples are not without contradictions. however, because they assume the economic function within their family, thus becoming the primary family breadwinners, while at the same time maintaining their caring responsibilities, they bear a double burden, as both economic and care providers. the situation of live-in elderly carers as family breadwinners places them in a special position, which is likely to have a crucial impact on their professional and life choices during the crisis. not only they had to bear the costs to cover for the indebtedness relative to their migration, in addition to their living costs in the host countries, but they had to ensure the continuity of the remittances. therefore, the existence of family and care obligations abroad, as well as their role as main family breadwinners, generated an additional pressure on them. i can't go out because i taking care of old people. my family is doing well, it's hard but they are fine, but i heard that some of the girls is jobless, it's hard for their families. - marilise, from the philippines, used to work as a live-out caregiver for an older man affected by alzheimer, where she used to spend hours per day, while at the same time working as a cleaner and a babysitter in two other families. while marilise feels safe, because she managed to maintain at least her primary job with the older man, by transforming it into a live-in job during the lockdown period, she is worried about the economic hardship of her friends. the words of marilise point to the link between the situation of migrant elderly carers and that of their families. the economic hardshipnamely, the loss of the job that some of them experiencedis not only an issue for the survival of elderly carers themselves, but it has dramatic repercussions on their families. when she talks about her friends losing their job, she immediately recalls the economic distress that might fall on their families. because their role as family breadwinners is so anchored in their migration process and family obligations guide their migration-related choices, the situation they live during the covid- lockdown is assessed through the lens of this role and the survival of their families becomes the prevailing issue over their own survival (fresnoza-flot, ). if live-in elderly carers could maintain their role as family breadwinners by accepting to be entirely confined with the older person they take care of, some of them were nevertheless financially hit by the covid- crisis. on the one hand, some had to bear extra costs, linked to their health condition or that of their families, this reducing the possibility to maintain their remittances at previous levels. on the other hand, some of them had to renounce to other economic activities, such as other part-time jobs. this is the case of many among the filipino caregivers that i have interviewed, who chose to maintain the live-inmore remunerativejob and to renounce to their other part-time jobs in other families, with a subsequent loss of income. the ambiguous position of caregivers as 'quasi-family members', which is particularly visible in the case of live-in care arrangements, has direct consequences on caregivers. this 'identity location', which is embedded in a larger system of domination that refers to interpersonal power relations, shapes the identity and the experiences of elderly carers, with many respects. first, the ambiguity of the employment relationship, oscillating from work to family relations, as well as the emotional labour implied in care work, are built on a series of expectations, ideals and stereotypes which associate care work to the 'natural' responsibility of female family members. care workers, and especially live-in caregivers, are expected to take care of the older person in a family-like way, that is 'with love'. not only they have to show qualities such as empathy, positive and joyful attitude, and patience, but they are expected to develop close emotional ties with the person they take care of. although the dilemma over the possibility to 'commodify' love cannot be resolved (anderson, ) , the expectations linked to care work and the status of workers in an intermediate position between work and family represent a source of pressure that acts upon care worker. second, the ambiguous status of 'quasi-family members' contributes to construct and reinforce dependencies and power relations (rollins, ) . their intermediate position in the intimate space of the family transforms the dynamics of power and the role of the elderly caregiver within the family. while still obliged to ensure good quality and professional work, the live-in caregiver becomes a member of the family without really being one: she acquires all the family obligations linked to it, but without being fully entitled to family rights. the combination of the emotional tie between the caregiver and the care receiver, as well as the ambiguous position of caregivers as 'someone of the family' creates a logic of dependency of the caregiver from the employer (anderson, ; cox, ; parreñas, ) . these dependencies and power relations are found to be strong drivers with respect to the choices of elderly caregivers during the covid- crisis. because of the emotional ties they have established with the care receiver, they feel responsible for her/his well-being, as if the person was actually someone of their own family. this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. despite the exceptional harshness of her job since the lockdown measures were implemented, according to maria caring for the elderly person is not a burden, but rather a 'pleasure'. although some defining elements of the employment relationship, such as the salary, are maintained, the work as such goes beyond the employment relationship, and results in a form of self-denial and love. furthermore, the rhetoric of the employers, who repeatedly emphasise the membership of the caregiver as part of the family (in terms of obligations, rather than rights), generates a strong dependency on the side of the elderly carer, who feels grateful and obliged to compensate by offering extra services. i argue that this ambiguity of the employment relationship, and the dependencies that it generates, are important drivers in shaping their choices in times of covid- and that their choice to stay with the older person is not only economically-driven, but becomes a sort of moral responsibility. the position of migrant live-in elderly carers is at the intersection of multiple systems of oppression that make for the distinctiveness of their experiences. in this paper, i have analysed five 'identity locations' that define their experiences as women, as migrants, as live-in elderly carers, as family breadwinners and as 'quasi-family members'. looking at these five 'identity locations' simultaneously helps understanding their individual experience and responses to this specific pandemic crisis. the solution to the dilemma to which live-in elderly carers were faced at the beginning of the lockdown periodwhether they should keep their job and temporarily renounce to their freedom, or whether they should renounce to the employmentis to be understood in the light of these five intersecting 'identity locations'. inequality in the impact of the coronavirus shock: new survey evidence for the uk. briefing report the impact of covid- on gender equality parenting from a distance and processes of family reunification: a research on the italian case doing the dirty work? the global politics of domestic labour 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the new economy i'm here but i'm there': the meanings of latina transnational motherhood institut wallon de l'évaluation, de la prospective et de la statistique (iweps) ( ) covid- , travail et genre en wallonie the rise of the female breadwinner. reconfigurations of marriage, motherhood and masculinities in the global economy the new maids. transnational women and the care economy covid- is increasing the divide in life chances between rich and poor servants of globalization. women, migration and domestic work long distance intimacy: class, gender and intergenerational relations between mothers and children in filipino transnational families migrant domestic workers as 'one of the family covid- pandemic shines a light on a new kind of class divide and its inequalities. the guardian between women. domestics and their employers global care chains key: cord- - x qs i authors: gupta, abhishek; lanteigne, camylle; heath, victoria; ganapini, marianna bergamaschi; galinkin, erick; cohen, allison; gasperis, tania de; akif, mo; institute, renjie butalid montreal ai ethics; microsoft,; university, mcgill; commons, creative; college, union; rapid ,; global, ai; university, ocad title: the state of ai ethics report (june ) date: - - journal: nan doi: nan sha: doc_id: cord_uid: x qs i these past few months have been especially challenging, and the deployment of technology in ways hitherto untested at an unrivalled pace has left the internet and technology watchers aghast. artificial intelligence has become the byword for technological progress and is being used in everything from helping us combat the covid- pandemic to nudging our attention in different directions as we all spend increasingly larger amounts of time online. it has never been more important that we keep a sharp eye out on the development of this field and how it is shaping our society and interactions with each other. with this inaugural edition of the state of ai ethics we hope to bring forward the most important developments that caught our attention at the montreal ai ethics institute this past quarter. our goal is to help you navigate this ever-evolving field swiftly and allow you and your organization to make informed decisions. this pulse-check for the state of discourse, research, and development is geared towards researchers and practitioners alike who are making decisions on behalf of their organizations in considering the societal impacts of ai-enabled solutions. we cover a wide set of areas in this report spanning agency and responsibility, security and risk, disinformation, jobs and labor, the future of ai ethics, and more. our staff has worked tirelessly over the past quarter surfacing signal from the noise so that you are equipped with the right tools and knowledge to confidently tread this complex yet consequential domain. these past few months have been especially challenging, and the deployment of technology in ways hitherto untested at an unrivaled pace has left the internet and technology watchers aghast. artificial intelligence has become the byword for technological progress and is being used in everything from helping us combat the covid- pandemic to nudging our attention in different directions as we all spend increasingly larger amounts of time online. it has never been more important that we keep a sharp eye out on the development of this field and how it is shaping our society and interactions with each other. with this inaugural edition of the state of ai ethics we hope to bring forward the most important developments that caught our attention at the montreal ai ethics institute this past quarter. our goal is to help you navigate this ever-evolving field swiftly and allow you and your organization to make informed decisions. this pulse-check for the state of discourse, research, and development is geared towards researchers and practitioners alike who are making decisions on behalf of their organizations in considering the societal impacts of ai-enabled solutions. we cover a wide set of areas in this report spanning agency and responsibility, security and risk, disinformation, jobs and labor, the future of ai ethics , and more. our staff has worked tirelessly over the past quarter surfacing signal from the noise so that you are equipped with the right tools and knowledge to confidently tread this complex yet consequential domain. to stay up-to-date with the work at maiei, including our public competence building, we encourage you to stay tuned on https://montrealethics.ai which has information on all of our research. we hope you find this useful and look forward to hearing from you! wishing you well, abhishek gupta the state of ai ethics, june the debate when ethicists ask for rights to be granted to robots is based on notions of biological chauvinism and that if robots display the same level of agency and autonomy, not doing so would not only be unethical but also cause a setback for the rights that were denied to disadvantaged groups. by branding robots as slaves and implying that they don't deserve rights has fatal flaws in that they both use a term, slave, that has connotations that have significantly harmed people in the past and also that dehumanization of robots is not possible because it assumes that they are not human to begin with. while it may be possible to build a sentient robot in the distant future, in such a case there would be no reason to not grant it rights but until then, real, present problems are being ignored for imaginary future ones. the relationship between machines and humans is tightly intertwined but it's not symmetrical and hence we must not confound the "being" part of human beings with the characteristics of present technological artifacts. technologists assume that since there is a dualism to a human being, in the sense of the mind and the body, then it maps neatly such that the software is the mind and the robot body maps to the physical body of a human, which leads them to believe that a sentient robot, in our image, can be constructed, it's just a very complex configuration that we haven't completely figured out yet. the more representative view of thinking about robots at present is to see them as objects that inhabit our physical and social spaces. objects in our environment take on meaning based on the purpose they serve to us, such as a park bench meaning one thing to a skateboarder and another to a casual park visitor. similarly, our social interactions are always situated within a larger ecosystem and that needs to be taken into consideration when thinking about the interactions between humans and objects. in other words, things are what they are, because of the way they configure our social practices and how technology extends the biological body.our conception of human beings, then, is that we are and have always been fully embedded and enmeshed with our the state of ai ethics, june designed surroundings, and that we are critically dependent on this embeddedness for sustaining ourselves. because of this deep embedding, instead of seeing the objects around us merely as machines or on the other end as 'intelligent others', we must realize that they are very much a part of ourselves because of the important role they play in defining both our physical and social existence. some argue that robots take on a greater meaning when they are in a social context like care robots and people might be attached to them, yet that is quite similar to the attachment one develops to other artifacts like a nice espresso machine or a treasured object handed down for generations. they have meaning to the person but that doesn't mean that the robot, as present technology, needs to be granted rights. while a comparison to slaves and other disenfranchised groups is made when robots are denied rights because they are seen as 'less' than others, one mustn't forget that it happens to be the case that it is so because they are perceived as instruments and means to achieve an end. by comparing these groups to robots, one dehumanizes actual human beings. it may be called anthropocentric to deny rights to robots but that's what needs to be done: to center on the welfare of humans rather than inanimate machines. an interesting analogue that drives home the point when thinking about this is the milgram prison experiment where subjects who thought they had inflicted harms on the actors, who were a part of the experiment, were traumatized even after being told that the screams they heard were from the actors. from an outside perspective, we may say that no harm was done because they were just actors but to the person who was the subject of the experiment, the experience was real and not an illusion and it had real consequences. in our discussion, the robot is an actor and if we treat it poorly, then that reflects more so on our interactions with other artifacts than on whether robots are "deserving" of rights or not. taking care of various artifacts can be thought of as something that is done to render respect to the human creators and the effort that they expended to create it. discussion of robot rights for an imaginary future that may or may not arrive takes away focus and perhaps resources from the harms being done to real humans today as part of the ai systems being built with bias and fairness issues in them. invasion of privacy, bias against the disadvantaged, among other issues are just some of the few already existing harms that are being leveled on humans as intelligent systems percolate into the everyday fabric of social and economic life. the state of ai ethics, june from a for-profit perspective, such systems are poised and deployed with the aims of boosting the bottom line without necessarily considering the harms that emerge as a consequence. in pro-social contexts, they are seen as a quick fix solution to inherently messy and complex problems. the most profound technologies are those that disappear into the background and in subtle ways shape and form our existence. we already see that with intelligent systems pervading many aspects of our lives. so we're not as much in threat from a system like sophia which is a rudimentary chatbot hidden behind a facade of flashy machinery but more so from roomba which impacts us more and could be used as a tool to surveil our homes. taking ethical concerns seriously means considering the impact of weaving in automated technology into daily life and how the marginalized are disproportionately harmed. in the current dominant paradigm of supervised machine learning, the systems aren't truly autonomous, there is a huge amount of human input that goes into enabling the functioning of the system, and thus we actually have human-machine systems rather than just pure machinic systems. the more impressive the system seems, the more likely that there was a ton of human labor that went into making it possible. sometimes, we even see systems that started off with a different purpose such as recaptcha that are used to prevent spam being refitted to train ml systems. the building of ai systems today doesn't just require highly skilled human labor but it must be supplemented with mundane jobs of labeling data that are poorly compensated and involve increasingly harder tasks as, for example, image recognition systems become more powerful, leading to the labeling of more and more complex images which require greater effort. this also frames the humans doing the low skilled work squarely in the category of being dehumanized because of them being used as a means to an end without adequate respect, compensation and dignity. an illustrative example where robots and welfare of humans comes into conflict was when a wheelchair user wasn't able to access the sidewalk because it was blocked by a robot and she mentioned that without building for considering the needs of humans, especially those with special needs, we'll have to make debilitating compromises in our shared physical and social spaces. ultimately, realizing the goals of the domain of ai ethics needs to reposition our focus on humans and their welfare, especially when conflicts arise between the "needs" of automated systems compared to those of humans. what happens when ai starts to take over the more creative domains of human endeavour? are we ready for a future where our last bastion, the creative pursuit, against the rise of machines is violently snatched away from us? in a fitting start to feeling bereft in the times of global turmoil, this article starts off with a story created by a machine learning model called gpt- that utilizes training data from more than million documents online and predicts iteratively the next word in a sentence given a prompt. the story is about "life in the time of coronavirus" that paints a desolate and isolating picture of a parent who is following his daily routine and feels different because of all the changes happening around them. while the short story takes weird turns and is not completely coherent, it does give an eerie feeling that blurs the line between what could be perceived as something written by a human compared to that by a machine. a news-styled article on the use of facial recognition systems for law enforcement sounds very believable if presented outside of the context of the article. the final story, a fictional narrative, presents a fractured, jumpy storyline of a girl with a box that has hallucinatory tones to its storytelling. the range of examples from this system is impressive but it also highlights how much further these systems have to go before they can credibly take over jobs. that said, there is potential to spread disinformation via snippets like the second example we mention and hence, something to keep in mind as you read things online. technology, in its widest possible sense, has been used as a tool to supplement the creative process of an artist, aiding them in exploring the adjacent possible in the creative phasespace. for decades we've had computer scientists and artists working together to create software that can generate pieces of art that are based on procedural rules, random perturbations of the audience's input and more. off late, we've had an explosion in the use of ai to do the same, with the whole ecosystem being accelerated as people collide with each other serendipitously on platforms like twitter creating new art at a very rapid pace. but, a lot of people have been debating whether these autonomous systems can be attributed artistic agency and if they can be called artists in their own right. the author here argues that it isn't the case because even with the push into using technology that is more the state of ai ethics, june automated than other tools we've used in the past, there is more to be said about the artistic process than the simple mechanics of creating the artwork. drawing on art history and other domains, there is an argument to be made as to what art really is -there are strong arguments in support of it playing a role in servicing social relationships between two entities. we, as humans, already do that with things like exchanging gifts, romance, conversation and other forms of social engagement where the goal is to alter the social relationships. thus, the creative process is more so a co-ownership oriented model where the two entities are jointly working together to create something that alters the social fabric between them. as much as we'd like to think some of the ai-enabled tools today have agency, that isn't necessarily the case when we pop open the hood and see that it is ultimately just software that for the most part still relies heavily on humans setting goals and guiding it to perform tasks. while human-level ai might be possible in the distant future, for now the ai-enabled tools can't be called artists and are merely tools that open up new frontiers for exploration. this was the case with the advent of the camera that de-emphasized the realistic paint form and spurred the movement towards modern art in a sense where the artists are more focused on abstract ideas that enable them to express themselves in novel ways. art doesn't even have to be a tangible object but it can be an experience that is created. ultimately, many technological innovations in the past have been branded as having the potential to destroy the existing art culture but they've only given birth to new ideas and imaginings that allow people to express themselves and open up that expression to a wider set of people. the state of ai ethics, june ranking and retrieval systems for presenting content to consumers are geared towards enhancing user satisfaction, as defined by the platform companies which usually entails some form of profit-maximization motive, but they end up reflecting and reinforcing societal biases, disproportionately harming the already marginalized. in fairness techniques applied today, the outcomes are focused on the distributions in the result set and the categorical structures and the process of associating values with the categories is usually de-centered. instead, the authors advocate for a framework that does away with rigid, discrete, and ascribed categories and looks at subjective ones derived from a large pool of diverse individuals. focusing on visual media, this work aims to bust open the problem of underrepresentation of various groups in this set that can render harm on to the groups by deepening social inequities and oppressive world views. given that a lot of the content that people interact with online is governed by automated algorithmic systems, they end up influencing significantly the cultural identities of people. while there are some efforts to apply the notion of diversity to ranking and retrieval systems, they usually look at it from an algorithmic perspective and strip it of the deep cultural and contextual social meanings, instead choosing to reference arbitrary heterogeneity. demographic parity and equalized odds are some examples of this approach that apply the notion of social choice to score the diversity of data. yet, increasing the diversity, say along gender lines, falls into the challenge of getting the question of representation right, especially trying to reduce gender and race into discrete categories that are one-dimensional, third-party and algorithmically ascribed. the authors instead propose sourcing this information from the individuals themselves such that they have the flexibility to determine if they feel sufficiently represented in the result set. this is contrasted with the degree of sensitive attributes that are present in the result sets which is what prior approaches have focused on. from an algorithmic perspective, the authors advocate for the use of a technique called determinantal point process (dpp) that assigns a higher probability score to sets that have higher spreads based on a predefined distance metric. how dpp works is that for items that the individual feels represents them well, the algorithm clusters those points closer together, for points that they feel don't represent them well, it moves those away from the ones that represent them well in the embedding space. optimizing for the triplet loss helps to achieve the goals of doing this separation. but, the proposed framework still leaves open the question of sourcing in a reliable manner these ratings from the individuals about what represents and doesn't represent them well and then encoding them in a manner that is amenable to being learned by an algorithmic system. while large-scale crowdsourcing platforms which are the norm in seeking such ratings in the machine learning world, given that their current structuring precludes raters' identities and perceptions from consideration, this framing becomes particularly challenging in terms of being able to specify the rater pool. nonetheless, the presented framework provides an interesting research direction such that we can obtain more representation and inclusion in the algorithmic systems that we build. in maryland, allstate, an auto insurer, filed with the regulators that the premium rates needed to be updated because they were charging prices that were severely outdated. they suggested that not all insurance premiums be updated at once but instead follow recommendations based on an advanced algorithmic system that would be able to provide deeper insights into the pricing that would be more appropriate for each customer based on the risk that they would file a claim. this was supposed to be based on a constellation of data points collected by the company from a variety of sources. because of the demand from the regulators for documentation supporting their claim, they submitted thousands of pages of documentation that showed how each customer would be affected, a rare window into the pricing model which would otherwise have been veiled under privacy and trade secret arguments. a defense that is used by many companies that utilize discriminatory pricing strategies using data sourced beyond what they should be using to make pricing decisions. according to the investigating journalists, the model boiled down to something quite simple: the more money you had and the higher your willingness to not budge from the company, the more the company would try to squeeze from you in terms of premiums. driven by customer retention and profit motives, the company pushed increases on those that they knew could afford them and would switch to save dollars. but, for those policies that had been overpriced, they offered less than . % in terms of a discount limiting their downsides while increases were not limited, often going up as high as %. while they were unsuccessful in getting this adopted in maryland where it was deemed discriminatory, the model has been approved for use in several states thus showing that opaque models can be deployed not just in high-tech industries but anywhere to provide individually tailored pricing to extract away as much of the consumer surplus as possible based on the purportedly undisclosed willingness of the customer to pay (as would be expressed by their individual demand curves which aren't directly discernible to the producer). furthermore, the insurers aren't mandated to make disclosures of how they are pricing their policies and thus, in places where they should have offered discounts, they've only offered pennies on the dollar, disproportionately impacting the poorest for whom a few hundred dollars a year can mean having sufficient meals on the table. sadly, in the places where their customer retention model was accepted, the regulators declined to answer why they chose to accept it, except in arkansas where they said such pricing schemes aren't discriminatory unless the customers are grouped by attributes like race, color, creed or national origin. this takes a very limited view of what price discrimination is, harkening back to an era where access to big data about the consumer was few and far between. in an era dominated by data brokers that compile thick and rich data profiles on consumers, price discriminaton extends far beyond the basic protected attributes and can be tailored down to specificities of each individual. other companies in retail goods and online learning services have been following this practice of personalized pricing for many years, often defending it as the cost of doing in business when they based the pricing on things like zip codes, which are known proxies for race and paying capacity. personalized pricing is different from dynamic pricing, as seen when booking plane tickets, which is usually based on the timing of purchase whereas here the prices are based on attributes that are specific to the customer which they often don't have any control over. a obama administration report mentioned that, "differential pricing in insurance markets can raise serious fairness concerns, particularly when major risk factors are outside an individual customer's control." why the case of auto insurance is so much more predatory than, say buying stationery supplies, is that it is mandatory in almost all states and not having the vehicle insured can lead to fines, loss of licenses and even incarceration. transport is an essential commodity for people to get themselves to work, children to school and a whole host of other daily activities. in maryland, the regulators had denied the proposal by allstate to utilize their model but in official public records, the claim is marked as "withdrawn" rather than "denied" which the regulators claim makes no internal difference but allstate used this difference to get their proposal past the regulators in several other states. they had only withdrawn their proposal after being denied by the regulators in maryland. the national association of insurance commissioners mentioned that most regulators don't have the right data to be able to meaningfully evaluate rate revision proposals put forth by insurers and this leads to approvals without review in a lot of cases. even the data journalists had to spend a lot of time and effort to discern what the underlying models were and how they worked, essentially summing up that the insurers don't necessarily lie but don't give you all the information unless you know to ask the right set of questions. allstate has defended its price optimization strategy, called complementary group rating (cgr) as being more objective, and based on mathematical rigor, compared to the ad-hoc, judgemental pricing practices that have been followed before, ultimately citing better outcomes for their customers. but, this is a common form of what is called "mathwashing" in the ai ethics domain where discriminatory solutions are pushed as fair under the veneer of mathematical objectivity. regulators in florida said that setting prices based on the "modeled reaction to rate changes" was "unfairly discriminatory." instead of being cost-based, as is advocated by regulators for auto-insurance premiums because they support an essential function, allstate was utilizing a model that was heavily based on the likelihood of the customer sticking with them even in the face of price rises which makes it discriminatory. these customers are price-inelastic and hence don't change their demand much even in the face of dramatic price changes. consumer behaviour when purchasing insurance policies for the most part remains static once they've made a choice, often never changing insurers over the course of their lifetime which leads them to not find the optimal price for themselves. this is mostly a function of the fact that the decisions are loaded with having to judge complex terms and conditions across a variety of providers and the customers are unwilling to have to go through the exercise again and again at short intervals. given the opacity of the pricing models today, it is almost impossible to find out what the appropriate pricing should be for a particular customer and hence the most effective defense is to constantly check for prices from the competitors. but, this unduly places the burden on the shoulders of the consumer. google had announced its ai principles on building systems that are ethical, safe and inclusive, yet as is the case with so many high level principles, it's hard to put them into practice unless there is more granularity and actionable steps that are derived from those principles. here are the principles: • be socially beneficial this talk focused on the second principle and did just that in terms of providing concrete guidance on how to translate this into everyday practice for design and development teams. humans have a history of making product design decisions that are not in line with the needs of everyone. examples of the crash dummy and band-aids mentioned above give some insight into the challenges that users face even when the designers and developers of the products and services don't necessarily have ill intentions. products and services shouldn't be designed such that they perform poorly for people due to aspects of themselves that they can't change. for example, when looking at the open image dataset, searching for images marked with wedding indicate stereotypical western weddings but those from other cultures and parts of the world are not tagged as such. from a data perspective, the need for having more diverse sources of data is evident and the google team made an effort to do this by building an extension to the open images data set by providing users from across the world to snap pictures from their surroundings that captured diversity in many areas of everyday life. this helped to mitigate the problem that a lot of open image data sets have in being geographically skewed. biases can enter at any stage of the ml development pipeline and solutions need to address them at different stages to get the desired results. additionally, the teams working on these solutions need to come from a diversity of backgrounds including ux design, ml, public policy, social sciences and more. so, in the area of fairness by data which is one of the first steps in the ml product lifecycle and it plays a significant role in the rest of the steps of the lifecycle as well since data is used to both train and evaluate a system. google clips was a camera that was designed to automatically find interesting moments and capture them but what was observed was that it did well only for a certain type of family, under particular lighting conditions and poses. this represented a clear bias and the team moved to collect more data that better represented the situations for a variety of families that would be the target audience for the products. quickdraw was a fun game that was built to ask users to supply their quickly sketched hand drawings of various commonplace items like shoes. the aspiration from this was that given that it was open to the world and had a game element to it, it would be utilized by many people from a diversity of backgrounds and hence the data so collected would have sufficient richness to capture the world. on analysis, what they saw was that most users had a very particular concept of a shoe in mind, the sneaker which they sketched and there were very few women's shoes that were submitted. what this example highlighted was that data collection, especially when trying to get diverse samples, requires a very conscious effort that can account for what the actual distribution the system might encounter in the world and make a best effort attempt to capture their nuances. users don't use systems exactly in the way we intend them to, so reflect on who you're able to reach and not reach with your system and how you can check for blindspots, ensure that there is some monitoring for how data changes over time and use these insights to build automated tests for fairness in data. the second approach that can help with fairness in ml systems is looking at measurement and modeling. the benefits of measurement are that it can be tracked over time and you can test for both individuals and groups at scale for fairness. different fairness concerns require different metrics even within the same product. the primary categories of fairness concerns are disproportionate harms and representational harms. the jigsaw api provides a tool where you can input a piece of text and it tells you the level of toxicity of that piece of text. an example in the earlier version of the system rated sentences of the form "i am straight" as not toxic while those like "i am gay" as toxic. so what was needed to be able to see what was causing this and how it could be addressed. by removing the identity token, they monitored for how the prediction changed and then the outcomes from that measurement gave indications on where the data might be biased and how to fix it. an approach can be to use block lists and removals of such tokens so that sentences that are neutral are perceived as such without imposing stereotypes from large corpora of texts. these steps prevent the model from accessing information that can lead to skewed outcomes. but, in certain places we might want to brand the first sentence as toxic if it is used in a derogatory manner against an individual, we require context and nuance to be captured to make that decision. google undertook project respect to capture positive identity associations from around the world as a way of improving data collection and coupled that with active sampling (an algorithmic approach that samples more from the training data set in areas where it is under performing) to improve outputs from the system. another approach is to create synthetic data that mimics the problematic cases and renders them in a neutral context. adversarial training and updated loss functions where one updates a model's loss function to minimize difference in performance between groups of individuals can also be used to get better results. in their updates to the toxicity model, they've seen improvements, but this was based on synthetic data on short sentences and it is still an area of improvement. some of the lessons learned from the experiments carried out by the team: • test early and test often • develop multiple metrics (quantitative and qualitative measures along with user testing is a part of this) for measuring the scale of each problem • possible to take proactive steps in modeling that are aware of production constraints from a design perspective, think about fairness in a more holistic sense and build communication lines between the user and the product. as an example, turkish is a gender neutral language, but when translating to english, sentences take on gender along stereotypes by attributing female to nurse and male to doctor. say we have a sentence, "casey is my friend", given no other information we can't infer what the gender of casey is and hence it is better to present that choice to the user from a design perspective because they have the context and background and can hence make the best decision. without that, no matter how much the model is trained to output fair predictions, they will be erroneous without the explicit context that the user has. lessons learned from the experiments include: • context is key • get information from the user that the model doesn't have and share information with the user that the model has and they don't • how do you design so the user can communicate effectively and have transparency so that can you get the right feedback? • get feedback from a diversity of users • see the different ways in how they provide feedback, not every user can offer feedback in the same way • identify ways to enable multiple experiences • we need more than a theoretical and technical toolkit, there needs to be rich and context-dependent experience putting these lessons into practice, what's important is to have consistent and transparent communication and layering on approaches like datasheets for data sets and model cards for model reporting will aid in highlighting appropriate uses for the system and where it has been tested and warn of potential misuses and where the system hasn't been tested. the paper starts by setting the stage for the well understood problem of building truly ethical, safe and inclusive ai systems that are increasingly leveraging ubiquitous sensors to make predictions on who we are and how we might behave. but, when these systems are deployed in socially contested domains, for example, "normal" behaviour where loosely we can think of normal as that defined by the majority and treating everything else as anomalous, then they don't make value-free judgements and are not amoral in their operations. by viewing the systems as purely technical, the solutions to address these problems are purely technical which is where most of the fairness research has focused and it ignores the context of the people and communities where these systems are used. the paper serves to question the foundations of these systems and to take a deeper look at unstated assumptions in the design and development of the systems. it urges the readers, and the research community at large, to consider this from the perspective of relational ethics. it makes key suggestions: • center the focus of development on those within the community that will face a disproportionate burden or negative consequences from the use of the system • instead of optimizing for prediction, it is more important to think about how we gain a fundamental understanding of why we're getting certain results which might be arising because of historical stereotypes that were captured as a part of the development and design of the system • the systems end up creating a social and political order and then reinforcing it, meaning we should involve a larger systems based approach to designing the systems • given that the terms of bias, fairness, etc evolve over time and what's acceptable at some time becomes unacceptable later, the process asks for constant monitoring, evaluation and iteration of the design to most accurately represent the community in context. at maiei, we've advocated for an interdisciplinary approach leveraging the citizen community spanning a wide cross section to best capture the essence of different issues as closely as possible from those who experience them first hand. placing the development of an ml system in context of the larger social and political order is important and we advocate for taking a systems design approach (see a primer in systems thinking by donna meadows) which creates two benefits: one is that several ignored externalities can be considered and second to involve a wider set of inputs from people who might be affected by the system and who understand how the system will sit in the larger social and political order in which it will be deployed. also, we particularly enjoyed the point on requiring a constant iterative process to the development and deployment of ai systems borrowing from cybersecurity research on how security of the system is not done and over with, requiring constant monitoring and attention to ensure the safety of the system. underrepresentation of disabilities in datasets and how they are processed in nlp tasks is an important area of discussion that is often not studied empirically in the literature that primarily focuses on other demographic groups. there are many consequences of this, especially as it relates to how text related to disabilities is classified and has impacts on how people read, write, and seek information about this. research from the world bank indicates that about billion people have disabilities of some kind and often these are associated with strong negative social connotations. utilizing linguistic expressions as they are used in relation to disabilities and classifying them into recommended and non-recommended uses (following the guidelines from anti-defamation league, acm sigaccess, and ada national network), the authors seek to study how automated systems classify phrases that indicate disability and whether usages split by recommended vs. non-recommended uses make a difference in how these snippets of text are perceived. to quantify the biases in the text classification models, the study uses the method of perturbation. it starts by collecting instances of sentences that have naturally occurring pronouns he and she. then, they replace them with the phrases indicating disabilities as identified in the previous paragraph and compare the change in the classification scores in the original and perturbed sentences. the difference indicates how much of an impact the use of a disability phrase has on the classification process. using the jigsaw tool that gives the toxicity score for sentences, they test these original and perturbed sentences and observe that the change in toxicity is lower for recommended phrases vs. the non-recommended ones. but, when disaggregated by categories, they find that some of them elicit a stronger response than others. given that the primary use of such a model might in the case of online content moderation (especially given that we now have more automated monitoring happening as human staff has been thinning out because of pandemic related closures), there is a high rate of false positives where it can suppress content that is non-toxic and is merely discussing disability or replying to other hate speech that talks about disability. to look at sentiment scores for disability related phrases, the study looks at the popular bert model and adopts a template-based fill-in-the-blank analysis. given a query sentence with a missing word, bert produces a ranked list of words that can fill the blank. using a simple template perturbed with recommended disability phrases, the study then looks at how the predictions from the bert model change when disability phrases are used in the sentence. what is observed is that a large percentage of the words that are predicted by the model have negative sentiment scores associated with them. since bert is used quite widely in many different nlp tasks, such negative sentiment scores can have potentially hidden and unwanted effects on many downstream tasks. such models are trained on large corpora, which are analyzed to build "meaning" representations for words based on co-occurrence metrics, drawing from the idea that "you shall know a word by the company it keeps". the study used the jigsaw unintended bias in toxicity classification challenge dataset which had a mention of a lot of disability phrases. after balancing for different categories and analyzing toxic and non-toxic categories, the authors manually inspected the top terms in each category and found that there were key types: condition, infrastructure, social, linguistic, and treatment. in analyzing the strength of association, the authors found that condition phrases had the strongest association, and was then followed by social phrases that had the next highest strongest association. this included topics like homelessness, drug abuse, and gun violence all of which have negative valences. because these terms are used when discussing disability, it leads to a negative shaping of the way disability phrases are shaped and represented in the nlp tasks. the authors make recommendations for those working on nlp tasks to think about the socio-technical considerations when deploying such systems and to consider the intended, unintended, voluntary, and involuntary impacts on people both directly and indirectly while accounting for long-term impacts and feedback loops. such indiscriminate censoring of content that has disability phrases in them leads to an underrepresentation of people with disabilities in these corpora since they are the ones who tend to use these phrases most often. additionally, it also negatively impacts the people who might search for such content and be led to believe that the prevalence of some of these issues are smaller than they actually are because of this censorship. it also has impacts on reducing the autonomy and dignity of these people which in turn has a larger implication of how social attitudes are shaped. the second wave of algorithmic accountability the article dives into explaining how the rising interest in ensuring fair, transparent, ethical ai systems that are held accountable via various mechanisms advocated by research in legal and technical domains constitutes the "first wave" of algorithmic accountability that challenges existing systems. actions as a part of this wave need to be carried out incessantly with constant vigilance of the deployment of ai systems to avoid negative social outcomes. but, we also need to challenge why we have these systems in the first place, and if they can be replaced with something better. as an example, instead of making the facial recognition systems more inclusive, given the fact that they cause social stratification perhaps they shouldn't be used at all. a great point made by the article is that under the veneer of mainstream economic and ai rationalizations, we obscure broken social systems which ultimately harm society at a more systemic level. the trolley problem is a widely touted ethical and moral dilemma wherein a person is asked to make a split-second choice to save one or more than one life based on a series of scenarios where the people that need to be saved have different characteristics including their jobs, age, gender, race, etc. in recent times, with the imminent arrival of self-driving cars, people have used this problem to highlight the supposed ethical dilemma that the vehicle system might have to grapple with as it drives around. this article makes a point about the facetious nature of this thought experiment as an introduction to ethics for people that will be building and operating such autonomous systems. the primary argument being that it's a contrived situation that is unlikely to arise in the real-world setting and it distracts from other more pressing concerns in ai systems. moral judgments are relativistic and depend on cultural values of the geography where the system is deployed. the nature paper cited in the article showcases the differences in how people respond to this dilemma. there is an eeriness to this whole experimental setup, the article gives some examples on how increasingly automated environments, devoid of human social interactions and language, are replete with the clanging and humming of machines that give an entirely inhuman experience. for most systems, they are going to be a reflection of the biases and stereotypes that we have in the world, captured in the system because of the training and development paradigms of ai systems today. we'd need to make changes and bring in diversity to the development process, creating awareness of ethical concerns, but the trolley problem isn't the most effective way to get started on it. most of us have a nagging feeling that we're being forced into certain choices when we interact with each other on various social media platforms. but, is there a way that we can grasp that more viscerally where such biases and echo chambers are laid out bare for all to see? the article details an innovative game design solution to this problem called monster match that highlights how people are trapped into certain niches on dating websites based on ai-powered systems like collaborative filtering. striking examples of that in practice are how your earlier choices on the platform box you into a certain category based on what the majority think and then recommendations are personalized based on that smaller subset. what was observed was that certain racial inequalities from the real world are amplified on platforms like these where the apps are more interested in keeping users on the platform longer and making money rather than trying to achieve the goal as advertised to their users. more than personal failings of the users, the design of the platform is what causes failures in finding that special someone on the platform. the creators of the solution posit that through more effective design interventions, there is potential for improvement in how digital love is realized, for example, by offering a reset button or having the option to opt-out of the recommendation system and instead relying on random matches. increasingly, what we're going to see is that reliance on design and other mechanisms will yield better ai systems than purely technical approaches in improving socially positive outcomes. the article presents the idea of data feminism which is described as the intersection between feminism and data practices. the use of big data in today's dominant paradigm of supervised machine learning lends itself to large asymmetries that reflect the power imbalances in the real world. the authors of the new book data feminism talk about how data should not just speak for itself, for behind the data, there are a large number of structures and assumptions that bring it to the stage where they are collated into a dataset. they give examples of how sexual harassment numbers, while mandated to be reported to a central agency from college campuses might not be very accurate because they rely on the atmosphere and degree of comfort that those campuses promote which in turn influences how close the reported numbers will be to the actual cases. the gains and losses from the use of big data are not distributed evenly and the losses disproportionately impact the marginalized. there are a number of strategies that can be used to mitigate the harms from such flawed data pipelines. not an exhaustive list but it includes the suggestion of having more exposure for technical students to the social sciences and moving beyond having just a single ethics class as a check mark for having educated the students on ethics. secondly, having more diversity in the people developing and deploying the ai systems would help spot biases by asking the hard questions about both the data and the design of the system. the current covid- numbers might also suffer from similar problems because of how medical systems are structured and how people who don't have insurance might not utilize medical facilities and get themselves tested thus creating an underrepresentation in the data. this recent work highlights how commercial speech recognition systems carry inherent bias because of a lack of representation from diverse demographics in the underlying training datasets. what the researchers found was that even for identical sentences spoken by different racial demographics, the systems had widely differing levels of performance. as an example, for black users, the error rates were much higher than those for white users which probably had something to do with the fact that there is specific vernacular language used by black people which wasn't adequately represented in the training dataset for the commercial systems. this pattern has a tendency to be amplifying in nature, especially for systems that aren't frozen and continue to learn with incoming data. a vicious cycle is born where because of poor performance from the system, black people will be disincentivized from using the system because it takes a greater amount of work to get the system to work for them thus lowering utility. as a consequence of lower use, the systems get fewer training samples from black people thus further aggravating the problem. this leads to amplified exclusionary behavior mirroring existing fractures along racial lines in society. as a starting point, collecting more representative training datasets will aid in mitigating at least some of the problems in these systems. algorithmic bias at this point is a well-recognized problem with many people working on ways to address issues, both from a technical and policy perspective. there is potential to use demographic data to serve better those who face algorithmic discrimination but the use of such data is a challenge because of ethical and legal concerns. primarily, a lot of jurisdictions don't allow for the capture and use of protected class attributes or sensitive data for the fear of their misuse. even within jurisdictions, there is a patchwork of recommendations which makes compliance difficult. even with all this well established, proxy attributes can be used to predict the protected data and in a sense, according to some legislations, they become protected data themselves and it becomes hard to extricate the non-sensitive data from the sensitive data. because of such tensions and the privacy intrusions on data subjects when trying to collect demographic data, it is hard to align and advocate for this collection of data over the other requirements within the organization, especially when other bodies and leadership will look to place privacy and legal compliance over bias concerns. even if there was approval and internal alignment in collecting this demographic data, if there is voluntary provision of this data from data subjects, we run the risk of introducing a systemic bias that obfuscates and mischaracterizes the whole problem. accountability will play a key role in evoking trust from people to share their demographic information and proper use of it will be crucial in ongoing success. potential solutions are to store this data with a non-profit third-party organization that would meter out the data to those who need to use it with the consent of the data subject. to build a better understanding, partnership on ai is adopting a multistakeholder approach leveraging diverse backgrounds, akin to what the montreal ai ethics institute does, that can help inform future solutions that will help to address the problems of algorithmic bias by the judicious use of demographic data. detection and removal of hate speech is particularly problematic, something that has been exacerbated as human content moderators have been scarce in the pandemic related measures as we covered here. so are there advances in nlp that we could leverage to better automate this process? recent work from facebook ai research shows some promise. developing a deeper semantic understanding across more subtle and complex meanings and working across a variety of modalities like text, images and videos will help to more effectively combat the problem of hate speech online. building a pre-trained universal representation of content for integrity problems and improving and utilizing post-level, self-supervised learning to improve whole entity understanding has been key in improving hate speech detection. while there are clear guidelines on hate speech, when it comes to practice there are numerous challenges that arise from multi-modal use, differences in cultures and context, differences in idioms, language, regions, and countries. this poses challenges even for human reviewers who struggle with identifying hate speech accurately. a particularly interesting example shared in the article points out how text which might seem ambiguous when paired with an image to create a meme can take a whole new meaning which is often hard to detect using traditional automated tooling. there are active efforts from malicious entities who craft specific examples with the intention of evading detection which further complicates the problem. then there is the counterspeech problem where a reply to hate speech that contains the same phrasing but is framed to counter the arguments presented can be falsely flagged to be brought down which can have free speech implications. the relative scarcity of examples of hate speech in its various forms in relation to the larger non-hate speech content also poses a challenge for learning, especially when it comes to capturing linguistic and cultural nuances. the new method proposed utilizes focal loss which aims to minimize the impact of easy-to-classify examples on the learning process which is coupled with gradient blending which computes an optimal blend of modalities based on their overfitting patterns. the technique called xlm-r builds on bert by using a new pretraining recipe called roberta that allows training on orders of magnitude more data for longer periods of time. additionally, nlp performance is improved by learning across languages using a single encoder that allows learning to be transferred across languages. since this is a