The office is the second most common place to make friends (behind the neighborhood).But, with only 34% of knowledge workers in the US working in-office full time, that’s likely to change. A couple of recent findings highlight why this is bad news for corporations:<ul><li>Data suggests workers with a “best friend” at work are more likely to stay at their job.</li><li>Hybrid workers with a “best friend” at work dropped from 22% in 2019 to 17% in June.</li></ul>Now corporations are taking it upon themselves to forge these relationships, scheduling in-person retreats, on-site training sessions, and virtual coffee chats.

The office

<ul><li>A recent survey found US workers consider relationships with co-workers to be one of the least important factors of job satisfaction. Work-life balance and compensation ranked highest.</li><li>Gen Z values work friendships the most, with 16% of 18-25-year-olds saying it’s the most important factor in job satisfaction.</li></ul>

But do workers even care?

It’s getting harder to make work friends, but workers don’t seem to care.

remotework

Remote Work

career

Career

corporateculture

Corporate Culture

Is this the end of work friends? - The Hustle

Employee monitoring has existed for a while in various guises, from timekeeping on factory floors to the collection of worker data in heavily regulated industries, such as finance. However, surveillance software, often clandestine in nature, has begun to creep further into white-collar jobs amid the pandemic – and it’s spread to sectors that traditionally haven’t required the scrupulous tracking of workers.

Tracking Workers

Workers have been tracked in their jobs for decades. From surveillance on shop floors to monitoring in call centres, bosses have long used technology to help monitor employees – whether it’s for security or performance-related reasons. As remote and hybrid working patterns are increasingly becoming the norm, employers are seeking to manage output and teams through monitoring software in response. While this can help enable out-of-office collaboration, in some cases, such surveillance tools can also be implemented through the paranoia that workers won’t do their job away from the boss’s gaze.

Working From Home Under Surveillance

The pandemic has triggered a widespread surge in employee monitoring. As teams began working from home, some bosses leveraged surveillance software to keep tabs on productivity. A December 2021 survey of more than 2,209 workers in the UK showed that 60% believed they had been subject to some form of surveillance and monitoring at their current or most recent job, compared to 53% in 2020.Such monitoring tools have only grown in prevalence – even as large swaths of the workforce have returned to the office on a full- or part-time basis.

Monitoring Work During The Pandemic

Surveillance software has been installed on work computers, with or without employee knowledge. Dubbed by some as ‘bossware’, various programs can log keystrokes, take screenshots and surreptitiously activate employees’ webcams while working from home. Often, this technology runs undetected, meaning workers can be unaware that their boss is effectively spying on them. And as remote work has flourished, so too has surveillance. For example, employees at investment banks have complained that return-to-office policies are being covertly enforced through their card swipes and attendance data.

Special Snooping Software

<ul><li>The rapid rise of employee monitoring has chipped away at employee-employer relationships.</li><li>As surveillance has ticked up, so has worker mistrust: according to a recent survey of 2,000 remote and hybrid US employees, 59% reported feeling stress or anxiety about their employer surveying their online activity.</li></ul>

The Effect Of Snooping On Employees

Workforce monitoring continues to increase amid remote work, with no signs of slowing. Is surveillance the new norm?

leadershipandmanagement

Leadership & Management

The employee surveillance that fuels worker distrust

A recent survey shows that 49% of employed Americans admitted to working for an hour or more a day while on vacation, and 25% work more than three hours each day on paid time off. This sort of distracted time off essentially cancels the purpose of spending time off the clock. Another survey states that only 26% of workers used all their paid time off, and over 25% don't feel rejuvenated after their vacations.

Working while on vacation

Vacations can do wonders for people’s mental health and well-being. <ul><li>People who take vacations are at less risk for cardiovascular problems and other life-shortening factors, like depressive symptoms.</li><li>The level of vacation restfulness is dependent on how we feel before and after our time away from work.</li></ul>

Benefits of vacation

<ul><li>Working during a vacation. Resist peeking at your inbox. Put clear boundaries between your work responsibilities and personal time.</li><li>Keeping your notifications on. Notifications cause worry and distraction, interrupting your peaceful time off.</li><li>Not taking enough time off. Research suggests it takes around a week to feel truly detached from work.</li><li>Neglecting to plan before your vacation. Practice good pre-vacation protocol by meeting most of your vacation week’s deadlines in advance. Set a good out-of-office message.</li></ul>

What to avoid during a vacation

timemanagement

Time Management

travel

Travel

4 things that can ruin the effectiveness of your vacation

An increasing number of workplaces embrace remote work and allow people the flexibility to live where they choose. This cause the employment and living landscape to change drastically. However, pain points occur when company requirements clash with personal autonomy. Employees often can't move for an in-person position due to a spouse's career or cost-of-living restrictions that make certain locations unaffordable. A work-from-anywhere approach can solve this.

