Latest news with #JimHarter
CNBC
6 days ago
- Business
- CNBC
Gen Z employees aren't in favor of fully remote work, Gallup report says: 'There's a craving for that in-person connection'
Gen Z may be known for their technological prowess, but when it comes to the workplace, they would rather chat face-to-face than over Zoom, according to a new report from Gallup. Gallup found that among baby boomers, Gen X, millennials and Gen Z, the youngest generation is actually the least likely to favor exclusively remote work. Only 23% of Gen Z employees say that they prefer fully remote work, compared to 35% of employees from each other generation. Jim Harter, chief scientist of workplace management and wellbeing at Gallup, says he was surprised by the study's findings. "You might think that [Gen Z] just would have an automatic preference for remote work, because they can do a lot of things digitally," he says. However, according to Harter, Gen Z employees feel that their careers are being "compromised" by fully remote work. Mentorship is crucial for early-career employees, Harter says, and it can be more difficult to establish those relationships in a remote setting. Additionally, fully remote Gen Z employees tend to be less clear on "how their work fits into the bigger picture of the organization," he says. According to the Gallup report, Gen Z is far more in favor of hybrid work: 71% of Gen Z employees said that they prefer a hybrid work environment, the highest percentage among all generations. Gen Z is also more likely to say that they wish other employees in their organization worked remotely less often. Still, fully in-person work is unpopular across all generations: only 6% of Gen Z workers want to work in-person all the time, along with 4% of millennials, 9% of Gen X, and 10% of baby boomers. According to Harter, loneliness may also be a significant reason that Gen Z workers seek in-person interaction. A 2024 Gallup study found that one in five employees reported significant loneliness, with employees under 35 most likely to be affected. Among Gen Z, "there's a craving for that in-person connection," he says. Even though other generations may prefer fully remote work, leaders have a responsibility to ensure that Gen Z employees receive "the right kinds of development" in the workplace, Harter says. "There are so many things that happen in-person that you can't schedule for on Zoom calls: random conversations, solving problems, quickly asking for advice," he says. "All of us that have experienced it know the difference." Even hybrid teams often "aren't getting the timing quite right" to ensure that Gen Z employees have the in-person interactions they need in the workplace. For hybrid teams, the solution could be scheduling certain days for the whole team to be in-person, he says. Fully remote teams can build closer connections with Gen Z workers by prioritizing "meaningful conversations" about career goals, challenges and strengths. "I think that people in the upper generations need to consider not just what's good for me, but what's good for the whole team, the whole organization," Harter says. "The really effective organizations and leaders see that, and they put a plan around it."
Fast Company
7 days ago
- General
- Fast Company
The quality employees need most right now from their leaders may surprise you
The question of what people need from their leaders has many answers. However, recent Gallup research found that respondents from 52 countries were asked to list three words describing what positive leaders add to their daily life, hope emerged as the primary need, cited by 56% of respondents. Trust followed at a distant second with 33% while compassion (7%) and stability (4%) lagged far behind. According to the research, followers are significantly more likely to say they need to see hope in those who lead organizations (64%) than among other leaders who might work within the same organization, e.g., managers (59%) and colleagues (58%). In other words, the more senior a leader is within an organization, the more followers look to them for hope and inspiration. At first, the results were somewhat surprising to Jim Harter, Gallup's chief scientist of workplace management and well-being, who thought 'stability' might have led the list. However, once he started digging into the answers and the discussion points in the survey, 'hope' made sense after all. 'I think that it's hard to have a sense of stability if you can't see the future. And I think that's why hope is so foundational,' he says. During the last recession, he was doing research about how people felt about their standard of living. 'The people who felt that they had a leader who encouraged their development had a much more positive view of their standard of living and their future,' he says. 'When people have a concept of where they're headed, that's part of hope.' Hope is active, not passive Perhaps predictably, Lindsay Recknell says she wasn't at all surprised at this research. The self-named 'expert in hope' and host of the Hope Motivates Action podcast, Recknell consults with businesses about the power of hope in the workplace and how to cultivate it. Recknell says that while 'hope' has many meanings depending on context, she focuses on the 'hope theory,' which was developed by the late C.R. 'Rick' Snyder, a psychology professor at the University of Kansas. Recknell describes hope theory is a formula that defines hope as goals (what we want to achieve or have happen) plus 'agency thinking' (our motivation or the intrinsic 'why' for doing something), plus pathways thinking (our ability to overcome obstacles to the outcome we want). She finds defining hope in this way is particularly useful and effective during periods of uncertainty. 'A leader can go to their team member and say, 'Stuff is really hard right now. Let's focus on what we can control.' Well, what can we control? You can control your goals, your desires, your dreams, the things that you want to work on, that you want to take action toward. All of a sudden, when somebody has something to look forward to that's already kicking off the hope cycle, that's already kicking off this idea of creating a future better than today,' she says. Organizational psychologist Aymee Coget, author of Happiness for Humankind Playbook: Sustainable Happiness in 5 Steps, says the absence of any of those three components can lead to hopelessness. 'The leader's job is to create all three, and the person needs to have goals that they're aware of and they buy into that are realistic for them,' she says. 'They have to have a pathway.' Cultivating hope Harter says that the research unveiled other leadership actions and behaviors that are linked to hope in the workplace. 'One item we ask about leaders that I think links really strongly to hope is whether people feel that their leader makes them feel enthusiastic about the future,' he says. Part of that is helping people understand what their role is and helping them set and understand tangible and realistic goals that will help their situations change. Another aspect is to help them connect to the purpose in their work. 'To have hope, people need resources to do the work—that's the agency part—and they need a larger purpose to connect their work to. People find purpose in many different ways, but I would argue it's a basic human need,' he says. Recknell also makes a distinction between hope and optimism, saying that, while hopeful people and optimistic people both look toward a time when things will get better, hopeful people put in the work to make that happen. Harter echoes that sentiment. 'Hope isn't just telling people things are going to be great, it's helping them see how they can be great and how they can be in tough times, how they can be a part of defining the future instead of being victimized by the present,' he says.