self-supervised method, they can train on large unlabeled datasets and have also found some universal language structures that allow vectors with similar meanings across languages to be closer together. facial recognition technology (frt) continues to get mentions because of the variety of ways that it can be misused across different geographies and contexts. with the most recent case where frt is used to determine criminality, it brings up an interesting discussion around why techniques that have no basis in science, those which have been debunked time and time again keep resurfacing and what we can do to better educate researchers on their moral responsibilities in pursuing such work. the author of this article gives some historical context for where the state of ai ethics, june phrenology started, pointing to the work of francis galton who used the "photographic composite method" to try and determine characteristics of one's personality from a picture. prior, measurements of skull size and other facial features wasn't deemed as a moral issue and the removal of such techniques from discussion was done on the objection that claims around the localization of different brain functions was seen as antithetical to the unity of the soul according to christianity. the authors of the paper that is being discussed in the article saw only empirical concerns with the work that they put forth and didn't see any of the moral shortcomings that were pointed out. additionally, they justified the work as being only for scientific curiosity. they also failed to realize the various statistical biases introduced in the collection of data as to the disparate rates of arrests, and policing, the perception of different people by law enforcement, juries, and judges and historical stereotypes and biases that confound the data that is collected.thus, the labeling itself is hardly value-neutral. more so, the authors of the study framed criminality as an innate characteristic rather than the social and other circumstances that lead to crime. especially when a project like this resurrects class structures and inequities, one must be extra cautious of doing such work on the grounds of "academic curiosity". the author of this article thus articulates that researchers need to take their moral obligations seriously and consider the harm that their work can have on people. while simply branding this as phrenology isn't enough, the author mentions that identifying and highlighting the concerns will lead to more productive conversations. an increase in demand for workers for various delivery services and other gig work has accelerated the adoption of vetting technology like those that are used to do background checks during the hiring process. but, a variety of glitches in the system such as sourcing out-of-date information to make inferences, a lack of redressal mechanisms to make corrections, among others has exposed the flaws in an overreliance on automated systems especially in places where important decisions need to be made that can have a significant impact on a person's life such as employment. checkr, the company that is profiled in this article claims to use ai to scan resumes, compare criminal records, analyze social media accounts, and examine facial expressions during the interview process. during a pandemic, when organizations are short-staffed and need to make rapid decisions, checkr offers a way to streamline the process, but this comes at a cost. two supposed benefits that they offer are that they are able to assess a match between the criminal record and the person being actually concerned, something that can especially be fraught with errors in cases where the person has a common name. secondly, they are also able to correlate and resolve discrepancies in the different terms that may be used for crimes across different jurisdictions. a person spoke about his experience with another company that did these ai-powered background checks utilizing his public social media information and bucketed some of his activity into categories that were too coarse and unrepresentative of his behaviour, especially when such automated judgements are made without a recourse to correct, this can negatively affect the prospects of being hired. another point brought up in the article is that social media companies might themselves be unwilling to tolerate scraping of their users' data to do this sort of vetting which against their terms of use for access to the apis. borrowing from the credit reporting world, the fair credit reporting act in the us offers some insights when it mentions that people need to be provided with a recourse to correct information that is used about them in making a decision and that due consent needs to be obtained prior to utilizing such tools to do a background check. though it doesn't ask for any guarantees of a favorable outcome post a re-evaluation, at least it does offer the individual a bit more agency and control over the process. the toxic potential of youtube's feedback loop on youtube everyday, more than a billion hours of video are watched everyday where approximately % of those are watched by automated systems that then provide recommendations on what videos to watch next for human users in the column on the side. there are more than billion users on the youtube platform so this has a significant impact on what the world watches. guillaume had started to notice a pattern in the recommended videos which tended towards radicalizing, extreme and polarizing content which were underlying the upward trend of watch times on the platform. on raising these concerns with the team, at first there were very few incentives for anyone to address issues of ethics and bias as it related to promoting this type of content because they feared that it would drive down watch time, the key business metric that was being optimized for by the team. so maximizing engagement stood in contrast to the quality of time that was spent on the platform. the vicious feedback loop that it triggered was that as such divisive content performed better, the ai systems promoted this to optimize for engagement and subsequently content creators who saw this kind of content doing better created more of such content in the hopes of doing well on the platform. the proliferation of conspiracy theories, extreme and divisive content thus fed its own demand because of a misguided business metric that ignored social externalities. flat earthers, anti-vaxxers and other such content creators perform well because the people behind this content are a very active community that spend a lot of effort in creating these videos, thus meeting high quality standards and further feeding the toxic loop. content from people like alex jones and trump tended to perform well because of the above reasons as well. guillaume's project algotransparency essentially clicks through video recommendations on youtube to figure out if there are feedback loops. he started this with the hopes of highlighting latent problems in the platforms that continue to persist despite policy changes, for example with youtube attempting to automate the removal of reported and offensive videos. he suggests that the current separation of the policy and engagement algorithm leads to problems like gaming of the platform algorithm by motivated state actors that seek to disrupt democratic processes of a foreign nation. the platforms on the other hand have very few incentives to make changes because the type of content emerging from such activity leads to higher engagement which ultimately boosts their bottom line. guillaume recommends having a combined system that can jointly optimize for both thus helping to minimize problems like the above. a lot of the problems are those of algorithmic amplification rather than content curation. many metrics like number of views, shares, and likes don't capture what needs to be captured. for example, the types of comments, reports filed, and granularity of why those reports are filed. that would allow for a smarter way to combat the spread of such content. however, the use of such explicit signals compared to the more implicit ones like number of views comes at the cost of breaking the seamlessness of the user experience. again we run into the issue of a lack of motivation on part of the companies to do things that might drive down engagement and hurt revenue streams. the talk gives a few more examples of how people figured out ways to circumvent checks around the reporting and automated take-down mechanisms by disabling comments on the videos which could previously be used to identify suspicious content. an overarching recommendation made by guillaume in better managing a more advanced ai system is to understand the underlying metrics that the system is optimizing for and then envision scenarios of what would happen if the system had access to unlimited data. thinking of self-driving cars, an ideal scenario would be to have full conversion of the traffic ecosystem to one that is autonomous leading to fewer deaths but during the transition phase, having the right incentives is key to making a system that will work in favor of social welfare. if one were to imagine a self-driving car that shows ads while the passenger is in the car, it would want to have a longer drive time and would presumably favor longer routes and traffic jams thus creating a sub-optimal scenario overall for the traffic ecosystem. on the other hand, a system that has the goal of getting from a to b as quickly and safely as possible wouldn't fall into such a trap. ultimately, we need to design ai systems such that they help humans flourish overall rather than optimize for monetary incentives which might run counter to the welfare of people at large. the article provides a taxonomy of communities that spread misinformation online and how they differ in their intentions and motivations. subsequently, different strategies can be deployed in countering the disinformation originating from these communities. there isn't a one-size-fits-all solution that would have been the case had the distribution and types of the communities been homogenous. the degree of influence that each of the communities wield is a function of types of capital: economic, social, cultural, time and algorithmic, definitions of which are provided in the article. understanding all these factors is crucial in combating misinformation where different capital forms can be used in different proportions to achieve the desired results, something that will prove to be useful in addressing disinformation around the current covid- situation. the social media platform offers a category of pseudoscience believers which advertisers can purchase and target. according to the markup, this category has million people in it and attempts to purchase ads targeting this category were approved quite swiftly. there isn't any information available as to who has purchased ads targeting this category. the journalist team was able to find at least one advertiser through the "why am i seeing this ad?" option and they reached out to that company to investigate and they found that the company hadn't selected the pseudoscience category but it had been auto-selected by facebook for them. facebook allows users the option to change the interests that are assigned to each user but it is not something that many people know about and actively monitor. some other journalists had also unearthed controversy-related categories that amplified messages and targeted people who might be susceptible to such kind of misinformation. with the ongoing pandemic, misinformation is propagating at a rapid rate and there are many user groups that continue to push conspiracy theories. other concerns around being able to purchase ads to spread misinformation related to potential cures and remedies for the coronavirus continue to be approved. with the human content moderators being asked to stay home (as we covered here) and an increasing reliance on untested automated solutions, it seems that this problem will continue to plague the platform. there isn't a dearth of information available online, one can find confirmatory evidence to almost any viewpoint since the creation and dissemination of information has been democratized by the proliferation of the internet and ease of use of mass-media platforms. so in the deluge of information, what is the key currency that helps us sift through all the noise and identify the signal? this article lays out a well articulated argument for how reputation and being able to assess it is going to be a key skill that people will need to have in order to effectively navigate the information ecosystem effectively. we increasingly rely on other people's judgement of content (akin to how maiei analyzes the ecosystem of ai ethics and presents you with a selection), coupled with algorithmically-mediated distribution channels, we are paradoxically disempowered by more information and paralyzed into inaction and confusion without a reputable source to curate and guide us. there are many conspiracy theories, famous among them that we never visited the moon, flat earth and more recently that g is causing the spread of the coronavirus. as rational readers, we tend to dismiss this as misinformation yet we don't really spend time to analyze the evidence that these people present to support their claims. to a certain extent, our belief that we did land on the moon depends on our trust in nasa and other news agencies that covered this event yet we don't venture to examine the evidence first-hand. more so, with highly specialized knowledge becoming the norm, we don't have the right tools and skills to even be able to analyze the evidence and come to meaningful conclusions. so, we must rely on those who provide us with this information. instead of analyzing the veracity of a piece of information, the focus of a mature digital citizen needs to be on being able to analyze the reputation pathway of that information, evaluate the agendas of the people that are disseminating the information and critically analyze the intentions of the authorities of the sources. how we rank different pieces of information arriving to us via our social networks need to be appraised for this reputation and source tracing, in a sense a second-order epistemology is what we need to prepare people for. in the words of hayek, "civilization rests on the fact that we all benefit from the knowledge that we do not possess." our cyber-world can become civilized by evaluating this knowledge that we don't possess critically when mis/disinformation can spread just as easily as accurate information. a very clear way to describe the problem plaguing the us response to the coronavirus, the phenomenon of truth decay is not something new but has happened many times in the past when trust in key institutions deteriorated and led to a diffused response to the crisis at hand, extending the recovery period beyond what would be necessary if there was a unified response. in the us, the calls for reopening the economy, following guidance on using personal protective equipment, and other recommendations is falling along partisan lines. the key factor causing this is how the facts and data are being presented differently to different audiences. while this epidemic might have been the perfect opportunity for bringing people together, because it affects different segments of society differently, it hasn't been what everyone expected it to be. at the core is the rampant disagreement between different factions on facts and data. this is exacerbated by the blurring of facts and opinions. in places like newsrooms and tv shows, there is an intermingling of the two which makes it harder for everyday consumers to discern fact from opinion. the volume of opinion has gone up compared to facts and people's declining trust in public health authorities and other institutions is also aggravating the problem. put briefly, people are having trouble finding the truth and don't know where to go looking for it. this is also the worst time to be losing trust in experts; with a plethora of information available online, people are feeling unnecessarily empowered that they have the right information, comparable to that of experts. coupled with a penchant for confirming their own beliefs, there is little incentive for people to fact-check and refer to multiple sources of information. when different agencies come out with different recommendations and there are policy changes in the face of new information, something that is expected given that this is an evolving situation, people's trust in these organizations and experts erodes further as they see them as flip-flopping and not knowing what is right. ultimately, effective communication along with a rebuilding of trust will be necessary if we're to emerge from this crisis soon and restore some sense of normalcy. the deepfake detection challenge: synthetic media is any media (text, image, video, audio) that is generated by an ai system or that is synthesized. on the other hand, non-synthetic media is one that is crafted by humans using a panoply of techniques, including tools like photoshop. detecting synthetic media alone doesn't solve the media integrity challenges, especially as the techniques get more sophisticated and trigger an arms race between detection and evasion methods. these methods need to be paired with other existing techniques that fact checkers and journalists already use in determining whether something is authentic or synthesized. there are also pieces of content that are made through low tech manipulations like the nancy pelosi video from which showed her drunk but in reality it was just a slowed down video. other such manipulations include simpler things like putting fake and misleading captions below the true video and people without watching the whole thing are misled into believing what is summarized in the caption. in other cases, the videos might be value neutral or informative even when they are generated so merely detecting something as being generated doesn't suffice. a meaningful way to utilize automated tools is a triaging utility that flags content to be reviewed by humans in a situation where it is not possible to manually review everything on the platform. while tech platforms can build and utilize tools that help them with these tasks, the adjacent possible needs of the larger ecosystem need to be kept in mind such that they can be served at the same time, especially for those actors that are resource-constrained and don't have the technical capabilities to build it themselves. the tools need to be easy to use and shouldn't have high friction such that they become hard to integrate into existing workflows. through open sourcing and licensing, the tools can be made available to the wider ecosystem but it can create the opportunity for adversaries to strengthen their methods as well. this can be countered by responsible disclosure as we'll cover below. for any datasets created as a part of this challenge and otherwise to aid in detection, one must ensure that it captures sufficient diversity in terms of environment and other factors and reflects the type of content that might be encountered in the world. the scoring rules need to be such that they minimize gaming and overfitting and capture the richness of variation that a system might encounter. for example most datasets today in this domain aim to mitigate the spread of pornographic material. they also need to account for the vastly different frequencies of occurrence of authentic and generated content. solutions in this domain involve an inherent tradeoff between pro-social use and potential malicious use for furthering the quality of inauthentic content. the release of tools should be done in a manner that enhances pro-social use while creating deterrents for malicious use. the systems should be stress-tested by doing red team-blue team exercises to enhance robustness because this is inherently an adversarial exercise. such challenges should be held often to encourage updating of techniques because it is a fast evolving domain where progress happens in the span of a few months. results from such detection need to be accessible to the public and stakeholders and explanations for the research findings should be made available alongside the challenge to encourage better understanding by those that are trying to make sense of the digital content. responsible disclosure practices will be crucial in enabling the fight against disinformation to have the right tools while deterring adversaries from utilizing the same tools to gain an advantage. a delayed release mechanism where the code is instantly made available to parties in a non-open source manner while the research and papers are made public with the eventual release of the code as well after a - months delay which would help with the detectors having a headstart over the adversaries. such detection challenges can benefit from extensive multi-stakeholder consultations which require significant time and effort so budget for that while crafting and building such challenges. some of the allocation of prize money should be towards better design from a ux and ui perspective. it should also include explainability criteria so that non-technical users are able to make sense of the interventions and highlights of fake content such as bounding boxes around regions of manipulations. the process of multi-stakeholder input should happen at an early stage allowing for meaningful considerations to be incorporated and dataset design that can be done appropriately to counter bias and fairness problems. finally, strong, trusting relationships are essential to the success of the process and require working together over extended periods to have the hard conversations with each other. it is important to have clear readings ahead of meetings that everyone has to complete so that discussions come from an informed place. spending time scoping and coming to clearer agreement about projects goals and deliverables at the beginning of the process is also vital to success. there is a distinction between misinformation and disinformation -misinformation is the sharing of false information unintentionally where no harm is intended whereas disinformation is false information that is spread intentionally with the aims of causing harm to the consumers. this is also referred to as information pollution and fake news. it has massive implications that have led to real harms for people in many countries with one of the biggest examples being the polarization of views in the us presidential elections. meaningful solutions to this will only emerge when we have researchers from both technical and social sciences backgrounds working together to gain a deeper understanding of the root causes. this isn't a new problem and has existed for a very long time, it's just that with the advent of technology and more people being connected to each other we have a much more rapid dissemination of the false information and modern tools enable the creation of convincing fake images, text and videos, thus amplifying the negative effects. some of the features that help to delve deeper into the study of how mis/disinformation spreads are: • democratization of content creation: with practically anyone now having the ability to create and publish content, information flow has increased dramatically and there are few checks for the veracity of content and even fewer mechanisms to limit the flow rate of information. • rapid news cycle and economic incentives: with content being monetized, there is a strong incentive to distort information to evoke a response from the reader such that they click through and feed the money-generating apparatus. • wide and immediate reach and interactivity: by virtue of almost the entire globe being connected, content quickly reaches the furthest corners of the planet. more so, content creators are also able to, through quantitative experiments, determine what kind of content performs well and then tailor that to feed the needs of people. • organic and intentionally created filter bubbles: the selection of who to follow along with the underlying plumbing of the platforms permits for the creation of echo chambers that further strengthen polarization and do little to encourage people to step out and have a meaningful exchange of ideas. • algorithmic curation and lack of transparency: the inner workings of platforms are shrouded under the veil of ip protections and there is little that is well-known about the manipulative effects of the platforms on the habits of content consumers. • scale and anonymity of online accounts: given the weak checks for identity, people are able to mount "sybil" attacks that leverage this lack of strong identity management and are able to scale their impact through the creation of content and dispersion of content by automated means like bot accounts on the platform. what hasn't changed even with the introduction of technology are the cognitive biases which act as attack surfaces for malicious actors to inject mis/disinformation. this vulnerability is of particular importance in the examination and design of successful interventions to combat the spread of false information. for example, the confirmation bias shows that people are more likely to believe something that conforms with their world-view even if they are presented with overwhelming evidence to the contrary. in the same vein, the backfire effect demonstrates how people who are presented with such contrary evidence further harden their views and get even more polarized thus negating the intention of presenting them with balancing information. in terms of techniques, the adversarial positioning is layered into three tiers with spam bots that push out low-quality content, quasi-bots that have mild human supervision to enhance the quality of content and pure human accounts that aim to build up a large following before embarking on spreading the mis/disinformation. from a structural perspective, the alternate media sources often copy-paste content with source attribution and are tightly clustered together with a marked separation with other mainstream media outlets. on the consumer front, there is research that points to the impact that structural deficiencies in the platforms, say whatsapp where source gets stripped out in sharing information, create not only challenges for researchers trying to study the ecosystem but also exacerbate the local impact effect whereby a consumer trusts things coming from friends much more so than other potentially more credible sources from an upstream perspective. existing efforts to study the ecosystem require a lot of manual effort but there is hope in the sense that there are some tools that help automate the analysis. as an example, we have the hoaxy tool, a tool that collects online mis/disinformation and other articles that are fact-checking versions. their creators find that the fact-checked articles are shared much less than the original article and that curbing bots on a platform has a significant impact. there are some challenges with these tools in the sense that they work well on public platforms like twitter but on closed platforms with limited ability to deploy bots, automation doesn't work really well. additionally, even the metrics that are surfaced need to be interpreted by researchers and it isn't always clear how to do that. the term 'deepfake' originated in and since then a variety of tools have been released such as face face that allow for the creation of reanimations of people to forge identity, something that was alluded to in this paper here on the evolution of fraud. while being able to create such forgeries isn't new, what is new is that this can be done now with a fraction of the effort, democratizing information pollution and casting aspersions on legitimate content as one can always argue something was forged. online tracking of individuals, which is primarily used for serving personalized advertisements and monetizing the user behaviors on websites can also be used to target mis/disinformation in a fine-grained manner. there are a variety of ways this is done through third-party tracking like embedding of widgets to browser cookies and fingerprinting. this can be used to manipulate vulnerable users and leverage sensitive attributes gleaned from online behaviors that give malicious actors more ammunition to target individuals specifically. even when platforms provide some degree of transparency on why users are seeing certain content, the information provided is often vague and doesn't do much to improve the understanding for the user. earlier attempts at using bots used simplistic techniques such as tweeting at certain users and amplifying low-credibility information to give the impression that something has more support than it really does but recent attempts have become more sophisticated: social spambots. these slowly build up credibility within a community and then use that trust to sow disinformation either automatically or in conjunction with a human operator, akin to a cyborg. detection and measurement of this problem is a very real concern and researchers have tried using techniques like social network graph structure, account data and posting metrics, nlp on content and crowdsourcing analysis. from a platform perspective, they can choose to analyze the amount of time spent browsing posts vs. the time spent posting things. there is an arms race between detection and evasion of bot accounts: sometimes even humans aren't able to detect sophisticated social bots. additionally, there are instances where there are positive and beneficial bots such as those that aggregate news or help coordinate disaster response which further complicates the detection challenge. there is also a potential misalignment in incentives since the platforms have an interest in having higher numbers of accounts and activity since it helps boost their valuations while they are the ones that have the maximum amount of information to be able to combat the problem. this problem of curbing the spread of mis/disinformation can be broken down into two parts: enabling detection on the platform level and empowering readers to select the right sources. we need a good definition of what fake news is, one of the most widely accepted definitions is that it is something that is factually false and intentionally misleading. framing a machine learning approach here as an end-to-end task is problematic because it requires large amounts of labelled data and with neural network based approaches, there is little explanation offered which makes downstream tasks harder. so we can approach this by breaking it down into subtasks, one of which is verifying the veracity of information. most current approaches use human fact-checkers but this isn't a scalable approach and automated means using nlp aren't quite proficient at this task yet. there are attempts to break down the problem even further such as using stance detection to see if information presented agrees, disagrees or is unrelated to what is mentioned in the source. other approaches include misleading style detection whereby we try to determine if the style of the article can offer clues to the intent of the author but that is riddled with problems of not having necessarily a strong correlation with a misleading intent because the style may be pandering to hyperpartisanship or even if it is neutral that doesn't mean that it is not misleading. metadata analysis looking at the social graph structure, attributes of the sharer and propagation path of the information can lend some clues as well. while all these attempts have their own challenges and in the arms race framing, there is a constant battle between attack and defense, even if the problem is solved, we still have human cognitive biases which muddle the impacts of these techniques. ux and ui interventions might serve to provide some more information as to combating those. as a counter to the problems encountered in marking content as being "disputed" which leads to the implied truth effect leading to larger negative externalities, an approach is to show "related" articles when something is disputed and then use that as an intervention to link to fact-checking websites like snopes. other in-platform interventions include the change from whatsapp to show "forwarded" next to messages so that people had a bit more insight into the provenance of the message because there was a lot of misinformation that was being spread in private messaging. there are also third-party tools like surfsafe that are able to check images as people are browsing against other websites where they might have appeared and if they haven't appeared in many places, including verified sources, then the user can infer that the image might be doctored. education initiatives by the platform companies for users to spot misinformation are a method to get people to become more savvy. there have also been attempts to assign nutrition labels to sources to list their slant, tone of the article, timeliness of the article and the experience of the author which would allow a user to make a better decision on whether or not to trust an article. platforms have also attempted to limit the spread of mis/disinformation by flagging posts that encourage gaming of the sharing mechanisms on the platform, for example, downweighting posts that are "clickbait". the biggest challenges in the interventions created by the platforms themselves are that they don't provide sufficient information as to make the results scientifically reproducible. given the variety of actors and motivations, the interventions need to be tailored to be able to combat them such as erecting barriers to the rate of transmission of mis/disinformation and demonetization for actors with financial incentives but for state actors, detection and attribution might be more important. along with challenges in defining the problem, one must look at socio-technical solutions because the problem has more than just the technical component, including the problem with human cognitive biases. being an inherently adversarial setting, it is important to see that not all techniques being used by the attackers are sophisticated, some simple techniques when scaled are just as problematic and require attention. but, given that this is constantly evolving, detecting disinformation today doesn't mean that we can do so successfully tomorrow. additionally, disinformation is becoming more personalized, more realistic and more widespread. there is a misalignment in incentives as explored earlier in terms of what the platforms want and what's best for users but also that empowering users to the point of them being just skeptical of everything isn't good either, we need to be able to trigger legitimate and informed trust in the authentic content and dissuade them away from the fake content. among the recommendations proposed by the authors are: being specific about what a particular technological or design intervention means to achieve, breaking down the technological problems into smaller, concrete subproblems that have tractable solutions and then recombining them into the larger pipeline. we must also continue to analyze the state of the ecosystem and tailor defenses such that they can combat the actors at play. additionally, rethinking of the monetary incentives on the platform can help to dissuade some of the financially-motivated actors. educational interventions that focus on building up knowledge so that there is healthy skepticism and learning how to detect markers for bots, the capabilities of technology to create fakes today and discussions in "public squares" on this subject are crucial yet we mustn't place too much of a burden on the end-user that distracts them from their primary task which is interaction with others on the social network. if that happens, people will just abandon the effort. additionally, designing for everyone is crucial, if the interventions, such as installing a browser extension, are complicated, then one can only reach the technically-literate people and everyone else gets left out. on the platform end, apart from the suggestions made above, they should look at the use of design affordances that aid the user in judging the veracity, provenance and other measures to discern legitimate information vs. mis/disinformation. teaming up with external organizations that specialize in ux/ui research will aid in understanding the impacts of the various features within the platform. results from such research efforts need to be made public and accessible to non-technical audiences. proposed solutions also need to be interdisciplinary to have a fuller understanding of the root causes of the problem. also, just as we need tailoring for the different kinds of adversaries, it is important to tailor the interventions to the various user groups who might have different needs and abilities. the paper also makes recommendations for policymakers, most importantly that the work in regulations and legislations be grounded in technical realities that are facing the ecosystem so that they don't undershoot or overshoot the needs for successfully combating mis/disinformation. for users, there are a variety of recommendations provided in the references but notably being aware of our own cognitive biases and having a healthy degree of skepticism and checking information against multiple sources before accepting it as legitimate are the most important ones. disinformation is harmful even during times when we aren't going through large scale changes but this year the us has elections, the once in a decade census, and the covid- pandemic. malicious agents are having a field day disbursing false information, overwhelming people with a mixture of true and untrue pieces of content. the article gives the example of a potential lockdown and people reflecting on their experience with the boston marathon bombings including stockpiling essentials out of panic. this was then uncovered to have originated from conspiracy theorists, but in an environment where contact with the outside world has become limited and local touch points such as speaking with your neighbor have dwindled, we're struggling with our ability to combat this infodemic. social media is playing a critical role in getting information to people but if it's untrue, we end up risking lives especially if it's falsehoods on how to protect yourself from contracting a disease. but wherever there is a challenge lies a corresponding opportunity: social media companies have a unique window into discovering issues that a local population is concerned about and it can, if used effectively, be a source for providing crisis response to those most in need with resources that are specific and meaningful. when it comes to disinformation spreading, there isn't a more opportune time than now with the pandemic raging where people are juggling several things to manage and cope with lifestyle and work changes. this has increased the susceptibility of people to sharing news and other information about how to protect themselves and their loved ones from covid- . as the who has pointed out, we are combating both a pandemic and an infodemic at the same time. what's more important is that this might be the time to test out design and other interventions that might help curb the spread of disinformation. this study highlighted how people shared disinformation more often than they believed its veracity. in other words, when people share content, they care more about what they stand to gain (social reward cues) for sharing the content than whether the content they're sharing is accurate or not. to combat this, the researchers embarked on an experiment to see if asking users to check whether something was true before sharing -a light accuracy nudge, would change their behaviour. while there was a small positive effect in terms of them sharing disinformation less when prompted to check for accuracy, the researchers pointed out that the downstream effects could be much larger because of the amplification effects of how content propagates on social media networks. it points to a potentially interesting solution that might be scalable and could help fight against the spread of disinformation. the who has mentioned the infodemic as being one of the causes that is exacerbating the pandemic as people follow differing advice on what to do. communication by authorities has been persistent but at times ineffective and this article dives into how one could enhance the visibility of credible information by governments, health authorities and scientists so that the negative impacts of the infodemic can be curbed. but, spewing scientific facts from a soapbox alone isn't enough -one is competing with all the other pieces of information and entertainment for attention and that needs to be taken into account. one of the key findings is that starting a dialogue helps more than just sending a one-way communiqué. good science communication relies on the pillars of storytelling, cutting through the jargon and making the knowledge accessible. while online platforms are structured such that polarization is encouraged through the algorithmic underpinnings of the system, we should not only engage when there is something that we disagree with, instead taking the time to amplify good science is equally important. using platform-appropriate messaging, tailoring content to the audience and not squabbling over petty details, especially when they don't make a significant impact on the overall content helps to push out good science signals in the ocean of information pollution. clickbait-style headlines do a great job of hooking in people but when leading people into making a certain assumption and then debunking it, you stand the risk of spreading misinformation if someone doesn't read the whole thing, so in trying to make headlines engaging, it is important to consider what might be some unintended consequences if someone didn't read past the subtitle. science isn't just about the findings, the process only gets completed when we have effective communication to the larger audience of the results, and now more than ever, we need accurate information to overpower the pool of misinformation out there. there is a potential for ai to automate repetitive tasks and free up scarce resources towards more value-added tasks. with a declining business model and tough revenue situations, newsrooms and journalism at large are facing an existential crisis. cutting costs while still keeping up high standards of reporting will require innovation on the part of newsrooms to adapt emerging technologies like ai. for example, routine tasks like reporting on sports scores from games and giving updates on company earnings calls is already something that is being done by ai systems in several newsrooms around the world. this frees up time for journalists to spend their efforts on things like long-form journalism, data-driven and investigative journalism, analysis and feature pieces which require human depth and creativity. machine translation also offers a handy tool making the work of journalists accessible to a wider audience without them having to invest in a lot of resources to do the translations themselves. this also brings up the possibility of smaller and resource-constrained media rooms to use their limited resources for doing in-depth pieces while reaching a wider audience by relying on automation. transcription of audio interviews so that reporters can work on fact-checking and other associated pieces also helps bring stories to fruition faster, which can be a boon in the rapidly changing environment. in the case of evolving situations like the pandemic, there is also the possibility of using ai to parse through large reams of data to find anomalies and alert the journalist of potential areas to cover. complementing human skills is the right way to adopt ai rather than thinking of it as the tool that replaces human labor. the article gives an explanation for why truth labels on stories are not as effective as we might think them to be because of something called the implied truth effect. essentially, it states that when some things are marked as explicitly false and other false stories aren't, people believe them to be true even if they are outright false because of the lack of a label. fact checking all stories manually is an insurmountable task for any platform and the authors of the study mention a few approaches that could potentially mitigate the spread of false content but none are a silver bullet. there is an ongoing and active community that researches how we might more effectively dispel disinformation but it's nascent and with the proliferation of ai systems, more work needs to be done in this arms race of building tools vs increasing capabilities of systems to generate believable fake content. this paper by xiao ma and taylor w. brown puts forth a framework that extends the well studied social exchange theory (set) to study human-ai interactions via mediation mechanisms. the authors make a case for how current research needs more interdisciplinary collaboration between technical and social science scholars stemming from a lack of shared taxonomy that places research in similar areas on separate grounds. they propose two axes of human/ai and micro/macro perspectives to visualize how researchers might better collaborate with each other. additionally, they make a case for how ai agents can mediate transactions between humans and create potential social value as an emergent property of those mediated transactions. as the pace of research progress quickens and more people from different fields engage in work on the societal impacts of ai, it is essential that we build on top of each other's work rather than duplicating efforts. additionally, because of conventional differences in how research is published and publicized in the social sciences and technical domains, there's often a shallowness in the awareness of the latest work being done at the intersection of these two domains. what that means is that we need a shared taxonomy that allows us to better position research such that potential gaps can be discovered and areas of collaboration can be identified. the proposed two axes structure in the paper goes some distance in helping to bridge this current gap. ai systems are becoming ever more pervasive in many aspects of our everyday lives and we definitely see a ton of transactions between humans that are mediated by automated agents. in some scenarios, they lead to net positive for society when they enable discovery of research content faster as might be the case for medical research being done to combat covid- but there might be negative externalities as well where they can lead to echo chambers walling off content from a subset of your network on social media platforms thus polarizing discussions and viewpoints. a better understanding of how these interactions can be engineered to skew positive will be crucial as ai agents get inserted to evermore aspects of our lives, especially ones that will have a significant impact on our lives. we also foresee an emergence of tighter interdisciplinary collaboration that can shed light on these inherently socio-technical issues which don't have unidimensional solutions. with the rising awareness and interest from both social and technical sciences, the emerging work will be both timely and relevant to addressing challenges of the societal impacts of ai head on. as a part of the work being done at maiei we push for each of our undertakings to have an interdisciplinary team as a starting point towards achieving this mandate. most concerns when aiming to use technology within healthcare are along the lines of replacing human labor and the ones that are used in aiding humans to deliver care don't receive as much attention. with the ongoing pandemic, we've seen this come into the spotlight as well and this paper sets the stage for some of the ethical issues to watch out for when thinking about using ai-enabled technologies in the healthcare domain and how to have a discussion that is grounded in concrete moral principles. an argument put forth to counter the use of ai solutions is that they can't "care" deeply enough about the patients and that is a valid concern, after all machines don't have empathy and other abilities required to have an emotional exchange with humans. but, a lot of the care work in hospitals is routine and professionalism asks for maintaining a certain amount of emotional distance in the care relationship. additionally, in places where the ratio of patients/carers is high, they are unable to provide personalized attention and care anyways. in that respect, human-provided care is already "shallow" and the author cites research where care that is too deep actually hurts the carer when the patients become better and move out of their care or die. thus, if this is the argument, then we need to examine more deeply our current care practices. the author also posits that if this is indeed the state of care today, then it is morally less degrading to be distanced by a machine than by a human. in fact, the use of ai to automate routine tasks in the rendering of medical care will actually allow human carers to focus more on the emotional and human aspects of care. good healthcare, supposedly that provided by humans doesn't have firm grounding in the typical literature on the ethics of healthcare and technology. it's more so a list of things not to do but not positive guidance on what this kind of good healthcare looks like. thus, the author takes a view that it must, at the very least, respect, promote and preserve the dignity of the patient. yet, this doesn't provide concrete enough guidance and we can expand on this to say that dignity is a) treating the patient as a human b) treating them as a part of a culture and community and c) treating them as a unique human. to add even more concreteness, the author borrows from the work done in economics on the capabilities approach. this capabilities approach states that having the following capabilities in their entirety is necessary for a human to experience dignity in their living: life, bodily health, bodily integrity, being able to use your senses, imaginations and thoughts, emotions, practical reasoning, affiliation, other species, play, and control over one's environment. this list applied to healthcare gives us a good guideline for what might constitute the kind of healthcare that we deem should be provided by humans, with or without the use of technology. now, the above list might seem too onerous for healthcare professionals but we need to keep in mind that healthcare to achieve a good life as highlighted by the capabilities approach things that are dependent on things beyond just the healthcare professionals and thus, the needs as mentioned above need to be distributed accordingly. the threshold for meeting them should be high but not so high that they are unachievable. principles are only sufficient for giving us some guidance for how to act in difficult situations or ethical dilemmas, they don't determine the outcome because they are only one element in the decision making process. we have to rely on the context of the situation and the moral surroundings of it. the criteria proposed are to be used in moral deliberation and should address whether the criterion applies to the situation, is it satisfied and is it sufficiently met (which is in reference to the threshold). with the use of ai-enabled technology, privacy is usually cited as a major concern but the rendering of care is decidedly a non-private affair, imagine a scenario where the connection facilitated by technology allows for meeting the social and emotional needs of a terminal patient, if there is a situation where the use of technology allows for a better and longer life, then in these cases there can be an argument for sacrificing privacy to meet the needs of the patient. ultimately, a balance needs to be struck between the privacy requirements and other healthcare requirements and privacy should not be blindly touted as the most important requirement. framing the concept of the good life with a view of restoring, maintaining and enhancing the capabilities of the human, one mustn't view eudaimonia as happiness but rather the achievement of the capabilities listed because happiness in this context would fall outside of the domain of ethics. additionally, the author proposes the care experience machine thought experiment that can meet all the care needs of a patient and asks the question if it would be morally wrong to plug in a patient into such a machine. while intuitively it might seem wrong, we struggle when trying to come up with concrete objections. as long as the patient feels cared for and has, from an objective standpoint, their care needs met, it becomes hard to contest how such virtual care might differ from real care that is provided by humans. if one can achieve real capabilities, such as the need to have freedom of movement and interaction with peers outside of their care confinement and virtual reality technology enables that, then the virtual good life enhances the real good life -a distinction that becomes increasingly blurred as technology progresses. another moral argument put forward in determining whether to use technology-assisted healthcare is if it is too paternalistic to determine what is best for the patient. in some cases where the patient is unable to make decisions that restore, maintain and enhance their capabilities, such paternalism might be required but it must always be balanced with other ethical concerns and keeping in mind the capabilities that it enables for the patient. when we talk about felt care and how to evaluate whether care rendered is good or not, we should not only look at the outcomes of the process through which the patient exits the healthcare context but also the realization of some of the capabilities during the healthcare process. to that end, when thinking about felt care, we must also take into account the concept of reciprocity of feeling which is not explicitly defined in the capabilities approach but nonetheless forms an important aspect of experiencing healthcare in a positive manner from the patient's perspective. in conclusion, it is important to have an in-depth evaluation of technology assisted healthcare that is based on moral principles and philosophy, yet resting more on concrete arguments rather than just the high-level abstracts as they provide little practical guidance in evaluating different solutions and how they might be chosen to be used in different contexts. an a priori dismissal of technology in the healthcare domain, even when based on very real concerns like breach of privacy in the use of ai solutions which require a lot of personal data, begets further examination before arriving at a conclusion. the article brings up some interesting points around how we bond with things that are not necessarily sentient and how our emotions are not discriminating when it comes to reducing loneliness and imprinting on inanimate objects. people experience surges in oxytocin as a consequence of such a bonding experience which further reinforces the relationship. this has effects for how increasingly sentient-appearing ai systems might be used to manipulate humans into a "relationship" and potentially steer them towards making purchases, for example via chatbot interfaces by evoking a sense of trust. the article also makes a point about how such behaviour is akin to animism and in a sense forms a response to loneliness in the digital realm, allowing us to continue to hone our empathy skills for where they really matter, with other human beings. with more and more of our conversations being mediated by ai-enabled systems online, it is important to see if robots can be harnessed to affect positive behaviour change in our interactions with each other. while there have been studies that demonstrate the positive impact that robots can have on influencing individual behaviour, this study highlighted how the presence of robots can influence human to human interactions as well. what the researchers found was that having a robot that displayed positive and affective behavior triggered more empathy from humans towards other humans as well as other positive behaviors like listening more and splitting speaking time amongst members more fairly. this is a great demonstration of how robots can be used to improve our interactions with each other. another researcher pointed out that a future direction of interest would be to see how repeated exposure to such robot interactions can influence behaviour and if the effects so produced would be long-lasting even in the absence of the robot to participate in the interactions. since time immemorial there has been a constant tussle between making predictions and being able to understand the underlying fundamentals of how those predictions worked. in the era of big data, those tensions are exacerbated as machines become more inscrutable while making predictions using ever-more higher-dimensional data which lies beyond intuitive understanding of humans. we try to reason through some of that high-dimensional data by utilizing techniques that either reduce the dimensions or visualize into -or -dimensions which by definition will tend to lose some fidelity. bacon had proposed that humans should utilize tools to gain a better understanding of the world around them -until recently where the physical processes of the world matched quite well with our internal representations, this wasn't a big concern. but a growing reliance on tools means that we rely more on what is made possible by the tools as they measure and model the world. statistical intelligence and models often get things right but often they are hostile to reconstruction as to how they arrived at certain predictions. models provide for abstractions of the world and often don't need to follow exactly the real-world equivalents. for example, while the telescope allows us to peer far into the distance, its construction doesn't completely mimic a biological eye. more so, radio telescopes that don't follow optics at all give us a unique view into distant objects which are just not possible if we rely solely on optical observations. illusions present us with a window into the limits of our perceptual systems and bring into focus the tension between the reality and what we think is the reality. "in just the same way that prediction is fundamentally bounded by sensitivity of measurement and the shortcomings of computation, understanding is both enhanced and diminished by the rules of inference." in language models, we've seen that end-to-end deep learning systems that are opaque to our understanding perform quite a bit better than traditional machine translation approaches that rest on decades of linguistic research. this bears some resemblance to searle's chinese room experiment where if we just look at the inputs and the outputs, there isn't a guarantee that the internal workings of the system work in exactly the way we expect them to. "the most successful forms of future knowledge will be those that harmonise the human dream of understanding with the increasingly obscure echoes of the machine." abhishek gupta (founder of the montreal ai ethics institute) was featured in fortune where he detailed his views on ai safety concerns in rl systems, the "token human" problem, and automation surprise among other points to pay attention to when developing and deploying ai systems. especially in situations where these systems are going to be used in critical scenarios, humans operating in tandem with these systems and utilizing them as decision inputs need to gain a deeper understanding of the inherent probabilistic nature of the predictions from these systems and make decisions that take it into consideration rather than blindly trusting recommendations from an ai system because they have been accurate in % of the scenarios. with increasing capabilities of ai systems, and established research that demonstrates how human-machine combinations operate better than each in isolation, this paper presents a timely discussion on how we can craft better coordination between human and machine agents with the aim of arriving at the best possible understanding between them. this will enhance trust levels between the agents and it starts with having effective communication. the paper discusses how framing this from a human-computer interaction (hci) approach will lead to achieving this goal. this is framed with intention-, context-, and cognition-awareness being the critical elements which would be responsible for the success of effective communication between human and machine agents. intelligibility is a notion that is worked on by a lot of people in the technical community who seek to shed a light on the inner workings of systems that are becoming more and more complex. especially in the domains of medicine, warfare, credit allocation, judicial systems and other areas where they have the potential to impact human lives in significant ways, we seek to create explanations that might illuminate how the system works and address potential issues of bias and fairness. however, there is a large problem in the current approach in the sense that there isn't enough being done to meet the needs of a diverse set of stakeholders who require different kinds of intelligibility that is understandable to them and helps them meet their needs and goals. one might argue that a deeply technical explanation ought to suffice and others kinds of explanations might be derived from that but it makes them inaccessible to those who can't parse well the technical details, often those who are the most impacted by such systems. the paper offers a framework to situate the different kinds of explanations such that they are able to meet the stakeholders where they are at and provide explanations that not only help them meet their needs but ultimately engender a higher level of trust from them by highlighting better both the capabilities and limitations of the systems. ai value alignment is typically mentioned in the context of long-term agi systems but this also applies to the narrow ai systems that we have today. optimizing for the wrong metric leads to things like unrealistic and penalizing work schedules, hacking attention on video platforms, charging more money from poorer people to boost the bottomline and other unintended consequences. yet, there are attempts by