 |
|
|
|||||
In a world where work-life boundaries are increasingly blurred, the well-being of employees has emerged as a pivotal issue. Despite leaders’ good intentions, a stark reality persists: While a staggering 91% of executives believe they prioritize employee well-being, only 56% of employees share that sentiment. This disconnect, revealed in a recent Deloitte study, underscores a critical gap that companies must bridge if they are to thrive in today’s competitive landscape. As businesses grapple with the complexities of modern work, a framework is emerging to guide leaders: The Four Pillars of Worker Well-Being. These pillars offer a comprehensive approach to fostering a healthier, more productive workforce. 1. Predictability Meets Flexibility In an era where change is the only constant, employees crave a sense of predictability. Structured environments where expectations are clear can significantly reduce workplace anxiety, providing a stable foundation for productivity. Yet, the need for flexibility is equally crucial. The ability to adapt to personal and professional demands empowers employees, creating a harmonious balance that enhances overall productivity and satisfaction. Imagine a tech company where employees know their project deadlines well in advance but have the freedom to choose their working hours. This blend of predictability and flexibility not only boosts morale but also drives efficiency. Employees can better manage their work-life integration, reducing stress and increasing their commitment to the organization. By fostering both stability and adaptability, companies can create an environment where employees feel secure yet empowered to manage their responsibilities effectively. 2. Mental Health Takes Center Stage Mental health is no longer a sidebar in corporate discussions, it’s the headline. With half of the global population likely to encounter a mental health disorder, the urgency for comprehensive mental health resources is undeniable. Forward-thinking companies are stepping up, offering counseling services, mental health apps, and wellness programs that are accessible and effective. Take, for instance, a multinational firm that has partnered with mental health platforms like BetterUp. Employees have access to on-demand counseling, fostering a culture where mental well-being is prioritized, and stigma is shattered. 3. Leaders Who Walk the Talk The saying “actions speak louder than words” has never been more relevant. Leaders who visibly prioritize their well-being set a powerful precedent. When the CEO openly takes mental health days or regularly disconnects from work, it sends a clear message: It’s okay to prioritize yourself. This visible commitment from the top fosters a culture of acceptance and support, encouraging employees to follow suit without fear of judgment. Consider a scenario where a companys leadership team practices what they preach. They take breaks, use their vacation days, and discuss their mental health journeys. This not only humanizes them but also encourages employees to follow suit, fostering a supportive and understanding workplace culture. When leaders lead by example, they create an environment where well-being is integrated into the very fabric of the organization. Employees feel more connected and motivated, knowing that their leaders genuinely care about their health and well-being. 4. Building Bridges Through Relationships In the digital age, genuine connections can often feel like a relic of the past. Yet, building strong relationships within teams remains essential. Whether it’s through virtual coffee chats, team-building exercises, or regular check-ins, fostering a sense of belonging is key. What if your remote team makes time for weekly virtual gatherings where work talk is off-limits? These sessions, focused on personal stories and shared interests, build trust and camaraderie, transforming colleagues into a cohesive unit. In a world dominated by screens, these human moments are invaluable, reinforcing the social bonds that underpin successful teams. By fostering deeper connections, companies can enhance team dynamics, leading to higher productivity and a more engaged workforce. Putting the Pillars into Action The journey from theory to practice can be challenging, but it’s far from impossible. Leaders can start by enhancing communicationclear, consistent updates that set expectations and reduce uncertainty. Regular feedback sessions and open dialogues can bridge the gap between management and employees. Providing resources is another critical step. Companies can leverage technology to offer mental health support, whether through apps or tele-counseling. The goal is to make mental health resources as integral as health insurance. Leading by example is perhaps the most impactful strategy. When leaders demonstrate their commitment to well-being, it creates a ripple effect. Employees feel empowered to prioritize their health, knowing they have the support of their organization. The ROI of Well-Being Investing in well-being isnt just a moral imperativeits a business strategy. Companies that embed well-being into their culture see tangible benefits: higher productivity, lower turnover rates, and significant healthcare savings. Johnson & Johnson, for example, saved $250 million over a decade through