My guest today is Karina Monesson. She’s a writer, speaker and the senior manager of human insights, research and advisory, at UKG, the Ultimate Kronos Group. Karina joins us to talk about her research into megatrends, specifically gray-collar workers. In this episode, we talk about who these workers are, how they contribute to the economy and why we need a megatrend of gray-collar workers to help with economic growth in the U.S. and globally.
Karina spends a large amount of her time researching significant trends affecting the HR industry and the world of work. She looks into how these trends affect different verticals, as well as HR professionals and their employees, and comes up with solutions to help maximize investment in people and technology.
In this conversation, you’ll hear from someone really passionate about expanding our understanding of how work gets done.
Learn more about Karina’s research and the topics we’ve covered in this episode.
Punk Rock HR is proudly underwritten by The Starr Conspiracy. The Starr Conspiracy is a B2B marketing agency for innovative brands creating the future of workplace solutions. For more information, head over to thestarrconspiracy.com.
Who Is a Gray-Collar Worker?
Karina and her colleagues are looking past the current trends and common thought leadership content. Instead, she’s looking for the topics and trends that people aren’t talking about today but will be soon. UKG focuses on finding those key takeaways, understanding what is underneath and learning how to get people talking about it.
This is exactly what she is doing when she talks about gray-collar workers. It’s not a mainstream term, even if it has been around since around 2006. Last year, during a research initiative called the Megatrends campaign, Karina and her team were researching the top trends affecting work in the long term. But it wasn’t long before they realized that while everyone was talking about remote work and hybrid work, a huge segment of the workforce couldn’t participate in these trends.
This segment included essential workers, but more research revealed to Karina and her colleagues that not all of these workers could be classified as essential. Yet they also couldn’t work from home. “There is a significant and growing portion of the workforce that don’t really fit into the blue-collar category or the white-collar category, but rather they’re in this gray area,” she said.
These workers typically have significant technical skills and are skilled in other areas, but they struggle to gain notice amid the larger workforce. “Gray-collar workers are basically, to put it as simply as possible, they are the forgotten and overlooked segment of the workforce that nobody is talking about yet,” Karina shares.
A gray-collar worker could be a lab technician or field engineer, for example, because “they’re required to be on-site. They don’t have the ability to work from home,” Karina said. “As a result, they have a very unique skill set and very unique needs compared to the rest of the workforce.”
Issues Within the Community
The only way that I’ve heard the phrase “gray-collar worker” is in reference to people over the age of 55. And in doing my own research, many of those workers are older than 55, which is an exciting finding that Karina agreed with.
She found that these workers “are in huge demand and that the need for them is growing. Because so many of the people that fit into this category are older workers that are nearing retirement, we have this very rapidly expanding need and a very anemic talent pipeline.”
Highly technical roles have been some of the most complex for employers to fill during the pandemic, especially as their value within the job market skyrocketed almost overnight. And as more of these workers reach retirement age, employers face the challenging task of looking to younger generations to fill in.
“We really aren’t attracting enough young blood into it, essentially, and too many people are retiring,” Karina said. “The reason that we see this workforce growing so significantly is the fact that because they have this hybrid skill set where they’re required to be on-site. These are roles that are very challenging to automate.”
Attracting and Retaining These Workers
There isn’t one profile that covers every gray-collar worker. There can be workers with $100,000 in student loans, someone like a lab technician, or other types. There also isn’t one solution to attracting and retaining these workers because of the diverse jobs on the market.
While it may seem like we are screwed with the mismatch between talent demand and the talent pipeline, Karina assures us that’s not the case. “I think we just need to be a little bit more intentional and perhaps a little bit more innovative about our efforts to attract people into these roles.”
Many gray-collar roles require advanced degrees to move forward, but other roles don’t require any college degree, Karina says. “Incoming up with some solutions, we really tried to hit on maybe like the top four areas, and we’ve tried to get a little bit fancy with our marketing, and we called them the four R’s.”
