* Five workplace trends to watch for this year
IT leaders know better than anyone that new technologies are changing the way people work. Part of your role as a manager is to anticipate and respond to workplace shifts on the horizon.
With that in mind, Bernadette Kenny, an executive vice president for global career management firm Lee Hecht Harrison, identifies five workplace trends to watch for this year. Here is her forecast:
* Long-distance leadership: Thanks to techie tools, the boss really will be able to phone it in. Managers must adopt new techniques to be able to lead effectively from afar.
* Flexible retirement: As Baby Boomers near retirement age, they’re discovering that traditional retirement is not something they want or can afford. This is good news to employers who’d be left in the lurch when all that institutional memory heads out the door. Both parties are embracing the idea of flexible retirement, in which workers who are 65 and older are able to stay on part-time or as consultants.
* E-mail backlash: As inboxes overflow, employees are less tolerant of unnecessary and poorly worded e-mail. Staff at all levels must pay more attention to spelling and grammar, and carefully choose the recipients.
* Use it or lose it vacation: Workers taking time off is not only healthy for them, but also for the company. That’s because most states require companies to carry unused employee vacation time on their books as a liability. In states that allow use it or lose it provisions, more companies are forbidding staff to bank time off.
* Turnover: Employees who waited out the storm are now looking for greener pastures. But at the same time, mergers and acquisitions are driving consolidation that forces workers into the job market.