its wellness programs. The corporate world is at a critical juncture. As economic pressures mount and the demand for innovation intensifies, leaders must recognize that well-being is no longer a luxury but a strategic necessity. Companies that fail to adapt risk losing their competitive edge, as disengaged and burnt-out employees cannot drive sustained growth. In contrast, those who embrace the Four Pillars of Worker Well-Being will likely see transformative results. These companies will attract and retain top talent, foster a resilient organizational culture, and ultimately, achieve long-term success. To illustrate, lets look at an innovative retail company that integrated these pillars into its operations. By offering flexible schedules, mental health resources, and fostering a culture of openness, they saw a 30% reduction in employee turnover and a significant boost in customer satisfaction. Employees reported feeling more engaged and valued, directly impacting the companys bottom line. Moreover, the shift towards prioritizing well-being aligns with broader societal trends. As public awareness of mental health and work-life balance grows, companies that lead in these areas will not only meet employee expectations but also set industry standards. The future of work demands a new kind of leadership, one that places well-being at the core of organizational strategy. This isn’t just about improving employee morale; its about creating a sustainable model for success in an ever-evolving business landscape. By adopting these practices, leaders can navigate the complexities of the modern workplace and unlock the full potential of their teams. Excerpted with permission from the publisher, Wiley, from Essential: How Distributed Teams, Generative AI, and Global Shifts Are Creating a New Human-Powered Leadership by Christie Smith and Kelly Monahan. Copyright 2025 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. This book is available wherever books and eBooks are sold.
Category:
E-Commerce
Nearly three in five people worldwidea significant 58%plan to look for a new job in 2025. Thats a lot of people in the hunt and if you’re one of them, it can feel a bit overwhelming. It doesnt help that many job seekers are also feeling stuck, applying to more positions than ever yet hearing back less often. The shifting job market, influenced by more competition and the growth of AI, has made old strategies less effective. To succeed, job seekers need to rethink their strategyfocusing on roles that align with their skills, crafting tailored applications, and finding ways to stand out. The good news? With a clear, intentional approach, you can navigate these challenges and make meaningful progress in your career. Heres how to take control of your job search in 2025: Be Adaptable: Go where the opportunities are The job market is changing quickly. Consider this: Nearly three-quarters of todays fastest-growing rolesthink Artificial Intelligence Engineer or Chief Growth Officerdidnt even exist 25 years ago. Its a good reminder that building a sustainable career means staying ahead of the curve. Identify which skills are in demand and which industries are growing. Resources like LinkedIns Jobs on the Rise report can be helpful in spotting trends. For example, we’re seeing a willingness among job seekers to pivot into new industries. Making such a leap begins with assessing your transferable skillsattributes like communication, leadership, problem-solving, and adaptabilityand exploring how they align with roles in unfamiliar sectors. By pairing curiosity with preparation, you can position yourself as a strong candidate in emerging fields. Highlight your expertise Simply claiming expertise isnt enoughyou need to show it. Hiring managers look for specific skills, so align your profile and résumé with the job description. Highlight achievements that show how your skills have produced results. Update your LinkedIn profile as well; listing at least five key skills can help you get up to 5.6 times more profile views from recruiters. Think of this as your opportunity to build a digital portfolio that speaks for you. Whether its showcasing a project, sharing industry insights, or highlighting new skills youve gained, your profile can become a dynamic representation of your expertise and professional brand. Focus on quality over quantity Applying to as many jobs as possible might seem like a good strategy, but its not effective. Instead, focus on quality instead of quantity. To help you be more strategic in the roles youre applying for, consider using LinkedIns new job match feature to see how your skills and experience line up with what hiring managers are looking for. It can also help you identify any skills you may be missing that could improve your chances of hearing back from recruiters. And, take the time to customize your applicationwriting a cover letter tailored to the role lets you clearly explain how you can meet its needs. It may seem like overkill, but it will help you stand out to employers. Navigating the current job market doesnt have to be frustrating. Small, focused actionslike improving your profile, expanding your network, or learning a new skillcan move you closer to your next role. In a fast-changing job market, being focused and strategic is the best way to stay ahead.
