Issue #9: Back to the FoW for 2024

After a long December hiatus (see: holidays and year-end work activities), the newsletter is back for 2024!

Given a few changes on my end (an expanded job scope, a new side hustle as an adjunct instructor at NYU - wish me luck!) and to keep from the issues getting repetitive (the future of work is moving quickly, but on a weekly basis the themes are consistent), I'm switching the cadence of the newsletter to monthly. Hoping this helps it stay sustainable and vibrant. Let's see how it goes, and any feedback you have is very welcome.

A few stories that are top-of-mind for me as we head into 2024 (at 88 mph):

• Revisiting a Handshake survey of Class of 2024 university seniors from a few months ago, as we get closer to them being our newest crop of employees. Three things stood out to me that were positioned as separate data points that I think are actually interconnected and representative of broader workforce sentiment. (1) 77% were more likely to apply to a company that offers job stability, (2) 80% felt sometimes or often burnt out during their undergrad careers and the same percent were worried about experiencing burnout once they started their professional careers, and (3) 43% planned on doing freelance, part-time, or gig work once they started their careers. Potential connections between these dots: job insecurity and burn out are highly correlated, and having a side hustle can provide a bit of a security blanket instead of putting all of your $ earning eggs in one basket (even a F100 one). As employers and talent professionals, is there more that we should be doing to address these needs, or is it a fact-of-life that employees need to be solving it for themselves through alternate/supplemental employment? And what are the implications for focus, productivity, career growth, and retention/tenure?
• A warning from investigative journalist and NYU professor Hilke Schellmann that — as tempting and exciting as it might be to apply algorithms to streamline and enhance our talent processes and decision-making — it can also drive biased, inequitable, and illogical outcomes at frightening speed and scale. This Wired article , which includes ideas from her new book "The Algorithm ," is an important reminder to those of us pushing our organizations to embrace the future when it comes to AI and talent. We must ensure we are building on a foundation of strong principles around responsible AI and continue to actively monitor and red team along the way. An article by Rachel Curry of CNBC provides a related roundup of related studies and perspectives about the impact of AI in hiring, to date and to come. (h/t Dr Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic for highlighting this in a recent post)
• Speaking of principles, the last thing I'll highlight is the current "debate" (intentional quotes, given that it's a stretch to call tweets and substack screeds the basis for a true "debate") on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. This Business Insider article does a nice job with its round-up, which brings together all of the different topics that are sure to start a fight at your next social gathering. The current McCarthy-eque (Joseph, for clarity) atmosphere around the topic of DEI feels more hyper-charged than normal "pendulum swinging." For companies, it promises to be a test of values, convictions, and clarity of communications / consistency of policies and stances in 2024. In that regard, I do think Mark Cuban 's take (which stressed the business and moral foundation for each of diversity, equity, and inclusion, as opposed to mantras) felt like a good example for some inspiration.