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Remote Work, Office Location and Employee Satisfaction: Considerations for the Modern Workplace

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It’s no surprise that today’s workplaces have evolved. From digital innovations to culture shifts, you and your colleagues need to form a plan so that you’re not left behind. Fortunately, you can easily make changes to ensure your team’s successful transition to modern methods.

Take a look at different considerations for your company.

1. Allow Employees to Work Remotely

It wasn’t until recently that businesses started to allow employees to work from home more frequently. This option used to be rare — but remote work trends are more prominent than ever due to COVID-19. In many cases, it’s become a permanent situation for workers.

A switch to remote work has lead to positive changes for numerous organizations. This setup allows employees to feel like they have more responsibility. They view projects as more worthwhile as a result. Plus, you’ll find that workers are happier because they don’t have to commute or manage office politics.

If your company doesn’t offer remote work possibilities, you won’t appeal to recruits. This opportunity has become standard. Therefore, you need to work with teams to implement a dedicated program for remote work. Then, your employees will have a choice.

2. Reconsider Office Locations, Amenities and More

Your company’s office locations make a difference. It’s essential to find a spot that works for your employees and clients as much as possible. You may not be able to fully meet your budget, amenities and other “wants,” but you should try as you explore potential leases.

It may not always be possible to move from one office to another. But if your company wants to look for a new space, you should consider location as a “need.” Is it close to public transportation? Can your employees access parking? Do security concerns exist? Your team needs to weigh various factors.

The same approach applies to aspects like amenities and layout. Do your best to create a business checklist that outlines everyone’s goals. As a result, your company will be better equipped to perform proficiently.

3. Gauge What Employees Want for Satisfaction

Do you know what to do to increase employee satisfaction? The expectations your employees have will likely fluctuate as times change. You need to make an effort to identify their desires so that you can meet them halfway. It’s not enough to offer decent benefits and large paychecks.

Today’s workplace trends revolved around culture. Your workers need to know that their company commits to long-term goals rather than revenue. An emotional connection between you and your employees makes a difference. Additionally, it’s increasingly clear that Generation Z wants employers to implement ethical practices.

Make an Effort to Listen

Your business needs to listen. How do your employees want your overall culture to look? It may seem challenging to overhaul your company’s current state. That said, you need to realize that recruits need more than digital touches and supportive training. They want their jobs to reflect a bigger purpose.

An effective way to start would be to poll your workers. Let them have a say in how you choose to proceed with culture shifts. A more democratic method allows everyone’s voice to be heard. As a result, your employees will feel more appreciated and comfortable.

These Ideas Are What a Company Should Think About for the Modern Workplace

There’s no denying that workplace trends continue to change. If you want to move your company forward, you have to consider what’s next. Elements like remote work, office location and employee satisfaction all contribute to a more advanced, modernized company.

About the Author: Ginger Abbot is an education writer with a special interest in career development and the workplace. She is also the Editor-in-Chief of Classrooms.com, where you can read more of her writing.


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Oh Great, More CEOs Telling Us We Need to Cut Social Security and Medicare Benefits

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Jackie TortoraAs if we didn’t already have enough on our plates (having to fend off attacks from the “Fix the Debt” CEOs), now there’s another group of CEOs, the Business Roundtable, telling us we need to “modernize,” a.k.a. cut, Social Security and Medicare benefits by raising the eligibility ages and reducing cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs). How helpful. 

R.J. Eskow took on the Business Roundtable in his latest blog, How Extreme Is the Business Roundtable? Check Out Its Attack on the Elderly.

Yesterday, Gary Loveman, CEO of Caesars Entertainment Corp. and head of the Roundtable’s “health and retirement committee,” told Politico that “[a]ny effort to address the country’s fiscal problems has to have as a centerpiece reform of its principal entitlement programs.”

Added Loveman: “None of us [CEOs]—very few of us—are ideologically driven. We’re pragmatists….”

“I am encouraged by how relatively easy these remedies really are,” said Loveman. “… (and) they have a tremendously sanguine effect on the government’s fiscal health.”

That’s true. It is pretty easy. Just kick in a few rich people’s doors, seize their belongings…oh, wait. That’s the other extremist scenario. Loveman’s is the one where people who have paid for Social Security and Medicare coverage throughout their working lives must give some of their benefits up—for him and his friends.

These CEOs are the same people cutting back on pensions and retiree health benefits. Now they want working people to have even more economic insecurity in retirement by cutting the few benefits that keep seniors afloat. 

Raising the Social Security retirement age is especially damaging. Not only is it a benefit cut, workers 55 and older have the longest bouts of unemployment. The average time unemployed is nearly a year (51.3 weeks, compared to 34.3 weeks for workers younger than 55).  

Eskow points out that 8.9% of American seniors already live in poverty, while 5.4% are on the edge. The average Social Security recipient collects $1,164 per month.

Anyone who claims they can cut those benefits by 3%—and use those meager benefits to end elder poverty—is selling snake oil.

Snake oil indeed. There’s nothing more cynical than calling devastating cuts to vital lifelines “modernization proposals.” Working people know the difference. 

This post was originally posted on AFL-CIO on 1/17/2013. Reprinted with Permission.

About the Author: Jackie Tortora is the blog editor and social media manager at the AFL-CIO. Interviewing union musicians was her introduction to the labor movement. Her first job after graduating college was in Syracuse, New York, where she wrote and edited the International Musician, the monthly magazine for the American Federation of Musicians (AFM). Protecting Social Security and Medicare from benefit cuts brought me to Washington, D.C., where she spent two years as a new media coordinator at the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. She came to the AFL-CIO in the summer of 2012, just in time to re-elect President Barack Obama. When she’s not tweeting about America’s unions, it’s likely she’s watching Syracuse basketball and football. 


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