Working less thanks to technological progress

Automation, artificial intelligence and robotics are transforming the way we live and work. These technological advances are improving productivity, but they also raise challenges and questions about how they will affect workers and the economy as a whole.

The evolution of working hours has been on a downward trend over the past four decades. According to a report published in the Bank of Spain’s Economic Bulletin, the average working week in Spain between 1987 and 2019 has fallen from 37 to 31.8 hours per week.

This study analyses the set of structural changes in the economy that have contributed to the reduction in working hours and the prospects that this trend will continue in the future. It identifies the increasing weight of the service sector, the drive towards part-time work and the progress of technology as the main factors contributing to the decline in average working hours.

Technological advances in automation, robotics and digitisation of information and communication have changed the nature of many work tasks and made it possible to reduce workloads without reducing productivity. A reduction in working hours facilitates work-life balance, reduces stress and improves the health and well-being of workers.

However, while it is true that technology brings personal benefits and helps companies to increase productivity and efficiency, it can also have a negative impact on workers by replacing some jobs with automation or reducing available working hours.

Investing in education and training

The report notes that investment in human capital and innovation are key factors in improving productivity. That is, regions that invest in education and training have a workforce that is better prepared to adopt new technologies and to take advantage of the opportunities of this occupational revolution.

According to the Randstad study, ‘Flexibility at work: embracing change’, 52% of current jobs in Spain are at risk of being partially or fully automated in the next decade. Even so, it should be borne in mind that when we talk about job losses, it is the tasks that require fewer skills, and not the professions themselves, that are being automated by technology.

In a context of economic crisis and the inability of many companies to significantly increase salaries, reducing working hours while maintaining salaries and productivity can be a determining factor in attracting talent. In any case, the process of adaptation by society to this new labour reality will require the collaboration of the business fabric and the public administration so that no one is left behind.

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There are now more mobile devices in the world than people. Mobile phones have changed the way we live, work, communicate and even our quality of life, wellbeing and health.

An app is a standalone piece of software that is made to perform a specific task and is optimised for use on smartphones, tablets or smartwatches based on the features available. Health apps are known as mobile Health (mHealth), and according to the World Health Organization (WHO) it is a “delivery of health information and services using mobile technologies”.

What is a health application?

It falls within the field of eHealth, understood as the use of communication and information technologies applied to health services (computers, mobile phones, GPS, connected medical instrument monitors, medical robots, etc.). These are computer programmes that are used on mobile platforms and are often connected to medical devices that tell us how to improve our health or prevent risks. There are also diagnostic applications for treating patients or communicating with our healthcare system.

The European Commission states that medical and public health practice is compatible with mobile phones, patient monitoring devices, personal digital assistants and other wireless devices. It also includes in this category applications related to health information to the population, medication reminders sent by SMS, telemedicine, training and guidance systems and even lifestyle and wellness applications created with the aim of maintaining or improving the population’s healthy habits through the practice of sport and wellness.

How are they monitored and what quality criteria is used?

In Catalonia, a method for evaluating mobile health applications using objective variables, called iSYScore, has been used for some time now.

The criteria used by iSYScore to select the most suitable mobile health apps is based on the opinions of users, developers and health professionals, and is based on three key factors: popularity, trust and usefulness.

What are the problems with these applications?

Basically, the lack of loyalty. There are few apps that have achieved long-term stability. A study confirms that 70% of chronically ill people who have used them stop using them after six months. And 80% of apps are abandoned after only two weeks. To improve these figures, personalisation based on different profiles would be advisable. Each person is unique, and these apps act in a generic way.

Another problem to be faced is that of data ownership and data protection, as well as the loss of credibility the product may have if it doesn’t work for the first users who try it.

