Talent and HR News Weekly Update: The Latest

In this week's Talent and HR News Weekly Update, we're showcasing the latest thinking to keep you up on the beat. Anything from engagement (will we ever see this go away? probably not) to mental health days. Happy Friday!

1) Stripe's Crazy New Hiring Experiment: Bring Your Own Team from Inc. 

"From Google's wacky (and now out of favor) brain teaser interview questions to Zappos' unusual offer to pay recruits to quit if they didn't feel at home in their new job, startups and tech companies regularly pioneer new hiring practices that entrepreneurs in other industries might want to consider trying. Here's a new one for you, courtesy of the management at payment startup Stripe: how about hiring teams, rather than individuals?"

2) Recognition Can Be Worth More Than $5,000 to Employees from Bloomberg

"Being publicly recognized by their employers for the hard work they are doing is worth a lot to some employees—more than a bonus of $5,000 or even higher in some cases, according to a survey by HR software firm BambooHR of Lindon, Utah. Three out of 10 U.S. employees age 21 and up who were surveyed online in March by BambooHR said they'd want to receive a bonus of at least $2,000 if they had to forgo a companywide e-mail commending their work, while a minority of these—6.6 percent of all respondents—named the $5,000 or greater figure."

3) Forget Mental-Health Days, 'Me Time' Comes to the Office from Business Magz

"At Waterford Research Institute LLC, a nonprofit group focused on education, staff members get twice-a-year ‘Ferris Bueller’ days, named for the 1986 Matthew Broderick movie about students who skip school to spend an antic day in Chicago. While her co-workers reviewed budgets back at the office one recent Friday, Holly Pickering was wandering in the woods at a yoga retreat. Ms. Pickering, a yield analyst at a travel company, wasn’t on vacation, nor was she taking a mental-health day. She was indulging in some “me time,” and her employer was all for it. A handful of companies have begun offering workers paid days off to spend on themselves, in addition to vacation time and personal and sick days."

4) Employee engagement ideas: Cut the BS from The Context of Things

"I wouldn’t necessarily call ’employee engagement ideas’ top of mind for most decision-makers and senior business leaders. For some, employee engagement ideas are crucial. In fact, if you watched last night’s episode of Silicon Valley (Season 3, Episode 2), there’s a whole sequence where the new CEO of Pied Piper tells the old CEO (Richard) that they need gluten-free waffles and other perks because those perks get you the talent. I think a lot of Bay Area CEOs probably think that way, and a few others here and there. But in general, I think revenue growth and KPIs tend to overwhelm employee engagement ideas on the daily to-do lists of the people that can actually drive business change. Oh, and generally-pointless meetings and calls."

5) 5 hard truths about employee engagement from CIO

"Engaged employees mean more revenue, less turnover and a happier workplace. But the truth is that the majority of workers aren't engaged in their roles, and it's costing companies more than lost productivity. A 2013 study from Gallup found that as much as 70 percent of U.S. workers aren't actively engaged in their jobs. Engagement hasn't gotten much better since then, with Gallup's 2015 report showing nearly identical numbers and stagnant growth from 2014, as well as mostly flat growth since 2000. And for new hires, there's an "engagement honeymoon" period, according to another recent report from Gallup -- it found that employees perform the best and are the most engaged within the first six months of starting a new job, and after that there is a fast drop off."

Lexi Gordon is a Lead Consultant for exaqueo, a workforce consultancy that helps organizations build their cultures, employer brands and talent strategies. Contact exaqueo to learn more about our employer brand innovation, workforce research, and recruiting strategy offerings.

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