The construction of buildings is a costly affair, and the materials used for building play a significant role in determining the overall cost. One of the latest trends in building materials is fabric structures. Fabric structures, also known as tension structures, are made from a variety of materials, including polyester, PVC, and ETFE. They have several benefits over traditional building materials, including cost-effectiveness, sustainability, and durability. In this blog post, we will explore the economics of fabric building construction and conduct a cost-benefit analysis.
The Cost of Fabric Building Construction
The cost of fabric building construction varies depending on several factors, such as the size of the structure, the type of fabric used, and the complexity of the design. However, fabric structures are generally more cost-effective than traditional building materials like concrete and steel. According to industry estimates, the cost of constructing a fabric building can be up to 50% less than that of a traditional building.
One of the reasons for the lower cost of fabric structures is the ease of construction. Fabric structures are typically constructed using a modular design, which means that they can be assembled quickly and easily. This reduces labor costs and the time required for construction. Additionally, fabric structures are lightweight, which means that they require fewer materials for construction. This reduces the cost of transportation and handling of materials.
Another cost-saving feature of fabric structures is their energy efficiency. Fabric buildings have a high degree of natural ventilation and can reflect heat and light, reducing the need for artificial lighting and air conditioning. This can result in significant energy savings, which can help offset the initial cost of construction.
A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Fabric Structures
Now that you know the cost of the fabric structure varies significantly on many factors depending on how you intend to use it, we can dive deeper into understanding in which cases the benefits outweigh the costs. We will conduct a cost-benefit analysis of fabric buildings, discussing the factors that should be considered when deciding whether to use these structures. Finally, we will examine some real-world examples of fabric buildings being used successfully in industrial settings, highlighting the benefits they offer in terms of cost, efficiency, and sustainability.
Cost
One of the biggest advantages of fabric buildings is that they are generally more cost effective than traditional buildings made of materials like steel or concrete. This is because they require less material and labor to construct, which can significantly reduce overall costs. Additionally, the speed at which fabric buildings can be assembled means that construction timelines can be reduced, resulting in further cost savings.
Flexibility
Another advantage of fabric buildings is that they are highly customizable and can be designed to meet the specific needs of a construction site or warehouse. This means that they can include features such as insulation, ventilation, and lighting, making them a flexible and versatile option. Additionally, because they are relatively lightweight, fabric buildings can be moved or expanded as needed.
Energy Efficiency
Fabric buildings can be designed to be highly energy-efficient, which can result in significant cost savings over time. The use of natural light can help to reduce the need for artificial lighting, and proper insulation can help to regulate temperatures and reduce heating and cooling costs. Additionally, because fabric buildings are typically designed to be open and airy, they can provide excellent ventilation, which can improve air quality and reduce the need for air conditioning.
Environmental Impact
Finally, the environmental impact of fabric buildings is typically lower than that of traditional buildings. This is because they can be made from recyclable materials, and they can be easily dismantled and reassembled, reducing the amount of waste generated. Additionally, because fabric buildings are often designed to be energy-efficient, they can help to reduce carbon emissions and other environmental impacts associated with energy use.
However, fabric structures also have their limitations. While they are lightweight and durable, they may not be suitable for all applications. For example, fabric structures may not be able to withstand extreme weather conditions, such as high winds or heavy snowfall. They also may not provide the same level of insulation as traditional building materials, which could impact energy efficiency and heating costs. In addition, the aesthetic appeal of fabric structures may not be to everyone’s liking, which could impact property values in some cases.
Despite these limitations, the cost benefits of fabric building construction cannot be ignored. The reduced construction time and lower material costs can result in significant cost savings for construction projects. Moreover, the lightweight nature of fabric structures can also reduce the need for costly foundations and structural support, further lowering the construction cost.
It’s worth noting that fabric buildings are also a popular choice for temporary structures, such as event tents or emergency shelters. In these cases, the cost-benefit analysis may be slightly different, as the structures are not intended to be permanent. However, fabric buildings can still offer significant cost savings compared to traditional structures, especially when it comes to transportation and assembly. Additionally, the flexibility of fabric buildings means that they can be easily adapted to suit different uses, making them a versatile option for a wide range of temporary applications. Overall, the cost-benefit analysis of fabric buildings will depend on the specific needs of the project, but in many cases, they can offer significant advantages over traditional buildings.
Today, practically every company automates at least some business processes. Statistics show that 97% of businesses feel that business process automation is critical for digital transformation.
When you automate your company’s processes, you increase output and efficiency. The rise of machine learning and artificial intelligence has caused automation to become more accepted and widespread throughout various business sectors.
Before we go into the advantages of automation, let’s define what it is and its different types.
What Is Business Process Automation?
The term business process automation (BPA) describes the use of technology to carry out routine or recurring tasks. This frees up your staff to work on higher-priority tasks, such as focusing on key initiatives, gathering data to make more informed decisions, and so on.
BPA has numerous applications in all corporate activities, including accounting and finance, marketing and sales, employee management, customer service, etc. Without automation, all of these business processes can quickly become chaotic and result in endless paperwork, lower productivity, decreased employee morale, or missing out on some tasks.
To streamline your business operations, your best bet is to invest in a business management platform. This kind of technology combines applications for customer management, enterprise resource planning, personnel management, project management, and accounting and tax management onto one web platform.
Types of Business Automation
The five most common types of business automation are:
Task automation.Task automation reduces manual tasks such as sending emails, creating documents, collecting signatures, etc.
Workflow automation.Workflow automation automates predefined procedures and activities. Numerous workflows allow for the automation of every task. In others, certain jobs will be automated while others (typically those that require critical thinking or decision-making) will be done by workers.
Process automation.Process automation studies an end-to-end process to find as many automation options as feasible. Process automation means automating both the individual jobs and the workflows that make up a given procedure.
Robotic process automation (RPA).Some jobs can be automated using custom-coded software bots. These are repeated, systematic activities that always operate in the same manner.
Intelligent automation.Intelligent automation blends tasks, processes, and RPA with artificial intelligence, data analysis, and other sophisticated technologies to automate higher-level processes like decision-making.
Benefits of Business Automation
There are several positive aspects to automating business processes within your company. Here are just a few examples:
Reduces the Potential for Mistakes and Saves Time
Perhaps the greatest advantage of automation is the time it can save you. Many workers spend a considerable amount of time on administrative duties. They have less time to focus on their real work because of this.
Your staff will be able to get more done faster thanks to business automation. Errors are also considerably reduced by the automation of routine procedures.
It doesn’t matter how knowledgeable or experienced your staff is; mistakes will still be made. But with automation software, blunders like that are very unlikely to occur.
Cost Savings and Improved Workflow Efficiency
Businesses can save money by switching to automated processes. This is because there will be less waste of materials. BPA eliminates the need for time-consuming manual processes while also increasing your profitability.
In addition, task automation can increase productivity and collaboration among workers. This improves your company’s productivity and ability to compete in the marketplace.
Improvements in Document Management
Handling your papers manually is a tedious and error-prone process that can result in a mountain of clutter and lost information. Therefore, a reliable system for managing documents is essential.
With the help of a business management platform, you can do this in a systematic and uniform manner. Document management becomes a breeze with automated systems in place. In fact, you can quickly find what you need anytime you want because of how neatly things are stored.
