Let's Co-Create More Respectful Workplaces

🧠 I’ve Been Thinking…

…about how we set intentions for improving our workplace culture and reflect on our progress. Well, isn’t it wonderful that there’s a free, digital planner/reflection journal designed for people like us? It’s from the A Better Paradigm team, designed to help you raise your own self-awareness while helping your colleagues raise theirs. Kudos to Natalie Lorenzo, our editor, for bringing this awesome tool to life. Download today for free, and please share the link to spread the good vibes.

🚀 Stories to Help You Drive Change

Here are my shares for this week:

SPECIAL NOTE: If you hit a paywall on any of the stories I share, go to Google Search, enter the name of the publication and something about the story (author, title, subject) to get a natural search link that usually by-passes the pay wall. And hey, if you like the publication, consider subscribing to it—that’s how they keep the good info rolling!

• CEOs want people back in the office 5/5 days per week; most workers aren’t aligned. Lots of stats in this from The Atlantic, including: “a recent survey of 400 CEOs in the United States by the accounting firm KPMG found that 79 percent want their corporate employees to be in the office full-time in the next three years, up from 63 percent the year before.” “A 2023 study of one Fortune 500 company found that software engineers who worked in proximity to one another received 22 percent more feedback than engineers who didn’t, and ended up producing better code.”“…hybrid work should be the compromise that satisfies both sides. A May Gallup poll found that only 7 percent of employees wanted to work in person five days a week, 33 percent wanted to be fully remote, and 60 percent wanted some kind of hybrid arrangement.”“…the percentage of companies with a hybrid policy for most corporate employees doubled from 20 percent at the start of 2023 to about 40 percent today, according to the Flex Index, which tracks work arrangements.”

My take on this: hybrid will win out. While the CEOs interviewed want people back and refer to research, there’s plenty of other research saying hybrid is the best of both worlds. It seems these execs have forgotten all about the employees who mastered “face time” who weren’t working very hard if at all. I sat next to a bunch of them over the years. Hire the right people, treat them well, keep optimizing your team, let them work how they need to deliver their best for you. Stop relying on old-school face time and “hours” as indications of productivity—those were always false measures. We know better, we should be doing better.

• According to Vanguard (via The Wall Street Journal), switching jobs can earn you more money but job switchers often make the wrong decisions about their 401K programs. Make sure your new employees are optimizing their retirement benefits as part of their onboarding process as part of being a kinder workplace.

• Are you a workaholic? Are you okay with that? If yes, skip to the next bullet. If you want some help, check out this guide to reclaiming your life from Malissa Clark.

• We all want more cooperative workplace cultures. Here are tips from John Spence about putting employees first—with examples of companies that do just that.

🦉 You Never Know… Parents With Young Children 

Parents were struggling for a long time before the Covid crisis. Then they were asked to meld home and work to an outrageous degree to keep their employers’ businesses producing. Now, companies are pushing back-to-workplace mandates while parents struggle all the more. Childcare costs are skyrocketing, workers are scarce, and even parents who can afford childcare cannot find resources near their homes. Consider this: “Care.com reports that more than half of families were placed on a wait list while searching for a daycare this year, and 49% of those families had to wait more than three months for a spot to open up. Even worse, 75% of parents said there are less than six childcare centers within a 20-minute drive from their home.” 

If you are a manager or leader, what are you doing to ease the burden of today’s parents? Could you be doing more? Should you be? If you don’t have children or if yours are grown, pop into some parenting threads on Instagram for a mind-blowing view of what parenting is like these days and see if it influences your answers.

🌟 Do Good Spotlight: Solar Cookers International

You may be wondering… what are solar cookers? This charity’s name immediately got my attention because of it. According to their website, “3 in 7 people lack sustainable fuel to cook meals and make water safe to drink. So, Solar Cookers International provides cookers that use the power of the sun to purify water and cook food. To learn how you can help (and see what solar cookers look like), visit their website: Solar Cookers International.

🖋 Noteworthy: Companies Encouraging Random Acts of Kindness

Instead of one noteworthy company, I’m bringing you 7. These companies foster random acts of kindness, and it works wonders. Find anything worth applying at your company?

🎵 On a Personal Note

I know I’m skipping right over Halloween here, but if you’re looking for some great conversation starters for Thanksgiving, I’ve got you covered. Make a game of it and enjoy!

⏳Until Next Time…

Self-care is a broad topic, so you have lots of leeway in creating ways to nurture yourself. What comes to mind when I suggest you treat yourself right? Go for it! You need to keep your energy vibing at the right frequency to be your best self, and we’re all counting on you for that. So go ahead, think nurturing thoughts and act on at least one good one!

Niki