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Viewed from the window of a corporate office workplace, employees participate in a Zoom meeting in the City of London in 2021 in London, England. (Photo by Richard Baker / In Pictures via Getty Images)
In Pictures via Getty Images
CEOs like to say that they are evidence-based – that they make decisions based on data.
If this is indeed the case, they should take a look at a new study published last week by a prestigious journal Nature. Nick Bloom—a longtime telecommuting researcher who perhaps knows more about the data on the topic than anyone else (check out this summary of his monthly telecom research)—and his co-authors have released one of the more definitive studies comparing hybrid and full – office work.
You can read more about the details and how Bloom’s co-authors used a randomized controlled trial at the Chinese online travel agency Trip.com here (people with odd-numbered birthdays had to work a hybrid schedule; those with even-numbered birthdays were in the office every day) . The study found that the hybrid schedule group had significantly lower turnover and higher job satisfaction. And for all the hand-wringing over the productivity of telecommuting, the study found no significant differences in performance ratings or promotion rates, even two years after the experiment began.
The study doesn’t compare people who telecommute full-time, or employees who can choose when and how often to report to the office (although I suggested that to Nick for future research!). But the study provides the kind of hard data that CHROs and other talent leaders can present to CEOs who resist offering people to work remotely several days a week. “Everyone has heard of it. NatureBloom told me. “Having a large, randomized controlled trial — they can still ignore it, but it’s a lot harder.”
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
LinkedIn on Thursday announced new AI tools for its premium job seekers that could help applicants’ resumes “stand out” to hiring managers. Among the tool’s new features, they pull data from a job seeker’s existing resume and LinkedIn profile to suggest personalized changes that are tailored to each job description, and to suggest edits or rewrites to cover letters and resumes. However, the tools are only available to those who pay for LinkedIn’s premium subscription, which ranges from $30 to $150 per month. Arguably, those who could benefit the most from standing out to recruiters are those who are unemployed and may not have the financial means to pay for such a subscription.
HUMAN CAPITAL
Four men and four former SpaceX engineers filed a lawsuit in California on Wednesday against the airline and CEO Elon Musk alleging sexual harassment and retaliation, multiple sources reported. One of the plaintiffs’ lawyers said in a statement that the airline’s management “knowingly permitted and encouraged a work environment rife with sexual harassment.” SpaceX representatives did not immediately respond Forbes’ statement request. The report followed a report from The Wall Street Journal that Musk allegedly made sexual advances toward female SpaceX employees. Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s president and chief operating officer, responded to the paper by saying that “Elon is one of the best people I know” and that “the falsehoods, mischaracterizations, and revisionist history in your email paint a completely misleading story.”
A Manhattan-based appeals court on Wednesday struck down a 2022 order that required Amazon to refrain from laying off union workers, ForbesCailey Gleeson reported. A three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the earlier decision did not adequately explain why the order was necessary. The previous order required Amazon to stop retaliating against pro-union workers in response to Amazon’s 2020 firing of a union organizer.
PRODUCTIVITY + REMOTE WORK
Bloomberg stated that Wells Fargo & Co. last month it laid off more than a dozen employees, firing them “after a review of allegations related to the simulation of keyboard activity giving the impression of active work,” according to a filing with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. Bloomberg reported that devices and software to mimic employee activity, sometimes known as “mouse movers” or “mouse grabs,” appeared during the pandemic era of work-from-home, but it was unclear from Finra’s filing whether Wells Fargo fired employees. they allegedly pretended to be actively working from home.
WHAT’S NEXT: LATTICE CEO SARAH FRANKLIN
Lattice CEO Sarah Franklin. Photo courtesy of Lattice.
2017 SPENCER LOWELL, INC
The former Salesforce president and chief marketing officer became CEO of Lattice, a performance management software tool, when co-founder Jack Altman announced last December that he would step into the role of executive chairman. Forbes spoke with Franklin about how artificial intelligence will affect performance ratings and the likelihood of having “digital” teammates. Excerpts from the interview below have been edited for length and clarity.
