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Flags are posted and waved in Washington DC.
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YA few years ago, when I worked for a weekly business news magazine, we had two “dead weeks” in the year when we didn’t publish an issue. It was a week in August after he printed the February issue of the summer and most of the staff had left the company. In New York, and the week between Christmas and New Year, everyone went on vacation. It wasn’t exactly a vacation, but it was quiet. You had time to think. If you enjoy long lunches, stay away from here. Come in late and find time to work on the project you were about to start.
With the pandemic bringing new attention to mental health at work, it felt like something similar was coming back. Many companies have added Mental Health Day or Summer Friday. Employers realized that vacations were more respected when other employees were also on vacation, leading to company-wide “shutdowns.” A “Self-Care Week” was launched to give people extra time off.
Despite the economic downturn, some companies continue this practice. HubSpot is having a “Global Rest Week” this week. PwC is calling it a “company-wide shutdown” this week. Midway through the 4th of July this week, many of you who are actually working can feel the difference. Fewer emails in my inbox. Calendar is not full. Slack is quieter.
But the last few months have served as a reminder that extra time off isn’t permanent, especially during a recession. Salesforce ended his “Wellbeing Day” in January, which basically gives him an extra day off a month. wall street journal report. According to a report in June last year, VergeCEO Mark Zuckerberg said in an employee Q&A that the company’s additional “metadays” will be canceled for the second year in a row.
Will company-wide shutdowns remain part of the benefits of the future of work? Or will the current economy and “privilege concessions” make this practice obsolete? We may get some hints this summer. Meanwhile, see our roundup of the latest news on hybrid work, the job market and the concept of ‘recenching’. Don’t miss our interview with Walmart’s Chief Human Resources Officer, Donna Morris. forbes On AI, the emerging benefits of mental health, the future of HR, and why cover letters aren’t as important as they used to be. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Jena McGregor, Senior Editor, Leadership Strategy and Career | @jenamcgregor
human capital
June’s job cuts fell to a seven-month low, but that may simply mean summer is here rather than an improving economy — a slowdown in layoffs Typical of this season. Our tracking shows that around 194,000 people have been laid off this year, keeping track of the latest stats. In an economy riddled with contradictions, Fed officials still expect a recession this year.
“Resentment” is the latest corporate buzzword after “quietly quit” and “furiously apply.” (This represents a situation where you hate your job but can’t quit because you’re afraid of the market, writes senior contributor Mark Murphy. It might sound like an old phenomenon. , that’s right.
hybrid work
Remote work is an ongoing debate as bosses want to bring employees back to the office and workplaces to settle into a hybrid reality. It seems to affect everything from how employees are offboarded to seating arrangements to the composition of US suburbs and cities, leading to new technologies and changes in what draws people back into physical spaces. .
There is a lot of debate about the real benefits and pitfalls of remote work. One thing is clear. That is, the worker says the hybrid he works is better for his mental health. Contributor Gleb Ziplsky argues that the data on productivity is not as clear-cut, and that a hybrid world requires new ways of measuring it.
policy and practice
The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) went into effect last week, expanding protections for working mothers and requiring employers with 15 or more employees to reasonably It was obliged to give reasonable accommodation when it is necessary. Contributor girlfriend Holly Corbett shares what you need to know.
What’s next: Walmart Chief Human Resources Officer Donna Morris
Walmart Chief Human Resources Officer and Vice President Donna Morris.
Photo: Walmart.
Donna Morris, executive vice president and chief human resources officer at Walmart and head of human resources for the world’s largest U.S.-based employer, said: forbes On AI, mental health benefits, and her next challenge. The conversation excerpts below have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
you recently I wrote on LinkedIn About the new AI capabilities we’re building into HR. can you tell me about that?
Earlier this year, we were very excited about the potential for the HR function to act as a pace car for change. As you probably know, in many cases [H.R.] Features can be thought of as backends and sometimes even reactive and administrative. So we did our best to learn more about GenAI and, frankly, start actively working with our technology partners.
Our Me@Campus app aggregates about 16 different point solutions [applications like Workday, Concur, Fidelity, etc.] Integrated into one frontend. …it was already in development.But what we’re really looking forward to this summer is actually [generative AI] Functionality is exposed through its Me@ application. For example, if you want to draft a fact-filled job posting or email to a colleague, you can take advantage of her GenAI capabilities within the Me@ app without leaving the company. It’s contained within Walmart. We do not share data externally.