Greater Openness and Scalability
Automation in the workplace increases openness and transparency. You can keep your teams on the same page with the help of adaptable dashboards. This will concern a shift in responsibilities or the addition of new responsibilities. By automating certain tasks, you can streamline your workflow and allow your team to focus on more critical business functions. This can ultimately increase productivity and profitability. If you’re interested in incorporating automation into your business processes, visit this page to hire a nearshore software development company that can provide you with the necessary services to do so.
This is helpful for distributing process performance reports to boost worker responsibility. However, with more customers, your current employees will eventually have more work to do than they can accomplish. Unless additional employees are hired to handle the increased workload, productivity might suffer.
Automation, however, eliminates the need to sacrifice either efficiency or production. Because automation can help you scale better and keep growing even as your business does.
Final Thoughts
Automating business processes is clearly essential for any thriving company. By automating mundane processes, businesses can streamline their workflows and free up more time to focus on strategic initiatives.
It’s an investment in increased revenues and a means to reduce the burden on your staff. For these reasons, among others, it makes sense to automate your company’s processes.
Why do you hire a language service provider for localization, when you can hire freelancers and have complete control over your operations?
Language service providers are in high demand these days, but are they really worth the hype? What can they possibly do that a professional freelance linguist doesn’t?
If you are also confused between hiring a language service provider or a freelance translator, this read is for you. In this article, I’ll point out some important factors that make LSPs a better option for your brand localization strategy.
Reasons Why You Should Partner with A Professional LSP?
Good freelancers are hard to find
Every time you want to perform a translation task, you must find a new freelance translator who’s available to work. Still, you don’t know if s/he is a reliable resource to put your trust in. The process of finding a professional freelancer can be as long as hiring a new employee for your company.
It is not just about finding freelancers, you also have to make sure that he is experienced in your brand niche, and have expertise in your target language pairs. Even when you find your perfect match, you are not always available. So, you have to wait until they are busy with other clients’ projects.
One freelancer has expertise in one language pair
If you are targeting various regions globally, you have to deal with multiple language pairs. Of course, one freelancer is not sufficient to meet your diversified translation needs. You will be hiring a separate freelancer for each language pair which not just makes it hard to manage the translation project but also increases the chances of translation inconsistency. Although LSP works with multiple translations still the chances of inconsistencies are low because of the collaboration between translations working under the same roof. So, you don’t have to deal with different freelance resources, communicating your requirements with one LSP partner will be enough.
Building trustworthy relations
When you are partnering with external resources on a long-term basis, having a good relationship and establishing trust is important. It’s hard to develop trust with freelancers because trust takes time and you rarely have long-term commitments with any freelancer. On the flip side, companies mostly have long-term localization project commitments with LSP. It gives them opportunities to work with one partner for a long period of time. During your partnership, you can truly understand the work ethic and sense of commitment of an LSP. It makes it quite easy for you to trust them for your future project if things turn out well in the first place.
Advanced localization tools
Professional language service providers work with advanced localization tools and linguistic software to manage heavy workloads from different clients. If you are working with a top LSP, they will have the best technology, tools, resources, and professionals in place to manage your localization project. So, when you are working with LSPs, you get the chance to work with the best tools and resources which may never be possible otherwise. On the other hand, you’ve to provide freelancers with all these tools if necessary because they are not always well-equipped. If you are managing a large-scope localization project, partnering with a professional LSP really makes your life easy.
Availability in different time zones
If you are working on continuous localization models, you will have to constantly work on tight deadlines. Would your freelance translators manage to be available 24/7? It is not humanly possible, that’s why you need to shake hands with a reliable language service agency to keep the translation flow running and avoid any delays. LSPs have expert translators working in different time zones. So, if one resource is unavailable, they will surely have someone to compensate.
Easy scalability to manage the increased workload
As a global business, you can expect to thrive in foreign markets and enter new regions whenever there is a good opportunity. For this, you need to work on flexible localization models with high flexibility and great scalability. You can expect the localization project management platform used by your LSP to be highly scalable because they have to work with multiple high-end clients. As the workload increases, you can easily upgrade your service requirements as per the growing needs. In the case of freelance translators, they will feel frustrated as your localization needs change, and you may need to hire more and more translators to meet the business localization requirements.
Wrapping Up!
If you are a global business with a growth mindset, it is always a good idea to invest in reliable and professional language service providers. They will not just relieve your translation workload but also provide you good quality content in the quickest turnaround time. Moreover, they’re less likely to spam you or mess up with your content because their market reputation is at stake.
The ability to manage conflicts is one of the most important skills a manager needs. Let’s discuss what kinds of conflicts arise in organizations and how managers can develop effective conflict-resolution skills.
Conflict is a natural phenomenon. It usually occurs between people, groups, communities, and even world states. So one can claim that is an inevitable part of human nature. Moving on, when we talk about organizational life, conflicts are inevitable. Because when people from diverse backgrounds and perspectives work together to achieve common goals, chances are they’re going to butt heads.
In this article, we are specifically going to discuss the various kinds of conflicts that appear in business translation services. And highlight the strategies and resolution skills to diminish them.
So let us begin.
Types of Conflicts That Arise In Professional Translation Services
Goal Conflicts:
These conflicts arise when professional translators have different opinions about accomplishing tasks or achieving goals. This could be due to differing priorities, timelines, or resource allocation. For example, in professional business translation services, translators argue over key terminologies and which word should be replaced by it.
Interpersonal Conflicts:
These conflicts occur when individuals have personality clashes Because you have to understand that not all professional translators working in a team are in sync with each other. So there are high chances of communication barriers, or differing values and beliefs. Moreover, interpersonal conflicts can impact team cohesion and lead to a negative work environment if not addressed properly. Agencies, such as finance translation services, often have to deal with translators with interpersonal conflicts.
Process Conflicts:
In any organization, there can be times when people need to see eye to eye on how things should be done. These kinds of disagreements are known as process conflicts. It’s a fancy way of saying that employees need to be on the same page regarding methods, procedures, or systems. It could be as simple as who should do what task or as complex as how performance should be evaluated, or decisions should be made. Process conflicts usually occur in transcreation services because there is more room for creativity.
Power Conflicts:
Power conflicts happen when people or groups compete for administrative control or influence. These conflicts can arise due to various reasons like a need for clarity in authority, competition for resources, or when someone feels like their position or status is in jeopardy. So in professional transcreation services, power conflicts can become a nuisance. Hence, they need to be resolved efficiently.
Now that we have discussed some of the major types of conflicts that can occur in a professional translation organization, the next step is to seek out methodologies to resolve them.
Resolving Conflicts
To develop effective conflict resolution skills, translation service managers can:
Improve Communication:
It’s essential to create an environment where translators working in legal translation services can openly and honestly communicate with one another while being respectful at the same time. To achieve this, it’s crucial to actively listen and try to understand where others are coming from before responding. Every team member should have an equal opportunity to voice their opinions and concerns so that everyone feels heard and valued.
Develop Emotional Intelligence:
Emotional intelligence is crucial for translation services managers as it enables them to identify and regulate their emotions and understand and relate to their team members’ emotions. This empathy comes in handy, especially when dealing with conflicts, as it allows them to tackle the root cause of the problem, making the resolution process much smoother and more efficient.
Establish Clear Expectations:
When working for contract and legal translation services, ensuring everyone knows their role and what they’re responsible for is vital. This way, there won’t be any confusion or mixed expectations that could lead to misunderstandings or arguments. By laying out clear goals and responsibilities, everyone can work together smoothly and achieve great things.
