Workplace trends
The pandemic-driven hiring frenzy is ending
In 2022, when the economy rebounded after Covid-19 restrictions ended, employers were left with widespread labor shortages, which led them to promote higher wages and signing bonuses as a way to lure top talent. Now, however, things are changing. Companies are slowing hiring and reducing job postings as higher interest rates weigh on economic demand. More workers are flowing into the labor force, helping businesses fill open roles, which some economists are calling a soft landing – where inflation falls without the economy entering a recession. Rising labor-force participation may help cool wage growth, and in turn take pressure off the Fed to raise interest rates in order to reduce inflation. Who’s driving the rise in labor force participation?
- Women – After pandemic-induced daycare and school disruptions drove many women out, higher pay, flexible work policies, and high inflation are leading many women to seek new work.
- Foreigners – As pandemic-era immigration restrictions ease, more foreign-born workers are taking on hard-to-fill jobs at restaurants, amusement parks, and nursing homes.
- Differently-abled – Labor-force participation among individuals with disabilities has surged as the tight labor market and more flexible work options have provided new job opportunities.
For young Japanese workers, it may pay double to work abroad
Japan has long attracted workers from developing nations seeking better pay, but with the yen falling to a three-decade low and the economy stagnating, young Japanese workers are finding it more profitable to seek work elsewhere. In fact, Re-abroad, a Tokyo company that helps people study and work abroad, said the number of consultation requests more than tripled in July compared with a year ago; the number of Japanese people visiting Australia on working holiday visas, which provide temporary work permits for young people has nearly tripled; and Indeed said it is seeing more searches by Japanese candidates for jobs overseas. With its shrinking population, Tokyo is still trying to bring in more workers from places like Vietnam and South Asia, but it’s losing competitiveness with nations such as South Korea that are also seeking foreign labor and may have more to offer right now.
The AI corner
Google is adding watermarks to AI-generated images
As deepfake and edited images and videos become increasingly realistic, many tech companies are struggling to find a reliable way to identify and flag manipulated content. That’s why, in an effort to prevent the spread of misinformation, Google has unveiled an invisible, permanent watermark on images to identify them as computer-generated. The technology, called SynthID, embeds the watermark directly into images created by Imagen, one of Google’s latest text-to-image generators, and remains there regardless of modifications like added filters or altered colors. The SynthID tool can also scan incoming images for the watermark and identify the likelihood that they were made by Imagen with quite strong accuracy. Experts warn, however, that as AI technology continues to develop faster than humans can keep up, it’s unclear whether these solutions will be able to reliably address the problem in the long-run.
Hey businesses, say hello to ChatGPT Enterprise
OpenAI is launching a business version of its ChatGPT tool, putting the AI startup in direct competition with Microsoft, its largest backer and partner. The newly veiled ChatGPT Enterprise is tailored to help employees learn new concepts or technological skills and to analyze internal corporate data. The product is built on OpenAI’s most advanced language model, GPT-4, and is said to run up to twice as quickly as the paid version of ChatGPT. The new business product is also designed to address corporate customers’ concerns about protecting proprietary data, as it won’t use data from customers of the product for training or to improve its services. The launch comes just a few weeks after Microsoft announced the release of Bing Chat Enterprise, which is also built with OpenAI’s technology.
Helping your team feel more connected
By monday.com
Technology has become embedded in the way we communicate, and since the global pandemic dispersed teams across states, countries, and time zones, it’s been harder to feel connected at work. In fact, 82% of surveyed workers across Brazil, China, Germany, the U.K. and the U.S. reported feeling lonely at work, according to a recent E.Y. survey. This is a serious problem because work connections deeply affect engagement, performance, satisfaction, and burnout, per research from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
According to a recent BetterUp Labs study, individuals with few connections in the workplace were found to be 73% less engaged than their highly-connected peers, and those experiencing lower levels of belonging reported 109% more burnout and a 313% stronger intention to quit than their more connected colleagues. Additionally, 43% of the surveyed workers thought their company should be doing more to promote workplace connections and 53% would actually trade some compensation for more meaningful relationships with coworkers.