In the post, I mentioned that it would be possible for employees to perform transactions such as changing a contribution of 401,000 with a simple prompt. Are you developing that too?
That’s what we’re working on now. It has more complications. Not desirable if not trained effectively. [the AI providing] Providing false information to our employees. The first instance is based on benefits information. For example, if you have a baby and want to add dependents, you should visit the site. You have to work with all kinds of documents. You have to work with all kinds of forms. What we are trying to build is the ability to add new dependencies within the Me@ app and instantly launch all transaction steps.
Some companies have started adding policies prohibiting the use of external GenAI. what was your approach?
Perhaps in late May we introduced what we call a “playground”. It is found to be used mainly by technicians. … We do not want Walmart’s confidential or sensitive information to leave the company. We have always felt that way. Therefore, there are no major changes to our policy.
It’s not that people haven’t set up and run a quick chatGPT draft about, say, what the best orientation program is. Many of them are harmless. It gets a little vague when you actually start adding your own data. And there we would like to have our own capabilities.
Would you care if someone used AI to write your cover letter?
We hate to say it, but we’re not really interested in people’s cover letters anymore. Perhaps this will lead to people posting sexier (if we can use the term) descriptions of themselves on their LinkedIn profiles. wonderful! What if it helps them? wonderful. But at the end of the day, it comes down to whether people can actually perform in line with what they say they can do.
We have recently introduced a number of new mental health benefits.
We have doubled the number of available counseling sessions from 10 to 20. We decided to partner with a company called AiRCare. This company actually uses AI (not generative AI) to capture a large number of data points to predict which employees need more counseling. Assist and then make a proactive call.
They focus on big stressors. someone has a new job. They were married, but are now single, divorced, or have had a change in family size. … We don’t know the types of drugs, but we can know how many times people actually go to the hospital or file insurance. When you see that someone has a lot of billing history, that person has had a lot of personal changes, they are all predictable. Again, it’s a third party. That’s not what Walmart does. We outsource it directly to a third party.
Beyond discussions around AI and hybrid work, what are your top HR priorities going forward?
Looking to our future, we intend to remain focused on these four swimlanes [digital, growth and development, belonging, well-being]. … I think HR/HR work will only become more strategic. This is because you will be able to concentrate on organizational design and human resource management. This is because they will have new capabilities that they have never had before, and will be able to actually drive forward their growth strategies. do not have.
At some companies, AI is taking a toll on HR jobs. How do you think HR jobs will change over time?
I think there will be more work overall. I believe that every employee in HR should be digitally oriented.
But will the number of people increase or decrease?
I think it will even out. I wouldn’t say go down. However, I also think that as we grow, we will no longer need to think, “My company is growing, which means that HR must continue to grow.” No, I think the efficiency will start to improve. But I think HR/HR is probably the same as many professional departments. Many of them could reasonably explain how they could do more with the same thing. … [But] I think skills and competencies need to continue to be human-centric. It will be emphasized that the overtly human things – interpersonal skills, communication skills, problem-solving skills, decision-making skills, etc. – are all essential to true success.
facts and comments
Meta this week announced Threads, a new app to rival Elon Musk’s Twitter. There have already been legal threats, according to media reports, and Twitter attorney Alex Spiro accused dozens of former Twitter employees of creating the thread “with the specific intention” of using insider information in the development of the thread. He blamed Meta and Mark Zuckerberg for hiring employees.
- In the letter, Semafor reported, Spiro said many former employees hired by Meta “continued to access Twitter’s trade secrets” and “improperly held Twitter documents and electronic devices. ‘, suggested. Meta Communications he director posted, “There is not a single former Twitter employee on the Threads engineering team. That’s totally fine.”
- 30 million: Zuckerberg said the new app had a large number of subscribers as of Thursday morning.
- $900 billion: CFRA analyst Angelo Gino thinks how much Meta’s valuation could go up, partly due to the expected success of Threads.
video
Bargaining deadlock could prompt UPS employees to go on strike
clock
Strategy + Advice
Proximity bias training is required for successful hybrid work. Other things to do are:
Older, more experienced employees can be the most productive if the workplace keeps them in.
Things to keep in mind when working with consultants.
quiz
An Australian-based infrastructure company recently sued over $600,000 in unpaid administrative fees. Which well-known technology companies are targeted?
- tick tock
- Amazon
- Salesforce
Please check if I understood correctly here.
