Future of Work: Upskilling

One of my colleagues, Dr. Amy Lamb, and I are creating a series of webinars called the Future of Work to address that the way we work is forever changed. As she shared, “digital transformations were ignited by the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to shift how we work. Workforce expectations are shifting and the future of work, including healthcare and education, are evolving daily. Regardless if you have just recently graduated from college, recently left a position to find improved work-life satisfaction, or are looking to add new skills to your resume as you seek to advance your career, upskilling is a cost-effective and efficient way of increasing the value you will bring to your organization and the people it serves. Upskilling is the implementation of education or training programs to enhance or advance an employee’s existing skillset, allowing them to step into new opportunities, improve job satisfaction, and bring added value to their organization” (A. Lamb, 2022, personal communication). Our goal is “to put the skills of tomorrow into the hands of the workforce today”. The first upskilling webinar will be Design Thinking. For those of you unfamiliar with design thinking, there are many frameworks, they typically have similar fundamental principles of empathizing, defining, ideating, prototyping and testing, as described by Dam and Siang in their paper, Design thinking: A quick overview (https://apo.org.au/node/306478). As our Future of Work upskilling webinar series develops, I will share other topics that might be of interest to you.

This issue of WORK contains 30 papers. The Editor’s Choice paper is Labor of Love, or Love of Labor? Psychological Capital’s Mitigating Role in the Relationship between Workaholism and Work Stress co-authored by DeMott, Aziz, Wuensch, and Dolbier. Their “ . . .  study aims to examine the relationship between workaholism, psychological capital (PsyCap), physical health, and work stress. The potential mitigating role that PsyCap could play between workaholism and physical health, as well as work stress”. They concluded that “PsyCap may be a fairly simple and cost-effective intervention for organizations to implement, as it can be learned through short training sessions. By incorporating PsyCap, organizations may be able to help mitigate levels of stress in their employees, specifically among those who suffer from workaholism”.

We’ve scheduled four Learn at WORK webinars for 2023 with more being planned. I hope you can join us:

Monday, January 30, 2023, from 1 pm-2 pm EST for Mindfulness as a tool for reducing stress in healthcare profession: An umbrella review. This is the Editor’s Choice paper published in WORK authored by WORK Editorial Board member Dr. Prof. Giuseppe La Torre.

Register at: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4302229996494667536

Wednesday, February 15, 2023, from 1 pm-2 pm EST for Further psychometric evaluation of the Structured Multidisciplinary Work Evaluation Tool (SMET) questionnaire: Practical implications in healthcare settings authored by Drs. Haraldsson, Rolander, Jonker, Strengbom and Josefsson will present their paper.

Register at: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8889339731234872589

Wednesday, March 22, 2023 from 1 pm-2 pm EST for A “win win” perspective on workplace accommodations: RETAIN Kentucky’s self-advocacy guide to promote successful return to work and stay at work outcomes for workers with disabilities presented by Wickert.

Register at: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6782315912236171534

Wednesday, February 15, 2023, from 1 pm-2 pm EST for Emerging vocational rehabilitation strategies for people with diabetes mellitus authored by Drs. Rumrill, Jr., Lee, Minton, Bishop, Koch and Pittman will present their paper.

Register at: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1365909428917483872

As we begin the 33rd year of WORK, I want to express my gratitude to the Editorial Board, authors, external reviewers, IOS Press, especially Axana and Marion (retired), as well as my assistants Lindsey and Mandy (retired), who have supported WORK in being an important peer-reviewed journal adding to the body of knowledge about work and the future of work.

With gratitude,

Founding Editor, WORK

Occupational therapist & ergonomist

workjournal.org

blogs.bu.edu/kjacobs/