In this video, Melissa Riberio, a diversity champion, and leader, indulges us in a quick question and answer session on various topics related to work and the future of work.
If you’re seeking out for a new job or even a veteran in your industry it’s time reassess your career. The reason for this that the American dream which promised that hard work opportunity will lead you to enjoy a better life is slowly ending. According to science.org while 90% of people born in the 1940s achieved higher wages and standard of living than their parents, only 50% of millennials born in the 1980s experienced the same. Today the situation is such that no matter how hard you work you will not you will not be able to have the life or the wealth your parents enjoyed because there’s just not enough wealth going around.
But surely, US has prospered over the years and is still the richest country in the world. So you may wonder who are the beneficiaries of this? The short answer is the few high profile, high performing executives who’re of “high value” to companies. Between 1978 and 2020 wages of these executives have risen by 1,322% while in the same period the average employee wage has grown by only 18%. The middle class on t日本藤素he backs of whom America stood is now breaking.
Although companies are attempting to bring in flatter organizations there isn’t enough time for these structural changes to take place. Employees must take it upon themselves to act before they’re completely dispensable to organizations. They need to look around for the latest trends and formulate their strategy based on their assessment of where the future of work is heading.
The BLS has put together a report of the lists of the fastest-growing jobs and careers along with how much they pay. Let’s look at the list and see what we can draw from this compelling read:
Wind turbine service technicians: $56,230
Nurse practitioners: $111,680
Solar photovoltaic installers: $46,470
Statisticians: $92,270
Physical therapist assistants: $59,770
Information security analysts: $103,590
Home health and personal care aides: $27,080
Medical and health services managers: $104,280
Data scientists and mathematical science occupations, all other: $98,230
Crematory operators and personal care and service workers, all other: $28,420
Operations research analysts: $86,200
Actuaries: $111,030
Health specialties teachers, postsecondary: $99,090
Forest fire inspectors and prevention specialists: $42,150
Interpreters and translators: $52,330
Athletic trainers: $49,860
Respiratory therapists: $62,810
Substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors: $47,660
Food preparation and serving related workers, all other: $27,080
Nursing instructors and teachers, postsecondary: $75,470
Woodworkers, all other: $33,630
Phlebotomists: $36,320
Software developers and software quality assurance analysts and testers: $110,140
From a quick over view of this report here are the sectors that hold bright prospects for the future: leisure and hospitality, healthcare and social assistance sector, Technological (hence Computer and mathematical occupations, statisticians, information security analysts and data scientists) and environmentally friendly initiatives.
Today the situation is such that no matter how hard you work you will not you will not be able to have the life or the wealth your parents enjoyed because there’s just not enough wealth going around.
One important point that needs to be highlighted in this report also is that employment in US is predicted to grow “153.5 million to 165.4 million over the 2020–30 decade, an increase of 11.9 million jobs.” So there isn’t going to be job starvation but who will be prepared to take up these jobs is the question still to be answered.
In the world of gig/flex and wfh world how do coaches and managers inspire employees in relationship development?
In this video, the author of Influencing Up, gives us some hacks to deal with some of the most obvious biases we witness in the workplace. The second half of the video attempts to define workplace conflict with tips to deal with it.
Like in the case of any other economic theory there is no shortage of muddled up ideas about competitive advantage.
In this video, Ram Charan, co-author of the bestselling Execution and Confronting Reality, breaks some of the myths and misconceptions about competitive advantage. He also gives up a few tips on how businesses can remain competitive during crisis times.
Attracting and retaining skilled employees continues to be a massive challenge for companies. They’re trying to make the employee experience better by monitory incentives, provide better work life balance, increasing engagement and changing its work culture but still productivity in the United States is growing by only 1% every year. So what really is the cure?
The reality is that every employee understands that these employee well being programs, bonuses and incentives are only bandages placed on a very deep wound. The wound of debts and the fight for survival in a world that is getting increasingly unaffordable. The few dollars that are being invested for the employees are paltry in comparison to the fat salaries of the executives. Today the salary of a CEO is 320 times higher than their typical workers. And this gap is only widening further. Companies lure you by showing you that posh corner office but the truth is that there is lack of leadership grooming within companies and it’s more likely that external hiring may take over internal promotion.
In such a state of affairs a maverick CEO of Gravity Payments named Dan Price did something that was unprecedented. In 2016 he decided to keep a minimum salary 70000$/year for every employee. This meant doubling salaries of most employees. Experts called this a crazy socialist move which was destined for failure. But it’s now been five years and the companies still alive and thriving. They have now tripled their workforce and all the employees are still getting a base salary of 70000$.
This idea came to him while he was talking to one of his friend who was struggling to pay his bills despite earning $40,000 annually. Dan then decided that 70000$ is the amount to live a comfortable life in Seattle. This decision came with a cost. He had to cut his own salary by 1.1 million dollars, mortgage his two houses and break his stock and savings.
The reality is that every employee understands that these employee well being programs, bonuses and incentives are only bandages placed on a very deep wound. The wound of debts and the fight for survival in a world that is getting increasingly unaffordable.
