Companies and their management are constantly weighing the needs of the business with the wishes of employees.  It is a balancing act.  When done well, a company is able to provide enough flexibility, incentives, inspiration and consideration for the well being of its employees while still ensuring the needs of the business are met.  When companies such as Best Buy or Yahoo are struggling, however, management finds itself in the difficult position of having to make sharp adjustments to policies in order to achieve balance again.  Those adjustments can often be difficult to swallow for the organization’s employees.  In the case of Yahoo, for example, their policy rescinding remote employees primarily impacted about 200 workers employed to work from home full time.  The decision was met with a huge outcry internally and a great deal of criticism externally.  What Yahoo may have gained in improving innovation and collaboration may ultimately be lost in employee loyalty and morale.  That remains to be seen. Continue reading →

Across every industry, companies today are competing to hire and retain employees with the strongest skills.  While the unemployment rate may still be high, most companies will attest that there is a shortage of top talent.  According to Forbes, some of the most sought-after skills today include:  critical thinking, complex problem solving, judgment/decision making, active listening, computer, math, operations and systems analysis, monitoring/ assessment, programming, sales and marketing.  Anyone with a combination of these skills — the top skills desired for the most in-demand jobs in 2013 — is considered highly valuable.  To attract and retain the most talented workers, many employers have offered workplace accommodations that cater to employees’ needs including working remotely, flexible schedules, relaxed work attire, etc.  These accommodations are meant to meet needs and thus increase employee loyalty.  After all, without employee loyalty, employers have to fill the same positions over and over as the most skilled employees are hired, work for a short time, and then leave. Continue reading →