Tips for choosing a reliable application

1. Be informed: Search and compare applications on search engines such as Google. 
2. Reviews: Search forums for user opinions. 
3. List of options: Choose between 4 or 5 applications.
4. Reliability:  Make sure they are based on scientific evidence, and a good place to do this is to look for references in PubMed (National Center for Biotechnology Information).
5. Test: It would be advisable to test (try out) the application with a friend. If, for example, you suffer from insomnia, it is important that your friend does not suffer from insomnia so that you can share how it went.
6. Who is behind it? To be a quality (reliable) application, it is important that technicians, health professionals (who will be different depending on the purpose of the product) and experts in legislation and data management have been involved in the process. 
7. Obsolescence: Clinical studies require time and in the world of new technologies time passes very quickly and therefore needs to be taken into account.

Following these simple steps will ensure that the applications you use are quite reliable.

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Emporarom, Aromes de l’Empordà, is a business that produces aromatic and medicinal plants, grown on different plots of land located in Empordà. In a new People podcast, Pere Coll, one of the founding partners, tells us about the project and the different products they make from these plants.

From the union of the words Empordà and Aromáticas comes the name Emporarom, producers of aromatic, culinary and medicinal plants from Empordà who have joined forces to develop and market various products, recovering the popular knowledge of the plants in their natural environment.

Aromes de l’Empordà cultivates many of the plants found in the wild or in the garden at home: rosemary, thyme, basil, oregano, mint, and fennel… All of them are grown organically on small plots of land by the sea, where the entire production process is done traditionally, respecting natural resources and preserving the environment.

A sensory experience

The infusions spearhead the work they do to be able to offer new products that surprise the consumer. Five varieties with their own character based on Greek mythology, “we have dedicated them to Greek gods and goddesses, with blends of plants that fit their characteristics”, Coll points out.

Likewise, an extensive range of culinary condiments is complemented by sensory visits where flavoured drinks are made and culinary workshops are held with local plants and flowers. As Coll explains, “we do workshops where people can identify, smell and touch plants, while having a vermouth, gin and tonic or a ratafia”.

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All citizens of our country have the right to access public healthcare, which, despite its shortcomings, is considered one of the most efficient in the world. Even so, the collapse of primary care has meant that the number of users of private health services is increasing year after year. Iu Alemany, Director of Back Office and Customer Service at 11Onze, proposes some concepts, so we can continue a recurring debate.

According to a study carried out in 2022 by the IDIS Foundation, the private healthcare sector accounts for 29.4% of total healthcare spending in Spain. This figure has risen to 33,398 million euros, representing 2.7% of GDP, which added to public-private collaboration totals 3.36% of GDP.

The increased purchasing power of the population and long waiting lists have highlighted the advantages of private healthcare. Even so, the collapse of public healthcare and the large number of people taking out low-priced private health insurance just to access diagnostic tests, or for specialities such as dermatology, gynaecology or pneumatology, is also putting pressure on the private sector. As Alemany explains, “with private healthcare you have direct access to the specialist, but appointments are not so immediate, and there are more and more waiting lists”.

Private healthcare as a complement to public healthcare

Although budget cuts and lack of investment have highlighted the limitations of public healthcare, the pandemic has accentuated its importance. As Alemany points out, “what would have happened if it had been managed solely and exclusively by private healthcare? It scares me to think about it”.

The quality of healthcare and the greater investment in medical equipment in the public sector means that it has better resources and specialists to treat the most serious illnesses. This means that, in the event of complications, even private insurance companies refer their patients to the public sector.

On the other hand, the business model of private healthcare is based on profit and economic profitability, leaving aside the principles of solidarity in public healthcare. However, in the current context, it is clear that collaboration between the two models is necessary to guarantee the viability of the healthcare system, at least until public healthcare has the funding it deserves.

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With the new year, we all want to achieve some personal milestones. And perhaps the most popular new year’s wish is to exercise. Now, a study from Boston University shows that short, intense trains can improve fitness far more than light exercise, such as walking 10,000 steps a day.

