Google remote until summer 2021, how to approach personal development, unbiased hiring methodology
Stories, thoughts and insights on people, culture and startups.
Over the past months we observed a significant shift in the way companies operate. The pandemic accelerated the Future of Work with companies adjusting their models and approaches across multiple verticals. Both small and large organisations have been working on recalibrating their capital allocation to support digital transformation and employee experience, to create a robust culture able to support remote working teams doing their best job as well as keep developing personally and professionally.
Startups are by nature nimble and able to adapt to changes quickly, and I was impressed when I saw a company of the scale of Facebook leading the way and planning to have 50% of their workforce (~25,000 employees as of today) working fully remote over the coming years.
This week tech giant Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai, announced that their employees will have the choice to work from home until summer 2021, despite the fact that 42 of their offices across the globe have now reopened. Considering that this will touch a large portion of the 200,000 employees under the parent company Alphabet, I feel this is a significant move.
That remote is on the raise is a fact. Leaving aside the current circumstances, there are multiple benefits of this model that we have observed over the past months (for both employees and employers), from cutting hours of commute to flexible schedules and the ability to do more uninterrupted deep work, to cutting office space costs for businesses that can be re-deployed in employee L&D, and more. Still, the reality is that not all small to medium sized businesses have the in-house expertise and resources to invest in making a smooth transition, ensuring the most challenging aspects are addressed (e.g. mental health, physical health, isolation). The team at Doist is always sharing meaningful perspectives and learnings around this model that can benefit many organisations.
Thought on personal development
As a company leader, you can’t adapt to changes and move your business forward if you don’t focus on learning and personal growth. Getting the most out of any circumstance is something that needs to be prioritised to ensure we can absorb key insights and take actions.
We expect our teams and companies to always improve, but we often don’t put in the time to focus on our own personal development.
I loved this article from First Round Capital, where some of the best on the matter (Adam Grant, Khalid Halim, Russ Laraway, Anne Raimondi, and more) share tactical advice.
Unbiased hiring
Remote is opening up access to a larger pool of talent, and hiring a diverse workforce has become a critical goal for companies. And yet, many companies are failing to bring in a diverse workforce.
Are you keen to implement a strategy that can enable you to remove the biases from the process of screening resumes and ensure you can focus on the right candidate for the job you’re hiring for? This research from Harvard Business Review might be a good starting point.
I hope you enjoyed reading, and if you have thoughts or feedback you can reach me on Twitter.
Have a wonderful Sunday,
Giovanni
Humaans – People Operations simplified
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