Each week I’m going to provide a round up of what I consider to be important and interesting articles on the future of work (not authored by me). These will include a variety of sources and topics ranging from workplace practices to robots and automation to leadership and everything in between. There’s a lot of information out there so I’m hoping that these weekly round ups will help make life a bit easier for you by giving you just the good stuff. Let’s get into it!
New Tech for the Workplace of the Future
Could Siri one day help you with your workload? New technology is introduced almost daily and companies are implementing this technology into their workspaces in order to allow employees to work as efficiently and effectively as possible. This article, written by Anne Holub, explores a few ways technology could be used to lighten your workload in the future.
The subjects include the use of Virtual Assistants such as Siri and Watson in the workplace, Microlearning and social media work tools that help teams collaborate.
Time for HR to See Wellbeing as a Top Priority
Employee experience is becoming a top of mind issue in the workplace these days. More and more companies are realizing that employees are no longer satisfied with punching in, keeping their head down and working and then punching out to go home. Employees are looking for more satisfaction from their jobs.
One key element of employee experience is employee well-being–including physical, mental, and emotional well-being. If employees have issues with their physical, mental or emotional health, it most likely will affect their work and therefore it is something companies should care about.
This article suggests that it is the job of HR and other company leaders to “create a positive, supportive workplace culture that’s critical for success…” and therefore it is essential for HR to be a part of employee well-being. How can they get involved? They can encourage company leaders to be open, honest and transparent with challenges they face. They can can promote a non-judgemental atmosphere where employees can feel comfortable to open up and ask for help. They can train managers and supervisors to assist with emotional, mental and physical health issues. And they can support company leaders when and if they have to have hard, uncomfortable conversations with employees.
Bain & Company was Just Named the Best Workplace of 2017–Step Inside its New York Office
Bain & Company, one of the world’s leading management consulting firms, was named the Best Workplace of 2017 by Glassdoor. One of the highlights of the company is its unique physical workspace.
This article gives an inside view of the Bain & Company’s New York location. The office has views of Bryant Park with floor to ceiling windows. The lobby has a full kitchen, a ping pong table and cafe tables. They have a mix of casual open and traditional closed workspaces that are conducive to all sorts of working styles. They even have a private nap room for employees.
Check out the full article for tons of pictures and descriptions of the unique office.
How Extreme Recruiting is Winning Over Millennial Tech Talent
Companies are finding that it is necessary to use different means of recruiting for tech talent than what is used for other types of workers. One of the companies who is changing their tech talent recruiting strategy is Deloitte. In this article Steffen Maier lays out Deloitte’s new “extreme recruiting” methods and why they work.
Instead of seeking out and trying to attract tech talent the way they do for everyone else, Deloitte is targeting hackathons, code fests and product showcases to find potential candidates. Also, once they find a potential tech candidate they do not put them through a rigorous screening and interview process, instead they have an initial meeting and then they make an offer. Maier spoke with Joshua Kho, the tech consultant for Deloitte Canada, about the three reasons why this method works for hiring top tech talent.
Kho explains that it just makes sense to use different methods of recruitment and hiring for different types of positions. Accountants, sales reps, IT professionals, and managers all require different skill sets and qualities, so why would you use the same hiring process for every one of them? Observing tech talent at hackathons, code fests and product shows allows you to see how potential candidates work under pressure and how they would interact with team members and clients. “Extreme recruiting” is also more suited for the incoming generations like the Millennials and Generation Z.
My new book, The Employee Experience Advantage (Wiley, March 2017) analyzes over 250 global organizations to understand how to create a place where people genuinely want to show up to work. Subscribe to the newsletter here
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