Why 'poly-employment' may be 2024's next big work trend
Fast Company, January 25 2024
 
You might not recognize the term 'poly-employment' but, according to this report, if you're busy recruiting it's likely to be happening in your organization. The number of people doing at least two jobs is increasing, particularly in certain sectors such as hospitality, healthcare and retail. It's also interesting to note that 60% of poly-workers are female and disproportionally younger. 

Our foHRsight – Financial security and flexibility are the common drivers of poly-employment and with a global cost of living crisis, it is understandable why we're seeing more moonlighters. It's also interesting to read about the more transactional relationship many people have with work and the opportunity (okay yes challenge!) this creates when you try to build connection and a sense of belonging with new colleagues. 

Lessons Learned: 1000 days of Distributed at Atlassian
Atlassian, 2023

Atlassian is often touted as one of the "darlings" of flexible working... but how did they do it? Check out this report sharing their lessons learned, and other insights.  

Our foHRsight – Thank you to Dave Cairns for flagging this report in our foHRsight podcast chat (episode drops March 7 - stay tuned!). To the point made in this report and by Dave on the show, in most organizations, teams are already distributed... so why would we demand everyone "back" to the office? Also, this stat from the Atlassian report really resonated: Today, 92% of our employees say that the way we work makes them more productive. Can your company say the same? Something that impactful shouldn’t be put in the “too hard” basket.  You read that right - they are MORE productive as a distributed company.

Why VR Content And Training Will Have An Increased Role In The Corporate World
Forbes, January 23 2024

Digitalization of learning covers a multitude of ways that traditional training interventions can be (hopefully) improved by technology. While our focus these days seems to be on GenAI, as this article outlines, virtual reality content can also play a role in creating more immersive learning experiences.

Our foHRsight – The research outlined in the article indicates that VR content can create more emotional connection with the content, making it a great delivery method for certain deliverables. There are still limitations however, both in terms of the upfront investment in hardware and the time required for design. Like any technology enabled solution, it's important to start by identifying the problem we're trying to solve and find the right tool - be it e-learning, VR headsets or, dare we suggest it, a traditional classroom workshop.

Terminal illness: Guidance for people professionals
CIPD, January 23 204

Topics like end-of-life illness and death can be difficult to deal with but these are tragic events that we're all likely face as HR leaders. This long-form guide provides some practical ways to ensure you're providing compassionate support to your people.

Our foHRsight – While there is stigma around these events, proactively developing an approach that is compassionate and flexible (and aligned with your broader culture) will ensure you're more prepared to deal with these situations when they arise. Without this clarity, your approach could do more harm both for the employee, their family and colleagues.

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future foHRward's mission is "To empower Human Resources (HR) and all Leaders of the future to make work better."  We created future foHRward in 2016 – to provide HR professionals with the best content in an engaging and supportive community so they can do great work for their organizations. We curate the most relevant content from the best thought leaders – and offer advisory support and access to the latest research and tools to inspire actionable insights.