Latest news with #StateoftheGlobalWorkplace
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
The World of Work
The global workforce is at an inflection point. New technologies are reshaping how we work and even who we call a coworker. Meanwhile, five years since the pandemic began, managers are struggling to manage employees' expectations as organizations continue to undergo major tech and personnel disruptions. Semafor, in partnership with Gallup, will present the latest data and insights from Gallup's 2025 State of the Global Workplace survey and examine the challenges and opportunities that both managers and employees are facing. Conversations with those shaping the future of work will focus on how global leaders and policymakers can improve productivity, resilience, and wellbeing in the workplace.
Forbes
29-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
When No One's Climbing The Ladder—How Do We Grow Talent?
When the old career path is no longer traveled, it's time to design new talent strategies. There was a time when career paths were predictable. You studied a profession, entered an organization, and could see your future reflected in the title above you—your manager, their manager, and the trajectory that awaited you. Promotions and training followed a familiar rhythm. If you stayed on course, your career would rise steadily until retirement. That career development strategy no longer fits the world we live in. Careers today look more like rock climbing walls than ladders. On a ladder, there's one way up. But a rock wall offers infinite routes: sideways, diagonal, even temporarily downward. Each move is intentional, based on what you've learned, what you want next, or where life is pulling you. People managing careers already know this. But the organizations are slow to adapt. And this is causing issues because when people stop climbing the organizational career ladder, the structures and systems built around that ladder become misaligned with how work actually happens. If organizations continue to operate around outdated assumptions of career progression, they risk losing talent, slowing innovation, and struggling to respond to rapidly shifting business needs. Today's workforce is self-directed. People are making choices at every junction—after finishing a project, encountering a change in leadership, or simply realizing they're ready for something different. They pause to ask: Is this where I want to be? What do I want more of? What no longer fits? Now couple that with growing employee disengagement—just 1 in 5 employees is engaged at work, according to Gallup's 2025 State of the Global Workplace report —and it becomes clear that the systems built to support linear careers are no longer keeping people motivated. They're not always looking for a promotion—or even a new job. Sometimes, they're looking for a stretch. A shift. A skill. Or maybe even more time for life outside of work. And instead of searching for a new job title, they're searching for growth—personal or professional. Often in directions that wouldn't have been considered the natural next step in their profession or career. On their career rock climbing wall, they're looking in all directions and choosing where to place their next step. Organizations must evolve to meet this moment—not by trying to rebuild the ladder, but by rethinking the relationship between people and work. That begins with reimagining the ways they allow their people to move internally. Not just for people, but also for the business. In an unpredictable world, the organization's agility depends on the ability to match people to work more fluidly. We must make it easier for individuals to contribute where they're needed, when they're ready, and in ways that align with both their experience and their aspirations. We must fractionalize work. Historically, we've packaged tasks into jobs and aligned these jobs with professions. Now's the time to unbundle work, move away from rigid job descriptions and toward a more dynamic system, where employees can spend part of their time applying deep expertise and another part exploring something entirely new. A stretch project. A cross-functional collaboration. A short-term assignment. The goal isn't to swap one role for another—it's to create space for two-way exploration: where employees test what's next, and organizations discover capabilities they might have otherwise overlooked. For this to work, visibility is critical. Employees need to know what opportunities exist beyond their current role, and they need to be able to opt in without bureaucratic friction. These don't have to be big moves. In fact, the strength of this model is that it lowers the barrier to try. You can start by identifying internal projects that can be staffed on a short-term basis—ranging from a few days to a few months. And then ensure employees can assign themselves for a portion of their time to these projects. From a business standpoint, the organization gets to match people with work that needs to get done but doesn't quite fit into regular plans and structures. For employees, it enables them to contribute to what they're passionate about, expand their perspectives on what's possible across the organization. explore new areas and build capabilities without needing to leave their current role. Managers discover talent they didn't know they had. And the organization builds a culture where movement isn't disruption—it's design. But for this kind of system to scale, we need to look hard at the structures that hold it back. Too often, managers are rewarded for maintaining control, not enabling growth. Headcount is 'owned,' and letting go of talent, even temporarily, can feel like a loss. Meanwhile, we say learning matters—but reward only the delivery of short-term outcomes. If we want to unlock the potential of our people, we need to redesign what we measure, what we reward, and what we value. This is not just a talent strategy. It's an organizational one. When careers followed ladders, companies could build for stability. But in a world of rock walls, agility comes from movement. Resilience comes from optionality. And growth depends on letting people explore—before they're ready to leap. We've entered the era of career agency. The organizations that try to rebuild the ladder will lose people already moving in new directions. The ones that embrace flexibility and fluidity won't just keep up—they'll build the kind of workplaces people want to grow in.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Remote workers are happier at work, survey says — but unhappier at home