Entrepreneur
07-07-2025
- Business
- Entrepreneur
Only 20% of People Trust Leadership But There's a Way to Fix That, According to Gallup's Chief Scientist
We asked someone who has studied workplace engagement for 40 years about leadership. His findings reveal a trust crisis and a surprising solution. Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. What happens when you spend four decades studying how people interact with their workplace, leaders and each other? You discover some uncomfortable truths about the state of modern leadership. Dr. Jim Harter is the Chief Scientist for Gallup's Workplace Management and Well-Being practices. For almost 40 years, Jim has been studying the way we interact with our workplace, with our leaders and with each other. His latest book, Culture Shock, is a fascinating look at how the pandemic has affected the modern workplace environment, our ability to lead people and keep them engaged with their work and with each other. Related: This Navy SEAL Commander Says Leaders Aren't Born or Made — They're Chosen Based on One Thing In this interview, we asked him to distill decades of research into seven fundamental questions about leadership. His answers reveal a striking trust deficit in modern organizations, why 70% of team engagement comes down to one role, and how his approach to sharing scientific insights has evolved over time. Q1: What is the role of a leader from your perspective? Harter: We've done a lot of research on leadership over the years, and I'd say four pieces go into it. Purpose — They've got to define a clear purpose for the organization People — They've got to motivate people Inspire — They've got to inspire people in the organization Decisions — They need to make great decisions and drive performance Q2: What's the one thing that every leader needs to know? Harter: I think for right now, 20% of people strongly agree that they trust the leadership of their organization. That's a problem. And it flows through layers of management. So it starts with leaders really listening versus purely delegating and listening to people close to the customer so that they can get those messages right. Q3: What is your most important habit? Harter: I would say making sure that I am intentional about one-on-one conversations that happen regularly with each person that I work with and with an extended group of people that our team works with, that builds cadence, and there's nothing more valuable than one-on-one conversations. Q4: What's the most important thing for building an effective team? Harter: Highly talented and skilled managers. 70% of the variance in team engagement comes right back to the manager. So there's nothing more important than having highly skilled and talented managers in your organization. Q5: What's the biggest mistake you see other leaders make? Harter: I think not recognizing their blind spots and, interestingly, creating awareness around blind spots starts with knowing your own strengths and knowing the strengths of the people around you. And I think leaders can close those blind spots by leveraging the strengths of other people and knowing when to slow down, when to speed up in terms of making decisions. Q6: What's the best way to deliver bad news? Harter: Well, I would say from my own experience and from the research we've done, but particularly for me, it's context. You put it in the right context. You make sure it's transparent, and you build a future around it. So, you help people see how any decision you're making today affects the future. So, they can feel like they're a part of something bigger than just that one decision. Related: How to Make Smarter Decisions Under Pressure, From an ER Doctor Who's Done It for 20 Years Q7: What is something you've changed your mind about recently? Harter: This has been more gradual, recently gradual — let's call it that — but I'm a scientist, and so I've been used to learning what works, what doesn't work, and communicating that. You need to tell people this is what works and this is what doesn't work. But I've kind of adjusted that a bit; my approach to science is that it's really about informing leaders. And when you inform leaders and educate them, and not just tell them what to do, they can individualize it for themselves. They can follow the principle and individualize it. So, really informing and educating through science is a different perspective and communicating from what I've learned about. The full interview with Dr. Jim Harter can be found here:
Yahoo
16-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Your boss is probably using AI more than you
Leaders use AI around twice as much as individual contributors, a new Gallup Poll finds. Gallup data indicates AI adoption has risen, especially in white-collar roles, with tech leading at 50%. 16% of employees surveyed who use AI "strongly agree" that AI tools provided by their company are useful. There's a good chance your boss is using AI more than you. Leaders are adopting AI at nearly double the rate of individual contributors, a new Gallup poll released Monday indicates. The survey found that 33% of leaders, or those who identified as "managers of managers," use AI frequently, meaning a few times a week or more, compared to 16% of individual contributors. Gallup's chief scientist for workplace management and wellbeing, Jim Harter, told Business Insider that leaders are likely feeling added pressure to think about AI and how it can increase efficiency and effectiveness. "There's probably more leaders experimenting with it because they see the urgency and they see it as a competitive threat potentially," Harter said. The data point was one of several findings from Gallup's survey on AI adoption in the workplace, including: The number of US employees who use AI at work at least a few times a year has