These four R’s are as follows:
- Rebranding: “To make them more attractive.” The notion of rebranding work is long overdue.
- Rethinking: “We definitely need to rethink whether college degrees are really necessary in a lot of these roles.” Many jobs do not require college degrees, so there’s a need to change the narrative and expand access.
- Reskilling: It’s important to take on new skills, and one way to do that is through apprenticeships. “Apprenticeships are quite a bit more common in many areas of Europe and around the world. But here in the U.S., we really don’t think of them.” Upskilling is a big part of this point, too!
- Retaining: Employees-employer relationships are radically different today. “Employers are really having to step up their game to treat this segment of the workforce, in particular, with a lot of the same respect and investment that has been gifted to white-collar workers but oftentimes left out of this whole segment of the workforce.”
Right now, gray-collar workers want the flexibility they haven’t had, especially during the pandemic. Karina’s research shows how employers can make that happen, especially when they focus on the four R’s.
[bctt tweet=”‘Gray-collar workers are basically, to put it as simply as possible, they are the forgotten and overlooked segment of the workforce that nobody is talking about yet.’ Tune in to the latest episode of #PunkRockHR to learn more about these workers!” via=”no”]
People in This Episode
Full Transcript
Laurie Ruettimann:
This episode of Punk Rock HR is sponsored by The Starr Conspiracy. The Starr Conspiracy is the B2B marketing agency for innovative brands creating the future of workplace solutions. For more information, head on over to thestarrconspiracy.com.
Hey, everybody. I’m Laurie Ruettimann. Welcome back to Punk Rock HR. My guest today is Karina Monesson. She’s a writer, a speaker and a workforce researcher who comes to us from UKG, the Ultimate Kronos Group. Karina’s on the show today to talk about her research into gray-collar workers. And that’s what we talk about: Who they are, how they contribute to the economy, and why we need more of them for economic growth in America and around the world.
If you’re interested in someone who’s really passionate about expanding our understanding of how work gets done, well, sit back and enjoy this really fun and interesting conversation about gray-collar workers with Karina Monesson.
Hey, Karina, welcome to the podcast.
Karina Monesson:
Hi, Laurie. Thank you so much for having me today.
Laurie Ruettimann:
Well, I’m pleased you’re here, as always. Repeat guest, so that’s an honor held by, I don’t know, a handful of people. Congratulations on that.
Karina Monesson:
Always a pleasure.
Laurie Ruettimann:
Well, why don’t you get us started by telling everybody who you are and what you’re all about?
Karina Monesson:
I’m Karina Monesson, and I’m the senior manager of human insights, research and advisory, at UKG. Basically, my job is really cool. I feel very blessed that I spend a lot of my time researching some of the major trends that are impacting the industry and the world of work in general and looking at exactly how this is impacting different verticals, how this is impacting different HR professionals and also their employees, first and foremost, and coming up with ideas and solutions to really help maximize the investment in people and technology.
Laurie Ruettimann:
I think it’s fascinating that people get paid to research. Like that’s a thing, right? I mean, what does that even mean? You get paid to look at stuff on the internet. What is research?
Karina Monesson:
That’s basically what it is, yes. And of course, we do. We do a lot of primary studies, as well, but yes. Actually it’s funny that you mentioned that, because once upon a time I told my mom, “I couldn’t believe that people were actually paying me to be a writer.” Because I was like, “They realize that I can just look this stuff up online and come up with a different point of view, right?” And she said, “Well, yes, Karina, but not everybody can do that. And so that’s what makes you special.”
Laurie Ruettimann:
Aww, that’s exactly right. I think the really beautiful thing about your job is that you’re looking at trends, you’re looking at ideas, and you’re translating it, right? You’re almost like the Rosetta Stone for UKG customers and people beyond that. Because your research is out there for everybody to read, you’re really helping people to understand how to fix work. So that’s pretty cool. Your mom is right. You’ve got a good job, and only you bring your unique perspective to it.
