Is the feedback sandwich truly tasty -- or distasteful? | Are you "quiet quitting" on your employees? Quit it! | Hired a winner? Feature them on social media
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Restructure work around employees' peak times Productivity peaks for more than a quarter of Generation Z workers between 6 p.m. and 3 a.m., but the business world has been built around daytime hours, according to research. Employers should update processes, implement the right tools and trust younger employees, most of whom say they would leave a job over schedule and location flexibility. Full Story: Fortune (tiered subscription model) (4/25)
Is the feedback sandwich truly tasty -- or distasteful? Some experts call the feedback sandwich -- the old trick of layering unpleasant feedback between two pieces of good feedback -- manipulative and anxiety-provoking, while another suggests the good outer edges make the yucky middle bit all the more distasteful, communication expert Jezra Kaye writes. "It's nice to think that a formula like the feedback sandwich is going to make this easier. But maybe the real trick is saying what needs to be said in a way that's direct but not unkind," Kaye writes. Full Story: Speak Up for Success (4/19)
Many companies are "quiet quitting" on their employees by pulling back on pandemic-induced perks such as flexible work schedules and cultural changes focusing on wellbeing and other policies and benefits, which, writes Josie CEO Michelle Yu, can backfire on leaders. "As employers reassess what they're offering employees, the smart ones will recognize how critical it is to move forward in a way that strengthens, rather than weakens, their relationship with their talent," Yu writes. Full Story: Charter (4/25)
Business travel will likely never reach pre-pandemic levels, with the share of US travelers who take business trips still 18 percentage points lower than in a typical year before COVID-19, according to a Morning Consult report. Among the reasons cited in this report and other studies are a cutback in company expenses leading to fewer trips or more local travel, ongoing reliance on Zoom and Google Meet calls and a growing reluctance among Americans to go on business trips. Full Story: Forbes (tiered subscription model) (4/24)
The office aids career development, study suggests Remote work arrangements involve trade-offs for staff, with younger workers receiving less feedback and potentially being more likely to quit, according to research focusing on engineers by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the University of Iowa and Harvard. The findings suggest that the office environment can play a key role in the career development of white-collar knowledge workers. Full Story: The New York Times (4/24)
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British chemist Rosalind Franklin died before the Nobel Prize in Medicine was given for the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA, but new revelations suggest Franklin would have deserved a portion of that prize if she had lived long enough (nominees have to be alive at the time the prize is awarded). One of the scientists who shared that prize, James Watson, claims he noticed the double helix in one of Franklin's X-rays before she did, but that claim has been debunked by newly discovered letters. Recommendation: I recently read "Her Hidden Genius," Marie Benedict's historical fiction take on Rosalind Franklin's life, published last year. -- Janet Connor Kahler, editor of Your Career Full Story: Live Science (4/25)
SmartBrief Podcast Network
Pivot Energy's Peters: The basics of community solar Kacie Peters, senior director of communications at Pivot Energy, outlines the basics of community solar and highlights the momentum this segment of the renewables industry is enjoying. Peters also discusses some of the challenges the sector is facing -- including "astroturfing" -- and details how more consumers and business owners can access community solar to power their homes and/or operations. Full Story: Renewable Energy SmartPod (4/20)
SmartBreak: Question of the Day
In the sport of cricket, what is a "sticky wicket"? Check your answer here.
