Should workers have a 'Right to disconnect?'

Quick shot for a busy, 'It's almost Spring Break but not quite' Wednesday - another dispatch from the front lines of technology-driven employee burnout, (and potential governmental overreach).

First spotted from a piece on Fast Company with the headline 'New York workers may soon get the right to stop answering work email after hours' we find that there is some proposed legislation before the New York City Council titled "A Local Law to amend the New York city charter and the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to private employees disconnecting from electronic communications during non-work hours".

First observation of this proposal? The name doesn't quite roll off the tongue like 'The Affordable Care Act' or 'Prohibition'. Maybe shorten up the name next time?

But leaving that aside, the details of this proposed regulation/law are what is more interesting. Patterned on successful and similar laws in France and Germany, this proposal would make it illegal for private employers in New York City to require employees to answer work-related electronic communications, (email, texts, work chat messages, etc.), outside of their 'normal' working hours.

Here's the relevant excerpt from the proposal (for those who appreciate government-speak):

Disconnecting from work. a. 1. It shall be unlawful for any employer to require an employee to access work-related electronic communications outside of such employee’s usual work hours, not including overtime, except in cases of emergency. 

There are some other exceptions from this policy named in the proposal - on-call workers and independent contractors are the two most common - but essentially if enacted, this 'Right to disconnect' would explicitly forbid private employers to require electronic message responses from workers outside of normal working hours. And the proposal also protects workers from retaliation and interference should they choose to exercise this 'Right to disconnect'.

A couple of quick thoughts on this, then I will let you ponder the wisdom and/or need for such a regulation while you take a few minutes away from your overflowing Inbox:

1. Note that the proposal isn't entirely clear on what 'in cases of emergency' really means - 'Where is the Penske file? EMERGENCY!!!!', which creates what seems to be a pretty big loophole for employers to walk through.

2. If you have to resort to making a rule, whether a piece of legislation, or just a company-wide 'No E-mail Thursday' policy, then it is pretty likely you have some kind of a problem with email and electronic communication overload. A law might not make sense, but it seems apparent that carrying on with things as they are, and with employees drowning in messages, texts, and emails isn't going to be sustainable forever.

3. It's at least worth pondering a few questions: What would our organization do if this law did apply to our employees? How would we communicate, organize, collaborate, and manage differently? Does our organization really rely on almost 24/7 electronic access and availability of our people? And if so, what does this do to them?

Do I think such a 'Euro-style' kind of proposal would actually pass into law anywhere in the US?

Not really.

But the way we tend to recoil or even mock these kinds of proposals that even if ill-considered have at their core the well-intentioned goal of giving workers more balance, time to re-charge, and time to not be thinking about work, also suggests that we are probably contributing to the problem too.

I once blogged, (it was so long ago, I can't find the link, but trust me I did), that you could learn everything you needed to know about an organization's work culture by examining six months worth of weekend email traffic.

Who is sending them (weekend email), who are they sent to, who is responding, and how quickly would reveal tons of information about the culture.

Have a few extra minutes soon? Ask your IT group to give you some stats on weekend email usage. I bet it would be interesting...

Have a great day!

PODCAST: #HRHappyHour 316 - Thinking about AI and Personalized Experiences with IBM

HR Happy Hour 316 - Thinking about AI and Personalized Experiences with IBM

Sponsored by Virgin Pulse

Host: Steve Boese

Guest Host: Madeline Laurano

Guests: Bob Schultz, IBM; Gail Blum, NBCUniversal

Listen HERE

This week on the HR Happy Hour Show, Steve recorded live at IBM's Think Conference in Las Vegas, a massive event that brings together over 30K IBM customers, partners, and employees to talk and 'Think' about the future of work, business, and technology. In Part 1 of the podcast, Steve talks with Bob Schultz, General Manager of IBM's Watson Talent Business, to discuss what IBM is working on in the HR technology space - with a heavy dose of their AI intelligent Watson technology. We also talked about how AI can actually help create more personal, human, and tailored experiences for employees and candidates at scale. IBM has some of the most interesting technology in the space, and it was enlightening to catch up on what they've been doing.

In Part 2 of the podcast, Steve welcomes guest host Madeline Laurano to talk with Gail Blum from NBCUniversal (the organization behind many of your favorite TV networks, shows, and more), about talent attraction, talent branding, and creating personal and meaningful candidate experiences. Even the world's most well-known and desirable brands like NBCUniversal have to compete hard for talent, and with the increased digitization of their business, they are now competing against more (especially tech) companies for talent. Gail shared some great insights about how they are approaching these challenges.

