Commentary A pay rise will not fix broken workplace culture

NEW YORK CITY: Goldman Sachs is acting to stave off a rebellion among burnt-out junior staff in the US â€" by offering its first-year analysts more money.

As a fix for a deep-seated problem with workplace culture, it makes about as much sense as the way the UK is tackling a hiring crunch in the haulage sector: Heavy-goods vehicle drivers, whose hours are already almost as punishing as those of highly paid bankers, will be allowed to work even longer.

Meanwhile, France is one of many European countries where hospitality businesses are struggling to hire seasonal workers, because even those willing to raise pay, cut hours or scrap the more onerous tasks cannot offer job security, with COVID-19 cases still fluctuating and new lockdowns possible.

Across the developed world, businesses are complaining of labour shortages as they seek to ramp up activity.

But many seem to be attempting short-term fixes to old problems, for example, by offering signing bonuses designed to tempt experienced workers away from rivals, rather than to draw new recruits into unpopular sectors.

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