Another day, another dollar! And, another week full of thought-provoking articles, opinions and research on workforce trends. In case you missed it (ICYMI), here’s a recap of the articles that had our undivided attention this week.
The great debate: Old rules of work vs. New rules of work
Opinions on how to balance personal and professional life are in no short supply. Case in point, this week when Fast Company published an article, “These are the New Rules of Work.” The article brings up the big debate: the old way of work vs. the new way of work. It argues that old, rigid standards no longer apply to today’s flexible, fast-paced workforce, and lists the five new rules to abide by. Because everyone likes a good debate, Tim Sackett stumbled upon the Fast Company article this week and offered up his differing opinion. The blog, “The 5 Rules of Work,” humorously and realistically offers up an argument to each of the “new rules of work.” Here’s a snippet from Tim’s blog:
“The article has a great premise: These Are The New Rules of Work. You know, one of those articles that will show us all how we use to do work and how we now do work. Well, maybe, but also how we hope we could do work like they talk about in magazines like Fast Company, but we really don’t because we live in the real world.”
Be sure to read the whole post on The Tim Sackett Project.
The rise of the on-demand worker
There is no doubt the workforce is changing, and it’s our job to better understand the impact. The Atlantic recently published an article featuring a small study profiling the demographics of the on-demand worker. What’s an on-demand worker, you ask? It’s the subset of the workforce dubbed the “1099 economy,” which is more formally known as independent contractors. It’s estimated that there are around 53 million contract workers in the U.S., and 34% of the U.S. workforce has a freelance job. To better understand the rise of the on-demand worker, a small independent group surveyed 1,000 freelance workers, and here are a few of the findings.
Independent contractors are mostly:
- White (57.0%), male (72.0%), single (65.7%) and between 18-24 years of age (38.7%)
And the top reasons for becoming independent contractors are:
- Greater schedule flexibility (74.9%)
- Higher pay than other options (46.0%)
- Greater enjoyment from work (36.1%)
- Greater location flexibility (33.5%)
Read the full article, “What Does the On-Demand Workforce Look Like?” from The Atlantic for more insights from the study!
Dealing with conflict in the workplace
With the exception of conflict resolution mediators, most people don’t enjoy dealing with conflict. Conflict is sensitive and tricky. Preventing, managing and resolving conflict requires patience, understanding and trust. Workplace conflict can arise from anywhere. It can be as small as someone always eating other people’s food, to as big as someone publically berating and humiliating a colleague.
A Washington Post article this week titled, “Dealing with conflict in the workplace,” offered some really great examples on how to deal with conflict at work. According to the article, there are different forms of conflict, “conflicts with the boss, conflicts with peers and conflicts among a manager’s direct reports or teammates.” The article continues to say, “In all of these cases, leaders need to consider two basic questions. How important is the issue? And, how important is this relationship? Your answers will determine whether to let it slide or try to resolve it.”
Read the full article for good advice on how to effectively deal with conflict with your boss, your peers, and your direct reports!
That’s all for now!