When a colleague and I copy-edited today’s top story on workplace burnout, we both had a twinge of recognition: In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, we remembered feeling the way the author, an organizational/industrial psychologist, described feeling when she was working in an emergency co-ordination centre during the Fort McMurray wildfires in 2016. Exhausted, irritated, impatient, struggling to concentrate and to take in new information. In short, like the author, we were overloaded by the sheer volume of our work and the challenges and conflicting priorities that accompanied every new COVID-19 development.

Today in The Conversation Canada, Kristen Deuzeman of the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology writes about how the World Health Organization has labelled chronic workplace stress “burnout.” Deuzeman notes that employees who report burnout can be diagnosed with a workplace injury. She also issues a call to action to employers, urging them to “implement clear policies reflecting their commitment to workplace mental health and psychological safety, and appoint a wellness champion and leaders who model these values.”

Also today:

Regards,

Lee-Anne Goodman

Politics, Business + Economics Editor
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta activated its emergency operations centre in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Centers for Disease Control/Unsplash)

Tackling burnout: How to deal with stress and safety in the workplace

Kristen Deuzeman, Northern Alberta Institute of Technology

Burnout as the result of workplace stress has big implications for employers. Occupational health and safety standards require employers to protect both the physical and mental health of workers.
Chief commissioner Marion Buller and commissioners Brian Eyolfson, Qajaq Robinson and Michele Audette prepare the final report to give to the government at the closing ceremony for the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Two years after the MMIWG report, targeted work must move urgently ahead

Margaret Moss, University of British Columbia; Marique B. Moss

The MMIWG Inquiry two years later, whats changed and what still needs to be done?
Getting a referral to palliative care can be a complicated process. (Shutterstock)

Why is access to medically assisted death a legislated right, but access to palliative care isn’t?

Janis M. Miyasaki, University of Alberta

Palliative care is about living well and meeting patients’ goals, but referral can be more complex than access to medical assistance in dying (MAID). Palliative care should be as accessible as MAID.
‘An Olympic Dream: The Story of Samia Yusuf Omar’ recounts how the Somali Olympic runner drowned while trying to reach Italy in 2012. (From Reinhard Kleist's 'An Olympic Dream: The Story of Samia Yusuf Omar/SelfMadeHero)

Comics and graphic novels are examining refugee border-crossing experiences

Elizabeth "Biz" Nijdam, University of British Columbia

Comics about migrant experiences seek to expose personal perspectives about the global crisis of 80 million individuals and families forcibly displaced worldwide.
By acknowledging our biases we can find ways to mitigate their impact on our decision making. (Shutterstock)

Bias is natural: How you manage it defines your ability to be just

Eleftherios Soleas, Queen's University, Ontario

The motives and biases behind our actions shape how we see the world and everything in it. Understanding our biases means we can contain their negative influence and advance justice in our society.

La Conversation Canada
Nombreux sont les groupes et communautés qui demeurent invisibles au regard des technologies numériques soit parce qu’ils sont déjà socialement marginalisés ou parce que leurs besoins ne sont pas prioritaires. (Shutterstock)

La justice sociale : l’angle mort de la révolution de l’intelligence artificielle

Karine Gentelet, Université du Québec en Outaouais (UQO); Sandrine Lambert, Université Laval

Les développements de l’intelligence artificielle doivent être pensés avant tout comme des projets de société justes, inclusifs et démocratiques.
Une scientifique habillée d'une combinaison pressurisée au Laboratoire national de microbiologie de Winnipeg. (Agence de la santé publique du Canada)

Seul le quart des 23 pays abritant des laboratoires avec des virus mortels obtiennent une note de sécurité élevée

Filippa Lentzos, King's College London; Gregory Koblentz, George Mason University

Une grande partie de la recherche scientifique sur les coronavirus est menée dans des pays qui ne contrôlent pas la recherche à double usage ou les expériences de gain de fonction.

COVID-19

Environment + Energy

Politics