The outcome of this was that he had more loyal and dedicated workforce whose lives got better. They could not only pay their bills but live but thrive. More and more employees are having babies (60 of them) and the number of employees buying homes has gone up tenfold. In an interview with CBS News, Dan says “Our turnover rate was cut in half, so when you have employees staying twice as long, their knowledge of how to help our customers skyrocketed over time and that’s really what paid for the raise more so than my pay cut.”
During the pandemic Gravity Payments lost 55% of its business the staff volunteered to take a temporary paycut to ensure continuity of business. And now when business as bounced back, the employees have not only returned to their normal salaries but are being given back the money they had given up. The employees aware of the sacrifices their boss made for them have now chipped in and bought a new Tesla car as a sign of gratitude. Dan exclaims “My employees have done way more for me than I could ever do for them.”
According to Deloitte the cost of losing one employee can range from tens of thousands of dollars to 1.5-2X their annual salary. It’s true that increasing the salary isn’t going to solve the employee loyalty issue but certainly if they made a true attempt to understand and empathize with staff members the dangerous job hopping trend can be reversed.
Sometimes the most honest answers come from spontaneity.
In this video, Teressa Roche, CHRO @ City Of Fort Collins gives us candid answers in a snappy question and answer session revolving around various work-related topics.
There’s a fine balance between being resilient and casting aside one’s pride and embracing failure. Failure may be terrible for individual entrepreneurs but perhaps beneficial for larger systems to have small failures and learn from it.
In this video, Thomas Eisenmann, author of the new book “Why Startups Fail” talks about his second point in his book which is called “cascading miracles”. He also diagnoses failure and the various mistakes and misfortunes linked to it.
Since our school years we’ve been trained to think of the Darwinian theory of “survival of the fittest”. We grow up in an individualistic society where every individual is supposed to take care of himself/herself. This lifestyle is further encouraged once we step into the workplace. We knowingly or unknowingly step on each other to climb the corporate ladder. However the recent trends suggest that perhaps we were wrong all this while and there is an urgent need for change. The cut throat business environments are now shifting their focus to a more humane workspace.
When we think of the Darwinian Theory, we think of nature. Nature is often the inspiration for so many theories and inventions. Maybe it’s time we look at nature again to get a hint of what our future workplaces could look like.
Peter Wohlleben, a German forester and author, writes in his book “The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate” explains how a forest is like a family of trees, young and old, communicating, helping and living with one another in harmony. Here are a few lessons we can take away from trees.
our survival is not about the fittest but about the most well connected
Working together
Wohlleben points at two massive naked, winter stricken, beech trees standing next to each other. He says they’re old friends who do not encroach in each other’s space but “they are very considerate in sharing the sunlight, and their root systems are closely connected. In cases like this, when one dies, the other usually dies soon afterward, because they are dependent on each other.”
Protect each other
The main topic of conversation among trees appears to be about alarms and distress. In the dusty savannas of sub-Saharan Africa, when a giraffe begins to chew on the wide-crowned umbrella thorn acacia leaves, the tree sensing an injury lets out a distress signal in the form of a gas. The surrounding acacias detect the gas and start pumping tannins into their leaves. Tannin can sicken or even kill large mammals. The giraffe aware of this does not move on to the next tree.
Help the fallen
Wohlleben remembers an incident when once he noticed a felled tree about 400 to 500 years old. On closer inspection, when he scraped away the surface with his pen knife, he found the stump still green and alive. Trees refuse to give up on their dead and wounded. They continue to feed them in their fallen state for years together.
Mentoring/Nurturing
Suzanne Simard, a professor of forest ecology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, talks about the concept of a “mother trees”. Mother trees are not necessarily female but they’re the oldest and biggest trees in a forest. They play a protective and nurturing role for the younger trees around. Since they have the deepest roots, they have access to more water and nutrients to feed those that are struggling. Furthermore, they also protect lesser trees during windstorms, ice storms, lightning strikes, wildfires, floods, draughts, diseases and various other attacks.
Can we be more like trees? Can we use our stature, our experience to nurture others and not trample on them? Can we protect others from dangers, rather than being helpless observers to the suffering around? Can we feel deep down in our heart that in our roots we’re all connected, that our survival is not about the fittest but about the most well connected.
As more and more businesses are adopting AI for various uses, it’s important to constantly be grounded in the essential idea of what AI was meant for.
In this video, Ash Fontana, author of “AI-First Company” defines in a few words the concept of AI and how it is being used to solve and industrial and commercial problems today.
The role of PR is no longer just a branch of the marketing team. It has undergone tremendous changes in the past two decades with the advent of technology.
In this video, Sabrina Horn, author of “Make It, Don’t Fake It”, talks to us about the evolution of PR and what are some of the common pitfalls when it comes to a business’s understanding of PR.
For professionals seeking to re-enter the workforce after a career break, returnships offer a compelling alternative to entry-level positions. Unlike traditional internships or entry-level...