We spend all day in front of the screen, in the office or teleworking, and it’s often a miracle if we manage to squeeze half an hour out of our day to do sport. However, these 30 minutes may be the key to making up for eight hours of work. Researchers at Boston University School of Medicine, led by Dr Matthew Nayor, have analysed the effort of more than 2,000 people and concluded that exercise is always healthy, of course, but if you train hard and short you get a better result.

“We have found that, in improving the body, intense activity, but with less time of effort, is more efficient than walking.” Dr Nayor, who is also a practicing cardiologist at Boston Medical Center, the city’s leading teaching hospital, says in an article in the World Economic Forum that “the negative effect of a sedentary lifestyle on fitness can be offset by very high levels of activity.”

From the study, published in the ‘European Heart Journal’, the researchers also found that, curiously, high activity values and low values, both eight years apart, have equivalent levels of fitness. “This suggests there may be a memory effect,” Nayor says. Without discouraging people from meeting the 10,000 steps a day, the scientists show that intense effort is three times more efficient than just walking.

The milestone: 75 minutes of intense exercise per week

Thus, in an exercise chart, the researchers consider a low-level exercise such as walking to be between 60 and 99 steps per minute, a moderate level to be between 100 and 129 steps per minute, and an intense level to be more than 130 steps per minute.

With this classification, researchers recommend either 150-300 minutes a week of moderate exercise or 75-150 minutes a week of intense exercise, i.e. 25-50 minutes three days a week. With either routine, we will get the same physical results. So, welcome to New Year’s wishes!

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Twinapp is a social network that facilitates interactions between people interested in practising sport through hiking routes across our territory, without neglecting the commitment to environmental conservation. We talked about the project with Teresa Ferrés, a founding partner.

Making society aware of environmental problems and getting people involved in conserving the natural environment can be challenging. Teresa Ferrés founded the Twinapp project with this in mind. Why not combine sport with environmental awareness?

The application allows you to contact people keen on nature walks, organising and promoting outings around our territory. It is a tool that generates community through groups of people interested in running or walking in the mountains. As Ferrés explains, “sometimes it’s hard to find someone to go out with to do sport and this way you are in a community that everyone can join”.

Encouraging ‘plogging’

‘Plogging’, a fusion of the terms ‘plocka upp’, Swedish for picking up, and jogging, originated in Sweden. It is a sporting practice that combines the activity of jogging with the collection of rubbish that we find along the way. The application schedules regular outings related to this practice, including “promoting a campaign called ‘Mou-te pel mar’, which in 2019 organised four outings along the Costa Brava,” says Ferrés.

Bearing in mind that 70% of the waste that is dumped on the coast ends up at the bottom of the sea, the success of these outings, which combine sport with waste collection, is a perfect example of how the entrepreneurial and community spirit represented by Twinapp takes advantage of the possibilities for cooperation offered by social networks and new technologies.

If you want to discover how to drink the best water, save money and help the planet, go to 11Onze Essentials.

The reasoning is simple and powerful at the same time: the most important and profitable asset of any company is its workers. So what could be better than keeping the most important asset of the organization in its natural state, which is where its full potential shows?

This reasoning, however, does not apply exclusively to the workplace. Its connotations are paramount, as all people are workers, at least in potential, whether in the active workplace, post-work field, academic field, or in any other situation. It is clear, then, that happiness transcends all this, and ends up with a common denominator: the human being.

The scientific pursuit of happiness

Talking about happiness is nothing new: Aristotle was already giving deep dissertations on it in the 4th century BC. But in recent years, the concept of positive psychology has gained strength. Positive psychology is a current in psychology that studies the foundations of psychological well-being and happiness, as well as human strengths and virtues. The difference with respect to other close currents of psychology and with its historical precedents is that it is based on the scientific method. The psychologist Martin Seligman laid its foundations in the late 1990s, and other authors, such as Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, have made it grow with their contributions. 

