What CEOs are missing by trying to get workers back to the office

There’s been a surge of labor action in the past year, with high-profile strikes and threatened strikes among Hollywood writers and actors, Starbucks baristas, truck drivers, auto workers and more. Workers are pushing back in other ways, too: Many are trading up for better jobs, while others (like some women with caregiving responsibilities and some older workers) are simply leaving the workforce. Clearly, there’s a widespread desire for more voice and better treatment on the job. READ MORE

Why aren’t employers delivering the EX employees want?

Given ongoing turnover troubles, many employers have turned to a longtime retention strategy: giving employees more money.

It’s not a new approach. For instance, pre-pandemic, Salesforce trotted out annual bonuses that averaged $39,959, while Meta’s annual bonuses averaged $33,225 pre-pandemic. However, their average retention sits at only 23 and 25 months, respectively, according to a Paysa blog post. READ MORE

Why the performance review is dying out—including at companies like Apple and Microsoft

Performance reviews are commonplace at big companies, and in theory enable managers to give detailed acknowledgment and constructive criticism. But in reality they do more harm than good because employees focus on impressing their manager rather than on performance per se. Microsoft made this problem worse with a stack ranking system, in which managers graded people on a bell curve, each grade going to a fixed number of employees.

As one employee remembered, “If you were on a team of ten people, you walked in the first day knowing that no matter how good everyone was, two people were going to get a great review, seven were going to get mediocre reviews, and one was going to get a terrible review. . . . It leads to employees focusing on competing with each other rather than competing with other companies.” Another described sabotage, either open and direct or subtly withholding just enough information to keep colleagues from getting ahead in the rankings. Without trust, managers could not influence anyone. READ MORE

Rehiring ‘boomerang’ employees? What to consider first

The concept of “boomerang” employees—who leave and eventually return to their ex-employers—is certainly not brand new, but in the pandemic’s aftermath, the idea is getting more traction with both workers and employers. And, experts say, to take advantage of this growing trend, HR needs to be proactive and strategic.

Recent research from LinkedIn on the phenomenon found that, in 2021, boomeranging accounted for 4.3% of all job switches; in 2010, it was less than 2%. Also, workers are coming back more quickly: Now, the average time for U.S. boomerang hires is 17.3 months after employees leave; it was 21.8 months in 2010. READ MORE

AI skills most sought by employers

Employers are increasingly looking for workers who are skilled in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools and new research from Upwork sheds light on what AI skills companies are searching and hiring for.

Upwork found that from Jan. 1 to June 30, 2023, companies’ top search term related to generative AI was ChatGPT, the generative AI chatbot made by OpenAI. It was followed by BERT, an open-source language model, and Stable Diffusion which generates images based on a user’s text input. READ MORE

Unlimited PTO: A better deal for employers than workers?

The concept of unlimited PTO is not altogether new. But according to some reports, it is enjoying somewhat of a post-COVID resurgence.

Bank of America’s Mid-Sized Business Owner report, for example, found that nearly 40% of mid-sized businesses are meeting today’s recruiting and retention challenges by increasing vacation and paid time off—benefits that topped offerings like cost-of-living bonuses, enhanced healthcare benefits and improved retirement packages. When upping PTO and other related benefits, a significant amount (78%) of mid-sized businesses surveyed reported a boost in employee morale and retention rates. READ MORE

How to Use Workplace Culture as a Springboard Toward a Smooth and Profitable Exit

Many founders looking to sell their businesses consider offers from private equity firms, which typically buy out most of an owner's stake while giving them a piece of the restructured organization, incentivizing them to fully participate in its transition and scale. These founders are in a unique position to help maximize the future value of their companies by supporting a critical aspect of their evolutions that most private equity firms don't sufficiently prioritize. READ MORE

Historic Supreme Court case could imperil the entire US tax code

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear one of the most important tax cases in history, which could either greenlight the constitutionality of an economically disastrous wealth tax, or destroy critical parts of the U.S. tax system.

Unless the justices take a middle road and define the 16th Amendment according to the history and traditions of the U.S. tax system, the case will result in bad law and worse outcomes. READ MORE

Small businesses using AI are loving it

Artificial intelligence has been used by big businesses for years, but the buzz over generative tools like ChatGPT that are available to everyone has drawn the attention of small businesses. And nearly all those utilizing the technology are seeing a boost, according to fresh data.

Survey results released Wednesday by Constant Contact found 91% of small business owners using AI say it has made their companies more successful, and more than a quarter (28%) of those respondents said they expect it to save them at least $5,000 over the next year. READ MORE

Oil and food prices are rising, and so are wages. Inflation isn’t beaten yet

The fight against the steep price rises unleashed by the pandemic and war in Ukraine has been long and painful, with central banks hiking interest rates at a scorching pace to try to cool inflation.

Some — like the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank — have started to signal that they will soon end their cycle of rate rises, and investors have been only too eager to call the end of the campaign, driving stocks higher as a consequence. READ MORE

Moody's downgrades US banks, warns of possible cuts to major lenders

Moody’s cut the credit ratings of several small and mid-sized banks and warned it may downgrade a handful of major Wall Street lenders.

The agency said late Monday that it lowered the ratings of 10 banks by one notch amid concerns over higher interest rates, rising funding costs and increased risk from the commercial real estate sector. Among the firms that had their ratings cut are M&T Bank, Pinnacle Financial, BOK Financial, Webster Financial, Old National Bancorp and Fulton Financial. READ MORE

Most financial services execs who work from home would quit if required to return to the office

Financial services firms taking a hard line on forcing workers back to the office could find themselves having trouble retaining managers and attracting new ones, according to new data.

Deloitte's latest survey of executives at U.S. financial services institutions released Tuesday found 66% of respondents who either work from home full-time or have a hybrid schedule said they would leave their job if required to return to the office five days a week. READ MORE

A new poll reveals what Americans fear about AI taking their jobs

The explosive launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in November 2022 has put the artificial intelligence or AI conversation into overdrive. As we sort through potential ramifications of advanced AI applications, the impact on jobs is at the top of the list.  
 
In July, two significant reports on AI job displacement were released. On July 11, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development reported, "27% of jobs are in occupations at high-risk of automation." READ MORE

The Four-Day Workweek Gets Shorter With Practice, Companies Find

Findings from one of the largest experiments with a four-day workweek offers new ballast for people hoping to adopt the same schedule: The longer people worked in new, more efficient ways, the shorter their workweeks became.

The results come from a series of four-day-workweek trials conducted in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Ireland over the past 18 months. Dozens of companies ranging from design agencies to manufacturers and nonprofits tested the four-day concept, an approach that is gaining traction as employers and employees rethink the traditional ways of work. Workers were given a paid day off a week but the same workload to see whether they could get as much done working more effectively.  READ MORE

Craftsman factory in Texas shows challenges of reshoring manufacturing

The unsuccessful effort to launch a highly-automated factory for Craftsman tools in the U.S. underscores the challenges American businesses face in bringing manufacturing back from overseas.

Craftsman, the world’s largest tool brand, owned by Stanley Black & Decker, initially announced in 2019 that it would build a $90 million facility employing up to 500 workers in Fort Worth, Texas. The effort was viewed as an opportunity to showcase Craftsman products being "Made in the U.S.A." with cutting-edge manufacturing technologies to make the automated factory competitive with overseas facilities that use more manual processes.  READ MORE