Encourage Collaboration:
Create a supportive and collaborative team culture where everyone feels valued. By encouraging your team of professional translators to come together and work through challenges, you’ll be able to find solutions that work for everyone. By fostering cooperation and teamwork, you will achieve great things together.
Learn And Apply Conflict Resolution Techniques:
As a manager working for a business translation service, when conflicts arise, you have some tools in your toolbox to help resolve them. Negotiation and compromise are great ways to come to a resolution that works for everyone involved. You can effectively address conflicts and move forward by finding common ground, considering everyone’s interests, and striving for win-win solutions.
Address Conflicts Promptly:
Don’t let conflicts linger. It’s important to tackle problems head-on as soon as they arise and work with everyone involved to find a fair solution promptly.
Provide Training And Support:
Empowering your team with the tools to handle conflicts is essential. Consider offering conflict resolution training to give them the skills they need. And don’t just stop there – provide ongoing support to help them put these skills into practice in their daily work. Your team will be better equipped to work harmoniously together.
Bottom Line
In this article, we discussed different types of conflicts that can arise in professional translation services. Moreover, we also examined the ways that managers can adopt to resolve such issues.
The translation of the financial content is a serious deal. It is extremely challenging to translate financial content. The financial sector is usually the most diverse one where players and consumers are coming from all over the world. Insurance companies, banks, real estate agencies, and tax authorities mainly contribute to this sector. It further includes financial entities from the areas and regions where you go. A few of the organizations are locally operated and many others are multinationals. A financial translator coming from a professional financial translation company is one who has to translate the financial content from a source language to multiple languages in order to effectively communicate with the diverse target market.
English hands down remain to be the most common language in the business world as most financial transactions are carried out in the English language. However, most customers are likely to trust the organization that communicates with them in their native language. Translation and localization of the financial content and documents is a requirement that international trade has to follow with certain rules and regulations. The local financial organization also only operates in the U.S market and according to they need to translate their content to make it favorable for the citizens who have limited English proficiency (LEP)
This is why it is important for businesses and entrepreneurs who look to translate their financial content into the required languages. They should ensure that they hire a financial translation company with at least five below-mentioned traits.
1. Human Translators with Expertise in The Financial Domain
A professional financial translation agency makes sure that they have a team of specialist native linguists who have expertise in the translation of documents professionally. The translation of the documents varies with the range of texts and it further includes many diverse kinds of documents including tax reports, auditor reports, market studies, market analyses, income statements, annual reports, and a lot more. Each of these comes with a unique and strict kind of pattern, layout, and formatting. These also include the filling guidelines that they understand from experienced specialists. These experts not only understand the general jargon that is dedicated to the financial sector but they also know the language that they can use otherwise. These specialist translators are subject matter experts and professionals.
Many of them have finance-related degrees and also work as financial translators. Considering how the margin of error is zero in financial translation and one minor negligence can lead to disastrous circumstances, financial translation companies should ensure they don’t take risks with this.
2. Advanced Technology Set Up For The Quality Assurance
Financial documents usually come with a plethora of numerical figures and these also include currency formats as well as the remuneration figure. There are dates, percentages, and rates of payments too. Hence accuracy is a must. It is essential that elements are translated accurately with all the required content. This also demands proper conformity to all laws that govern the target market and their financial landscapes. Financial data is always in bulk and can get overwhelming for human translators, particularly to check for consistency and correctness. The editors can easily miss out on an error that translators made while converting the text from one language to another. This is when machine translation tools get the way to play their role. These are significant for the maintenance of accuracy and consistency.
A good professional financial translation agency should ensure they have a computer-based quality assurance system that can check all the values for the translation of the document. A tried and tested quality assurance system is imminent for the financial as well as technical translation services as these types of translation require particular expertise.
3. In-Depth Knowledge of the local financial environment
The financial company not only has to comply with the local financial regulations but should also have sound and in-depth knowledge of the financial environment they are going to work. Every jurisdiction comes with its own defined financial rules and environment and this is how they differ from other jurisdictions. As we know coma separates the decimals in Western European countries, they write 10,5 and not 10.5. Whereas when we look for the pattern in the US and Switzerland they use commas for separating the thousands 1,000,000 for a million. A good financial translator has to understand all these details which could appear small but hold great significance.
4. Impeccable language skills
Financial content is not all about numerical figures and numbers. These also have documents that seek localization correctly and fluently. Translation services are not successful without human translators who have outstanding subject matter expertise but also great language skills in the source and target language. A financial translator who has to deal with the translation of financial content from English to Spanish for instance should be good at both languages. The Spanish translation could get hectic as compared to the English language due to the differences between both languages.
5. Keeping up with the financial data and trends
The financial jargon, concepts, and trends keep on evolving and changing. These are already different in different regions. There are new inventions and trends on a daily basis. This can get overwhelming for the disorganized translator and unprepared people. Financial translators get to adopt the facts and data changes related to finances early. Therefore, financial translation companies should ensure they keep on training their financial translators. They should also make sure that their team of translators stays in touch with the latest happenings in their field.
Conclusion
A financial translation company carries a great responsibility. Translation of the financial content is a challenging and hectic task. Hence, clients and businesses should take into consideration these important traits. They should look for a financial translation company that has a team of experts and subject matter experts with impeccable language skills and in-depth knowledge of financial surroundings.
Kathleen Enright writes about corporate accountability towards the SDGs, based on observations from the WEF annual meeting in Davos. What are the components of corporate accountability and how can companies strengthen their mechanisms to support implementation of the 2030 agenda?
KEY TAKEAWAYS
The economic discussions at the World Economic Forum’s main Congress were shockingly far removed from the need to address the climate crisis. The only way forward is a different type of growth that values nature, creates equality, and is built on circular and regenerative principles.
The article suggests an embryonic transformation blueprint emerging from the WEF that offers reasons to be optimistic, including valuing biodiversity and nature, redirecting philanthropic giving towards enabling corporate progress against the SDGs, and powerful partnerships that deliver business resilience.
To achieve progress towards the SDGs, we need a new model of leadership that puts long-term corporate survival above short-term financial gain and the planet’s priorities before those of shareholders. Leaders who are willing to take on traditional business silos are needed to create the holistic approach required to succeed.
Many will know that there isn’t one Davos, but many versions happening in parallel. Beyond Congress Davos, where political leaders convene, is peripheral Davos where the SDG skis are planted and the climate and business conversations take place.
In this fringe Davos, the vision of the future that was being shaped in the main Congress was one of realism at best and dystopian at worst – a world where people get poorer not richer, robots create mass unemployment and an addiction to fossil fuels leads to the inevitable extinction of the planet.
It felt shocking just how far removed the global economic discussions were from the need to address the climate crisis. The target of limiting the Earth’s average temperature to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels is slipping from our grasp and, having pushed the planet to the brink of catastrophe, far too little is still being done to pull it back from the edge. We must break the mindset that 1.5 degrees is a political target and accept that it is a physical limit. The only way forward then is built on a different type of growth – one that values nature, one that creates equality and one that is built on circular and regenerative principles. It can’t be the linear pursuit of profit of our current trajectory.
Given the amount of airspace the need to put planet before profit receives, the number of frameworks for doing better business we’ve created and the ESG policies being published by global corporations, shouldn’t we be doing better? The Sustainability Development Goals are right there, laying out a roadmap to a better future – and ultimately setting the goal post to be reached in order to stay in business. We’re well past the ‘nice to have’ – ambitious sustainability strategies are the only way that businesses will deliver on their growth ambitions.