product design and development teams to capture human well-being as metrics to optimize for. "how does someone feel about how their life is going?" is a pretty powerful question that gives a surprising amount of insight into well-being distanced from what might be influencing them at the moment because it makes them pause and reflect on what matters to them. but, capturing this subjective sentiment as a metric in an inherently quantitative world of algorithms is unsurprisingly littered with mines. a study conducted by facebook and supported by external efforts found that passive use of social media triggered feelings of ennui and envy while active use including interactions with others on the network led to more positive feelings. utilizing this as a guiding light, facebook strove to make an update that would be more geared towards enabling meaningful engagement rather than simply measuring the number of likes, shares and comments. they used user panels as an input source to determine what constituted meaningful interactions on the platform and tried to distill this into the well-being metrics. yet, this suffered from several flaws, namely that the evaluation of this change was not publicly available and was based on the prior work comparing passive vs. active use of social media. this idea of well-being optimization extends to algorithmic systems beyond social media platforms, for example, with how gig work might be better distributed on a platform such that income fluctuations are minimized for workers who rely on it as a primary source of earnings. another place could be amending product recommendations to also capture environmental impacts such that consumers can incorporate that into their purchasing decisions apart from just the best price deals that they can find. participatory design is going to be a key factor in the development of these metrics; especially given the philosophy of "nothing about us without us" as a north star to ensure that there isn't an inherent bias in how well-being is optimized for. often, we'll find that proxies will need to stand in for actual well-being in which case it is important to ensure that the metrics are not static and are revised in consultation with users at periodic intervals. tapping into the process of double loop learning, an organization can not only optimize for value towards its shareholders but also towards all its other stakeholders. while purely quantitative metrics have obvious limitations when trying to capture something that is inherently subjective and qualitative, we need to attempt something in order to start and iterate as we go along. in a world where increasing automation of cognitive labor due to ai-enabled systems will dramatically change the future of labor, it is now more important than ever that we start to move away from a traditional mindset when it comes to education. while universities in the previous century rightly provided a great value in preparing students for jobs, as jobs being bundle of tasks and those tasks rapidly changing with some being automated, we need to focus more on training students for things that will take much longer to automate, for example working with other humans, creative and critical thinking and driving innovation based on insights and aggregating knowledge across a diversity of fields. lifelong learning serves as a useful model that can impart some of these skills by breaking up education into modules that can be taken on an "at will" basis allowing people to continuously update their skills as the landscape changes. students will go in and out of universities over many years which will bring a diversity of experiences to the student body, encouraging a more close alignment with actual skills as needed in the market. while this will pose significant challenges to the university system, innovations like online learning and certifications based on replenishment of skills like in medicine could overcome some of those challenges for the education ecosystem. individual actions are powerful, they create bottom-up change and empower advocates with the ability to catalyze larger change. but, when we look at products and services with millions of users where designs that are inherently unethical become part of everyday practice and are met with a slight shrug of the shoulders resigning to our fates, we need a more systematized approach that is standardized and widely practiced. ethics in ai is having its moment in the spotlight with people giving talks and conferences focusing on it as a core theme yet it falls short of putting the espoused principles into practice. more often than not, you have individuals, rank and file employees who go out of their way, often on personal time, to advocate for the use of ethical, safety and inclusivity in the design of systems, sometimes even at the risk of their employment. while such efforts are laudable, they lack widespread impact and awareness that is necessary to move the needle, we need leaders at the top who can affect sweeping changes to adopt these guidelines not just in letter but in spirit and then transmit them as actionable policies to their workforce. it needs to arrive at a point where people advocating for this change don't need to do so from a place of moral and ethical obligations which customers can dispute but from a place of policy decisions which force disengagement for non-adherence to these policies. we need to move from talk to action not just at a micro but at a macro scale. the wrong kind of ai? artificial intelligence and the future of labor demand do increasing efficiency and social benefits stand in exclusion to each other when it comes to automation technology? with the development of the "right" kind of ai, this doesn't have to be the case. ai is a general purpose technology that has wide applications and being offered as a platform, it allows others to build advanced capabilities on top of existing systems creating an increasingly powerful abstraction layer with every layer. according to the standard approach in economics, a rise in productivity is often accompanied with an increase in the demand for labor and hence a rise in wages along with standards of living. but, when there is a decoupling between the deployment of technology and the associated productivity accrual, it can lead to situations where we see more output but not a corresponding increase in the standards of living as the benefits accrue to capital owners rather than wage-earning labor which is distanced from the production lifecycle. this unevenness in the distribution of gains causes losses of jobs in one sector while increasing productivity in others, often masking effects at an aggregate level through the use of purely economic focused indicators like gdp growth rates. the authors expound on how the current wave of automation is highly focused on labor replacement driven by a number of factors. when this comes in the form of automation that is just as good as labor but not significantly better, we get the negative effects as mentioned before, that is a replacement of labor without substantial increases in the standards of living. most of these effects are felt by those in the lower rungs of the socio-economic ladder where they don't have alternate avenues for employment and ascent. a common message is that we just have to wait as we did in the case of the industrial revolution and new jobs will emerge that we couldn't have envisioned which will continue to fuel economic prosperity for all. this is an egregious comparison that overlooks that the current wave of automation is not creating simultaneous advances in technology that allow the emergence of a new class of tasks within jobs for which humans are well-suited. instead, it's increasingly moving into domains that were strongholds of human skills that are not easily repeatable or reproducible. what we saw in the past was an avenue made available to workers to move out of low skill tasks in agriculture to higher skill tasks in manufacturing and services. some examples of how ai development can be done the "right" way to create social benefits: • in education, we haven't seen a significant shift in the way things are done for close to years. it has been shown that different students have different learning styles and can benefit from personalized attention. while it is infeasible to do so in a traditional classroom model, ai offers the potential to track metrics on how the student interacts with different material, where they make mistakes, etc., offering insights to educators on how to deliver a better educational experience. this is accompanied by an increase in the demand for teachers who can deliver different teaching styles to match the learning styles of students and create better outcomes. • a similar argument can be made in the field of healthcare where ai systems can allow medical staff to spend more time with patients offering them personalized attention for longer while removing the need for onerous and drudgery in the form of menial tasks like data entry. • industrial robots are being used to automate the manufacturing line often cordoning off humans for safety reasons. humans are also decoupled from the process because of a difference in the level of precision that machines can achieve compared to humans. but we can get the best of both worlds by combining human flexibility and critical thinking to address problems in an uncertain environment with the high degree of preciseness of machines by creating novel interfaces, for example, by using augmented reality. an important distinction that the authors point out in the above examples is that they are not merely the job of enablers, humans that are used to train machines in a transitory fashion, but those that genuinely complement machine skills. there are market failures when it comes to innovation and in the past, governments have helped mitigate those failures via public-private partnerships that led to the creation of fundamental technologies like the internet. but, this has decreased over the past two decades because of smaller amount of resources being invested by the government in basic research and the technology revolution becoming centered in silicon valley which has a core focus on automation that replaces labor, and with that bias and their funding of university and academic studies, they are causing the best minds of the next generation to have the same mindset. markets are also known to struggle when there are competing paradigms and once one pulls ahead, it is hard to switch to another paradigm even if it might be more productive thus leading to an entrenchment of the dominant paradigm. the social opportunity cost of replacing labor is lower than the cost of labor, pushing the ecosystem towards labor replacing automation. without accounting for these externalities, the ecosystem has little incentive to move towards the right kind of ai. this is exacerbated by tax incentives imposing costs on labor while providing a break on the use of capital. additionally, areas where the right kind of ai can be developed don't necessarily fall into the cool domain of research and thus aren't prioritized by the research and development community. let's suppose large advances were made in ai for health care. this would require accompanying retraining of support staff aside from doctors, and the high level bodies regulating the field would impose resistance, thus slowing down the adoption of this kind of innovation. ultimately, we need to lean on a holistic understanding of the way automation is going to impact the labor market and it will require human ingenuity to shape the social and economic ecosystems such that they create net positive benefits that are as widely distributed as possible. relying on the market to figure this out on its own is a recipe for failure. the labor impacts of ai require nuance in discussion rather than fear-mongering that veers between over-hyping and downplaying concerns when the truth lies somewhere in the middle. in the current paradigm of supervised machine learning, ai systems need a lot of data before becoming effective at their automation tasks. the bottom rung of this ladder consists of robotic process automation that merely tracks how humans perform a task (say, by tracking the clicks of humans as they go about their work) and ape them step by step for simple tasks like copying and pasting data across different places. the article gives an example of an organization that was able to minimize churn in their employees by more than half because of a reduction in data drudgery tasks like copying and pasting data across different systems to meet legal and compliance obligations. economists point out that white-collar jobs like these and those that are middle-tier in terms of skills that require little training are at the highest risk of automation. while we're still ways away from ai taking up all jobs, there is a slow march starting from automating the most menial tasks, potentially freeing us up to do more value-added work. with a rising number of people relying on social media for the news, the potential for hateful content and misinformation spreading has never been higher. content moderation on platforms like facebook and youtube is still largely a human endeavor where there are legions of contract workers that spend their days reviewing whether different pieces of content meet the community guidelines of the platform. due to the spread of the pandemic and offices closing down, a lot of these workers have been asked to leave (they can't do this work from home as the platform companies explained because of privacy and legal reasons), leaving the platforms in the hands of automated systems. the efficacy of these systems has always been questionable and as some examples in the article point out, they've run amok taking down innocuous and harmful content alike, seeming to not have very fine-tuned abilities. the problem with this is that legitimate sources of information, especially on subjects like covid- , are being discouraged because of their content being taken down and having to go through laborious review processes to have their content be approved again. while this is the perfect opportunity to experiment with the potential of using automated systems for content moderation given the traumatic experience that humans have to undergo as a part of this job, the chasms that need to be bridged still remain large between what humans have to offer and what the machines are capable of doing at the moment. workplace time management and accounting are common practices but for those of us who work in places where schedules are determined by automated systems, they can have many negative consequences, a lot of which could be avoided if employers paid more attention to the needs of their employees. clopening is the notion where an employee working at a retail location is asked to not only close the location at the end of the day but also arrive early the next day to open the location. this among other practices like breaks that are scheduled down to the minute and on-call scheduling (something that was only present in the realm of emergency services) wreak havoc on the physical and mental health of employees. in fact, employees surveyed have even expressed willingness to take pay cuts to have greater control over their schedules. in some places with ad-hoc scheduling, employees are forced to be spontaneous with their home responsibilities like taking care of their children, errands, etc. while some employees try to swap shifts with each other, often even that becomes hard to do because others are also in similar situations. some systems track customer demand and reduce pay for hours worked tied to that leading to added uncertainty even with their paychecks. during rush seasons, employees might be scheduled for back to back shifts ignoring their needs to be with families, something that a human manager could empathize with and accommodate for. companies supplying this kind of software hide behind the disclaimer that they don't take responsibility for how their customers use these systems which are often black-box and inscrutable to human analysis. this is a worrying trend that hurts those who are marginalized and those who require support when juggling several jobs just to make ends meet. relying on automation doesn't absolve the employers of their responsibility towards their employees. while the dominant form of discussion around the impacts of automation have been that it will cause job losses, this work from kevin scott offers a different lens into how jobs might be created by ai in the rust belt in the us where automation and outsourcing have been gradually stripping away jobs. examples abound of how entrepreneurs and small business owners with an innovative mindset have been able to leverage advances in ai, coupling them with human labor to repurpose their businesses from areas that are no longer feasible to being profitable. precision farming utilizes things like drones with computer vision capabilities to detect hotspots with pests, disease, etc. in the big farms that would otherwise require extensive manual labor which would limit the size of the farms. self-driving tractors and other automated tools also augment human effort to scale operations. the farm owners though highlight the opaqueness and complexity of such systems which make them hard to debug and fix themselves which sometimes takes away from the gains. on the other hand, in places like nursing homes that get reimbursed based on the resource utilization rates by their residents, tools using ai can help minimize human effort in compiling data and let them spend more of their effort on human contact which is not something that ai succeeds on yet. while automation has progressed rapidly, the gains haven't been distributed equally. in other places where old factories were shut down, some of them are now being utilized by ingenious entrepreneurs to bring back manufacturing jobs that cleverly combine human labor with automation to deliver high-quality, custom products to large enterprises. thus, there will be job losses from automation but the onus lies with us in steering the progress of ai towards economic and ethical values that we believe in. the state of ai ethics, june what's next for ai ethics, policy, and governance? a global overview in this ongoing piece of work, the authors present the landscape of ethical documents that has been flooded with guidelines and recommendations coming from a variety of sectors including government, private organizations, and ngos. starting with a dive into the stated and unstated motivations behind the documents, the reader is provided with a systematic breakdown of the different documents prefaced with the caveat that where the motivations are not made explicit, one can only make a best guess based on the source of origin and people involved in its creation. the majority of the documents from the governmental agencies were from the global north and western countries which led to a homogeneity of issues that were tackled and the recommendations often touted areas of interest that were specific to their industry and economical make up. this left research and development areas of interest like tourism and agriculture largely ignored which continue to play a significant role in the global south. the documents from the former category were also starkly focused on gaining a competitive edge, which was often stated explicitly, with a potential underlying goal of attracting scarce, high-quality ai talent which could trigger brain drain from other countries that are not currently the dominant players in the ai ecosystem. often, they were also positioning themselves to gain an edge and define a niche for themselves, especially in the case of countries that are non-dominant and thus overemphasizing the benefits while downplaying certain negative consequences that might arise from widespread ai use, like the displacement and replacement of labor. for documents from private organizations, they mostly focused on self and collective regulation in an effort to pre-empt stringent regulations from taking effect. they also strove to tout the economic benefits to society at large as a way of de-emphasizing the unintended consequences. a similar dynamic as in the case of government documents played out here where the interests of startups and small and medium sized businesses were ignored and certain mechanisms proposed would be too onerous for such smaller organizations to implement this further entrenching the competitive advantage of larger firms. the ngos on the other hand seemed to have the largest diversity both in terms of the participatory process of creation and the scope, granularity, and breadth of issues covered which gave technical, ethical, and policy implementation details making them actionable. some documents like the montreal declaration for responsible ai were built through an extensive public consultation process and consisted of an iterative and ongoing approach that the montreal ai ethics institute contributed to as well. the ieee document leverages a more formal standards making approach and consists of experts and concerned citizens from different parts of the world contributing to its creation and ongoing updating. the social motivation is clearly oriented towards creating larger societal benefits, internal motivation is geared towards bringing about change in the organizational structure, external strategic motivation is often towards creating a sort of signaling to showcase leadership in the domain and also interventional to shape policy making to match the interests of those organizations. judging whether a document has been successful is complicated by a couple of factors: discerning what the motivations and the goals for the document were, and the fact that most implementations and use of the documents is done in a pick-and-choose manner complicating attribution and weight allocation to specific documents. some create internal impacts in terms of adoption of new tools, change in governance, etc., while external impacts often relate to changes in policy and regulations made by different agencies. an example would be how the stem education system needs to be overhauled to better prepare for the future of work. some other impacts include altering customer perception of the organization as one that is a responsible organization which can ultimately help them differentiate themselves. at present, we believe that this proliferation of ethics documents represents a healthy ecosystem which promotes a diversity of viewpoints and helps to raise a variety of issues and suggestions for potential solutions. while there is a complication caused by so many documents which can overwhelm people looking to find the right set of guidelines that helps them meet their needs, efforts such as the study being done in this paper amongst other efforts can act as guideposts to lead people to a smaller subset from which they can pick and choose the guidelines that are most relevant to them. the white paper starts by highlighting the existing tensions in the definitions of ai as there are many parties working on advancing definitions that meet their needs. one of the most commonly accepted ones frames ai systems as those that are able to adapt their behavior in response to interactions with the world independent of human control. also, another popular framing is that ai is something that mimics human intelligence and is constantly shifting as a goal post as what was once perceived as ai, when sufficiently integrated and accepted in society becomes everyday technology. one thing that really stands out in the definitions section is how ethics are defined, which is a departure from a lot of other such documents. the authors talk about ethics as a set of principles of morality where morality is an assemblage of rules and values that guide human behavior and principles for evaluating that behavior. they take a neutral stand on the definition, a far cry from framing it as a positive inclination of human conduct to allow for diversity in embedding ethics into ai systems that are in concordance with local context and culture. ai systems present many advantages which most readers are now already familiar given the ubiquity of ai benefits as touted in everyday media. one of the risks of ai-enabled automation is the potential loss of jobs, the authors make a comparison with some historical cases highlighting how some tasks and jobs were eliminated creating new jobs while some were permanently lost. many reports give varying estimates for the labor impacts and there isn't yet a clear consensus on the actual impacts that this might have on the economy. from a liability perspective, there is still debate as to how to account for the damage that might be caused to human life, health and property by such systems. in a strict product liability regime like europe, there might be some guidance on how to account for this, but most regimes don't have specific liability allocations for independent events and decisions meaning users face coverage gaps that can expose them to significant harms. by virtue of the complexity of deep learning systems, their internal representations are not human-understandable and hence lack transparency, which is also called the black box effect. this is harmful because it erodes trust from the user perspective, among other negative impacts. social relations are altered as more and more human interactions are mediated and governed by machines. we see examples of that in how our newsfeeds are curated, toys that children play with, and robots taking care of the elderly. this decreased human contact, along with the increasing capability of machine systems, examples of which we see in how disinformation spreads, will tax humans in constantly having to evaluate their interactions for authenticity or worse, relegation of control to machines to the point of apathy. since the current dominant paradigm in machine learning is that of supervised machine learning, access to data is crucial to the success of the systems and in the state of ai ethics, june cases where there aren't sufficient protections in place for personal data, it can lead to severe privacy abuses. self determination theory states that autonomy of humans is important for proper functioning and fulfillment, so an overreliance on ai systems to do our work can lead to loss of personal autonomy, which can lead to a sense of digital helplessness. digital dementia is the cognitive equivalent where relying on devices for things like storing phone numbers, looking up information, etc. will over time lead to a decline in cognitive abilities. the echo chamber effect is fairly well studied, owing to the successful use of ai technologies to promulgate disinformation to the masses during the us presidential elections of . due to the easy scalability of the systems, the negative effects are multiplicative in nature and have the potential to become run-away problems. given that ai systems are built on top of existing software and hardware, errors in the underlying systems can still cause failures at the level of ai systems. more so, given the statistical nature of ai systems, behaviour is inherently stochastic and that can cause some variability in response which is difficult to account for. flash crashes in the financial markets are an example of this. for critical systems that require safety and robustness, there is a lot that needs to be done for ensuring reliability. building ethics compliance by design can take a bottom-up or top-down approach, the risk with a bottom-up approach is that by observing examples of human behaviour and extracting ethics principles from that, instead of getting things that are good for people, you get what's common. hence, the report advocates for a top-down approach where desired ethical behavior is directly programmed into the system. casuistic approaches to embedding ethics into systems would work well in situations where there are simple scenarios, such as in healthcare when the patient has a clear directive of do-not-resuscitate. but, in cases where there isn't one and where it is not possible to seek a directive from the patient, such an approach can fail and it requires that programmers either in a top-down manner embed rules or the system learns from examples. though, in a high-stakes situation like healthcare, it might not be ideal to rely on learning from examples because of skewed and limited numbers of samples. a dogmatic approach would also be ill-advised where a system might slavishly follow a particular school of ethical beliefs which might lead it to make decisions that might be unethical in certain scenarios. ethicists utilize several schools of thought when addressing a particular situation to arrive at a balanced decision. it will be crucial to consult with a diversity of stakeholders such that the nuances of different situations can be captured well. the wef is working with partners to come up with an "ethical switch" that will imbue flexibility on the system such that it can operate with different schools of thought based on the demands of the situation.the report also proposes the potential of utilizing a guardian ai system that can monitor other ai systems to check for compliance with different sets of ai principles. given that ai systems operate in a larger socio-technical ecosystem, we need to tap into fields like law and policy making to come up with effective ways of integrating ethics into ai systems, part of which can involve creating binding legal agreements that tie in with economic incentives.while policy making and law are often seen as slow to adapt to fast changing technology, there are a variety of benefits to be had, for example higher customer trust for services that have adherence to stringent regulations regarding privacy and data protection. this can serve to be a competitive advantage and counter some of the negative innovation barriers imposed by regulations. another point of concern with these instruments is that they are limited by geography which leads to a patchwork of regulation that might apply on a product or service that spans several jurisdictions. some other instruments to consider include: self-regulation, certification, bilateral investments treaties, contractual law, soft law, agile governance, etc. the report highlights the initiatives by ieee and wef in creating standards documents. the public sector through its enormous spending power can enhance the widespread adoption of these standards such as by utilizing them in procurement for ai systems that are used to interact with and serve their citizens. the report also advocates for the creation of an ethics board or chief values officer as a way of enhancing the adoption of ethical principles in the development of products and services. for vulnerable segments of the population, for example children, there need to be higher standards of data protection and transparency that can help parents make informed decisions about which ai toys to bring into their homes. regulators might play an added role of enforcing certain ethics principles as part of their responsibility. there also needs to be broader education for ai ethics for people that are in technical roles. given that there are many negative applications of ai, it shouldn't preclude us from using ai systems for positive use cases, a risk assessment and prudent evaluation prior to use is a meaningful compromise. that said, there are certain scenarios where ai shouldn't be used at all and that can be surfaced through the risk or impact assessment process. there is a diversity of ethical principles that have been put forth by various organizations, most of which are in some degree of accordance with local laws, regulations, and value sets. yet, they share certain universal principles across all of them. one concern highlighted by the report is on the subject of how even widely accepted and stated principles of human rights can be controversial when translated into specific mandates for an ai system. when looking at ai-enabled toys as an example, while they have a lot of privacy and surveillance related issues, in countries where there isn't adequate access to education, these toys could be seen as a medium to impart precision education and increase literacy rates. thus, the job of the regulator becomes harder in terms of figuring out how to balance the positive and negative impacts of any ai product. a lot of it depends on the context and surrounding socio-economic system as well. given the diversity in ethical values and needs across communities, an approach might be for these groups to develop and apply non-binding certifications that indicate whether a product meets the ethical and value system of that community. since there isn't a one size fits all model that works, we should aim to have a graded governance structure that has instruments in line with the risk and severity profile of the applications. regulation in the field of ai thus presents a tough challenge, especially given the interrelatedness of each of the factors. the decisions need to be made in light of various competing and sometimes contradictory fundamental values. given the rapid pace of technological advances, the regulatory framework needs to be agile and have a strong integration into the product development lifecycle. the regulatory approach needs to be such that it balances speed so that potential harms are mitigated with overzealousness that might lead to ineffective regulations that stifle innovation and don't really understand well the technology in question. ai is currently enjoying a summer of envy after having gone through a couple of winters of disenchantment, with massive interest and investments from researchers, industry and everyone else there are many uses of ai to create societal benefits but they aren't without their socio-ethical implications. ai systems are prone to biases, unfairness and adversarial attacks on their robustness among other real-world deployment concerns. even when ethical ai systems are deployed for fostering social good, there are risks that they cater to only a particular group to the detriment of others. moral relativism would argue for a diversity of definitions as to what constitutes good ai which would depend on the time, context, culture and more. this would be reflected in market decisions by consumers who choose products and services that align with their moral principles but it poses a challenge for those trying to create public governance frameworks for these systems. this dilemma would push regulators towards moral objectivism which would try and advocate for a single set of values that are universal making the process of coming up with a shared governance framework easier. a consensus based approach utilized in crafting the ec trustworthy ai guidelines settled on human rights as something that everyone can get on board with. given the ubiquity in the applicability of human rights, especially with their legal enshrinement in various charters and constitutions, they serve as a foundation to create legal, ethical and robust ai as highlighted in the ec trustworthy ai guidelines. stressing on the importance of protecting human rights, the guidelines advocate for a trustworthy ai assessment in case that an ai system has the potential to negatively impact the human rights of an individual, much like the better established data protection impact assessment requirement under the gdpr. additional requirements are imposed in terms of ex-ante oversight, traceability, auditability, stakeholder consultations, and mechanisms of redress in case of mistakes, harms or other infringements. the universal applicability of human rights and their legal enshrinement also renders the benefits of established institutions like courts whose function is to monitor and enforce these rights without prejudice across the populace. but they don't stand uncontested when it comes to building good ai systems; they are often seen as too western, individualistic, narrow in scope and abstract to be concrete enough for developers and designers of these systems. some arguments against this are that they go against the plurality of value sets and are a continued form of former imperialism imposing a specific set of values in a hegemonic manner. but, this can be rebutted by the signing of the original universal declaration of human rights that was done by nations across the world in an international diplomatic manner. however, even despite numerous infringements, there is a normative justification that they ought to be universal and enforced. while human rights might be branded as too individual focused, potentially creating a tension between protecting the rights of individuals to the detriment of societal good, this is a weak argument because stronger protection of individual rights has knock-on social benefits as free, healthy and well-educated (among other individual benefits) creates a net positive for society as these individuals are better aware and more willing to be concerned about societal good. while there are some exceptions to the absolute nature of human rights, most are well balanced in terms of providing for the societal good and the good of others while enforcing protections of those rights. given the long history of enforcement and exercises in balancing these rights in legal instruments, there is a rich jurisprudence on which people can rely when trying to assess ai systems. while human rights create a social contract between the individual and the state, putting obligations on the state towards the individual but some argue that they don't apply horizontally between individuals and between an individual and a private corporation. but, increasingly that's not the case as we see many examples where the state intervenes and enforces these rights and obligations between an individual and a private corporation as this falls in its mandate to protect rights within its jurisdiction. the abstract nature of human rights, as is the case with any set of principles rather than rules, allows them to be applied to a diversity of situations and to hitherto unseen situations as well. but, they rely on an ad-hoc interpretation when enforcing them and are thus subjective in nature and might lead to uneven enforcement across different cases. under the eu, this margin of appreciation is often criticized in the sense that it leads to weakening and twisting of different principles but this deferment to those who are closer to the case actually allows for a nuanced approach which would be lost otherwise. on the other hand we have rules which are much more concrete formulations and thus have a rigid definition and limited applicability which allows for uniformity but it suffers from inflexibility in the face of novel scenarios. yet, both rules and principles are complementary approaches and often the exercise of principles over time leads to their concretization into rules under existing and novel legal instruments. while human rights can thus provide a normative, overarching direction for the governance of ai systems, they don't provide the actual constituents for an applicable ai governance framework. for those that come from a non-legal background, often technical developer and designers of ai systems, it is essential that they understand their legal and moral obligations to codify and protect these rights in the applications that they build. the same argument cuts the other way, requiring a technical understanding of how ai systems work for legal practitioners such that they can meaningfully identify when breaches might have occurred. this is also important for those looking to contest claims of breaches of their rights in interacting with ai systems. this kind of enforcement requires a wide public debate to ensure that they fall within accepted democratic and cultural norms and values within their context. while human rights will continue to remain relevant even in an ai systems environment, there might be novel ways in which breaches might occur and those might need to be protected which require a more thorough understanding of how ai systems work. growing the powers of regulators won't be sufficient if there isn't an understanding of the intricacies of the systems and where breaches can happen, thus there is more of a need to enshrine some of those responsibilities in law to enforce this by the developers and designers of the system. given the large public awareness and momentum that built up around the ethics, safety and inclusion issues in ai, we will certainly see a lot more concrete actions around this in . the article gives a few examples of congressional hearings on these topics and advocates for the industry to come up with some standards and definitions to aid the development of meaningful regulations. currently, there isn't a consensus on these definitions and it leads to varying approaches addressing the issues at different levels of granularity and angles. what this does is create a patchwork of incoherent regulations across domains and geographies that will ultimately leave gaps in effectively mitigating potential harms from ai systems that can span beyond international borders. while there are efforts underway to create maps of all the different attempts of defining principle sets, we need a more coordinated approach to bring forth regulations that will ultimately protect consumer safety. in containing an epidemic the most important steps include quarantine and contact tracing for more effective testing. while before, this process of contact tracing was hard and fraught with errors and omissions, relying on memories of individuals, we now carry around smartphones which allow for ubiquitous tracking ability that is highly accurate. but such ubiquity comes with invasion of privacy and possible limits on freedoms of citizens. such risks need to be balanced with public interest in mind while using enhanced privacy preserving techniques and any other measures that center citizen welfare in both a collective and individual sense. for infections that can be asymptomatic in the early days, like the covid- , it is essential to have contact tracing, which identifies all people that came in close contact with an infected person and might spread the infection further. this becomes especially important when you have a pandemic at hand, burdening the healthcare system and testing every person is infeasible.an additional benefit of contact tracing is that it mitigates resurgence of the peaks of infection. r determines how quickly a disease will spread and is dependent on three factors (period of infection, contact rate and mode of transmission) out of which the first and third are fixed so we're only left with control over the contact rate.with an uptake of an application that facilitates contact tracing, the amount of reduction in contact rate is an increasing return because of the number of people that might come in contact with an infected person and thus, we get a greater reduction of r in terms of percentage compared to the percentage uptake of the application in the population. ultimately, reducing r to below leads to a slowdown in the spread of the infection thus helping the healthcare system cope up with the sudden stresses that are brought on by pandemic peaks. one of the techniques that governments or agencies responsible for public health use is broadcasting in which the information of diagnosed carriers is made public via various channels but it carries severe issues like exposing private information of individuals and businesses where they might have been which can trigger stigma, ostracization and unwarranted punitive harm. it also suffers from the problem of people needing to access this source of information of their own volition and then self-identify (and remember correctly) if they've been in recent contact with a diagnosed carrier. selective broadcasting is a more restricted form of the above where information about diagnosed carriers is shared to a select group of individuals based on location proximity in which case the user's location privacy would have to be compromised and in another vector of dissemination, messages are sent to all users but filtered on device for their specific location and is not reported back to the broadcaster. but, the other second-order negative effects remain the same as broadcasting. both though require the download of an application which might decrease the uptake of it by people. unicasting is when messages are sent tailored specifically to each user and they require the download of an app which needs to be able to track timestamps and location and has severe consequences in terms of government surveillance and abuse. participatory sharing is a method where diagnosed carriers voluntarily share their information and thus have more data control but it still relies on individual action both on the sender and receiver and its efficacy is questionable at best. there is also a risk of abuse by malicious actors to spread misinformation and seed chaos in society via false alarms. private kit: safe paths is an open-source solution developed by mit that allows for contact tracing in a privacy preserving way. it utilizes the encrypted location trail of a diagnosed carrier who chooses to share that with public health agencies and then other users who are also using the solution can pull this data and via their own logged location trail get a result of they've been in close contact with a diagnosed carrier. in the later phases of development of this solution, the developers will enable a mix of participatory sharing and unicasting to further prevent possible data access by third parties including governments for surveillance purposes. risks of contact tracing include possible public identification of the diagnosed carrier and severe social stigma that arises as a part of that. online witch hunts to try and identify the individual can often worsen the harassment and include spreading of rumors about their personal lives. the privacy risks for both individuals and businesses have potential for severe harm, especially during times of financial hardship, this might be very troublesome. privacy risks also extend to non-users because of proximal information that can be derived from location trails, such as employees that work at particular businesses that were visited by a diagnosed carrier. it can also bring upon the same stigma and ostracization to the family members of these people. without meaningful alternatives, especially in health and risk assessment during a pandemic, obtaining truly informed consent is a real challenge that doesn't yet have any clear solutions. along with information, be it through any of the methods identified above, it is very important to provide appropriate context and background to the alerts to prevent misinformation and panic from spreading especially for those with low health, digital and media literacy. on the other hand, some might not take such alerts seriously and increase the risk for public health by not following required measures such as quarantine and social distancing. given the nature of such solutions, there is a significant risk of data theft from crackers as is the case for any application that collects sensitive information like health status and location data. the solutions can also be used for fraud and abuse, for example, by blackmailing business owners and demanding ransom, failing to pay which they would falsely post information that they're diagnosed carriers and have visited their place of business. contact tracing technology requires the use of a smartphone with gps and some vulnerable populations might not always have such devices available like the elderly, homeless and people living in low-income countries who are at high risk of infection and negative health outcomes. ensuring that technology that works for all will be an important piece to mitigating the spread effectively. there is an inherent tradeoff between utility from the data provided and the privacy of the data subjects. compromises may be required for particularly severe outbreaks to manage the spread. the diagnosed carriers are the most vulnerable stakeholders in the ecosystem of contact tracing technology and they require the most protection. adopting open-source solutions that are examinable by the wider technology ecosystem can engender public trust. additionally, having proper consent mechanisms in place and exclusion of the requirement of extensive third party access to the location data can also help allay concerns. lastly, time limits on the storage and use of the location trails will also help address privacy concerns and increase uptake and use of the application in supporting public health measures. for geolocation data that might affect businesses, especially in times of economic hardship, information release should be done such that they are informed prior to the release of the information but there is little else in current methods that can both protect privacy and at the same time provide sufficient data utility. for those without access to smartphones with gps, providing them with some information on contact tracing can still help their communities. but, one must present information in a manner that accounts for variation in health literacy levels so an appropriate response is elicited from the people. alertness about potential misinformation and educational awareness are key during times of crises to encourage people to have measured responses following the best practices as advised by health agencies rather than those based on fear mongering by ill informed and/or malicious actors. encryption and other cybersecurity best practices for data security and privacy are crucial for the success of the solution. time limits on holding data for covid- is recommended at - days, the period of infection, but for an evolving pandemic one might need it for longer for more analysis. tradeoffs need to be made between privacy concerns and public health utility. different agencies and regions are taking different approaches with varying levels of efficacy and only time will tell how this change will be best managed. it does present an opportunity though for creating innovative solutions that both allow for public sharing of data and also reduce privacy intrusions. while the insights presented in this piece of work are ongoing and will continue to be updated, we felt it important to highlight the techniques and considerations compiled by the openmined team as it is one of the few places that adequately capture, in a single place, most of the technical requirements needed to build a solution that respects fundamental rights while balancing them with public health outcomes as people rush to make ai-enabled apps to combat covid- . most articles and research work coming out elsewhere are very scant and abstract in the technical details that would be needed to meet the ideals of respecting privacy and enabling health authorities to curb the spread of the pandemic. the four key techniques that will help preserve and respect rights as more and more people develop ai-enabled applications to combat covid- are: on-device data storage and computation, differential privacy, encrypted computation and privacy-preserving identity verification. the primary use cases, from a user perspective, for which apps are being built are to get: proximity alerts, exposure alerts, information on planning trips, symptom analysis and demonstrate proof of health. from a government and health authorities perspective, they are looking for: fast contact tracing, high-precision self-isolation requests, high-precision self-isolation estimation, high-precision symptomatic citizen estimation and demonstration of proof of health. while public health outcomes are at the top of the mind for everyone, the above use cases are trying to achieve the best possible tradeoff between economic impacts and epidemic spread. using the techniques highlighted in this work, it is possible to do so without having to erode the rights of citizens. this living body of work is meant to serve as a high-level guide along with resources to enable both app developers and verifiers implement and check for privacy preservation which has been the primary pushback from citizens and civil activists. evoking a high degree of trust from people will improve adoption of the apps developed and hopefully allow society and the economy to return to normal sooner while mitigating the harmful effects of the epidemic. there is a fair amount of alignment in the goals of both individuals and the government with the difference being that the government is looking at aggregate outcomes for society. some of the goals shared by governments across the world include: preventing the spread of the disease, eliminating the disease, protecting the healthcare system, protecting the vulnerable, adequately and appropriately distributing resources, preventing secondary breakouts, minimizing economic impacts and panic. the need for digital contact tracing is important because manual interventions are usually highly error prone and rely on human memory to trace how the person might have come in contact with. the requirement for high-precision self-isolation requests will avoid the need for geographic quarantines where everyone in an area is forced to self-isolate which leads to massive disruptions in the economy and can stall the delivery of essential services like food, electricity and water. the additional benefits of high-precision self-isolation is that it can help create an appropriate balance between economic harms and epidemic spread. high-precision symptomatic citizen estimation is a useful application in that it allows for more fine-grained estimation of the number of people that might be affected beyond what the test results indicate which can further strengthen the precision of other measures that are undertaken. a restoration of normalcy in society is going to be crucial as the epidemic starts to ebb, in this case, having proof of health that helps to determine the lowest risk individuals will allow for them to participate in public spaces again further bolstering the supply of essential services and relieving the burden from a small subset of workers who are participating. to service the needs of both what the users want and what the government wants, we need to be able to collect the following data: historical and current absolute location, historical and current relative position and verified group identity, where group refers to any demographic that the government might be interested in, for example, age or health status. to create an application that will meet these needs, we need to collect data from a variety of sources, compute aggregate statistics on that data and then set up some messaging architecture that communicates the results to the target population. the toughest challenges lie in the first and second parts of the process above, especially to do the second part in a privacy-preserving manner. for historical and current absolute location, one of the first options considered by app developers is to record gps data in the background. unfortunately, this doesn't work on ios devices and even then has several limitations including coarseness in dense, urban areas and usefulness only after the app has been running on the user device for some time because historical data cannot be sourced otherwise. an alternative would be to use wi-fi router information which can give more accurate information as to whether someone has been self-isolating or not based on whether they are connected to their home router. there can be historical data available here which makes it more useful though there are concerns with lack of widespread wi-fi connectivity in rural areas and tracking when people are outside homes. other ways of obtaining location data could be from existing apps and services that a user uses -for example, history of movements on google maps which can be parsed to extract location history. there is also historical location data that could be pieced together from payments history, cars that record location information and personal cell tower usage data. historical and current relative data is even more important to map the spread of the epidemic and in this case, some countries like singapore have deployed bluetooth broadcasting as a means of determining if people have been in close proximity. the device broadcasts a random number (which could change frequently) which is recorded by devices passing by close to each other and in case someone is tested positive, this can be used to alert people who were in close proximity to them. another potential approach highlighted in the article is to utilize gyroscope and ambient audio hashes to determine if two people might have been close together, though bluetooth will provide more consistent results. the reason to use multiple approaches is the benefit of getting more accurate information overall since it would be harder to fake multiple signals. group membership is another important aspect where the information can be used to finely target messaging and calculating aggregate statistics. but, for some types of group membership, we might not be able to rely completely on self-reported data. for example, health status related to the epidemic would require verification from an external third-party such as a medical institution or testing facility to minimize false information. there are several privacy preserving techniques that could be applied to an application given that you have: confirmed covid- patient data in a cloud, all other user data on each individual's device, and data on both the patients and the users including historical and current absolute and relative locations and group identifier information. private set intersections can be used to calculate whether two people were in proximity to each other based on their relative and absolute location information. private set intersection operates similarly to normal set intersection to find elements that are common between two sets but does so without disclosing any private information from either of the sets. this is important because performing analysis even on pseudonymized data without using privacy preservation can leak a lot of information. differential privacy is another critical technique to be utilized, dp consists of providing mathematical guarantees (even against future data disclosures) that analysis on the data will not reveal whether or not your data was part of the dataset. it asserts that from the analysis, one is not able to learn anything about your data that they wouldn't have been able to learn from other data about you. google's battle-tested c++ library is a great resource to start along with the python wrapper created by the openmined team. to address the need for verified group identification, one can utilize the concept of a private identity server. it essentially functions as a trusted intermediary between a user that wants to provide a claim and another party that wants to verify the claim. it functions by querying a service from which it can verify whether the claim is true and then serve that information up to the party wishing to verify the claim without giving away personal data. while it might be hard to trust a single intermediary, this role can be decentralized to provide for obtaining a higher degree of trust by relying on a consensus mechanism. building on theory from management studies by christensen et al. the authors of this article dive into how leaders of tech organizations, especially upstarts that are rapid in the disruption of incumbents should approach the accompanying responsibilities that come with a push into displacing existing paradigms of how an industry works. when there is a decoupling of different parts of the value chain in how a service is delivered, often the associated protections that apply to the entire pipeline fall by the wayside because of distancing from the end user and a diffusion of responsibility across multiple stakeholders in the value chain. while end users driven innovation will seek to reinforce such models, regulations and protections are never at the top of such demands and they create a burden on the consumers once they realize that things can go wrong and negatively affect them. the authors advocate for the leaders of the companies to proactively employ a systems thinking approach to identify different parts that they are disrupting, how that might affect users, what would happen if they become the dominant player in the industry and then apply lessons learned from such an exercise to pre-emptively design safeguards into the system to mitigate unintended consequences. many countries are looking at utilizing existing surveillance and counter-terrorism tools to help track the spread of the coronavirus and are urging tech companies and carriers to assist with this. the us is looking at how they can tap into location data from smartphones, following in the heels of israel and south korea that have deployed similar measures. while extraordinary measures might be justified given the time of crisis we're going through, we mustn't lose sight of what behaviors we are normalizing as a part of this response against the pandemic. russia and china are also using facial recognition technologies to track movements of people, while iran is endorsing an app that might be used as a diagnosis tool. expansion of the boundaries of surveillance capabilities and government powers is something that is hard to reign back in once a crisis is over. in some cases, like the signing of the freedom act in the usa reduced government agency data collection abilities that were expanded under the patriot act. but, that's not always the case and even so, the powers today exceed those that existed prior to the enactment of the patriot act. what's most important is to ensure that decisions policy makers take today keep in mind the time limits on such expansion of powers and don't trigger a future privacy crisis because of it. while no replacement for social distancing, a virus tracking tool putting into practice the technique of contact tracing is largely unpalatable to western democracies because of expectations of privacy and freedom of movement. a british effort underway to create an app that meets democratic ideals of privacy and freedom while also being useful in collecting geolocation data to aid in the virus containment efforts. it is based on the notion of participatory sharing, relying on people's sense of civic duty to contribute their data in