Can "office peacocking" help bring folks back to the office? | How blind hiring can increase company diversity | LinkedIn CEO: Adopt a "skills-first mentality"
Employers are trying to lure workers back to the office with a strategy dubbed "office peacocking" -- creating work spaces that incorporate the decor, style and comfort more usually seen in the home. A more inviting work environment "makes employees want to come back day after day" and "encourages productivity, collaboration and innovation," says Matt Teifke, founder and CEO of Teifke Real Estate.
Is stress the next epidemic? An alarming 73% of employees in the U.S. rate their current stress levels as moderate or high. What steps can you take to help your employees manage life's stressors and reduce the potentially devastating effects on their lives and your organization? View this webcast to learn more! Watch now.
Make blind hiring practices that judge candidates on skills over demographic attributes successful by writing gender-neutral job advertisements, using artificial intelligence-based candidate-screening tools and assembling a diverse hiring team that is well-trained to recognize their own unconscious biases, writes Einav Lavi, the chief human resources officer at Qualitest. "If done right, it results in increased fairness and consistency and identifies the best talent for the job," Lavi writes.
5 Key HR Metrics That Make A Difference Cut through the noise. Now more than ever, easy-to-understand HR "People" metrics are vital for evaluating business processes and driving strategy. Learn how to leverage 5 key HR metrics to drive successful business outcomes across your organization. Find out more.
A technique known as "stress fitness" can help prevent chronic disease and support longevity, writes Elissa Epel, a health psychologist and longevity researcher. The technique involves short, intense bursts of stress in the form of a quick, cold shower, a sauna session or seven minutes of high-intensity interval training, which can spur the body's recovery processes and improve its resiliency, Epel writes.
Large retailers including Walmart and Home Depot have been increasing wages for workers as the industry faces ongoing challenges in hiring including more competition from hotels and restaurants. Meanwhile, many of these retailers are unable to pass along increased labor costs to customers.
Networking can sometimes feel painfully awkward, but it is a skill necessary for advancing your career, writes author, auctioneer and podcast host Lydia Fenet. Showing interest in the other person's experience, eschewing small talk, sending an email introduction beforehand and asking salient questions are among Fenet's tips for improving your networking.
When my flight out of San Antonio got delayed, I went and parked myself at the counter of the pizzeria next to my gate. A few other weary travelers drifted over as well to kill time and watch the Alabama game. I soon found myself chatting with a friendly, enthusiastic agriculture teacher from a small school in the Midwest. Over marguerita pizzas and iced teas, he told me about the fun, interesting projects he was doing with his students. Just a few weeks later, he was writing stories for our education audience.
I was vetting a speaker for a webinar. She used a basketball analogy to explain her position on education policy and her local education agency -- “That would be like managing the Knicks.” (The Knicks hovered near the bottom of their conference that season.) The analogy made me laugh and cringe. But it also created an instant camaraderie and professional friendship. I later discovered she was a well-known figure in education. She and I have worked on a few projects together and she’s helped me better understand the nuances of education.
Some of my best professional contacts have come from unexpected moments like these. I’ve learned that conference sessions, airport lounges and hotel foyers (waiting for Lyft) are all good places to meet people and hear their insights. And there's something about food, drink and sports that creates connections -- people really open up over hot wings and college football.
Our HR Leader story today offers advice for networking. I agree on keeping it quick, especially on planes. Smile, exchange cards, be friendly but don’t dominate their time. (I’ve had to wiggle out of a few conversations on flights.)
What works for you? What advice would you give a young person starting their career? Or to someone switching industries and needs to build a new network? Let me know! And if you enjoy this brief, tell others so they can benefit also.
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