e-lifeandwork: Learn New Skills Online | Online Courses & Real-World

Low-Skilled Workers Are An Untapped Asset If You Invest In Them Organizations around the world continue to struggle to attract the talent they need, with the shortage leading to intense competition between companies. This is prompting organizations to look wherever they can for the skills they need. A recent paper from Harvard Business School highlights how low-skilled workers are often an untapped resource, and that improving the skills of workers already on the payroll is often a more effective solution than looking externally. The report reveals, however, that low-paid workers are often criminally underinvested in by their employers, with many succumbing to the belief that there is a naturally high turnover of such staff, so there is no point in investing in them. "Most employers show little engagement in workers’ lives, provide minimal support for skill-building, give infrequent or unclear feedback, and offer almost no guidance on career pathways," the authors ...

Wolff Olins Myths and legends around leadership and what it takes to become a great leader are both powerful and enduring. Each generation grows up with its own version of what success looks like and what it takes to get there. Most recently, social media has fuelled the memefication for success and set the agenda in terms of what it means to succeed, including the need for speed. With the inspo quotes and life coaching offers coming thick and fast. All of which makes you wonder what part time plays in becoming a successful leader, and if this equates to becoming a great leader. The ‘30 Under 30’ achiever lists, social media influencer success stories and TikTok entrepreneur masterclasses fill our timelines, giving the impression that success should be instant and that falling behind is simply unacceptable. Meanwhile, Harvard Business Review writes this month about the traits looked for in CEOs of the future. There’s a heavy emphasis on social skills over technical know-how ...

Admittedly, I've never been cool enough to be part of the Starbucks cult. But in need of a caffeine-fueled pick-me-up on a 90-degree day, I went to the drive-through for a $4 iced coffee.  I soon found myself stuck in the single car-width lane for more than 20 minutes. After daydreaming about how much momentum I'd need to get over the embankment and through the wall of dense shrubs (as one does), my sensibilities won out. I settled on the simple hope that the barista would at least acknowledge the wait. To my surprise, I got more than I had hoped for.  I got an apology and a free coffee.  Almost instantly, my angst towards one of the nation's notoriously slow fast-food chains dissipated--as did the vow I had made to myself to never return. With that, a new daydream sprung to mind: Was I actually frugal as I thought, or just cheap? Regardless, I drove off happy.  In the grand scheme, a free coffee from a multinational chain may not seem like a...

A new white paper by Harvard Business Review Analytic Services outlines how financial services firms will need to continue building out and coordinating digital delivery channels to keep pace with consumers’ rising expectations. The pandemic presented the need for consumers to rely on technology, prompting many financial institutions to accelerate their digital transformation efforts. Hence, a new digital reality has emerged as the world takes the road to recovery after COVID-19. In the financial services industry, digital capabilities have become pivotal to meet and address the changing expectations and needs of consumers. Digital is here, and it’s here to stay. For financial services firms, the importance of digital adoption has never been evident, and so is the need to ensure optimal customer experience. As consumers acquaint themselves with what digital could do for them, their wants and expectations continue to rise—they expect frictionless digital experiences and state-of...

It’s hard to go wrong with a technology degree. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, computer science is the STEM major with the highest job offer and job acceptance rate. Perhaps that’s why a recent CareerBuilder survey revealed that from in the 2010s, the number of students completing science technology degrees grew by nearly 50%, and the number of computer and information science students rose by almost one-third, making these two degrees among the fastest growth rates in the U.S.?? A degree in a computer-related field can lead to a variety of well-paying and high-demand jobs. The best tech jobs pay significantly more than the average median wage of $34,750 and have projected growth rates that are faster than the 11% overall rate anticipated for the average U.S. job. By sorting through data from several sources, including the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and jobs website GlassDoor, we compiled the following list of the ten best ...

In every tech company, there is, at some point, the challenge that not every department is getting what they want. Product guys want to innovate, marketing guys want visibility and competitive edge, and the sales guys want to follow the money. Looking at stats collected from various sources like Salesforce, McKinsey, and others: 86% of employees and executives cite lack of collaboration or ineffective communication for workplace failures, and 97% of employees and executives believe lack of alignment within a team impacts the outcome of a task or project. Moreover, while about 75%  of employers rate teamwork and collaboration as “very important”, only 18% of employees get communication evaluations at their performance reviews. And, to rest the case, according to McKinsey, knowledge workers spend an average of 14% of their workweek in communicating and collaborating internally. Towards the last quarter of each year, companies start planning for next year's goals, budgets, roa...

In response to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, many SME businesses in the UK have now set out their hybrid working policies, enabling employees the freedom to choose where they work best either all the time or at least some of it. According to research, 71% of SMEs plan to implement hybrid working long-term, though many of those may not have considered the new challenges that may arise for finance professionals – especially when tracking expenses. Clear hybrid working policies and investment in technology to manage budgets will be needed. What’s changed with expenses tracking? Global manufacturer, Barco, recently revealed in its latest survey that a third of UK employees felt their company has not prioritised investments needed for better hybrid working. While there is ‘no one size fits all’ approach, it’s crucial to consider what has changed during the pandemic and if working models are changing, how businesses need to adapt to ensure finance professionals feel suppo...

Business Published on July 29th, 2021 | by Sunit Nandi Overview The business world is ruled by content. Everywhere you look, content is being used by successful companies on social media, on their websites and even in search engine ads. Podcasts, blogs, articles, surveys, whitepapers, reviews, case studies and infographics have all become commonplace in the stew of media that decision-makers consume on their buying journey. Content marketing, a rare phenomenon ten years ago, has taken the centre stage in the business model of many companies. But what of conventional marketing strategies such as inbound and outbound marketing, is it time to abandon them completely? Research disagrees. Instead, companies must modernize their traditional outbound marketing strategies by including content in them. For technology companies, innovation has always been essential to success, but never has it been so badly needed in the field of tech marketing. What is content marketing? L...

Like it or not, more employees are going back to work. With roughly 130 million Americans now having received at least one vaccine shot as of Sunday — about half of U.S. adults — the forced Covid-19 work-from-home experiment is coming nearer to an end. What results on the other side of it, though — a return to a traditional office-first model, hybrid employment, or permanent WFH — will depend on an employer's specific cost-benefit analysis of factors including company culture, and talent and productivity to be gained or lost. Already, major employers across sectors of the economy are choosing distinctly different paths forward. Among West Coast technology giants, Microsoft has been clear on a liberal WFH policy since October 2020. Google, meanwhile, is limiting employees to a maximum of 14 days WFH annually without manager approval. On Wall Street, Goldman Sachs' CEO called WFH an "aberration," and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon expects "many" emplo...