case they test positive. while in the usa, discussions between the administration and technology companies has focused on large scale aggregate data collection, in a place like the uk with a centralized healthcare system, there might be higher trust levels in sharing data with the government. while the app doesn't require uptake by everyone to be effective, but a majority of the people would need to use it to bring down the rate of spread. the efficacy of the solution itself will rely on being able to collect granular location data from multiple sources including bluetooth, wi-fi, cell tower data, and app check-ins. a lot of high level cdc officials are advising that if people in the usa don't follow best practices of social distancing, sheltering in place, and washing hands regularly, the outbreak will not have peaked and the infection will continue to spread, especially hitting those who are the most vulnerable including the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions. on top of the public health impacts, there are also concerns of growing tech-enabled surveillance which is being seriously explored as an additional measure to curb the spread. while privacy and freedom rights are enshrined in the constitution, during times of crisis, government and justice powers are expanded to allow for extraordinary measures to be adopted to restore the safety of the public. this is one of those times and the us administration is actively exploring options in partnership with various governments on how to effectively combat the spread of the virus including the use of facial recognition technology. this comes shortly after the techlash and a potential bipartisan movement to curb the degree of data collection by large firms, which seem to have come to a halt as everyone scrambles to battle the coronavirus. regional governments are being imbued with escalated powers to override local legislations in an effort to curb the spread of the virus. the article provides details on efforts by various countries across the world, yet we only have preliminary data on the efficacy of each of those measures and we require more time before being able to judge which of them is the most effective. that said, in a pandemic that is fast spreading, we don't have the luxury of time and must make decisions as quickly as possible using the information at hand, perhaps using guidance from prior crises. but, what we've seen so far is minimal coordination from agencies across the world and that's leading to ad-hoc, patchy data use policies that will leave the marginalized more vulnerable. strategies that use public disclosure of those that have been tested positive in the interest of public health are causing harm to the individuals and other individuals that are close to them such as their families. as experienced by a family in new york, online vigilantes attempted to harass the individuals while their family pleaded and communicated measures that they had taken to isolate themselves to safeguard others. unfortunately, the virus might be bringing out the worst in all of us. an increasing number of tools and techniques are being used to track our behaviour online and while some may have potential benefits, for example, the use of contact tracing to potentially improve public health outcomes, if this is not done in a privacy-preserving manner, there can be severe implications for your data rights. but, barring special circumstances like the current pandemic, there are a variety of simple steps that you can take to protect your privacy online. these range from simple steps like using an incognito browser window which doesn't store any local information about your browsing on your device to using things like vpns which protect snooping of your browsing patterns even from your isp. when it comes to using the incognito function of your browser, if you're logged into a service online, there isn't any protection though it does prevent storing cookies on your device. with vpns, there is an implicit trust placed in the provider of that service to not store logs of your browsing activity. an even more secure option is to use a privacy-first browser like tor which routes your traffic requests through multiple locations making tracking hard. there is also an os built around this called tailsos that offers tracking protection from the device perspective as well not leaving any trace on the host machine allowing you to boot up from a usb. the eff also provides a list of tools that you can use to get a better grip on your privacy as you browse online. under the children's online privacy protection act, the ftc levied its largest fine yet of $ m on youtube last year for failing to meet requirements of limiting personal data collection for children under the age of . yet, as many advocates of youth privacy point out, the fines, though they appear to be large, don't do enough to deter such personal data collection. they advocate for a stronger version of the act while requiring more stringent enforcement from the ftc which has been criticized for slow responses and a lack of sufficient resources. while the current act requires parental consent for children below to be able to utilize a service that might collect personal data, there is no verification performed on the self-declared age provided at the time of sign up which weakens the efficacy of this requirement. secondly, the sharp threshold of years old immediately thrusts children into an adult world once they cross that age and some people are advocating for a more graduated approach to the application of privacy laws. given that such a large part of the news cycle is dominated by the coronavirus, we tend to forget that there might be censors at work that are systematically suppressing information in an attempt to diminish the seriousness of the situation. some people are calling github the last piece of free land in china and have utilized access to it to document news stories and people's first hand experiences in fighting the virus before they are scrubbed from local platforms like wechat and weibo. they hope that such documentation efforts will not only shed light on the reality and on the ground situation as it unfolds but also give everyone a voice and hopefully provide data to others who could use it to track the movement of the virus across the country. such times of crisis bring out creativity and this attempt highlights our ability as a species to thrive even in a severely hostile environment. there is a clear economic and convenience case to be made (albeit for the majority, not for those that are judged to be minorities by the system and hence get subpar performance from the system) where you get faster processing and boarding times when trying to catch a flight. yet, for those that are more data-privacy minded, there is an option to opt-out though leveraging that option doesn't necessarily mean that the alternative will be easy, as the article points out, travelers have experienced delays and confusion from the airport staff. often, the alternatives are not presented as an option to travelers giving a false impression that people have to submit to facial recognition systems. some civil rights and ethics researchers tested the system and got varying mileage out of their experiences but urge people to exercise the option to push back against technological surveillance. london is amongst a few cities that has seen public deployment of live facial recognition technology by law enforcement with the aim of increasing public safety. but, more often than not, it is done so without public announcement and an explanation as to how this technology works, and what impacts it will have on people's privacy. as discussed in an article by maiei on smart cities, such a lack of transparency erodes public trust and affects how people go about their daily lives. several artists in london as a part of regaining control over their privacy and to raise awareness are using the technique of painting adversarial patterns on their faces to confound facial recognition systems. they employ highly contrasting colors to mask the highlights and shadows on their faces and practice pattern use as created and disseminated by the cvdazzle project that advocates for many different styles to give the more fashion-conscious among us the right way to express ourselves while preserving our privacy. such projects showcase a rising awareness for the negative consequences of ai-enabled systems and also how people can use creative solutions to combat problems where laws and regulations fail them. there is mounting evidence that organizations are taking seriously the threats arising from malicious actors geared towards attacking ml systems. this is supported by the fact that organizations like iso and nist are building up frameworks for guidance on securing ml systems, that working groups from the eu have put forth concrete technical checklists for the evaluating the trustworthiness of ml systems and that ml systems are becoming key to the functioning of organizations and hence they are inclined to protect their crown jewels. the organizations surveyed as a part of this study spanned a variety of domains and were limited to those that have mature ml development. the focus was on two personas: ml engineers who are building these systems and security incident responders whose task is to secure the software infrastructure including the ml systems. depending on the size of the organization, these people could be in different teams, same team or even the same person. the study was also limited to intentional malicious attacks and didn't investigate the impacts of naturally occurring adversarial examples, distributional shifts, common corruption and reward hacking. most organizations that were surveyed as a part of the study were found to primarily be focused on traditional software security and didn't have the right tools or know-how in securing against ml attacks. they also indicated that they were actively seeking guidance in the space. most organizations were clustered around concerns regarding data poisoning attacks which was probably the case because of the cultural significance of the tay chatbot incident. additionally, privacy breaches were another significant concern followed by concerns around model stealing attacks that can lead to the loss of intellectual property. other attacks such as attacking the ml supply chain and adversarial examples in the physical domain didn't catch the attention of the people that were surveyed as a part of the study. one of the gaps between reality and expectations was around the fact that security incident responders and ml engineers expected that the libraries that they are using for ml development are battle-tested before being put out by large organizations, as is the case in traditional software. also, they pushed upstream the responsibility of security in the cases where they were using ml as a service from cloud providers. yet, this ignores the fact that this is an emergent field and that a lot of the concerns need to be addressed in the downstream tasks that are being performed by these tools. they also didn't have a clear understanding of what to expect when something does go wrong and what the failure mode would look like. in traditional software security, mitre has a curated repository of attacks along with detection cues, reference literature and tell-tale signs for which malicious entities, including nation state attackers are known to use these attacks. the authors call for a similar compilation to be done in the emergent field of adversarial machine learning whereby the researchers and practitioners register their attacks and other information in a curated repository that provides everyone with a unified view of the existing threat environment. while programming languages often have well documented guidelines on secure coding, guidance on doing so with popular ml frameworks like pytorch, keras and tensorflow is sparse. amongst these, tensorflow is the only one that provides some tools for testing against adversarial attacks and some guidance on how to do secure coding in the ml context. security development lifecycle (sdl) provides guidance on how to secure systems and scores vulnerabilities and provides some best practices, but applying this to ml systems might allow imperfect solutions to exist. instead of looking at guidelines as providing a strong security guarantee, the authors advocate for having code examples that showcase what constitutes security-and non-security-compliant ml development. in traditional software security there are tools for static code analysis that provide guidance on the security vulnerabilities prior to the code being committed to a repository or being executed while dynamic code analysis finds security vulnerabilities by executing the different code paths and detecting vulnerabilities at runtime. there are some tools like mlsec and cleverhans that provide white-and black-box testing; one of the potential future directions for research is to extend this to the cases of model stealing, model inversion, and membership inference attacks. including these tools as a part of the ide would further make it naturalized for developers to think about secure coding practices in the ml context. adapting the audit and logging requirements as necessitated for the functionality of the security information and event management (siem) system, in the field of ml, one can execute the list of attacks as specified in literature and ensure that the logging artifacts generated as a consequence are traced to an attack. then, having these incident logs be in a format that is exportable and integratable with siem systems will allow forensic experts to analyze them post-hoc for hardening and analysis. standardizing the reporting, logging and documentation as done by the sigma format in traditional software security will allow the insights from one analyst into defenses for many others. automating the possible attacks and including them as a part of the mlops pipeline is something that will enhance the security posture of the systems and make them pedestrian practice in the sdl. red teaming, as done in security testing, can be applied to assess the business impacts and likelihood of threat, something that is considered best practice and is often a requirement for supplying critical software to different organizations like the us government. transparency centers that allow for deep code inspection and help create assurance on the security posture of a software product/service can be extended to ml which would have to cover three modalities: ml platform is implemented in a secure manner, ml as a service meets the basic security and privacy requirements, and that the ml models embedded on edge devices meet basic security requirements. tools that build on formal verification methods will help to enhance this practice. tracking and scoring ml vulnerabilities akin to how they are done in software security testing done by registering identified vulnerabilities into a common database like cve and then assigning it an impact score like the cvss needs to be done for the field of ml. while the common database part is easy to set up, scoring them isn't something that has been figured out yet. additionally, on being alerted that a new vulnerability has been discovered, it isn't clear how the ml infrastructure can be scanned to see if the system is vulnerable to that. because of the deep integration of ml systems within the larger product/service, the typical practice of identifying a blast radius and containment strategy that is applied to traditional software infrastructure when alerted of a vulnerability is hard to define and apply. prior research work from google has identified some ways to qualitatively assess the impacts in a sprawling infrastructure. from a forensic perspective, the authors put forth several questions that one can ask to guide the post-hoc analysis, the primary problem there is that only some of the learnings from traditional software protection and analysis apply here, there are many new artifacts, paradigmatic, and environmental aspects that need to be taken into consideration. from a remediation perspective, we need to develop metrics and ways to ascertain that patched models and ml systems can maintain prior levels of performance while having mitigated the attacks that they were vulnerable to, the other thing to pay attention is that there aren't any surfaces that are opened up for attack. given that ml is going to be the new software, we need to think seriously about inheriting some of the security best practices from the world of traditional cybersecurity to harden defenses in the field of ml. all technology has implications for civil liberties and human rights, the paper opens with an example of how low-clearance bridges between new york and long island were supposedly created with the intention of disallowing public buses from crossing via the underpasses to discourage the movement of users of public transportation, primarily disadvantaged groups from accessing certain areas. in the context of adversarial machine learning, taking the case of facial recognition technology (frt), the authors demonstrate that harm can result on the most vulnerable, harm which is not theoretical and is gaining in scope, but that the analysis also extends beyond just frt systems. the notion of legibility borrowing from prior work explains how governments seek to categorize through customs, conventions and other mechanisms information about their subjects centrally. legibility is enabled for faces through frt, something that previously was only possible as a human skill. this combined with the scale offered by machine learning makes this a potent tool for authoritarian states to exert control over their populations. from a cybersecurity perspective, attackers are those that compromise the confidentiality, integrity and availability of a system, yet they are not always malicious, sometimes they may be pro-democracy protestors who are trying to resist identification and arrest by the use of frt. when we frame the challenges in building robust ml systems, we must also pay attention to the social and political implications as to who is the system being made safe for and at what costs. positive attacks against such systems might also be carried out by academics who are trying to learn about and address some of the ethical, safety and inclusivity issues around frt systems. other examples such as the hardening of systems against doing membership inference means that researchers can't determine if an image was included in the dataset, and someone looking to use this as evidence in a court of law is deterred from doing so. detection perturbation algorithms permit an image to be altered such that faces can't be recognized in an image, for example, this can be used by a journalist to take a picture of a protest scene without giving away the identities of people. but, defensive measures that disarm such techniques hinder such positive use cases. defense measures against model inversion attacks don't allow researchers and civil liberty defenders to peer into black box systems, especially those that might be biased against minorities in cases like credit allocation, parole decision-making, etc. the world of security is always an arms race whether that is in the physical or cyberspace. it is not that far-fetched to imagine how a surveillance state might deploy frt to identify protestors who as a defense might start to wear face masks for occlusion. the state could then deploy techniques that bypass this and utilize other scanning and recognition techniques to which the people might respond by wearing adversarial clothing and eyeglasses to throw off the system at which point the state might choose to use other biometric identifiers like iris scanning and gait detection. this constant arms battle, especially when defenses and offenses are constructed without the sense for the societal impacts leads to harm whose burden is mostly borne by those who are the most vulnerable and looking to fight for their rights and liberties. this is not the first time that technology runs up against civil liberties and human rights, there are lessons to be learned from the commercial spyware industry and how civil society organizations and other groups came together to create "human rights by design" principles that helped to set some ground rules for how to use this technology responsibly. researchers and practitioners in the field of ml security can borrow from these principles. we've got a learning community at the montreal ai ethics institute that is centered around these ideas that brings together academics and others from around the world to blend the social sciences with the technical sciences. recommendations on countering some of the harms centre around holding the vendors of these systems to the business standards set by the un, implementing transparency measures during the development process, utilizing human rights by design approaches, logging ml system uses along with possible nature and forms of attacks and pushing the development team to think about both the positive and negative use cases for the systems such that informed trade-offs can be made when hardening these systems to external attacks. in this insightful op-ed, two pioneers in technology shed light on how to think about ai systems and their relation to the existing power and social structures. borrowing the last line in the piece, " … all that is necessary for the triumph of an ai-driven, automation-based dystopia is that liberal democracy accept it as inevitable.", aptly captures the current mindset surrounding ai systems and how they are discussed in the western world. tv shows like black mirror perpetuate narratives showcasing the magical power of ai-enabled systems, hiding the fact that there are millions, if not billions of hours of human labor that undergird the success of modern ai systems, which largely fall under the supervised learning paradigm that requires massive amounts of data to work well. the chinese ecosystem is a bit more transparent in the sense that the shadow industry of data labellers is known, and workers are compensated for their efforts. this makes them a part of the development lifecycle of ai while sharing economic value with people other than the tech-elite directly developing ai. on the other hand, in the west, we see that such efforts go largely unrewarded because we trade in that effort of data production for free services. the authors give the example of audrey tang and taiwan where citizens have formed a data cooperative and have greater control over how their data is used. contrasting that, we have highly-valued search engines standing over community-run efforts like wikipedia which create the actual value for the search results, given that a lot of the highly placed search results come from wikipedia. ultimately, this gives us some food for thought as to how we portray ai today and its relation to society and why it doesn't necessarily have to be that way. mary shelly had created an enduring fiction which, unbeknownst to her, has today manifested itself in the digital realm with layered abstractions of algorithms that are increasingly running multiple aspects of our lives. the article dives into the world of black box systems that have become opaque to analysis because of their stratified complexity leading to situations with unpredictable outcomes. this was exemplified when an autonomous vehicle crashed into a crossing pedestrian and it took months of post-hoc analysis to figure out what went wrong. when we talk about intelligence in the case of these machines, we're using it in a very loose sense, like the term "friend" on facebook, which has a range of interpretations from your best friend to a random acquaintance. both terms convey a greater sense of meaning than is actually true. when such systems run amok, they have the potential to cause significant harm, case in point being the flash crashes the financial markets experienced because of the competitive behaviour of high frequency trading firm algorithms facing off against each other in the market. something similar has happened on amazon where items get priced in an unrealistic fashion because of buying and pricing patterns triggered by automated systems. while in a micro context the algorithms and their working are transparent and explainable, when they come together in an ecosystem, like finance, they lead to an emergent complexity that has behaviour that can't be predicted ahead of time with a great amount of certainty. but, such justifications can't be used as a cover for evading responsibility when it comes to mitigating harms. existing laws need to be refined and amended so that they can better meet the demands of new technology where allocation of responsibility is a fuzzy concept. ai systems are different from other software systems when it comes to security vulnerabilities. while traditional cybersecurity mechanisms rely heavily on securing the perimeter, ai security vulnerabilities run deeper and they can be manipulated through their interactions with the real world -the very mechanism that makes them intelligent systems. numerous examples of utilizing audio samples from tv commercials to trigger voice assistants have demonstrated new attack surfaces for which we need to develop defense techniques. visual systems are also fooled, especially in av systems where, according to one example, manipulating stop signs on the road with innocuous stripes of tape make it seem like the stop sign is a speed indicator and can cause fatal crashes. there are also examples of hiding these adversarial examples under the guise of white noise and other imperceptible changes to the human senses. we need to think of ai systems as inherently socio-technical to come up with effective protection techniques that don't just rely on technical measures but also look at the human factors surrounding them. some other useful insights are to utilize abusability testing, red-teaming, white hacking, bug bounty programs, and consulting with civic society advocates who have deep experience with the interactions of vulnerable communities with technology. reinforcement systems are increasingly moving from applications to beating human performance in games to safety-critical applications like self-driving cars and automated trading. a lack of robustness in the systems can lead to catastrophic failures like the $ m lost by knight capital and the harms to pedestrian and driver safety in the case of autonomous vehicles. rl systems that perform well under normal conditions can be vulnerable to adversarial agents that can exploit the brittleness of the systems when it comes to natural shifts in distributions and more carefully crafted attacks. in prior threat models, the assumptions for the adversary are that they can modify directly the inputs going into the rl agent but that is not very realistic. instead, here the authors focus more on a shared environment through which the adversary creates indirect impact on the target rl agent leading to undesirable behavior. for agents that are trained through self-play (which is a rough approximation of nash equilibrium), they are vulnerable to adversarial policies. as an example, masked victims are more robust to modifications in the natural observations by the adversary but that lowers the performance in the average case. furthermore, what the researchers find is that there is a non-transitive behavior between self-play opponent, masked victim, adversarial opponent and normal victim in that cyclic order. self-play being normally transitive in nature, especially when mimicking real-world scenarios is then no doubt vulnerable to these non-transitive styled attacks. thus, there is a need to move beyond self-play and apply iteratively adversarial training defense and population based training methods so that the target rl agent can become robust to a wider variety of scenarios. vehicle safety is something of paramount importance in the automotive industry as there are many tests conducted to test for crash resilience and other physical safety features before it is released to people. but, the same degree of scrutiny is not applied to the digital and connected components of cars. researchers were able to demonstrate successful proof of concept hacks that compromised vehicle safety. for example, with the polo, they were able to access the controller area network (can) which sends signals and controls a variety of aspects related to driving functions. given how the infotainment systems were updated, researchers were able to gain access into the personal details of the driver. they were also able to utilize the shortcomings in the operation of the key fob to gain access to the vehicle without leaving a physical trace. other hacks that were tried included being able to access and influence the collision monitoring radar system and the tire-pressure monitoring system which both have critical implications for passenger safety. on the focus, they found wifi details including the password for their production line in detroit, michigan. on purchasing a second-hand infotainment unit for purposes of reverse-engineering the firmware, they found the previous owner's home wifi details, phone contacts and a host of other personal information. cars store a lot of personal information including tracking information which, as stated on the privacy policy, can be shared with affiliates which can have other negative consequences like changes in insurance premiums based on driving behaviour. europe will have some forthcoming regulations for connected car safety but those are currently slated for release in . we've all experienced specification gaming even if we haven't really heard the term before. in law, you call it following the law to the letter but not in spirit. in sports, it is called unsportsman-like to use the edge cases and technicalities of the rules of the game to eke out an edge when it is obvious to everyone playing the game that the rules intended for something different. this can also happen in the case of ai systems, for example in reinforcement learning systems where the agent can utilize "bugs" or poor specification on the part of the human creators to achieve the high rewards for which it is optimizing without actually achieving the goal, at least in the way the developers intended them to and this can sometimes lead to unintended consequences that can cause a lot of harms. "let's look at an example. in a lego stacking task, the desired outcome was for a red block to end up on top of a blue block. the agent was rewarded for the height of the bottom face of the red block when it is not touching the block. instead of performing the relatively difficult maneuver of picking up the red block and placing it on top of the blue one, the agent simply flipped over the red block to collect the reward. this behaviour achieved the stated objective (high bottom face of the red block) at the expense of what the designer actually cares about (stacking it on top of the blue one)". this isn't because of a flaw in the rl system but more so a misspecification of the objective. as the agents become more capable, they find ever-more clever ways of achieving the rewards which can frustrate the creators of the system. this makes the problem of specification gaming very relevant and urgent as we start to deploy these systems in a lot of real-world situations. in the rl context, task specification refers to the design of the rewards, the environment and any other auxiliary rewards. when done correctly, we get true ingenuity out of these systems like move from the alphago system that baffled humans and ushered a new way of thinking about the game of go. but, this requires discernment on the part of the developers to be able to judge when you get a case like lego vs. move . as an example in the real-world, reward tampering is an approach where the agent in a traffic optimization system with an interest in achieving a high reward can manipulate the driver into going to alternate destinations instead of what they desired just to achieve a higher reward. specification gaming isn't necessarily bad in the sense that we want the systems to come up with ingenious ways to solve problems that won't occur to humans. sometimes, the inaccuracies can arise in how humans provide feedback to the system while it is training. ''for example, an agent performing a grasping task learned to fool the human evaluator by hovering between the camera and the object." incorrect reward shaping, where an agent is provided rewards along the way to achieving the final reward can also lead to edge-case behaviours when it is not analyzed for potential side-effects. we see such examples happen with humans in the real-world as well: a student asked to get a good grade on the exam can choose to copy and cheat and while that achieves the goal of getting a good grade, it doesn't happen in the way we intended for it to. thus, reasoning through how a system might game some of the specifications is going to be an area of key concern going into the future. the ongoing pandemic has certainly accelerated the adoption of technology in everything from how we socialize to buying groceries and doing work remotely. the healthcare industry has also been rapid in adapting to meet the needs of people and technology has played a role in helping to scale care to more people and accelerate the pace with which the care is provided. but, this comes with the challenge of making decisions under duress and with shortened timelines within which to make decisions on whether to adopt a piece of technology or not. this has certainly led to issues where there are risks of adopting solutions that haven't been fully vetted and using solutions that have been repurposed from prior uses that were approved to now combat covid- . especially with ai-enabled tools, there are increased risks of emergent behavior that might not have been captured by the previous certification or regulatory checks. the problems with ai solutions don't just go away because there is a pandemic and shortcutting the process of proper due diligence can lead to more harm than the benefits that they bring. one must also be wary of the companies that are trying to capitalize on the chaos and pass through solutions that don't really work well. having technical staff during the procurement process that can look over the details of what is being brought into your healthcare system needs to be a priority. ai can certainly help to mitigate some of the harms that covid- is inflicting on patients but we must keep in mind that we're not looking to bypass privacy concerns that come with processing vast quantities of healthcare data. in the age of adversarial machine learning (maiei has a learning community on machine learning security if you'd like to learn more about this area) there are enormous concerns with protecting software infrastructure as ml opens up a new attack surface and new vectors which are seldom explored. from the perspective of insurance, there are gaps in terms of what cyber-insurance covers today, most of it being limited to the leakage of private data. there are two kinds of attacks that are possible on ml systems: intentional and unintentional. intentional attacks are those that are executed by malicious agents who attempt to steal the models, infer private data or get the ai system to behave in a way that favors their end goals. for example, when tumblr decided to not host pornographic content, creators bypassed that by using green screens and pictures of owls to fool the automated content moderation system. unintended attacks can happen when the goals of the system are misaligned with what the creators of the system actually intended, for example, the problem of specification gaming, something that abhishek gupta discussed here in this fortune article. in interviewing several officers in different fortune companies, the authors found that there are key problems in this domain at the moment: the defenses provided by the technical community have limited efficacy, existing copyright, product liability, and anti-hacking laws are insufficient to capture ai failure modes. lastly, given that this happens at a software level, cyber-insurance might seem to be the way to go, yet current offerings only cover a patchwork of the problems. business interruptions and privacy leaks are covered today under cyber-insurance but other problems like bodily harm, brand damage, and property damage are for the most part not covered. in the case of model recreation, as was the case with the openai gpt- model, prior to it being released, it was replicated by external researchers -this might be covered under cyber-insurance because of the leak of private information. researchers have also managed to steal information from facial recognition databases using sample images and names which might also be covered under existing policies. but, in the case with uber where there was bodily harm because of the self-driving vehicle that wasn't able to detect the pedestrian accurately or similar harms that might arise if conditions are foggy, snowy, dull lighting, or any other out-of-distribution scenarios, these are not adequately covered under existing insurance terms. brand damage that might arise from poisoning attacks like the case with the tay chatbot or confounding anti-virus systems as was the case with an attack mounted against the cylance system, cyber-insurance falls woefully short in being able to cover these scenarios. in a hypothetical situation as presented in a google paper on rl agents where a cleaning robot sticks a wet mop into an electric socket, material damage that occurs from that might also be considered out of scope in cyber-insurance policies. traditional software attacks are known unknowns but adversarial ml attacks are unknown unknowns and hence harder to guard against. current pricing reflects this uncertainty, but as the ai insurance market matures and there is a deeper understanding for what the risks are and how companies can mitigate the downsides, the pricing should become more reflective of the actual risks. the authors also offer some recommendations on how to prepare the organization for these risks -for example by appointing an officer that works closely with the ciso and chief data protection officer, performing table-top exercises to gain an understanding of potential places where the system might fail and evaluating the system for risks and gaps following guidelines as put forth in the eu trustworthy ai guidelines. there are no widely accepted best practices for mitigating security and privacy issues related to machine learning (ml) systems. existing best practices for traditional software systems are insufficient because they're largely based on the prevention and management of access to a system's data and/or software, whereas ml systems have additional vulnerabilities and novel harms that need to be addressed. for example, one harm posed by ml systems is to individuals not included in the model's training data but who may be negatively impacted by its inferences. harms from ml systems can be broadly categorized as informational harms and behavioral harms. informational harms "relate to the unintended or unanticipated leakage of information." the "attacks" that constitute informational harms are: behavioral harms "relate to manipulating the behavior of the model itself, impacting the predictions or outcomes of the model." the attacks that constitute behavioral harms are: • poisoning: inserting malicious data into a model's training data to change its behavior once deployed • evasion: feeding data into a system to intentionally cause misclassification without a set of best practices, ml systems may not be widely and/or successfully adopted. therefore, the authors of this white paper suggest a "layered approach" to mitigate the privacy and security issues facing ml systems. approaches include noise injection, intermediaries, transparent ml mechanisms, access controls, model monitoring, model documentation, white hat or red team hacking, and open-source software privacy and security resources. finally, the authors note, it's important to encourage "cross-functional communication" between data scientists, engineers, legal teams, business managers, etc. in order to identify and remediate privacy and security issues related to ml systems. this communication should be ongoing, transparent, and thorough. beyond near-and long-term: towards a clearer account of this paper dives into how researchers can clearly communicate about their research agendas given ambiguities in the split of the ai ethics community into near and long term research. often a sore and contentious point of discussion, there is an artificial divide between the two groups that seem to take a reductionist approach to the work being done by the other. a major problem emerging from such a divide is a hindrance in being able to spot relevant work being done by the different communities and thus affecting effective collaboration. the paper highlights the differences arising primarily along the lines of timescale, ai capabilities, deeper normative and empirical disagreements. the paper provides for a helpful distinction between near-and long-term by describing them as follows: • near term issues are those that are fairly well understood and have concrete examples and relate to rêvent progress in the field of machine learning • long term issues are those that might arise far into the future and due to much more advanced ai systems with broad capabilities, it also includes long term impacts like international security, race relations, and power dynamics what they currently see is that: • issues considered 'near-term' tend to be those arising in the present/near future as a result of current/foreseeable ai systems and capabilities, on varying levels of scale/severity, which mostly have immediate consequences for people and society. • issues considered 'long-term' tend to be those arising far into the future as a result of large advances in ai capabilities (with a particular focus on notions of transformative ai or agi), and those that are likely to pose risks that are severe/large in scale with very long-term consequences. • the binary clusters are not sufficient as a way to split the field and not looking at underlying beliefs leads to unfounded assumptions about each other's work • in addition there might be areas between the near and long term that might be neglected as a result of this artificial fractions unpacking these distinctions can be done along the lines of capabilities, extremity, certainty and impact, definitions for which are provided in the paper. a key contribution aside from identifying these factors is that they lie along a spectrum and define a possibility space using them as dimensions which helps to identify where research is currently concentrated and what areas are being ignored. it also helps to well position the work being done by these authors. something that we really appreciated from this work was the fact that it gives us concrete language and tools to more effectively communicate about each other's work. as part of our efforts in building communities that leverage diverse experiences and backgrounds to tackle an inherently complex and muti-dimensional problem, we deeply appreciate how challenging yet rewarding such an effort can be. some of the most meaningful public consultation work done by maiei leveraged our internalized framework in a similar vein to provide value to the process that led to outcomes like the montreal declaration for responsible ai. the rise of ai systems leads to an unintended conflict between economic pursuits which seek to generate profits and value resources appropriately with the moral imperatives of promoting human flourishing and creating societal benefits from the deployment of these systems. this puts forth a central question on what the impacts of creating ai systems that might surpass humans in a general sense which might leave humans behind. technological progress doesn't happen on its own, it is driven by conscious human choices that are influenced by the surrounding social and economic institutions. we are collectively responsible for how these institutions take shape and thus impact the development of technology -submitting to technological-fatalism isn't a productive way to align our ethical values with this development. we need to ensure that we play an active role in the shaping of the most consequential piece of technology. while the economic system relies on the market prices to gauge what people place value on, by no means is that a comprehensive evaluation. for example, it misses out on the impact of externalities which can be factored in by considering ethical values as a complement in guiding our decisions on what to build and how to place value on it. when thinking about losses from ai-enabled automation, an outright argument that economists might make is that if replacing labor lowers the costs of production, then it might be market-efficient to invest in technology that achieves that. from an ethicist's perspective, there are severe negative externalities from job loss and thus it might be unethical to impose labor-saving automation on people. when unpacking the economic perspective more, we find that job loss actually isn't correctly valued by wages as price for labor. there are associated social benefits like the company of workplace colleagues, sense of meaning and other social structural values which can't be separately purchased from the market. thus, using a purely economic perspective in making automation technology adoption decisions is an incomplete approach and it needs to be supplemented by taking into account the ethical perspective. market price signals provide useful information upto a certain point in terms of the goods and services that society places value on. suppose that people start to demand more eggs from chickens that are raised in a humane way, then suppliers will shift their production to respond to that market signal. but, such price signals can only be indicated by consumers for the things that they can observe. a lot of unethical actions are hidden and hence can't be factored into market price signals. additionally, several things like social relations aren't tradable in a market and hence their value can't be solely determined from the market viewpoint. thus, both economists and ethicists would agree that there is value to be gained in steering the development of ai systems keeping in mind both kinds of considerations. pure market-driven innovation will ignore societal benefits in the interest of generating economic value while the labor will have to make unwilling sacrifices in the interest of long-run economic efficiency. economic market forces shape society significantly, whether we like it or not. there are professional biases based on selection and cognition that are present in either side making its arguments as to which gets to dominate based on their perceived importance. the point being that bridging the gap between different disciplines is crucial to arriving at decisions that are grounded in evidence and that benefit society holistically. there are also differences fundamentally between the economic and ethical perspective -namely that economic indicators are usually unidimensional and have clear quantitative values that make them easier to compare. on the other hand, ethical indicators are inherently multi-dimensional and are subjective which not only make comparison hard but also limit our ability to explain how we arrive at them. they are encoded deep within our biological systems and suffer from the same lack of explainability as decisions made by artificial neural networks, the so-called black box problem. why is it then, despite the arguments above, that the economic perspective dominates over the ethical one? this is largely driven by the fact that economic values provide clear, unambiguous signals which our brains, preferring ambiguity aversion, enjoy and ethical values are more subtle, hidden, ambiguous indicators which complicate decision making. secondly, humans are prosocial only upto a point, they are able to reason between economic and ethical decisions at a micro-level because the effects are immediate and observable, say for example polluting the neighbor's lawn and seeing the direct impact of that activity. on the other hand, for things like climate change where the effects are delayed and not directly observable (as a direct consequence of one's actions) that leads to behaviour where the individual prioritizes economic values over ethical ones. cynical economists will argue that there is a comparative advantage in being immoral that leads to gains in exchange, but that leads to a race to the bottom in terms of ethics. externalities are an embodiment of the conflict between economic and ethical values. welfare economics deals with externalities via various mechanisms like permits, taxes, etc. to curb the impacts of negative externalities and promote positive externalities through incentives. but, the rich economic theory needs to be supplemented by political, social and ethical values to arrive at something that benefits society at large. from an economic standpoint, technological progress is positioned as expanding the production possibilities frontier which means that it raises output and presumably standards of living. yet, this ignores how those benefits are distributed and only looks at material benefits and ignores everything else. prior to the industrial revolution, people were stuck in a malthusian trap whereby technological advances created material gains but these were quickly consumed by population growth that kept standards of living stubbornly low. this changed post the revolution and as technology improvement outpaced population growth, we got better quality of life. the last decades have had a mixed experience though, whereby automation has eroded lower skilled jobs forcing people to continue looking for jobs despite displacement and the lower demand for unskilled labor coupled with the inelastic supply of labor has led to lower wages rather than unemployment. on the other hand, high skilled workers have been able to leverage technological progress to enhance their output considerably and as a consequence the income and wealth gaps between low and high skilled workers has widened tremendously. typical economic theory points to income and wealth redistribution whenever there is technological innovation where the more significant the innovation, the larger the redistribution. something as significant as ai leads to crowning of new winners who own these new factors of production while also creating losers when they face negative pecuniary externalities. these are externalities because there isn't explicit consent that is requested from the people as they're impacted in terms of capital, labor and other factors of production. the distribution can be analyzed from the perspective of strict utilitarianism (different from that in ethics where for example bentham describes it as the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people). here it is viewed as tolerating income redistribution such that it is acceptable if all but one person loses income as long as the single person making the gain has one that is higher than the sum of the losses. this view is clearly unrealistic because it would further exacerbate inequities in society. the other is looking at the idea of lump sum transfers in which the idealized scenario is redistribution, for example by compensating losers from technology innovation, without causing any other market distortions. but, that is also unrealistic because such a redistribution never occurs without market distortions and hence it is not an effective way to think about economic policy. from an ethics perspective, we must make value judgments on how we perceive dollar losses for a lower socio-economic person compared to the dollar gains made by a higher socio-economic person and if that squares with the culture and value set of that society. we can think about the tradeoff between economic efficiency and equality in society, where the level of tolerance for inequality varies by the existing societal structures in place. one would have to also reason about how redistribution creates more than proportional distortions as it rises and how much economic efficiency we'd be willing to sacrifice to make gains in how equitably income is distributed. thus, steering progress in ai can be done based on whether we want to pursue innovation that we know is going to have negative labor impacts while knowing full well that there aren't going to be any reasonable compensations offered to the people based on economic policy. given the pervasiveness of ai and by virtue of it being a general-purpose technology, the entrepreneurs and others powering innovation need to take into account that their work is going to shape larger societal changes and have impacts on labor. at the moment, the economic incentives are such that they steer progress towards labor-saving automation because labor is one of the most highly-taxed factors of production. instead, shifting the tax-burden to other factors of production including automation capital will help to steer the direction of innovation in other directions. government, as one of the largest employers and an entity with huge spending power, can also help to steer the direction of innovation by setting policies that encourage enhancing productivity without necessarily replacing labor. there are novel ethical implications and externalities that arise from the use of ai systems, an example of that would be (from the industrial revolution) that a factory might lead to economic efficiency in terms of production but the pollution that it generates is so large that the social cost outweighs the economic gain. biases can be deeply entrenched in the ai systems, either from unrepresentative datasets, for example, with hiring decisions that are made based on historical data. but, even if the datasets are well-represented and have minimal bias, and the system is not exposed to protected attributes like race and gender, there are a variety of proxies like zipcode which can lead to unearthing those protected attributes and discriminating against minorities. maladaptive behaviors can be triggered in humans by ai systems that can deeply personalize targeting of ads and other media to nudge us towards different things that might be aligned with making more profits. examples of this include watching videos, shopping on ecommerce platforms, news cycles on social media, etc. conversely, they can also be used to trigger better behaviors, for example, the use of fitness trackers that give us quantitative measurements for how we're taking care of our health. an economics equivalent of the paper clip optimizer from bostrom is how human autonomy can be eroded over time as economic inequality rises which limits control of those who are displaced over economic resources and thus, their control over their destinies, at least from an economic standpoint. this is going to only be exacerbated as ai starts to pervade into more and more aspects of our lives. labor markets have features built in them to help tide over unemployment with as little harm as possible via quick hiring in other parts of the economy when the innovation creates parallel demands for labor in adjacent sectors. but, when there is large-scale disruption, it is not possible to accommodate everyone and this leads to large economic losses via fall in aggregate demand which can't be restored with monetary or fiscal policy actions. this leads to wasted economic potential and welfare losses for the workers who are displaced. whenever there is a discrepancy between ethical and economic incentives, we have the opportunity to steer progress in the right direction. we've discussed before how market incentives trigger a race to the bottom in terms of morality. this needs to be preempted via instruments like technological impact assessments, akin to environmental impact assessments, but often the impacts are unknown prior to the deployment of the technology at which point we need to have a multi-stakeholder process that allows us to combat harms in a dynamic manner. political and regulatory entities typically lag technological innovation and can't be relied upon solely to take on this mantle. the author raises a few questions on the role of humans and how we might be treated by machines in case of the rise of superintelligence (which still has widely differing estimates for when it will be realized from the next decade to the second half of this century). what is clear is that the abilities of narrow ai systems are expanding and it behooves us to give some thought to the implications on the rise of superintelligence. the potential for labor-replacement in this superintelligence scenario, from an economic perspective, would have significant existential implications for humans, beyond just inequality, we would be raising questions of human survival if the wages to be paid to labor fall below subsistence levels in a wide manner. it would be akin to how the cost of maintaining oxen to plough fields was outweighed by the benefits that they brought in the face of mechanization of agriculture. this might be an ouroboros where we become caught in the malthusian trap again at the time of the industrial revolution and no longer have the ability to grow beyond basic subsistence, even if that would be possible. authors of research papers aspire to achieving any of the following goals when writing papers: to theoretically characterize what is learnable, to obtain understanding through empirically rigorous experiments, or to build working systems that have high predictive accuracy. to communicate effectively with the readers, the authors must: provide intuitions to aid the readers' understanding, describe empirical investigations that consider and rule out alternative hypotheses, make clear the relationship between theoretical analysis and empirical findings, and use clear language that doesn't conflate concepts or mislead the reader. the authors of this paper find that there are areas where there are concerns when it comes to ml scholarship: failure to distinguish between speculation and explanation, failure to identify the source of empirical gains, the use of mathematics that obfuscates or impresses rather than clarifies, and misuse of language such that terms with other connotations are used or by overloading terms with existing technical definitions. flawed techniques and communication methods will lead to harm and wasted resources and efforts hindering the progress in ml and hence this paper provides some very practical guidance on how to do this better. when presenting speculations or opinions of authors that are exploratory and don't yet have scientific grounding, having a separate section that quarantines the discussion and doesn't bleed into the other sections that are grounded in theoretical and empirical research helps to guide the reader appropriately and prevents conflation of speculation and explanation. the authors provide the example of the paper on dropout regularization that made comparisons and links to sexual reproduction but limited that discussion to a "motivation" section. using mathematics in a manner where natural language and mathematical expositions are intermixed without a clear link between the two leads to weakness in the overall contribution. specifically, when natural language is used to overcome weaknesses in the mathematical rigor and conversely, mathematics is used as a scaffolding to prop up weak arguments in the prose and give the impression of technical depth, it leads to poor scholarship and detracts from the scientific seriousness of the work and harms the readers. additionally, invoking theorems with dubious pertinence to the actual content of the paper or in overly broad ways also takes away from the main contribution of a paper. in terms of misuse of language, the authors of this paper provide a convenient ontology breaking it down into suggestive definitions, overloaded terminology, and suitcase words. in the suggestive definitions category, the authors coin a new technical term that has suggestive colloquial meanings and can slip through some implications without formal justification of the ideas in the paper. this can also lead to anthropomorphization that creates unrealistic expectations about the capabilities of the system. this is particularly problematic in the domain of fairness and other related domains where this can lead to conflation and inaccurate interpretation of terms that have well-established meanings in the domains of sociology and law for example. this can confound the initiatives taken up by both researchers and policymakers who might use this as a guide. overloading of technical terminology is another case where things can go wrong when terms that have historical meanings and they are used in a different sense. for example, the authors talk about deconvolutions which formally refers to the process of reversing a convolution but in recent literature has been used to refer to transpose convolutions that are used in auto-encoders and gans. once such usage takes hold, it is hard to undo the mixed usage as people start to cite prior literature in future works. additionally, combined with the suggestive definitions, we run into the problem of concealing a lack of progress, such as the case with using language understanding and reading comprehension to now mean performance on specific datasets rather than the grand challenge in ai that it meant before. another case that leads to overestimation of the ability of these systems is in using suitcase words which pack in multiple meanings within them and there isn't a single agreed upon definition. interpretability and generalization are two such terms that have looser definitions and more formally defined ones, yet because papers use them in different ways, it leads to miscommunication and researchers talking across each other. the authors identify that these problems might be occurring because of a few trends that they have seen in the ml research community. specifically, complacency in the face of progress where there is an incentive to excuse weak arguments in the face of strong empirical results and the single-round review process at various conferences where the reviewers might not have much choice but to