Reasons to be (almost) cheerful
Despite the many disparate sessions at the forum, we did see an embryonic transformation blueprint emerging that offers reasons to be optimistic and will hopefully see most corporates fast moving to the ‘HOW do I do this?’ phase. The key elements of this, and what we are viewing as future catalysts for change, included:
1. Valuing biodiversity and nature as we should
The goal of “saving nature” has a greater emotional pull than “limiting climate change” and the carbon tunnel approach that struggles to deliver the necessary inspiration to action. This comes off the back of the commitments made at the UN Biodiversity Conference in Montréal, where 195 countries agreed to protect 30 percent of the planet’s land and oceans by 2030. We know the ‘what’. The challenge now is the ‘how’.
If the goals aren’t met, if there isn’t a transformation to a safe and sustainable way of doing business, then there will be no more business to be done.
The ‘how’ will start with economic metrics for valuing nature, the development of tradeable credits and an accurate valuation of risk around the destruction of biodiversity. Lots of agreement but difficult to see where to start and who will take the first step. When this ‘alternative’ financial system emerges, it must be built on the painful lessons learned from the issues surrounding the carbon credit scheme; the limited availability of nature-based credits, long lag times between investment and sale of credits, and the proliferation of low-quality projects that fail to deliver the advertised benefits or have negative outcomes.
2. Forging a new kind of corporate philanthropy
WEF reports that $810bn was donated by philanthropic organisations in 2021, but just 2% went to projects that reduce carbon emissions. This represents a tremendous missed opportunity to leverage philanthropic giving for climate action. If a significant proportion of that money could be redirected towards enabling corporate progress against the SDGs, a new era of corporate transformation could arise.
WEF reports that $810bn was donated by philanthropic organisations in 2021, but just 2% went to projects that reduce carbon emissions.
While initially dismissive of the power of philanthropy to create real change, we left inspired by the untapped potential of corporate foundations to promote impact over revenue. This included the launch, supported by 45 philanthropic organisations, of Giving to Amplify Earth Action (GAEA) which aims to close the £3trn annual finance gap between current support for climate and environmental initiatives and that needed to meet international agreements.
3. Powerful partnerships deliver business resilience
Not enough is discussed on the topic of business adaptation and resilience. This will need adaptative business and sustainability strategies – active strategies that can respond to the fast pace of change.
Mobilising the power of different types of partnerships, between big business, government, academic institutions, entrepreneurs, and organisations on the ground, builds business resilience by increasing both foresight on the issues that are on the horizon and the ability to innovate solutions at speed and scale. The right partnerships will connect businesses into change-driving activities that link to their areas of expertise and influence. Business partnerships can draw developing nations into the net-zero economy, vital if the SDGs are to be reached. Innovators can bridge the gap between academics developing global solutions and corporations with the power to scale and normalise those solutions. If these partnerships are about promoting product then you’re missing the opportunity. Partnerships that build business resilience are the ones that are fundamentally challenging and uncomfortable – that should be the true measure of a successful partnership.
4. Updating leadership models
The conversations at Davos revealed that many CEOs still view sustainability and climate change as a risk rather than an opportunity – and even then, one that is too low on their risk list. This narrow, short-term view is restricting progress, and damping the possibility of creating true corporate accountability for the SDGs. What we need is a new model of leadership, espoused by a fresh generation of leaders who dare to think in new ways about value creation and the role of business in society. Leaders who have been raised to put long term corporate survival above short-term financial gain and the planet’s priorities before those of their shareholders. Leaders who are willing to take on traditional business silos in order to create the holistic approach that is needed to win in the face of an ecosystem challenge.
Connecting accountability to crises
While the topics addressed at Davos were too fragmented to produce concrete solutions, there was an acknowledgement that the ‘poly-crises’ facing us are all connected. Inequality, the eradication of which in its many forms underlies the SDGs, was recognised as a catalyst for the most pressing issues we need to address.
From a corporate perspective, questions arose around how to connect equity, climate change and nature’s needs within existing business structures. It was clear that only by creating new internal and external governance models can businesses unlock progress on the SDGs. But let’s not waste new governance models on old metrics – financially incentivising progress against sustainability targets only risks lowering the ambition level. A progressive mindset would dictate that calculated trial and error is rewarded in order to forge a new path forward.
Why should corporates be accountable for achieving the SDGs? Because if the goals aren’t met, if there isn’t a transformation to a safe and sustainable way of doing business, then there will be no more business to be done. We need to unite to accelerate change, both within the current economic system and in creating a new one. To stop wrangling about the details, about who is going to take the lead, to overcome the disconnect between true cost and fiscal pricing, and to be honest about the role we should, but are not yet, playing.
Forty percent of global CEOs think their organisation will no longer be economically viable in ten years’ time if it continues on its current course. That stark data point underscores a dual imperative facing 4,410 CEOs from 105 countries and territories who responded to PwC’s 26th Annual Global CEO Survey. Most of those CEOs feel it’s critically important for them to reinvent their businesses for the future. That’s a brutal awakening. Let’s not miss the opportunity this provides to question whether in meeting your sustainability strategy you would meet your business strategy. Are you doing enough to stay in business?
Kathleen Enright is the Global Managing Director of Salterbaxter, the creative consultancy pioneering business progress for the global agenda and Publicis Groupe’s global centre of excellence in sustainability.
It is essential to have a sizeable corpus to meet the financial requirements of life – it doesn’t matter if you are a young, financially independent person or the breadwinner of the family. You cannot live paycheque to paycheque to ensure a financially secure life in the future. You should have sizeable savings – which can be accumulated faster with investment.
Unsurprisingly, investment has become a pillar of a financially secure life. It helps you grow your wealth, which ultimately supports you in fulfilling your financial goals faster. But how do you set these financial and investment goals? How would you know if a particular investment amount is adequate to reach the goal?
This is where an investment calculator comes in. An investment calculator is a go-to financial tool for investors to make informed investment decisions. Let us understand how.
What is an Investment Calculator, and How Does It Help You Make Informed Investment Decisions?
An investment calculator is an online tool that can help you estimate your returns and decide if a particular investment plan offers you a prosperous avenue. You can gauge the investment prospects of multiple investment plans to determine which one aligns with your investment goals.
The tool is remarkably simple to use and offers results quickly. All you are required to do is enter basic information such as investment amount, investment tenure and the return rate to compute results.
Here are the elements that you can decide with the help of an investment calculator:
Short-Term or Long-Term Investment:
Before you decide on the other essential investment-related information, it is vital that you decide if you should invest for a shorter duration or longer. You have to decide that on the basis of your investment preferences and goals.
Investment Amount:
The investment amount is one of the most crucial aspects of investment and financial planning. Your returns majorly depend on your investment amount. Ergo, it requires your utmost consideration and research. Once again, the investment amount will depend on your financial goals.
You can use an investment calculator to decide this investment amount. To get started, consider putting a random investment amount that you think would be right, enter the return rate you are expecting, and hit calculate. Once the return figure is on the screen, see if it aligns with your financial goals.
Investment Tenure:
Investment tenure is another significant factor that investors need to consider. It will firmly depend on if you are planning to make a short-term investment or a long-term investment. If you are hoping to get high returns, staying invested in the investment plan for a longer duration is suggested. You can use an investment calculator to make easy investment tenure decisions.
You can also weigh other factors, such as your retirement age or financial goal, before deciding on the investment tenure.