Category:
E-Commerce
It was the year 2000. We survived Y2K and sat at our computers obsessed with a strange new game called The Sims. It was the first game I ever played where the protagonist could be late to work, forget to take out the garbage, or be so preoccupied by the doldrums of life that they might pee themselves. I, alongside millions, was hooked and could not articulate why. Born from the mind of Will Wrightthe same designer who bucked the industrys penchant for arcade games for world simulators like SimCityThe Sims is almost as hard to define now as it was then. Is it a virtual dollhouse? A simulacrum of suburban life? A neighborhood of tamagotchis with jobs? An HGTV home improvement show crossed with Real Housewives? [Image: EA] By design, whatever you call The Sims may reflect on you more than it. From its earliest days, The Sims universe has attempted to be anything but prescriptiveright down to its progressive view on relationships without labels or gender expectations. Twenty-five years later, the franchise, now owned by EA, has amassed half a billion players. The Sims 4 came out over a decade ago at this point, but after it became free-to-play in 2022, its popularity ballooned to reach 85 million players, and its released 17 expansions that allow people to do everything from arguing over family inheritance to convening a court of vampires. For the 25th anniversary, I sat down with two creatives that have been with the franchise since the original game to discuss their core design approach of The Sims, whats kept players obsessed, and why fewer of these little characters are peeing themselves these days. [Image: EA] A funhouse mirror of the world The Sims may have a quiet premisecreate a character and their home, choose a profession, and socialize with neighborsbut nothing about the presentation from there is literal. Through every bit of its art, design, and animation, the world balances the mundane with the zany. That not only brings an element of fun to The Sims; it expands whats plausible at any moment. We definitely talk more about being relatable than realistic, which means that we do lean more dramatic in our acting and our animation, says Lyndsay Pearson, VP of franchise creative for The Sims. Thats partially because of the way you play the game: You’re far away [from characters], you need to be able to read it. But also because that supports the world and the stories we’re trying to enable. Each gesture of these little characters is exaggerated, as if theyre actors on a stage being read from the audience, even though youre just sitting at your computer. That ensures that the mundane feels interesting. [Image: EA] When you’re cooking, or going to sleep, or making up the bed, or doing these life actions, a lot of your players actually want to experience them in this extremely whimsical and playful fashion. Nobody wants to see that in a replica of actual real life the exact same way, says Nawwaf Barakat, senior animation director for The Sims. So it needs to be telling its own story every single time. It needs to look interesting the 1,000th time you’ve actually seen it. The tone of those moments isnt merely legible or entertaining; they also highlight the farce, expanding whats possible in the world. We’ve described it as a fun house mirror to the world, where it looks familiar enough that you can relate to it and feel like, Oh, if I if I take out the trash, I understand the chain of events and the rules of this universe, but it’s all skewed so that when a giant monster pops out of the trash, I’m not surprised. [The design] explains that these things can coexist. [Image: EA] Implying so the player can infer While players enjoy rich, multigenerational stories in The Simscomplete with love, backstabbing, and sudden plot twistsin fact, the design team admits that most of this narrative takes place in your head. The Sims is really a game of interpretation, says Barakat. It’s amazing how much our players will actually fill the stories in themselves. A key idea behind fiction, born from The University of Iowas Writers Workshop, is that the wrier should imply so the reader can infer. The Sims is designed to do this across a characters relationships. The Sims speak in Simlish (gibberish that sounds almost like English). You can broach a topic, like brag about promotion, but responses from characters are always in either Simlish or word clouds filled with simplistic, emoji-like images. [Image: EA] Many players try to tell multi-generational stories in the game, and recently, The Sims released an expansion all about death and family legacy. The challenge was about creating an opportunity for these stories without determining the plot ahead of time. We added enough conversation dialog choices or enough icons in the thought balloons to get them to think about the character or think about a gravestone, that you could make that story kind of happen, says Pearson. So, we have to carve out those spaces, particularly to leave room for that interpretation to say, Oh, this could be them all mourning at a wake,’ but it could also be, ‘They’re all fighting at a wake.’ [Image: EA] These techniques almost sound silly to deconstruct, but theyre also at the core of how iconography and symbology works across culture. There are points where interpretations are shared, and points where they diverge. Everything in between is the fun of criticism IRLand where the opportunity for differing interpretations around narrative exist in The Sims. You see comments online sometimes about how deep our game is, how we thought of everything, says Barakat. And we’re like, Wow, we didn’t really think about that! It was our players building that story based off of all the elements we provided. [Image: EA] By avoiding labels, not only is The Sims less prescriptive, it is also more inclusive. (You wont find Republicans and Democrats in The Sims, for instance.) Since the earliest days of the game, relationships spanned gender boundaries without specific labels around status. Today, The Sims 4 does allow players to very deeply specify a characters gender and sexual identity (and even if they lactate), but still, the way this background plays out in actual game logic can be fluid and, again, unlabeled. Sims may fight, but they dont judge. [Image: EA] Is polyamory just the absence of jealousy? Because functionally, that’s kind of what it is. If you decide what gets jealous of what, the player then can infer a lot of different types of relationships of that, says Pearson. And we don’t have to label all of them. We don’t have to provide specific definitions and restrictions. We sort of just have to open up space, which is a really interesting design challenge . . . we say, ‘What’s the lowest common denominator that would unlock a lot of these things?’ [Image: EA] Building forgivable failure (like, why Sims still pee themselves) You cannot win The Sims 4. But you cannot lose either. The way that the franchise has handled the topic of failure has evolved over time, climbing Maslovs hierarchy of needs to be less about survival than everything else in life. When you go back and play The Sims 1, it is very hard to keep your Sims alive. They caught fire all the time. It was a very dangerous world in The Sims 1, the plate spinning was really hard, says Pearson. So, when we moved into The Sims 2, we wanted to introduce a different level of pushback, a little bit higher up the sort of chain of needs. Sims began failing at the meta layers of life, like being too lonely. [Image: EA] But by The Sims 3 and 4, everything got a little bit easier about life. Your Sims don’t fail so much as they just aren’t thriving, and that you can do so much more when you’re working with them, nurturing them, and pushing them along the way, says Pearson. Screenshot Micromanaging has been tuned down in interest of choose-your-own-adventure story charting. If you aren’t spending every moment feeding yourself so you don’t starve, or showering so you don’t stink, you can spend more time, say, turning an entire town into vampires. But notably, you still need to tend to your Sim. You even need to make sure that they use the bathroom now and again, or else, yes, after 25 years, they will still pee themselves. This micromanagement isnt just gamification to keep the player active, but core to the emotional draw of The Sims. There’s a certain amount of pushback that the game still needs for you to believe that these are little people that need you, and that could be a mode of failure, like having an accident or starving. We try to make those entertaining as well: things like being hit by a meteor because you were stargazing for too long, says Pearson. Because at the end of the day, that is a reminder that there is a little bit of humanity in them that you need to pay attention to, and that you can’t just treat them like some ants and it’s fine if they die. You want to care about them. And perhaps thats the real appeal of The Sims after two and a half decades. In a world where we constantly dehumanize one another, reflexively hating people as avatars on social media, The Sims offers another waywhere even a few polygons and lines of code can be worthy of our care.
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||