As the curtain on 2022 draws near, it’s time to draw the line and see what we learned. For many, last year was bitter – instead of post-pandemic normalization, businesses had to grapple with recession, restructuring, and layoffs. Employees had to deal with uncertainty and anxiety and it never became clear if hybrid work is a success or a failure.
But, while its destination remains unknown, the journey to an inclusive, flexible, and dynamic post-pandemic workplace is beautiful and ongoing.
Here are the key stories, events, and discussions, that helped shape the workplace of the future last week.
- Goldman Sachs goes through with a round of lay-offs
- Leaders and employees brace themselves for the “Great Return”
- Data-driven performance management is on the rise
- Remote work helped dads do more at home
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Layoffs
Goldman to cut thousands of staff as Wall Street layoffs intensify | Reuters
2022 has been a challenge for Wall Street – revenues plummeted and the economic grip tightened. At the same time, most industry leaders – like Goldman Sachs – expanded exponentially during the pandemic and now struggle to maintain bloated workforces. As the result, the company is downsizing – the exact number of affected employees is unknown but will allegedly be in the order of thousands.
Cisco Announces Mass Layoffs – 4,100 Employees Cut | Forbes
We have already covered a story on Cisco planning a major restructuring, despite positive quarterly performance. The company’s layoff announcement issued this week gave rise to the first wave of job cuts, affecting about 5% of the workforce.
Komodo Health, once tipped for a looming IPO, has cut staff as CFO departs | TechCrunch
Komodo Health, a healthcare startup valued at $3.3 billion last year and reported to go public by TechCrunch, will be laying off about 78 staff members. The layoffs followed the departure of the company’s CFO and are consistent with decisions made by other late-stage startups: Airtable or Stripe.
HSBC Sends Recruitment Emails to Rival Bankers Facing Cuts | Bloomberg
Even in a grim economic outlook of today, it seems that an organization’s loss is another’s win. While Goldman Sachs and other banks are cutting staff, HSBC, their multinational rival, is reported to be sending laid off teams recruitment emails inviting them to join the company.
Remote and hybrid work
2023 trends – the end of remote working and the ‘great return’ | Raconteur
Although the benefits of remote work is obvious, recession might encourage employees to shift to traditional in-person work next year. In fact, recent data by LinkedIn shows that the remote work street is over: the number of WFH job openings dropped from 16% in January to 12% in December, 2022.
Remote Work Is Helping Dads Do More at Home. Let’s Make Sure It Stays That Way | TIME
One of the biggest concerns of female workers at the start of the pandemic was that working from home would pressure woring moms to juggle projects and housework. To an extent, this has been true – but data shows that WFH actually helped level the playing field between women and men in the workforce. The reason? Remote work allowed men to participate in childcare more actively.
Remote work has created a new rift among couples: Jealousy when one gets to work from home and the other is back to the office | Fortune
If your partner gets to work from home while you are stuck in the commute-office-home rat race, there’s a risk of having to wrestle with jealousy. Here’s how the divide between companies that call their people back to offices and those willing to support WFH is becoming a challenge to relationships and families.
Work in review 2022: The five biggest lessons of the year | BBC
A new year-end recap from BBC eloquently recaps the takeaways leaders should carry with them in 2023. This review is a brilliant snapshot of the motions that global workforce has been going through this year and a collection of actionable takeaways that will help managers strategize for next year.
Leadership and culture
Toward Fairer Data-Driven Performance Management | Harvard Business Review
The value of data-driven insight is widely recognized in the HR space. In theory, managers can use new technology to get granular performance indicators and objectively determine top performance. In reality, most companies have a fuzzy definition of “good performance”, making it more about winning the popularity contest and less about letting quality work speak for itself.
Retaining talent is leadership’s top concern | Unleash
Keeping top performers loyal to their workplaces is a challenge most leaders face but few are solving proactively. If you want to trim the costs of losing your key cotnributors, throw these practices into your culture mix.
How to Skyrocket Your Business to the Top With Thought Leadership and Visibility | Entrepreneur
In the age of artificial intelligence writing content that is barely distinguishable from human thought, companies have to double down on authenticity and charismatic leadership. Here are the ways to bring out the best in yourself and your team by knowing when and how to speak up your mind.
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