We also talked Top Chef, This Is Us, and the Winter Olympics, and knitting.

You can listen to the show on the show page HERE, on your favorite podcast app, or using the widget player below:

This was a fun show - thanks to IBM for having us out at Think.

Remember to subscribe to the HR Happy Hour wherever you get your podcasts, and follow the show on Twitter - @HRHappyHour

Job Titles of the Future: Director of Mental Health and Wellness

While there definitely has been increased focus on wellness and wellbeing in the workplace in the last 10 or so years, most of that focus has been on the physical dimension of wellness - with programs and tools designed to help employees get more physically active, to quit smoking, to get a handle on better ways to manage long-term and (often) preventable health risks. But less attention (it seems to me anyway), has been paid to other aspects of wellness/wellbeing - and in particular, mental health. And mental health, and how employee mental health impacts people and the organization is a huge deal. I mean huge.

How huge?

According to some data from the Depression Center from the University of Michigan:

Depressive illnesses, including major depression and bipolar disorder, are highly prevalent in the United States, affecting nearly one in five adults at some point in their life. These conditions are also among the top five causes of disability globally, and depression ranks as the #1 contributor to disability in the U.S. and Canada. An estimated 6.7% of adults in the U.S. had at least one major depressive episode in the past year. Depression is one of the most costly health conditions for American employers. The annual cost of depression in the U.S. is estimated at $210.5 billion, with approximately 45% attributable to direct costs, 5% to suicide-related costs, and 50% to workplace costs. A majority of these workplace costs are due to lost productivity in the workplace from both absenteeism (missed days of work) and "presenteeism" (reduced productivity at work). Presenteeism represents nearly 75% of workplace costs and 37% of the overall economic burden of depression.

And that is just one set of data points from one source on the significant impact the mental health challenges and depression in particular makes on organizations, not to mention the personal and family impact depression has on people, families, and communities.

So it makes sense that organizations are and should be addressing mental health and depression as just as important a dimension of employee wellness with as much focus as they have with physical wellness. And at least one organization, maybe one you wouldn't think would 'have' to worry about the mental health of its workforce is doing just that.

The organization is the National Basketball Association, (don't worry, this is not turning into a 'sports' post). From a recent piece on the NBA.com site:

Kevin Love and DeMar DeRozan -- two All-Stars -- who became the latest NBA players to detail their public battles with mental wellness. Love wrote a first-person account last week in The Players’ Tribune of the panic attack he suffered earlier this season. DeRozan spoke last month of the depression he’s dealing with during what may be his most successful NBA season.

Their disclosures came as the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association are close to naming a Director of Mental Health and Wellness, who will run an independent mental wellness program that is being jointly funded by the league and union.

It might seem surprising that NBA players - generally young, wealthy, successful, admired, and in great physical health would be affected by mental health issues, panic attacks, and depression. But the fact that we can have that kind of a reaction - 'Gee, what do these guys have to be depressed about?', reminds us that it is too easy to fail to take mental health issues seriously, or to want to treat them as not real issues for employees because we can't 'see' them.

And I am pretty sure that is going to change, or it will have to change, as these issues become more common in the US and by extension, in the workplace. The National Institute of Health’s National Institute of Mental Health estimates that, in 2016, more than 44 million Americans suffered from some form of mental illness, ranging from mild to moderate to severe, and impacting more than 18 percent of all U.S. adults.

As an NBA fan, I like that the league is doing more to actively recognize, address, support and mostly not to hide from the mental health challenges that players are facing - even if we think these don't or shouldn't exist, the accounts of Love, DeRozan, and others show us the problems are real. And with the data showing that mental health issues and illnesses growing at a consistent rate, it makes sense for organizations to think about today's Job Title of the Future - Director of Mental Health and Wellness. Maybe you should too.

Have a great weekend!

Introducing the Human Friendly Workplace Podcast

I'm super excited to share with you the debut episode of the newest podcast on the HR Happy Hour Podcast Network - The Human Friendly Workplace Podcast hosted by employee engagement and workplace culture expert Jason Lauritsen. 

On the Human Friendly Workplace Podcast, Jason will speak with HR and business leaders who are actively engaged with making their workplaces better - and more human.

