The Employer Revolution
I’m co-presenting a Webinar tomorrow about infusing humor into internal comms. It’s a fantastic tactic to help engage and retain a workforce, and this type of online presentation is a perfect fit for me because I’m an expert at sitting! I’m the Michael Phelps of not getting 10,000 steps a day.
What I find most fun about this, is how the act of instructing turns me into a student (the best kind of student because it doesn’t end with massive loans). For example, I’m astounded by this TechCrunch article, which mentions that the average new graduate will have 30 or more different jobs in 3 different careers. That’s CRAZY. How will people even compile that information for recruiters? Maybe I’ll finally read War and Peace since it’ll be way shorter than future resumes.
The prospect of fluid employment is exciting, but it makes me sad because it feels like a trend created by too many negative work environments. We are in need of an employer revolution. C-Suite lions who build companies that last for their people, not just their customers.
Why can’t an employee have 30 different jobs in the same corporation? I think that’s an important rhetorical question as we collectively define the Fourth Industrial Revolution. I know I sound like a grandpa. I thought I’d have to have a kid first who then had a kid. Apparently I skipped diaper changing and went straight to gramps.
Thankfully, progress is occurring. While the strong economy may worry many employers hoping to minimize their turnover rates, more and more organizations are capitalizing on the notion of a fun work environment. This new wave of entertaining and funny cultures, born largely out of the startup world, makes for an exciting chapter for the modern employee.
I started my company in part because I think work — writ large — should be more fun. I believe a person can grow just as much inside an organization as out, as long as the leadership chooses to put in some really challenging and thoughtful work into its culture. A culture where humor is a core value, empathy is a currency, and the bottom line is employee happiness.
Also a culture with free Passionfruit La Croix. A free can of that makes up for a dozen boring PowerPoints.