It Will Help you Decide on the Right Investment Plan:
An investment calculator also helps you choose the right investment plan according to the details you enter. These details can include investment amount, investment tenure and risk appetite. Based on these details, these investment calculators suggest the investment plans introduced by leading financial institutions. You choose the one which suits your financial requirements the best.
Factors to Consider Before Using an Investment Calculator
Apart from these elements, there are several others factors you need to consider – not only before you use the investment calculator but when you are deciding on the right investment plan for you. Here are some of them:
Risk Appetite:
Investment can be a risky game if you do not play right. A financial crunch is the last thing you need when you are investing. Ergo, only invest the amount you can afford to. There is no need to go overboard with the investment amount to earn high returns. You can use an investment calculator to calculate your estimated returns and decide the investment amount accordingly.
Investment Plan’s Flexibility:
An investment plan should offer you flexibility when it comes to withdrawal and customization. As most investment plans come with a lock-in period, a longer one might cause you inconvenience in your time of need. However therefore, it is suggested that you choose an investment plan that comes with a shorter lock-in period but provides you customization to adjust the investment tenure according to your preference.
One such investment plan is PPF, which, even though it comes with a tenure of 15 years, allows you to make premature withdrawals starting from the 5th year. It might be a promising idea to use a specially designed PPF interest calculator to estimate your PPF returns. The PPF interest calculator provides returns according to the fixed interest rate applicable to the scheme.
The Bottom Line
An investment can be a handy tool when you are planning your investment. You can use this free investment calculator tool to create an investment portfolio which aligns with your investment objectives and preferences.
For the optimum safety of a horse and its saddle, it’s crucial to have a suitable saddle pad. The saddle pad provides comfortable support when the horse is carrying a load on its back. It ensures the stability of the saddle and protects the animal’s back.
With the potential for being a complex selection due to there being varied purposes, an assortment of materials, different types, the priority is to determine the needs of your particular horse and what you will require as the owner.
Regardless of the features and benefits one might provide, it’s essential to remember that saddle pads are not a replacement for an adequately fitted saddle. The experts in equine health recommend consulting a reputed, knowledgeable saddle fitter before attempting to buy the most appropriate pads.
As a rule, it’s suggested that if the saddle is a proper fit, the pad needs to be thin to avoid changing that fit. Let’s look more closely at the potential benefits of saddle pads.
What Is The Purpose Of Using Saddle Pads Under A Saddle Fitted For A Horse
Unless you ride your horse bareback, a primary component of riding with a properly fitted saddle is incorporating a saddle pad beneath the saddle. These in no way act as a substitute, replacement, or make-up for an ill-fitting saddle.
They serve the purpose of providing comfort, protecting the horse’s back and adding a degree of stability to the saddle.
Before making a purchase, consulting a reputable expert is critical to ensure all equipment is sufficiently fitted to the horse’s contours—this way, an appropriate pad can be purchased to complement rather than act to supplement.
While a pad can prove beneficial, the opposite can also be true once the piece becomes worn with time or if it’s a subpar quality. These can impact a horse’s health and performance and create wear to the saddle itself. Let’s look at the advantages of an adequate, quality, and appropriate saddle pad.
The pad is protective for the equine’s back
A new rider will likely question the purpose of adding a saddle pad under the primary equipment. A horse experiences rubbing on its back from saddle placement. It’s less so when the fit is good, but friction will still be evident.
High-withered horses benefit from certain saddle pads to complement the existing equipment. If you notice your horse developing frequent sore spots, a pad can help to resolve these issues.
The cleanliness of your equipment
Horses have a tendency to roll in the dirt since it helps to relieve itchy skin after sweat begins to dry, allows them to retain an even body temp, and shed their coats.
People will find dirt on horses’ coats regardless if the animal is well-cared-for, groomed regularly, and the animal will accumulate more with riding. Plus, the horse grows sweaty under all the equipment. If there’s no pad, the leather of the saddle will soak this sweat up and build up the dirt requiring extra cleaning.
Saddle pads placed with each ride will cut down on the number of cleanings necessary, keeping the underside of the equipment clean and absorbing the sweat for the horse, making him somewhat more comfortable.
The performance can be positively impacted
These pads have the potential to impact a performance either positively or prevent you from performing as well as you would normally.
For example, when these are ill-fitting or low quality, they can affect the saddle’s fit. In other situations, the sweat is not wicked from the rider and the animal, which will result in an accumulation.
Another problem is when the material is too thick. This will cause saddle movement sideways or front to back, making the ride a challenge.
One saddle pad isn’t the answer to every scenario
Different riding scenarios require varied pads; one size doesn’t fit all. Various equipment is needed, and the horses will react and behave differently from one event to the next. With the vast range of options on the market, you can find precisely what you desire, and your horse needs for each riding situation.
The priority is to incorporate adequate research on what pads will be needed for the sort of riding you’ll be doing regarding fit and material. Check with the saddle experts first and foremost to ensure the equipment’s fit and gain insight into pad selection. Click to gain insight into the science of the pad.
Final Thought
Horse riding should be safe and enjoyable for the rider and the horse. A priority is ensuring that the equipment, like the saddle, is adequately fit for an optimum experience in any riding scenario. The proper fit of this equipment cannot be made up for, supplemented, or substituted by a saddle pad.
The saddle itself needs to precisely fit the horse with the saddle pad serving as a complement to the saddle that fits precisely. The saddle pad is a crucial addition to the equipment and shouldn’t be overlooked. It will protect the horse’s back, add a level of comfort, and stabilize the saddle.
The pads will have a say in whether your performance is adequate or poor, making it necessary to ensure you have sufficient advice when purchasing the highest quality pads for your equine. The investment will certainly be worth it.
Recruiting is a crucial aspect of any business, and it is essential to have a well-planned and executed recruiting strategy to attract the right talent. The recruiting landscape is constantly evolving, such as the advent of high-quality recruiting and staffing services, and with the advent of technology and changing job market dynamics, recruiters need to stay ahead of the curve to succeed. Here are some of the most effective recruiting strategies to implement in the future.
Recruitment marks the initial step in the journey of effective employee management, pivotal for assembling a high-performing team. HR professionals utilize various strategies to attract and identify the ideal candidates, ensuring a perfect alignment with the job’s requirements.
A key strategy involves crafting compelling job descriptions that accurately reflect the role’s responsibilities, required qualifications, and expectations. This approach draws in potential candidates and filters out those who are not a suitable match, simplifying the initial phase of the recruitment process.
Furthermore, HR teams are increasingly turning to technology and data-driven methodologies to refine their recruitment efforts. The use of advanced applicant tracking systems and algorithms aids in the meticulous selection of candidates, pinpointing individuals whose skills and personal attributes match the company’s culture and goals.
Integrating assessment tests for jobs into the recruitment strategy significantly bolsters this process. These tests objectively evaluate a candidate’s abilities and compatibility with the role, enhancing the insights gained from resumes and interviews. By measuring specific competencies and personality traits, assessment tests ensure that candidates have the necessary technical skills and share the organization’s values and ethos.
Employer branding
Employer branding has become a critical factor in attracting and retaining top talent. In today’s job market, candidates often consider more than just the job description and salary when deciding to apply for a job. A strong employer brand can help a company differentiate itself from its competitors and attract the right talent. To build a strong employer brand, recruiters should focus on creating a positive candidate experience, showcasing the company’s culture and values, and leveraging social media to showcase the company’s brand. Recruiters can use social media to create engaging content, such as videos, photos, and blog posts, that showcase the company’s culture and values. They can also use employee testimonials and reviews to provide insights into the company’s work environment and company culture.