Karina Monesson:
Exactly. The thing that’s interesting, I think, about the work that I get to do with my colleagues and I, is that with a lot of these trends and a lot of the thought leadership that you read out there, it becomes sort of an echo chamber. Really, my job is looking for these things that people aren’t talking about yet, but they will be soon. Attempting to kind of read through the lines and to figure out, OK, this is what everyone’s talking about. What does this actually mean? What are the key takeaways here?
And then also, what do we see happening kind of underneath all of this that nobody’s actually talking about yet? And how can we start getting this to be the topic of conversation and really leading the charge?
Laurie Ruettimann:
Well, you’re doing that here today by talking about something that I don’t think anybody’s really talking about, which is gray-collar workers. What the heck is that? What’s that all about?
Karina Monesson:
Okay. Gray-collar workers are basically, to put it as simply as possible, they are the forgotten and overlooked segment of the workforce that nobody is talking about yet. Just to kind of backtrack a little bit, I was focusing on the gray-collar worker and kind of realizing that there’s this forgotten segment. [It] came from us taking a look at essential workers, because we realized — this was for a huge research initiative that we had last year called our Megatrends campaign, where we look at the top three to five trends that are impacting industries long-term like, the next three, five years. Again, that people aren’t talking about yet. A lot of the research that we were doing was looking at white-collar workers, obviously this transition to remote work, and then this discussion of hybrid work.
But then we realized that everyone’s kind of been talking about remote and hybrid as if this is something that is feasible for everyone. And in reality, there’s this huge segment of the workforce, namely essential workers, right? That’s who we’ve been talking about when we have been talking about these people during the pandemic. These very critically important roles that never had the opportunity to work safely from their homes during the height of the pandemic.
And they were really on the front lines serving all of us with very little investment, quite frankly, putting their lives at risk. We started really diving into this essential worker. And as we were doing that, we realized that there were quite a few people that didn’t quite fit “essential worker” category, but they also didn’t have the ability to work from home, either.
We really started diving deep into this and realized that there is a significant and growing portion of the workforce that don’t really fit into the blue-collar category or the white-collar category, but rather they’re in this gray area. We came up with the term, or we thought we came up with the term gray-collar workers. We looked into it, and sure enough, this is something — it’s a moniker that came out, I think, it was 2006 was the first time that we could find it.
It’s something that people have talked about before, but it’s definitely not mainstream. It’s something that hardly anyone is actually thinking about. And what’s important about this segment of the worker is that their needs are different, because their expectations are different. To answer your initial question, right: Who is this gray-collar worker? A lot of the times, these are people that have highly, highly technical skills. They’re very skilled workers.
They’re not what you would think of as a traditional blue-collar worker at a factory, where they’re just doing something very manual that can be easily automated, but they require a physical presence. They’re required to be on-site. They don’t have the ability to work from home. As a result, they have a very unique skill set and very unique needs compared to the rest of the workforce.
Laurie Ruettimann:
You know, Karina, I think it’s really interesting that we’re talking about gray-color workers, because the only way I had ever heard that phrase before was in reference to people over the age of 55. But when I look at this marketplace that you’re talking about — the gray-collar workers that are kind of a blur between white- and blue-collar, essential or non- essential, but have to be physically located in a building, in an office, in a factory, wherever they are, in a lab, right?
They often are over the age of 55. That’s actually an overlap there. The term is flexible, it’s multifaceted, but I love the way that you’ve defined it. What else is interesting about this worker?
Karina Monesson:
I think you actually hit the nail on the head of one of the things that’s most interesting about this type of worker, and that is that they are in huge demand and that the need for them is growing. And because so many of the people that fit into this category are older workers that are nearing retirement, we have this very rapidly expanding need and a very anemic talent pipeline. We’ve actually seen throughout the course of the pandemic that these highly technical roles are the hardest to fill for employers, right?