A work-from-anywhere approach

A company that allows working from anywhere can hire from anywhere. Employees who work from anywhere tend to show greater company loyalty and higher productivity. However, in the United States, this setup creates tax complexities. It also raises salary questions as some companies adjust compensation to reflect the local cost of living, while others don't.

Companies, not just communities, gain

Ways governments and employers can support the shift to work-from-anywhere.<ul><li>Issue digital nomad visas to attract a global workforce. Digital nomad visas allow tourists to work in a foreign country legally.</li><li>Issue legislation to safeguard remote workers’ rights. New legislation in Portugal protects remote workers by prohibiting employers from contacting employees after hours or remotely monitoring their work.</li><li>Incentivize people to move to lower-profile areas. Work-from-anywhere positions can be a great opportunity for small towns to attract talent and revitalize these towns.</li></ul>

Helping work-from-anywhere succeed

Will professionals still choose cities if they have the option to work from the beach? Research by Prithwiraj Choudhury considers the radical ripple effects of remote work.

In a Work-from-Anywhere World, How Remote Will Workers Go?

When it comes to fair pay for their work, employees should not have to ask or be enough of a go-getter. It is in an employer's best interests to pay people fairly whether or not workers ask for a raise. You want to retain your best people, not leave it up to whether or not they ask for more. Not paying employees fairly opens the door for someone else to entice your best employees away with a better, fairer salary. It also means that you could end up paying lower performers more than your better performers because they asked for it.

Employees should not have to ask to get a raise

The answer: not if you want to retain your strongest workers.

humanresources

Human Resources

Should Employees Have To Ask For A Raise?

If you've ever played with dominoes or have seen them, you know this: It takes a long time to set up the chain, at the precise distance from one another, and with much finesse, until you can finally have that 'payoff' moment where you knock over the first one and get to watch some, or all, of them fall.When we set up this scenario, we know what we're getting ourselves into. Yet, oftentimes, when we are working towards our goals, we expect the entire lineup to be ready, in perfect formation, and for each little rectangular figure to knock down the next and the next with ease in no time flat.

The Dominos Of Life

It is common to try to leap ahead past the quieter joys of setting up each piece, balancing, measuring, creating a system, and finding the peace, presence, and potential to savor that stage in favor of the seeming-grand finale.Focus on the stage where you are.<ul><li>Appreciate that stage for exactly what it is and how it will set you up for the next one.</li><li>When you're ready, look for that first (or next) domino, not the 2nd, 5th, 10th, or 100th down the line. Just the next. </li><li>That's how big progress is made. Through small, incremental steps.</li></ul>

Looking For Shortcuts

In a culture that celebrates unicorns and overnight success, ground yourself in this as you work towards your goals

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

A Story About Momentum And Why Incremental Steps Are The True Key To Hitting Your Goals

Discovering a quick-fix solution can be dangerous for leaders who hope to find success in uncertain times.
However, senior leaders are so busy today that "the fix-it quickly" mentality has unconsciously become the default mindset - as if the current uncertain environment allows a finish line solution.
Yet, there is no quick or lasting fix. Abnormal is the new normal, and the ability to adapt is ongoing.

Leadership Must Change

The Great Resignation caused millions of US employees to quit their jobs, but it is more a symptom of a greater upheaval. <ul><li>Although many attempted to quickly fix it as an anomaly by offering pay increases, titles and other usual fares, the resignations haven't stopped.</li><li>Other executives try to quick fix the resignation by being more open to what employees say they want, such as being more empowered and more seen and heard.</li></ul> However, most leaders neglect that resignations are a symptom of a necessary reshuffling in how they lead in this new abnormal.

The Great Reshuffle

Employees aren't just moving from one job to another. They're shifting priorities around why they work and how and when work is worth it. Monetary reward is just one way they derive value in their work but is no longer the most important. Value includes wellbeing, family and degrees of freedom to obtain the highest net value return. It's a mistake to view how employees calculate "worth it" as a one-time act or related only to pay and promotion. Instead, employees are making the new abnormal core to a new view of what leadership must be: collective, cultural, shared, and dynamic.

