Future of Work RoundUp - Week of August 29

Welcome to the Future of Work Roundup. Each week, we bring you five top stories—drawing from the latest academic research and industry trends—to give you an easily-digestible snapshot of how work is changing—and why it matters.

The Great Boomerang?

CNBC reported that the workers who are landing the biggest raises and promotions aren't just changing jobs as part of the Great Resignation and the Great Reshuffle—they are boomerang back to their previous employers. In the first four months of 2022, the average boomerang employee scored a 28% pay raise by returning to their previous employer (as compared to their pay when they resigned).

Hump days are now office days

The Wall Street Journal cited research that found that Wednesday is the most popular in-office day for U.S. workers. This finding is a bit perplexing and contrasts with some experts’ views that Wednesday is the best day to work from home. Perhaps the trend is being driven by workers who come into the office only one day per week—for them, “hump day” is a natural breakpoint to work from the office.

Productivity surveillance

According to Bloomberg, a senator has urged the Biden administration to regulate worker-monitoring technologies. This comes on the heels of a New York Times report that found that eight out of the 10 largest private employers in the U.S. are tracking their employees’ productivity. With the shift to remote work and advances in ML and AI technology, work surveillance is likely to feature prominently in discussions of the future of work.

Lower voice adds leadership credibility—sometimes.

A new study finds that when leaders have lower-pitched voices, they are perceived to be trustworthy. Importantly though, the study found that gender moderates the relationship such that when females have lower-pitched voices the relationship is much weaker. The study adds a new layer to the debate over whether Elizabeth Holmes’ deep voice was, in fact, a power move.

Office attendance differs by sector

The World Economic Forum reported on a new survey that found that office attendance differs notably by sector. Perhaps not surprisingly, banking tops the list in terms of the greatest portion of the workforce attending the office daily (47%), whereas the logistics and tech sectors seem to have most vigorously adopted remote work, with only 15% of the workforce clocking into the office each day.

Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for next week’s Future of Work roundup.