If you know anyone filing for unemployment at this time, you know that the massive amount of people filing all at once has created headaches. The crush of applicants has crashed systems across the country running a (relatively) ancient mainframe language. The Verge covers the crux of the issue:
Colorado — like most states and territories across the country — is experiencing record unemployment numbers. But the state’s unemployment system is built on aging software running on a decades-old coding language known as COBOL. Over the years, COBOL programmers have aged out of the workforce, forcing states to scramble for fluent coders in times of national crisis.
A survey by The Verge found that at least 12 states still use COBOL in some capacity in their unemployment systems. Alaska, Connecticut, California, Iowa, Kansas, and Rhode Island all run on the aging language. According to a spokesperson from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, the state was actually only a month or two away from “migrating into a new environment and away from COBOL,” before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
A lack of investment in technology in states has left them scrambling at a crucial time. This is even more problematic as states are coming off of years of record revenue.
The warning for HR leaders here is two-fold:
COBOL programmers are going to be in high demand again, at least in the short term.
While essential employees work hard to keep people safe and well — from healthcare and public safety workers on the frontlines of this crisis to so-called second responders in the food and essential goods distribution chain — another group is feeling a little insulted.
The Chicago Sun-Times covered the mixed feelings that come with being labeled non-essential:
Are you essential or non-essential?
Actually, it’s only your job that has been placed into one of those two categories by the stay-at-home orders issued by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in response to the coronavirus.
But in a society in which we derive so much of our personal identity and self-worth from our work and how we earn a living, that can feel like a distinction without a difference.
Most everyone would probably like to believe they are essential in at least some small way or another to the endeavors to which they devote themselves — and therefore essential to the larger society.
Others, like HR expert and consultant Laurie Ruettimann, have tweeted a more straightforward message that we shouldn’t be putting as much of our worth into work as we do:
https://twitter.com/lruettimann/status/1250434767339675655
It’s not always easy, especially for HR leaders. Still, now is probably not the time to sweat whether you’re essential to society in the midst of a pandemic. After all, being essential to your employer might be more important today because at least you keep your paycheck. With booming unemployment, that’s a good thing.
The weekly wrap is where TLNT shares the stories that didn’t quite make it into a full post this week. We’ll also share links to some of our favorite things we read this week about HR, people development, the future of work, and more.