accept the paper given the strong empirical results. even if the flaws are noticed, there isn't any guarantee that they are fixed in a future review cycle at another conference. as the ml community has experienced rapid growth, the problem of getting high-quality reviews has been exacerbated: in terms of the number of papers to be reviewed by each reviewer and the dwindling number of experienced reviewers in the pool. with the large number of papers, each reviewer has less time to analyze papers in depth and reviewers who are less experienced can fall easily into some of the traps that have been identified so far. thus, there are two levers that are aggravating the problem. additionally, there is the risk of even experienced researchers resorting to a checklist-like approach under duress which might discourage scientific diversity when it comes to papers that might take innovative or creative approaches to expressing their ideas. a misalignment in incentives whereby lucrative deals in funding are offered to ai solutions that utilize anthropomorphic characterizations as a mechanism to overextend their claims and abilities though the authors recognize that the causal direction might be hard to judge. the authors also provide suggestions for other authors on how to evade some of these pitfalls: asking the question of why something happened rather than just relying on how well a system performed will help to achieve the goal of providing insights into why something works rather than just relying on headline numbers from the results of the experiments. they also make a recommendation for insights to follow the lines of doing error analysis, ablation studies, and robustness checks and not just be limited to theory. as a guideline for reviewers and journal editors, making sure to strip out extraneous explanations, exaggerated claims, changing anthropomorphic naming to more sober alternatives, standardizing notation, etc. should help to curb some of the problems. encouraging retrospective analysis of papers is something that is underserved at the moment and there aren't enough strong papers in this genre yet despite some avenues that have been advocating for this work. flawed scholarship as characterized by the points as highlighted here not only negatively impact the research community but also impact the policymaking process that can overshoot or undershoot the mark. an argument can be made that setting the bar too high will impede new ideas being developed and slow down the cycle of reviews and publication while consuming precious resources that could be deployed in creating new work. but, asking basic questions to guide us such as why something works, in which situations it does not work, and have the design decisions been justified will lead to a higher quality of scholarship in the field. the article summarizes recent work from several microsoft researchers on the subject of making ai ethics checklists that are effective. one of the most common problems identified relate to the lack of practical applicability of ai ethics principles which sound great and comprehensive in the abstract but do very little to aid engineers and practitioners from applying them in their day to day work. the work was done by interviewing several practitioners and advocating for a co-design process that brings in intelligence on how to make these tools effective from other disciplines like healthcare and aviation. one of the things emerging from the interviews is that often engineers are few and far between in raising concerns and there's a lack of top-down sync in enforcing these across the company. additionally, there might be social costs to bringing up issues which discourages engineers from implementing such measures. creating checklists that reduce friction and fit well into existing workflows will be key in their uptake. for a lot of people who are new to the field of artificial intelligence and especially ai ethics, they see existential risk as something that is immediate. others dismiss it as something to not be concerned about at all. there is a middle path here and this article sheds a very practical light on that. using the idea of canaries in a coal mine, the author goes on to highlight some potential candidates for a canary that might help us judge better when we ought to start paying attention to these kinds of risks posed by artificial general intelligence systems. the first one is the automatic formulation of learning problems, akin to how humans have high-level goals that they align with their actions and adjust them based on signals that they receive on the success or failure of those actions. ai systems trained in narrow domains don't have this ability just yet. the second one mentioned in the article is achieving fully autonomous driving, which is a good one because we have lots of effort being directed to make that happen and it requires a complex set of problems to be addressed including the ability to make real-time, life-critical decisions. ai doctors are pointed out as a third canary, especially because true replacement of doctors would require a complex set of skills spanning the ability to make decisions about a patient's healthcare plan by analyzing all their symptoms, coordinating with other doctors and medical staff among other human-centered actions which are currently not feasible for ai systems. lastly, the author points to the creation of conversation systems that are able to answer complex queries and respond to things like exploratory searches. we found the article to put forth a meaningful approach to reasoning about existential risk when it comes to ai systems. a lot of articles pitch development, investment and policymaking in ai as an arms race with the us and china as front-runners. while there are tremendous economic gains to be had in deploying and utilizing ai for various purposes, there remain concerns of how this can be used to benefit society more than just economically. a lot of ai strategies from different countries are thus focused on issues of inclusion, ethics and more that can drive better societal outcomes yet they differ widely in how they seek to achieve those goals. for example, ai has put forth a national ai strategy that is focused on economic growth and social inclusion dubbed #aiforall while the strategy from china has been more focused on becoming a global dominant force in ai which is backed by state investments. some countries have instead chosen to focus on creating strong legal foundations for the ethical deployment of ai while others are more focused on data protection rights. canada and france have entered into agreements to work together on ai policy which places talent, r&d and ethics at the center. the author of the article makes a case for how global coordination of ai strategies might lead to even higher gains but also recognizes that governments will be motivated to tailor their policies to best meet the requirements of their countries first and then align with others that might have similar goals. reproducibility is of paramount importance to doing rigorous research and a plethora of fields have suffered from a crisis where scientific work hasn't met muster in terms of reproducibility leading to wasted time and effort on the part of other researchers looking to build upon each other's work. the article provides insights from the work of a researcher who attempted a meta-science approach to trying to figure out what constitutes good, reproducible research in the field of machine learning. there is a distinction made early on in terms of replicability which hinges on taking someone else's code and running that on the shared data to see if you get the same results but as pointed out in the article, that suffers from issues of source and code bias which might be leveraging certain peculiarities in terms of configurations and more. the key tenets to reproducibility are being able to simply read a scientific paper and set up the same experiment, follow the steps prescribed and arrive at the same results. arriving at the final step is dubbed as independent reproducibility. the distinction between replicability and reproducibility also speaks to the quality of the scientific paper in being able to effectively capture the essence of the contribution such that anyone else is able to do the same. some of the findings from this work include that having hyperparameters well specified in the paper and its ease of readability contributed to the reproducibility. more specification in terms of math might allude to more reproducibility but it was found to not necessarily be the case. empirical papers were inclined to be more reproducible but could also create perverse incentives and side effects. sharing code is not a panacea and requires other accompanying factors to make the work really reproducible. cogent writing was found to be helpful along with code snippets that were either actual or pseudo code though step code that referred to other sections hampered reproducibility because of challenges in readability. simplified examples while appealing didn't really aid in the process and spoke to the meta-science process calling for data-driven approaches to ascertaining what works and what doesn't rather than relying on hunches. also, posting revisions to papers and being reachable over email to answer questions helped the author in reproducing the research work. finally, the author also pointed out that given this was a single initiative and was potentially biased in terms of their own experience, background and capabilities, they encourage others to tap into the data being made available but these guidelines provide good starting points for people to attempt to make their scientific work more rigorous and reproducible. the push has been to apply ai to any new problem that we face, hoping that the solution will magically emerge from the application of the technique as if it is a dark art. yet, the more seasoned scientists have seen these waves come and go and in the past, a blind trust in this technology led to ai winters. taking a look at some of the canaries in the coal mine, the author cautions that there might be a way to judge whether ai will be helpful with the pandemic situation. specifically, looking at whether domain experts, like leading epidemiologists endorse its use and are involved in the process of developing and utilizing these tools will give an indication as to whether they will be successful or not. data about the pandemic depends on context and without domain expertise, one has to make a lot of assumptions which might be unfounded. all models have to make assumptions to simplify reality, but if those assumptions are rooted in domain expertise from the field then the model can mimic reality much better. without context, ai models assume that the truth can be gleaned solely from the data, which though it can lead to surprising and hidden insights, at times requires humans to evaluate the interpretations to make meaning from them and apply them to solve real-world problems. this was demonstrated with the case where it was claimed that ai had helped to predict the start of the outbreak, yet the anomaly required the analysis from a human before arriving at that conclusion. claims of extremely high accuracy rates will give hardened data scientists reason for caution, especially when moving from lab to real-world settings as there is a lot more messiness with real-world data and often you encounter out-of-distribution data which hinders the ability of the model to make accurate predictions. for ct scans, even if they are sped up tremendously by the use of ai, doctors point out that there are other associated procedures such as the cleaning and filtration and recycling of air in the room before the next patient can be passed through the machine which can dwindle the gains from the use of an unexplainable ai system analyzing the scans. concerns with the use of automated temperature scanning using thermal cameras also suffers from similar concerns where there are other confounding factors like the ambient temperature, humidity, etc. which can limit the accuracy of such a system. ultimately, while ai can provide tremendous benefits, we mustn't blindly be driven by its allure to magically solve the toughest challenges that we face. offering an interesting take on how to shape the development and deployment of ai technologies, mhlambi utilizes the philosophy of ubuntu as a guiding light in how to build ai systems that better empower people and communities. the current western view that dominates how ai systems are constructed today and how they optimize for efficiency is something that lends itself quite naturally to inequitable outcomes and reinforcing power asymmetries and other imbalances in society. embracing the ubuntu mindset which puts people and communities first stands in contrast to this way of thinking. it gives us an alternative conception of personhood and has the potential to surface some different results. while being thousands of years old, the concept has been seen in practice over and over again, for example, in south africa, after the end of the apartheid, the truth and reconciliation program forgave and integrated offenders back into society rather than embark on a kantian or retributive path to justice. this restorative mindset to justice helped the country heal more quickly because the philosophy of ubuntu advocates that all people are interconnected and healing only happens when everyone is able to move together in a harmonious manner. this was also seen in the aftermath of the rwanda genocide, where oppressors were reintegrated back into society often living next to the people that they had hurt; ubuntu believes that no one is beyond redemption and everyone deserves the right to have their dignity restored. bringing people together through community is important, restorative justice is a mechanism that makes the community stronger in the long run. current ai formulation seeks to find some ground truth but thinking of this in the way of ubuntu means that we try to find meaning and purpose for these systems through the values and beliefs that are held by the community. ubuntu has a core focus on equity and empowerment for all and thus the process of development is slow but valuing people above material efficiency is more preferable than speeding through without thinking of the consequences that it might have on people. living up to ubuntu means offering people the choice for what they want and need, rooting out power imbalances and envisioning the companies as a part of the communities for which they are building products and services which makes them accountable and committed to the community in empowering them. ethics in the context of technology carries a lot of weight, especially because the people who are defining what it means will influence the kinds of interventions that will be implemented and the consequences that follow. given that technology like ai is used in high-stakes situations, this becomes even more important and we need to ask questions about the people who take this role within technology organizations, how they take corporate and public values and turn them into tangible outcomes through rigorous processes, and what regulatory measures are required beyond these corporate and public values to ensure that ethics are followed in the design, development and deployment of these technologies. ethics owners, the broad term for people who are responsible for this within organizations have a vast panel of responsibilities including communication between the ethics review committees and product design teams, aligning the recommendations with the corporate and public values, making sure that legal compliance is met and communicating externally about the processes that are being adopted and their efficacy. ethical is a polysemous word in that it can refer to process, outcomes, and values. the process refers to the internal procedures that are adopted by the firm to guide decision making on product/service design and development choices. the values aspect refers to the value set that is both adopted by the organization and those of the public within which the product/service might be deployed. this can include values such as transparency, equity, fairness, privacy, among others. the outcomes refer to desirable properties in the outputs from the system such as equalized odds across demographics and other fairness metrics. in the best case, inside a technology company, there are robust and well-managed processes that are aligned with collaboratively-determined ethical outcomes that achieve the community's and organization's ethical values. from the outside, this takes on the meaning of finding mechanisms to hold the firms accountable for the decisions that they take. further expanding on the polysemous meanings of ethics, it can be put into four categories for the discussion here: moral justice, corporate values, legal risk, and compliance. corporate values set the context for the rest of the meanings and provide guidance when tradeoffs need to be made in product/service design. they also help to shape the internal culture which can have an impact on the degree of adherence to the values. legal risk's overlap with ethics is fairly new whereas compliance is mainly concerned with the minimization of exposure to being sued and public reputation harm. using some of the framing here, the accolades, critiques, and calls to action can be structured more effectively to evoke substantive responses rather than being diffused in the energies dedicated to these efforts. framing the metaphor of "data is the new oil" in a different light, this article gives some practical tips on how organizations can reframe their thinking and relationship with customer data so that they take on the role of being a data custodian rather than owners of the personal data of their customers. this is put forth with the acknowledgement that customers' personal data is something really valuable that brings business upsides but it needs to be handled with care in the sense that the organization should act as a custodian that is taking care of the data rather than exploiting it for value without consent and the best interests of the customer at heart. privacy breaches that can compromise this data not only lead to fines under legislation like the gdpr, but also remind us that this is not just data but details of a real human being. as a first step, creating a data accountability report that documents how many times personal data was accessed by various employees and departments will serve to highlight and provide incentives for them to change behaviour when they see that some others might be achieving their job functions without the need to access as much information. secondly, celebrating those that can make do with minimal access will also encourage this behaviour change, all being done without judgement or blame but more so as an encouragement tool. pairing employees that need to access personal data for various reasons will help to build accountability and discourage intentional misuse of data and potential accidents that can lead to leaks of personal data. lastly, an internal privacy committee composed of people across job functions and diverse life experiences that monitors organization-wide private data use and provides guidance on improving data use through practical recommendations is another step that will move the conversation of the organization from data entitlement to data custodianship. ultimately, this will be a market advantage that will create more trust with customers and increase business bottom line going into the future. towards the systematic reporting of the energy and carbon climate change and environmental destruction are well-documented. most people are aware that mitigating the risks caused by these is crucial and will be nothing less than a herculean undertaking. on the bright side, ai can be of great use in this endeavour. for example, it can help us optimize resource use, or help us visualize the devastating effects of floods caused by climate change. however, ai models can have excessively large carbon footprints. henderson et al.'s paper details how the metrics needed to calculate environmental impact are severely underreported. to highlight this, the authors randomly sampled one-hundred neurips papers. they found that none reported carbon impacts, only one reported some energy use metrics, and seventeen reported at least some metrics related to compute-use. close to half of the papers reported experiment run time and the type of hardware used. the authors suggest that the environmental impact of ai and relevant metrics are hardly reported by researchers because the necessary metrics can be difficult to collect, while subsequent calculations can be time-consuming. taking this challenge head-on, the authors make a significant contribution by performing a meta-analysis of the very few frameworks proposed to evaluate the carbon footprint of ai systems through compute-and energy-intensity. in light of this meta-analysis, the paper outlines a standardized framework called experiment-impact-tracker to measure carbon emissions. the authors use metrics to quantify compute and energy use. these include when an experiment starts and ends, cpu and gpu power draw, and information on a specific energy grid's efficiency. the authors describe their motivations as threefold. first, experiment-impact-tracker is meant to spread awareness among ai researchers about how environmentally-harmful ai can be. they highlight that "[w]ithout consistent and accurate accounting, many researchers will simply be unaware of the impacts their models might have and will not pursue mitigating strategies". second, the framework could help align incentives. while it is clear that lowering one's environmental impact is generally valued in society, this is not currently the case in the field of ai. experiment-impact tracker, the authors believe, could help bridge this gap, and make energy efficiency and carbon-impact curtailment valuable objectives for researchers, along with model accuracy and complexity. third, experiment-impact-tracker can help perform cost-benefit analyses on one's ai model by comparing electricity cost and expected revenue, or the carbon emissions saved as opposed to those produced. this can partially inform decisions on whether training a model or improving its accuracy is worth the associated costs. to help experiment-impact-tracker become widely used among researchers, the framework emphasizes usability. it aims to make it easy and quick to calculate the carbon impact of an ai model. through a short modification of one's code, experiment-impact-tracker collects information that allows it to determine the energy and compute required as well as, ultimately, the carbon impact of the ai model. experiment-impact-tracker also addresses the interpretability of the results by including a dollar amount that represents the harm caused by the project. this may be more tangible for some than emissions expressed in the weight of greenhouse gases released or even in co equivalent emissions (co eq). in addition, the authors strive to: allow other ml researchers to add to experiment-impact-tracker to suit their needs, increase reproducibility in the field by making metrics collection more thorough, and make the framework robust enough to withstand internal mistakes and subsequent corrections without compromising comparability. moreover, the paper includes further initiatives and recommendations to push ai researchers to curtail their energy use and environmental impact. for one, the authors take advantage of the already widespread use of leaderboards in the ai community. while existing leaderboards are largely targeted towards model accuracy, henderson et al. instead put in place an energy efficiency leaderboard for deep reinforcement learning models. they assert that a leaderboard of this kind, that tracks performance in areas indicative of potential environmental impact, "can also help spread information about the most energy and climate-friendly combinations of hardware, software, and algorithms such that new work can be built on top of these systems instead of more energy-hungry configurations". the authors also suggest ai practitioners can take an immediate and significant step in lowering the carbon emissions of their work: run experiments on energy grids located in carbon-efficient cloud regions like quebec, the least carbon-intensive cloud region. especially when compared to very carbon-intensive cloud regions like estonia, the difference in co eq emitted can be considerable: running an experiment in estonia produces up to thirty times as much emissions as running the same experiment in quebec. the important reduction in carbon emissions that follows from switching to energy-efficient cloud regions, according to henderson et al., means there is no need to fully forego building compute-intensive ai as some believe. in terms of systemic changes that accompany experiment-impact-tracker, the paper lists seven. the authors suggest the implementation of a "green default" for both software and hardware. this would make the default setting for researchers' tools the most environmentally-friendly one. the authors also insist on weighing costs and benefits to using compute-and energy-hungry ai models. small increases in accuracy, for instance, can come at a high environmental cost. they hope to see the ai community use efficient testing environments for their models, as well as standardized reporting of a model's carbon impact with the help of experiment-impact-tracker. additionally, the authors ask those developing ai models to be conscious of the environmental costs of reproducing their work, and act as to minimize unnecessary reproduction. while being able to reproduce other researchers' work is crucial in maintaining sound scientific discourse, it is merely wasteful for two departments in the same business to build the same model from scratch. the paper also presents the possibility of developing a badge identifying ai research papers that show considerable effort in mitigating carbon impact when these papers are presented at conferences. lastly, the authors highlight important lacunas in relation to driver support and implementation. systems that would allow data on energy use to be collected are unavailable for certain hardware, or the data is difficult for users to obtain. addressing these barriers would allow for more widespread collection of energy use data, and contribute to making carbon impact measurement more mainstream in the ai community. the paper highlights four challenges in designing more "intelligent" voice assistant systems that are able to respond to exploratory searches that don't have clear, short answers and require nuance and detail. this is in response to the rising expectations that users have from voice assistants as they become more familiar with them through increased interactions. voice assistants are primarily used for productivity tasks like setting alarms, calling contacts, etc. and they can include gestural and voice-activated commands as a method of interaction. exploratory search is currently not well supported through voice assistants because of them utilizing a fact-based approach that aims to deliver a single, best response whereas a more natural approach would be to ask follow up questions to refine the query of the user to the point of being able to provide them with a set of meaningful options. the challenges as highlighted in this paper if addressed will lead to the community building more capable voice assistants. one of the first challenges is situationally induced impairments as presented by the authors highlights the importance of voice activated commands because they are used when there are no alternatives available to interact with the system, for example when driving or walking down a busy street. there is an important aspect of balancing the tradeoff between smooth user experience that is quick compared to the degree of granularity in asking questions and presenting results. we need to be able to quantify this compared to using a traditional touch based interaction to achieve the same result. lastly, there is the issue of privacy, such interfaces are often used in a public space and individuals would not be comfortable sharing details to refine the search such as clothing sizes which they can discreetly type into the screen. such considerations need to be thought of when designing the interface and system. mixed-modal interactions include combinations of text, visual inputs and outputs and voice inputs and output. this can be an effective paradigm to counter some of the problems highlighted above and at the same time improve the efficacy of the interactions between the user and the system. further analysis is needed as to how users utilize text compared to voice searches and whether one is more informational or exploratory than the other. designing for diverse populations is crucial as such systems are going to be widely deployed. for example, existing research already highlights how different demographics even within the same socio-economic subgroup utilize voice and text search differently. the system also needs to be sensitive to different dialects and accents to function properly and be responsive to cultural and contextual cues that might not be pre-built into the system. differing levels of digital and technical literacy also play a role in how the system can effectively meet the needs of the user. as the expectations from the system increase over time, ascribed to their ubiquity and anthropomorphization, we start to see a gulf in expectations and execution. users are less forgiving of mistakes made by the system and this needs to be accounted for when designing the system so that alternate mechanisms are available for the user to be able to meet their needs. in conclusion, it is essential when designing voice-activated systems to be sensitive to user expectations, more so than other traditional forms of interaction where expectations are set over the course of several uses of the system whereas with voice systems, the user comes in with a set of expectations that closely mimic how they interact with each other using natural language. addressing the challenges highlighted in this paper will lead to systems that are better able to delight their users and hence gain higher adoption. the paper highlights how having more translation capabilities available for languages in the african continent will enable people to access larger swathes of the internet and contribute to scientific knowledge which are predominantly english based. there are many languages in africa, south africa alone has official languages and only a small subset are made available on public tools like google translate. in addition, due to the scant nature of research on machine translation for african languages, there remain gaps in understanding the extent of the problem and how they might be addressed most effectively. the problems facing the community are many: low resource availability, low discoverability where language resources are often constrained by institution and country, low reproducibility because of limited sharing of code and data, lack of focus from african society in seeing local languages as primary modes of communication and a lack of public benchmarks which can help compare results of machine translation efforts happening in various places. the research work presented here aims to address a lot of these challenges. they also give a brief background on the linguistic characteristics of each of the languages that they have covered which gives hints as to why some have been better covered by commercial tools than others.in related work, it is evident that there aren't a lot of studies that have made their code and datasets public which makes comparison difficult with the results as presented in this paper. most studies focused on the autshumato datasets and some relied on government documents as well, others used monolingual datasets as a supplement. the key analysis of all of those studies is that there is a paucity in the focus on southern african languages and because apart from one study, others didn't make their datasets and code public, the bleu scores listed were incomparable which further hinders future research efforts. the autshumato datasets are parallel, aligned corpora that have governmental text as its source. they are available for english to afrikaans, isizulu, n. sotho, setswana, and xitsonga translations and were created to build and facilitate open source translation systems. they have sentence level parallels that have been created both using manual and automatic methods. but, it contains a lot of duplicates which were eliminated in the study done in this paper to avoid leakage between training and testing phases. despite these eliminations, there remain some issues of low quality, especially for isizulu where the translations don't line up between source and target sentences. from a methodological perspective, the authors used convs s and transformer models without much hyperparameter tuning since the goal of the authors was to provide a benchmark and the tuning is left as future work. additional details on the libraries, hyperparameter values and dataset processing are provided in the paper along with a github link to the code. in general the transformer model outperformed convs s for all the languages, sometimes even by points on the bleu scores. performance on the target language depended on both the number of sentences and the morphological typology of the language. poor quality of data along with small dataset size plays an important role as evidenced in the poor performance on the isizulu translations where a lowly . bleu score was achieved. the morphological complexity of the language also played a role in the state of the performance as compared to other target languages. for each of the target languages studied, the paper includes some randomly selected sentences to show qualitative results and how different languages having different structures and rules impacts the degree of accuracy and meaning in the translations. there are also some attention visualizations provided in the paper for the different architectures demonstrating both correct and incorrect translations, thus shedding light on potential areas for dataset and model improvements. the paper also shows results from ablation studies that the authors performed on the byte pair encodings (bpe) to analyze the impact on the bleu scores and they found that for datasets that had smaller number of samples, like for isizulu, having a smaller number of bpe tokens increased the bleu scores. in potential future directions for the work, the authors point out the need for having more data collection and incorporating unsupervised learning, meta learning and zero shot techniques as potential options to provide translations for all official languages in south africa. this work provides a great starting point for others who want to help preserve languages and improve machine translations for low resources languages. such efforts are crucial to empower everyone in being able to access and contribute to scientific knowledge of the world. providing code and data in an open source manner will enable future research to build upon it and we need more such efforts that capture the diversity of human expression through various languages. presence of media cards, total interactions, history of engagement with the creator of the tweet, the user's strength of connection with the creator and the user's usage pattern of twitter. from these factors, one can deduce why filter bubbles and echo chambers form on the platform and where designers and technologists can intervene to make the platform a more holistic experience for users that doesn't create polarizing fractions which can promote the spread of disinformation. for the first time, there's a call for the technical community to include a social impact statement from their work which has sparked a debate amongst camps that are arguing to leave such a declaration to experts who study ethics in machine learning and those that see this as a positive step in bridging the gap between the social sciences and the technical domains. specifically, we see this as a great first step in bringing accountability closer to the origin of the work. additionally, it would be a great way to build a shared vernacular across the human and technical sciences easing future collaboration. we are impressed with all the work that the research and practice community has been doing in the domain of ai ethics. there are many unsolved and open problems that are yet to be addressed but our overwhelming optimism in the power of what diversity and interdisciplinarity can help to achieve makes us believe that there is indeed room for finding novel solutions to the problems that face the development and deployment of ai systems. we see ourselves as a public square, gathering people from different walks of life who can have meaningful exchanges with each other to create the solutions we need for a better future. let's work together and share the mic with those who have lived experiences, lifting up voices that will help us better understand the contexts within which technology resides so that we can truly build something that is ethical, safe, and inclusive for all. see you here next quarter, the state of ai ethics, june suckers list: how allstate's secret auto insurance algorithm squeezes big spenders algorithmic injustices towards a relational ethics social biases in nlp models as barriers for persons with disabilities the second wave of algorithmic accountability the unnatural ethics of ai could be its undoing this dating app exposes the monstrous bias of algorithms ( arielle pardes data is never a raw, truthful input -and it is never neutral racial disparities in automated speech recognition working to address algorithmic bias? don't overlook the role of demographic data ai advances to better detect hate speech algorithms associating appearance and criminality have a dark past beware of these futuristic background checks go deep: research summaries the toxic potential of youtube's feedback loop study: facebook's fake news labels have a fatal flaw research summaries capabilities, and ai assistive technologies go wide: article summaries ancient animistic beliefs live on in our intimacy with tech humans communicate better after robots show their vulnerable side at the limits of thought engineers should spend time training not just algorithms, but also the humans who use them using multimodal sensing to improve awareness in human-ai interaction different intelligibility for different folks aligning ai to human values means picking the right metrics why lifelong learning is the international passport to success (pierre vandergheynst and isabelle vonèche cardia you can't fix unethical design by yourself research summaries the wrong kind of ai? artificial intelligence and the future of labor demand ai is coming for your most mind-numbing office tasks tech's shadow workforce sidelined, leaving social media to the machines here's what happens when an algorithm determines your work schedule automation will take jobs but ai will create them research summaries what's next for ai ethics, policy, and governance? a global overview (daniel schiff a holistic approach to implement ethics in ai beyond a human rights based approach to ai governance: promise, pitfalls and plea go wide: article summaries this is the year of ai regulations apps gone rogue: maintaining personal privacy in an epidemic maximizing privacy and effectiveness in covid- apps article summaries who's allowed to track my kids online? chinese citizens are racing against censors to preserve coronavirus memories on github can i opt out of facial scans at the airport? with painted faces, artists fight facial recognition tech research summaries adversarial machine learning -industry perspectives article summaries the deadly consequences of unpredictable code adversarial policies: attacking deep reinforcement learning specification gaming: the flip side of ai ingenuity doctors are using ai to triage covid- patients. the tools may be here to stay the future of privacy and security in the age of machine learning research summaries towards a clearer account of research priorities in ai ethics and society integrating ethical values and economic value to steer progress in ai machine learning scholarship go wide: article summaries microsoft researchers create ai ethics checklist with ml practitioners from a dozen tech companies why countries need to work together on ai quantifying independently reproducible machine learning be a data custodian, not a data owner research summaries towards the systematic reporting of the energy and carbon footprints of machine learning challenges in supporting exploratory search through voice assistants a focus on neural machine translation for african languages radioactive data: tracing through training using deep learning at scale in twitter's timeline (nicolas koumchatzky neurips requires ai researchers to account for societal impact and financial conflicts of interest in modern ai systems, we run into complex data and processing pipelines that have several stages and it becomes challenging to trace the provenance and transformations that have been applied to a particular data point. this research from the facebook ai research team proposes a new technique called radioactive data that borrows from medical science where compounds like baso are injected to get better results in ct scans. this technique applies minor, imperceptible perturbations to images in a dataset by causing shifts within the feature space making them "carriers".different from other techniques that rely on poisoning the dataset that harms classifier accuracy, this technique instead is able to detect such changes even when the marking and classification architectures are different. it not only has potential to trace how data points are used in the ai pipeline but also has implications when trying to detect if someone claims not to be using certain images in their dataset but they actually are. the other benefit is that such marking of the images is difficult to undo thus adding resilience to manipulation and providing persistence. prior to relevance based timeline, the twitter newsfeed was ordered in reverse chronological order but now it uses a deep learning model underneath to display the most relevant tweets that are personalized according to the user's interactions on the platform. with the increasing use of twitter as a source of news for many people, it's a good idea for researchers to gain an understanding of the methodology that is used to determine the relevance of tweets, especially as one looks to curb the spread of disinformation online. the article provides some technical details in terms of the deep learning infrastructure and the choices made by the teams in deploying computationally heavy models which need to be balanced with the expediency of the refresh times for a good experience on the platform. but, what's interesting from an ai ethics perspective are the components that are used to arrive at the ranking which constantly evolves based on the user's interaction with different kinds of content.the ranked timeline consists of a handful of the tweets that are the most relevant to the user followed by others in reverse chronological order. additionally, based on the time since one's last visit on the platform, there might be an icymi ("in case you missed it") section as well. the key factors in ranking the tweets are their recency, key: cord- -fs fkidt authors: griffiths, d.; sheehan, l.; van vreden, c.; petrie, d.; grant, g.; whiteford, p.; sim, m.; collie, a. title: the impact of work loss on mental and physical health during the covid- pandemic: findings from a prospective cohort study date: - - journal: nan doi: . / . . . sha: doc_id: cord_uid: fs fkidt objective: to determine if losing work during the covid- pandemic is associated with mental and physical health. to determine if social interactions and financial resources moderate the relationship between work loss and health. design: baseline data from a prospective longitudinal cohort study. setting: australia, th march to th june . participants: australians aged + years, employed in a paid job prior to the covid- pandemic who responded to an online or telephone survey. main outcome measures: kessler- score > indicating high psychological distress. short form (sf- ) mental health or physical health component score <= indicating poor mental or physical health. results: , respondents including groups who had lost their job (n= ), were not working but remained employed (n= ), were working less (n= ) and whose work was unaffected (n= ). three groups experiencing work loss had greater odds of high psychological distress (aor= . - . ), poor mental (aor= . - . ) and physical health (aor= . - . ) than the unaffected work group. poor mental health was more common than poor physical health. the odds of high psychological distress (aor= . - . ), poor mental (aor= . - . ) and physical health (aor= . - . ) were increased in those reporting fewer social interactions or less financial resources. conclusion: losing work during the covid- pandemic is associated with mental and physical health problems, and this relationship is moderated by social interactions and financial resources. responses that increase financial security and enhance social connections may partially alleviate the health impacts of work loss. changes in work, including widescale unemployment and reductions in working hours, have been one of the major consequences of public health measures taken to limit transmission of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (sars-cov- ), which leads to the coronavirus disease . globally there was an estimated % reduction in working hours during the first half of compared to the last quarter of , equivalent to a loss of million full-time jobs ( ) . in australia, an estimated , workers ( . % of the total employed) lost their jobs between february and may after widespread public health measures to contain covid- were introduced, while in may a further . million remained employed but were working less or were stood down ( ). a coronavirus-induced recession with widespread job losses has potential to lead to an epidemic of mental illness, chronic disease and mortality ( ) . australian data demonstrates a higher than normal prevalence of stress, anxiety and hopelessness among the general community during the covid- pandemic ( ) , and elevations in the community prevalence of depression and anxiety symptoms ( ). work and health are closely interconnected. there is substantial evidence globally of the health benefits of good work ( ). the harmful health impacts of losing work are also well described ( ), including in people whose work is impacted by viral epidemics ( , ) . work loss both disrupts social connections and reduces material financial resources, which are important determinants of health ( , ). the response to the employment crisis by the australian government has been temporary wage subsidies ( ) , and increases in social security payments ( ) , to ensure workers maintain employer connections and a source of income. the ability of australian workers to maintain social interaction has been challenged by physical distancing, isolation, movement restriction and working from home requirements. the health of those that have maintained higher levels of social interaction, and who have greater financial resources, may be less impacted by work loss. this study aimed to determine whether losing work during the covid- pandemic is associated with poorer mental and physical health, and to determine if financial resources and social interactions moderate the relationship between work loss and health. we hypothesised that a gradient in work loss would be reflected in a health gradient, with the most affected group (the newly unemployed) reporting the worst health status. we report findings from a baseline survey of a prospective longitudinal cohort study of people living in australia, aged at least years, and who were employed in a paid job or self-employed prior to the covid- pandemic. participants completed a -minute baseline survey upon enrolment (either online or via a telephone survey) between th march and th june , which included both standardised health metrics and a range of study-specific questions. the online survey was promoted via social and general media, through personal networks, and via newsletters distributed by community sector and industry groups. participants were enrolled into the telephone survey via random digit dialling conducted by a thirdparty market research company. four study groups were defined on the basis of changes in work and job loss at the time of the baseline survey: (i) lost job -those who had lost their jobs during the covid- pandemic and were not working, (ii) off-work -those still employed but not currently working (e.g. stood down, furloughed, taking leave), (iii) reduced work -those still employed and working fewer hours than before the pandemic (e.g. reduced fraction, fewer days working), and (iv) work unaffected -those employed and working the same or more hours as before the pandemic. psychological distress was assessed using the kessler scale ( ) , distinguishing levels of serious mental illness ( ) . mental and physical health were assessed using the mental component score and the physical component score of the short form (sf- ) scale ( ) . outcome measures were derived using standardised approaches and included whether the respondent recorded: . cc-by-nc-nd . international license it is made available under a perpetuity. is the author/funder, who has granted medrxiv a license to display the preprint in (which was not certified by peer review) preprint the copyright holder for this this version posted september , . . https://doi.org/ . / . . . doi: medrxiv preprint -a kessler- score of more than indicating high psychological distress -a sf- mental health component score of less than indicating poor mental health. -a sf- physical health component score of less than indicating poor physical health. financial resources were assessed with the question: 'if all of a sudden you had to get $ for something important, could the money be obtained within a week?' ( ) . responses of 'yes' were categorised as having more financial resources and responses of 'no' and 'don't know' as having less financial resource. social interactions were measured using the social interaction sub-scale of the duke social support index ( ) . scores were dichotomised with reference to the cohort median as ( ) less social interaction for scores less than , or ( ) high levels of social interaction for scores greater than or equal to . other survey items included a range of sociodemographic, work history and health characteristics including age, gender, household circumstances, personal income, pre-covid- occupation and working hours, and the presence of pre-existing medical conditions. the work-health relationship was modelled using binary logistic regression with working status group as the independent variable. models included interaction terms between working status with social interaction, and working status with financial resources, in addition to adjusting for age, gender, preexisting medical conditions and survey mode. the reference group for interaction terms was the unaffected work subgroup with more social interactions and more financial resources. pre-existing diagnosed anxiety and depression were included as variables in models for psychological distress and mental health. for the physical health model, a diverse set of health conditions were compiled into the total number of medical conditions variable. preliminary analysis identified differences in cohort profiles and outcomes between survey modes and thus a variable for survey mode was also included. is the author/funder, who has granted medrxiv a license to display the preprint in (which was not certified by peer review) preprint the copyright holder for this this version posted september , . is the author/funder, who has granted medrxiv a license to display the preprint in (which was not certified by peer review) preprint the copyright holder for this this version posted september , . the odds of poor physical health, for those with a more social interaction and more financial resources, were significantly higher for those in the three work loss groups (aor= . - . ) compared with the unaffected work group. less social interaction was associated with greater odds of poor physical health across all working status groups (aor= . - . ), as was less financial resources (aor= . - . ). a total of ( . %) respondents reported having at least one pre-existing medical condition, including ( . %) with anxiety and ( . %) with depression (table ) . respondents who reported anxiety or depression had greater odds of high psychological distress and poor mental health. for physical health, each additional medical condition reported increased the odds of poor physical health by . . female respondents had greater odds of poor mental health than male respondents. age-related differences were observed across all health outcomes. older respondents had lower odds of psychological distress and poor mental health than the reference group of those aged to years old, but higher odds of poor physical health. respondents who completed the survey online had greater odds of high psychological distress and poor mental health and lower odds of poor physical health compared to those completing the survey via telephone. is the author/funder, who has granted medrxiv a license to display the preprint in (which was not certified by peer review) preprint the copyright holder for this this version posted september , . . https://doi.org/ . / . . . doi: medrxiv preprint this study demonstrates that in a cohort of people employed prior to the covid- pandemic, those experiencing work loss are more likely to report psychological distress, and poor mental and physical health compared to those whose work was unaffected. these negative health effects are exacerbated in people reporting fewer financial resources and those reporting lower levels of social interaction. these findings demonstrate that financial hardship and social connections moderate the relationship between work and health in the extraordinary circumstances of the covid- pandemic ( ). strategies that promote social interactions and increase financial security in those experiencing job or work loss may help to minimise negative health impacts. the odds of high psychological distress were greatest in people reporting lower financial resources. among these respondents, the greatest odds of distress were reported by people who had lost their job, followed by those who were off work, those with reduced working hours and finally by those whose work was unaffected. the odds of poor mental and physical health were also greater in people reporting lower financial resources. the links between financial resources and health, particularly mental health, are well established ( ). our data additionally show that lower access to financial resources exacerbates the negative health consequences of work loss. people with lower financial reserves and more likely to report increases in financial stress ( ). potential interventions to ameliorate these impacts include increasing the financial support available to those who have lost work during the pandemic, and supporting people to manage their existing financial resources. the australian government introduced two major economic stimulus programs to provide financial support to people whose work was affected during the covid- pandemic ( , ) . our findings suggest that these economic measures may have had positive health consequences, by reducing the number of people in financial stress early during the pandemic. conversely, withdrawal of these measures will reduce access to financial resources and may result in a worsening of mental and physical health among working age australians. enhancing access to services such as financial planning or financial counselling may also be helpful. is the author/funder, who has granted medrxiv a license to display the preprint in (which was not certified by peer review) preprint the copyright holder for this this version posted september , . . https://doi.org/ . / . . . doi: medrxiv preprint we also observed that social interactions moderated the work-health relationship. social support is an important determinant of health. loneliness and social isolation have been associated with increased mortality, as well as adverse physical and mental health outcomes ( ). during the covid- pandemic social interactions have been transformed by the public health measures introduced to reduce viral transmission. the ability to participate in activities that support health such as working or volunteering, meeting in groups, participating in clubs and sporting groups ( ) have all been reduced. importantly, we observe that the moderating impact of lower social isolations on mental health and psychological distress was limited to people in the lost job, off work and reduced work groups. those whose work was unaffected and who reported low social interactions did not report elevated distress or poorer mental health than their counterparts with more social interactions, suggesting a protective effect of continued engagement in work. our data also provide some evidence for a gradient in health that can be related to the extent of work loss. those in the job loss group had the greatest odds of reporting high psychological distress, poor mental and physical health than those in the other study groups. those in the unaffected work group had the lowest odds of reporting these adverse health outcomes, while the reduced work and off work groups were intermediate. economic recovery from the pandemic is likely to be a long-term process, and is unlikely to be evenly spread across society. a second wave in community transmission in victoria ( ) has led to further job and work losses, more stringent movement restrictions, and business closures. some industries and occupations are at greater risk of pandemic-linked work loss than others ( ), due to the inability to work remotely or enforce physical distancing, the rate of insecure and casual work arrangements, the risk of workplace transmission to employees or members of the public, or being considered 'nonessential' and thus more susceptible to business closure during outbreaks. health-promoting programs should be targeted to people working in these high-risk industries and occupations, and to those whose working arrangements mean they are ineligible for alternative forms of financial assistance. to our knowledge, this is one of the first studies examining psychological distress, mental and physical health, specifically among people losing work during the covid- pandemic. study is the author/funder, who has granted medrxiv a license to display the preprint in (which was not certified by peer review) preprint the copyright holder for this this version posted september , . . strengths include the use of validated measurement instruments, the temporal proximity of data collection to job and work loss and that the analysis accounted for multiple confounders. study limitations include its cross-sectional nature and reliance on self-report. the sample may not be representative of the population affected, although the regression model adjusts for multiple demographic factors to aid outcome interpretation. significant differences were observed between survey modes, with online respondents more likely to report mental health problems and less likely to report physical health problems than telephone respondents. using multiple response modes and statistically controlling for response mode in regression models may have reduced the response biases commonly observed in health outcomes research ( ). data collection began at the peak of a first wave of covid- cases in australia and continued through the early stages of re-opening. longitudinal data from this cohort will track changes in work and employment amongst the study groups, and examine longer-term impacts of mental and physical health as the pandemic unfolds in australia. we acknowledge the social research centre (src) for undertaking telephone interviews. funding was provided by monash university and the icare foundation. the views expressed are those of the authors and may not reflect the views of study funders. professor alex collie is supported by an arc future fellowship. no relevant disclosures is the author/funder, who has granted medrxiv a license to display the preprint in (which was not certified by peer review) preprint the copyright holder for this this version posted september , . . https://doi.org/ . / . . . doi: medrxiv preprint committee. the data are held at monash university, insurance work and health group, school of public health and preventive medicine. procedures to access data from this study are available through contacting the lead author. proposals for collaborative analyses will be considered by the study's investigator team. . cc-by-nc-nd . international license it is made available under a perpetuity. is the author/funder, who has granted medrxiv a license to display the preprint in (which was not certified by peer review) preprint the copyright holder for this this version posted september , . is the author/funder, who has granted medrxiv a license to display the preprint in (which was not certified by peer review) preprint the copyright holder for this this version posted september , . is the author/funder, who has granted medrxiv a license to display the preprint in (which was not certified by peer review) preprint the copyright holder for this this version posted september , . . is the author/funder, who has granted medrxiv a license to display the preprint in (which was not certified by peer review) preprint the copyright holder for this this version posted september , . . https://doi.org/ . / . . . doi: medrxiv preprint fifth edition updated estimates and analysis. international labour organization will there be an epidemic of corollary illnesses linked to a covid- -related recession? household impacts of covid- survey $ billion jobkeeper payment to keep australians in a job, media release prime minister of