Photo by Filip Mroz on Unsplash
- The protests at Google are about free expression, not money
Transparency is at the heart of the recent employee controversy. “I was put on administrative leave, without warning. My account was deactivated while I was working,” Laurence Berland told fellow workers at Friday’s demonstration. He claims that he was grilled for two and a half hours by Google executives–not allowed to take notes or even use the restroom–and that he was never given a clear explanation for his offense. “I had to find out from the press,” he told the crowd, referring to the Bloomberg article.
The only documents he claims he accessed were appointment calendars of Google executives–calendars that are open for any full-time employees to peruse. The motivation, he says, was to see if management was meeting to discuss ways to monitor activist workers like him.
Google employee organizing has always centered around ethical issues like the company’s cooperation with the federal government or its treatment of women, minorities, and contractors. It’s not been about money–at least not for the employees themselves.
https://www.fastcompany.com/90435484/the-protests-at-google-are-about-free-expression-not-money
- On Momternships: Do Working Moms Really Need to Start From Scratch?
Returnship programs aren’t, strictly speaking, new. Goldman Sachs launched the first returnship initiative a little more than a decade ago; since then, 50-plus companies have opened their doors, including IBM, Johnson & Johnson and United Technologies. In April, Apple offered a 17-week return-to-work program for professionals who both took time away from work and have more than five years of professional experience. These programs are typically open to people who have left their industries for two or more years and last for a limited period — usually between eight weeks and six months — and are designed to provide networking and mentoring opportunities, help returnees refresh their professional skill set and give the company a chance to gauge whether the returnee is a long-term fit.
However, these programs are not without their flaws. While some returnships are paid, many are not. Others require the returnee to pay for their participation. Hiring, too, can vary widely. While Ford’s returnship program hired 98 percent of its enrollees, Goldman Sachs only accepted 1.9 percent. Both are on extreme and opposing ends of the hiring spectrum; research indicates that most programs hiring between 50-100 percent of their participants.
- Before you write an open letter, make sure it meets this criteria
- How to manage teams when you’re not the subject matter expert
ADMIT YOU’RE STILL LEARNINGWhen I first became a product manager, I was supervising an engineering team. It became clear pretty quickly that I didn’t understand the complexities and constraints team members were facing. And because no one was going to teach me how to do my job correctly (and they shouldn’t have to), I realized I had to be proactive in learning about the challenges.
UNDERSTAND THE CONTEXT OF PAST FAILURES
To right the wrongs in the department, I needed more context around the team’s past efforts. I needed to examine what succeeded and what failed and assessed it against the current landscape before proposing any ideas. For the team to take me seriously, I knew that I had to demonstrate knowledge and awareness around the broader circumstances.
MEET WITH TEAM MEMBERS INDIVIDUALLY
Meet with everyone on the team individually, and ask them what’s going well or poorly. Pose questions that hit on the elements of a SWOT analysis: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This will help you spot problems, find the high-impact small wins, and determine any longer-term projects and issues.
In that vein, set one-on-one meetings to build trust with people in other departments. A lack of expertise can be an advantage in terms of learning how the rest of the organization views your team—you can play the role of student and demonstrate you care about others’ perspectives and how your team’s work relates to theirs.
https://www.fastcompany.com/90434738/how-to-manage-teams-when-youre-not-the-subject-matter-expert