Their value has kind of skyrocketed overnight. Unfortunately for this gray-collar workforce, we really aren’t attracting enough young blood into it essentially, and too many people are retiring. The reason that we see this workforce growing so significantly is the fact that, because they have this hybrid skill set where they’re required to be on-site, these are roles that are very, very challenging to automate.
Laurie Ruettimann:
Well, let’s get down to brass tacks and talk about job titles. Who’s a gray-collar worker? I’ll go first: lab tech. Did I nail it?
Karina Monesson:
Absolutely. A lab tech is a perfect example. Another really great one that I like to bring up is health care workers, because I think that it’s very easy to understand that you would probably consider a doctor or a nurse as a blue-collar worker, but they’re obviously not white-collar workers, either. And that’s a pretty prime example. Another one would be field engineers, even teachers, robotics technicians. There’s really quite a few different roles that fall under this category.
Laurie Ruettimann:
Well, I think it’s definitely myth-busting, because you could have $100,000 in student loans or more and be part of this gray-collar workforce, or you could be somebody who draws blood and be part of this, as well. The profile already is challenging to wrap our arms around. You mentioned that there’s an anemic talent pool, but there’s not like one solution to attract, train and retain this workforce because the jobs are so diverse.
What’s the world to do if we need more gray-collar workers and the talent pipeline’s anemic? Are we just screwed, Karina? Is that what you’re telling me?
Karina Monesson:
No, I definitely wouldn’t say that we’re screwed. I think we just need to be a little bit more intentional and perhaps a little bit more innovative about our efforts to attract people into these roles. I think that you did hit the nail on the head. Many of these roles are highly, highly skilled and require many advanced degrees in order to participate.
And then at the same time, many of them are opportunities that you don’t need a college degree for. In coming up with some solutions, we really tried to hit on maybe, like, the top four areas, and we’ve tried to get a little bit fancy with our marketing and we called them the four R’s, right?
The first one is rebranding them to make them more attractive. I think that that’s obviously probably more applicable for some roles like robotics technicians. Or fields that probably represent roles that used to be blue-collar roles but have just advanced due to the rapid digitalization of the workforce to a point, now, where we still have quite a few factory workers, but they’re not necessarily doing the same jobs that they did 15, 20, 30 years ago. They become a lot more technical. We’re really battling a bias against anything other than white-collar work is what it really comes down to.
Laurie Ruettimann:
This idea of rebranding though is so incredibly important because I think just the notion of rebranding work is long overdue. And for so many years, we were told that, number one, you should go to college. And number two, you should marry your passion with your career. And there’s so much really interesting, good work out there that could support a family, that can help you attain your dreams outside of your career, and that can pay a six-figure salary even, that isn’t dependent on that old branding. That’s the first R. What’s the second?
Karina Monesson:
Well, the second one is rethinking, and I think the biggest rethink here is rethinking degree requirements, because obviously degree inflation has become pretty rampant. Just a little side story. I thought it was really interesting to, again, dive into the data here. I realized that following the financial crisis — 14 years ago at this point — that was really when some of this degree inflation took off.
Employers started using a college degree as almost a way to weed out potential candidates because they had so many people that were desperate for work. But the problem now is that we’re in the complete opposite end of that spectrum. We definitely need to rethink whether college degrees are really necessary in a lot of these roles. The beauty of it is that most of these gray-collar roles — well, I can’t necessarily say most, but quite a few of them — really don’t require any advanced schooling, and the skills and the experience learned on the job are much more important.
Laurie Ruettimann:
I love the idea of rethinking a college education, except I have my own story around college where it was the differentiation that brought me out of working class to middle and upper middle class in my own lifestyle, in my own story. I think the danger is that you tell someone, “OK, you don’t need to go to college,” but they never quite find that gray-collar career pathway that gives them the opportunity for continuous uninterrupted employment and financial prosperity. Does that make sense?
