Project on Managing the Future of Work

Our latest report: Healthy Outcomes   Covid-19 sparked a sense of urgency about America’s caregiving crisis. Will it translate into systemic change? What will it take to convince employers to drop their longstanding reluctance to offer caregiver benefits?   Currently, many caregivers are left to manage the trade-offs between fulfilling their family responsibilities and going to work. They battle missing work or even leaving their jobs with little acknowledgment or help from their employers. The latest report from the Harvard Business School Project on #ManagingTheFutureOfWork by project co-chair Joseph Fuller provides empirical evidence from real-world examples.   Our analysis confirmed that there is a material return on investment for employers who invest in caregiver support benefits through two primary pathways; by reducing turnover of key employees, and lowering events of absenteeism, or employees missing work to attend to caregiving responsibilities.   In this report, we analyzed archival data on clients of Wellthy, a caregiver support benefits company that has partnered with 140 companies in the U.S., Canada, Ireland, and the U.K., to provide services to about 2 million employees.   Recommendations for Employers: 💡     Understand the systems-wide effect of caregiving costs and benefits. 💡     Gather more information about the workforce’s care demographics. 💡     Revisit job descriptions, career paths, and managerial incentive. 💡     Monitor why workers are leaving or planning to leave. 💡     Foster a culture where caregiving is openly discussed. 💡     Audit current caregiving services and get feedback from employees who use them. Read the full report here: https://hbs.me/4u3hcbvh #caregiving #hiddenworkers #HR #COVID #workforcetrends

While there's no lack of evidence of #caregiving's rising toll on workers and firm productivity, there's relatively little hard data to back the business case for employer-provided #caregiver benefits.    As part of its series on practical strategies toward economic inclusion, the HBS Institute for Business in Global Society (BiGS) spotlights Harvard Business School Project on Managing the Future of Work (MFW) co-chair Joseph Fuller's research on caregivers with a feature on the MFW report Healthy Outcomes.   The report, which draws on data from Wellthy, a caregiver support benefits company, lays out the return on investment to employers that provide workers with caregiving case management, advice, coordination, and access to community, reducing costs associated with employee turnover and absenteeism.   Read the BiGS feature at https://hbs.me/3vfrtmx8 . The MFW Healthy Outcomes report can be found at https://hbs.me/4pwkvbds .   #HiddenWorkers #CareEconomy #Turnover #Benefits #HR #Absenteeism

How are firms maintaining performance and #corporateculture as the new employment bargain is being worked out post-#Covid? And when it comes to the #hybridwork experiment, what’s behind the apparent disconnect between academic studies and the experience of some business leaders?   Future-of-work observer Jacob Morgan joins Harvard Business School Project on Managing the Future of Work co-chair Joseph Fuller on the latest episode of the #ManagingTheFutureOfWork podcast.    Also, what Jacob's latest book, Leading With Vulnerability, says about leading through periods of instability.   #leadership #AI #careerdevelopment #returntooffice   Listen to the conversation at https://hbs.me/mvm9dse7 .

In Harvard Business Review, mining an extensive survey of U.S. #HR leaders, Harvard Business School Project on Managing the Future of Work co-chair, Professor Raffaella Sadun, Professor Jorge Tamayo, and PhD candidate Leila Doumi, along with colleagues from Boston Consulting Group (BCG), identify effective strategies, potential pitfalls, and useful metrics for #Reskilling. #AI #WorkforceDevelopment #WorkforcePlanning #Retention https://lnkd.in/etiDyDPW

Recent coverage: A month helping her husband through a health scare brought home to The Washington Post columnist Petula Dvorak the burden faced by the 50 million-plus #caregivers in the U.S. In describing the strains on caregivers’ work lives, she notes the disconnect between employers and employees and the toll on performance, citing the #ManagingTheFutureOfWork report The Caring Company, by Joseph Fuller and Manjari Raman. #CareEconomy #WorkLifeBalance #CareGivingCrisis https://lnkd.in/gJpdbxV3 Find the Caring Company report at https://hbs.me/ycy6a4jt.