For Jason's debut episode, he talks with Graham Moody, People and Culture Manager at ansarada, an Australian company that has seen rapid growth, and has had to make sure their unique culture could scale.

Here are the details for the show - and many thanks and a welcome to Jason - we are thrilled to have you be a part of the HR Happy Hour family.

The Human Friendly Workplace 1 - Creating a Human Friendly Workplace

Host: Jason Lauritsen

Guest: Graham Moody, People and Culture Manager at ansarada

Listen to the show HERE

How can understanding employees’ personal values help create a stronger and more self-aware workplace? What does it mean to reevaluate and decide to change your company values, and how can you make sure employees connect with the new values?

“We believe that values drive behavior and that behavior drives results.” - Graham Moody

In today’s conversation Jason interviews Graham Moody with ansarada. Ansarada is headquartered in Sydney and has grown rapidly in the last 18 months, reaching nearly 200 employees while simultaneously pivoting its business model. Having strong company and personal values has always been deeply important at ansarada, and the recent changes posed a new challenge to the company culture.

In the discussion, Moody will discuss how the company preserved the company’s culture during the rapid growth and a business focus shift. Listeners today will also learn why you should create a culture of servant-based leadership and also hear the one piece of advice he would give to managers on creating a human-friendly workplace culture.

Listen to the show on the show page HERE, on your favorite podcast app, or by using the widget player below:

Today’s episode is being powered by Small Improvements.

Small Improvements is a feedback platform that helps employees grow and succeed. From Performance Check-Ins, Goals and 360s, it combines both ongoing and structured feedback to facilitate meaningful development.

Subscribe to all the HR Happy Hour Podcast Network shows wherever you get your podcasts - just search for 'HR Happy Hour'

What the Toys R Us meltdown reminds us about workforce trends

By now you probably have seen the sad news that Toys R Us is in bankruptcy, and is facing the likely closure of its 700+ stores in the US in the coming months.

Definitely a sad day for many, especially for the thousands of Toys R Us employees soon to be out of work, and for the let's say 'traditionalists' among us who still enjoyed shopping for toys and games and the like in the 'real world', and not just from an Amazon app.

Of the many reasons that have been blamed for Toys R Us demise, competition from Amazon (and others) is frequently cited, along with the pretty staggering amounts of corporate debt and debt service payments that Toys R Us has been burdened with since its acquisition by Private Equity companies in 2005. Other post-bankruptcy analyses have pointed to Toys R Us failure to modernize its shopping experiences, inability to grasp digital commerce trends, and the fact that they lost touch with their most important customer - mothers shopping for their kids.

But there is one other factor that has contributed to the toy retailer's plight, one that has not been mentioned as much in the coverage, and one that has much wider implications in work and workplaces as well. And it is this: people in the US are having fewer children, thus creating fewer of Toys R Us' prime 'end customers', and, eventually, fewer entry-level workers for all US firms to recruit.

Here it the thing, the folks running Toys R Us maybe couldn't figure out what to do about this trend, but they did see it coming. Here is an excerpt from their most recent 10-K financial filing from April 2017:

"Most of our end-customers are newborns and children and, as a result, our revenues are dependent on the birth rates in countries where we operate," the filing reads. "In recent years, many countries' birth rates have dropped or stagnated as their population ages, and education and income levels increase. A continued and significant decline in the number of newborns and children in these countries could have a material adverse effect on our operating results."

Data from the CDC in the US backs that up - the most recent data available from 2016shows the US birth rate hitting a record low, and with no obvious sign of this trend changing, retailers like Toys R Us are going to face continuing pressure. Longer term, if this trend does continue, all kinds of employers will face pressure too - a different kind of pressure perhaps, this one stemming from relatively fewer entry-level or younger candidates, as well as the need to create workplaces that are more open, accommodating, and available to older workers too.

Since I love charts, I will close with this one, from our pals at FRED - a look at the increase in the 65+ labor force in the US over the last 20 years or so.

I will spare you trying to squint at the small print, but the total number of workers aged 65+ has more than doubled since 2000 - with almost 10M people in that group as of the latest data. And even if you can't read the small print, it is easy to see the 'up and to the right' trend in the data.

Fewer babies and young kids means trouble for Toys R Us in 2018. It could mean recruiting problems for your organization too, in a few years. Don't wait until it is too late, like our pals at Toys R Us, to know how to react.

Have a great week!