Karina Monesson:
It does, Laurie, and that’s actually something that my team and I discussed at length, as well as the potential implication on DEI&B, because we know that a lot of diverse people tend to seek advanced degrees because it’s a way to kind of carve out space for them. Whereas if they didn’t seek those advanced degrees, we know that they do not have the same likelihood of securing some of these higher roles, of higher salaries and things like that. We really did want to be cognizant of that.
And as part of our thought leadership on this, we also wanted to make sure that we are also rethinking challenges to seeking college degrees. What can organizations do to make it easier for more of their people to seek advanced degrees or to seek degrees in general, as well as really looking for these opportunities to level the playing field? Because, absolutely, going to college is something that absolutely has played a really critical role in helping many individuals rise up and escape some of that.
And that’s exactly why we see so many parents really pushing their children to go to college and to pursue these white-collar industries. What we really did want to showcase here is the fact that many of these roles that don’t require college degrees, or at least shouldn’t, are very successful roles. Oftentimes you can earn six figures in quite a few of them. We really did want to have both sides of the coin there. Because you’re right, it’s a very complicated issue.
Laurie Ruettimann:
I think about these gray-collar jobs, and they’re so perfect for someone like my youngest brother, Eddie. Eddie is a millennial, young millennial, and dropped out of college. Didn’t know what he wanted to do and ended up going to a factory where he earned $35 an hour to cut steel. They gave him all of this leadership training, all of this management education.
They actually gave him money to go back and finish his degree in psychology, and now he’s thinking about going back and getting a master’s degree in psychology. And it’s because he was right place, right time, knew somebody who said, “You know what? I know it sounds weird to go work in a factory, but it’s really different than you understand and what you would expect.” He said yes, and they said yes to him, and he’s supporting two children now.
There is definitely a way to see this as the future of work, and it’s not a choice between a career and college. You can almost do both. I like that, rethink.
Karina Monesson:
What a beautiful case study of how to do this right.
Laurie Ruettimann:
Wait, he did plenty wrong. I mean, he’s my brother, right?
Karina Monesson:
Him and all of us, Laurie. But I think, too, just the fact is that the learning platforms and the learning opportunities and the opportunities to really just prepare yourself for a variety of different industries, a variety of different roles, has never been richer. I could go out today and, for free, train myself to become a data analyst, to become working with SEO or all of these other digital platforms. And that’s true in the white-collar world, and it’s also true in the gray-collar and blue-collar world.
I think having more of a conversation about the fact that college doesn’t have to be the only route to success, the only route to a six-figure income. Is it a great route? Absolutely. But we really do need to be talking about the fact that there’s a lot of other avenues and a lot of other ways to train yourself for those avenues too that don’t saddle you with debt for the next 20-plus years.
Laurie Ruettimann:
Well, I want to hear more about the other R’s, but I do want to tell you, friend of the show, Lindsey Pollak, who has been a guest as well, often talks about how she would just like to go to school and audit classes. Education is wasted on youth sometimes. All these classes we took on, like, French philosophy that were like requirements or even American history, but like the deep dark spots of American history, you don’t appreciate that when you’re 19 or 20 years old.
And when you’re 46 or 47, you’re like, “Oh yeah, I want to learn about that.” Lindsey Pollak, I know, is definitely down with rethinking the college experience. All right, give me the third R. What’s the third R?
Karina Monesson:
All right. The third R is reskilling, right? It’s the perfect segue here. Reskilling really worked for our marketing tactic, but upskilling would be probably even more applicable here. Reskilling and upskilling, both.
Laurie Ruettimann:
Well, wait, what’s the difference?
Karina Monesson:
Well, reskilling, the way that we’re the looking at it, is really taking on new skills, whereas upskilling would be almost more like continual education. Doing a very similar job to the job that you’ve been doing in a similar industry and just adapting as the technology adapts, whereas reskilling would be switching courses essentially.
Laurie Ruettimann:
Karina, I know that one thing that’s in the report and that people in your ecosystem are passionate about is apprenticeships. What the heck is an apprenticeship? Is it the same thing as an internship? How do you use the word “apprenticeship”?
