December 2021
The pandemic has jump-started a new trend in employee training, in which formal, classroom style learning is replaced with shorter, more interactive modules that rely heavily on technology and collaboration. This shift towards gamification and cohort-style training has accelerated during an era of remote work, driven principally by high-achieving and community-oriented Millennials. (The Wall Street Journal)
Fully 80% of Gen Zers believe that it is easier to make professional connections now than was possible in their parents’ generation, largely due to growth in online networking opportunities and this generation’s inherent comfort with interacting digitally. While blog posts and think pieces written by Boomers and Xers catalog the various ways that remote work will hurt Gen Z’s ability to network, find a job, and climb the career ladder, it seems like younger workers don’t see it that way. (Quartz)
Many open positions that ask for a Bachelors’ or a Master’s don’t actually require higher-education, leading one HR op-ed writer to ask: Why are companies excluding two-thirds of the workforce during a labor shortage? Hiring managers struggling to fill vacancies should re-examine their job postings and consider expanding their pool of applicants to include the (often highly-skilled) workers that fall somewhere between blue- and white-collar. (Fast Company)
Nearly three-quarters of employers are either already using or are planning on using monitoring technology to track their employees, often with the justification that surveillance improves employee productivity. However, recent history shows that this argument should be re-examined — although employee productivity is higher than ever in an era of remote work, employee trust and loyalty has not improved alongside it. (MIC)
The latest trend of the Great Resignation is the “Stay Interview”: A meeting with a current employee that focuses on what motivates them, how to improve their work experience, and how they envision their future at the company. At a time when many workers feel that the best way to get ahead is by job-hopping, tuned-in managers will put forth an effort to make current employees feel as valued as the next prospective hire. (CNBC)
While younger workers often feel the most positive about their careers, optimism about the future of the workplace declined among all generations under age 55 during the pandemic (falling particularly sharply among those ages 18-24). However, the biggest surprise may lie in the stark contrast with older workers — despite the myriad challenges of the last year, Boomers actually grew more optimistic. (ADP Research Institute)
Employees around the world are working an average of 9.2 hours of unpaid overtime every week, an issue that is particularly acute among white-collar workers. A lack of tangible output often leads to ambiguity over when work is “finished,” but intensive cognitive tasks in front of a computer can only be done for so many hours a day — organizations that don’t prioritize employees logging off on time should prepare themselves for burnout and high turnover. (BBC)
Bosses and executives are more than twice as likely as non-executive employees to want to get back to the office full time (44% vs 17%), a disconnect that may be partially due to higher work satisfaction. However, many experts believe that confirmation bias is also to blame: In other words, managers believe that all employees are equally satisfied working in-person and thus fail to gather adequate feedback from their staff. (Wired)