australia) , supporting australian workers and business, media release short screening scales to monitor population prevalences and trends in non-specific psychological distress screening for serious mental illness in the general population. archives of general psychiatry the sf- v tm how to score version of the sf- ® health survey:(with a supplement documenting version ). quality metric abbreviating the duke social support index for use in chronically ill elderly individuals note: all data is reported as number (row percentage) unless otherwise stated. sd = standard deviation key: cord- -wr j j authors: vasudevan, gayathri; singh, shanu; gupta, gaurav; jalajakshi, c. k. title: mgnrega in the times of covid- and beyond: can india do more with less? date: - - journal: indian j labour econ doi: . /s - - - sha: doc_id: cord_uid: wr j j covid- has ushered in a renewed focus on health, sanitisation and, in unexpected ways, on the need for productive employment opportunities in rural india. mgnrega, the rural employment guarantee programme, has had a mixed track record in terms of providing adequate employment to those who need it the most, the quality of asset creation and adequacy of wages offered. this paper makes a case for reorienting a small portion of mgnrega spending to create micro-entrepreneurs out of the ‘reverse migrating’ masons, electricians, plumbers and others in rural areas who can directly contribute to augmenting health and sanitization infrastructure in the likely new normal. this will provide relief to those whose livelihoods have been severely impacted and eventually lower dependence on public finances. we propose approval of a new work type for sanitization works without any hard asset creation under mgnrega and roping in the private sector for its project management skills to quickly skill up the returning migrants as well as to match work with workers on an ongoing basis. in rural areas, major livelihood activities are irregular mainly due to seasonal fluctuations in agriculture and allied activities. this leads to periodic withdrawal from labour force, especially by the marginal labourers, who shift back and forth between what is reported as domestic and gainful work. many workers migrate to other parts of the country in search of work. lack of alternate livelihoods and skill development are the primary causes of migration from rural areas. due to covid- pandemic, india is facing a severe challenge of unemployment and reverse migration (fig. ) . migrant workers are heading back to their native places in the hope of sustaining themselves better than they would be able to manage in hostile living conditions in host locations with limited work opportunities. most migrant workers are daily-wage earners, and absence of work for extended periods makes it difficult to afford high cost of living in urban areas. added to this is the uncertainty around the timelines for normalization of the current situation. mahatma gandhi national rural employment guarantee act (referred to as mgnrega hereafter) was introduced by government of india in to target causes of chronic poverty through the 'works' (projects) that are undertaken, and thus ensuring sustainable development for all. mgnrega is the largest work guarantee programme in the world with the primary objective of guaranteeing days of wage employment per year to rural households. the programme emphasizes on strengthening the process of decentralization by giving a significant role to panchayati raj institutions (pris) in planning and implementing these works. this paper critically evaluates the suitability of mgnrega in its current form as a panacea for alleviating stress in rural india. the key question we discuss here is whether mgnrega can provide meaningful work in the post-covid- world, how more employment could be generated with the same effective spending and reliance on projects under mgnrega be reduced going forward. the focus of the scheme is on rural employment and asset creation. a total of days of work is guaranteed per household with the budget shared in : ratio by centre and states. the daily wage has recently been increased to rs. by the centre although there is significant interstate variation in the wages paid (increased wage rates effective from april, and notified on march, ). in many cases, the scheme wage rates are lower than the minimum wages in respective states. spending under mgnrega projects is mandated to be at least % on wages to unskilled labour with the remaining % for semi-skilled/skilled labour and material. however, there are exceptions to this. one of the prominent examples is construction of toilets. the scheme is implemented via gram panchayats. the centre's focus is on 'convergence' with spending on other major schemes. convergence in this context implies that where possible, the objective of jobs and asset creation under mgnrega is be achieved in alignment with the schemes rolled out by other departments. mgnrega funds cannot be used for other schemes, but the reverse is what convergence aims to promote. more than projects are permissible under mgnrega and classified into four main categories, namely: public works relating to natural resources management, individual assets for vulnerable sections, common infrastructure for deendayal antyodaya yojana-national rural livelihoods mission (day-nrlm) compliant self-help groups, and rural infrastructure. total fy - spending by the centre was rs. , crores, while the original budget for fy was rs. , crores. in the wake of covid- -related reverse migration, the centre has recently enhanced this amount by rs. , crores. in the financial year - , approximately crore workers availed of work under the scheme. mgnrega is also one of the focus areas in the centre's recently announced rs. lakh crore stimulus package. however, as we discuss in the following sections, this would not be enough to provide meaningful employment to the large number of returnee migrants, and a meaningful reorientation of spending can help create a pool of micro-entrepreneurs in short time. with a possibility of reasonable income-generating opportunities outside mgnrega-related works, this pool is expected to have lower dependence on government spending in future. a study by institute of social and economic change (isec ) of projects between fy and fy under mgnrega reveals the following top categories: rural connectivity ( %), water conservation ( %), land development ( %), renovation of water bodies ( %), flood control ( %), micro-irrigation works ( %), provision of irrigation facility ( %), drought proofing ( %) and other activities, as approved by ministry of rural development, ( %). however, as with schemes of this scale and nature, work completion rates under mgnrega have been low at least for the period under consideration (table ) . besides other factors such as time taken for completing documentation and abandonment of non-feasible projects, this also demonstrates the need for better project management and execution skills. the following is an extract (section . ) from the nd report of the standing committee on rural development ( development ( - presented to the th lok sabha. "the working group on mgnrega have also mentioned that findings related to quality, durability and rate of work completion suggest that the problem is not in the design of the act but the usefulness of the scheme is dependent on the strength of its implementation at the field level. for instance, lack of planning in areas like potential demand and need for mgnrega works, participation of villagers and prioritization of works in the gram sabha (gs), and focus on creation of productive assets based on principles of watershed, etc., can greatly reduce the development potential of mgnrega. taking up of planned works, relevant to the need of the region and demand of the beneficiaries is also vital for ensuring ownership of assets and their development utility in the long run." the most distressed section of migrants is what has been termed in the literature as vulnerable circular migrants (srivastava ) . these include both short-term seasonal and long-term (semi-permanent) occupationally vulnerable workers. srivastava ( ) has estimated that there were approximately . crore short-duration circular migrant workers in - . of these . crore, about . crore were engaged in non-agriculture work, . crore were in urban areas, and . crore were working in other states ( . crore of out of . crore in urban locations). in the same study, the number of vulnerable long-term circular migrant workers has been estimated at . crores in . putting together the numbers of short-term seasonal/ circular and long-term occupationally vulnerable workers gives us about . crore workers whose livelihoods may have been adversely impacted with the onset of covid . about . crore ( . crores short-term above and . crores longterm) of these . crore migrants were estimated to be a part of the workforce in urban india-the epicentre of covid in india. a little less than half of these . crore workers- . crores-were interstate migrant workers in . based on - nss data used in srivastava ( ) , states that primarily contribute to short-duration out-migration for employment are bihar ( . %), uttar pradesh ( %) and west bengal ( %), madhya pradesh ( . %), jharkhand ( . %) and rajasthan ( . %). these states also had the highest shares in interstate outmigrants reflecting their low levels of income. uttar pradesh and bihar also have more than % share in long-term out-migration. the task force on eliminating poverty constituted by niti aayog in (occasional paper ) has noted that, on average, most beneficiaries under mgnregs have been able to avail of only days of work and recommends better targeting of the scheme to ensure the poorest of the poor get the promised days of work opportunity. if - % of . crores migrant workers in urban india (including the . crores interstate workers in above) return to their home destinations, the scheme has to accommodate between . and . crores new workers. this will add roughly - % to the pool of existing workers, and the current employment situation in the country will also force inactive users to demand employment under mgnrega. the incremental allocation (over last year's actuals) is about rs. , crores. considering these numbers, the average availability of work per person will reduce further below days and is inadequate in addressing the challenges facing rural india. this reverse migration has altered the labour market's demand and supply dynamics significantly. areas that previously had negative net migration rates are now expected to be labour surplus. locations that were attractive for labour to migrate to, will find it difficult to attract and retain labour. what this essentially means is that locations that were hitherto the biggest sources of migrant workers will have an excess supply of unskilled/semi-skilled labour available to work at low reservation wages. given the continued requirements around social distancing, we expect movement of people to be somewhat restricted and a more-or-less closed labour market in the foreseeable future. this will mean that some portion (~ - % ) of migrants will stay back in their villages and not return to the places of work soon. on the other hand, covid- has demonstrated the gaps in india's health and sanitisation infrastructure. in addition, sanitisation has assumed unprecedented importance in our lives, in both rural and urban india. rural india can benefit from effectively utilising this surplus labour in augmenting its health and sanitization infrastructure. table shows that top districts account for % of all male migrants. the next % is spread over the districts shown against numbers to . these are the areas that need intervention on an urgent basis. early/incomplete data collected by the office of relief commissioner, government of uttar pradesh, in table suggest % of returning migrants are unskilled. governments, both at the centre and in states, are facing several challenges today. at the top of the list is rehabilitation of returning migrants including provision of quarantine facilities, covid screening, essential supplies, etc. equally critical is to immediately provide these workers income-earning opportunities, especially to seasonal migrants who are unlikely to migrate for work soon. at the very least, they are not expected to return with families leaving behind - adults in the village. on health and sanitisation fronts, adequate health facilities including those for mental health are required given the large number of people back in villages now and most having returned after long period of hardships and joblessness. sanitisation needs to be ensured as per new requirements, and necessary steps need to be taken at local levels to ensure there is no spread of infection in rural areas. in addition, restoration of public and private property post-cyclone amphanrelated destruction is also an important focus area for governments in west bengal and odisha. a. sanitisation of public and private assets. it must be noted that sanitisation is to be seen as something distinct from regular cleaning work. overall, public places such as schools, anganwadis, health centres, common areas, shops, community assets such as panchayat office, post office, police chowki, cooperative society offices and bank branches where a lot of people come in contact with each other need effective sanitisation. the new physical distancing norms also necessitate construction of individual toilets versus community toilets in order to abate spread of communicable diseases. while unavoidable where common services are provided (e.g. bus stands, train station), common toilets in residential areas are not very effective in disease prevention. the jal jeevan mission which aims to provide piped water to every household needs to be fast tracked by reaching more and more households at the earliest. with respect to health-related aspects, additional construction is required particularly to attend to critical services like maternal labour rooms which are being currently doubled up as isolation wards. similarly, non-covid-related medical services which have been side-lined for lack of space and resources need augmenting including construction of adequate physical space and healthcare workers. it is well documented that the returning indian soldiers from world war i carried h n influenza to the rest of the country ultimately resulting in the death of . crore indians. the current reverse migration from cities (the epicentres of covid- ) to rural areas has potential for the wider spread of disease in rural areas which have far inferior medical facilities and preparedness than urban india. temporary structures to host screening, testing and quarantine facilities for these migrant workers need immediate work. c. frequency of cleaning (and sanitisation) work needs to be far more than that in the pre-covid world. d. storage for agriculture produce: creation of small warehouses at the village level for storage of produce. there is a well-documented shortage of storage space in india (oecd ). it is estimated that lack of storage facilities depresses the realised price as well as results in direct wastage of - % of physical output ( - % in overall supply chain). e. restoration of public and private property post-cyclone amphan-related destruction. the we propose the following changes to the existing mgnrega guidelines. . a new category of works without any physical asset creation as such needs to be approved. . funding from mgnrega for paying wages to sanitization and hygiene workers. works. these will be labour and material contractors. there are not any as of now for sanitisation and hygiene-related works. these fpc will be different from the existing mates or mistris as they would need to quickly acquire skills in short time that were, in the pre-covid times, acquired over a period of time with experience. mates or mistris are experts for overseeing work assigned to their group of workers ~ in each group. . sanitisation as a concept is new, so trained manpower is necessary. sanitisation and hygiene workers (different from those currently involved in cleaning jobs) will drive sanitization efforts across the gp. both the fpc and sanitisation workers will be collectively called sanitisation and hygiene entrepreneurs (she). ing in the project management expertise with respect to quickly mobilising, skilling and maintaining a pool of sanitisation and hygiene workers for gp level works as well as in matching workers to work outside mgnrega projects. we represent these project management consultants as pmcs hereafter in the note. under mgnrega, % of total expenditure can be on administrative expenses. of this, % needs to be utilised at the gp level. these funds can be utilised on the skilling of she. as we show later in this note, just this portion of funds will not be enough and governments need to make more funding available through other components of mgnrega and other schemes. states need to propose changes to be made in the scheme to centre given there will be no asset creation and the work is of regular nature. the proposal needs to include the following: justification for the work, areas where the work will be undertaken, number of wage seekers to be employed (employment potential), nature of durable asset to be created, expectations from the work to strengthen the livelihood base of the rural poor, other benefits that may accrue such as continued employment opportunities, strengthening of the local economy and improving the quality of lives of people. the model project should contain the following: unit cost of the work, the split between labour and material component and between skilled and semi-skilled component, transparency and accountability mechanisms, expected final outcome (asset that will be created), benefit to the livelihood base of the rural poor and any other benefit likely to accrue. what we propose is to build a pool of micro-entrepreneurs involved in: . sanitisation and hygiene activities . infrastructure development/rehabilitation projects gram panchayats (gp) could use these mainly sanitisation and health entrepreneurs (she) to take care of sanitisation and hygiene needs with respect to public and private assets under the new normal. work guarantee under mgnrega could act as a floor for basic sustenance, and a one-time government subsidy for training and buying equipment could get a large number of these workers take the first steps towards sustainable self-employment. these she need not restrict themselves to work allocated by gp and could also take on private work related to health and sanitisation. however, on their own, workers lack information on how to go about providing these services. on the other side, gp will find it difficult to get hold of such service providers who are trained. gp will want this at the lowest possible costs which can be provided by someone who is locally based and whose services can also be used on an ad hoc basis. it is in this context that private sector organizations with experience in project management of large-scale interventions can be roped in. experience of private sector organisations that have engaged considerably with the panchayati raj department and understand the skills and rural space quite well will be useful. given their project management experience, these institutions can monitor quality of the work, train workers to improve their skills and ensure quality assurance to the villages. support needs to be provided on an urgent basis to masons, plumbers, electricians and painters-a large category of returnees to rural india in the current situation. this support comes not only in the form of capacity building via professionalisation of skills but also as forward and backward market linkages, business skills, compliance and support in obtaining loans from the formal financial system to ensure an increased income to these micro-contractors. details of specific mgnrega works/ tasks that these workers can be involved in are provided in "appendix". these project management consultants can act as a platform assisting and working with the gram panchayats on the one hand and service providers/contractors/workers on the other. they must have the necessary skills to train and create a talent pool of fair practice contractors (fpc) who can work on creating new as well as disinfecting existing common infrastructure at the village level and also private assets. they should also maintain a database through their skilling initiatives of a pool of trained workers to draw on. these she (workers as well as the fpcs) come with a stamp of quality from the pmc on the basis of its training, mentoring and monitoring interventions. this is not the case currently even though gram panchayats have been allocating work to contractors. pmc will assist the gps to assess their works requirement (for infrastructure build-up as well as for embedding sanitisationrelated measures) and create the project requirement documents. from the talent pool of contractors and workers, pmc will screen and choose micro-entrepreneurs, facilitate the contract process and monitor the work done by them to ensure quality output. pmc will monitor the quality of work, using photographic evidence. given the new requirements around sanitization needs, gps may not be equipped to handle this on their own. at the moment, contractors and workers mainly learn on the job. in our experience, they are not aware of the most efficient ways of working and organizing their services business. pmc can use technology to bring the service providers and the customers (gps) together in an efficient manner. pmc must be equipped to conduct online training for contractors/workers and also create a portal for gps which will have a template for them to assess the requirement and create a 'project document' and process contract. for the she, only a part of their overall business needs to come from gps as discussed above. through extensive training on different aspects related to running a small business, pmc's intervention can empower them with the necessary skills and infrastructure to expand private income-enhancing opportunities. once self-sufficient and connected with a pool of available workers facilitated by the pmc's technology platform, she can look at opportunities outside their own villages for expansion and over a short period of time lessen their dependence on work opportunities funded under mgnrega. from the point of view of supporting economic activity, another concept that merits attention is that of common service centres (csc). these csc aimed at shortening the end-to-end value chains are already being piloted by organisations such as selco foundation in bengaluru. csc involve establishment of infrastructure (physical and digital, in sizes and prices that are affordable) and systems (standard operating procedures, efficient use of technology) in a manner that can respond to local needs and be a catalyst for economic activities in a local area. some of the common services these csc can provide include: tailoring centres, mechanic shops, local provision stores with refrigeration for perishable consumables, agriculture-related storage infrastructure and equipment. these csc can also be used as telemedicine centres for first level testing and care in the fight against covid- at the village level. depending on the predominant livelihood in the region, agriculture processing or value-add facilities can be developed. the facilities could be government or cooperative owned, but run on revenue-based model-providing cold storage facilities for horticulture produce, milk chilling, agriculture processing, or food processing units. in summary, what the above examples demonstrate is that it is possible to reduce reliance on public funding beyond the initial grant and create an avenue for further job creation in rural areas without putting undue strain on public finances. given the huge requirement for sanitisation, we expect sanitisation workers to earn at least rs. , - , a month on a sustainable basis without necessarily relying on public funds after the first days of work under mgnrega. as shown in the table below, based on our assumptions, spending of rs. , crores (including rs. crores one-time) will be required to train, endow with initial start-up material and employ a new breed of sanitization and hygiene entrepreneurs as well as plumbers, electricians, masons and telemedicine workers in , villages across the country for a period of days. after this time, these workers should be in a strong position to take on private work in rural as well as in urban areas and earn far more than the subsistence wages under mgnrega. the training would be done by appointed pmcs who would develop an ecosystem for sanitization services and connect these workers with work in rural and urban areas on an ongoing basis. this paper has attempted to quantify the scale of reverse migration india is witnessing in the current times and the action needed to make mgnrega spending more effective. we also analysed the profile of these migrants and which areas people are migrating back to. the scale of reverse migration and the lack of opportunities in rural india despite enhancements in fund allocation to mgnrega point to a grim situation. projects under mgnrega have had limited completion rate in the past, and the scheme overall has been inadequate in providing the assured minimum days of work to those who need it the most. in the new normal, healthcare, sanitisation and hygiene will have a priority focus. a project management discipline, connecting labour to work opportunities and vice versa and the need for micro-self-employment is the need of the hour. more can be achieved with the same level of public finances if people are connected to and shown the way to private income enhancement opportunities. impact of mgnrega on wage rate, food security and rural urban migration: a consolidated report. project leader-prof ministry of rural development, government of india eliminating poverty: creating jobs and strengthening social programs. niti aayog, government of india committee for agriculture implementation of mahatma gandhi national rural employment guarantee act understanding circular migration in india: its nature and dimensions, the crisis under lockdown and the response of the state. institute for human development job role-wise categorization of permitted works for mason, plumber, electrician and painter. key: cord- - tcoqdi authors: chen, i-shuo; fellenz, martin r. title: personal resources and personal demands for work engagement: evidence from employees in the service industry date: - - journal: int j hosp manag doi: . /j.ijhm. . sha: doc_id: cord_uid: tcoqdi conventional studies have widely demonstrated that individuals’ engagement at work depends on their personal resources, which are affected by environmental influences, especially those derived from the workplace and home domains. in this study, we examine whether a change in work engagement may be based on individuals’ decisions in managing their personal resources. we use the conservation of resources (cor) theory to explain how personal resources and personal demands at home can influence work engagement through personal resources and personal demands at work. we conducted a daily diary study involving a group of chinese employees (n = ) from a range of different service settings for consecutive weeks (n = ) and evaluated their daily work engagement using manager ratings. the findings support the hypothesized mediating effects of personal resources and personal demands at work on personal resources and personal demands at home and work engagement. the recent catastrophic impact of the covid- pandemic on the hospitality industry has provided a highly visible reminder on how important this sector is for the economies of many countries. as one of the most affected economic sectors (nicola et al., ) , the hospitality industry suffered high levels of business failures and layoffs of both core and casual employees. recovering from this impact in difficult and likely volatile trading circumstances, and regaining and sustaining high levels of service quality will require significant employee responsiveness and engagement. while much recent research has investigated ways in which work engagement of service employees in general and hospitality employees in particular can be improved (e.g., ali et al., ; karatepe, ; karatepe and demir, ; lee, ; paek et al., ; wu et al., ) , the experiences of many different employers and employees during the covid- pandemic have only highlighted how close the connections are between the home lives of employees and their engagement with and performance at work. generally, behavioral investigations of work engagement assume that individuals engage in work not only because the work is enjoyable to them but also because they can acquire an improved sense of significance, enthusiasm, inspiration, and personal pride during this engagement, which eventually motivate them to perform better at work (schaufeli et al., ) . however, by voluntarily investing ongoing effort in work and solving job challenges, individuals expend physical energy and deplete other available resources, such as time (schaufeli et al., ) . individuals may acquire new personal resources and may deplete their existing personal resources during this engagement. work engagement therefore both generates and taxes personal resources. studies on work engagement have widely involved cross-domain issues and have discussed how non-work domains, such as home, impact work engagement (e.g., ten brummelhuis et al., ; hakanen et al., ; rothbard, ) . for instance, individuals may use energy at home that they could have used at work, which leaves them insufficient energy available to stay engaged at work (family-to-work conflict perspective, see greenhaus and beutell, ) . they may also acquire knowledge or emotional support at home that contributes to improving their job performance, thereby motivating them to stay engaged at work (family-to-work enrichment perspective, see greenhaus and powell, ) . work engagement may change over time, and studies on related issues have revealed supportive findings by measuring it on a daily/weekly basis (e.g., bakker and demerouti, ). however, many recent studies in the hospitality management field on work engagement issues have largely conceptualized work engagement as stable over time (e.g., cheng and chen, ; guan et al., ; putra et al., ; tsaur et al., ) , which may not precisely reflect employees' work engagement. our study addresses this gap in the hospitality management literature by conceptualizing work engagement as a work state that fluctuates over time. the question of whether a change in work engagement may be based on an individual's management of personal resources and personal demands has been neglected in the literature. many theories, such as conservation of resources (cor) theory (hobfoll, ; hobfoll et al., ) , reveal that individuals naturally manipulate available resources across domains on a daily basis in addition to being impacted by the domains in which they operate. this is particularly salient in service settings such as hospitality where factors such as unsociable hours, work intensity, narrowing borders between work and non-work domains, and the emotional demands of service encounters negatively affect employees' work-life balance (kaya and karatepe, a) . cor theory has been widely emphasized in contemporary studies and adopted as the theoretical underpinning for the development of other theories, such as the work-home resources model (e.g., ten brummelhuis and bakker, a) . in light of the above, it is valuable and important to study how employees in service settings like hospitality manage these resources and demands across domains (e.g., home to work) and how this management impacts their subsequent behaviors (e.g., work engagement) to comprehensively understand the role of personal resources in their behaviors from a cross-domain perspective and to address the knowledge gap in the literature. to answer the aforementioned research question, we aim to investigate whether daily personal resources and daily personal demands at home affect daily work engagement through daily personal resources and daily personal demands at work. the choice of the home domain is particularly appropriate since substantial research findings indicate that family issues are one of the most problematic issues across companies globally (e.g., li et al., ) . moreover, the home environment plays an important role in the daily recovery of employees from work demands (sonnentag, ; sonnentag et al., ) , but it can also be a daily source of pressures that can affect employees at work (demerouti et al., ; greenhaus and beutell, ) . therefore, it is conceivable that personal demands and personal resources at the home and work domains may fluctuate on a daily basis and that these demands and resources may have an impact on employees' daily work engagement. however, many recent studies in the hospitality management field on work and home issues have largely conceptualized the influences derived from these domains as stable (e.g., gamor et al., ; garcía-cabrera et al., ; lu et al., ; o'neill and follmer, ; nguyen et al., ) . our study addresses this by conceptualizing those influences as variable in nature. our sample comprised a group of chinese employees. china is characterized by a strong family culture that leads family influences to play a significant role in chinese employees' work life (lee and knobf, ) and makes the domains of family and work closely interconnected (du et al., ) . understanding whether and how these influences predict work engagement is particularly important for service organizations given the emotional labor (grandey, ; park et al., ) involved in service encounters, which can be particularly taxing in hospitality settings due to the nature and frequency of direct customer interactions (pizam, ) . such emotional labor requires sufficient personal resources for employees to achieve and maintain high levels of service quality (jung and yoon, ; lee and ok, ; park et al., ) . however, while recent studies in service settings heavily investigated the role of job influences in work engagement (e.g., chen, ; gürlek and tuna, ; kaya and karatepe, b; olugbade and karatepe, ; park et al., ; tsaur et al., ) , relatively less attention has been paid to the role of the influences derived from non-work domains on work engagement. this limits the development of pragmatic implications for improving work engagement in the hospitality industry. our study thus investigates factors of significant theoretical and pragmatic interest. we refer to the home domain rather than the family domain because the former incorporates a wider range of aspects of individuals' living arrangements, including family (ten brummelhuis and bakker, a). to achieve our aim, we define personal resources (lin, (lin, , as tangible, social, psychological or symbolic assets that are valued by a person and that are directly available to improve effective functioning in specific domains. this definition is in line with cor theory (hobfoll, ; hobfoll et al., ) as well as with other commonly used resource approaches (see grawitch et al., ; hobfoll, ; ten brummelhuis et al., ) in that it views all resources, including those originating in the work or home setting, as personal resources that are at the disposal of the individual. adopting this particular definition helps explicitly articulate how individuals manage their personal resources across domains. there is no recognized definition of personal demands in the literature. abundant research findings show the existence of aspects derived from individuals' environments and within-person aspects that contradict personal resources and must be addressed (e.g., work pressure and childcare; li et al., ) . thus, we conceptualize these demands as personal demands and define them as tangible, social, psychological or symbolic factors that attract individual attention and that require physical, cognitive or emotional effort to prevent them from interfering with valued activities or with the personal resources required to pursue such activities. such personal demands may stem from internal sources or from a particular domain in which an individual operates. this definition is in line with the logic of resource-based theories such as cor theory (hobfoll, ; hobfoll et al., ) and other resource approaches (e.g., grawitch et al., ) and views all factors that threaten, deplete or obliterate valued personal resources as personal demands. in this context, job and home demands are included in the personal demands that individuals experience and strive to diminish. typically, demands and resources arising in a particular domain most obviously affect each other in that setting. however, a premise of this research is that in line with the perspective of family-towork enrichment/conflict (greenhaus and beutell, ; greenhaus and powell, ) , work-family facilitation theory (e.g., wayne et al., ) , spillover theory (e.g., hanson et al., ) , and relevant empirical evidence (e.g., demerouti et al., ; du et al., ; rothbard, ; ten brummelhuis et al., ) , personal demands/resources in one domain can affect those in another domain. in alignment with these perspectives, we propose that personal resources at home may alleviate personal demands and may help maintain personal resources available at work. this may motivate individuals to engage in work because they may have abundant personal resources available at work to invest in such engagement and may be more inclined to acquire additional resources by engaging in work. we also propose that personal demands at home may deplete personal resources and may exacerbate demands at work. this may result in individuals engaging less in work because they may enter a defensive mode to preserve their remaining personal resources at work or experience a stalemate of resource investment, which may lead them to reduce or stop investing these resources in work engagement. hence, our research has important theoretical implications. conventional studies and theories, such as the job demands-resources model, posit that individuals become less engaged due to the exhaustion of available personal resources at work and that they become more engaged due to an improved sense of ability to perform effectively at work (e.g., breevaart et al., ; conway et al., ; demerouti et al., ; ott et al., ) . our study holds that becoming less engaged may result from efforts to preserve resources at work in the presence of home demands, and that engagement may be a result from an innate tendency to acquire additional resources during engagement. this theoretical distinction between conventional claims arising from the environment-centered and domain-specific perspective of prior work and the claims derived from the individual-centered perspective reflected in our focus on personal resources differentiates this study from extant research. this study adds novel insights to the literature by proposing that individuals may not always be passive responders to resources and demands arising in particular domains they operate, but instead may take a more active role in managing their personal resources across domains (e.g., by entering a defensive mode to preserve their remaining personal resources). reduced work engagement may hence be a more proactive response to facing reduced personal resources and/or increased personal demands at work and not simply an automatic reactive response to the depletion of personal resources at work. we thus contribute to the literature in three ways. first, by adopting cor theory, we provide theoretical insights into the dynamics of work engagement from a cross-domain perspective, which contributes to the work engagement and work-family interface literature. second, our investigation involves the positive and negative interference of home with work (i.e., home-to-work enrichment and conflict). using cor theory, we primarily focus on the person rather than the environment to investigate enrichment processes across domains. we also explicitly demonstrate a conflicting causal process that links the home and work domains to address a theoretical limitation of work-family conflict that has been criticized in existing studies (grandey and cropanzano, ) . third, we extend cor theory by proposing the role of personal demands from the perspectives of resource gain and loss spirals and by using manager-rated work engagement to provide empirical evidence to support the role of personal resources in the theory. in this study, rather than adopting theories of work-family conflict and enrichment, we use cor theory to articulate the hypotheses for the following reasons. the theory of work-family conflict has been criticized for not explicitly demonstrating a conflicting causal process that links the home and work domains (e.g., family-to-work conflict; grandey and cropanzano, ) . the theory of work-family enrichment proposes that family-to-work enrichment may occur when resources derived from the family contribute to performance at work (greenhaus and powell, ) . however, an explicit demonstration of employees' behavior regarding how they use these resources at work has not been sufficiently articulated. the use of cor theory helps us address and further contribute to these specific theoretical limitations by focusing on individuals and their resources rather than the environmental aspects of resources and factors that can deplete them (i.e., demands). the heart of cor theory is the notion that individuals have a natural tendency to protect, maintain, foster and further acquire resources (hobfoll et al., ) . resources refer to anything that is valued by individuals to improve their effective functioning and support their performance (halbesleben et al., ) , which is in line with our conceptualization of personal resources. empirical studies have revealed that personal resources, such as job/home resources, are used by individuals to eliminate demands and to support their performance in their respective domains (e.g., ten brummelhuis and bakker, a). the scope of these resources may include objects (e.g., a mobile phone), states (e.g., confidence), conditions (e.g., winning a competition), and others (e.g., time, energy, social status). according to cor theory, individuals invest resources to protect themselves against or recover from resource loss and to acquire resources. when they acquire resources, they are better positioned to invest and obtain additional resources (a resource gain spiral) and are more inclined to invest their available resources for additional resource gain. however, when they lose resources, any investment for additional resources is more difficult as they become more vulnerable to resource loss (a resource loss spiral). in addition, individuals are biased to be more sensitive to resource losses and less sensitive to resource gains (hobfoll et al., ) . this leads individuals to become more defensive in the way they invest their remaining resources. empirical studies have found that individuals who experience resource loss take action to protect their remaining resources (e.g., halbesleben and bowler, ) . one aspect of the theory that has not been frequently mentioned in the literature is the stalemate of resource investment (halbesleben et al., ) . cor theory specifies that at some point in resource investment, individuals may perceive that their endeavor has come to a stalemate; for example, they may find it difficult to continue investing resources (latham and locke, ) . consequently, they may decide to stop and later resume goal pursuit once they have available or useful resources (zeelenberg et al., ) , or they may discard their initial ambition and change to an alternative goal. individuals are involved in multiple domains, such as the workplace and home, and they normally make daily transitions across and mobilize their limited personal resources to fit their personal demands in these domains (clark, ) . existing studies have found that individuals are strategic in the way they determine their resource investment and utilization (halbesleben et al., ) . when personal resources in one domain (e.g., home) are useful in another domain (e.g., work), individuals may use these resources in a cross-domain manner. therefore, it is conceivable that personal resources at home may positively contribute to activities in the work domain by helping reduce or even eliminate personal demands at work. in support of this argument, empirical studies have found that energy gained from non-work activities increases work engagement the subsequent day (breevaart et al., ) and that when resources acquired at home can address demands faced at work, these resources help improve individuals' performance at work (e.g., voydanoff, ) . similarly, greenhaus and powell ( ) claim that resources such as skills and knowledge, psychological and physical resources, social capital resources, flexibility, and material resources that are obtained in the home domain may increase individuals' persistence and resilience in the face of struggles and difficulties at work (seligman, (seligman, , . friedman and greenhaus ( ) report that information provided by an employee's spouse may be used by the employee at work to solve relevant work challenges. edwards and rothbard ( ) maintained that a positive model experienced at home may improve individuals' cognitive functioning at work. this may help improve individuals' ability to solve work-related demands in the work domain. additionally, home members may adopt the customer perspective and share with an individual their ideas that may improve negative customer contacts and provide suggestions on how to manage these contacts, which allows the individual to better address these issues at work. for individuals facing exessive intensity and amounts of work, home members may assist these individuals directly or may provide skills or tips to improve time and schedule management to complete work in an efficient and effective manner. following cor theory, personal resources from the home domain may contribute to performance in the work domain. for example, many studies have shown that the social support individuals obtain at home may increase their positive affect at work (e.g., caprara et al., ) , their self-efficacy for relevant work tasks (e.g., xanthopoulou et al., ) and their intrinsic motivation to fully utilize all their abilities in pursuit of work objectives (e.g., xanthopoulou et al., ) . greenhaus and powell ( ) revealed that individuals may use financial resources, such as no-interest loans and inheritance, to initiate or upgrade a business venture, to participate in a social network that helps boost business opportunities, or to take vocational-related courses to refine their work abilities. based on the above, it is likely that individuals enjoy reduced personal demands or increased personal resources at work, and they thus become better positioned to manage these resources at work. in line with cor theory, this may in turn motivate them to be more willing to invest these resources for additional resources that can be achieved by engaging in work, which consequently improves their work engagement level. many studies have shown supportive findings, although a few have found insignificant evidence (e.g., montgomery et al., ) . for example, bakker et al. ( ) surveyed couples working in a variety of occupations and found that autonomy and social support gained at home can increase vigor at work. lu et al. ( a) surveyed a sample of chinese female nurses and revealed that resources received at home (e.g., family mastery) helped individuals stay engaged in the workplace. bakker and demerouti ( ) surveyed dutch women and their partners working in different occupational sectors as well as colleagues of the male participants. they found that perceived spousal empathy benefits work engagement. in light of the above, we propose the following hypotheses: hypothesis . personal demands at work mediate the positive relationship between personal resources at home and work engagement (home-to-work enrichment). hypothesis . personal resources at work mediate the positive relationship between personal resources at home and work engagement (home-to-work resource gain spiral). individuals may be affected by personal demands in a cross-domain manner. the personal demands to which individuals are exposed in one domain may not only require individuals to deploy their personal resources in that domain but also offer the possibility that they need to utilize their personal resources from another domain. in such a case, it is conceivable that personal demands at home may negatively interfere with the work domain by eliminating personal resources at work. existing studies have found that demands experienced at home (e.g., childcare and family demands) may deplete individuals' available resources at work, such as time (e.g., grandey and cropanzano, ) , a positive state at work (e.g., lu et al., ) , physical energy at work (e.g., ten brummelhuis and bakker, a,b) , and well-being at work (e.g., xu and cao, ) . according to cor theory, personal demands at home may increase the negative effects of personal demands at work because home demands can deplete available personal resources that could otherwise be deployed at work. as a result, personal demands at work accumulate. empirical studies have shown that experiencing distress and overload in the family predicts distress and overload at work (e.g., frone et al., ) , that experiencing negative affect at home increases the stress level at work (e.g., lu et al., ) , and that the negative interference of a non-work domain with a work domain reduces satisfaction and well-being at work (e.g., xu and cao, ) . in light of the above, individuals may suffer from reduced personal resources or increased personal demands at work. in line with the asymmetrical bias regarding the experience of resource loss versus gain posited by cor theory, this may further encourage these individuals to enter a defensive mode to preserve remaining personal resources at work and consequently to become less engaged in work. they may also experience a stalemate of resource investment that results in a reduced level of engagement at work because they reduce or even stop their deployment of available personal resources. many studies have shown that when individuals experience demands at home (e.g., home overload, emotional demands, cognitive demands, and quantitative demands), they reduce their vigor and dedication at work, which are two main elements of work engagement (e.g., bakker et al., ; ten brummelhuis and bakker, a), work motivation (e.g., ten brummelhuis et al., ) , and work engagement (e.g., karatepe et al., ; li et al., ) . we thus propose the following hypotheses. according to the proposed hypotheses, the research framework is depicted as fig. . hypothesis . personal resources at work mediate the negative relationship between personal demands at home and work engagement (home-to-work conflict). hypothesis . personal demands at work mediate the negative relationship between personal demands at home and work engagement (home-to-work resource loss spiral). we conducted a daily diary survey in a group of employees in settings representing a range of different services, including restaurants [n = ], coffee/tea shops [n = ], hotels [n = ], and clothing [n = ] and convenience stores [n = ] in china. china is characterized by a strong family culture that makes the home and work domains closely interconnected (lee and knobf, ) . hence, issues from home may affect both individuals' home life and their effective functioning at work (du et al., ) . the use of daily diary surveys is appropriate in this study because individuals' personal demands and personal resources across their living domains may fluctuate, causing their work engagement to also fluctuate over time (e.g., on a daily basis; petrou et al., ) . the fluctuation of resources is a premise of cor theory, and this fluctuation may include within-person changes (halbesleben et al., ) . hence, we are interested in the daily effects of personal demands/resources at home and at work on individuals' daily work engagement. we investigated the effects of (the prior day's) personal resources and personal demands at home on (the next day's) work engagement through (the next day's) personal resources and personal demands at work. the daily diary design helped us capture the potential day-to-day fluctuations of our focal variables (du et al., ) . the participating businesses were privately owned and all employees in each were supervised by the same manager. before administering the survey, we approached each manager, explained the purpose of this study, and requested their permission to survey their employees as well as their consent to participate. managers and employees were informed that their responses would be anonymous, that the data collected would remain confidential and that their participation was voluntary. to increase the participation rate and acquire as much usable returned data with full participation as possible, we provided a lottery incentive of a prize of rmb to individuals who fully participated in the survey (i.e., provided the necessary number of completed baseline and diary survey responses). we collected two types of data: data from a baseline survey and data from several daily diary surveys. paper-and-pencil data collection was used. we first invited all respondents to complete the baseline survey on the first survey day before the end of their work shift. then, we invited them to complete the daily diary questionnaire for personal resources and demands at home before going to bed. the next day, we invited them to complete the daily diary questionnaire for personal resources and demands at work at the end of their work shift. for all questionnaires, we asked the participants to create their own research id that was easy to remember yet anonymous to ensure their anonymity while allowing us to link successive diary responses to specific respondents. respondents were asked to seal their completed questionnaires in envelopes, indicate the time on the envelopes and submit the envelopes to one of two prepared boxes at the beginning of their shift (for the daily diary questionnaire measuring personal resources and demands at home the previous day) and right before leaving work (for the daily diary questionnaire for personal resources and demands at work). the participants' managers or supervisors were invited to evaluate their employees' daily work engagement whenever an employee finished work and left the workplace, put each completed questionnaire into a sealable envelope, indicated the time when the questionnaire was finished on the envelope, and inserted the envelope into the third envelope-shaped box we prepared, where retrieval was unlikely. the second and third boxes helped us effectively link the respondents' daily response regarding personal demands and resources at work to their daily work engagement questionnaire rated by their manager or supervisor on a specific day, as all envelopes in the two boxes on the day were in the same order. to ensure managers' or supervisors' cooperation, we guaranteed to provide rmb at the end of the survey for fully following the above requirements in the survey. the survey lasted consecutive work weeks (i.e., consecutive workdays) because as is common in china, the participants worked seven days a week. a total of employees in the different organizations were invited to participate in the voluntary diary study, and agreed to participate in the survey (response rate of . %). a total of completed and usable survey packages were returned, which yielded an effective response rate of . % (n = for baseline questionnaire; n = for daily questionnaire). over half ( %) of the respondents were male. most of the respondents' ages ranged from to years ( %) and then - years ( %). % of the respondents worked in a private restaurant, % in a private hotel, and % in a private coffee/tea shop. most of the respondents either lived with roommates/friends ( %) or parents ( %). forty-four percent of the respondents held a bachelor's degree, % had completed some college, and % had completed secondary school. most of the respondents worked - h per day ( %); many others worked - h per day ( %). we selected personal resources and personal demands at work by interviewing managers and selected resources and demands at home through discussion with employees. we summarize the selected measures below. where needed, we adapted the questionnaire items of established instruments by including appropriate terminology used in the specific research setting (e.g., "colleagues/manager(s)"; "home members") and by referring to specific time periods (e.g., "today" and "yesterday" for daily measures). additionally, all measures in this study were translated into chinese from english. we adopted a back-translation procedure performed by one professional chinese translator and one native english-speaker who were colleagues of the first author to ensure the accuracy of the meaning of all measurement items (brislin, ) . the daily positive team climate at work (average α = . ) was measured by applying a -item scale developed by xanthopoulou et al. ( a) . a sample item is "today during the shift, there was a very good working atmosphere" ( =strongly disagree, =strongly agree). daily colleague/manager social support (average α = . ; x /df = . ; gfi = . ; agfi = . ; rmr = . ) was measured using the -item scale from peeters et al. ( ) . a sample item is "today during the shift, my colleagues/manager(s) paid attention to my feelings and problems" ( =never, =always). daily negative customer contact (average α = . ) was measured by adapting the -item scale developed by consiglio et al. ( ) . a sample item is "today during the shift, customers were often impolite to me without any reason" ( =strongly disagree, =strongly agree). excessive intensity and amount of work (average α = . ; x /df = . ; gfi = . ; agfi = . ; rmr = . ) was measured by adapting the item scale from the job content questionnaire (jcq) (karasek, ) . a sample item is "today during the shift, my job required working excessively fast and/or hard" ( =strongly disagree, =strongly agree). daily personal life resources (average α = . ) were measured by adapting a -item scale used by wayne et al. ( ) . for example, we revised the original item, "having a successful day at home puts me in a good mood to better handle my work responsibilities," which originated with stephens et al. ( ) , to "yesterday, things i did at home were great" ( =strongly disagree, =strongly agree) to filter out any explicit suggestions of links to work. daily home life social support (average α = . ; x /df = . ; gfi = . ; agfi = . ; rmr = . ) was measured in the same way as daily colleague/manager social support. a sample item is "yesterday, my home members paid attention to my feelings and problems" ( =never, =always). daily personal life duty (average α = . ; x /df = . ; gfi = . ; gfi = . ; rmr = . ) was measured by adapting and revising the item scale developed by gutek et al. ( ) . for example, we revised an original item, "i'm often too tired at work because of the things i have to do at home," to "yesterday, i had a lot of things to do at home" ( =strongly disagree, =strongly agree). daily demands from contacts/ interactions with individuals at home (average α = . ; x /df = . ; gfi = . ; agfi = . ; rmr = . ) were measured by adapting and revising the -item scale developed by schuster et al. ( ) . for example, we revised an original item, "how often do they criticize you?" to "yesterday, people at home criticized me" ( =never, =always). daily work engagement (average α = . ; x /df = . ; gfi = . ; agfi = . ; rmr = . ) was measured with the daily version ( -item) of the uwes (breevaart et al., ; langelaan et al., ; schaufeli et al., ) , which contains two of the three original dimensions (i.e., daily vigor, daily dedication, and daily absorption). we excluded daily absorption for two reasons. first, according to schaufeli and bakker's ( ) work after thirty in-depth interviews, unlike vigor and dedication, which were viewed as core elements of work engagement (freeney and fellenz, ) , absorption was found to be a less relevant aspect of work engagement. some recent studies further discarded absorption while evaluating work engagement (e.g., gonzález-romá et al., ) . second, a dairy study such as ours involves repeated measures. short scales are crucial to avoid losing information due to participant attrition (tims et al., ) . a sample item for daily vigor is "today, this employee was bursting with energy." for daily dedication, a sample item is "today, this employee was enthusiastic about his/her job" ( =strongly disagree, =strongly agree). we included several demographic variables, such as age, educational background, occupation, and working hours per day. we follow bernerth and aguinis's ( ) suggestion to provide evidence to justify the inclusion of these variables. specifically, previous empirical research suggests a positive linkage between age and work engagement using socioemotional selectivity theory (carstensen et al., ) and claims that due to the shift in the time perspective in later adulthood, older individuals tend to prefer positive emotional information and avoid negative emotional information. thus, they focus more on the positive aspects of their job than on negative aspects and consequently experience higher work engagement than younger individuals (e.g., goštautaitė and bučiūnienė, ) . other studies suggest that differences in occupation affect work engagement from the perspective of demands and resources, indicating that various occupational settings have their own unique influences on employees' work state and that the engagement level of employees may differ across occupations (e.g., crawford et al., ) . some studies also suggest that educational background/level is positively related to work state and performance using human capital theory (sweetland, ) . studies find that work abilities/knowledge obtained by employees are likely to be rewarded with higher earnings in the labor market and that those who have higher educational levels are more likely to experience a positive work state and perform better than those who have lower educational levels (e.g., ng and feldman, ) . other studies suggest