Beyond Work is our line of resources for people and community leaders looking for something new and innovative outside, be it a new job, career change, or personal development outside of work.
Source: INSITEMIND
One way we can do this is by setting goals and creating an action plan. Goals should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time bound.
Source: Minute Movement
Check out the Point Blog for more Goal Setting ideas:
Goal Setting Articles from the Point Blog
Develop an Action Plan for yourself with Smartsheet – free download here.
Shortly after the Charlottesville riots, I read an article about how the University of Virginia was responding to ensure that they continue to strive to be a diverse community that welcomes all in a safe environment. And it made me think, how can employers do the same?
Many employers have diversity and inclusion programs, but are those programs truly successful? The recently publicized anti-diversity manifesto by, a now terminated Google employee, is a severe example of a diversity and inclusion program that may need revamping. I’d be curious to know if that manifesto has prompted Google to review their program.
Bersin by Deloitte conducted a two-year research study published by Forbes.com in 2015 that showed “Companies that embrace diversity and inclusion in all aspects of their business statistically outperform their peers.” Their research shows that a truly successful diversity and inclusion program has an impact far beyond the HR aspect, it impacts the business as a whole.
According to the study, those companies that emphasized leadership and inclusion in their talent strategy, were rated as exceptional organizations. Those companies, compared to the others in the study showed:
The study further showed that the two areas that had the greatest impact on business performance were the areas that focused on diversity and inclusion. Organizations that had successful programs saw the highest impact on their business performance.
I once hired a speaker who specialized in diversity and inclusion training to speak at an organization where diversity and inclusion was a problem, and one simple thing he said has stuck with me. Diversity and inclusion is so much more than planning company potlucks and sticking everyone in the same room.
Now is a great time to review your diversity and inclusion program. Does your organization strive to be a diverse community that welcomes all in a safe environment?
To read the full Bersin by Deloitte study, click here.
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I’ve heard millennials called many things. Lazy. Entitled. Spoiled.
Then I came across an article on Today.com that reminded me millennials aren’t the first generation to be labeled negatively. Writer Tom Wolfe dubbed the Baby Boomers as the “Me Decade” in his article The “Me” Decade and the Third Great Awakening. Paul Begala referred to Boomers in Esquire magazine as “the most self-centered, self-seeking, self-interested, self-absorbed, self-indulgent, self-aggrandizing generation in American history.”
Gen Xers were also the targets of such negative monikers. I still have a letter to the editor that graced my local paper my senior year of high school from a “concerned citizen” that dubbed my generation as “functional illiterates”. And yet many of us Gen Xers are successful. We are well respected leaders. We are innovators in our fields.
So, I asked myself if what is said about millennials is really true and I did a little research.
A 2014 study by Forbes Magazine showed that of the 80% of millennials who owned a smartphone, 87% checked their work email after hours on a regular basis and 37% always did. That same study showed that while only 13% aspire to climb the corporate ladder, 67% hope to start their own company.
That doesn’t sound lazy to me. It sounds like dedication, and it sounds like they have goals. Those goals are just different than those of the generations before them.
Unlike the generations before them, they are not content to work the nine to five, put in a day’s work, and leave it at the door when the whistle blows. They don’t believe in a work-life balance, they believe in a work-life integration. And achieving that work-life integration means having to think outside of the box. Sometimes, way outside of the box!
The Forbes article called millennials the True Entrepreneur generation. But while 67% aspire to start their own business, a 2014 report by the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy shows that only two percent of millennials, compared to 7.6 percent of Gen Xers, and 8.3 percent of Boomers have actually started their own companies. Why? In part due to their lack of experience in the workforce and lack of business acumen. But also in part due to those pesky student loans that followed them out of college, and those loans often keep them from being able to gain the startup capital needed to get a business off the ground.
The plight of the millennial generation is something companies should take advantage of and view as a potential asset. There is an entire group of young, eager to learn individuals out there just waiting to find the right opportunity. They are an often-untapped recruiting market for organizations. Yes, their ultimate goal now might be to own their own company down the road. But goals change. I know mine did. If you can get them in the door, give them a great opportunity, you might just show them the benefits your organization can offer them long-term.
They want to be a part of an organization where they can truly make a difference, be a part of the bigger picture, and soak up as much knowledge as quickly as they can.
If organizations can harness the energy that millennials have it can be a win-win. Remember that millennials are driven by purpose and want social connection. I found it interesting that according to an article on Time.com, 51% of millennials still want face-to-face interaction over other forms of communication. But they want that interaction to be meaningful, not just wasted time.
Find a way for your organization to benefit from the entrepreneurial spirit of millennials and you may find them to be some of the greatest contributors to your organization.
What is your organization doing to tap into the millennial market and harness their entrepreneurial spirit?
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Now more than ever, companies are utilizing LinkedIn to seek out job candidates. They aren’t looking at the ones who have “job seeker” in their profile. Organizations are seeking passive candidates that have desired skills, endorsements and connections to reputable individuals and organizations.
Here are 5 tips for getting the best out of your LinkedIn profile:
You can let recruiters know that you are in the market for a new career while keeping it confidential. Check out How to Find a Job Using LinkedIn for more details on this along with other tips.
The demand for tiny homes and RVs is on the rise. And millennials are driving these sales. As an article in USA Today stated,
Trailers, not motor homes, make up a large part of this growth, now accounting for 87% of the units sold, the association says. Buyers are likely to be Millennials, those in their 20s or early 30s, including a lot of young couples who don’t have kids yet….
For Buckles and many other first-time RV buyers, the focus is more on the short term. She and her husband Josh hope to use their new trailer to drive to barbecue competitions and enjoy the outdoors in her local area, which means that summer — and the freedom that comes with it — is just an RV purchase away.
And from thetinylife.com:
What are tiny houses? The tiny house movement? Tiny living?
Simply put, it is a social movement where people are choosing to downsize the space they live in. The typical American home is around 2,600 square feet, whereas the typical small or tiny house is between 100 and 400 square feet. Tiny houses come in all shapes, sizes, and forms, but they enable simpler living in a smaller, more efficient space.
People are joining this movement for many reasons, but the most popular reasons include environmental concerns, financial concerns, and the desire for more time and freedom. For most Americans 1/3 to 1/2 of their income is dedicated to the roof over their heads; this translates to 15 years of working over your lifetime just to pay for it, and because of it 76% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck.
So what is the alternative? One solution might be to live smaller. While we don’t think tiny houses are for everyone, there are lessons to be learned and applied in order to escape the cycle of debt in which almost 70% of Americans are trapped.
The trend in different ways to live, travel and find leisure for younger Americans also points to trends in lifestyle preferences that are important for employers to take note of, especially when it comes to employee benefits that lead to engagement and retention:
With all these trends, employers would be wise to revamp benefits packages around them. This would include more flexible and experience-based work arrangements (for candidates and employees), packages that focus on helping to pay off college debt (even over retirement savings packages like your traditional 401ks), and al a carte benefit options that allow employees the flexibility to choose what they need when they need it.
Have you rethought how to revise your benefits structure to meet the needs of today’s worker?