Personalized recruitment marketing
Personalized recruitment marketing is a strategy that uses data-driven insights to create targeted recruitment campaigns for specific audiences. Recruiters can use data analytics tools to analyze candidate behavior and preferences and create personalized content, such as job postings, social media ads, and email campaigns. Personalized recruitment marketing can help recruiters reach a broader pool of candidates and increase engagement and conversion rates. Doing these things n your own might not be that simple, though, so make sure you also look into marketing recruitment agenciesthat could help you find the best candidates out there!
Social recruiting
Social media has become an essential tool for recruiters to reach out to potential candidates. Platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook provide a vast pool of candidates with diverse backgrounds, skills, and experiences. Recruiters can use social media to post job openings, reach out to potential candidates, and promote their employer brand. Social recruiting can help recruiters build relationships with potential candidates and create a more personal approach to recruitment. Recruiters can also use social media to source passive candidates who may not be actively looking for a job but may be open to new opportunities.
LinkedIn, as a professional social media platform, holds a special place in the toolkit of modern recruiters. It allows recruiters to not only discover potential candidates but also to delve into their professional backgrounds and connections. Moreover, specialized free talent acquisition software can streamline the process further by offering the ability to import candidates directly from LinkedIn, thus expanding and enriching their candidate databases with minimal effort.
AI-powered recruitment tools
AI-powered recruitment tools can help recruiters streamline the hiring process by automating repetitive tasks and screening candidates more effectively. AI can analyze resumes, job descriptions, and candidate profiles to identify the most suitable candidates, saving recruiters valuable time and resources. AI-powered recruitment tools can also help eliminate bias in the hiring process by focusing on skills and qualifications rather than educational background or work experience. These tools can also provide data-driven insights into the effectiveness of recruitment strategies, enabling recruiters to optimize their recruiting efforts.
Employee referrals
Employee referrals are an effective way to attract high-quality talent. Employees can recommend candidates who are a good fit for the company culture and job requirements, leading to better retention rates and job satisfaction. Recruiters can incentivize employees to refer candidates by offering rewards and recognition programs. Employee referral programs can also help build a strong team dynamic and increase employee engagement.
Diversity and inclusion initiatives
Diversity and inclusion initiatives are critical to building a strong and inclusive workplace culture. Recruiters can implement programs to attract candidates from diverse backgrounds, promote inclusion and equity, and eliminate bias in the hiring process. Companies with diverse workforces are more innovative, productive, and profitable. Recruiters can use data-driven insights to identify areas of improvement in their diversity and inclusion initiatives and continuously work to create a more inclusive workplace culture.
Virtual interviews
Virtual interviews are becoming increasingly popular as more companies adopt remote work policies. Virtual interviews can save time and money, as candidates do not have to travel for interviews. Recruiters can use video conferencing tools to conduct virtual interviews and assess candidates’ skills and qualifications. Virtual interviews can also provide a more flexible and convenient option for candidates, enabling recruiters to reach a broader pool of talent.
Gamification
Gamification is a recruitment strategy that uses game elements, such as challenges, rewards, and leaderboards, to engage candidates and assess their skills. Gamification can provide a more interactive and engaging recruitment experience, enabling recruiters to assess a candidate’s problem-solving, creativity, and teamwork skills. Gamification can also provide a more efficient way of screening candidates, enabling recruiters to identify top talent more effectively.
The future of recruiting will require companies to adopt a more personalized, data-driven, and inclusive approach as much as possible. Recruiters will need to focus on all the things mentioned here to find and attract the best candidates out there. By embracing these strategies, recruiters can create a more efficient, effective, and engaging recruitment experience that attracts top talent and drives business success.
We all love a good story. Perhaps that’s why entertaining but spurious beliefs have such a strong tendency to take root in the collective psyche of the public at large. If you’ve heard the one about all the remote workers with two jobs, read on.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
The narrative fallacy and availability bias make people susceptible to believing salacious headlines about remote workers holding down two jobs, despite the lack of evidence to support these claims.
The Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) shows that only 0.27% of the US working population hold down two full-time jobs, making the claim that 10% of remote workers do so highly unlikely.
Many more people are working remotely now, but the proportion of workers holding down two full-time jobs has not significantly increased, and is still under 0.3%.
“I would bet 10 per cent or more of our remote staff, especially programmers, are working two remote jobs! We need to stop this before it escalates and get everyone back to the office.”
Thus spoke the Chair of the Board of a Fortune 1000 tech company when I met with the Board to help them figure out the company’s plans for permanent post-pandemic work arrangements1. Having helped 19 organisations determine their hybrid and remote work plans, I heard such sentiments all too often.
So I asked him where he got his information. He told me he sits on other company boards. That’s what he heard from other board members, and he guesses the same thing goes on here.
Salacious Headlines About Working Two Remote Jobs Fuelling Leadership Mistrust of Remote Work
The employee speaks of the additional money they’re able to secure, which is worth the burdens of working many more hours.
“These people who work from home have a secret: they have two jobs,” screams2 a headline from The Wall Street Journal. The Guardianwrites3 that “‘It’s the biggest open secret out there’: the double lives of white-collar workers with two jobs.” And according4 to Bloomberg, “Many remote workers secretly juggle two full-time jobs – or more.”
These articles, and many similar ones, mostly have a similar structure. The journalist interviews an anonymous remote employee, usually in tech-related fields, about how they managed to secure a second job working remotely. The employee speaks of the additional money they’re able to secure, which is worth the burdens of working many more hours. There are often exciting and dramatic escapades of how they just managed to avoid getting caught. At times, there are cautionary tales of workers who were found out – and fired.
These types of articles play on our narrative fallacy5, a dangerous mental blind spot that causes us to understand the world through stories, rather than facts. Sure, stories can be useful illustrations of broader data points. But the danger stems from stories that speak to our feelings and intuitions, without regard for the actual evidence.
Such stories feed into our mind’s availability bias6. This cognitive bias refers to the fact that we tend to pay attention to the information that’s most available in our memory. Such salience occurs because these story-based articles arouse our emotions, which are especially stimulated7 by the crime-like elements in these tales.
It’s no surprise that the more traditionalist8 executives and board members who read these narratives integrate these stories into their vision of reality. After all, one of our most fundamental cognitive biases is the confirmation bias9, our mind’s predisposition to look for information that confirms our beliefs, regardless of whether the information matches the facts. They latch on to such stories, and then repeat them in C-suite and board meetings – as did the Chair of the Board of the Fortune 1000 tech company.
The Facts About Working Two Remote Jobs
To be clear, I have no personal stake in any specific outcome; my priority is getting the right information to serve10 my clients. That’s why my first source of information for external benchmarks on employment and similar economic data is FRED – Federal Reserve Economic Data11.
FRED gathers a variety of economic data, mainly from US government agencies, as well as other high-quality sources12, to provide long-term trends on the US economy. FRED’s goals are to provide the most accurate information possible, so that everyone from the Federal Reserve to the executives at Fortune 1000 companies to the founders of start-ups can make the best business decisions, thus maximising government tax revenue. FRED has no interest or stake in promoting in-office, hybrid, or remote work.
So what does FRED tell us? Let’s consider the data on multiple jobholders as a percentage of all employed members of the US workforce from 2000 onward.
As the graph below makes clear, we’re at a historically low point of employees holding multiple jobs. The high point was around the turn of the century, when 5.8 per cent of all workers held multiple jobs. Currently, about 4.8 per cent do so. Just before the pandemic, 5.2 per cent had more than one job.
