Good weather is having an effect on Canadian workers, as the TELUS Mental Health Score released on Tuesday sees a slight increase from 64.3 in March 2023 to 64.6 in April 2023. In January 2023, the score was at 62.9, the same as in December 2020 when the pandemic prevented us from celebrating with our loved ones and co-workers. To give you an idea of the measure, scores between 50 and 79 correspond to poor mental health. The TELUS Health survey, which surveys 3,000 Canadian workers each month, this time reveals that about 9 in 10 workers (86%) make a link between physical activity and good mental health. However, only 13% of workers practice physical activity to improve or maintain their mental health, but at the same time claim to lack motivation, energy, time or money. A third (33%) of workers believe that better sleep would be the key to better managing their physical health and 20% point to access to affordable and nutritious food.
After the famous alcohol-free month, the American company TechSmith has tested a month without a meeting. Aware that “meeting” was affecting its employees, the company did not even attempt a reduction in meetings. She opted for abstinence, reports Employee Benefit News (EBN) magazine. Did the rehab succeed with its 300 employees? According to the report compiled after the experiment, 15% of employees felt more productive. TechSmith, which sells image and video sharing software around the world, now wants to hold meetings only when really necessary. “We found that a lot of our meetings were just people sharing information about new ideas or policies. Now people are sharing them in advance, in writing or by video. Everyone has a week to think about it and send in their thoughts. Then, if we still need a meeting, it lasts less than before,” Amy Casciotti, vice president of human resources, told EBN magazine.
What is that secret ingredient, that magic potion that might be holding your employees back? The value. Employees need to feel valued while receiving financial and social value, says Robert Finlay, founder of Thirty Capital
When hiring employees with high IQs, former high school students who may be smarter than managers, be aware of certain qualities that allowed them to excel in their studies, but which could annoy you. Here are three mistakes they can make, according to the Harvard Business Review France, that prevent them from fitting in. 1. They don’t communicate enough with their manager because as students they didn’t ask silly questions of professors and showed exceptional autonomy. 2. They focus on “substance”, which will be rigorous, ignoring “form”. As a result, they won’t get the key messages out of their brilliant content and won’t be able to communicate them. 3. They don’t know how to sell their brilliant ideas. However, the magazine recalls, the first quality of great leaders is their ability to convince. All these problems have one thing in common: the lack of interactional skills, behavioral skills, the famous “soft skills” that a well-guided and high-potential employee will succeed in developing.
A Washington Post–Ipsos poll conducted this spring shows that 75% of workers would rather work four ten-hour days than five eight-hour days. But 73% also say they would rather work five days a week for full-time pay than four days for less pay. The vast majority of businesses and organizations in the United States still operate on a five-day work week, but some advocacy groups are piloting a 32-hour, four-day work week with no pay cuts. Since an amendment mandated overtime pay for any time worked beyond 40 hours per week, the workweek hasn’t changed much, experts say. It was 1940. In 1926, Henry Ford had standardized the five-day week, up from the previous six, at Ford Motor in response to the labor movement.
