Insights on Corporate Talent, Learning, and HR Technology
Employee engagement and Employee Experience deal with the issues of happiness, retention, capabilities, rewards, productivity, and the complex problem of creating a “great place to work.”
Each year I pour through the World Happiness Report and this year it’s particularly insightful, so let me interpret some of the results.
First, the US happiness ranking (1-10 scale) dropped to #23, a full 13% below Finland, the happiest country in the world. And this is disappointing. Over the last 15 years the level ... Read more»
Is DEI about to DIE?
Of the many changes we experienced in 2023, one of the most iconic was the US Supreme Court’s decision to strike down affirmative action in college admissions. And now, the resignation of Claudine Gay from Harvard, people are piling on.
Justice Thomas stated last summer:
“Many universities have for ... Read more»
We just completed a large study of the 4-day work week and the results are clear. Under the right conditions it really works. And the results are very positive: improvements in employee health and wellbeing, increases in productivity, and overall improvement in revenue, profit, and customer service.
Wait a minute. Are you actually saying that ... Read more»
There are lots of economists waiting for the labor market to “cool,” enabling unemployment to rise and inflation to slow. Yet despite these projections, unemployment remains at a 45 year low and it’s still hard to hire. Why the change? Our research clearly shows that we’ve entered a whole new economy, one that makes labor ... Read more»
The time has come: new research shows that workers want “less work,” and only feel ambitious when their work-life balance is in tact. In other words, the days of “striving to get ahead” are being replaced with a new pragmatic workforce attitude: “I will work hard as long as I’m paid for it.”
Research ... Read more»
If there’s one thing you can say about Microsoft, this is a company that can execute. Since the introduction of Microsoft Viva in early 2021, the company has more than doubled down on its Employee Experience Platform strategy, with a flurry of new announcements this week.
Let me start by saying that Microsoft, at its ... Read more»
I’ve been astounded at the flurry of articles about Quiet Quitting. It seems like the press has jumped on some kind of meme that really serves us poorly.
Before I jump down anyone’s throat, let me explain what I mean.
First of all, we all understand that employees are often burned out. Mercer’s data shows ... Read more»
Unbelievable. After four months of worries about a recession and a steady increase in interest rates, today the BLS reported that 528,000 jobs were created and the unemployment rate dropped to 3.5%. This is the lowest it has been since 1969, a year when I was in middle school.
And at the same time ... Read more»
Here’s a shocking statistic: 15.8% of Americans now take regular medication for depression or anxiety, and it reaches 25% for those under the age of 30. And as of May this year, 39% of Americans experienced some form of anxiety or depression in the last four weeks.
Stress, anxiety, and depression are becoming the biggest ... Read more»
This week we launch our Irresistible Conference at the same time the stock market has plunged, interest and mortgage rates are rising, and economists are worried about a recession. It reminds me of our first Impact conference in 2008, which we launched the month the financial meltdown began.
Whether the economy goes down or ... Read more»
One of the most frustrating, tired, and archaic HR practices is performance management. Most of us have had horror stories with our “performance appraisals,” leading HR leaders to try to reinvent performance management all the time.
We went from top-down cascading goals in the early 2000s to Continuous Performance Management in 2010 to new discussions ... Read more»
What does the Amazon Labor Union win teach us about leadership, management, and HR? Of all the myriad challenges we’ve faced over the last few years, one trend is clear. Worker power is on the rise.
And I don’t just mean unions (like the Amazon Labor Union win in Staten Island) or the Starbucks ... Read more»
As we prepare for our Irresistible Conference (where I will be launching my book), I’ve been thinking back about all we’ve been through over the last five years. It’s a lot.
We’ve suffered through the pandemic, political instability, a global climate crisis, and now a war. Employees are burned out, stress levels are at all-time ... Read more»
This week Microsoft made a significant move: moving Glint from LinkedIn into Microsoft Viva, building what Microsoft calls “Employee Feedback In The Flow Of Work.”
Glint is one of the leading providers of employee listening and action platforms, competing with the likes of Medallia, Qualtrics, Peakon (owned by Workday), CultureAmp, and Perceptyx. These companies ... Read more»
As I wrote back in 2015, Feedback is the Killer App. Companies that tap into the collective wisdom of their employees almost always outperform their peers.
Why? Because employees (not customers) know the most about what’s working and what’s not. Yes, we need to get feedback from customers, but employees know even more. ... Read more»
