Training Day Blog

A study, released last week by PwC, and summarized as a part of a Reuters report, found that a quarter of U.S. workers said financial worries caused them health problems. Forty percent said finances distracted them at work, and 15 percent said these problems made them miss work.

Hyper-stressful, competitive workplaces may be penny wise and pound foolish. You might—possibly—achieve short-term financial gains, but at the long-term expense of employee mental health and an inability to retain your workforce.

Open-plan office spaces are billed as greatly loved by creative types, but is that true? Even if it’s tiny, there’s something psychologically helpful about a cubicle that’s yours alone, and comes with three walls shielding you from sight.

If your first question is about previous work experience or why the job applicant is interested in working for you, there’s a good chance a Post-Millennial will tune you out. Your question isn’t interesting or entertaining enough.

The questions people ask are sometimes more revealing than the answers they give. If you allow job applicants to ask you whatever question they want, you get the best sense of their familiarity with your company and industry. Similarly, you get a sense of their passion and engagement.

Training can be better than a public on-demand “learning” platform like Google or YouTube, or even a custom-created on-demand program, but it takes careful thought.

With Baby Boomers moving out of the workforce, and Generation Xers and Millennials moving in, there may be a shift in culture, in which workaholic bosses are no longer accepted as “just the way things are.”

Should we be able to focus on doing our work, being a great employee, and not have to engage socially with anyone we don’t genuinely want a social relationship with?

When used appropriately, more information about your workforce—even when gathered through high-tech monitoring—could be a great thing.

The goal of increasing internal promotions—which also helps with succession planning—won’t work if employees don’t have the confidence to push themselves forward when new positions open.