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!
Ignore the headlines: a 6 hour day is the way forward
A two year pilot project from Sweden indicates that a 6 hour work day may lead to happier and healthier employees. While the idea of shorter work days may be exciting to employees, results indicate that it might be beneficial for employers to consider it as well.
Initial results show that working a shorter day lowered sick leave by 10% and reports of staff as ‘more alert and happier’. With shorter days putting less stress on employees’ bodies and minds, the potential to stay in the workforce longer is also an interesting factor. This is in particular interest to the dilemma of early retirement, both for individuals who risk poverty and the labor market with a need for workers.
How could this small trial impact the debate on workplace policies?
How to Attract Millennials with the Right Company Perks
Retaining Millennials can be done by cultivating the workplace culture and providing targeted incentives or ‘perks’. This article outlines six tips to use company perks to attract and keep Millennials:
- Blend work and life – help to find and keep the balance – concierge benefit?
- Make perks an experience – instead of providing ‘things’, provide ‘events’
- Target your audience – know what Millennials want, for example … student loan repayment
- Emphasize the culture – provide connections between culture of company and perks
- Highlight inherent perks – emphasize the built-in, daily perks, such as supportive environment
- Let people know you value them – tell them often!
Check out the article to find clever ideas to jump-start the conversation about your company’s perks!
2017 will see changing business environments and evolving employee expectations, according to the article by Waters and Alonso. In it, they highlight 5 trends for the marketplace.
The first includes the challenge for both HR and non-HR executives to find and hire talent to ensure organizational sustainability. In the current, very competitive marketplace, obtaining the needed employees may find organizations looking in ‘non-traditional pockets’.
Additionally, HR professionals must be savvy in their ability to use data and analytics to make hiring decisions. Along the same line, the traditional annual performance evaluations and the data that resulted is being re-conceptualized. Looking at new ways of designing tools to evaluate ongoing processes for real-time feedback and constant mentoring will be an upcoming trend.
Parental leave for both genders is also another development for 2017. Currently, about a quarter of organizations offer this type of paid leave. This perk may be something to consider for those looking to attract desired talent.
Finally, the impact of the gig economy will continue. With that, leadership will need to adapt, requiring new models of management. See the article for further details on these interesting trends for 2017.
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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