Another week, another ‘Wave’ 🗞

5 news items from the world of work and workplace you can digest in 5 minutes.

This week:

1. Engagement has 3.8x as much influence on employee stress as work location
2. Junior staff struggling to adjust to flexible schedules need mentoring
3. 77% of employees will walk if their company reverses flex policies

Understanding What Matters: “Engagement matters more than where workers work,” says Gallup ’s 2023 State of the Global Workplace report. Which is better: Working remote, hybrid or fully on-site? Gallup analysis finds that engagement has 3.8x as much influence on employee stress as work location. “How people feel about their job has a lot more to do with their relationship with their team and manager than being remote or being on-site.” Read Full Article.

Increased Mobility: Expensive metros, like New York, San Francisco, Washington and Los Angeles, have lost more people than they’ve gained, reports The New York Times , as remote workers move around the country. “In the first two years of the pandemic, one in four workers who moved long-distance was working remotely in a new home — a previously unheard-of scale of remote migration. In the two years leading up to the pandemic, for example, about 20,000 remote workers moved away from the San Francisco metro area. Then during 2020 and 2021, 110,000 did.” By contrast, Austin, Denver, Dallas and Nashville all attracted a net influx of people working from home. Allora Labs analysis showed remote workers moving to more affordable major metros tend to be college-educated workers with higher incomes. Read Full Article.

Mentoring Junior Workers: Junior staff are struggling to adjust to flexible schedules, but is forcing them into the office the answer? “To solve the challenge of integrating junior staff in a hybrid model requires a structured mentoring program,” reports Dr. Gleb Tsipursky . “Mandating in-office attendance for most of the workweek is bound to lead to attrition, resistance, disengagement and lowered productivity. And it will not be very effective for mentoring, either.” A U.S. study by Charter and Qualtrics XM Institute found that "hybrid work does not limit the potential of mentoring" and "successful mentoring relationships were similarly likely to occur if mentor and mentee met remotely [or in-person.]" Similarly, the Harvard Business Review reports "many individuals incorrectly presume that physical proximity is essential in developmental relationships." If you have "commitment, trust, relationship quality, and mentor competence," these "are the real ingredients of developmental growth," and you can have these in both in-person and "virtual mentorship." Read Full Article.

Ready to Walk: The majority of employees are ready to walk if companies don’t  embrace hybrid working, reports People Management magazine . Data shows hybrid work remains the most popular option for staff and jobseekers, alongside increased salary transparency in job ads. 77% of employees said they'd look for a new job if their company’s flexible work policies were to be reversed. The report by Greenhouse Software also discovered inflexible businesses will struggle to hire top talent as more than 40% of candidates will not apply for a role that does not offer their preferred working model. Read Full Article.

Office Classrooms: Design in education is shaping workplaces of the future, reports Work Design Magazine . School design has shifted away from the rigor of industrial era buildings (a one-room schoolhouse) to one with flexible and varied spaces that foster multimodal learning and agency: “By shifting our focus, we can mimic the tenants of designing for education spaces because the future of workplace design is an extension of learning spaces,” according to Stantec ’s Jennifer Grafton, AIA, ALEP and stephanie moser wood . “Education environments show us that the needs and expectations of future generations entering the workforce need supportive work styles that intentionally integrate them with their colleagues of all generations. The workplace – like education – needs to be flexible to prepare people for jobs that currently don’t exist, and we can’t begin to conceive. Workers, like students, need a place to learn, develop, grow, and adapt to the ever-changing landscape.” Read Full Article.