a negative relationship between working hours per day and work engagement based on resource scarcity theory, indicating that individuals' available resources are limited and that continuous work depletes individuals' resources such as energy, thereby reducing their work engagement (e.g., gorgievski-duijvesteijn and . given these relationships, it is possible that the elements that relate to work engagement may not stem from personal demands and resources at home and at work, as our theorizing suggests, but instead may stem from the impact of these control variables. thus, to eliminate alternative explanations, to demonstrate the unique relationships between personal demands and resources at home and at work and work engagement, to maximize statistical power and to offer the most interpretable results, it is important to parse out the variance between these controls and our variables. we therefore control for these demographic variables (i.e., age, educational background, occupation, and working hours per day). we did not control for gender and cohabitants as there is insufficient empirical evidence and theoretical underpinning to justify their relationships with work engagement. using a diary study design, the structure of our collected data may be regarded as multilevel, with repeated daily diary evaluations nested within persons. this result in a two-level model with repeated evaluations (i.e., daily diary measures) at the first level (n = observations) and individual persons (i.e., baseline measure) at the second level (n = employees). we adopted the optimal design program to perform the power analysis (spybrook et al., ) , and the results suggested adequate power for this study (value > . ). a multilevel model is a statistical model of parameters that vary at two or more levels, where lower-level data (e.g., daily observations) are nested within higher-level data (e.g., individual respondents) (raudenbush and bryk, ) . multilevel modeling extends ordinary regression analysis to the situation where the data are hierarchical (i.e., multilevel data; leyland and groenewegen, ) . therefore, we carried out multilevel mediation analysis in this study. considering that the sample size of this study was relatively small, we simplified the analytic measures by applying manifest variables, as suggested by xanthopoulou et al. ( b) , and presented statistical evidence to support this application by performing multilevel confirmatory factor analysis (multilevel cfa). before we examined the proposed hypotheses, we identified statistical support with the intraclass correlation (ρ) for the use of multilevel modeling (tims et al., ) . we adopted the hierarchical linear and nonlinear modeling (hlm ) package to examine the proposed hypotheses. following the suggestion of existing diary studies (e.g., xanthopoulou et al., b) , the first-level (i.e., daily) variables were centered on the respective person mean, and the second-level (i.e., baseline) variables were centered on the sample mean before we examined the hypotheses. we further performed bootstrapping procedures with , monte carlo samples to test the proposed hypotheses (preacher et al., ) in order to provide robust evidence for the significance and confidence interval (ci) of the indirect effects. therefore, we presented the indirect effects, encompassing monte carlo confidence intervals, for the proposed hypothesis. to simplify the analytic measures, we conducted multilevel cfa to compare a st-order model in which sub-measures (e.g., daily positive team climate at work and daily colleague/manager social support) were represented as independent constructs with a nd-order model in which these sub-measures were indicators of one manifest (e.g., daily personal resources at work) variable. the results revealed that the nd-order model of each manifest variable fit significantly better than its st-order model (i.e., daily personal resources at work: Δx = . , df = , p < . ; daily personal demands at work: Δx = . , df = , p < . ; daily personal resources at home: Δx = . , df = , p < . ; daily personal demands at home: Δx = . , df = , p < . ; daily work engagement: Δx = . , df = , p < . ), which supported the representation of the sub-measures as one general manifest variable. table provides the correlation results. occupation (t = . , p < . ), age (t = . , p < . ), education (t = −. , p < . ), and working hours (t = −. , p < . ) were significantly related to daily work engagement. we controlled for these variables for later analysis. the intraclass correlation (ρ) results for focal measures based on the intercept-only model suggest that the multilevel structure of the data in we treated the intercept as random and included a random slope for personal demands and personal resources at work and at home. tables and summarize the findings. hypothesis posits that personal demands at work mediate the positive relationship between personal resources at home and work engagement (home-to-work enrichment). the results in table (the first three models on the left) revealed that the inclusion of personal demands at work in the last model (model a) caused the previously significant relationship (model a) between personal resources at home and work engagement (t = . , p < . ) to become less significant (t = . , p < . ). using a bootstrapping procedure with , monte carlo samples, the findings, as shown in table , support the indirect effects of personal demands at work (indirect effect = . , ci % = [. , . ]) on the relationship between personal resources at home and work engagement. the findings thus support hypothesis . hypothesis posits that personal resources at work mediate the positive relationship between personal resources at home and work engagement (home-to-work resource gain spiral). the results in table (the last three models) revealed that the inclusion of personal resources at work in the last model (model b) caused the previously significant relationship (model b) between personal resources at home and work engagement (t = . , p < . ) to become less significant (t = . , p < . ). the findings of a bootstrapping procedure with , monte carlo samples, as shown in table , support the indirect effects of personal resources at work (indirect effect = . , ci % = [. , . ]) on the relationship between personal resources at home and work engagement. the findings thus support hypothesis . hypothesis posits that personal resources at work mediate the negative relationship between personal demands at home and work engagement (home-to-work conflict). the results in table (the first three models on the left) revealed that the inclusion of personal resources at work in the last model (model c) caused the previously significant relationship (model c) between personal demands at home and work engagement (t = −. , p < . ) to become less significant (t = −. , p < . ). the results of a bootstrapping procedure with , monte carlo samples, as shown in table , support the indirect effects of personal resources at work (indirect effect = −. , ci % = [−. , −. ]) on the relationship between personal demands at home and work engagement. the findings thus support hypothesis . hypothesis posits that personal demands at work mediate the negative relationship between personal demands at home and work engagement (home-to-work resource loss spiral). the results in table (the latter three models) revealed that the inclusion of personal demands at work in the last model (model d) caused the previously significant relationship (model d) between personal resources at home and work engagement (t = −. , p < . ) to become less significant (t = −. , p < . ). the findings of a bootstrapping procedure with , monte carlo samples, as shown in table , support the indirect effects of personal demands at work (indirect effect = −. , ci % = [−. , −. ]) on the relationship between personal demands at home and work engagement. in this study, we investigated whether personal resources and personal demands at home affect the work engagement of service and hospitality employees through personal resources and personal demands at work. using cor theory, we proposed four hypotheses that were further supported by the collected data. our results showed that individuals' personal resources at home reduced their personal demands (h ) and increased their personal resources (h ) at work, which in turn motivated them to engage in work. by contrast, individuals' personal demands at home reduced their personal resources (h ) and increased their personal demands (h ) at work, which in turn made them lower their engagement level at work. below, we will discuss the theoretical contribution and future research avenues, implications for practitioners, and research limitations. the main theoretical contribution of this study is that we extend existing understandings of why and how individuals become more engaged or less engaged in work. conventional studies have focused on the impact of the environment (e.g., workplace or home) on individuals' personal resources (e.g., energy or mental resilience) in work engagement. in other words, whether individuals engage in work depends on how many personal resources remain after being impacted by the environment. however, we claim that individuals may "decide" for themselves whether to engage in work. in our case, when individuals have increased personal resources at their disposal or reduced personal demands in the work domain due to the help of personal resources at home, they may be more likely to engage in work as a means to acquire additional resources. when they experience reduced personal resources at their disposal or increased personal demands in the work domain due to the negative impact of personal demands at home, they may become less engaged in work as a means to secure available personal resources. these findings have important theoretical implications. we claim that individuals' decreased engagement may not always be accompanied by psychological and physiological inability as a result of depleted personal resources (e.g., taxed energy), as claimed by conventional studies (e.g., ten brummelhuis and bakker, a; xanthopoulou et al., ) . rather, individuals may have personal resources available that may help them maintain general effective functioning at work, which may further influence their job performance. existing studies have mainly found that individuals' reduced work engagement hinders job performance because individuals do not have available personal resources to invest in work (e.g., xanthopoulou et al., a) . no previous study has investigated whether reduced work engagement caused by individuals' decision to secure personal resources may have the same effect. future research should investigate such relationships to further distinguish the roles of reduced work engagement due to depleted personal resources and secured personal resources at work. we also find that individuals' engagement may not be due to their belief that they can perform the job effectively, as claimed by traditional studies; rather, it may be due to their aim of acquiring additional personal resources at work. our claim is supported by existing findings that reveal that work engagement predicts increased job resources and decreased job demands (e.g., bakker, ; tims et al., ) . our results extend the theories of family-to-work conflict and enrichment. the theory of family-to-work conflict has been criticized because it does not clearly identify the causal process that links the work and the home domains (grandey and cropanzano, ) . by adopting insights from cor theory, we demonstrated the negative interference of the home domain with the work domain by revealing that individuals' personal demands at home result in less engagement in work by either decreasing their personal resources at work or worsening their personal demands at work. in addition, we extend the theory of family-to-work enrichment by providing another enrichment process from home to work. traditional views of family-to-work enrichment have suggested that resources obtained at home directly improve performance at work (greenhaus and powell, ) . we find that family-to-work enrichment may occur when individuals' personal resources at home are applicable in managing their personal demands at work or increasing their personal resources at work, which in turn motivates them to engage in work. our proposed process may also help to explain why personal resources obtained in the home domain may contribute to work performance because work engagement is a strong predictor of work performance (e.g., breevaart et al., ) . future research is recommended to investigate the role of work performance in our proposed process. this study partially echoes the need to use a single model to explain the concept of work-family conflict and enrichment by emphasizing the family-to-work perspective (ten brummelhuis and bakker, a). however, future studies could theoretically and empirically extend our research by including the workto-family perspective and focusing on home engagement to examine the interference of personal demands and personal resources at work with those at home and how this process affects individuals' home engagement. such an extension of this work may allow researchers to test the effects of (the prior day's) personal resources and personal demands at work on (the next day's) home engagement through (the next day's) personal resources and personal demands at home. in addition to providing empirical evidence to support the role of personal resources in cor theory, we extend the theory by proposing personal demands that, together with reconceptualized personal resources, help to explicitly explain how the resource gain spiral and the resource loss spiral affect individuals' decisions regarding resource investment (in the form of work engagement) in a cross-domain manner. for example, we demonstrated the resource gain spiral (at work) in ways such as the use of personal resources at home to address personal demands and enrich personal resources at work, which in turn allows individuals to invest available resources in work engagement. we demonstrated the resource loss spiral (at work) in ways such as the phenomenon by which personal demands at home deplete personal resources and worsen personal demands at work, which in turn makes individuals less willing to invest available resources in work engagement. the personal resources and personal demands approach may facilitate future research on related issues that may apply cor theory in a more observable way. although our results support many existing studies on family-towork conflict/enrichment issues (e.g., caprara et al., ; lu et al., ; xanthopoulou et al., ) , they contradict some studies that have examined the links between personal resources and personal demands in home and work engagement (e.g., montgomery et al., ) . in these studies, home resources and home demands have neither a direct nor an indirect impact on individuals' work engagement. we claim that one of the reasons for this interesting difference may be due to sample characteristics. the respondents in this study were chinese service employees. for decades, many studies have documented a strong family culture in china (e.g., lee and knobf, ; shek, ) . thus, chinese employees may be more likely to be impacted by influences derived from the home, which makes family-to-work conflict and enrichment more significant and obvious. as our results indicate, both the direct and indirect impacts of personal demands and personal resources at home on employees' work engagement reached significance, and the direct impacts of these demands and resources were greater than the indirect ones. these findings shed light on the fact that the role of family influence in chinese employees' work engagement is particularly crucial. recent studies have revealed that there is a significant difference between western and chinese cultures (e.g., hu et al., ) . therefore, it is recommended that future research employ two sets of samples, one from western countries and the other from china, to reexamine our hypotheses and to compare the results or to consider crosscultural variations by applying three-level hierarchical linear modeling (i.e., countries, person-level variables, and daily diary entries). finally, individuals may reduce their work engagement as a proactive response to facing decreased personal resources and/or increased personal demands at work. therefore, whether a reduction in work engagement may further contribute to better psychological and physical health (due to preserved personal resources) in some cases, such as under the negative interference of home with work, is an interesting research question to further investigate as personal resources are essential elements for improving psychological and physical health (e.g., presti et al., ) . although the question is outside the scope of this study, our theoretical claims indeed open relevant avenues for future research. the results of this study demonstrate that individuals' levels of work engagement depend on their management of personal resources and personal demands across domains. specifically, individuals may deploy personal resources gained from the home domain to amplify available personal resources or reduce personal demands at work. this in turn better positions them to manage available personal resources at work and can motivate them to invest these resources in gain spirals at work, which eventually improves their work engagement (llorens et al., ) . nevertheless, when individuals face personal demands at home, they may deplete personal resources and hence have fewer personal resources at work. they may also experience greater personal demands at work. this may motivate them to enter a defensive mode to preserve remaining personal resources at work and eventually to become less engaged in work. in general, our result suggest that managers in the service industry, especially in settings such as hospitality businesses where personal contact with customers is central for co-creating value and where emotional labor places additional demands on employees, need to be mindful of the role that cross-domain dynamics regarding personal resources and demands play for employee work engagement. specifically, this study points out that employees are not just passively reacting to changes in their personal resources due to cross-domain effects, which reflects the environment-centered perspective implicitly applied by most existing studies (e.g., lu et al., b) in this field. rather, the results suggest that work engagement may be at least in part the product of employees' proactively managing personal demands and mobilizing personal resources across domains which highlights an individual-centered perspective. one pragmatic implication of this perspective would be that direct interventions such as highlighting the prosocial impact of service provision for customers or clients (e.g., freeney and fellenz, ) or providing transformational leadership (zhu et al., ) may not only have a direct effect on work engagement by acting as additional job resources, but may also serve as an invitation or inducement to employees to deploy their personal resources gained from other domains in their job. such suggestions go beyond available suggestions for managers that, reflecting an environment-centered perspective, focus on the importance of providing employees with work-related resources or minimizing work-related demands in improving employees' work engagement (e.g., jung and yoon, ; kalia and verma, ; kim and koo, ; nikolova et al., ; wadhwa and guthrie, ) . moreover, based on our results, we suggest that managers of service and hospitality employees may motivate their employees to craft work related resources in a non-work domain such as home. this may be done by motivating them to perform leisure/home crafting where they become intrinsically motivated to pursue activities in a non-work domain that associate with goal setting, human connection, and personal growth and development aiming for acquiring resources through the activities to address the unfulfilled aspects at work (petrou et al., ) . this strategy is particularly valuable where opportunities for job crafting are low (petrou et al., ) which is often a feature in many service and hospitality job environments. thus, inducing employees to engage in leisure crafting may be a viable and valuable strategy for managerial interventions in highly structured service work environments. to further the positive impact of such interventions managers can initiate interaction opportunities and invite employees to share their experiences of leisure crafting with each other. empirical evidence that individuals may seek fulfillment via other's experience of performing leisure crafting when they share similar motivation or common goals (e.g., berg et al., ) supports this approach. finally, actively valuing employees efforts to fully engage with their home domain, for example through supporting employee leisure crafting, can have additional benefits for employee work engagement through supporting effective recovery from work (e.g., sonnentag et al., ) which is facilitated through effective disengagement. moreover, by fully valuing employee engagement with their home domain it is easier for managers to invoke reciprocity and thus to invite employees to switch mental gears for effective re-engagement with work at the beginning of their workday which has beneficial effects for employee work engagement (sonnentag and kühnel, ) . in sum, these three approaches can contribute to help motivate employees to increase their personal resources and decrease personal demands at home that may contribute to work engagement through increasing personal resources and minimizing personal demands at work." some limitations should be reported. first, the participants' responses may have been affected by the repetitive nature of the diary study design (bolger et al., ) . respondents were asked to complete the same survey for seven days per week over two weeks, which may have led to habituation effects in the responses. the presence of substantial within-person fluctuations in the daily variables through the intraclass correlation analysis suggests that habituation effects, if present, appear to have been very limited and did not influence the results of this research in substantial ways (see tims et al., ) . second, as in many diary studies, the sample size of this multi-level study appears quite small at the higher level of participants in light of the number of predictor variables, which can lead to bias during analysis. the reason why the number of participants in this and many other diary studies is comparatively small is because respondents must complete daily diary questionnaires across many days, which is time consuming and requires strong commitment. such a research design normally reduces the participation rate of surveys, which has happened in many existing diary studies (e.g., bakker and bal, ; xanthopoulou et al., ) . however, as the effective sample size for many relevant parameters in multilevel analyses is determined as the product of the number of participants (n = ) by the number of completed diary entries per participant (in this case ), the sample size for some of the parameters is considerably larger (n = ). in addition, to address potential problems arising from the number of participants, we simplified the analytic measures by applying manifest variables before testing the proposed hypotheses (jöreskog and sörbom, ) that could prevent this study from losing information (xanthopoulou et al., b) . maas and hox ( ) suggest a minimum sample for multilevel studies at the highest level of cases, which this study clearly exceeds. the actual higher-level sample size (n = ) in this study compares favorably with this minimum requirement and is likely to produce robust estimations. importantly, the power analysis we performed by using the optimal design plus empirical evidence program (spybrook et al., ) revealed adequate power for this study (value > . ). therefore, it is unlikely that our findings are solely or even largely attributable to method bias. future research should attempt to employ further samples of sufficient size to confirm the results reported here. in addition, because we applied manifest variables for analysis, we did not examine each specific personal demand and personal resource at home and at work. such an analysis may provide additional insights, especially with regard to the implications for practitioners. we suggest that future research should directly investigate these specific elements with larger samples. third, we did not investigate burnout as a potential outcome. burnout and work engagement have been viewed as distinct but related opposite constructs, and it is suggested that they be measured separately (schaufeli et al., ) . recent studies have revealed that chinese employees may suffer from burnout issues at work (e.g., hu et al., ; zhou et al., ) . although most of the evidence is based on work-related influences, some studies have found that the conflict between work and family may be one of the causes of chinese employees' burnout (e.g., pu et al., ) . this finding opens two potential research avenues. first, in this study, we claim that individuals may make decisions to reduce or stop investing their available personal resources when they find that resource investment is difficult. this implies that there may be a third variable (moderator) that we did not include that pushes them to continue investing their remaining personal resources. a potential variable worth investigation may be chinese collectivism, another traditional aspect of culture in china that makes many chinese employees prefer to work as a team rather than as individuals and that motivates them to care about team welfare more than their own (brown et al., ) . in other words, companies with strong chinese collectivism may potentially motivate individuals who have personal demands at home to continue investing personal resources even if they find that resource investment at work is difficult, which eventually leads to burnout. the second research avenue would be to investigate whether personal resources at home may alleviate burnout by reducing personal demands at work and increasing personal resources at work. finally, the specific operationalizations of key study variables such as personal resources and personal demands arising in the home environment are a potential limitation, as the range of potentially relevant personal resources is very broad (see hobfoll et al., ; xanthopoulou et al., ) . thus, the findings provide an initial test of the hypothesized relationships. further investigations that consider a broader range of resources and demands arising in the home domain will help test and confirm the initial results reported here and will provide deeper insights into the relationships between the home and work domains investigated in this study. the present study 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authors: craig, lyn; churchill, brendan title: dual‐earner parent couples’ work and care during covid‐ date: - - journal: gend work organ doi: . /gwao. sha: doc_id: cord_uid: hvgbg gu covid‐ and the associated lockdowns meant many working parents were faced with doing paid work and family care at home simultaneously. to investigate how they managed, this paper draws a subsample of parents in dual earner couples (n= , ) from a national survey of , australian men and women conducted during lockdown in may . it asked how much time respondents spent in paid and unpaid labour, including both active and supervisory care, and about their satisfaction with work‐family balance and how their partner shared the load. overall, paid work time was slightly lower, and unpaid work time was very much higher, during lockdown than before it. these time changes were most for mothers, but gender gaps somewhat narrowed because the relative increase in childcare was higher for fathers. more mothers than fathers were dissatisfied with their work‐family balance and partner's share before covid‐ . for some the pandemic improved satisfaction levels, but for most they became worse. again, some gender differences narrowed, mainly because more fathers also felt negatively during lockdown than they had before. the covid- pandemic, and the physical distancing and isolation measures enacted to contain it, profoundly affected both how people spent their time, and where they spent it. school closures and health fears increased the need for family care, and workplace lockdowns saw hundreds of thousands of people switch to working from home. this significantly blurred the temporal and spatial boundaries between paid work and caring for others. finding time for both paid work and family care is a significant challenge for contemporary households. the time demands are particularly pressing upon mothers who wish to maintain their attachment to paid work while their children are young (jacobs & gerson, ) . many parents are dissatisfied with the balance between their work and family lives but it is especially problematic for women (craig & brown ) . the growth in women's employment was widely expected to have a corresponding effect on men's unpaid work (bergmann, ) . however, for reasons including inflexible workplace expectations and persistent masculine gender norms, most men still prioritize employment over home duties (gornick & meyers, ) , and progress towards gender equality in paid and unpaid labour has been very gradual (gershuny, sullivan & robinson, ) . on average, men have increased the time they spend on housework only marginally and while fathers are spending more time on childcare, mothers still spend two to three times more daily time with children than fathers (craig & brown ) . balancing work and family can be assisted by government and workplace policies such as subsidized childcare, paid maternity and paternity leave, the right to request part time work, flexible working hours and, centrally relevantly to this paper, options to work from home (crompton, ; lewis, ). however, many parents do not have access to 'family-friendly' workplace measures, and even when they are formally available, there may be unwritten sanctions against accessing them, particularly for men (bittman et al., ; gregory and milner, ) . men may be reluctant to take up family-friendly provisions in case they are regarded as uncommitted to their work (rubery & grimshaw, ) . reflecting longstanding role expectations of mothers as caregivers and fathers as breadwinners, it is usually mothers, not fathers, who adjust their work patterns to meet the care needs of the family (ranson, ; warren et al., ). the covid- restrictions temporarily removed a gendered fault line in external constraint, by requiring men and women alike to stay home, even if they were still employed. so, what happens when the spatial organization of paid work and unpaid domestic work and care is not so different for mother and fathers? this paper reports early results of a survey (n= , ), conducted between th and th may , on how covid- affected paid work, domestic work and care in australian households. the survey investigated how gender differences in objective time spent to these activities, and in subjective feelings about it, changed due to the pandemic. as context for the survey findings, we first give a brief overview of the australian response to covid- , and previous gendered patterns in working from home in australia. australia had a swift and aggressive government response to covid- . there were national and state border closures, and strict workplace lockdowns, which were supported with government income maintenance for many whose jobs were lost or threatened. altogether, the government announced support packages amounting to over % of national gross domestic product (gdp). eligibility criteria for unemployment benefits were relaxed, and the payment level to recipients doubled to $ a fortnight. a wage subsidy program to pay employers $ a fortnight for each employee they kept on the payroll was implemented. when it became apparent that many essential frontline workers were women who would be unable to work without childcare, formal childcare was made temporarily free to parents, through adjustments to the payment system such that services received a weekly 'business continuity payment' from the government (department of education skills and employment, ). this was a remarkable intervention, because australian childcare is usually very costly; it is amongst the most expensive in the world, nearly five time the european average (adamson & brennan, ) . from late january , covid cases initially grew sharply. however, due to the closures and physical distancing measures, they levelled out at about per day by late march, fell to under cases per day by late april, and to fewer than cases a day through may. as of may, cases and deaths had been reported in australia. the relatively early strict lockdown has so far contained the spread of the disease. at the same time, economic impacts have been large, and early indications are that women have been the most affected in both job loss and reduced hours (abs, ) . unemployment is at eight percent, and expected to go higher, and gdp is expected to fall by at least seven percent. the dominant work-family arrangement in heterosexual australian households is that the male partner works full time and the female partner works part time ( ½ earner family model). childcare is expensive, and organizational work-family supports are thin (adamson & brennan, ) . to balance work and family demands, most australian women limit their paid work hours and move in and out of the workforce as family care needs change (craig & mullan ). women are disproportionately likely to be employed in 'casual' jobs without benefits such as sick and annual leave, to work variable and insecure hours and to be in positions which underutilize their education and skill levels (charlesworth & macdonald. ) . some seek to meet the challenges by becoming self-employed, often explicitly so they can work from home and care for children more flexibly (foley et al., ) . consistent with this work-family context, prior to covid- the profile of at-home workers in australia was gendered, with women more likely than men to work at home regularly (powell & craig ) . it was most common amongst public sector employees, professionals, the tertiary educated and mothers with dependent children. for both men and women, working at home was associated with higher subjective time stress and did not facilitate better work-life balance in the sense of increasing time in leisure and personal activities (powell & craig ) . for women, working at home was associated with less paid work and more domestic work and care, amounting to a higher workload overall. it also involved more multitasking, with many women blurring the boundaries between employment and family demands by performing paid work whilst supervising children at the same time. in contrast, men working at home did not do fewer paid work hours, more unpaid work or more multitasking than men working outside the home. they maintained more distinct boundaries between employment and domestic activities than home-working women did (powell & craig ) . the implication is that women were motivated to work from home to maximize their care time, but that this was not the case for men. under covid- , working at home has spiked due to an abrupt external shock. the period of sudden state-supported lockdown provides a rare view of what happens when longstanding external constraints on how and where men and women work are removed. we take this opportunity to find out how the disruption has affected gender patterns in both time allocation and in subjective feelings about it. we focus on dual earner couples with children, because this is the most time stressed demographic group (jacobs and gerson ), for whom workfamily balance is a particularly major challenge. to measure the impact of covid- we developed the work and care in the time of covid- survey, which was fielded over a three-week period during lockdown, from may to may . we collected , responses from australian residents. the survey asked respondents for demographic information, and about change in their employment arrangements, including their work status and work location before and after the advent of covid- . to examine how covid- impacted parents in dual-earner couples, we restricted the sample to employed, partnered men and women with children under the age of (n= , ). see table a for a sample description. to capture time allocation, respondents were asked how many hours per day they spent in ) paid work, ) care of children, the elderly, sick and/or those living with a disability, and ) housework and household management. because care is often multitasked, and its magnitude is underestimated if simultaneous activity is overlooked (craig ) we asked about both active and supervisory care. active care was defined as 'hands-on activities such as bathing, feeding, dressing, teaching, playing, soothing, taking people to appointments, and similar activities where you are interacting directly with the other person.' supervisory care was defined as 'time when you are not interacting with the person being cared for but are responsible for them and "on-call" should active care be needed. in other words, if you had to go somewhere else, you would need to get someone to fill in for you'. housework included activities like cooking, cleaning, repairs and maintenance, shopping, lawn and garden care and laundry, and household management activities like scheduling, planning, making shopping lists, and paying bills. to capture subjective feelings about time allocation, respondents were asked a series of questions including 'how often do you feel rushed or pressed for time?' with responses on a five-point likert scale, from 'always' to 'never'. respondents were also asked about 'how satisfied are you with how you divide your time between paid and unpaid work?' and 'how satisfied are you with how you and your partner share housework and unpaid care?". responses were given on a five-point likert scale from 'extremely dissatisfied' to 'extremely satisfied'. we also asked respondents 'do you think you did your fair share of housework and unpaid care?' with response categories ranging from 'much more than my fair share' to 'much less than my fair share'. all questions were asked first in relation to before the covid- -related restrictions were imposed, and then regarding the time while the restrictions were in place. we present descriptive results for these measures. results are weighted using estimates from the australian bureau of statistics' census of population and housing to be representative of australian men and women based on age, sex and highest level of education. on the reports of time we conducted t-tests to determine whether gender differences were statistically significant before and during covid. for the other variables we used chi-square tests of independence to see if there were significant gender differences before and during covid- . table shows the work status and location of fathers and mothers who had been employed before covid- and whether they were different during the restrictions. we also asked them to report on their partner's employment details. there was no significant gender difference in having the same job either before and after covid- . about percent of both fathers and mothers kept the same position, with less than ten percent of each gender losing their job, being stood down or finding work elsewhere. this was largely the same for their partners, although the figures were slightly higher for partners remaining in the same job since covid- began. consistent with the dominant australian pattern, there was a significant gender difference in full or part time status both before and during the pandemic. before covid- , percent of fathers and percent of mothers were employed fulltime; conversely, percent of fathers and percent of mothers were employed part time. these gender differences narrowed during covid, however, largely due to change amongst fathers. the proportion of fathers employed full-time was about percentage points lower, and the proportion of fathers employed part time about percentage points higher, during the pandemic. there was little change for mothers, suggesting that overall more jobs became part time. fathers' and mothers' reports of their partner's employment status before and during covid- largely mirrored their own changes in employment status over the period (see table ). the drops in hours were reflected in earnings. fathers' average reported earnings were about $ dollars per week less, and mothers' average reported earnings were about $ dollars per week less, during the lockdown than they had been before. there were fewer gender differences in the location of work, particularly pre-covid. before covid- , percent of fathers and percent of mothers worked at a workplace away from home. there was a slightly higher proportion of mothers than fathers who worked at home ( % vs %), or both at home and away, than fathers ( % vs %). during covid- most respondents were working at home. there were slightly more fathers than mothers doing so ( % vs %), but gender-similar proportions were working away from home ( %), or both at home and away from home ( - %). respondents reports of their partner's work location indicate that about and percent of fathers and mothers' partners respectively worked away from home before covid- . during covid- almost twothirds of fathers' partners were working from home compared to just percent of mothers' partners. however, overall, most respondents were in households in which both they and their partner had gone out to work before the pandemic but were both working at home during it. against this background of moderate change in employment status and earnings, but substantial change in work location, we examined respondents' time allocation to paid and unpaid work activities (see table ). t-tests show significant differences between fathers and mothers. pre-covid- , fathers in dual-earner couples averaged more daily paid work hours than mothers in dual-earner couples ( . vs . hours, p. <. ). at the time of being surveyed, average work hours had gone down by . percent for fathers and . percent for mothers to . and . hours (p. <. ), respectively. women spent significantly more daily hours in housework and household management than men ( . vs . hours, p. <. ) before covid- -related restrictions. during lockdown, daily time in housework and household management was about minutes higher for men and almost an hour higher for women. notwithstanding that both fathers and mothers were doing more housework and household management, the relative gender gap in these activities remained constant at percent across the period. before covid- , mothers averaged . daily hours in active care of children compared to . daily hours for fathers. this difference was significant at the one-percent level and indicates that prior to covid- restrictions being in place, the gender gap was about percent. this decreased to percent during covid- because fathers' hours went up by percent (to . hours per day) whereas mothers increased theirs by percent (to . hours per day). on average, fathers and mothers spent similar, small amounts of time caring for others and the elderly before covid- . however, during covid- fathers spent less time caring for the elderly and mothers spent more. both fathers and mothers' average active care for someone who was sick or living with a disability rose slightly, from . to . hours per day. prior to covid- -related restrictions, mothers' average daily time allocation to housework and household management and active care combined was about hour and minutes more than fathers' ( . vs . hours per day, p. <. ). during the restrictions, mothers' combined time in these activities had increased by . hours to . hours per day, a rise of percent. fathers' reported increases in these activities combined to . hours per day, taking them to . hours per day, a rise of percent. thus, before covid mothers were spending around about . hours more than men on these activities together, and during the lockdown this had increased to . hours per day. however, the relative gender gap narrowed from to percent, largely because during covid- fathers' active care for children was percent higher than it had been before, compared to only a percent increase by mothers. as was the case for active care, prior to covid- related restrictions, mothers spent more daily hours supervising children than men did ( . vs . , p. <. ). this amounted to a gender gap of around percent, which decreased to percent during covid- , because the relative increase was about percent for fathers compared to about percent mothers. fathers and mothers spent similar amounts of time providing supervisory care for the elderly, sick and disabled prior to covid- . there were small increases in fathers' and mothers' supervisory care of the elderly and sick or those living with disability during covid- , with mothers' increases relatively higher. prior to covid- , mothers spent . hours per day on supervisory care activities combined, significantly longer than fathers did ( . hours per day). during the lockdown, mothers' time in secondary activities was up . hours and fathers' time in supervisory care up . hours. this amounted to a percent increase in supervisory activities by fathers, compared to a percent increase by mothers. again, although the absolute time increase was higher for mothers, the relative increase was higher for fathers. thus, the gender gap in combined supervisory activities narrowed, from percent to percent. in summary, during the pandemic respondents were averaging slightly less paid work, and substantially more unpaid work, than they had been prior to it. absolute time increases in unpaid work were higher for mothers. however, compared to before covid- , the increases in childcare (though not housework/household management) were proportionally higher for fathers, which narrowed relative gender differences in care. we now explore whether these changes were reflected in respondents' subjective feelings about how they and their partners spent their time. in table , chi-square tests indicate that differences between fathers and mothers on all the subjective measures were statistically significant at the less than one-percent level. there were also substantial differences before and after the covid- restrictions, with some contrasting patterns for fathers and mothers. first, results indicate the covid-related changes were associated with narrowed gender gaps in time stress. just over percent of fathers 'always' felt rushed before covid- , compared to almost percent during the restrictions. before covid- almost percent of mothers always felt rushed and this increased slightly to almost percent during covid- . this indicates that for a significant subset of women, extreme time pressure remained constant regardless of the pandemic-related restrictions, and that for many fathers, extreme time pressure increased. as a result, the difference between men and women who always felt rushed closed from to three percentage points during covid- . however, for most respondents, subjective time pressure lessened. there was a significant drop of points in the proportion of mothers who 'often' felt rushed, going from just over percent pre-covid to around percent during the restrictions. the proportion of fathers who often felt rushed also decreased (by points). the result is that during covid- there was a greater similarity in the proportion of fathers and mothers who 'often' felt rushed or pressed for time. pre-covid, fathers were points more likely to report 'sometimes' feeling rushed than mothers. during covid, there was more gender similarity in feeling sometimes rushed ( - % for both mothers and fathers). correspondingly, we observed an increase in those who 'seldom' or 'never' felt rushed, particularly for mothers, for whom the proportion in these categories was times higher during covid than prior to it ( . % vs %). as a result, the gender difference narrowed from over points pre-covid to four points during the restrictions. taken together, the results suggest that a substantial proportion of mothers, especially, were relieved of time pressure during covid- , generating greater equality between fathers and mothers in this regard. post-hoc analysis showed that many of the mothers who were less time stressed during covid- were working from away from home at a workplace while their partner was working from home. this suggests leaving the house to work lessened mothers' time pressure by allowing them to concentrate on their job and that, conversely, more fathers than before experienced the stress of juggling and/or multitasking paid work and unpaid care. around three percent of fathers and just over five percent of mothers reported that before covid- they were 'extremely' dissatisfied with how they divided their time between paid and unpaid work, compared to and percent, respectively, during the pandemic. the gender gap widened on this measure due to the much higher rise for mothers than fathers. there were also increases in the percentage of fathers who reported feeling 'somewhat' dissatisfied, moving from . percent before covid- to . percent during, while conversely the proportion of mothers who reported feeling 'somewhat' dissatisfied decreased from to percent. this narrowed the gender difference in this measure. overall, the proportion of fathers who reported being 'extremely' or 'somewhat' dissatisfied increased by percentage points from percent before covid- to percent during the restrictions. across the two categories, mothers reported a similar increase of points. as a result, the gap between fathers and mothers who reported feeling either 'extremely' or 'somewhat' dissatisfied remained substantial at between - percentage points over the period. at the other end of the scale, we found that before covid- , almost percent of fathers and percent of mothers had been 'extremely' or 'somewhat' satisfied with how they divided their time between paid and unpaid work. during the restrictions, the proportions of fathers and mothers across these categories fell to and percent, respectively. overall, results suggest the pandemic restrictions substantially decreased satisfaction with how people divided their time between paid and unpaid work, but did so most for mothers, and did not ameliorate pre-existing gender gaps. respondents were also asked about whether they felt they did their fair share of housework and unpaid care. before covid- , there were significant gender gaps: percent of mothers reported doing 'much more' or 'more' than their fair share compared with about percent of fathers who reported the same, a gap of percentage points. during covid- this narrowed to points because the proportion of fathers reporting doing 'much more' or 'more' than their fair share rose ( points) while the proportion of mothers reporting the same fell ( points). notably, the proportion of mothers reporting that they were doing 'much more' went up much more for mothers ( points) than for fathers ( points). as a result, a third of mothers felt like they were doing 'much more' than their fair share of housework and unpaid care during covid- and the gender difference had widened from to points. fathers and mothers reporting doing their fair share remained steady and there was a ninepoint drop in the proportion of fathers reporting doing less than their fair share, which narrowed the gender gap on this measure. doing more than one's fair share may not in itself be a problem for people (baxter ), so we also asked respondents how satisfied they were with how they shared their housework and unpaid care with their partner. before the pandemic, just over percent of fathers reported feeling somewhat dissatisfied and none reported feeling extremely dissatisfied. in contrast, percent of mothers reported feeling somewhat dissatisfied and a further nine percent reported feeling extremely dissatisfied. this amounted to percent of mothers, and there was thus a very wide pre-existing gender gap of around points in those expressing dissatisfaction with partner's shares. the gender gap was similar during the lockdown, but the balance between the two sub-categories had changed. more fathers felt 'somewhat' dissatisfied (up points) and fewer mothers felt the same (down five points). however, the proportion of mothers reporting they were 'extremely' dissatisfied almost doubled from nine to percent. overall, the results suggest that both fathers and mothers were more dissatisfied with how they shared housework and unpaid care with their partner during covid- , but the dissatisfaction was much more extreme amongst women, from a much higher base to start with. during the pandemic more than half the mothers felt either extremely or somewhat dissatisfied with their partner's share, compared to percent of fathers. this paper drew on results of an online survey fielded in may , to probe how covid- , and the restrictions requiring people to stay at home, affected paid work, unpaid domestic work and care in australian households. even in dual earner households, before the pandemic australian fathers were much less likely than australian mothers to take the major responsibility for housework and care in the home (craig and powell ) . by mandating that people work at home unless employed in an essential service, the lockdown and restrictions temporarily removed an important and longstanding spatial constraint on men's domestic participation, potentially facilitating more gender-equal divisions of labour. we examined whether either gender differences in objective time spent in paid and unpaid work, or in subjective feelings about it, changed due to the pandemic. as expected, there was significant disruption to work patterns during covid- . both fathers and mothers were much more likely to be working from home during the lockdown. relatively few respondents had lost their jobs, but some had been stood down and a significant minority of fathers had transitioned from full to part time status. respondents were averaging slightly less time in paid work, and earnings had dropped, suggesting pay cuts commensurate with shorter or lost hours (see table ). most respondents' partners were also working from home, suggesting that the most common experience amongst our sample was both partners doing so. unsurprisingly with more people at home, the burden of unpaid work across households was significantly higher during the lockdown. this was the case for both fathers and mothers. across the board, there was an increase in unpaid domestic work and care, that added substantially to household workload overall. in addition to more people at home creating more housework, amongst our sample the purchase of domestic services such as cleaning, laundry and childcare had plummeted (results available on request). against this backdrop, our results indicate a substantial transfer of productive labour from the paid sector back to households. in combination, active care and housework/household management rose by just over an hour and a half for fathers and by two hours and thirty minutes for mothers. if supervisory care (usually multitasked as 'secondary activity' while doing something else at the same time) is taken account of, men's daily unpaid work effort rose by over three and a half hours, and women's daily unpaid work effort rose by over four and a half hours a day. prior research on working at home in australia found that for women, but not men, home-working was associated with more multitasking, and more domestic work and care, amounting to a higher workload overall (powell and craig ). the current results suggest that during the pandemic, both fathers and mothers experienced these effects. this is unsurprising when so many couples' work and care was now concentrated into the same place at the same time, with many trying to do both at once. absolute increases in unpaid labour were higher for mothers than for fathers, but compared to their average input prior to the pandemic, the proportional differences were higher for fathers. this narrowed relative gender differences in care time. thus, during covid- , australian fathers significantly narrowed the gender gaps in both active and in supervisory care of children. notably, however, gender gaps in housework and household management remained over the period of analysis and thus did not become relatively more equal. the implication is that men prefer to increase their time with children than to increase their shares of housework and household management, likely because the former is more rewarding than the latter. the result is consistent with long term trends worldwide, which find that men's time in childcare has grown more substantially than their time in housework (gershuny et.al, ) . mothers retained even more disproportionate responsibility for the often more boring and burdensome tasks of housework and household management (craig ) than they did for care. also, the relative increase in men's care time was enough to narrow the gender gaps, but not to remove them. this ongoing absolute difference, as well as the sustained relative disparity in housework and household management, may explain why the same proportion of mothers (around percent) always felt rushed both before and during the pandemic. notable, however, was that during covid- more fathers also felt similarly to women on this measure, suggesting that for some, their increased involvement in unpaid work was resulting in subjective time strain to match that felt by mothers. however, for most respondents, subjective time pressure was lower during the pandemic than it was before. a substantial proportion of women, especially, reported less time pressure during covid- , and there was much greater equality between men and women on this measure than before the pandemic. this is likely at least partly because external schedules for work, school and commuting were relaxed, so some parents could be more flexible in how they managed their time. 