Karina Monesson:
Apprenticeship is something that — you more think of it like my sister-in-law, she’s a woodworker. She is doing an apprenticeship right now with a senior woodworker who is literally taking her in. She’s working full-time, 40 hours a week, under the tutelage of this expert woodworker. She’s making money. She’s earning a livable wage, while also learning the tools of the trade alongside an expert in her field.
That is essentially a perfect example of an apprenticeship, but it’s something that we don’t really see very often in many other areas of the workforce. This is actually kind of unique to the U.S. Apprenticeships are quite a bit more common in many areas of Europe and around the world. But here in the U.S., we really don’t think of them. Internships, as you mentioned, are a lot more common, but those are very short-term, oftentimes unpaid — which is a whole nother conversation — college students specifically, right?
So here, again, we’re talking about giving opportunities to those who are in college likely pursuing white-collar [careers]. Thinking about looking for opportunities to really bring in apprenticeships or something like that where it’s giving real-world skills, real-world training in a very applicable way, but it’s not like you’re not working yet, right? You are working. You are earning a livable wage, but you’re also just growing your skill set with time.
Laurie Ruettimann:
Well, I love this idea of reskilling, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be on the internet taking a course. It could be on the job, in the real world, where you’re actually making money, because that tends to be the impediment anyway for so many people who stay in a job they don’t enjoy or that doesn’t provide them enough income, but they don’t know what else to do, right? They can’t take time off, switching careers. But having an active path like an apprenticeship makes it much more accessible to enter the gray-collar workforce. I love that. What’s the fourth R?
Karina Monesson:
The fourth R is retaining. I know that we could probably spend hours and hours talking on this topic, but this is something that I feel like is being talked about extensively right now anyways. Basically, bottom line here is that employees have much different relationships with employers than they ever have before, and they’re demanding more.
What it’s taking to retain your people in all areas, but especially in this gray-collar workforce where, again, their value has skyrocketed, and they know that they are very, very challenging to replace right now, and they’re oftentimes using that to their benefit, as they should. Employers are really having to step up their game to treat this segment of the workforce, in particular, with a lot of the same respect and investment that has been gifted to white-collar workers but oftentimes left out of this whole segment of the workforce.
Laurie Ruettimann:
There was all this effort a couple years ago around retaining white-collar workers by giving them dry cleaning or letting them freeze their eggs. I mean, these are terrible perks. Already I’m like, “I’m out. I’m going to the gray-collar workforce.” We bestowed all of these quirky benefits on people to try to get them to stay. What do gray-collar workers want, do you know?
Karina Monesson:
Really right now, one of the biggest things that gray-collar workers want — in addition to a high salary, of course. That’s always going to be number one, and I think anytime we say that it’s anything but that, we’re kidding ourselves. They also really want flexibility. Because if you think about it, these are the workers who have been watching the rest of us, again, work from the safety of our homes for the past two years.
And now we’re having these conversations about, “I don’t ever want to go back to work, or I don’t ever want to go back to work in the same capacity.” These are fields that obviously are more challenging to provide flexibility for. Many of these are shift workers. If they’re not working on-site, then somebody else needs to be there. What we’ve seen through our research is that they’re really hungry for flexibility, and there are lots of ways that employers can provide that.
Laurie Ruettimann:
Well, the argument from some of my HR brethren is there’s no flexibility for shift work. There’s no flexibility for people who work at the Gap. I’m like, wait a second, it’s the Gap. You could be five minutes late to the Gap. It’s all right. But there’s no flexibility for someone who is scheduled to be on-site at a specific period of time. Because they have flexibility in their start time, it impacts other people. Tell me how we can rethink flexibility. What does that even mean then?
Karina Monesson:
Well, I think probably the easiest example here — if we’re not talking about changing and providing a lot more autonomy to people in terms of their scheduling and things like that — the easiest win right here would be something like autonomous shift-swapping, where you’re giving your employees the opportunity to shift shifts with each other without needing a manager approval. And obviously, there are times when that wouldn’t be a viable solution, like if it’s going to trigger overtime or something like that.