The unfortunate reality is that while human connection plays such a clear role in workplace success, employers by and large are not doing enough to support a sense of belonging at work. And though it’s ultimately up to each individual to invest in their workplace friendships and relationships, as a manager, there’s still a lot you can do to foster a supportive, connected team.
Prioritize cultural fit in the hiring process
When hiring new candidates to join your team, be sure to take their people skills into account and consider how they would fit into your current team dynamics. Remember, hard skills can be taught and developed, but innate social skills and positive energy are much harder to impart on employees. So, during the hiring interview, try to gauge the candidate’s personality and enthusiasm about collaborating with others. Ask yourself questions like, “Can I picture this person on my team?” and “Would this person connect to our team culture?” Be honest with yourself when answering these questions, regardless of how much technical talent they have, because disrupting healthy team dynamics can have harmful effects on your current employees as well.
Another great option is bringing a current team member into the hiring process – whether they join an interview with you or conduct an additional brief interview on their own – to weigh in on cultural fit and share their input
Give new hires a buddy
A recent Microsoft study found that 97% of new hires who met with their buddy eight times in their first three months on the job experienced a productivity boost because their buddy helped make the settling process much easier. So, set your new hires up for success by helping them build connections from the get-go and designating a team member to be their peer mentor or buddy. This can help make the transition smoother, build connections between team members, and ensure that the new employee has a contact they can turn to for guidance and support.
Loop other teammates into onboarding
Before a new hire’s first day, make sure the whole team knows about the upcoming addition to the group. When sharing the announcement, it can be helpful to include a few personal details about the new employee coming on board to help your current team members get to know them a bit better and perhaps provide useful conversation topics. Also, be sure to encourage your team members to set up time during the new hire’s first few weeks for brief, non-work related introductions.
Organizing a welcome lunch or coffee with the team on the new employee’s first day is a great way to start making them feel comfortable and foster a sense of familiarity.
Encourage collaboration and team feedback
Designate time in group meetings for your employees to present what they’re working on to the rest of the group and encourage others to ask questions, share feedback and insights, and offer up ideas for ways to improve. These forums are also a great space for employees to share challenges they’re confronting and get input from their teammates on how to solve them. When team members can help one another find solutions, it really sets a supportive tone and promotes a feeling that “we’re in this together.”
Create a shoutouts channel
There’s nothing quite like feeling seen and supported by your teammates at work, so find ways for your employees to hype each other up and celebrate successes together. This could mean creating a group channel for team members to spotlight their colleagues’ achievements and thank certain teammates for helping them on a big project. It can also mean organizing quarterly meetings with the whole group for team members to present their favorite projects and biggest wins, so that everyone has dedicated time to commend one another. Regardless of how you get there, try to find ways for your employees to cheer each other on.
Help teammates get to know each other
As your team grows, people often gravitate toward those they feel they know best, which can lead to cliquiness and disconnect. So, in addition to large group outings once in a while or recurring team lunches, try to find ways for team members to connect in smaller forums and get to know other people on the team better. For example, once a month, maybe you can dedicate a small part of the budget for a few randomly selected team members to go out for coffee together and chat in a non-work setting to help them get to know more of their teammates.
Water cooler chatter
The CEO of collapsed crypto exchange Thodex was sentenced to 11,196 years in prison by a Turkish court for a range of offenses. Faruk Fatih Ozer, who ran Thodex until it imploded in 2021, was found guilty of aggravated fraud, leading a criminal organization, and money laundering.
Scientists grew a human embryo from scratch without sperm, eggs, or a womb. The reconstructed 14-day-old human embryo was made by reprogramming stem cells, and it secreted hormones that turned a pregnancy test positive. That being said, the model is solely intended for research purposes, with the goal of finding ethical ways to improve IVF success rates and provide greater clarity about early-stage pregnancy issues.
Question of the week
Last week’s answer: US, China, Japan, Germany and the UK
This week’s question: How many countries don’t guarantee some form of paid sick leave for workers?
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