The key to the most effective leadership development | Blue-collar jobs may not follow white-collar's cuts | How salary-transparency laws affect finance departments
Sixty-five percent of employers spend a maximum of $2,500 per employee on leadership development each year, per a survey by Forrester and HR Executive Magazine. Katy Tynan, a principal analyst at Forrester, says the most effective way to spend that investment is to blend training courses with internally designed real-world practice.
The manufacturing sector's struggle to hire workers could be its saving grace, keeping the significant job cuts in white-collar industries from trickling to blue-collar workers as they typically do, economists say. They note that consumer demand for durable goods is still above pre-pandemic levels, which points to continued hiring, and industries such as manufacturing and travel will be loath to slash workers after they've struggled to hire them.
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A benefits package tailored to a company's workforce is vital in creating the right culture, writes Doug Sechrist, senior vice president at Zenefits. "Employee benefits reflect what you care about, your mission, and your values," Sechrist writes, suggesting core company values such as sustainability should be incorporated into benefits schemes.
Two-thirds of Americans said their financial stress levels have risen in the past year, and 39% said they had under $1,000 in savings or none at all, according to the Future of Benefits Pulse Survey conducted by The Hartford. Benefits expert Laura Marzi said workers should take advantage of their employers' income protection offerings, such as supplemental health benefits and life and disability coverage.
Learning to balance "soft" leadership skills of inspiration and development of their team with "hard" ones such as accountability and driving performance during a crisis is something all leaders must master, write Bob Vanourek and Gregg Vanourek, who call the two different styles "steel" and "velvet." "Such flexing between steel and velvet should always be anchored in the organization's shared values," they write.
On my left wrist is a tattoo of the word “jubilee” in Hebrew. I got it in 2015 when I was doing a Bible study on the life of Moses. I was fascinated with Leviticus 25, where God outlines the laws governing the year of Jubilee. Among them is the requirement of rest -- for the people and the land. During this year, folks were not supposed to sow or prune any crops; they could eat only what their fields produced on their own. The idea was that people and the land needed a break to refresh.
Today’s Leadership & Development story from Fortune talks about ways we can combat the myth of the hustle culture, and the first strategy it lists is prioritizing rest. This should be a must for everyone. There is nothing heroic about living on Red Bull and three hours of sleep. Our bodies and brains need quality rest so we can work, raise families and handle the rigors of life.
How do you make sure you get good rest? Do you have a sleep routine? Let me know! And if you enjoy this brief, tell others so they can benefit also.
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