As a business owner, you want to mold your workers into a dream team. Ideally, they will work together enthusiastically and give a rock star performance. But sometimes you may encounter a player who is not up to par with the rest, or is a toxic employee. Either will upset the flow you’ve cultivated. You will recognize them right away — gossiping, complaining, trying to pit employees against each other and shamelessly talking about their search for a new job.
We are in the middle of “orientation season” here at Augusta University. While classes for our new undergraduates begin Aug. 11, they can choose to attend one of nine virtual or 10 in-person orientation sessions offered for them and their families from July 7 to Aug. 2.
There are several months to go before nominations for top buzzwords of 2021 close, but “hybrid workplace” is making a case for #1. Ask half a dozen people what it means, and you’ll probably get six different answers, but at the most fundamental level, a hybrid workplace is a model that supports both onsite and remote workers. The challenge is to make the hybrid workplace work for everyone.
Upon being accepted to one of my dream jobs at a tech firm, it never occurred to me that before I could tackle the work ahead, I’d first have to overcome the prejudice caused by the color of my skin. The drive to work each day was an anxiety-laden process. As I pulled up to the security gate ready to scan my card, I sat wondering if I was going to get searched...again.
Overnight, remote work became the norm in 2020. In a rush to recreate our economy, America set aside certain lingering questions about the role of remote work in our permanent economy, and more pointedly, the role and rights of its workers. What is the remote worker owed? And, to what extent, if at all, are remote workers different from their office-bound counterparts?
Businesses are beginning to sprout up to meet the demand for new kinds of working arrangements. The pandemic showed us how obsolete the one-size-fits-all 40-hour office week has become. Knowledge workers are looking for new models, and what’s emerging are hybrids of the old approaches. One such model I’m optimistic about is the “neighborhood clubhouse,” an option that exists somewhere between a coffee shop and a coworking space.