But in the majority of cases, if you have two people that have the same skill set, the same roles, it shouldn’t need a manager approval for them to switch their shifts. That’s a tongue-twister right there.
Laurie Ruettimann:
It sure is. Can’t we just automate that? Like create some certain parameters within a time and accounting system or a payroll system to make sure that there are specific rules? And as long as two individual workers adhere to those rules, it’s fine. And if not, it could be elevated through automation to a manager, not having a manager breathe down your neck, right?
Karina Monesson:
Exactly. There are absolutely tools like that. We have some within UKG, and it’s something that not only is a huge win for the employees, because they suddenly have a lot more autonomy and control over their own schedules, but like you said, it’s a lot easier for the manager, too, because that’s one more thing off of their plate that they don’t need to be worrying about.
Laurie Ruettimann:
Well, I like this idea of creating almost a culture of flexibility. Maybe not in the same way you would for white-collar workers, professional workers, but definitely within this gray-collar sphere, you could just let people be the bosses of their own lives a little bit more. Isn’t that what we all want? That’s what I’m hearing from you, Karina. Let people work. Get out of their way.
Karina Monesson:
That’s exactly, exactly what it comes down to. Let people work and also let them live their lives.
Laurie Ruettimann:
Oh my God, there you go. There’s the Punk Rock HR philosophy right there. Well, I’m so excited that you’re on this research. It’s really important that you’re talking about the gray-collar workforce. Anything else you want us to know about this specific segment of our population? I understand it’s only 10 to 15% of the current workforce, but it’s growing. Is that right?
Karina Monesson:
Yes, that’s absolutely right. I think part of a reason for that is because, like I said, these are roles that are very difficult to fully automate, and we’ve seen so much rapid digitalization of the workforce during the pandemic that the research is telling us that a lot more roles are going to continue to be automated. These roles are protected. And on top of that, as we mentioned, health care is a very huge segment of this workforce. We all know that that’s just going to continue exploding in time.
Laurie Ruettimann:
God love anybody who takes care of another human being. Boy, that is challenging, COVID or not. People are complicated. I want to protect and nurture this workforce. Especially because if we’re all lucky, we age, and we become part of the health care system, right? This is a reverential, important part of our economy. We should love these health care workers, not abuse them. Yeah, I’m with you on that.
Karina Monesson:
Exactly. We’re all starting to pay the price and see what happens when we don’t.
Laurie Ruettimann:
If people want to learn more about the gray-color workforce or what’s happening in the segment of the economy, where can they go?
Karina Monesson:
Yes. We have quite a few resources at our UKG website: white papers, webcasts, the whole gamut.
Laurie Ruettimann:
Well, we’ll make sure to include a link in our show notes, as always. And Karina, if people want to connect with you, what’s the best way to do that?
Karina Monesson:
Please reach out to me on social. I’m Karina Lynn S on Twitter and Karina.Monesson on Instagram if you like yoga and food and babies.
Laurie Ruettimann:
Oh, who doesn’t like all that? Come on, that’s a magic combination. Well, Karina, as always my friend, thanks again for being a guest today on Punk Rock HR.
Karina Monesson:
Thanks for having me, Laurie.
Laurie Ruettimann:
Hey, everybody. I hope you enjoyed this episode of Punk Rock HR. We are proudly underwritten by The Starr Conspiracy. The Starr Conspiracy is the B2B marketing agency for innovative brands creating the future of workplace solutions. For more information, head on over to thestarrconspiracy.com. Punk Rock HR is produced and edited by Rep Cap, with special help from Michael Thibodeaux and Devon McGrath.
For more information, show notes, links and resources, head on over to punkrockhr.com. Now, that’s all for today, and I hope you enjoyed it. We’ll see you next time on Punk Rock HR.
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