April 2021
Fully 52% of employees plan to job hunt in 2021 (up from only 35% in 2020), listing “better compensation and benefits” and “better work-life balance” as their top reasons to leave. Managers hoping to implement retention strategies should take note: Respondents who plan to stay with their current company cite “good work-life balance” and “recognition for their work.” (Achievers Workforce Institute)
“Google Career Certificates” are only the beginning of Alphabet’s plan to disrupt higher education and career training. Some of the more novel initiatives include search-engine upgrades that facilitate job hunting, and the creation of a “Google Career Certificates Hiring Consortium,” a group of more than 130 employers that have pledged to hire graduates of the certificate programs. (Inc.)
Gen X’s eponymous novel Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. Author Douglas Coupland reflects on how many of the themes and stories still resonate in modern society, but the cohort coming-of-age today looks very different; defiant, risk-taking Xers have been replaced by a more cautious and deferential generation. (The Conversation)
As the pandemic drags on, a growing number of young people have had to grapple with starting their careers virtually. Remote work brings with it a unique set of challenges for new hires, like navigating the complexity of building rapport, establishing trust, and learning the norms and culture of their workplaces – all online. (CommercialCafe)
Upwork’s CEO points to a surge in younger users as the reason why 2020 was a banner year for the freelance platform. Although perpetually unemployed and under-employed Millennials have certainly turned to the gig-economy to make ends meet during periods of economic instability, many members of this generation of risk-averse achievers still yearn for the stability and structure of a traditional career. (CNBC)
Managers often assume that younger, more tech-savvy employees are better suited to virtual work, but recent research shows that it’s actually Gen Xers that are coming into their own during the pandemic. Working remotely requires more than just tech-savviness, and Xers have always been more comfortable operating independently than feedback-focused Millennials. (Adobe Workfront)
US church membership has fallen below 50% for the first time, a trend that has been driven in large part by younger Americans (both secular and religious). Over the past couple of decades, churches truly missed an opportunity to reach out to Millennials, a generation whose affinity for inclusivity and compassion predisposes it to support community organizations. (Gallup)
As Amazon works to automate the majority of its warehouse processes over the next few years, the company is turning to gamification to ease the tediousness of an increasingly repetitive workload. Critics are unimpressed, claiming that the program is reminiscent of a dystopian, Black Mirror episode, and that the Amazon store prizes are a callback to the days of “company towns.” (The Verge)