Source: FRED, Multiple Jobholders as a Percent of Employed, 2000 onward
That data encompasses both full-time and part-time jobs. Perhaps the story is different for those holding down full-time jobs? Let’s see what FRED has to say.
FRED: Multiple Jobholders, Primary and Secondary Jobs Both Full Time, 2000 onward
Not really. In July 2022, 438,000 workers had two full-time jobs, or 0.27 per cent of the total working population of 163,500,000 this year. That compares to 418,000 in July 2000, or 0.3 per cent of the total workforce of 138,800,000 that year. So while we’re not at a particularly historically low point of workers holding down two full-time jobs, we’re just about average–; and the 10 per cent theorised by the Chair of the Board is much more than an order of magnitude too high.
But What About All the Anecdotes About Working Two Remote Jobs?
What about all these anecdotes reflected in the headlines? Isn’t the plural of anecdote said to be data13, the Chair of the Board asked me?
Well, the reality is that it’s true that many more remote workers are holding down two full-time jobs than in the past. Yet it’s not because the proportion increased; it’s still under 0.3 per cent. No, it’s because many more people are working remotely.
Thus, before the pandemic, Stanford University research14 shows that 5 per cent of all workdays were worked remotely. Two years into the pandemic, the comparable number is over 40 per cent of all workdays.
That’s over eight times more! Thus, of the tiny fraction of all employees who hold down two full-time jobs, a much larger proportion will be remote. So we’ll certainly hear more stories about it.
But the fact that more such incidents occur will not change the fact that it’s under 0.3 per cent of all workers. All those breathless headlines about two-timing remote workers – and the traditionalist executives who buy into them – ignore the underlying probabilistic base rate, meaning the actual likelihood of this scenario.
That’s a cognitive bias known as the base rate neglect15, where we focus on individual anecdotes and fail to assess the statistical likelihood of events. Similarly, even though travelling by plane is about 100 times safer16 than driving, the dramatic headlines surrounding plane crashes causes people to neglect statistics and travel by car, leading to many more fatalities.
Indeed, what executives often miss is that many of the employees who held down two full-time jobs before the pandemic did so from the office! Do you think people work a full eight-hour day when they come in? Far from it! Research finds that, on average, employees work from 36 per cent17 to 39 per cent18 of the time they’re in the office. The rest is spent on things like making non-work calls, reading social media and news websites, and even looking for – or working – other jobs.
Trust Your Staff
If you can’t trust a worker to work well remotely, you can’t trust them to work well in the office. And recent research19 by Citrix on knowledge workers – employees whose job can be done full-time remotely – shows that knowledge workers forced to come to the office full time show the least amount of trust in their employers, compared to hybrid or full-time remote workers. No wonder; their bosses are showing deep-rooted mistrust of their employees by forcing them to come to the office full time when their job can be done mostly or even fully remotely.
If that mutual trust between employer and employee is absent, the employee will disengage. A Gallup survey20on hybrid and remote work reveals that, when employees are required to work on-site but they both can and would prefer to do their job in a remote or mostly remote manner, the result is significantly lower engagement and well-being, and significantly higher levels of burnout and intent to leave. In fact, if the employer took away the option of remote work, 54 per cent of those working remotely would likely look for another job. Altogether, over three-quarters of all respondents want to work less than three days per week in the office.
Internal surveys from my clients align with these external surveys. For example, the University of Southern California’s Information Sciences Institute (ISI), a research institution with over 400 staff, originally decided21 in the summer of 2021 on a policy of three days in the office. Once the ISI leadership learned about my work and hired me as a consultant, they shifted in the fall of 2021 to a trust-based, flexible, team-led model22, with individual team leaders deciding together with their team members what worked best for each team.
A survey we conducted in August 2022 showed that, compared to the three days in the office policy, 73 per cent of the employees at ISI believed that the team-led model was “much better”, and 15 per cent felt it was “better”. These responses show a much higher degree of employee satisfaction and engagement through flexibility and trust. The same goes for retention and recruitment, on a survey question that research shows reveals this issue, namely whether survey respondents would recommend working at ISI to their peers. In their responses, 56 per cent said that the team-led model made it “much more likely” that they would make this recommendation, and 18 per cent said it would make them “more likely”.
In the end, the Chair of the Board of the Fortune 1000 tech company agreed that the best practice23 for the future of work is a collaborative, trust-based approach. Show trust to your employees, and they will trust you in turn. Accommodate their working styles and preferences, and they will repay you with higher engagement, productivity, and loyalty. And make decisions using data, not stories.
Dr Gleb Tsipurskyhelps leaders use hybrid work to improve retention and productivity while cutting costs. He serves as the CEO of the boutique future-of-work consultancy Disaster Avoidance Experts. He is the best-selling author of seven books, including the global best-sellers Never Go With Your Gut: How Pioneering Leaders Make the Best Decisions and Avoid Business Disasters and The Blindspots Between Us: How to Overcome Unconscious Cognitive Bias and Build Better Relationships. His newest book is Leading Hybrid and Remote Teams: A Manual on Benchmarking to Best Practices for Competitive Advantage. His cutting-edge thought leadership has been featured in over 650 articles and 550 interviews in Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Inc. Magazine, USA Today, CBS News, Fox News, Time, Business Insider, Fortune, and elsewhere. His writing has been translated into Chinese, Korean, German, Russian, Polish, Spanish, French, and other languages. His expertise comes from over 20 years of consulting, coaching, and speaking and training for Fortune 500 companies from Aflac to Xerox, and over 15 years in academia as a behavioural scientist at UNC-Chapel Hill and Ohio State. A proud Ukrainian American, Dr Gleb lives in Columbus, Ohio.
By Terence Tse
CFOs are evolving into AI-driven transformation orchestrators, balancing finance, technology, and strategy while upskilling teams, managing risks, and driving measurable business value.
A key insight from this year’s AI for CFOs event, organized...
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The Pernicious Myth of Working Two Remote Jobs
By Dr Gleb Tsipursky
We all love a good story. Perhaps that’s why entertaining but spurious beliefs have such a strong tendency to take root in the collective psyche of the public at large. If you’ve heard the one about all the remote workers with two jobs, read on.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
“I would bet 10 per cent or more of our remote staff, especially programmers, are working two remote jobs! We need to stop this before it escalates and get everyone back to the office.”
Thus spoke the Chair of the Board of a Fortune 1000 tech company when I met with the Board to help them figure out the company’s plans for permanent post-pandemic work arrangements1. Having helped 19 organisations determine their hybrid and remote work plans, I heard such sentiments all too often.
So I asked him where he got his information. He told me he sits on other company boards. That’s what he heard from other board members, and he guesses the same thing goes on here.
Salacious Headlines About Working Two Remote Jobs Fuelling Leadership Mistrust of Remote Work
“These people who work from home have a secret: they have two jobs,” screams2 a headline from The Wall Street Journal. The Guardian writes3 that “‘It’s the biggest open secret out there’: the double lives of white-collar workers with two jobs.” And according4 to Bloomberg, “Many remote workers secretly juggle two full-time jobs – or more.”
These articles, and many similar ones, mostly have a similar structure. The journalist interviews an anonymous remote employee, usually in tech-related fields, about how they managed to secure a second job working remotely. The employee speaks of the additional money they’re able to secure, which is worth the burdens of working many more hours. There are often exciting and dramatic escapades of how they just managed to avoid getting caught. At times, there are cautionary tales of workers who were found out – and fired.
