Mid-July Button Insights

Welcome to the early-July issue of the Button Insight Newsletter!

Need to know

How Can We Tackle Burnout In Tech and Digital Services?

Is a 40-hour work week the right approach?

Burnout across industries has drawn increased attention in recent years, as employees deal with the built-up strain and employers deal with the resulting labour shortages when burnt-out staff starts leaving. The tech industry is one of the biggest examples, as workers weather demanding work, long hours, high-pressure deadlines, the “crunch,” frequent pivots, a culture of constant productivity, and the race to keep up with constantly evolving technology itself.

In some ways, pandemic-accelerated digital transformation has relieved this, freeing many people from commutes—but that has been counterbalanced by the erosion of work-life boundaries.

Surveys by Blind found in 2020 that 69% of tech workers had experienced burnout, and in 2021 that 58% were currently experiencing it. This is a problem for both the public and private sectors. While government can often have more stable conditions than private tech startups, government staff still struggle with burnout and tech staff can be especially affected given the range of departments they’re doing work for and the high stakes of setting up and maintaining public services.

How do we restore a work-life balance in a way that gives workers more comfort and stability while also keeping companies and governments productive?

Community

In part 4 of our community sharing, we wanted to talk about a few projects and share a couple of Button team testimonials. We value you and this community and want to share our experiences on a personal level. The “real” experiences of our people.

In this issue, our areas of learning include: impact assessment and evaluation, public speaking and advocacy, and cultural and contextual understanding.

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Worth Your Attention

What We’re Reading: True Reconciliation: How to Be a Force for Change

Former Justice Minister and Vancouver-area MP Wilson Raybould’s political memoir "Indian" in the Cabinet: Speaking Truth to Power was a finalist for the Balsillie Prize for Public Policy. She returns with True Reconciliation: How to Be a Force for Change, a straightforward breakdown of how to advance reconciliation in practice.

It focuses on what is achievable for individuals, communities, and organizations and lays out three core practices: Learn, Understand, and Act. Mixed into this are many of Raybould’s own experiences, making for a read that provides both insights into the life of one of the most compelling recent political figures in Canada and tangible ideas about one of the most urgent and meaningful macro issues of our time.

Upcoming Events

Invite Button to speak at your event

Button experts in user research, UI, UX, development and more have been making keynote speeches across the country, delivering value to digital and technology teams:

• How to Build Trust through Service Design,

• Digital Empathy & Process Improvement,

• and more!

We are here to share our knowledge and experiences with the community. Interested in learning more?

In Case You Missed It

Check out our blog posts from previous newsletters!

IN-PERSON USER RESEARCH: Why it can still play a valuable role, even after recent years’ advances in digital consultations.

BC’s UPDATED DIGITAL PLAN: 8 reasons why we think the province’s plan for digital transition does digital transformation right.

LESSONS LEARNED: PART 3: We want to share the real experiences of our people on the projects we do, from the challenges to the breakthroughs. This round of employee testimonials looked at finance and budgeting, collaborative governance, and crisis management and resilience.

FREE SERVICE DEVELOPMENT TOOLKIT: We created this software solution to benefit governments, business executives, and citizens by reducing costs and increasing consistencies.

EMPLOYEE SHOWCASE: Meet Eduardo, a Senior Delivery Manager who is passionate about growth, team building, transparency—and BBQ.

CASE STUDY: How Button helped Trans Care BC set up a guide and application process for publicly funded chest construction surgery.

New here? Liked what you saw?