How employers might react to a noncompete ban | How reordering employees' tasks can boost retention | How leaders can build diverse teams, culture of inclusion
If the Federal Trade Commission's proposed ban on noncompete agreements ultimately takes effect, companies could look to alternative tools to accomplish their goals, including nondisclosure agreements and employment contracts that incentivize loyalty, lawyers say.
Why are a third of your workers looking for a new job? The iCIMS 2023 Workforce Report takes the pulse of today's workers and forecasts how to establish a new foundation for the future of work. Get Report.
Managers may be able to reduce turnover by assigning employees a mix of challenging assignments and easier work rather than giving them several difficult tasks in a row, according to an academic paper. By reordering tasks, managers can prevent employee burnout and increase retention.
Volunteer work as a team activity can prevent burnout since it encourages time away from the typical workday, HR executive Deb LaMere writes. Whether leaders organize a companywide day of service or provide paid time off for volunteering, these acts demonstrate the company's values, create in-person connections and broaden employee skills, LaMere notes.
High-school students in Texas recently used virtual-reality goggles to experience careers in fields such as welding and manufacturing. Officials are hoping to bring the goggles, provided by Texas Workforce Solutions, to eighth-graders next.
It may be easier to use fear, demands or self-promotion to get ahead, but Steve McKee, co-founder of McKee Wallwork + Co., writes that such self-serving means often undermine your goal to win respect and trust or be seen as having integrity or influence. "In a world of self-seeking, nothing impresses more than humility," McKee writes.
One of the first lessons I learned when I got into content marketing was “Put the reader first.” What does the audience want to know? What problem do they want to solve? Serve the reader -- the customer -- needs first and you’ll earn their trust.
I share this cardinal rule with advertisers when I do content-marketing kick-off calls. And they all agree with me. At first.
“Hundred percent, Kanoe. We’re on board. We don’t want this piece to sound sales-y. We want to address their needs.”
And then we start down the content-development road and those good intentions go by the wayside.
“You can take out that quote from the teacher and put in the other one from our sales VP.”
“Please add ‘World’s leading provider of educational programming’ before our name in the first sentence.”
“Let’s add language about our integrative add-on. That’s what distinguishes us from our competitors. This district didn’t buy it but that’s okay. We want schools to know we offer it.”
I see this all the time. Companies insist on bragging about themselves instead of just sticking to what matters to the reader. And, as a consequence, they defeat their own goals. They dilute their messaging and weaken their content. Worst of all, they damage their credibility.
Steve McKee warns us against gratuitous self-promotion in today’s HR Leader story. “[S]elf-promotion undermines credibility, and … a humblebrag reveals more insecurity than accomplishment,” McKee writes. It’s true.
But genuine humility wins every time. It cultivates respect and trust. I like the way McKee puts it: “In a world of self-seeking, nothing impresses more than humility.”
Good words -- ones that I’ll be keeping front and center as I work.
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