At first glance, the purpose of positive psychology may sound too arrogant. Now science seeks to tell us what happiness is? But there are many dissident voices that consider that happiness is much more than just processing a simple set of measurable values in the field of psychology.

Debates aside, we all know, without having to learn it, when we feel good, and most of all, when we feel bad. It is something innate. Our body goes like clockwork with well-being, whereas it begins to give warning signals when we experiment discomfort. 

What do the experts say?

Since companies are mostly sets of people, it may seem basic to ensure the well-being and satisfaction of workers. However, in the business logic linked to the Industrial Revolution (still very much present everywhere), the general paradigm has been quite the opposite: to make them work to the maximum to obtain greater profits. A vision where their personal well-being is far from the concern of the company.

Studies on this topic conclude that the experience of workers who feel comfortable in their organization is much more valuable than even the material goods they can receive as gratification. And this is because this experience has no expiration; it can always be evoked and enjoyed again.

Workers’ happiness as a barometer of business health

So now it is no longer a matter of focusing only on the famous customer experience (CX): the employee experience also plays a key role in the success of the organization, both from the company’s point of view (because a happy, creative, or empathetic employee is synonymous with a more productive worker) and from the point of view of the worker (because we spend almost a third of our lives at work).

A good example of the consolidation of this trend is the emergence of various indices, such as the Global Job Happiness Index, which measure happiness in the workplace. Likewise, the figure known as Chief Happiness Officer consolidates in those organizations that are committed to the value of people and the profitability of a happy employee.

Dissemination achieves awareness and involvement

People and companies are a strange mix. People are tangible beings who act moved by gratification; we put our efforts into what rewards us, in whatever form. However, companies are in themselves intangible, although at the same time they are made up of people, and have as their purpose either their own benefit, social benefit (non-profit), or a combination of the two, which provides a sustainable benefit for society.  

A strange mix and, at the same time, what a fruitful synergy when the focus of the organization is on people!

At 11Onze, we have believed in this fundamental value from the very beginning, which is shared by all the people who make up our community. And it’s working! 

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Getting back into the normal rhythm of life after the holiday period can be complicated and cause intense discomfort. Miriam Frias, financial assistant at 11Onze, gives us some tips on how to face the return to normal working life more easily.

Demotivation, irritability, lack of concentration and general tiredness are some of the symptoms of the physical and emotional alterations that many people experience after the holiday period. The current economic situation, uncertainty and the lack of job satisfaction and motivation that many people suffer, only make it more difficult to make the transition to normality that requires psychological adaptation.

Although the post-holiday blues are not a pathology or an illness like depression, it is an adaptive disorder with symptoms similar to stress, which can negatively affect the quality of life and performance of those who suffer from it. Although it does not usually last more than two or three weeks, we can prevent its onset or alleviate its effects by applying specific techniques and behaviours.

Prevention is better than cure

The best thing we can do to combat post-vacation disorder is to prevent it from happening. Planning the transition back to normality, and avoiding returning from holiday on the very last day to go back to work the following day, will allow us to prepare ourselves physically and mentally for the change of activity. As Frias explains, “it would be a good idea to have at least two or three days to be able to get back to work calmly”.

Taking the return to routine calmly also means enjoying leisure time and doing activities that make us feel better. “Sport, dancing, or any activity you enjoy will make you feel better, as you will secrete endorphins, which will make you more optimistic,” says Frias. Regular hours of rest and thinking about new projects are some of the other tips Frias suggests in the video above.

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Bio-construction or sustainable architecture are hashtags that go along with conventional architecture to revolutionise it, from the foundations up, with a key premise: human beings must live inside houses. An idea as obvious as it is challenging. We spoke to the architect and expert in bio-construction, Sonia Hernández-Montaño.

Have you ever wondered what materials your home has been built with, what lighting prevails, or how the distribution of spaces is affecting your mood? Arquitectura sana is the name of the project, and also the philosophy, that Sonia’s team took to Catalonia in 2009 with the aim of making our homes more habitable from a human and well-being point of view.

