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Seen through the window of a corporate office workplace, staff participate in a Zoom meeting in the City of London in 2021 in London, England. (Photo by Richard Baker / In Pictures via Getty Images)
Imaged via Getty Images
cEOs like to say that they are evidence-based: that they make decisions based on data.
If that’s really the case, they should look to a new study published last week by the prestigious journal Nature. Nick Bloom – a long-time researcher into remote working arrangements who may know more about the data on this subject than anyone (check out this summary of his monthly research into remote working) – and his co-authors have one of the more definitive studies released that include hybrid and full-time office work.
You can read more about the details here, and how Bloom’s co-authors used a randomized, controlled trial at China-based online travel agency Trip.com (people with odd birthdays had to work on a hybrid schedule; those with even -numbered birthdays and numbered dates of birth 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 talk about the productivity of remote work, the study found no significant differences in performance ratings or promotion rates, even up to two years after the experiment started.
The study doesn’t compare people who work remotely full-time, or employees who can make their own choices about when and how often they report to the office (although I suggested that to Nick for future research!). But the research provides the kind of hard data that CHROs and other talent leaders can present to CEOs who are resistant to offering people to work remotely a few days a week. “Everyone has heard of it Nature,” Bloom told me. “With a large, randomized controlled trial, they can still ignore it, but it becomes a lot more difficult.”
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
LinkedIn on Thursday announced new AI tools for its premium job seekers, helping applicants’ resumes “stand out” to hiring managers. Among the new features, the tools pull data from a job seeker’s existing resume and LinkedIn profile to suggest personalized changes 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 subscriptions, which range in price from $30 to $150 per month. Those who could benefit most from standing out to recruiters are undoubtedly those who are unemployed and may not have the money for such subscriptions.
HUMAN POWER
Four male and four female former SpaceX engineers filed a lawsuit in California on Wednesday against the aerospace company and CEO Elon Musk, alleging sexual harassment and retaliation, multiple media outlets reported. One of the plaintiffs’ attorneys said in a statement that the aerospace company’s management “knowingly allowed and promoted a work environment rife with sexual harassment.” SpaceX representatives did not immediately respond Forbes’ request for comment. The news followed reports from the Wall Street Journal that Musk allegedly made sexual advances toward female SpaceX employees. Gwynne Shotwell, president and chief operating officer of SpaceX, responded to the Journal with a statement that “Elon is one of the best people I know” and that the “falsehoods, mischaracterizations and revisionist history in your email are completely misleading outline the story.”
A Manhattan-based appeals court on Wednesday issued a 2022 order requiring Amazon not to fire pro-union workers. ForbesCailey Gleeson reported. The three-judge panel on the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the earlier decision did not adequately explain why the order was necessary. The previous order required Amazon to cease retaliation against pro-union employees in response to the 2020 firing of an Amazon union organizer.
PRODUCTIVITY + REMOTE WORK
Bloomberg reported that Wells Fargo & Co. fired more than a dozen employees last month, firing them “after reviewing allegations relating to the simulation of keyboard activity that gives the appearance of active work,” according to disclosures filed with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. Bloomberg reported that devices and software to imitate employee activities, known as “mouse movers” or “mouse jigglers,” took off during the work-from-home era of the pandemic, but that Finra’s disclosures make it unclear whether the employees Wells Fargo has had layoffs reportedly pretending to be actively working from home.
WHAT’S NEXT: SARAH FRANKLIN, CEO of LATTICE
Lattice CEO Sarah Franklin. Photo courtesy of Lattice.
2017 SPENCER LOWELL, INC
The former president and chief marketing officer of Salesforce became CEO of Lattice, the 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 AI will impact performance reviews and the likelihood of “digital” teammates. Excerpts from the interview below have been edited for length and clarity.
Forbes: What kind of conversations are you having about AI right now?
