Five for Friday 4.12.2019

1.  Is the Pay Gap Fake News?

Well, no.  Recent U.S. Census data shows that women are currently making 81% of what men are paid. But as Time reports, “…nearly half of men (46%) believe that the pay gap ‘is made up to serve a political purpose,’ rather than being a ‘legitimate issue’.”  Come on guys, get a grip.

2. Sometimes You Just Have to Let Them Walk

HBR asks, when a top performer wants to leave, should you try to stop them? Maybe not, and they identify three reasons why. First, the employee’s motivation for leaving may be beyond your control. Offering a raise or title change to retain them may be a short term solution at best.  Second, change offers opportunity. Will someone step up? Do you have new development opportunities for other team members? And third, but not least, studies show that treating departing employees with empathy has a positive effect on the remaining team and leads to greater engagement. Sometimes losing is winning.

3. Find More Happiness at Work

Typical advice is to avoid burnout by finding a job you love. What if the real answer is, find a job and transform it so you do more of the parts you love and less of the parts you hate? 20% is the magic number. Workers who spend at least 20% of their time doing things that they find meaningful are much less prone to burnout. The NYT’s Smarter Living newsletter walks us through it.

4. “Hollowing Out” the Middle Class

Axios digs into one reason that the middle class in the USA has dropped from a high of 60% of the population to the current 50%.  It’s not just that skilled-labor jobs (think union jobs; carpenters, automakers) are going away. Many of these jobs no longer pay a middle class wage.  ” In 1972, the average American union carpenter earned the current equivalent of $33.55 an hour — about $70,000 a year. Today, a carpenter earns $20.23 on average, about $42,000 annually”. Wouldn’t we all be better off if this were trending the other way?

5. The Future of HR

Deloitte has published it’s 2019 Global Human Capital Trends report.  It’s 100 pages of expert analysis on topics you need to be aware of. If you can’t manage 100 pages, the introduction will give you the highlights.