Initially, when I talk to a leader about reimagining how, when and where their people work, they’ll often say, “oh, they already have work flexibility.” They aren’t wrong. According to our 2018 research, 98% of full-time U.S. workers said they had some degree of flexibility in the way they work and manage their lives. What’s missing […]
Recently, I met with a forward-thinking leader who recognized his organization had reached a tipping point. He knew the current approach to flexibility in the way work is done was too random, inconsistent, and organic. It needed to be more coordinated and strategic to address a variety of business challenges, including attracting and retaining the diverse, knowledgeable talent required […]
As we get closer to the July 4th holiday, if you are a leader, you will likely face the question, “How many people need to be physically in the office on Friday, July 5th?” Many employees will want to work remotely on Friday from wherever they celebrated the day before. But, for you as the […]
Over the years, we’ve succeeded in getting even some of the most skeptical middle managers on board the work flexibility train. But it requires a larger upfront commitment of resources (e.g. time, money, and people) than it takes to write a policy or rely on attrition. However, the return on that investment is a group of middle managers who not only accept work flexibility but understand how to use it as a powerful tool to run their business. Here are five the ways we’ve gotten middle managers to support flexible work. […]
It’s not your grandpa’s workplace anymore, but if you listen to the presidential and congressional candidates, it’s easy to wonder if they’re aware that it’s 2012, not 1972. This is especially true for issues related to work and life in a modern, hectic, global, high-tech world. Addressing these issues isn’t “nice, but non-urgent.” They directly […]
Leaders fail to clarify their personal preferences for staying connected to work with technology, and don’t share their expectations of the responsiveness with their direct reports. This leads to misguided assumptions that can wreak havoc on the work/life balance of their employees. And most leaders have no idea any of this is happening. Here’s my advice. […]
(Did you receive our How-to “Make Flexibility Real” e-newsletter this week via email? If you did, the article below would have shown you how to leverage the Manager Flexibility Buy-In Curve. Plus we shared a case study that’s exclusive to the enewsletter. Click here to sign up!) Sixteen years of anecdotal evidence gathered from helping […]
I wanted to share the following information about a virtual negotiations workshop for women that I’m participating in…join me if you need a refresher on how to negotiate what you want and what you are worth! Scroll down and comment for some free stuff… Did you know?…that women’s failure to negotiate working conditions, salary or […]
For the last few days, I’ve been prepping for an upcoming panel at Columbia Business School entitled, The Post-Recession Workplace. My message is going to be simple—the world has changed; therefore, we need to change. I will explain the new work+life flex normal, and what individuals and organizations need to do differently to succeed. Here’s […]
As follow-up to last week’s post, “One Year Later: Next Stage of Flexible Downsizing Post-Recession, Pre-Recovery,” I interviewed Scott Jones*, a senior executive at a national architecture, engineering and construction company (he asked not be identified since many of the issues we discussed are not yet public knowledge within his organization). In the worst part […]