The eight- hour workday is an ode to the industrial era, when no such hour restrictions existed and people, even children would often be forced to work long hours. Workers thus had to fight their way to get a forty – hour work week in place. Now digitization has changed all that. Work has become more cognitive rather than repetitive. Creative aspects would do better with a shorter work day of around six focused hours rather than eight unfocused ones. The best of business innovation and creative tasks take place when one gets into the psychological state of flow. A study conducted by Adobe made realize that employees pend a disproportionate amount of time each day checking emails. The levels of distraction in the modern workplace and the open- plan at most offices means that employees end up touching their smartphones more than a thousand times each day. Meetings often go on long, even though they could have been sorted through virtual chats. Long- distance travels and the badge of “inbox zero” mean that employees end up doing wasteful tasks. The right talent management practices must focus on the top priorities by applying the Pareto Principle of 80-20. Tasks that don’t add to value need be eliminated or reduced. Certain steps need to be automated. Instead of over analyzing, one ought to test. Delegation or outsourcing of tasks also needs to be incorporated.

Source:https://hbr.org/2018/12/the-case-for-the-6-hour-workday

Uploaded Date:28 December 2018

The workplace dynamics have changed a lot thanks to the internet and the presence of several collaborative working tools. As a result, work is now considered round the clock. To understand the implications, Workfront conducted a study involving more than 2,000 workers in the US. The first insight that emerged was that employees were seeking better ways to manage the work, and these new tools are one such effective way. In terms of business innovation, the difference isn’t much. Though these tools have eased the work, but as a result the workload has also increased. A lot of people are struggling to work in teams now, as mistrust is increasing especially between employers and employees within the US.

Source:https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2018/11/15/the-digital-work-crisis/#318a47e16af8

Uploaded Date:26 November 2018

The ongoing digital economy is very different to the earlier ones. That is why the workforce system needs to be effectively created for this one, tailored for the needs. A study by the McKinsey Global Institute has thrown up certain methods which need to be deployed in order to effect this change. First of all, new educational models need to be designed to suit the evolving needs of the larger economy. Instead of constantly worrying about the next round of talent recruitment, team bosses must develop others to take up the next leadership positions, so a pipeline gets ready. For the task of workforce planning, the use of data must be made. Measurable goals must be assigned to these groups of people. A list of agencies must be prepared to collaborate for this workforce development and establish quantifiable goals. Decision-making by employers, educators and even the state need to be supported by data-backed business intelligence gather. The data must be gathered from multiple sources, but then be collated together. Programmes that have a history of having worked well elsewhere, need to be replicated. They need to be expanded to other geographical areas.

Source:https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/public-sector/our-insights/creating-an-effective-workforce-system-for-the-new-economy

Uploaded Date:10 November 2018

According to a study conducted, about a fourth of US adults suffer from some form or the other of mental illness and 18% have anxiety disorder. In spite of such alarmingly high figures, few people in the workplace come out in the open to discuss this. On the contrary, people with such sort of anxiety are often very good at hiding, as they have been programmed since beginning to hide such emotions. It is now time for companies to embrace mental health as a key part of their diversity measures. Talent management includes letting employees speak out about such mental anxiety issues. It leads to improved productivity, employee retention and their engagement at work. To cope with such disorders, some companies have proactively included mental health within the gambit of their Employee Assistance Programs. EY for example came up with their We Care initiative few years back, which has so far seen more than 2000 company employees attend the sessions. EY has conducted corporate training sessions to educate the workforce about the significance of the right mental health and to not ignore the symptoms, but tot come out.

Source:https://hbr.org/2018/11/we-need-to-talk-more-about-mental-health-at-work

Uploaded Date:08 November 2018 

Skill shifts have been a constant force ever since the industrial revolution took place. Yet, the pace of change has never been higher than it is now aided by automation, digitization, robotics and artificial intelligence. By 2030, several present-day skills will get replaced. That is why McKinsey conducted a study across the five largest European countries- UK, France, Spain, Italy and Germany- and USA to gauge the shifts. Some major aspects were studied, beginning with the change in demand for workforce skills over time. How organizations approach this and plan for the talent recruitment for the future were the other things. As per the study, manual and basic cognitive skills will acquire a lesser portion of the pie. Social, emotional, technological and higher cognitive skills will take up a higher portion of time. Shifting skill requirement will lost affect five of the largest industries- healthcare, energy and mining, banking and insurance, retail and manufacturing. Only six percent of all companies surveyed confirmed their expectation of shrinking workforce, while seventeen percent are optimistic of adding more jobs. Focus will shift towards developing cross-functional skills within agile organizations. Work will need to be “unbundled” and “re-bundled”. The sharing economy involving gig workers or freelancers will expand exponentially. Corporate training programmes will need to retrain employees towards the newer systems and technologies. HR processes will evolve in contracting, hiring, release and redeployment. Educational institutions meanwhile will need to tweak their curricula to suit the present needs.

Source:https://blogs.wsj.com/cio/2018/10/12/automation-and-the-changing-demand-for-workforce-skills/

Uploaded Date:06 November 2018