Linked: Some workers can’t afford to RTO
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Linked: Some workers can’t afford to RTO

ByMike McBride Reading Time: 1 minute

As someone who has worked remotely since mid-2019, I have appreciated the number of ways my life is less expensive for a while.

That was before the recent bout of inflation, though. How much more am I saving by driving infrequently, not paying for parking or public transit, not needing to buy new business clothes, and eating the food I have in my house for lunch every day?

This was not insignificant in 2019 when I made the change. In 2022 that has to be much more than it was.

So, when you’re contemplating your return to the office strategy, are you calculating the pay cut you’re forcing on all of your employees, and how many of them can’t actually afford that?

Linked: Workplaces are in denial over how much Americans have changed
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Linked: Workplaces are in denial over how much Americans have changed

ByMike McBride Reading Time: 3 minutes

When you look at the survey results, you see things like this numerically. What people want from work and how they have decided work should fit into their lives is not only different than it was 2 years ago, but it’s different for each of us as individuals. “The tragedies of the last two years…

Linked: Mental Health America’s new Mind the Workplace 2022 Report:
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Linked: Mental Health America’s new Mind the Workplace 2022 Report:

ByMike McBride Reading Time: 1 minute

Something to check out. Mental Health America’s new Mind the Workplace 2022 Report: An Employer’s Responsibility to Employee Mental Health seeks to answer the latest question on business leaders’ minds: “How can employers meaningfully support employee mental health in 2022?” Data in the report comes from the Work Health Survey, which measured the perceptions of…

When First Impressions Go Wrong – Not Recognizing Talent Development
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When First Impressions Go Wrong – Not Recognizing Talent Development

ByMike McBride Reading Time: 3 minutes

We all started somewhere. We all started in some entry-level jobs. We all learned and grew. Good workplaces develop their entry-level people, turning them into experts. It would be a shame to spend all that time developing people and then losing them because you never gave them the same respect they would immediately get by going somewhere else. Somewhere that never knew them when they were in an entry-level position.

The people who worked to learn and build their knowledge and skills deserve better.

Linked: Pandemic Leaves Firms Scrambling for Cybersecurity Specialists
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Linked: Pandemic Leaves Firms Scrambling for Cybersecurity Specialists

ByMike McBride Reading Time: 1 minute

I’m not sure that these companies have done the math. If enough experienced workers in an industry do more than switch between competing offers but step away from the industry into a different career path, there will not be enough experienced workers to go around.

What are you going to do about that? Sit around with unfilled positions and cry about it, or get serious about raising up the next generation of cybersecurity talent?

Linked: The Rise of the 9 p.m. Work Hour
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Linked: The Rise of the 9 p.m. Work Hour

ByMike McBride Reading Time: 2 minutes

One of the bigger management issues surrounding the remote work model is how and when to communicate. I’m an advocate of more communication, always. I’m a huge advocate of a lot more communication with a remote team.

But, we also have to think about the best way to work together. There are lots, and lots, of meetings that are designed to create better communication but aren’t necessary. Most of them are recurring meetings that no one ever cancels, even when there’s nothing urgent to discuss. Just because we’ve always had this meeting, and we always will.

That’s not a good reason to meet. At the end of the day, if your check-ins or project status meetings are nothing more than a “here’s where we are this week,” we might consider whether it makes more sense for people to send an email instead. Or even a Teams/Slack chat? It’s the same information, but no one has to plan their day around it.