'normally', time stress on working parents arises not only from how much they do, but also from when it must be done (craig & powell ) . for many employed mothers, particularly, the morning and early evenings were narrow time window at each end of their paid working day, into which time-critical unpaid work activities had to be concentrated. for example, the deadline-filled time crunch of the evening 'family rush hour' involved leaving work, picking up children from school or day care, cooking dinner, helping children with homework, bathing, feeding and readying them for bed (craig & brown ) . rigid schedules are an additional time stressor, and our results suggest that for most parents, and particularly mothers, during the lockdown external constraints were looser. so notwithstanding higher overall workloads, and doing more activities at the same time, feelings of being rushed broadly fell. going forward, lower time stress could continue if workplaces allow more employees to continue to work more flexibly from home. notwithstanding the lower time pressure, however, both more fathers and more mothers were dissatisfied with the way they divided their time between paid and unpaid work during the lockdown than they had been before. this is more consistent with the higher unpaid workloads they were taking on and with having to do more simultaneously, like supervising children while trying to work. however, there were gender contrasts in how this influenced their perceptions of fairness and satisfaction with their partner's contribution. many more men reported doing 'much more' or 'more' than their fair share of housework/management and unpaid care during covid- , compared to very few thinking so before the pandemic. at the same time, there was an even bigger rise in women feeling this way, from a very much higher pre-covid- base. consistent with this, dissatisfaction with how housework and unpaid care was shared with their partners went up for fathers from a very low base, but went up more for mothers, and from a much higher starting point. since the increases in mothers' workload were objectively higher than fathers, men were less likely than women to be actually doing more than their partner. so, these results suggest that men doing more unpaid care than they used to and narrowing but by no means closing the gender gap, made more of them feel it was unfair, and that their partner was not carrying their weight. mothers were already doing more and added more to their workload during the lockdown than fathers did, and this further negatively affected their perceptions of relative fairness and compounded their already-high dissatisfaction with their partner's share. there were exceptions to this general finding, which could be related to whether both partners were there to pitch in. having a partner working at home was reported by percent of mothers compared to percent of fathers. post-hoc analysis found that mothers with partners who continued to go out to work were nine percentage points more dissatisfied than mothers with partners who worked all or some of the time at home. this suggests greater satisfaction for some mothers was linked to the presence of a partner in the home to share the extra burden of unpaid work and care during covid- more evenly. in summary, results on how the pandemic restrictions affected gender equality in the home were mixed. in some ways the findings confirm what many have been saying for decades; men need to do more at home to improve gender equality. enforced restrictions during covid- were associated with increases in fathers' time with children and somewhat narrowed the gendered childcare gap between parents in dual earner households. on the other hand, mothers' unpaid work time went up even more, and a significant proportion of them still reported feeling that they were doing much more than their fair share and were even more dissatisfied with how they and their partners shared unpaid work and care during this article is protected by copyright. all rights reserved. covid- . however, here again there was more gender equality, of a sort. with everyone's workload higher, more fathers than hitherto reported the high levels of subjective time stress, unfairness and dissatisfaction with actively juggling (too much) paid work and unpaid domestic labour and care, that women have long felt. -labour force, australia, detailed -electronic delivery the economic emergence of women second edition packaging care: what happens when parents utilize non-parental child care women, work and industrial relations in australia in does father care mean fathers share? a comparison of how mothers and fathers in intact families spend time with children weekend work and leisure time with family and friends: who misses out? *** source: work and care in the time of covid- ( ) note: *p <. , **p <. , ***p <. .source: work and care in the time of covid- ( ) note: *p <. , **p <. , ***p <. . key: cord- -vd etd authors: tucker, jennifer l.; anantharaman, manisha title: informal work and sustainable cities: from formalization to reparation date: - - journal: one earth doi: . /j.oneear. . . sha: doc_id: cord_uid: vd etd informal workers produce economic, social, and environmental value for cities. too often, policy elites, including those promoting sustainable cities, overlook this value, proposing formalization and relying on deficit-based framings of informal work. in this perspective piece, we bring critical research and community-produced knowledge about informal work to sustainability scholarship. we challenge the dominant, deficit-based frame of informal work, which can dispossess workers, reduce their collective power, and undercut the social and environmental value their work generates. instead, thinking historically, relationally, and spatially clarifies the essential role of informal work for urban economies and highlights their potential for promoting sustainable cities. it also reveals how growth-oriented economies reproduce environmental destruction, income inequality, and poverty, the very conditions impelling many to informal work. rather than formalization, we propose reparation, an ethic and practice promoting ecological regeneration, while redressing historic wrongs and redistributing resources and social power to workers and grassroots social movements. worldwide, about two billion people work informally, more than one-half of non-agricultural employment in most regions of the global south. informal work includes a range of income-generating activities outside of state labor protections and the wagerelation. these workers generate value and contribute to the realization of the sustainable development goals (sdgs). for instance, grassroots recyclers provide essential urban-environmental services, diverting waste from landfills and enabling recycling, while street vendors support food security as they bring life, vibrancy, and protection to urban spaces. , formal economies rely on and appropriate this value. for instance, waste pickers reduce the cost of public waste management services by diverting recyclables away from landfills. informal firms produce goods cheaply, reducing costs for formal, capitalist firms who depend on these inputs. yet, in many places, urban policy frames informal work as problematic or even criminal. desiring reform, policy makers and city officials invest formalization with supercharged powers to reduce poverty, increase productivity, clean and order urban space, and produce self-reliant economic subjects. the international labor organizations' (ilo) centenary declaration for the future of work prioritizes formalization, , whereas the sdgs, particularly sdg , assert that formalizing the informal will produce economic growth and decent work (safe and adequately paid work that respects labor and human rights). but while policy elites push formalization, the economic reality is moving in the opposite direction. the characteristics associated with informal work-low pay, job insecurity, and temporary, contract-based employment without benefits-are becoming generalized, as seen through the ascendance of the gig economy. despite persistent desires for formalization among policy elites, informal work is a permanent feature of contemporary economic life. informal workers produce economic, social, and environmental value for cities, value that is often underestimated or overlooked because informality challenges mainstream assumptions about what work looks like. indeed, informal work is excluded from dominant economic imaginaries, widely shared assumptions of economically productive activity. the dominant economic imaginary associates work with a regular wage paid by an employer in a private establishment, rather than in public space, even as the work of so many looks very different. using the term imaginaries reminds us that core economic assumptions are ideas made up by people. economies are made real in and through social relations in human societies. they are always cultural and contextual. feminist geographer gibson-graham coined this term critiquing the restricted ideas of valuable work and corresponding notions of valuable people that currently dominate. commonly, informal work is defined by what it lacks. this deficit lens of informal work persists because policy elites ignore critical and community-based research on informality and overlook the knowledge and capacities of informal workers. the deficit-based frame of informal work can dispossess workers, reduce their collective power, and undercut the social and environmental value their work generates. new modes of thinking and acting can, in turn, animate new economic imaginaries and relations. building on our research in india and paraguay, amplifying critical informality scholarship and centering the knowledge produced by workers' organizations, we assert that by thinking historically, relationally, and spatially, and redistributing power and resources to workers, we can move beyond formalization to a frame that centers decent work, ecological health, and reparation for uneven legacies of harm. only when it redistributes resources and power to informal workers will formalization help address social and environmental inequities. although we write to sustainability theorists and practitioners, we emphasize that the main protagonists of transformation must be social movements led by frontline communities, that is, the communities who are both most harmed by the crises of climate, covid- , and economic injustice, and therefore have most at stake in realizing alternative worlds. in this article, we analyze why dominant economic imaginaries devalue informal work, assessing the implications for sustainability initiatives. we then outline our proposals about thinking historically, relationally, and spatially. we emphasize that moving toward sustainable cities requires understanding the dynamics of racial capitalism, which produces both poverty and environmental degradation. we offer reparation as a framework to guide the action of development practitioners and scholars, illustrating our argument with existing practices and transformational proposals. we conclude by reflecting on the hard road ahead, underscoring the need to resource, support, and learn from frontline workers' organizations and social movements. indisputably, the st century is characterized by worsening ecological crises alongside a deficit of decent work. although our focus is informal work, we note that waged employment does not necessarily protect against poverty, as million us workers classified as the ''working poor'' can attest. moreover, reducing poverty by expanding decent work has historically intensified environmental exploitation. nearly all countries with national ecological footprints within the sustainability threshold have very high levels of working poverty, indicating that the traditional means of alleviating poverty through economic growth produces environmental degradation. admirably, the sdgs seek to decouple decent work from ecological extraction, promoting both livelihoods and sustainability. however, the transformative potential of the sdgs is compromised by an economic imaginary that misreads the key drivers of both poverty and environmental degradation and ignores empirical and theoretical research demonstrating that economic growth cannot be decoupled from environmental degradation in today's economies of extraction. [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] studies finding modest success in a few exceptional countries to decouple economic growth from greenhouse gas emissions do not consider other forms of environmental degradation, such as land use change and unsustainable freshwater extraction. indeed, the sdgs remain captive to ''fairytales of eternal economic growth,'' a mindset decried by youth climate activist greta thunberg at the un climate summit. the sdgs privilege technocratic planning and propose win-win scenarios, downplaying the trade-offs between economic growth, social development, and environmental protection. furthermore, the sdgs ignore compelling evidence that redistribution, not growth, is the key. , in their current form, the sdgs are a trojan horse, smuggling in unpopular and problematic neoliberal economic policies, including the erasure and enclosure of informal livelihoods. scholarship over the last years has offered changing perspectives on the nature and value of informal work. , early dualist frameworks proposed that modernization would expand formal employment and starve the informal sector. since then, researchers have documented intense linkages across supply chains that crisscross sectors designated as formal and informal. there is great variation between domains of informal work, from unregistered ''petty commodity producers,'' supplying cheap inputs into capitalist production processes and reducing costs for formal firms ; to own account operators, such as waste pickers and street vendors; to informal employees, such as day laborers or domestic workers. following insights from critical anthropologists, geographers, and planning scholars, we argue that the informal and formal are relational categories whose boundaries are determined by culture and power, pointing to deeply intertwined domains of economic practice. [ ] [ ] [ ] although we find informal and formal to be analytically imprecise categories, we retain them here because of their political significance in policy making to draw lines between valued and devalued economic activities with consequences for both workers and sustainability initiatives. in spite of this research, the dominant economic imaginary devalues informal workers as unproductive and problematic. informal work is compared against the yard-stick of the ''standard employment relationship,'' signifying a unionized, waged worker, despite calls to decenter the wage. , yet secure, well-paid employment with benefits is the exception, not the norm, a form of work limited to so-called developed countries for a few postwar decades. , the deficit-based definition of informal work holds across deep ideological divisions. neoliberal economists see low productivity and ''low levels of human capital,'' labor scholars emphasize the lack of state protections, such as social security or workplace protections, whereas orthodox marxists see the lack of class consciousness and historical agency because of their structural location in economies of ''informal survivalism.'' the tenacity of the deficit definition echoes dynamics that render invisible other value-producing domains, such as women's unpaid household labor, social reproduction more broadly, the essential inputs of nature and noncommodified economies of reciprocity. informal work produces economic, social, and environmental value that sustains lives and urban environments. at the same time, formal economies rely on and appropriate this value. this article explores this central contradiction: the informal is framed as problematic and targeted for reform even as formal economies benefit from and appropriate the value produced by informal workers. to sketch a counter-story, we underscore the considerable creativity of workers facing calamitous state disinvestment in collective wellbeing. at the same time, we do not romanticize these economic words. informal livelihoods are complex and contradictory, combining individualism and community, care and exclusions, competition and collaboration, autonomy and drudgery. , formalization is shorthand for a range of policies seeking to align economic activities with the law, either changing legal codes or reforming behaviors. this can include decriminalizing informal work, licensing businesses, requiring tax compliance, enforcing labor and environmental regulations, promoting certain kinds of spatial order, or eliminating competition from firms or workers with lower costs of business because of noncompliance. however, legalistic formalization projects, rooted in eurocentric urban knowledge, fail to understand the diverse realities of most cities. whereas legalist policy frameworks value rule-following for its own sake, critical researchers demonstrate the anti-poor biases of law, the criminalization of poverty, and tendencies to leave the legal transgressions of elites unpunished. urban life in many cities is marked by dealmaking and provisionality. residents use, sidestep, and transgress legal codes depending on situational exigencies and a ''transversal'' relationship to law. contrary to expectations, formalization does not necessarily solve problems for informal workers, nor make those economic activities more valuable. formalization deriving from a legalistic, deficit-based framing can dispossess workers of livelihoods, reduce workers' collective power, reiterate stigmas associated with informality, and undercut the social and environmental value that informal work generates. if projects devolve risk and responsibility for providing basic services without resourcing worker organizations, formalization can increase the exploitation of informal workers. , the emphasis on formalization in the sdgs reflects the role of powerful, well-funded civil society organizations, largely from rich and middle-income countries , and too often lacking representation of workers. official ''invited spaces of participation'' often limit dissent, discourage critical examination of underlying economic imaginaries, and carry unspoken, exclusionary codes of acceptable behavior that reflect elite norms, values, behaviors, and codes of dress. not uncommonly, policy elites interpret expressions of worker power as illegitimate, such as waste pickers blockading dumps to protect their livelihoods. , yet often, contentious politics are needed to interrupt the status quo and offer alternative political imaginations. to illustrate the importance of informal work, we draw examples from street vending and waste work. in diverse cities, grassroots recyclers toil in difficult conditions while facing intense stigma, quotidian harassment, and even deadly violence. , yet their labors build functioning value chains for recyclables, generating income for themselves and materials for other markets as they also enable environmental behaviors among elites and provide the only opportunity for recycling in many cities. [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] although there is great variability, the informal sector can rival formal sector material recovery rates. informal sector recyclers have irreplaceable knowledge crucial to maximizing value in waste. , [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] indeed, policy elites now herald informal recycling as already-existing circular economies critical for sustainability transitions. similarly, street vendors enable access to cheap food despite battling a host of ''everyday challenges.'' their work contributes to sdg : making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable. furthermore, informal livelihoods provide crucial incomes, critical to sdg : zero poverty. worldwide, waste picking sustains some million people, while similar numbers work as street vendors. but informal work means more than an income. informal economies are complex systems of redistribution; community networks that can be tapped in times of need. in contexts of state disinvestment and chronic job scarcity, informal worlds provide a buffer against outright destitution. indeed, against stereotypes, most monetary transfers that keep poor communities afloat occur within poor communities, not between the rich and the poor. for instance, a montevideo recyclers coopera-tive transferred a share of their collective daily earnings to members unable to work due to sickness or care-taking obligations. in times of crisis, informal responses offer ''collective security mechanisms,'' , illustrated by street vendors providing food to communities under a strict covid- curfew in india. while informal care networks help cities recover from disasters-both slow-moving and spectacular-intensifying inequalities are challenging these systems of social provisioning. finally, we emphasize that the conditions of waged work are not universally preferable to informality. the once-a-month payday, inflexible work schedules, and long hours of waged work can clash with the pressing daily needs of those living precariously. in rio's largest dump, waste pickers valued the flexibility, autonomy, and sociability of the dump, cooking together, socializing, and adapting schedules to their needs, working more when necessary and less when possible. building just and sustainable cities requires reexamining how the informal is conceptualized and acted upon by mainstream development actors. we propose decentering formalization as a primary goal of initiatives such as the sdgs and organizations such as the ilo. for formalization to address social and environmental inequities it must redistribute resources and power to informal workers. this can be realized through an ethic and practice of reparation, which seeks to reimagine and recreate socioecological relations from a full acknowledgment of the injustices of the past as they live into the present. , we advocate reparation over justice because dominant, liberal notions of justice center the individual, foreclosing consideration of histories of harm and denying the need for collective redress. we articulate three modes of thinking to reconceptualize informal work and animate an alternative, ethical economic imaginary: thinking historically, thinking relationally, and thinking spatially. yet, it is not enough to think differently. urban economies come into being in and through webs of social relations that tie people to particular modes of laboring, living, creating, and consuming. thus, we also argue for concrete actions oriented toward social and environmental justice: redistributing wealth and power, strengthening worker's organizations, and recovering politics from technocratic capture. this approach underscores the interlinked nature of liberatory thought and action, or praxis. , these ways of thinking and acting are diametrically opposed to dominant academic and policy-making trends in which informal workers are treated as ''passive objects of study'' or which operate through benevolence, a stance which reproduces racial and imperial hierarchies of power. this agenda cannot be designed and executed from the top down and must emerge through an authentic collaboration with workers. such collaborations are only possible by expanding our notions of the agents of urban and sustainable development, which, in turn, requires radical humility on the part of ''experts,'' while valuing workers' knowledge, power, and political forms. without such a reframing, historically marginalized groups might well be excluded, exploited, or expelled from clean and green cities. [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] thinking historically thinking historically clarifies racial capitalism's core logics of accumulation, appropriation, and exploitation as incompatible with decent work or sustainable societies. decent work and ll one earth , september , clean environments for some have always required oppressions, exclusions, and exposure to harm for others. , racial capitalism as a frame explains how capitalism incorporates and depends on the ''devaluation of nonwhite bodies.'' from its beginning, capitalism tended to ''differentiate-to exaggerate regional, subcultural, and dialectical differences into 'racial' ones.'' , thinking historically with racial capitalism demonstrates the common patterns through which exclusion, exploitation, and disposability are racialized processes, even if racialization works differently for mexican immigrants in the us, members of scheduled castes such as dalits in india, indigenous guatemalans, or afro-brazilians. indeed, racialized groups are more likely to engage in undervalued and invisibilized forms of work (as are women), including care and informal work. today, covid- has launched the term ''essential workers'' into our public vocabularies, making visible how essential work is often underpaid and under-protected. thinking historically shows how capitalist economies treat essential workers as disposable by constructing myths that devalue or render invisible their work. from enslaved africans picking cotton in the us south to reclaimers recycling the waste of consumer capitalism, a core logic twins the essential and the disposable. this lethal logic organizes formal and informal economies. in indian cities, most frontline, essential workers keeping the city clean during covid- lockdowns are dalit, scheduled castes and tribes, or muslims. [ ] [ ] [ ] yet, the state fails to equip them with adequate protective gear. striking amazon workers also report inadequate health protections at facilities with outbreaks, and have responded by organizing over job actions in the us in march to june . meanwhile, amazon ceo jeff bezos amassed an additional $ . billion during weeks in march and april as the pandemic took hold. these examples illustrate that treating people as disposable is not an aberrant behavior of a few bad apples but a common, accepted means to reduce costs and concentrate profits. indeed, in the us, the standard employment relation was made through racial and gendered exclusions. the wagner act-the cornerstone new deal expansion of labor protections-excluded both domestic employees and agriculture workers, legally barring both groups from organizing. these exclusions were a ''proxy to exclude most black employees'' in the south as they also reflected biases devaluing ''women's work.'' congress excluded these workers in an explicit compromise to appease the racism of conservative southern legislators. looking further back, the rise of the waged worker as the presumed norm and aspirational horizon of all has a long, bloody history. early industrial capitalism needed people willing to work for a wage in brutal factories. in england, this required the enclosures movement, two centuries of dispossessing peasants of commonly held lands and criminalizing ''poaching'' and other means of self-provisioning. this long history normalizing the wage also rendered informal work ''invisible to science.'' similarly, self-sufficient indigenous communities steadfastly refused waged work. forcing participation in waged work required centuries of sustained settler violence: land theft, the criminalization of indigenous culture, and attacks on community means of subsistence, for instance, the intentional decimation of buffalo in the us plains states. , indeed, racial capitalism refuses to recognize non-capitalist lifeways as legitimate or pro-ductive. marking these communities as ''uncivilized'' or ''indolent'' helped justify violence and dispossessions. current land grabs and other processes of rural dispossession create mass migration to cities and urban populations seeking a foothold in informal economies. indeed, many waste pickers in bangalore are migrants from bengal, dispossessed of their land-based livelihoods by urban expansion and neoliberal development. capitalist firms also appropriate unpaid or devalued inputs, a processes of ''cheapening'' land, labor, care work, and the fruits of nature, such as food and energy. some appropriations are overtly violent: theft of indigenous land, plantation-based slave economies, or ongoing murders of indigenous land defenders in latin america and beyond. others are harder to see as cheapening rests on abstract ideas of value and its lack. for instance, capitalism appropriates the ''free gifts'' of nature: energy, natural resources, and raw materials. these ecosystem services-uncounted, invisiblized but absolutely necessaryare valued at %- % of global gdp. the free services of nature also partially absorb the wastes of consumer capitalism. the global atlas of environmental justice tracks more than , cases of communities fighting to protect land, water, forests, and livelihood from economies of extraction and privatization. the sdgs, for their part, propose delinking environmental destruction from economic growth, ignoring capitalism's core logics of appropriation and cheapening. furthermore, capitalism insulates markets from public accountability because of the abstract idea that private-sector economic decision making is separate from matters of public concern. cut off from democratic control, the private sector peruses short-term profitably for elites over collective wellbeing and the sustainability of life on earth. relational thinking shifts our practices of study and intervention ''from 'the poor and poor others' to. relationships of power and privilege,'' a framing we borrow from the relational poverty network. it also helps us see the economic, social, and environmental value of informal work and the ways it subsidizes formal economies. the forces that reproduce environmental destruction, inequality, and exclusion are multiscalar and multidimensional: deregulated economies, tax rebellions by the privileged, corporate tax-evasion and off-shoring, and uneven landscapes of investment (and disinvestment). [ ] [ ] [ ] fifty years of neoliberalism-a variant of racial capitalism characterized by austerity, deregulation, and financialization-has undermined the redistributive function of the northern welfare states and hamstrung burgeoning social state capacities across the global south. economist robert reich calls this the ''succession of the successful,'' as rich communities renege on contributing to public goods, turning instead to privatized housing, education, and health that most families cannot afford. the tentative and uneven gains in reducing inequality in the postwar decades have been swept away by the rise of the superrich, in which the top % controls more wealth than the bottom %. yet, from sociological ''cultures of poverty'' research to social entrepreneurship bootstrap schemes aimed at reforming the poor, much scholarship and action persists in blaming the poor for their poverty or focusing interventions in poor communities, leaving ll one earth , september , untouched key domains responsible for inequality and environmental harm. thinking relationally helps show how capitalism predictably produces poverty and inequality, the very forces that make informal economies necessary. given this, generating decent work and building sustainable cities requires transforming structural economic forces that much exceed the bounds of a particular informal economy. relational thinking highlights how informal workers provide ''invisible subsidies'' crucial for the social reproduction of capitalism, from waste pickers metabolizing post-consumer waste to the businesses in dharavi, an informal settlement outside mumbai, recycling plastic, tanning leather, weaving fabrics, and producing pottery worth as much as $ billion each year. relational thinking also demonstrates the connections between spaces of poverty and landscapes of wealth. middle class and rich consumers depend on the cheap, often informal labor of the monetarily poor, who clean homes, build high rises, metabolize waste, and lower consumption costs by lowering the costs of production. thinking relationally draws attention to the resource-hoarding, overconsumption, and disproportionate political power of the rich as major drivers of environmental harm. it also underscores how the modest welfare gains in the post-war era in north atlantic countries relied on massive wealth transfers from the global south (previously colonized) to the global north (in most cases, imperial powers). egyptian economist samir amin tracked one of these transfers, called unequal exchange. in addition to declining terms of trade, workers earning low wages in the global south buy expensive goods produced by higher paid workers in the global north, and vice versa, such that northern countries capture uncompensated value from the global south. in , the estimated value of this south-to-north transfer was $ . trillion, more than times the value of foreign aid moving in the other direction. on a more local level, poor communities are targeted as sources of revenue through official and extra-legal channels. a us department of justice report found that police officers in ferguson-under pressure to meet citation and arrest quotas-targeted black residents for minor, even fabricated infractions in what one anthropologist called a ''shake-down operation.' ' in other cities, street vending necessitates non-compliant activities. in response, officials harass and evict vendors, demanding bribes, imposing fines, and confiscating merchandise. in cochabamba, bolivia, these practices are so common that vendors call police officers ''the hungry ones'' (los hambres). relational thinking exposes how the rule-breaking behavior of state officials (and elites) is often tolerated, whereas the necessary infractions of the poor are criminalized. finally, thinking relationally clarifies the sources of environmental harm, thereby identifying which countries and which social groups bear responsibility for redress and reparation. , environmental justice research demonstrates that political-economic processes concentrate environmental harm in poor, racialized communities, protecting spaces of privilege. emphasizing the scale of environmental harms, ecologists and environmentalists propose we are in a new geologic age, the anthropocene, in which anthropogenic climate change and environmental destruction are earth-transforming features and system-wide threats. but culpability is not evenly distributed. environmental destruction and climate catastrophe result from our political-economic system, not an undifferentiated ''humanity'' or a timeless, unchangeable human nature. it is the consumption of the middle classes and elites that produces dirty cities and a majority of urban greenhouse gas emissions. the consequences of climate catastrophe concentrate in the global south, even as the global north is historically responsible for producing most carbon emissions. instead of the anthropocene, it is more honest and politically enabling to call our era the capitalocene, a frame that names the culprits undermining the conditions for human society. , thinking spatially thinking spatially sheds light on the social processes that allocate authorization and formalized status. elite groups, usually richer and whiter, have more social power to write their interests into law and more power in contests over the best uses of urban space. spatial thinking helps identify the underlying struggles to control space and economy that often drive formalization projects. state officials manage vendors with a range of laws, codes, tacit agreements, and other unofficial strategies. , too often, vendors are viewed as encroachers or criminals while punitive state policies disregard their needs. media accounts and city officials describe vendors as outsiders or as an ''invasion'' from which the city must ''retake'' space, pursing policies which expel the urban poor from desirable urban spaces. exclusionary policies are pervasive and evictions constant and violent. unfortunately, formal recognition does not always protect street vendors. in monrovia, officials harassed vendors even after a memorandum of understanding extended formal recognition. relocating vendors to formalized markets can also have negative effects. , in bogotá , relocated vendors gained better working conditions, but the move weakened their organizations and their incomes fell. in ciudad del este, paraguay, a municipal formalization project divided vendors, demobilized vending associations, and exposed vendors to ''dispossession by formalization.'' behind any campaign to ''clean the streets'' are competing ideas about the best uses of urban space. these visions are not neutral or objective. captive to the growth imaginary, market forces and state policies define ''highest and best use'' as activities that increase property values or create profit opportunities for formal firms. the dominant economic imaginary associates work with private spaces, coding public spaces for recreation, cars, pedestrians, and shoppers. consequently, urban zoning and regulatory practices often fail to support public space as sites of work. however, informal workers often must work in public. when vendors break the rules to work, they then are accused of being predisposed to unlawfulness, an accusation that codes structural inequalities as a question of culture or individual disposition. spatial imaginaries go beyond constructing public work as problematic. in the us, until the early s, sidewalks and streets were multi-use spaces. sidewalks supported working vendors, circulating pedestrians, celebrating residents and politically active citizens. in los angeles, the notion that sidewalks should prioritize pedestrians solidified through anti-immigrant campaigns targeting the livelihoods of chinese vendors. across latin america, colonial spatial imaginaries construct particular racial groups as belonging to particular spaces: cities are for whites and mestizos whereas indigenous communities are imagined as belonging to rural areas. in bolivia, officials racialized space, interpreting popular markets as unruly, rural incursions into cities, a precursor to attempts to remove or criminalize them. in ecuador, similar policies sought to expel indigenous ecuadorians from quito's historic center, ignoring that rural communities needed the income earned by their family members in the city. policing the line between work, nuisance, and crime is also about asserting control over valuable resources. as resourcestrapped cities move to ''modernize'' and formalize recycling, they often privatize waste management, privilege capital-intensive waste management systems, and enclose the materials that are claimed by waste pickers as livelihood inputs. [ ] [ ] [ ] this ''rational-modernist model of urbanization'' can create a ''vicious circle of competition'' for resources. formalization also requires framing trash as valuable, that is, adopting the knowledge work of waste pickers who saw value where officials saw trash. indeed, the discursive construction of the informal as a problematic space in need of reform is a precursor to imagining sites that can be enclosed and privatized. in contrast to official logics, street vendors and waste pickers value urban space by how it sustains life. when vendors and waste pickers carve out spaces for livelihood they are producing important urban commons, claiming urban space for ordinary workers. indeed, the challenge of informal workers in many places is precisely that they question growth and market-driven notions of what public space should be for and who should decide. from formalization to reparation thinking historically, relationally, and spatially clarifies the processes that co-produce both precarious work and ecological harm. decentering formalization, we advocate for reparation as an ethic to orient the actions of development practitioners and policy makers. our debt here is to the black radical tradition, scholars and activists proposing collective redress for the unspeakable violence and thefts of slavery, legacies that live into the present. [ ] [ ] [ ] following w.e.b. du bois, the ethic of reparation activates memory against the forces of willful forgetting that deny history and deep relationality. we are inspired by the black radical tradition's expansive, future-oriented political imagination and its call to remake economic and social relations from the roots up. ''reparation ecologies'' add an imperative to heal the false nature/society divide, locating socio-economic relationships within living ecologies. both lines of thinking emphasize redistribution: of resources, land, work, and the labors of care. although formalization targets workers or the economies that sustain them for reform, the field of action promoted by reparation is much broader, including the forces producing inequality and environmental harm. reparation acts horizontally, centering communities most harmed by fomenting worker power, repairing historic injustices, and redistributing social power and resources to the grassroots. reparation can also help us acknowledge the long history of assent to exploitation that structures scholarship and practice. the moment is ripe for clear thinking and bold action. the convulsions to work and life precipitated by covid- offer a rare opportunity to enact transformational change. of course, entrenched structures of race/class power are invested in extraction economies, wielding considerable resources to push for exclusionary, unsustainable modes of urban development. only empowered social movements led by frontline communities have the force to contest these elite power structures. for this reason, we call on development scholars and practitioners to invest in worker power, embrace contentious politics, relinquish power over knowledge production, and develop accountable relationships with grassroots social movements. against assumptions that informal workers are unorganizable, and despite many challenges, informal worker organizing is powerful. , collective action takes many forms, from member-based organizations (mbos) to workers organizing from other identity roles, such as mothers or migrants. informal workers organize for different demands: protecting access to markets, defending public resources, expanding citizenship rights, demanding social protection, or advocating for infrastructure improvements. , , indeed, collective action by informal workers changes urban policy. in ahmedabad, india, the organization self employed women's association (sewa) helped pass the protection of livelihood and regulation of street vending act while in lima, vendor organizations won pro-vendor policy at the city and national level. organizing by waste pickers forced a sea change in how policymakers understand these workers. once universally viewed as a nuisance or a criminal element, today, the un frames informal waste workers as ''any city's key ally.'' a study of latin american countries found that worker organizing was fundamental to establishing inclusive recycling policies. reversing trends of privatization, several latin american cities have partnered with waste picker organizations for doorto-door waste collection. in brazil, ''solidarity recycling'' includes over worker organizations as partners in the national solid waste policy. the city government in bangalore, india recognizes informal recyclers with occupational identity cards while organizing in durban cut out middlemen and increased income for reclaimers by %. development organizations should resource informal worker organizations, promote supportive regulatory environments, and support the urban commons built by informal workers. this requires resisting the razing instinct of rational-modernist urbanization that tears down informal spaces, instead upgrading in situ, safeguarding community ties, and respecting the rights of the poor to live centrally and participate in urban life. specific action plans must emerge in collaboration with grassroots organizations, such that here we seed ideas for reparative policies, rather than propose blueprints. worker-run cooperatives improve livelihoods whereas mbos build collective power. across levels of government, policy makers should resource these organizations, invest in mbo bargaining capacity, and seize opportunities to open up spaces for negotiations in diverse forums: everyday, ad hoc, and policy and statutory negotiations. , when cities reorganize waste systems, they can meaningfully include grassroots recyclers, pay waste pickers for services, , and provide work spaces. redistribution-across scales-is foundational to reparation, as it recognizes that markets unjustly concentrate wealth, neoliberal policies under-resource public goods while actually existing electoral politics concentrate social power. public budgets are statements of social values. currently, states overinvest in the military, jails, and policing, or in building infrastructures that cater to the consumption desires of elites. we must continue to insist that the resources for just and sustainable cities exist. cities must prioritize public provisioning of systems of care and ''universal basic services'' such as housing, healthcare, childcare, education, and sanitation. , redistribution can help re-value informal and other forms of invisibilized work, reducing inequality. inequality drives unsustainability, both by promoting conspicuous consumption and forcing poor people to over-exploit resources. , thus, addressing inequality through redistribution is critical to achieving environmental sustainability. here, we highlight some bold proposals scaled to the enormity of today's existential challenges: universal basic income, the global green new deal, the red deal, and care incomes. by delinking labor, income, and development, these reparative policies foster more just ways of organizing work, time, and life. in , reverend dr. martin luther king promoted a guaranteed income to further racial justice and activate the creative powers of human labor freed from the compulsions of (low) waged work, a call echoed five decades later by pope francis in his easter address. these ethical injunctions are now backed by evidence from finland, where modest income supports improved wellbeing and life satisfaction. envisioned to emancipate the economy from fossil fuels, the global green new deal offers concrete plans to decarbonize the economy while redressing the historic injustices that concentrate vulnerability to climate harms in poor countries and communities by insisting that climate culprits finance the transition. visionary indigenous organizers go further with a red deal that defunds prisons, policing, and militarism, freeing up the resources for indigenousled visions of ''liberation, life, and land,'' invoking decolonial calls for ''a world where many worlds fit.'' feminist degrowth scholars propose care incomes, payments to recognize and compensate the socially reproductive work that sustains life and community. currently ignored in gdp accounting, care work is largely carried out by women and marginalized social groups and thus care incomes have the potential to redress historical exclusions and benefit informal workers. [ ] [ ] [ ] conclusions today, life-sustaining earth systems are under existential threat. as covid- devastates informal livelihoods worldwide, mass layoffs plunge unprecedented numbers of workers into economic hardship. ethical economic imaginaries undergirding new realities are thus an urgent necessity. sustainable development initiatives such as the sgds admirably seek to promote both environmental sustainability and decent work. yet, promoting poverty alleviation and ecological wholeness through economic growth is like trying to squeeze water from stone. these approaches are seductive. they promise to decouple growth from environmental damage through innovation as they promote policies that leave inequalities in wealth and social power largely untouched. they ignore that inequality is a key driver of environmental harm. thus, we insist, our pathways forward must recognize the co-constitution of poverty, inequality, and unsustainability. the necessary transformations are daunting. challenging entrenched structures of elite power is so difficult that some caution incremental change and propose only band-aid solutions to ameliorate some of the most acute forms of suffering caused by racial capitalism. against this limiting pragmatism, we argue for transformational change and encourage sustainability scholarship and practice to take an active role in promoting reparation. policymakers and sustainability researchers should learn from the critical and community-produced research on informality. we must move beyond formalization and diagnose the shared drivers of decent work deficits and environmental degradation. thinking historically, relationally, and spatially reveals how the value produced by informal workers subsidize urban economies and ecologies, even as racial capitalism predictably reproduces job scarcity, income inequality, and poverty, the very conditions that impel many to informal work. ethical economic imaginaries combined with ethic of reparative action can offer pathways toward sustainable, equitable cities by investing resources in the only social force capable of contesting elite power structures: workers and social movements on the frontlines. women and men in the informal economy: a statistical picture waste pickers and cities sidewalk, st edition (farrar street vending and public policy: a global review informal sector or petty commodity production: dualism or dependence in urban development? 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(the avery review a conceptual framework on informal work and informal worker organizing organizing in the informal economy: a challenge for trade unions organising women workers in the informal economy collective bargaining by informal workers in the global south: where and how it takes place solid waste management in the world's cities. water and sanitation in the worlds cities aná lisis de políticas pú blicas para el reciclaje inclusivo en amé rica latina the emergence of ''solidarity recycling'' in brazil: structural convergences and strategic actions in interconnected fields ecological routes to urban inclusion: theorizing ecological citizenship through informal waste work urban recycling cooperatives: building resilient communities (routledge) waste pickers' cooperatives and social and solidarity economy organizations postura de wiego sobre el cierre de vertederos (wiego) preparing informal recycler inclusion plans: an operational guide (inter-american development bank) trabajadores por la ciudad: aporte de las mujeres a la gestió n ambiental de los residuos só lidos en amé rica latina the case for universal basic services unpacking the urban infrastructure nexus with environment, health, livability, well-being, and equity inequality and sustainability inequality, cooperation, and environmental sustainability cuarta declaració n de la selva lacandona (the revolutionary clandestine committee) within and beyond the pandemic. demanding a care income and a feminist green new deal for europe. undisciplined environments (undisciplined environments collaborative feminist degrowth: pandemic as an opening for a care-full radical transformation (degrwoth) from pandemic toward care-full degrowth trajectories of the earth system in the anthropocene the authors thank the two anonymous reviewers, as well as john stehlin and lani marina tsinnajinnie for their feedback on the ideas presented in this perspective piece. we also owe a debt of gratitude to the informal workers, grassroots communities, and frontline organizations who have shared their time and insights with us, in both paraguay and india. key: cord- - g a k authors: schieman, scott; narisada, atsushi title: a less objectionable greed? work-life conflict and unjust pay during a pandemic date: - - journal: res soc stratif mobil doi: . /j.rssm. . sha: doc_id: cord_uid: g a k perceptions of unjust pay represent a central feature in research on distributive justice. prior studies document that work-life conflict (wlc) is a strong predictor of unjustly low pay. we extend that work by asking: did the social and economic changes associated with the coronavirus pandemic (covid- ) modify the relationship between wlc and perceptions of unjust pay? in september , we collected data from a nationally representative sample of workers to profile the quality of work and economic life. then, during a critical period of widespread economic and social shockwaves, we re-interviewed these same study participants in may to evaluate change. we observe that the strong positive association between wlc and unjustly low pay decreased overall in the population—but the strength and direction of that association differed significantly across several dimensions of social stratification. specifically, we found a weaker relationship among visible minorities, younger workers, and individuals with lower socioeconomic status. we interpret these patterns as suggesting that—at least among more vulnerable groups—the “greed” represented in the process of work interfering with non-work was unevenly experienced during peak period of the covid- pandemic. one of the most compelling narratives to emerge from the coronavirus disease pandemic is that it has amplified many existing social inequalities-and some of the most glaring examples relate to the restructuring of the work-family interface (thomason & williams, ) . prior research has established that work-life conflict (wlc) is a pervasive stressor that has deleterious personal, social, and organizational consequences (bellavia & frone, ) . in a study of the link between strains in the work-home interface and distributive justice, narisada ( ) found that individuals who report greater wlc are more likely to describe their pay as unjustly low. when work spreads beyond the work role, individuals must sacrifice their involvement in other life domains--a sacrifice associated with an expectation for greater monetary rewards. this basic proposition aligns with coser's ( ) characterization of "greedy institutions" that "seek exclusive and undivided loyalty and they attempt to reduce the claims of competing roles and status positions on those they wish to encompass within their boundaries. their demands on the person are omnivorous" (p. , italics added). another concept-the ideal worker norm-emphasizes that workers should prioritize work over family or personal needs in order to display undivided devotion to the work role (williams, blair-loy, & berdahl, ) . for the ideal worker, some degree of "greed"translated here as work interfering with life-should be deemed acceptable. and yet, the discovery that wlc elevates the perception of unjustly low pay suggests that many workers experience this inter-role strain as quite objectionable. high levels of wlc violate the psychological contract in which a reasonable amount of work-related effort should be performed within the temporal, spatial, and psychological parameters of the work role. this psychological contract identifies a moral dimension of the work-life boundary, aligning with normative expectations about role segmentation versus role integration. when work bleeds into other domains and hinders functioning, many find this spillover displeasing. in turn, this violation of the psychological contract likely marks one's current level of remuneration as deficient. in the present study, we begin with this basic premise: individuals who report more wlc will tend to describe their pay as unjustly low. we then elaborate on this foundational association by asking: did the covid- pandemic modify the relationship between wlc and unjust pay? and, if so, how do those changes reproduce inequalities along key dimensions of stratificationespecially gender, minority status, age, and socioeconomic status? we propose two competing j o u r n a l p r e -p r o o f hypotheses, both of which emphasize magnified vulnerability during the pandemic-but map opposite conclusions about the effects on the relationship between wlc and unjust pay. the stress amplification hypothesis predicts that the positive relationship between wlc and unjustly low pay should have increased during the pandemic for those who have traditionally been in more disadvantaged or vulnerable locations. this view aligns with claims that covid- has expanded the scope and perniciousness of existing social inequalities (kristal & yaish, ; qian & fan, ) . the nature and experience of wlc-a prominent stressor-likely changed during the socially and economically tumultuous early months of another macro-level stressor: the covid- pandemic. an alternative view-the tolerable permeability hypothesisalso draws on the idea of differential vulnerability to multiple or combinations of stress exposure, but it instead posits that more disadvantaged or vulnerable groups might have tempered their expectations regarding the psychological contract in ways that tolerate a more porous boundary between work and nonwork roles. a more permeable boundary implies greater spillover and the likelihood of role interference (glavin & schieman, ) . greater vulnerability to socioeconomic turbulence and its threats to livelihood might have increased some workers' efforts to adhere to the ideal worker image in ways that signal the prioritization of work over personal and family needs. the tolerable permeability hypothesis therefore suggests a greater willingness-particularly among more vulnerable workers-to accept the greedy institution's breach of the psychological contract. this dynamic should empirically manifest as a weaker association between wlc and unjust pay among vulnerable groups during the pandemic. to test these ideas, we analyze data from the canadian quality of work and economic life study (c-qwels). in september , we collected data from a nationally representative sample of workers. the online survey was fielded from september th to september th of (n = , ). we then followed up during the period of may th to may th of -the second full month of the society-wide lockdown. all participants are members of the angus reid forum (arf; see http://angusreid.org). sample selection started with creating a balanced sample matrix of the canadian population. randomized samples of arf members were then selected to match this matrix to ensure a representative sample. for the september sample, the response rate was percent. of these participants, , ( percent) were retained for the may re-contact. after removing cases that were no longer employed in may and missing on study variables, we have an analytical sample of , . the analytic methods described below combine the september baseline sample with working respondents from the may follow-up, while adjusting analyses for repeated observations of the same individuals (total number of groups = , ; total number of observations = , ). we weighted results according to the most current gender, age, education, and region census data to ensure broad representation of working canadians. the appendix reports descriptives for focal variables. we measure perceived unjust pay with the following item: "when you think about the pay you get for your job, do you feel your pay is unfairly low, unfairly high, or is it a fair amount?" the measure is coded such that higher values indicate more underreward: - (unfairly high) to + (unfairly low) with indicating "a fair amount." work-life conflict asks three items: "how often did your job keep you from concentrating on important things in your family or j o u r n a l p r e -p r o o f personal life?" "how often did you not have enough time or energy for the important people in your life because of your job?" "how often did your work keep you from doing as good a job at home as you could?" response choices are: ( ) "never," ( ) "rarely," ( ) "sometimes," ( ) "often," and ( ) "very often." we averaged responses to create the index (alpha = . ). we test if six dimensions of stratification modify changes in the relationship between wlc and unjust pay during the pandemic. sociodemographic variables are gender (men = , women = ), age, and visible minority status (not a visible minority = ; visible minority = ). socioeconomic variables are education, income, and financial strain. education contrasts respondents with less than a college degree ( ) to those with a college degree ( ) or a graduate degree ( ). for personal income, we compare individuals earning $ , or less to those earning more than $ , . we measure financial strain with three items. the first two ask: "how often did you have trouble paying the bills" and "how often did you not have enough money to buy food, clothes, or other things your household needed?" responses are: ( ) "never" ( ) "rarely," ( ) "sometimes," ( ) "often," and ( ) "very often." the third asks: "how do your finances usually work out by the end of the month?" response choices are: ( ) "a lot of money left over," ( ) "a little money left over," ( ) "just enough to make ends meet," ( ) "barely enough to get by," and ( ) "not enough to make ends meet." we averaged the items to create the financial strain index (alpha = . ). all models include a set of control variables: marital status, children at home, occupation, union membership, salaried, job authority, schedule control, job autonomy, job challenge, work hours, and the frequency of working from home during the pandemic. full details on all study variables are available upon request. we employ mixed models that adjust analyses for repeated measures of the same model of table confirms that wlc is positively associated with unjustly low pay. however, the interaction between wlc and survey wave indicator ("may") in model shows that the positive relationship weakened between september and may. figure illustrates that the link between wlc and unjust pay during the pandemic differs from just eight months prior. the next set of analyses evaluated contingencies for each dimension of stratification. the following are statistically significant: visible minority status, age, education, income, and financial strain. we did not find differences by gender, so we exclude those findings from the tables. all of the models include the control variables but are excluded from the tables. in table , the interaction between wlc and may is negative and significant only among non-minorities. pooling minorities and non-minorities, we find a significant three-way interaction between wlc, may, and minority status (b = -. , p < . ). table displays the results separately by age group, split at the median (age ). among younger workers only, the interaction between wlc and may is negative and significant. we find a significant three-way interaction between wlc, may, and age (b = . , p < . ), indicating that the change in the relationship between wlc and unjust pay differed by age. moving down table , among workers with less than college or with a college degree, the interaction between wlc and may is negative and significant; by contrast, this interaction is positive and significant among those with a graduate degree. the three-way term for wlc, may, and graduate degree is significant (b = . , p < . ). the bottom rows of table show results for income and financial strain. among those with low income only, the interaction between wlc and may is significant. we confirm a j o u r n a l p r e -p r o o f significant three-way interaction between wlc, may, and low income (b = -. , p < . ). and, the final models show the results for workers with low versus high financial strain (split at the median). among those with low financial strain, the interaction between wlc and may is not significant; by contrast, that interaction is significant among workers with high strain. there is a significant three-way interaction between wlc, may, and financial strain (b = -. , p < . ). workers who experience conflict between work and non-work roles feel unjustly underpaid. this pattern is consistent across different dimensions of stratification before the onset of the covid- pandemic. moreover, during the pandemic there was an overall weakening of the average association between wlc and unjust pay. and, the diminishing strength in this relationship varied across visible minority status, age, education, income, and financial strain. collectively, these observations align with the predictions of the tolerable permeability hypothesis. we posited that, because of differential vulnerability to the shockwaves of the pandemic, disadvantaged groups might have lessened their expectations regarding the psychological contract in a manner that allows for a more porous boundary between work and nonwork roles. for those with greater vulnerability to socioeconomic turbulence and its threats to livelihood, we also suspect there might have been enhanced efforts conform to ideal worker norms. that is, workers seek to express unambiguously the prioritization of work-related demands over personal and family needs. the tolerable permeability hypothesis suggests an inclination to perceive the greedy institution's violation of the psychological contract as less objectionable. we interpret the weaker association between wlc and unjust pay in may among vulnerable groups as an empirical manifestation of this more tolerable permeability. decades of research finds that wlc is related to unfavorable outcomes. this underscores that wlc is a stressor that most workers would prefer to avoid. the fact that we document a uniformly positive relationship between wlc and unjust pay in september suggests that workers who experienced wlc felt they should be better compensated. by may of , however, things changed. many workers-especially more vulnerable ones-might have perceived fewer choices in navigating excessive work demands. when those created strain in the work-nonwork interface during the pandemic, individuals with less agency might have shifted their perceptions of the injustice of wlc. in the frame of the "greedy institution" idea, these workers might have found the greed of wlc less objectionable-at least during the turbulent times of a pandemic. * funding from the university of toronto covid- action initiative and tri-council bridge funding supports this research (scott schieman, pi). work-family conflict greedy institutions work-family role blurring and work-family conflict: the moderating influence of job resources and job demands does the coronavirus pandemic level gender inequality curve? (it doesn't) job pressure, the work-family interface, and the sense of distributive injustice: an elaboration of work-related inputs among st century workers who loses income during the covid- outbreak? evidence from china what will work-life balance look like after the pandemic? cultural schemas, social class, and the flexibility stigma