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MOTD (Meme of The Day)

Meme creds: Joe McClaran

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Worker Productivity is Decreasing (remote work is NOT to blame)

According to The EY-Parthenon Analysis and BLS data (featured below), worker productivity has dropped for 5 consecutive quarters. Quarter over quarter, productivity has decreased by 2.7%.

So let’s point the finger at remote work? NOT SO FAST! It turns out, financial instability and related stressors are major contributors to the decrease in workplace productivity.

Morgan Stanley’s State of The Workplace indicates that 66% of surveyed employees believe that financial stress negatively impacts their work. 83% of HR Managers expressed concerns that financial stressors would lead to a decrease in productivity. Hard to focus on work when you have to worry about finances.

Additionally, workers are constantly being bombarded with Slack, email, and a plethora of other apps that are actually decreasing productivity, rather than improving it. According to The Anatomy of Global Work Index by Asana, US workers use 9 apps a day to get tasks done (does this count scrolling TikTok in between tasks?)

Good leadership makes a difference too. “48% of respondents said clearer responsibilities could also limit the number of notifications” (HRDive).

To summarize, these are some of the factors contributing to a decrease in worker productivity:

• Financial stresses

• Notification bombardment

• Workplace inefficiencies

Another great way to boost employee productivity? Stop the pointless, never-ending meetings! (This could’ve been an email)

For more, read: Why is worker productivity trending downward?

Zoomers Think College is “Mad Overrated”

62% of Gen Z’ers are worried about how they’re going to pay for college, according to a recent report by The ECMC Group. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, as the cost of college has skyrocketed over the past half-century.

Additionally, 52% of students surveyed by The ECMC Group said they’re considering a 4-year degree, down 19% from 2020. The price of college continues to rise, while the projected earnings of college graduates remain relatively flat. Maybe the Zoomers are onto something.

In fact, skills-first hiring is on the rise…

Hopefully, students of the future won’t have to take out six figures in debt to land a high-paying job.

Learn more about getting a job without a degree at Degree Free.

“This Ain’t The End, More is Coming”

It has been a crazy year for layoffs. Not even ESPN is immune to reducing headcount to meet financial targets. Recently, top personalities such as Jeff Van Gundy, Suzy Kolber, Jalen Rose, and Max Kellerman were let go from the network.

ESPN issued the following statement:

Media personality Stephen A. Smith (some of you may know him from his famous “STAY OFF THE WEEEEED” quote), thinks more layoffs could be coming.

He also stated that those who got let go deserve better. Props to him for speaking up. Still better than some of the layoffs we’ve seen, though (like discovering your work laptop is deactivated).

Stephen A Smith joined ESPN in 2003. Gotta admit, it would be weird to see him on another network.

Read more about the ESPN layoffs here.

Time to Change Your Hiring Strategy?

A survey of 400 HR professionals dove into the current pain points in the hiring process.

Here are the 10 takeaways:

1. Top three biggest pain points among HR professionals: 1.) Time-to-hire; 2.) sourcing applicants; and 3.) scheduling are the top three biggest pain points among HR professionals when it comes to hiring hourly workers. 38% of HR professionals say time-to-hire is their biggest pain point.

2. Administrative burden: HR professionals are spending a lot of time on administrative recruiting tasks like conducting background checks, scheduling and reaching out to candidates — not to mention reviewing resumes and cover letters.

3. No-show rate is creeping up: Over half report a less than 80% first day attendance rate.

• 42% of the HR professionals surveyed reported a greater than 20% absence rate

• 53% of respondents reported a less than 80% first-day attendance rate

4. Interviews? Still mostly IRL. Despite the digital transformation that followed the pandemic and the rise in virtual interviews overall, 62% of those surveyed still conduct hourly interviews in person. It’s unclear, though, that this is having an impact on the no-show rate, which remains high. And almost half of respondents say more than 20% don’t show for the interview itself.

5. Inefficiencies lead to decreased satisfaction: Two-thirds of HR professionals are not satisfied with their company’s hourly hiring process.

6. The majority of HR professionals may be too selective — or the quality of candidates isn’t on par with what they’re looking for.

7. Turnover is high: For all the time spent being selective, turnover is stubbornly high. Nearly a quarter of respondents have 30%+ turnover. 60% of respondents reported turnover of more than 10%.

8. 90 is a good start: 90% of respondents agreed that DEI are important for their company’s hourly hiring.

9. Job boards are sourcing king: Just 6% of companies primarily source candidates through social media — suggesting a major gap between the promise of these platforms and reality and barely ticking up from a 2016 SHRM study that found it was used by 5% as a primary tool. Nearly two thirds (64%) indicated that their company primarily sources hourly workforce candidates on online job boards.

10. Seasonality is stressful: Only 37% say they are very satisfied and only 43% say their teams are able to respond very well to hiring seasonally.

Use job boards. Reduce time to hire. Source better candidates. Decrease turnover.

Easy enough!

Source: BusinessWire

Party Favors (extra reading)

• HR Brain Pickings is a concise weekly newsletter delivering trendy workplace topics, curated insights from industry leaders, top HR reads, stats, quotes, tools of the week, and free resources. It's your way to understanding workplaces. Stay up to date with HBP - Subscribe Now!

• Twitter Accused of Ducking a Fight Over Musk’s Mass Layoffs

• How to End Bad Meetings Diplomatically

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