These types of articles play on our narrative fallacy5, a dangerous mental blind spot that causes us to understand the world through stories, rather than facts. Sure, stories can be useful illustrations of broader data points. But the danger stems from stories that speak to our feelings and intuitions, without regard for the actual evidence.
Such stories feed into our mind’s availability bias6. This cognitive bias refers to the fact that we tend to pay attention to the information that’s most available in our memory. Such salience occurs because these story-based articles arouse our emotions, which are especially stimulated7 by the crime-like elements in these tales.
It’s no surprise that the more traditionalist8 executives and board members who read these narratives integrate these stories into their vision of reality. After all, one of our most fundamental cognitive biases is the confirmation bias9, our mind’s predisposition to look for information that confirms our beliefs, regardless of whether the information matches the facts. They latch on to such stories, and then repeat them in C-suite and board meetings – as did the Chair of the Board of the Fortune 1000 tech company.
The Facts About Working Two Remote Jobs
To be clear, I have no personal stake in any specific outcome; my priority is getting the right information to serve10 my clients. That’s why my first source of information for external benchmarks on employment and similar economic data is FRED – Federal Reserve Economic Data11.
FRED gathers a variety of economic data, mainly from US government agencies, as well as other high-quality sources12, to provide long-term trends on the US economy. FRED’s goals are to provide the most accurate information possible, so that everyone from the Federal Reserve to the executives at Fortune 1000 companies to the founders of start-ups can make the best business decisions, thus maximising government tax revenue. FRED has no interest or stake in promoting in-office, hybrid, or remote work.
So what does FRED tell us? Let’s consider the data on multiple jobholders as a percentage of all employed members of the US workforce from 2000 onward.
As the graph below makes clear, we’re at a historically low point of employees holding multiple jobs. The high point was around the turn of the century, when 5.8 per cent of all workers held multiple jobs. Currently, about 4.8 per cent do so. Just before the pandemic, 5.2 per cent had more than one job.
That data encompasses both full-time and part-time jobs. Perhaps the story is different for those holding down full-time jobs? Let’s see what FRED has to say.
Not really. In July 2022, 438,000 workers had two full-time jobs, or 0.27 per cent of the total working population of 163,500,000 this year. That compares to 418,000 in July 2000, or 0.3 per cent of the total workforce of 138,800,000 that year. So while we’re not at a particularly historically low point of workers holding down two full-time jobs, we’re just about average–; and the 10 per cent theorised by the Chair of the Board is much more than an order of magnitude too high.
But What About All the Anecdotes About Working Two Remote Jobs?
What about all these anecdotes reflected in the headlines? Isn’t the plural of anecdote said to be data13, the Chair of the Board asked me?
Well, the reality is that it’s true that many more remote workers are holding down two full-time jobs than in the past. Yet it’s not because the proportion increased; it’s still under 0.3 per cent. No, it’s because many more people are working remotely.
Thus, before the pandemic, Stanford University research14 shows that 5 per cent of all workdays were worked remotely. Two years into the pandemic, the comparable number is over 40 per cent of all workdays.
That’s over eight times more! Thus, of the tiny fraction of all employees who hold down two full-time jobs, a much larger proportion will be remote. So we’ll certainly hear more stories about it.
But the fact that more such incidents occur will not change the fact that it’s under 0.3 per cent of all workers. All those breathless headlines about two-timing remote workers – and the traditionalist executives who buy into them – ignore the underlying probabilistic base rate, meaning the actual likelihood of this scenario.
That’s a cognitive bias known as the base rate neglect15, where we focus on individual anecdotes and fail to assess the statistical likelihood of events. Similarly, even though travelling by plane is about 100 times safer16 than driving, the dramatic headlines surrounding plane crashes causes people to neglect statistics and travel by car, leading to many more fatalities.
Indeed, what executives often miss is that many of the employees who held down two full-time jobs before the pandemic did so from the office! Do you think people work a full eight-hour day when they come in? Far from it! Research finds that, on average, employees work from 36 per cent17 to 39 per cent18 of the time they’re in the office. The rest is spent on things like making non-work calls, reading social media and news websites, and even looking for – or working – other jobs.
Trust Your Staff
If you can’t trust a worker to work well remotely, you can’t trust them to work well in the office. And recent research19 by Citrix on knowledge workers – employees whose job can be done full-time remotely – shows that knowledge workers forced to come to the office full time show the least amount of trust in their employers, compared to hybrid or full-time remote workers. No wonder; their bosses are showing deep-rooted mistrust of their employees by forcing them to come to the office full time when their job can be done mostly or even fully remotely.
If that mutual trust between employer and employee is absent, the employee will disengage. A Gallup survey20on hybrid and remote work reveals that, when employees are required to work on-site but they both can and would prefer to do their job in a remote or mostly remote manner, the result is significantly lower engagement and well-being, and significantly higher levels of burnout and intent to leave. In fact, if the employer took away the option of remote work, 54 per cent of those working remotely would likely look for another job. Altogether, over three-quarters of all respondents want to work less than three days per week in the office.
Internal surveys from my clients align with these external surveys. For example, the University of Southern California’s Information Sciences Institute (ISI), a research institution with over 400 staff, originally decided21 in the summer of 2021 on a policy of three days in the office. Once the ISI leadership learned about my work and hired me as a consultant, they shifted in the fall of 2021 to a trust-based, flexible, team-led model22, with individual team leaders deciding together with their team members what worked best for each team.
A survey we conducted in August 2022 showed that, compared to the three days in the office policy, 73 per cent of the employees at ISI believed that the team-led model was “much better”, and 15 per cent felt it was “better”. These responses show a much higher degree of employee satisfaction and engagement through flexibility and trust. The same goes for retention and recruitment, on a survey question that research shows reveals this issue, namely whether survey respondents would recommend working at ISI to their peers. In their responses, 56 per cent said that the team-led model made it “much more likely” that they would make this recommendation, and 18 per cent said it would make them “more likely”.
In the end, the Chair of the Board of the Fortune 1000 tech company agreed that the best practice23 for the future of work is a collaborative, trust-based approach. Show trust to your employees, and they will trust you in turn. Accommodate their working styles and preferences, and they will repay you with higher engagement, productivity, and loyalty. And make decisions using data, not stories.
About the Author
Dr Gleb Tsipursky helps leaders use hybrid work to improve retention and productivity while cutting costs. He serves as the CEO of the boutique future-of-work consultancy Disaster Avoidance Experts. He is the best-selling author of seven books, including the global best-sellers Never Go With Your Gut: How Pioneering Leaders Make the Best Decisions and Avoid Business Disasters and The Blindspots Between Us: How to Overcome Unconscious Cognitive Bias and Build Better Relationships. His newest book is Leading Hybrid and Remote Teams: A Manual on Benchmarking to Best Practices for Competitive Advantage. His cutting-edge thought leadership has been featured in over 650 articles and 550 interviews in Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Inc. Magazine, USA Today, CBS News, Fox News, Time, Business Insider, Fortune, and elsewhere. His writing has been translated into Chinese, Korean, German, Russian, Polish, Spanish, French, and other languages. His expertise comes from over 20 years of consulting, coaching, and speaking and training for Fortune 500 companies from Aflac to Xerox, and over 15 years in academia as a behavioural scientist at UNC-Chapel Hill and Ohio State. A proud Ukrainian American, Dr Gleb lives in Columbus, Ohio.
References
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