What longer careers mean for individuals, employers | Recognizing employees' emotions to keep burnout at bay | Done right, deliberate hybrid models boost productivity
Today's young people may live longer than previous generations, meaning that they could spend 60-plus years in the labor force. This shift has significant implications for individuals, who will have to ensure they have sufficient income to last throughout their lives, and for employers, which may have to adapt by offering more flexible career paths. Full Story: The Wall Street Journal (2/12)
5 Things You Can Do to Retain High Performers A paycheck and a "thank you" are important and great – but there's a lot more you can do to retain your best and brightest people. Check out our latest blog post for five tips, and explore the big role learning can play.
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Recruiting & Retention
Recognizing employees' emotions to keep burnout at bay Many employees are experiencing strong emotions driven by factors such as ongoing economic uncertainty and the continued impact of the pandemic, which can contribute to burnout and disengagement. It is important for managers to recognize these emotions, and these 10 strategies can help them practice empathy. Full Story: Harvard Business Review (tiered subscription model) (2/10)
Helping workers who are also caregivers Employers, here's a way to show your support for workers who are also family caregivers. The on-demand Prepare to Care Workshop offers tips and resources and can make caring for a loved one more manageable. Ask your employees to register today.
Situps, crunches aren't the only route to a strong core Developing a strong set of core muscles can boost your performance in sports and make everyday life more comfortable by reducing injury risk, improving stability and posture and mitigating pain. Many people think exercises such as situps and crunches are necessary to create a strong core, but some fitness experts also recommend side planks, dead bugs, dead lifts, squats, pushups and techniques that incorporate rotation. Full Story: The New York Times (2/8)
Benefits & Compensation
Proactive efforts can help reduce "quiet quitting" Gallup research suggests that the "quiet quitting" trend has more to do with employers not connecting, communicating expectations or offering growth opportunities than it does with a lack of employee motivation, writes Shandon Fowler, vice president of product marketing at Alegeus. Fowler suggests employers can address the situation by offering helpful benefits such as health savings, flexible spending and lifestyle spending accounts, personalizing benefits to align with individual needs, giving employees a voice in benefit plan choices, and providing educational resources to help staff members increase their knowledge. Full Story: BenefitsPRO (free registration) (2/9)
The HR Leader
To succeed as a leader, fix your "first line of code" If your "first line of code" is broken -- meaning if your mindset is negative -- you'll struggle as a leader because you'll keep sabotaging yourself before you reach success, says professor and consultant Jamie Turner. "So manage the input to make sure what you put in your brain is appropriate, good, healthy, positive, optimistic ... then ultimately over the course of time you'll see your life getting better and better on both the personal side and the business side," Turner says. Full Story: Deliberate Directions (2/9)
POLL QUESTION: On this day in 1920, a group of baseball team owners met to create the Negro National League. Where did that meeting take place? Check your answer here.
“I went down.” My stomach went cold. My roommate, Ray, was riding home yesterday on the freeway when a driver cut him off. He hit his front brakes to avoid colliding with the car and his bike went down. He banged his hip, ribs and knees. He was wearing my helmet and it was dinged up, he said. “I owe you a new helmet,” he told me, trying to joke it off. I dismissed his words and inspected his knee and ribs carefully. He could tell I was worried and tried to divert my attention. “The gym’s paying off,” he said, pushing his pant leg down. Apparently, after he hit the ground, he stayed there for a few seconds to calm himself. When he knew he was safe to stand, he pushed himself off the ground, grabbed his bike and hauled it back upright. I was stunned. The push up alone, given his scraped hands and sore body was impressive. But his bike is nearly 800 pounds. Even though it wasn’t flat on the ground -- thank God for crash bars -- it’s still very heavy. Thankfully, he was able to grab his handlebars, get leverage under the bike and squat it back to a standing position. “I’m telling you, legs and core paid off,” he said. He’s right. A strong core matters, as we see in our Health & Wellness story today. It’s our power source, according to Jenny Marder. “It’s in the core that forces are transferred from the legs to the upper body, adding oomph to a tennis serve or allowing you to hit a softball out of the infield,” she writes. Investing in your core will always pay off. And not just for rigorous activities. My job has me sitting for hours on end and that affects my body. Working on my core helps improve my posture, supports my lower back and just makes me feel better overall. I’ll take that all day long. What about you? Do you prioritize working on your core? Let me know! And if you enjoy this brief, tell others so they can benefit also.
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