by CHRC | Aug 29, 2018 | Human Capital
Should colleges only offer majors with “clear career pathways?” It’s a valid question. I will confess. My major was interdisciplinary – studying the interconnectedness of economics, politics, regions, and history. At its heart was a liberal arts foundation with the requirement of two courses in each of these disciplines: theology, philosophy, and English literature.
I had scanned the article below at the beginning of the summer when it was first published. But a conversation I had last week forced me to re-read it.
I was lucky enough to have lunch with a rising college junior who was filling me in on her summer internship. As this article highlights, too many universities seem willing to throw out the liberal arts in order to embrace STEM, in fact in order to eliminate vast swaths of the liberal arts to make more rooms for but STEM. Yet at lunch this young woman regaled me with what her main task had been all summer: translating all of the work that the programmers were doing (you know, those kids who can’t seem to move beyond STEM) so that the rest of the world could understand what they were doing, and whether they were accomplishing anything that anyone else was interested in.
I’m going to make wild for prediction here: Too few people are going to possess the skill set that a liberal arts education gives: the ability to read, synthesize, detect critical issues, write a topic sentence, and be understood by a wide audience. In the long run, the world will be clamoring for those who have honed their logic skills thanks to Plato’s Dialogues, cultivated their empathy via Shakespeare’s characters, and nurtured ethical decision making because of the theological and moral frameworks they learned.
So I for one, will not be giving up on the liberal arts just yet. Read More Here
by CHRC | Aug 16, 2018 | Productivity, Work Place
About 20 years ago, a client called me exasperated. A brand-new CEO from out-of-town had made a decision without consulting HR: the company’s headquarters was leaving the Loop and moving to the suburbs. His main fear was losing experienced staff who would have no way of reaching the new suburban location. But a year later, this same client called me, and labor markets were not his only issue. In the year that he had stopped taking the train, which involved a slight walk across town, and started driving to work, he had gained 20 pounds.
Well it turns out that this is not just an anecdotal story. There is growing evidence that commuting to work, especially commuting via public transportation, can be very beneficial to your health and your career. In a BBC article this month, David Robson highlights some of the benefits of the commute.
The commute provides time to transition between your roles at home and at work. It can be hard to switch mindsets so quickly, and this can often add conflict and stress at work. Jon Jachimowicz of Columbia Business School suggests that “a few moments thinking about the day in front of you can therefore ease the change of gears, reducing the stress once you arrive in the office.” He has found that “people who engage in ‘work-related prospection’ tend to weather the stresses of the journey better than people whose minds wander aimlessly.” By using the time spent commuting to think about your upcoming day, work week, and plans to achieve your goals, it leads to greater daily job satisfaction.
Commuting after work also offers time for reflection. Francesca Gino of Harvard Business School found that workers performed 20% better when given 15 minutes of reflection time at the end of every day. Setting aside time to reflect on the day during a commute could increase productivity and lead to a sense achievement.
And indeed there is the benefit of greater physical health. A Taiwanese study found that people who used public transportation were 15% less likely to be overweight compared to those who traveled by car. Richard Patterson of Imperial College London found that about a third of public transportation commuters met the recommended 30 minutes of exercise a day during their commute alone. Now no one is suggesting that exercising during a commute should replace other physical exercise, but it’s an unexpected perk.
Lower stress levels and better fitness? We’ll sign up for that commute any day. Read More Here
by CHRC | Aug 1, 2018 | Productivity, Work Place
It may seem appealing, and even luxurious to be able to work from home in your pajamas, or work remotely while sipping lattes at a local outdoor cafe. There is a growing body of research that highlights the drawbacks of WWWBS (Working While Wearing Bunny Slippers).
In a recent Crain’s Chicago Business article, Ryan Bonnici highlights how remote work may not improve our work-life balance Read more here. He cites studies that suggest working remotely creates many problems. One, the reduction in social interaction leads to people becoming more lonely and isolated. Another downside is that work often continues during off hours, since “the office never closes.” Research also indicates that working alone inhibits the sort of “spontaneous interactions” that encourage creativity and promote collaboration.
Other recent articles on this topic include this laundry list of issues Fast Company assembled. If you’re STILL not running back to a cubicle, you can read about how disruptive working from home is to a team environment from The Week.
Where do we sit … on this topic? It depends.
It depends on the nature of the work, the time in a person’s career, the type of work someone does, the current child and elder care issues at home. It depends on a person’s personality! Perhaps an employee needs both stimulation AND isolation to complete their assignments. What should the best solution depend upon? A manager that understands their employees and the unique skills and talents each brings and what environment(s) allow each to thrive, together and individually … so that the organization gets the greatest return on Human Capital.
So don’t throw away the bunny slippers just yet …
