Workplace trends
Managers are stressed that employees aren’t quitting
While just last year, companies were struggling to retain staff, this year, they’re concerned that not enough people are voluntarily leaving. Turnover has declined so steeply at some organizations that teams are now finding themselves with too much headcount, requiring some leaders to cut additional staff as the end of year approaches. Some have grown concerned about how to keep star employees within their organization when there aren’t as many open positions internally, making it harder for employees to transition into new roles. This year, workers seem to be much more committed to their organizations, with 73% of workers saying they plan to stay at their jobs, up from 61% last year, according to an Adecco survey. Leaders have to act carefully though because layoffs can significantly harm employee morale and motivation.
Hollywood actors reach a deal
After months of strikes that shut down most of Hollywood, it appears a deal has finally been reached. The SAG-AFTRA union that represents some 160,000 actors and artists tentatively agreed to a new contract with media giants that would bring the $134 billion American movie and television industry back into motion. Union members are hopeful that its longest-ever strike was worth it, given the hefty compensation gains for streaming shows and films, improved health care funding, concessions from studios on self-taped auditions, and guarantees that studios will not use AI to create digital replicas of their likenesses without payment or approval. However, experts warn that while Hollywood actors may be paid more for their roles, there could be less work to go around as many companies, eager to ease streaming-related losses, cut spending on content.
The AI corner
ChatGPT is becoming customizable
In its first-ever developer event, OpenAI announced that it’s rolling out the ability to make custom versions of its AI chatbot, known as GPTs, and that it will create a marketplace for people to sell them. The company is promising to eventually pay creators according to how much their GPTs are used. These GPTs will be available to paying ChatGPT Plus subscribers and OpenAI enterprise customers, who can also create internal-only GPTs for their employees – experts expect this exclusivity offering to boost the company’s already rapidly accelerating revenue. This new introduction will enable OpenAI to compete with other AI bot platforms like Character.AI and Meta, which recently released its own AI personas on WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger. Rather than emphasizing bots that act like people, OpenAI is positioning its platform as being more utility-focused than its competitors.
Tech giants are getting their AI investments back
While Amazon, Google, and Microsoft have invested billions into AI startups, they’ve also been charging those same companies a similar amount to use their cloud platforms. For example, in September, Amazon announced a deal to invest up to $4 billion into Anthropic, a rival to ChatGPT creator OpenAI, while Anthropic committed to spend $4 billion on Amazon’s cloud platform, Amazon Web Services, over the next five years. AI deals like these are making big tech firms the largest backers and most direct beneficiaries of these startups, reflecting how the AI boom seems to be favoring the most powerful players. Experts explain that the value of the tech giants’ stakes could skyrocket if the startups take off, and if they don’t, they still will have turned cash into revenue.
Evaluating quiet contributors on your team - part 2
By monday.com
Last week’s newsletter delved into how to effectively manage quieter contributors on your team, and with end-of-year performance reviews nearing, this week’s newsletter will unpack how to fairly evaluate strong performance and success across your team.
With employee performance reviews serving as key indicators of promotions, bonuses, and raises, it’s essential to make the evaluation process as equitable as possible, in a way that doesn’t simply favor the most outspoken and extraverted team members. When done properly, employee evaluations can help your team members identify what they need to do in order to work more efficiently, understand expectations and priorities, improve communication, and feel properly recognized for their work. Unfortunately, recent Gallup research found that only 14% of employees feel strongly that the performance reviews they receive actually inspire them to improve, and a Reflektive survey revealed that 85% of respondents said that an unfair job review would push them to consider quitting.
So, how can you conduct fair performance reviews for your team?
Establish clear performance expectations
When setting metrics and standards for what it means to succeed in a specific role, try to focus on objective metrics such as the quality, quantity, and timeliness of the work as well as the experience of working with the individual. In terms of quality, this means focusing on how well the work is performed and how accurate or effective the employee’s results and contributions tend to be. Quantity and timeliness, on the other hand, should consider how much accurate work the employee can effectively produce and at what speed – do they meet deadlines? Can you count on them to take on more when needed? And experience should consider what it’s like actually working with them. Do people look forward to collaborating with them? Are they respected and valued? Finding ways to measure success more objectively can ensure you’re providing fair and balanced evaluations.
Ask other stakeholders for input
A great way to conduct thoughtful, well-rounded performance reviews for each of your team members – especially for quiet performers who are less prone to promoting their own achievements – is to ask your employees’ colleagues for their input. Identify a few people with whom you know your team member works closely and ask them a couple of questions about the employee emphasizing that whatever they share is confidential and the person for whom they are sharing the feedback will not receive this feedback with any names. Do your best to reach out to a mixed group of colleagues, including someone more senior than the team member as well as someone who’s at the same level and/or below. In a private message, you can ask questions like, “What do you think are this team member’s greatest strengths?”, “Where does this team member have room to improve?”, and “Overall, do you enjoy working with this person?” You can also offer to schedule a brief chat to speak about it face-to-face if that would make them feel more comfortable sharing.
Then, during the actual performance reviews with your team members, you can reference this feedback to reinforce certain points. For example, if you want to emphasize that you appreciate that your employee is such a team player, you can say, “When I asked some of your colleagues for feedback, several pointed to how much you’re always willing to step up and provide extra support.”
Create employee evaluations
Share self-evaluation forms your employees can fill out prior to your formal performance review to help you understand how much your feedback aligns with their impressions of their performance – and identify any disconnect in your perceptions of their work. For your quieter performers, this is a great opportunity to push them to spotlight their own achievements and emphasize where they feel they bring the greatest value, which can prove highly useful in guiding your own understanding of them and how you can help them build meaningful growth paths. Also, when you can take their self-reviews into account, it ensures they feel their voices are heard, which, according to a recent Forbes study, can significantly increase employee effectiveness at their jobs.
Provide frequent feedback
Few things are more frustrating than getting negative feedback about something that happened months ago, without ever having had the chance to make changes or improvements. That’s why, as often as possible, work feedback into regular conversations with your team members so that you effectively provide them with the guidance they need to actually improve. In one-on-one meetings, make your employees feel like you are committed to giving them the tools to succeed by openly acknowledging things that are working well and if there is any room to improve on something going forward. This enables your team members to actually make changes and start improving in advance of formal feedback conversations, helps them understand what kinds of behaviors to repeat, and provides some clarity about what will be addressed before the formal talk so that nothing comes as a shock or surprise.
Water cooler chatter
The Beatles just broke UK chart records, with their latest song ‘Now and Then’ becoming the No. 1 single. The Beatles set a new record coming back over 60 years after their first UK No. 1, “From Me To You,” in May 1963, according to Official Charts, and 54 years after the band’s previous No. 1 hit, “The Ballad of John and Yoko,” in 1969.
It turns out cats make nearly 300 facial expressions. A recent study published in the journal Behavioral Processes found that cats are actually highly expressive, with 46% of their expressions deemed friendly, 37% aggressive, and 17% unclear.
Question of the week
Last week’s answer: Walmart and Amazon
This week’s question: Which city offers the best work-life balance?
Just for laughs
Turning the work of one into the job of many