According to a new Gallup study, employee engagement is down. And Gallup isn't referring to office romances but instead the holistic factors that contribute to an employee's involvement in the enterprise. Globally, the report notes, fully remote workers are the most likely to be engaged at work (31%), compared with hybrid (23%), and on-site remote-capable (23%) and on-site non-remote-capable (19%). That's according to the latest State of the Global Workplace report, which tracks how employees worldwide are doing in their work and lives. The report unearths a paradox because while remote workers are more engaged their overall well-being is lagging. Hybrid and on-site workers who have the option to go remote reported to thrive more than their fully remote counterparts. However, fully on-site workers with no remote option were the least thriving of the group, which points to the complexity of what creates a feeling of thriving. Clark Lowe, president of the home construction company The O'Connor group, tells Quartz that remote work isn't failing — leadership is. 'That's the simplest way I can explain the Gallup findings. When done right, remote work gives people the autonomy they need to stay focused and productive. But autonomy without structure? That's a fast track to burnout and disconnection,' Lowe said, adding that he has seen high engagement from remote teams because they're empowered to work when they're at their best. 'But it takes intentional leadership to support well-being — regular check-ins, clear goals, and building a culture where people feel seen even when they're not in the office,' Lowe said. He also observed that hybrid work is often 'messier' than fully remote. 'If expectations aren't clear, it breeds resentment — especially across generational lines. Some feel chained to a desk. Others feel forgotten at home,' he explained. Laura Murphy, president of Bolt PR, and mom of two teens said the most important part of working from home is ' intentional flexibility.' 'The airy freedom to step away if your child has a holiday sing-along preschool event, those ongoing orthodontics appointments, or your furry friend is begging for their afternoon walk,' Murphy cited as benefits, 'we could easily fill our calendars with those, and it's important to balance both home and work priorities.'For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
The Age
15-05-2025
- Business
- The Age
Australia is a great place to live, but a lousy place to work
Sixty-one years ago, journalist Donald Horne first distilled how he viewed our nation. 'Australia is the lucky country,' he famously began, before following it up with a sucker punch, 'run mainly by second rate people who share its luck'. The first half of his phrase struck a chord that's resonated through the decades, albeit often truncated to fit whatever worldview we wished to see. Now, a few generations on from Horne's insight, there are startling new data points to add to our national conversation about who we are and how we got here. A new report from Gallup sheds additional light on an uncomfortable question that we really need to ask: is Australia a great place to live but a lousy place to work? For two decades Gallup's annual research, the State of the Global Workplace, has been one of the most anticipated annual insights into our changing relationship with work. This year they surveyed 227,000 people from 160 countries, and it's packed with complicated and nuanced contradictions. The research confirms a long-term trend that less than a quarter of all Australians are engaged at work, with 12 per cent actively disengaged and the vast majority, over two thirds of workers, not engaged with their jobs. 'That means the majority of people are going through the motions,' says Claire de Carteret, the APAC managing director at Gallup. 'They're going to work, but they're not as energised, connected, productive or thriving as they possibly could be.' If we really want to be more than just the lucky country, we're going to have to confront our problems at work head on. As well as disengagement, the percentage of workers who say they experience stress each day at work has been steadily rising from one third in 2011 to half of all workers now, with Australians basically tying with the United States and Canada as the most stressed workers in the world. Most of this stress is falling squarely on the shoulders of management. 'We are asking a lot of managers,' says de Carteret. 'Our productivity is quite stagnant in Australia, so we are asking managers to do more with less. We are asking them to be aware of wellbeing but also manage performance, and all the radical transformation with AI.'
Sydney Morning Herald
15-05-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Australia is a great place to live, but a lousy place to work
Sixty-one years ago, journalist Donald Horne first distilled how he viewed our nation. 'Australia is the lucky country,' he famously began, before following it up with a sucker punch, 'run mainly by second rate people who share its luck'. The first half of his phrase struck a chord that's resonated through the decades, albeit often truncated to fit whatever worldview we wished to see. Now, a few generations on from Horne's insight, there are startling new data points to add to our national conversation about who we are and how we got here. A new report from Gallup sheds additional light on an uncomfortable question that we really need to ask: is Australia a great place to live but a lousy place to work? For two decades Gallup's annual research, the State of the Global Workplace, has been one of the most anticipated annual insights into our changing relationship with work. This year they surveyed 227,000 people from 160 countries, and it's packed with complicated and nuanced contradictions. The research confirms a long-term trend that less than a quarter of all Australians are engaged at work, with 12 per cent actively disengaged and the vast majority, over two thirds of workers, not engaged with their jobs. 'That means the majority of people are going through the motions,' says Claire de Carteret, the APAC managing director at Gallup. 'They're going to work, but they're not as energised, connected, productive or thriving as they possibly could be.' If we really want to be more than just the lucky country, we're going to have to confront our problems at work head on. As well as disengagement, the percentage of workers who say they experience stress each day at work has been steadily rising from one third in 2011 to half of all workers now, with Australians basically tying with the United States and Canada as the most stressed workers in the world. Most of this stress is falling squarely on the shoulders of management. 'We are asking a lot of managers,' says de Carteret. 'Our productivity is quite stagnant in Australia, so we are asking managers to do more with less. We are asking them to be aware of wellbeing but also manage performance, and all the radical transformation with AI.'