increased from 21% to 40% in the past two years Frequent AI use increased from 11% to 19% since 2023 Daily use of AI doubled in the past year from 4% to 8% 15% of employees surveyed said it was "very or somewhat likely that automation, robots, or AI" would eliminate their jobs in a five-year period 44% of employees said their company has started to integrate AI, but only 22% say their company shared a plan or strategy 30% of employees said their company has "general guidelines or formal policies" in place for using AI at work 16% of the employees who use AI "strongly agree" that AI tools provided by their company are helpful for their job While AI adoption has increased overall in the last two years, that increase isn't evenly distributed across industries. The Gallup report said that AI adoption "increased primarily for white-collar roles," with 27% surveyed now saying they use AI frequently on the job, a 12% increase from last year. Among white-collar workers, frequent AI is most common in the tech industry, at 50%, according to the survey, followed by professional services at 34%, and finance at 32%. Meanwhile, frequent AI use among production and front-line workers has dropped from 11% in 2023 to 9% this year, according to Gallup's polling. Concerns that AI will eliminate jobs have also not increased overall in the last two years, but the report indicated that employees in industries like technology, retail, and finance are more likely than others to believe AI will one day take their jobs. The most common challenge with AI adoption, according to those surveyed, is "unclear use case or value proposition," suggesting that companies may not providing clear guidance. The report said that when employees say they "strongly agree" that leadership has shared a clear plan for using AI, they're three times as likely to feel "very prepared to work with AI" and 2.6 times as likely to feel comfortable using it at work. "In some cases, you've got to have the training to be able to use AI as a complement with other text analytic tools that are more precise," Gallup's Harter told BI. Harter said that while organizations are increasingly developing plans around AI usage, "there's still a long way to go," and it may not be a one-and-done approach. "They're going to have to continue to be trained in how to use it because it's going to evolve itself," Harter said. Read the original article on Business Insider
Business Insider
16-06-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Your boss is probably using AI more than you
There's a good chance your boss is using AI more than you. Leaders are adopting AI at nearly double the rate of individual contributors, a new Gallup poll released Monday indicates. The survey found that 33% of leaders, or those who identified as "managers of managers," use AI frequently, meaning a few times a week or more, compared to 16% of individual contributors. Gallup's chief scientist for workplace management and wellbeing, Jim Harter, told Business Insider that leaders are likely feeling added pressure to think about AI and how it can increase efficiency and effectiveness. "There's probably more leaders experimenting with it because they see the urgency and they see it as a competitive threat potentially," Harter said. The data point was one of several findings from Gallup's survey on AI adoption in the workplace, including: The number of US employees who use AI at work at least a few times a year has increased from 21% to 40% in the past two years Frequent AI use increased from 11% to 19% since 2023 Daily use of AI doubled in the past year from 4% to 8% 15% of employees surveyed said it was "very or somewhat likely that automation, robots, or AI" would eliminate their jobs in a five-year period 44% of employees said their company has started to integrate AI, but only 22% say their company shared a plan or strategy 30% of employees said their company has "general guidelines or formal policies" in place for using AI at work 16% of the employees who use AI "strongly agree" that AI tools provided by their company are helpful for their job While AI adoption has increased overall in the last two years, that increase isn't evenly distributed across industries. The Gallup report said that AI adoption "increased primarily for white-collar roles," with 27% surveyed now saying they use AI frequently on the job, a 12% increase from last year. Among white-collar workers, frequent AI is most common in the tech industry, at 50%, according to the survey, followed by professional services at 34%, and finance at 32%. Meanwhile, frequent AI use among production and front-line workers has dropped from 11% in 2023 to 9% this year, according to Gallup's polling. Concerns that AI will eliminate jobs have also not increased overall in the last two years, but the report indicated that employees in industries like technology, retail, and finance are more likely than others to believe AI will one day take their jobs. The most common challenge with AI adoption, according to those surveyed, is "unclear use case or value proposition," suggesting that companies may not providing clear guidance. The report said that when employees say they "strongly agree" that leadership has shared a clear plan for using AI, they're three times as likely to feel "very prepared to work with AI" and 2.6 times as likely to feel comfortable using it at work. "In some cases, you've got to have the training to be able to use AI as a complement with other text analytic tools that are more precise," Gallup's Harter told BI. Harter said that while organizations are increasingly developing plans around AI usage, "there's still a long way to go," and it may not be a one-and-done approach. "They're going to have to continue to be trained in how to use it because it's going to evolve itself," Harter said.