As more customers migrate online, #ConsumerPackagedGoods companies are reformulating their skills mix to beef up #DigitalMarketing, #DataAnalytics, #EcommerceManagement, and the like. How do you incentivize a culture of #ContinuousLearning throughout a multinational firm employing workers representing six generations? Kraft Heinz EVP and Global Chief People Officer Melissa Werneck joins Joseph Fuller on the latest episode of the Harvard Business School Project on Managing the Future of Work podcast. Highlights: 📌 Hiring for adaptability 📌 Reformulating the #skills mix for web-based marketing and #personalization 📌 #HR-first approach to #AI 📌 Emphasizing #diversity to match the customer base 📌 Aligning real estate with with #HybridWork modes 📌 Collaborating across time zones Listen to the conversation at https://hbs.me/2BinJ8G. #workforce #DEI #talentmanagement #ondemandworkforce

In the media: News featuring Harvard Business School Project on Managing the Future of Work faculty:    📌 CNBC: The No. 1 trait that sets highly successful people apart, says Harvard expert: ‘It’s rare to find’   CNBC spotlights Joseph Fuller’s insights on the career-boosting value of adaptability and openness to change. Bottom line: “People are afraid to try new things and fail. But you can’t grow without moving beyond your comfort zone.” https://lnkd.in/gyu45Mtg   📌 Fortune: Cisco, ServiceRocket, and Checkr, Inc. #CFOs on how AI is changing the way they do their jobs   Fortune cites Joseph Fuller in describing how #AI and #MachineLearning are changing the job of CFO.   https://lnkd.in/gH4VrXYX    📌 HBS Working Knowledge: How Transparency Sped Innovation in a $13 Billion Wireless Sector   HBS Working Knowledge highlights research by Shane Greenstein and colleagues from Boston College Carroll School of Management and the Università di Pavia charting the market-expanding effects of industry-standard and open-source technologies in the wireless router market.  https://lnkd.in/eFhiSjWx 📌 The Financial Times: What happened to the peace dividend?   In contrasting US and Chinese post-cold war industrial strategies The FT cites Willy Shih on supply chains and industrial bases – specifically his observations on China’s conversion from military to consumer production in the case of a factory shifting from munitions to motorcycles.      https://lnkd.in/eANiPPqN

Cengage Group CEO Michael Hansen joins Joseph Fuller on the latest episode of the Harvard Business School Project on Managing the Future of Work podcast to discuss the content delivery challenge of aligning #education and #workforcedevelopment. As the #EdTech giant ramps up its #skillstraining business and advocates more #workfocused learning, how is it tapping technical advances like #generativeAI to tailor its offerings to students, employers, and educators? And, beyond technology, what are the institutional and policy barriers to this workforce- and #careerdevelopment agenda? Listen to the conversation at https://hbs.me/2djee4vh.

 In the media: Harvard Business School Project on Managing the Future of Work co-chairs Joseph Fuller and William Kerr   📌 CNBC: Harvard expert: People who make this common mistake are the ‘unhappiest in their careers’ https://lnkd.in/ewQ8BuPb 📌 The New York Times: Don’t Say ‘Elite’: Corporate Firms’ New Pitch Is Meritocracy https://lnkd.in/ejdFwYaM 📌 HBS Working Knowledge: How Younger Immigrants Gain an Edge in American Business https://lnkd.in/ebt-9hA2 📌 Fortune:  AI isn’t yet capable of snapping up jobs—except in these 4 industries, McKinsey says https://lnkd.in/giwb6-s8 📌 Workday: Why HR needs an AI-first mentality https://lnkd.in/eh8dpuXE

Focusing on challenges facing entry-level jobseekers, MarketWatch picks up on Joseph Fuller's recent conversation with The Wharton School professor Peter Cappelli on the Harvard Business School Project on Managing the Future of Work podcast. Read the article at https://lnkd.in/eQw8FXEs Find the podcast at https://lnkd.in/eFbawfp9 #LaborMarket #HR #Internships