The 'Worth It' Calculation

The Great Resignation is just a symptom of a greater awakening: leadership must change

"Fix-It-Quick and Move On" Isn't a Leadership Strategy

Many leaders have had their own efforts and engagement thwarted by micromanagers that they may be wary of repeating the pattern with their direct reports. They use “My door is always open” as code for “I don’t want to micromanage you, but I also don’t want to leave you flailing.” They want to be helpful and supportive, and making themselves available to them is a simple way to do that.

Being Helpful And Always Available At Work

An open-door policy is helpful only if you can actually deliver on its intent. Far too often, we offer an invitation for our colleagues to ask questions or share opinions when it may not be the time or the place. By putting the responsibility on others to approach us rather than us thinking strategically about what they need, we may be under-leading—which can be every bit as harmful as micromanaging.

The Open-Door Policy And It's Limitations

Example: If your sales manager doesn’t know how to use their updated CRM software, they need hands-on, directive instruction to learn how. “Come to me with any questions” isn’t helpful when someone has nothing but questions.How to help instead: Provide them with training, and the time to process the new information. Give them examples of what success looks like, and develop a plan for them to learn and practice their new skills. Anticipate the questions they may have, and check in frequently to give feedback on their progress.

How To Handle: A Colleague Lacks Knowledge, Skills, or Experience for A Task

Example: If your expectation is that your team members comply with the company’s mandate to get vaccinated before they return to the office, telling your employees that your door is always open to questions or concerns about this may be misleading. It may send a signal that this policy is open to discussion or negotiation, which it may not be.How to help instead: Communicate the why behind the decision—and also expect that not everyone will be happy. Let people know what is open to discussion and negotiation.

Compliance Is More Important than Commitment

Example: There’s been a building security breach. Everyone needs to exit the office immediately and gather in the parking lot next door for the next set of instructions. Offering an open-door policy for questions may slow an urgent mandate down when you want people to act now and ask questions later.How to help instead: Make sure your verbal (message), vocal (tone of voice), and visual (body language) cues all match to reflect the gravity or immediacy of the situation. If they don’t match, people are more likely to ignore the content of what you’re saying in favor of visual cues.

When a Decision Needs to Be Made Immediately or There’s a Crisis

We all want to have helpful leaders—and be helpful leaders. Knowing what kind of help to give isn’t as simple as leaving our doors open. It takes a wide range of helpful practices to avoid micromanaging or under-leading.

Bottom Line

It takes a wide range of helpful practices to truly empower your teams for success, this leadership communication expert says.


When your open-door policy is bad leadership

Lifestyle steps may reduce brain disease risks and help to keep your brain and memories sharp. A major 2020 report suggests 12 factors within our control are responsible for up to 40 percent of dementia cases, such as smoking, poor fitness and obesity. Another study found it's never too late to make key lifestyle changes to see brain benefits.

Increasing your brain power 

Keeping an eye on your overall health is key for brain health.<ul><li>Watch these health numbers. Monitor and manage your blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar levels. Diseases like hypertension and type 2 diabetes damage small blood vessels in the brain and affect thinking and memory.</li><li>If you often have difficulty following a group conversation, go for a hearing exam. </li><li>Get good sleep. When you're asleep, your brain goes into housekeeping mode and cleans out toxins.</li><li>Have your meds reviewed at least once a year. </li><li>Depression and chronic anxiety may make people more vulnerable to dementia as they age.</li></ul>

5 Brain health tactics

<ol><li>Smoking: Current smokers are 34 percent more likely to develop dementia in later life.</li><li>Junk food. Highly processed foods and those high in saturated fat, like red meat and full-fat dairy increase inflammation in the body, including your brain.</li><li>Too much alcohol. Research shows that heavy drinking can kill brain neurons and accelerate memory loss.</li><li>Air pollution may be toxic to nerve cells. Consider restricting outdoor activites in low quality air, avoid high-taffic areas while exercising and keep rooms wellventilated at home.</li></ol>

4 Things that are hard on your brain

Consume a mix of nutrient-packed foods, not one superfood.<ul><li>Choose flavonoids. A half-serving of apples, berries and pears may curb inflammation and cell damage.</li><li>Be careful with supplements as they may contain unapproved drugs.</li><li>Dark leafy greens may delay age-related cognitive decline.</li><li>Consider the Big 3. Meals that are 1/2 produce, 1/4 lean protein, and 1/4 whole grain with some fat.</li><li>Drinking 2 to 3 cups of coffee plus the same amount of tea daily can reduce dementia and stroke by 30 percent.</li><li>2 -3 weekly servings of fatty fish like salmon, tuna, and sardines may lower the chance of dementia.</li></ul>

Eat for brain strength

Fuzzy thinking and poor focus can be caused by anything from a sluggish thyroid to a vitamin 12 deficiency, or after recovery from COVID-19. If you suspect your cognitive fogginess is related to coronavirus, consider a neuropsychological evaluation at a post-COVID-19 recovery clinic. You may be a candidate for cognitive rehabilitation therapy to improve your memory.

