🎉 Company's program for Olympians

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Read time: 2.5 minutes

Good Afternoon Party People! 🎉

The Olympics are in full-force. And so is this Office Party!

Update on countries with the most gold medals:

1. Japan (7)

2. China (6)

3. France (5)

4. Australia (5)

5. Korea (5)

PARTY PLAN 🎉

🏛️ This company’s program for Olympians

🤨 Top 10 reasons why employees are quitting

✖️ AI is making workers less productive?!

And, of course, MEMES!

MEME OF THE DAY

(This video is hilarious)

HIRING

The Olympian Program

Broadridge Financial Solutions has taken an innovative approach to finding top-tier talent - recruiting and hiring Olympic athletes.

In 2022, the company created its Elite Athlete Management Training Program.

At the time, ten women worked for the company part-time while training to compete at the highest level in their “off-time.”

Eight of those women are competing in Paris at the 2024 Olympics right now.

The company’s CEO, Tim Gokey, has been passionate about the sport since he rowed at the University of Oxford. He saw an opportunity to support employees while also making his company attractive for high-performing, highly competitive people.

Employees in the program work about 20 hours a week depending on their competition and training schedule.

After this year’s Olympics, some of the athletes are expected to retire from the sport and become full-time employees.

So cool.

How to have an elite workforce: hire elite people.

Broadridge says they’re committed to being open to flexible working arrangements for all their employees, not just the ones that happen to be Olympic athletes.

A great example of leadership thinking outside the box to find and retain talent!

WORKFORCE

10 Reasons Why Employees Are Quitting

Turnover is expensive. Like really expensive.

Estimates show that replacing an employee costs about 33% of their salary, on average.

Plus, an employee’s departure can negatively impact the morale of colleagues, lowering productivity.

(Unless they were engaging in some of the annoying coworker behavior that we covered earlier this month)

Here are the top 10 reasons why people are leaving their jobs:

1. Employees feel underappreciated and undervalued

   • Employees want to know their contributions are valued. Appreciation doesn't always in the form of awards or financial incentives; it can be as simple as verbal recognition or providing positive feedback.

2. Lack of communication around compensation

   • Fair compensation is obviously a key factor in reducing turnover, but it’s equally as important to provide a rationale if raises or promotions are denied. If employees are provided with clear communication and transparency around compensation, they'll be less inclined to jump ship, according to Glassdoor research.

3. A desire for more flexibility

   • This one is no surprise since employees have become accustomed to remote or hybrid work schedules for 3-4 years now. Companies have to be willing to ask themselves if return-to-office mandates are worth what it will cost them in turnover.

4. Middle management burnout

   • Middle managers are stuck enforcing policies dictated by leadership while demanding more from thinly stretched teams. It's an often thankless position. When work-life balance erodes for middle managers, they're more likely to consider a switch to individual contributor roles, even if it means taking a pay cut.

5. Decreased confidence in the wake of layoffs

   • Employers see sharp drops in their employee satisfaction Glassdoor ratings after layoffs which can linger up to 6 months. To minimize the impact of layoffs on company culture, leaders should allow for open dialogue around why downsizing was necessary, and think carefully about how expenditures could be perceived.

6. Unrealistic goals and performance objectives

   • Performance objectives should be realistic and planned well in advance. Celebrating employees when they hit their targets will help with employee retention because they'll feel appreciated within the organization. Individual success contributes to the overall success of the company.

7. Lack of a path for career advancement

   • Workers want a clear idea of what an internal promotion looks like for their position, and a plan to get there. Companies can motivate team members and reduce turnover by communicating paths for employees to move up the ranks internally and highlighting employees who have grown with the organization.

8. Poor management

   • In the first quarter of 2024, 62% of "management" references on Glassdoor were in negative reviews. As the old saying goes: “people leave managers, not jobs.”

9. The company's mission and direction are unclear

   • Employees care about their company's values and reputation. Simply put, company branding is how your company is perceived by the public, and what employees can expect if they choose to work for you. Studies show that employees typically prefer for their company to remain politically neutral.

10. Uninspiring culture

    • Culture creates loyalty. Reviews for Glassdoor's Best-Led Companies show that employees appreciate when leaders exemplify the company culture, and 63% of Glassdoor reviews that referenced culture this year indicated that it was a positive attribute of the company.

AI

Is AI Killing Productivity?

Generative AI tools at work are supposed to eliminate time-consuming tasks and boost productivity.

But they have yet to fulfill that promise.

Nearly 80% of workers who use generative AI at work say it’s added to their workload and is hampering their productivity, according to an UpWork survey published last week.

Ah yes. The thing that is supposed to help with productivity is…creating more work.

The survey, which consisted of over 2,500 full-time workers, found that most employees spend more time reviewing or moderating AI-generated content. 23% of workers admitted to spending more time learning how to use the technology than actually using it.

21% said they’re being asked to do more work as a direct result of AI.

The same survey found that executives are basically clueless.

96% of C-suite leaders expect AI to boost their company’s overall productivity levels.

85% of companies have already implemented AI, including 39% that mandate the use of certain tools.

Nearly half (47%) of employees using AI say they have no idea how to achieve the productivity gains their employers expect, and 40% feel their company is asking too much of them when it comes to AI.

Lots of hype. Little substance.

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