Forbes: What kinds of conversations are you having right now about AI?
Franklin: I was just in New York and had a meeting with the CEO of a major Fortune 100 financial company. Then I had to go get my Uber to the airport. The conversation I had with the Uber driver was the same questions I had with the CEO: “What is AI? What’s happening? I’m excited about that [with AI]“That’s what I’m nervous about. Everyone is having this conversation: What does this mean?
Everything is pretty far fetched now. It affects everyone. The speed of change is so incredible because in three months… we had a decade’s worth of innovation. A few months ago we covered the potential of an AI workforce and now we are saying that the AI workforce is indeed here.
What do you mean?
This might be a pretty stupid thing I’m about to say, but the org charts of the future will have AI in them. I don’t mean that AI will help you display an org chart on the screen. I mean, your colleagues can be human workers or they can be digital workers. Here is Lattice [can help with managing digital workers]. We’re here to help every company do this in an accountable and transparent way, and most importantly, to hold companies accountable for doing it responsibly.
How do you “hire” AI?
Exactly! That’s the thing. How do I do that? And how should I do it responsibly? And how do I hold them accountable to goals?
I don’t have a crystal ball. I cannot claim the future or what it will be. But that’s where we’re headed—we’re going to see CEOs say, “I want to grow revenue without increasing headcount, and AI will help me do that.” With Lattice, I want us to help companies do that responsibly. Have you been wondering how I can hire an AI employee? How do I report what percentage of my workforce they are [composed of digital workers]? We are not used to these things. Now we have to get into a world where: Do I want to work in a company that is 20% digital? Is this an 80% digital company? What does this mean for jobs, wages, institutions, governments? These are big questions.
What adoption rate do you see with AI trainers?
It’s huge. There are so many use cases beyond just coaching. When you can talk to Lattice and not just ask questions that you are ashamed of, that you may not know, but to ask for an opinion, to ask for reflection, to be able to practice. Let’s say you have a difficult interview with an employee. You change the structure or change the responsibilities. How do you have the conversation and practice it in a way that sets you up for success? You can talk to the AI and then it will give you a transcript and say, “You did a good job here of getting some factual information. You sounded like you were beating around the bush here. Here you talked about something that was not relevant.” In the world of performance management, coaching and talent management, this is a game changer.
How do you think artificial intelligence will change performance management at the big 40,000-foot level? Will this happen more often? Will it be more accurate? What problem will AI solve?
In a macro level, I think it will be more ambient. … This will become more the norm. The way you show up at work and how you are measured will be more ambient in terms of better understanding your contributions and your impact. That’s going to be the big thing that happens, along with humans working alongside AI.
FACTS + COMMENTARY
AND new report from Lean Ina nonprofit group for the advancement of women in the workplace, examined Latina representation in top corporate roles and found that just 5% of entry-level jobs among the companies surveyed were held by Latinas, despite making up 9% of the overall population.
78%: The percentage drop in Latina representation between entry-level roles and the C-suite, the largest for any ethnicity or gender group surveyed. In contrast, the prevalence of white males increases by 64% between entry (where they hold 34.4% of roles) and the top management level (where nearly 56.4% identify as white males).
1%: Percentage of C-suite jobs held by Latinas despite wanting promotions more than any other group, according to data from Lean In.
“It has nothing to do with the abilities of Latinas” -Lean In CEO Rachel Thomas
STRATEGY + ADVICE
Here are 10 powerful ways to show your support for Pride month — even if your management says no.
Generation Z and millennial workers have opted out of the traditional corporate career ladder. Know what they prefer instead.
Want to appreciate non-binary people in the workplace? Consider these thoughts.
VIDEO
The untapped potential of hiring ex-startup founders
QUIZ
In addition to approving CEO Elon Musk’s roughly $50 billion pay package last week, Tesla shareholders voted to re-domesticate the company from Delaware to which state?
- Florida
- Texas
- South Carolina
- Nevada
Check that you have it right here.