ADP: Private payrolls added 103K jobs last month | Report: Gen Z will overtake baby boomers in the workforce | Forrester: EX winter is upon us, which means employees could be out
Private payrolls added 103,000 workers last month, below the downwardly revised tally for October and short of the 128,000 Dow Jones estimate, according to ADP. Annual pay increased 5.6%, the smallest amount since September 2021, ADP said. Full Story: CNBC (12/6)
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Recruiting & Retention
Report: Gen Z will overtake baby boomers in the workforce A recent Glassdoor trend forecast report says Generation Z will make up a larger portion of the US workforce than baby boomers for the first time in 2024, with "sweeping implications," according to Glassdoor chief economist Aaron Terrazas. "This is the tail end of the Boomers, this transformative generation for work in the workplace. They are being replaced by very different people who prioritize different expectations around work." Full Story: CNBC (12/5)
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RBP plans are of growing interest to employers Reference-based pricing plans let benefit sponsors select a pricing model that will be reimbursed to plan enrollees instead of the "charge master-down" discounts common in carrier-based models. Tom Wittik of Imagine360 says RBP plans are becoming increasingly attractive to employers, but they are not necessarily applicable to every situation. Full Story: BenefitsPRO (free registration) (12/5)
Technology
Virtual meetings' effectiveness could soar with AI Great meetings require meaningful engagement, actionable outcomes and the fostering of diversity and inclusiveness -- and generative AI soon will be able to help us achieve these things, suggests Dash Bibhudatta, the founder of Infinite Possibilities. Bibhudatta envisions more effective communication and meetings if videoconferencing systems are enhanced with personalized content. Full Story: Harvard Business Review (tiered subscription model) (11/29)
The HR Leader
Want more productive employees? Give them blank time Data show that employees feel productive -- if they're not attending too many meetings -- but bosses still worry, especially over their remote employees, writes Anne Helen Petersen, who says the solution is encouraging "blank time" -- uninterrupted periods for creativity and downtime so work quality improves. "You can obsess over what your employees are doing -- tracking their online movements, calling more meetings, enforcing arbitrary in-office times -- or you can be thoughtful and expansive about what habits foster good work," Petersen notes. Full Story: Substack/Culture Study (12/6)
SmartBreak: Question of the Day
The creation of Kingsford charcoal is intertwined with what industrial giant?
On any given week, I have somewhere between 3-5 active projects or stories in my inbox. Each project or story requires my undivided attention. I need time to sit and think and focus. But carving out that time is tough. Meetings often clog up my schedule. I’m not alone in this, according to today’s HR Leader story. The time spent attending meetings, weekly, has increased 252% over the last three years for the average Microsoft Teams user, according to a 2022 Microsoft Work Index report. Did you catch that? A 252 percent increase. That’s. Nuts. Meetings are necessary, but more and more, they are having a negative impact on our productivity. The proliferation of meetings popping up on our calendars increase our workload and rob us of the time we need to focus. Something has to change. And as much as I think meeting culture should change, it’s not the only culprit of productivity lag. So I'm going to start by reviewing my project and task list again and dumping any non-essential tasks or tasks not related to a project. I need to be prudent with what gets my attention and focus. Next, I’m charting out the major projects for my team, for the full 2024 fiscal, on a schedule. As new “We have to do this right now!” projects or stories arise, I’m going to review those against the project schedule. We tend to run after every new project that comes along, without truly weighing what it will cost in terms of time and resources. I’ll use the schedule as a way to say yes, “Not now” or “I need more resources to make this happen.” And finally, I’m paring back meetings. There are at least two each week that could be eliminated or the frequency reduced. It’s one thing to check in with team members to make sure they’re doing well and talk through issues. It’s another to fritter away time on small talk that doesn’t have real purpose. What do you think? Are meetings hampering your productivity? How do you rein these in? Let me know! And if you enjoy this brief, tell others so they can benefit also.
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