In a recent Harvard Business Review article, Stanford Professor of Economics Nicholas Bloom and his co-authors argue that today’s work-from-home push is being hampered by a “major disconnect” between employees and management. That disconnect centers around notions of productivity and attendance. With respect to productivity, for example, managers believe that work from home reduces productivity… Read More
Posts Tagged With: Harvard Business Review
Are Layoffs Really the Answer? Research Says No
As employers across the country consider and implement layoffs, Harvard Business School Professor Sandra Sucher writes that “[R]esearch shows that layoffs continue to have detrimental long-term effects on individuals and companies.” In a recent Harvard Business Review article, Professor Sucher and her colleague, Dr. Marilyn Morgan Westner, explain how the “short-term cost savings” from layoffs are outweighed… Read More
In the Workplace, Stress is the Enemy
If you’re concerned with employee retention at your company, minimizing stress levels amongst your team should be a top priority. According to a recent Harvard Business Review article, when employees are stressed, their critical and creative thinking is diminished, and the odds of them leaving their jobs are almost tripled. Because stress shows up in… Read More
The Importance of an Inclusive Workplace
What? Inclusion is a pillar of a functional workplace. It manifests on many levels, from meetings to policies to seemingly insignificant day-to-day workplace banter. As the boss, it is ultimately your responsibility to create an inclusive space on all levels, for all demographics that comprise your team. A good first step is to clearly define… Read More
Using Supply Chains to Combat Sexual Harassment
In a recent article in the Harvard Business Review, New America’s Better Life Lab presented findings that sexual harassment was “severe, pervasive, and widespread” across all industries. It exists equally in both low-income and high-income jobs, and in both male-dominated and female-dominated occupations. It is, unfortunately, everywhere. That conclusion did not surprise me. What… Read More
Transparent Separation: A More Humane Way to Terminate?
I came across an interesting article today in the Harvard Business Review about employee terminations. The author, who is a digital media executive and Adjunct Professor of Management at Columbia University, argues that “transparent separation” is a more humane approach to employee termination that is “highly underused given [its] low risk and great benefits.” So… Read More
What Makes a Company “Culture”?
In the current job market, especially in the San Francisco Bay Area, good employees are more valuable now than perhaps ever. Almost every one of my clients is looking to hire, and almost every one looking is complaining that that they “can’t find anyone good.” It’s a seller’s market, and recruits are asking potential new employers hard… Read More
And the Winner for Worst Boss is…the Absentee Leader!
A recent article by Marcel Schwantes in Inc. Magazine summarizes new research on the key traits of bad bosses. Guess what key trait makes for the worst type of boss? Absentee Leadership Absentee leadership is harder to detect and does not fall into one of the classic leadership patterns considered “bad” for the workplace: the bully,… Read More
How Good Leaders Get Valuable, Candid, and Critical Feedback
Today I came across a short but interesting article from Harvard Business Review about how effective leaders get honest, critical feedback from their co-workers. The article’s author, Ron Carucci, argues that you don’t need to have a formal 360 evaluation system to get valuable feedback; in fact, the author argues, due to anonymity a 360… Read More
The Toxicity of Office Politics to High Potential Employees
Despite the fact that science has given us robust tools to identify, measure, and evaluate indicators, organizations often make employee evaluation mistakes.