Most of our time is spent in enclosed spaces, but we are generally unaware of the extent to which these spaces can have a direct impact on our physical and mental health. In a new episode of People, Hernández-Montaño highlights all the elements and practices we need to take into account to improve our lives.

The unseen well-being

Construction is constantly evolving, and in recent decades has incorporated technological elements and new materials. Hernández-Montaño points out, however, that “along the way we have forgotten that there are people inside buildings, that buildings not only have to consume less energy and minimise the resources used, but that we also have to sustain life inside”. He argues that we are all architects, and we can all use this health tool to support people’s well-being.

Among the most important aspects, we find some key actions to maintain the quality of life inside the spaces, starting with ventilation, a key point if it is carried out in the right way and that can even reduce pollution that may come from outside. The second key point is lighting, the “conductor of our biological clock” which has to change according to the time of day to follow our circadian rhythm.

It is also essential to take into account and reduce the presence of pollutants in the interior spaces, an objective that is reflected in the choice of materials, whether in construction, furniture, or cleaning products. Listen to the entire conversation to discover the rest of the tips that will make your home a healthy space.

If you want to discover how to drink the best water, save money and help the planet, go to 11Onze Essentials.

Artificial intelligence generates equal parts of admiration and rejection. The advantages of a digitalised world clash with the desire not to lose traditional practices. The fear, primarily, is of losing the human side, but what if technology could help us to enhance it?

In recent years, research in scientific fields has been strengthened thanks to the incorporation of AI, artificial intelligence. Universities, companies, and projects are joining forces to advance and improve both disease diagnosis and treatment, with special emphasis on improving the quality of life of patients, both physically and psychologically.

Artificial intelligence reaches the field of mental health and is part of this crusade, between therapists and patients, to speed up the diagnosis process, facilitate its recognition and improve the precision of each treatment.

Algorithms to prevent disease

In everything that affects mental health, the prevention factor is key. For this reason, entities, companies, and organisations are joining forces – increasingly sophisticated – to make tools available to the population that facilitate the process of asking for help. Diagnosis, treatment, and recovery depend on this first step.

Countries such as the United States have taken action, and more and more research centres are turning to AI. We find projects such as The Trevor Project, which, through AI, has created a safe space for the LGBTQI+ community, especially as a support for young people. The reason is as simple as it is worrying: they estimate that in the United States alone, 1.8 million young people consider suicide every year, and at least one young person attempts suicide every 45 seconds. If we expand these figures, calculated only in relation to the LGBTQI+ collective, among the total population, the figures increase considerably.

Catalonia has also developed research projects and companies oriented towards AI for mental health. For example, the STOP Project, led by the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, is aimed at detecting depression and preventing suicide and eating disorders. They do this thanks to an algorithm that acts focused on social networks, a space where users are especially vulnerable. Thanks to the latest campaigns carried out, the project has managed to increase by 60% the calls to the Telèfon de l’Esperança, a foundation that accompanies all those who feel lonely or may need help.

The right words can save lives

AI has made it possible to take a step forward, and businesses from different fields are creating algorithms to help. The first advantage of digital tools is accessibility, allowing therapeutic resources to be at hand anywhere and at any time. This is a key advantage, although it may minimise its effect on profiles of people who are not very technological or without resources.

The sophistication of AI systems is such that they are capable of analysing the patient’s behaviour, facial expressions, tone of voice, or the language they use. With all this data, the X-ray of a patient can be much more realistic, and the diagnosis more accurate. Two key factors in mental health, especially if we take into account that half of the patients receive erroneous diagnoses, according to Aimentia, a Catalan company that develops digital tools for professionals in the field of mental health.

Other algorithms go further and analyse conversations between patients and therapists with the aim of providing professionals with a more accurate approach when communicating with patients. The goal of all these projects is clear: to get mental health problems, which according to the WHO affect one in four people, treated and cured.

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