The Art of Keeping Remote Employees Happy.

This week, a brief update as I'm on a mental health break (more on this later.)

What we get wrong about surviving (and thriving) at work.

The biggest event from right before I left was the release of our Future Work podcast. In the premiere episode, I interviewed Steelcase VP of Insights, best-selling author, and Forbes writer Tracy Brower, PhD about Happiness at Work.

Tracy, who wrote the (highly recommended) book The Secrets to Happiness at Work, shared several key insights that everyone can benefit from:

• Happiness is an overall sense of joy and contentment, that ebbs and flows. It comprises four key elements: Dedication, Immersion, Energy, and Mattering.
• We live in a "hybrid paradox": it's necessary to be intentional about collaboration and remind ourselves of our values. Leaders and managers must take a big role in this.
• Measuring happiness directly in organizations can actually reduce happiness levels. Focus on measuring sources of happiness.
• Happiness and well-being are closely linked. (cc Alyssa Than (MBPsS) !)
• When people are engaged and satisfied with their roles, it leads to greater productivity and performance.
• Tracy's big message: Love your work, and learn your work.

I hope you'll enjoy this episode and pick up valuable ways to improve your and your team's happiness at work. With so many hours spent working, it's paramount.

Did you miss it?

Some other news from my desk:

• We are organizing a webinar for hybrid and remote managers! If you want advice from our highly experienced panelists, Abhishek Mathur –?former Chief People Officer at VNG, J&J, Spacematrix, 廖佳莹 – Group Head of Employee Experience at DBS Bank, and Klara Krok-Paszkowska , a rockstar leader at TikTok, join us next week!
• Is your team lacking a growth mindset? We are opening up our Yes, You Can! Growth Mindset Workshop with coach Alex Loh 劳星裕 .
• Need team members to improve communication? Gift free access to our live workshop Speak Confidently in Unexpected Situations with trainer David Goldwich .
• Our assistant for cutting your meetings on Google Calendar, Calendar Cleaner, was named one of 9 Best Chrome Extensions to Boost Productivity in 2023. If meetings are taking over your life, give it a try.

Must-Reads

Some articles and related readings I came across over the past week that I think you'll enjoy:

• NYC's major Eric Adams, who said in 2022: "You can’t run New York City from home. You can’t stay at home in your pajamas all day." now is offering work-from-home forced by talent shortages in the city.
• Over 200 people seem to agree with my reply to Bloomberg reporter Matthew Boyle 's post that workers in the office spend 25% more time in career-development activities than their remote counterparts. I noted, "Let’s be honest. That’s because they’re working in companies that weren’t designed for WFH, often with old(er) managers who don’t know how to facilitate equal opportunities for remote employees." See the post here.
• Copy.AI's CEO Paul Yacoubian shared incredibly interesting insights about our AI-driven future of work on This Week in Startups . He and Jason Calacanis discussed how anyone can build on ChatGPT, how agents can take over most of our work, and what's left for us to do as humans—highly recommended.
• My most popular post in the past week, Microsoft proves that you need breaks between meetings, saw great tips and insights from Christie Hoffman , Will Fan?? , 支路詹姆士 , and others on dealing with busy schedules.

Quote

"Your culture is the sum of all the great behaviors you celebrate, minus all the unwanted behaviors you tolerate." – Danny Meyer .

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Have a great rest of your week, and I look forward to meeting again when I'm back next week!

Daan