Page 22 - CCFA Journal - Third Issue

加中金融
CCFF2020/加拿大中国金融论坛 2020
Wei : 那我们来聊一聊大家最关心的问题，疫情如何影响
就业市场，尤其是金融行业?
Maggie: 我认为这场疫情影响着每个人。实际上对整个劳
动力市场和我们的工作方式有非常长期的影响。譬如我们
公司，大概 2020 年 3 月或 4 月开始在家工作，我们已经决
定明年 4 月之前不返回办公室。最近的员工调查询问了员
工对未来工作模式的看法。现在很少有人说他们想每天回
办公室上班。我认为这就是新冠疫情给我们带来的数字化
革命。
目前，疫情对就业市场的影响并不均衡。在国际市场上，
对旅游特别是跨境旅游、线下零售商等行业的影响比较大，
但对整个金融行业的影响较小。我们有些人看到传统商业
银行裁员，主要也源自本身行业改革数字化转型和业务优
化的迫切性。保险业的趋势更为关键。利率保持在低水平，
寿险行业的利润预期将进一步下降。但非寿险正享受着 10
多年来保费增长最好的时期之一。我们 AIG 的国际非寿险
业务中心伦敦出现了两位数的业务增长，就业市场十分火
爆，人才竞争也十分激烈。总之，机会永远都在，关键是
你是否准备好了。
Paulina : Maggie, 我很同意你的看法。从三月份开始我就
在家工作了，短期内也不会恢复。我从我的学生和市场看
到一些趋势，而且在某些方面加速。特别是金融服务业自
动化和数字化程度的提高。我们的 MFIT 项目是个很好的
例子。
在招聘方面，虚拟工作的增加为学生提供了申请不同地理
位置的职位的机会。我知道，在我的项目中，甚至在多伦
多的项目中，有一些国际学生由于旅行限制还不能亲自来
到这里，但他们仍然可以成功申请实习。我们看到人工智
能和视频面试的增加。我的职业辅导的工作也可以放到网
上，而且正在很好地推进。网络可以做一些虚拟的指导，
顺应现在的局限，但我认为这种情况也可能改变，至少在
部分时间里，仍会有需要面对面的交流。所以我认为这两
种可以混合存在。
Wei: 谢谢。在家工作已成为我们许多人的新常态。在疫
情期间，封锁和隔离带来了很多压力和焦虑，我们如何在
远程工作的同时保持高效率? 我们已经提到过如何保持
积极，但我们还是需要工作，你们是如何在家高效地工作
的？
Maggie: 我之前提到我们公司的研究表明，人们在虚拟环
境中工作的时间更多。这是因为你不需要任何通勤时间，
也没有下班回家的界限。有时人们倾向于过度工作，这会
造成很多身体疲劳和精神焦虑。所以，建立自己的新生活
习惯非常重要的，你需要非常自律地遵循新的生活习惯，
在这期间应该休息一下，也建议去做一些运动，了解自己
的压力水平。我们公司发起了“健康日”，鼓励大家放下
电脑，或者干脆拔掉电源。我们要提醒自己，长时间工作
并不意味着效率。应该保持好的工作习惯和工作节奏，保
持锻炼，确保有自己的时间去思考和计划。
CCFA JOURNAL OF FINANCE
Page 22
加中金融
Wei: How does the pandemic impact the job markets,
especially in finance industry?
Maggie: I think this pandemic is affecting everyone, and totally
shifted the way we work going forward. The impact is actually
fundamental with a very long term impact. For our company,
we shifted to work from home since probably March or April
2020, and we decided not to return to the office until next April.
The recent staff survey asked employees about their thoughts
on the working pattern going forward. Very few people said
they wanted to go back to the office every day. I think that
comes from some of the digital flexibility and transformation
this pandemic brought us.
At present, the impact of the pandemic on the employment
market is not balanced. In the international market, the impact
on tourism, especially cross-border tourism, offline retailer and
other industries is relatively large, but the impact on the
financial industry as a whole is small. Some of us see the
traditional commercial banks laying off staff because of the
internal digital transformation and business optimization. The
trend of insurance industry is more critical. The interest rate
remains low, and the profit expectation of the life insurance
industry will further decrease. But non-life insurance is
enjoying one of the best periods of premium growth in more
than a decade. London, the centre of international non-life
insurance business, is seeing double-digit rate increases for
most product lines, a hot job market and a fierce competition
for talent. Other markets are also seeing rates rise. In short, the
opportunity is always there, the key is whether you are ready
for it.
Paulina: I would agree with you, Maggie. I've definitely seen
that and I've been working from home since March, and it's so
not going back anytime soon. What I've seen with my students
and sort of the postings we see and where the market’s going, I
think it just sped up things that have been on the horizon for a
while. For us, an increase in automation and digitization in the
financial services industry. Case in point, MFIT program that
just launched but it's been going on for a while.
In terms of recruitment, the increase in virtual work has opened
up opportunities for students to apply to roles in different
geographical locations. I know I have some international
students in the program and even in the Toronto based programs,
who haven't been able to attend physically because of the travel
restrictions, but they're still able to apply for internships and go
through that process. So I think that's a trend that we will likely
see going forward. We see increase in video interviewing. Same
with my work, we have turned online and I was lucky we have
the capability already. We also had some virtual events and we
were able to do some virtual coaching. I think this will likely
change becausethere are still going to be an appetite for physical
meetings for at least part of the time, but I think it's going to be
a hybrid format.
Wei: Working from home have become new norm for many
of us during the pandemic, the lockdown and isolation
brought a lot of stress and anxiety, how can we remain
productive while working remotely?
Maggie: as I mentioned, when you stay at home and work
virtually, our company study shows that people spend more
time working. That is because you don’t have any commute
time, and you don’t have a boundary of work and going home.
So people tend to overwork, and that creates a lot of physical
tiredness and also mental anxiety. So it's a very important to set
your own routine, you also need to be very disciplined to follow
that new routine and should try to have some breaks in between.
It's also recommended to do some exercises and be very aware
of your stress level. We launched a well-being day to encourage
people to get off their computer or just un-plug. It's important
that we remind ourselves that working long hours does not
mean efficiency. Make sure you're still have your own time to
think and plan.
MARCH 2021