Tips to help workers manage return-to-office challenges | DEI is out, skills-based hiring is in | How self-awareness can enhance your leadership skills
More companies are mandating that employees return to the office, but it's a hard sell to workers who now face higher expenses for transportation, child and pet care, which averages $561 a month, a BetterUp survey finds. Employers need to be flexible about employees' needs, while workers should consider the advantages of networking with colleagues and getting a better work/life balance. Full Story: Fortune (tiered subscription model) (2/1)
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Recruiting & Retention
DEI is out, skills-based hiring is in OneTen as well as other nonprofits focused on creating more opportunities for underrepresented groups are pivoting from promoting DEI initiatives to promoting skills-based hiring in the aftermath of the Supreme Court affirmative action ruling last year. "There is a fundamental business reason for companies to convert to a skills-based hiring system, beyond all the social justice themes that got us off the ground," said Kenneth Frazier, chair of OneTen, which has partnerships with Delta Air Lines, Nike and AT&T. Full Story: The Seattle Times (tiered subscription model) (1/29)
Employers should consider outside-the-box benefits Employers looking to attract and retain talent need to be strategic and innovative with their benefit offerings so they stand out from other companies and organizations. Options to consider include enhanced medical coverage, homeowner assistance, student loan repayment help, an employer-assisted housing program, family-centered benefits to improve work-life balance, and broader help with retirement saving. Full Story: BenefitsPRO (free registration) (1/26)
This orchestra's music is so good, you could eat it The Vienna Vegetable Orchestra has been making music for 25 years, playing nothing but vegetables fashioned into instruments such as pepper horns, carrot marimbas and celery guitars. The group spends a couple of hours before a show fashioning their instruments, and when they're done with them, they toss them into a pot of soup cooking on the stage, which is finally served to the audience by the band. Full Story: Atlas Obscura (1/30)
SmartBreak: Question of the Day
It's too bad you can't use the Rosetta Stone software to decipher the actual Rosetta stone. Where can you see the original stone slab?
Last week’s poll about pet peeves inspired some fantastic conversations and results. It was hilarious to see what things get under our skin. Twenty-two percent of you put people who constantly talk on their speakerphone or videophone around others at the top of your pet peeve list. I get it. I’m tired of being in the hair care aisle at Target and having to hear two women on FaceTime dissect the latest drama with their boyfriends. It’s maddening! Not muting phone lines came in second with 16% of the votes. Folks had some interesting anecdotes about this one, including nose breathers, loud coughers, and people using the toilet without realizing their lines are unmuted. Here’s how the rest of the pet peeves shook out: Meetings that could have been an email: 15% Dog owners who don't clean up after their pets: 13% Misusing work microwaves: warming up seafood, or reheating spaghetti and not covering it so it splatters everywhere: 9% When people talk to you while you are watching TV, reading a book or playing a video game: 9% Taking calls while on public transportation or in a public restroom: 7% Walking down the middle of or diagonally across a parking lot, stalling other drivers: 4% The misuse of apostrophes and "their," "there," and "they're”: 4% Abandoning shopping carts in the middle of an aisle, blocking other people's ability to get around them: 2% After looking at the data, I wondered how many of you had peeves that didn’t make the list. I’d love to hear them! What bugs you? Let me know! And if you enjoy this brief, tell others so they can benefit also.
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