Franklin: I was just in New York meeting with a Fortune 100 CEO of a major financial company. Then I had to get my Uber to go to the airport. The conversation I had with the Uber driver were the same questions I had with the CEO: ‘What is AI? What is going on? This is what I’m excited about [with AI], this is what I’m nervous about.’ Everyone is having this conversation: What does this mean?
Everything is pretty funny right now. It impacts everyone. The pace of change is so incredible because we’ve had an entire decade of innovation in three months. A few months ago we looked at the potential of an AI workforce, and now we’re saying the AI workforce is here for real.
What do you mean?
This may be a pretty mind-boggling thing I’m about to say, but the org charts of the future will have AI in them. I don’t mean that AI is going to help you display the org chart on the screen. I mean, your colleagues can be people workers or digital workers. This is true Rooster [can help with managing digital workers]. We are here to help every company do this in a way that is accountable, transparent, and most importantly, hold companies accountable to do this responsibly.
How do you ‘hire’ an AI?
Precisely! That is the point. How do I do this? And how do I do this in a responsible way? And how do I hold them accountable to objectives?
I don’t have a crystal ball. I cannot claim the future, nor what it will be. But this is where we’re going: We’re going to see CEOs saying, “I want to grow revenue without growing workforce, and AI is going to help me do that.” For Lattice, I want us to help companies do that in a responsible way. You asked: how do I hire an AI employee? How do I report what percentage of my workforce is made up? [composed of digital workers]? We are not used to these things. We now need to enter the world where: Do I want to work in a company that is 20% digital? That’s an 80% digital company? What does this mean for jobs, wages, institutions, governments? These are big questions.
What kind of adoption rate are you seeing from AI coaches?
It’s huge. There are so many use cases that go beyond coaching. When you can talk to Lattice and not just ask questions that you are ashamed of and that you may not know, but ask for an opinion, ask for thought, practice. Suppose you have a difficult conversation with an employee. You’re going to change the structure or you’re going to change the responsibilities. How do you have that conversation and practice it in a way that sets you up for success? You can talk to the AI and it will provide a transcript and say, “You did a good job getting some factual information. Here it sounded like you were beating around the bush. Here you were talking about something that was not relevant.’ In the world of performance management, talent coaching and talent management, this will be a game changer.
How do you think AI at a large 40,000-foot level will change performance management? Will it happen more often? Will it become more accurate? What problem will AI solve?
At one on a macro level I think it will become more ambient. … This is increasingly becoming the norm. How you show up at work and how you are measured will be more critical to better understanding your contributions and your impact. That will be the big thing that will happen, together with the people who work alongside AI.
FACTS + COMMENTS
a new report from Lean Inthe nonprofit Organization for the Advancement of Women in the Workplace, examined the representation of Latinas in top corporate positions and found that only 5% of entry-level jobs among the companies surveyed were held by Latinas, despite holding 9% of constitute the total population.
78%: The percentage drop in representation for Latinas between entry-level positions and the C-suite, the largest for any ethnic or gender group surveyed. By comparison, the prevalence of white men increases by 64% between entry-level jobs (where they hold 34.4% of positions) and the upper management tier (where nearly 56.4% identify as white men).
1%: The percentage of C-suite jobs held by Latinas, despite wanting promotions more than any other group, according to Lean In data.
“It has nothing to do with the abilities of Latinas”—Lean In CEO Rachel Thomas
STRATEGIES + ADVICE
Here are 10 effective ways to show support for Pride month, even if your leadership says no.
Generation Z and millennial employees are choosing to move away from the traditional corporate career ladder. Know what they prioritize instead.
Do you want to recognize non-binary people in the workplace? Consider these ideas.
VIDEO
The untapped potential of hiring former startup founders
QUIZ
In addition to approving CEO Elon Musk’s roughly $50 billion compensation package, Tesla shareholders last week voted in favor of redomesticating the company from Delaware to which state?
- Florida
- Texas
- South Carolina
- Nevada
Check here to see if you got it right.