The Wrap #14: Beware the Reality TV Stars of Work
You may only use Glassdoor to see how horrible a potential company treats their employees, or anonymously put a company on blast after a poor interview, but did you know it's "the worldwide leader for workplace conversations and career insights?" Seriously, they have "bowls" for employees to talk anonymously about how bad their employers are treating them and separate bowls for industries and job functions. Give it a whirl at the HR one. Yell about how a 3% yearly raise is not really a raise and see if you don't feel like you're yelling into the Grand Canyon.
To supplement these "bowls" of conversation, Glassdoor announced this week that they are bringing "Worklife Pros," a collection of influencers with millions of social followers, into their content community to empower users with expert insights on work and life. But who are these pros? A quick look into their bios shows a lineup of career coaches, TED speakers, personal branding experts, social activists, and content creators who create "relatable workplace comedy skits with a message."
But honestly, how would a TikTok creator or someone who left a regular job to be an online celebrity have any advice for the working world? It feels like asking the cast of a reality TV show for advice. I imagine it would go like this:
Me:
Hey Worklife Pros, my manager has set me up to be the fall guy for group projects that are not set up to succeed. I feel like she is protecting herself from any of the project shortcomings while positioning herself to receive any of the praise. How can I push back on her without creating an enemy and damaging my career?
WorkLife Pros:
"Check out this cute Monday Vlog of me hilariously dealing with Zoom calls."
"Set aside a meditation corner in your house to decompress"
"Have you thought about a TikTok dance?"
Don't fall for this trap. This was created not to help the actual user, but to get a young demographic using Glassdoor's community by hiring Gen Z content creators to post on their site.
Seriously, there are too many "experts" on social media that only care about getting themselves in front of the camera for wacky soundbytes and not about actually helping people. After HR Tech, my LinkedIn feed was inundated with these people taking selfies on the red-eye home or making a sad face with their young kids saying they missed them but had to work and that's #dadlife.
If you really want advice, seek out people who have been in your situation, have navigated complex working environments, not self-absorbed social media influencers trying to be the next reality star.
On to this week's news. On this edition of The Wrap, Josh Bersin dives into the latest job data, HireRoad brings Steve Pemberton onboard, Guild buys Nomadic Learning, resources with Shannon Pritchett, and a look into Columbus Day.
Have a great weekend!
Josh Bersin makes sense of the latest job data
I know I feature Josh Bersin a lot in The Wrap, but he's a smart guy who understands the data behind what's happening in work today and he writes compelling pieces on the state of the industry. That being said, I take the vendor highlights with a grain of salt as each year the list of "most innovative" or "AI Trailblazers" is usually an annual list of his clients. But that's business - I get it. Companies paying you a fee for membership or advising usually want to be trumpeted by you. Better yet, if you own stock in those companies, it will increase both of your profits. It's a win-win for everything but transparency.
I want to focus on his take on the latest job numbers. He mentions that the latest job numbers show US unemployment staying around 4% while the GDP has skyrocketed. This is illustrated in the picture above with the red line being the GDP, yellow being unemployment, and blue being available workers. The gap between the GDP and available workers means that each individual worker is responsible for more of the overall profits of the organization. This makes the case for keeping and developing your employees, instead of replacing them with AI or laying them off every few years as you struggle to maintain profit growth. He also brings up the great point of the increasing productivity metrics on employees are pushing them to the limit and damaging the overall customer experience, which is exactly what is happening at Starbucks right now.
There's a lot to digest, but check out the full video below.
HireRoad adds senior HR executive, best-selling author, and HR thought leader Steve Pemberton to board of directors
Full disclosure - I'm a big fan of Steve Pemberton. I first ran into him when he spoke at WorkHuman Live as that conference was getting off the ground. He later became our CHRO. In working with Steve, a couple of things stood out:
- He has a tremendous background of perseverance. Steve grew up with an abusive foster family and was able to rise above it, graduating from Boston College and becoming the Chief Diversity Officer at Monster and Walgreens. He later wrote a memoir about his childhood that was made into an independent movie starring the late Tom Sizemore.
- He is a tremendous speaker. If you ever have the chance to see him speak, go and watch him command a room.
- He fights against the status quo and stands for what is fundamentally right. I've seen him speak out against the detentions and family separations of the Trump administration while at SHRM and while sharing the stage with certain HR CEOs who were more than happy to shake Trump's hand and smile for a photo opp.
I'm looking forward to him returning to the HR Tech space with HireRoad and will be cheering him from the sidelines. Here's the full press release if you are interested
Guild buys Nomadic and boosts their L&D offerings
Three cheers to Guild and Nomadic Learning for joining forces. I love reading about learning and development programs frankly because I've never been at an organization that actually embraces it. Most just sign up to have something like LinkedIn Learning, but with no guidance and most courses focusing on soft skills. Outside of LinkedIn, I've been at organizations that run "cohorts" featuring a class run by HR going through a pamphlet and having employees break into small groups to go through the pamphlet. These options for learning and development only show your employees that you are doing the bare minimum to say you have development opportunities, but in reality, management doesn't care. They still would rather hire from the outside than develop within. This (along with the lack of pay increases) is why people jump to other organizations. I'm hoping this changes in the future. Full press release on the acquisition here.
Spotlight - For Recruiters By Recruiters
Since I just got off a rant about influencers who don't really help anyone, I'd like to suggest one that does. Shannon Pritchett and HireEZ have a weekly newsletter for recruiters that acts not only as a news roundup, but also provides real tips and advice for recruiters. If you are a recruiter, take a moment to read the latest edition and subscribe at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/hold-your-butts-future-hiring-doesnt-care-comfort-shannon-pritchett-xmb8c/
Wikipedia of the Week - Christopher Columbus
It's Columbus Day in the USA on Monday, so it's time to take a look at the man behind the holiday - Christopher Columbus. He sailed the ocean blue in 1492 and made the first contact between Europeans and the Western Hemisphere (if you want to discount L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland). Despite the praise he got in his lifetime, he is now regarded as one of the worst men in history. Here are some of the lowlights:
- Claimed to be the first man on his ship to spot land (he wasn't) so he could take the reward offered by the King
- Enslaved hundreds of natives
- Forced thousands more to labor for gold with harsh penalties (such as losing a hand)
- Set the stage for a future full of dehumanization, trafficking, and enslaving indigenes people
And those are just some of the many awful facts about Columbus. If you want to learn more, check out the Wikipedia page here.
