GRANTED: The 4-day work week and what different generations really want out of work

August 2018

Bad bosses keep their people stuck in the same job. Good bosses create opportunities for their people to grow and advance. Great bosses encourage their people to pursue growth and advancement even if it means leaving for another organization.
 
In the spirit of learning, some favorite articles from the past month:

1. How to Make Friends, According to Science
On average, it takes 50 hours of interaction to go from acquaintance to friend and 200 hours to get to close friend. Real friendships rarely happen overnight. They build over time through sharing moments of joy and moments of heartache (unless you’re 5 years old, which means you can go from strangers to best friends in 4.2 seconds).
 
2. This 4-Day Work Week Experiment Went So Well, the Company is Keeping It
After shifting to a 4-day work week, people report higher engagement, better work-life balance, and decreased stress—without any decline in output. Productivity is less about time management and more about attention management.
 
3. Why Women Volunteer for Tasks that Don’t Lead to Promotions
Women received 44% more requests to volunteer than men. When asked to help, men agreed 51% of the time; women agreed 76% of the time. We have to stop expecting women to do thankless work and start dividing tasks equitably.
 
4. Open-Plan Offices Drive Down Face-to-Face Interactions and Increase Use of Email
Open-plan offices interfere with privacy and focus. They persist because leaders think they’re cheaper and more collaborative. But new evidence suggests that after leaving cubicles, people had 70% less face-to-face interaction and sent more emails instead. Personally, I think it's time to close the door on open offices. At minimum, we need to make sure people have access to private spaces whenever they want to do deep work.

From My Desk:

5. The 3 Things Employees Really Want: Career, Community, Cause
Beyond basic needs, we want 3 things out of work: a career, a community, and a cause. As we age, we become slightly less focused on career and community, and slightly more focused on cause. But every generation values them all.
 
6. Work in 60 Seconds
Every Thursday, I’ll be doing a rapid-fire video Q&A on work. It’s part of a series that includes World with Ian Bremmer, Money with Sallie Krawcheck, US Politics with Ben White, and Tech with Nicholas Thompson. In a recent video, I shared some quick thoughts on recruiting mentors and confronting incivility.

Cheers,
Adam

Adam Grant, Ph.D.
Host of WorkLife, author of ORIGINALS and GIVE AND TAKE,
coauthor of OPTION B, and Wharton professor