TalentCulture #WorkTrends

Communication and innovation. Two very important words for any company looking to succeed. Without a good set of ears to the ground and a workplace that promotes creative thinking, it's difficult, if not impossible, to stay ahead of the competition and deliver successfully to customers. So why do so many companies lack these two essential aspects in their business model? Practicing good communication and embracing the critical need for innovation are not always easy. They require throwing away archaic thinking and adopting new ways to view your business model, which means accepting change, and we all know change is not an easy ask for most people. So, what path does that lead many of us down? The path of least resistance, which means accepting what is versus working towards what can be.

Disruption and chaos. When most people hear these two words, they automatically think of trouble. However, researchers and scientists are finding that disruption and chaos are found at the epicenter of innovation and change and for the better. This state of flux allows us to re-examine our points of view and consider adjusting what we know to what may be a better way of doing things. As it is with human nature, we tend to only accept change at those times when we are at our lowest points and will move away from "the way we've always done it" to "we need to change things, because this no longer works." During difficult times, such as economic downturns, people should re-evaluate making a change and using disruption and chaos as an opportunity to embrace and accept the value of what the potential outcomes can be.

The words flexible work conditions can be defined in many ways, depending on who you ask. What appears to be a flexible work environment for one person may not be for another. So, in thinking about the word flexible in the context of the workplace, is it a case of what's being offered to employees in the way of perks or benefits or the employer's culture? We think it's both. Without a culture that propagates collaboration, open-mindedness, and transparency, flexible work options are not likely to exist. When organizations attempt to bring programs into cultures that have not been primed with a solid foundation to support the programs, they most always fail. This holds true when incorporating benefits or perceived flexible options into a workplace unable to sustain in the long haul or can only weakly accommodate present and future employees.

2020 started a worldwide tsunami of turmoil with 2021 continuing the havoc of a pandemic and the insurmountable issues that accompany it. In this mix is the current state of the workforce and the toll the turmoil has taken on employers and employees. Many employees have been forced to relocate their workspaces into areas previously used as home space. This along with the isolation of working remotely and adjusting to a new "normal" has taken a toll on many people. With this in mind, employers need to step up and be supportive in ways that may not have been a priority in the past. Health and wellness has come to light as a priority and with that technologies that support in this way have been called upon to up their game with advanced ways of accessing health and wellness assistance. This uptick in demand has drawn the attention of employers and forced them to re-evaluate their current wellness benefits in lieu of advanced technology and more encompassing wellness programs.

In general, women have had insurmountable obstacles to hurdle in the workplace, and the current state of the world has only added more challenges. According to the 2020 McKinsey & Company Women in the Workplace report, researchers discovered that working women fared poorly under the challenges of Covid-19. They further report that women of color fared the worst of all, suffering from layoffs and furloughs. In addition, they followed the trend of female mobility in the workplace, and based on their findings, upward mobility for women was no better in 2020 than in 2015. The bigger picture here is that lack of upward mobility, equal pay, which is still an issue when compared to male counterparts, suppression to be allowed a strong voice, and inflexibility to recognize the need for diverse opinions are all major factors in employee retention.

In addition to many working individuals and families still figuring out childcare during a pandemic, another serious issue has arisen. As the U.S. life expectancy rises, more and more people face caring for an aging relative and balancing childcare needs while working as full-time employees. According to an article in HR Executive, "61% of working caregivers said helping loved ones has impacted their employment situation, and 53% reported going in late, leaving early, or taking time off to accommodate care." This means that over half of the working population struggles to work while providing care to loved ones. The mental stress and added duties take their toll, with some people leaving the workforce entirely to be an elder caregiver.

Emotional intelligence sounds like a buzzword, but it's far from that. It's a critical skill that lays the foundation for other important skills like empathy, kindness, listening, communicating, connecting, and influencing to be present and fully used with intentional purpose. When it comes to leadership, emotional intelligence is taking center stage, with many organizations, as a major consideration at hiring and promotion times. Going hand-in-hand with emotional intelligence is the ability to show presentism. Presentism opens the mind and allows one to focus on the immediate situation and people in the moment. It's an ability to focus on one's own emotions, reactions, and moods, along with recognizing these traits in others. So, basically, by learning and practicing emotional intelligence, we learn to be good observers of our own surroundings and the people we come into contact with every day.

The world of work is rapidly changing. Employment laws and what constitutes a "gig" or on-demand worker are a work in process, as is how the workforce is pivoting to integrate on-demand workers into their hiring and workflows. Benefits, worker protection and wages are under scrutiny but are likewise an acceptable trade-off for many on-demand workers given the flexible and desirable nature of gig work. One of the factors leading to why the nature of the gig worker remains clearly undefined is that it lacks a firm definition. This gray area means that employers cannot set forth well-defined policies and protections when hiring gig workers. Given the rise in demand for gig workers, lawmakers are working with employers on a local and national level to define and qualify what constitutes an on-demand worker and what employers also need to know to protect themselves from litigation. However, conclusive data about the on-demand workforce, mostly at the state level, remains undefined.

According to the US Chamber of Commerce, introverts have skills and behaviors that make them a great business owner. They possess good listening skills, pay attention to details with greater concern, and are thoughtful before speaking with their opinions. They also have a reputation for being strong leaders because of their ability to really listen and to bestow credit where it belongs. In the business world, they blend well into online communication venues such as chats and groups where people share opinions and offer advice. They mesh best with more outgoing people than themselves, and when introverts and extroverts collaborate, the results are generally good because the results gain the benefits of both sides' strengths.

Today I'm welcoming Ed Thompson, CEO / Founder, Uptimize to talk about an aspect of diversity in the workforce we probably need to focus on a lot more — and that's neurodiversity. Whatever workplace you're in, it's more than likely you've got a whole range of different thinking styles on your teams. But too often, they're not all appreciated — let alone recognized. We do know, however, that diverse teams are far more effective and innovative — and diversity of thought is a big component in that. We'll be talking about how neurodiversity enhances your teams and your work styles — and why it's time to embrace the fact that we're all wired differently — and find ways to best support that.