Beating brain fog

Regular aerobic exercise boosts blood flow to your brain.<ul><li>Adults should get 150 weekly minutes of moderately intense exercise, such as 30 minutes of brisk walking five times a week.</li><li>Consider Yoga or Tai Chi. The unfamiliar moves can help your brain create new neural pathways.</li><li>Take a dance lesson. A study showed that older adults who danced several times a week showed less loss of the brain's white matter.</li><li>Lift some weights twice weekly for 30 to 45 minutes to help the brain's hippocampus from shrinking with age.</li></ul>

Exercise

<ul><li>Make Learning a Lifelong Pursuit. Trying new activities and building new skills throughout life may also help to reduce the risk of cognitive decline.</li><li>Retire a little later. A study suggested that working until age 67 or later may offer a buffer against age-related cognitive problems.</li><li>Focus on simple acts. Everyday activities like letter writing, reading, playing board games, mowing the lawn or doing laundry may be good for the brain, a 2021 study shows.</li><li>Hang out with friends.</li><li>Practising relaxation like meditation may help curb brain problems.</li></ul>

Keep your brain engaged

It's normal to occasionally misplace something. However, see a doctor if you notice that you have a regular pattern of one or more of the following: <ul><li>Asking the same question repeatedly, especially with behaviour changes.</li><li>Mixing up words, such as saying “radio” instead of “TV.”</li><li>Placing items in inappropriate places, like car keys in the fridge. </li><li>Getting lost while driving to places you know well.</li><li>Experiencing mood changes for no apparent reason.</li></ul>

More than forgetfulness

health

Health

scienceandnature

Science & Nature

It's Not Too Late. You Can Boost Your Brainpower at Any Age.

With a virtual farewell party, you’ve got to have some activities planned, or you’ll end up with 20 faces blinking at each other expectantly from their Zoom boxes. <ul><li>One fail-safe activity is a quiz about the departing co-worker: questions about projects they worked on, the name of their dog, what instrument they play in their punk-rock band, etc.</li><li>It’s also a good idea to ask at least one person to give a toast (typically the departing colleague’s manager or another higher-up who knows them pretty well), and to give the person who’s leaving a chance to say a few words if they’d like. </li></ul>

The best activities for a remote farewell party

When a departing colleague has been at the organization for a while, it can be fun to invite former co-workers to the farewell, too.It turns the Zoom gathering into a mini-reunion, as well as a sort of retrospective This Is Your Life moment. Even if they can’t attend, they may be able to share stories or tributes about the departing colleague that can be included in a goodbye card or read aloud during a Zoom call.

Inviting alumni to company parties

<ul><li>A fond farewell lets the person who’s leaving the company know how much they’ve been appreciated, and affirms that the parting is on good terms.</li><li>The decision to leave a job can be kind of like a birthday—a moment when we take stock of our lives and do a lot of existential pondering. In both cases, a celebration can help people feel supported at a time when they may be a bit vulnerable.</li><li>A party gives people who still work at the company an opportunity to feel a sense of closure, too. Some people may feel quite sad when a co-worker they’re close to leaves; others may worry about their future.</li></ul>

Why it’s important to throw goodbye parties for co-workers

Managers can consider the work that goes into throwing goodbye parties (and doing other tasks that contribute to a convivial workplace culture) when determining promotions and raises.They can assign office parties to an employee-focused on internal talent as part of their formal job description. Or they can ask different people to take charge of farewell parties on a rotating basis, so the work doesn’t fall disproportionately on just one or two employees.

Recognizing the work that goes into a goodbye party

Virtual goodbye parties can be tricky to manage. But as more people switch jobs, knowing how to organize a proper sendoff for departing colleagues is an important skill.

Is this the end of work friends? - The Hustle

The employee surveillance that fuels worker distrust

4 things that can ruin the effectiveness of your vacation

In a Work-from-Anywhere World, How Remote Will Workers Go?

Should Employees Have To Ask For A Raise?

Valentina M.