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!

Your Open-Space Office May be Killing Productivity?
A survey of 2000 High-Performance Employees (those who solve the hardest problems in every company) found that an open office design does not support their work. In fact, 54% of the people found their office too distracting.
The article makes the point that offices in 1923 had workers all in one room and those workplaces should have evolved since then. While the open concept may save money, the distractions of listening to one’s coworkers talk all day drains the focus and does not allow for creativity.
Suggested is for offices to create visual partitions, private work rooms and more sound suppression.

Whole Foods, REI, and Aflac CEOs Respond: What’s the Single Most Important Thing for Company Culture?
CEOs of Fortune’s list of 100 Best Companies to Work For were asked one question, “What’s the single most important thing you do for company culture?” The responses varied but the overall message was that it is critical to build feelings of trust and maintain efforts to build a diverse workforce.
The top 10 most compelling answers:
● Provide an employee-owned business model
● Privately-held partnership – the foundation for collaboration and caring
● Conveying that the company ‘loves you’
● Creating a culture where employees excited about coming to work
● Hiring people whose personal values align with culture
● Live by ‘our’ values
● Participate in uncomfortable conversations when necessary
● Employee-owned and participates in stocks and annual grants
● Help employees connect their work to positive impacts on communities
● Keep up with workplace trends – competitive compensation, healthcare, etc.

4 Ways Millennials Are Rewriting Career Rules and Changing the Workforce
Millennials have the shortest average tenure when compared to Baby Boomers and Generation Xers – 2 years. Since this can be expensive, companies are looking at ways to retain them, potentially changing the standard corporate culture.
Millennials are the largest workforce in history – around 4 million more than Baby Boomers. Currently they make up 36% of the workforce. Due to their size, their desire for leaders who are open and transparent may change the culture.
They also thrive with managers who share knowledge and resources. This is more of a mentor role, seeking out continual feedback and advice.
One of the most important features to Millennials is a work culture that is aligned to their values. They believe that a company needs to have a positive social impact.
Millennials rate flexibility as their number one concern. Forty-five percent of them would take a substantial pay cut in exchange for greater flexibility at work.

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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