The 10 Must-Read Articles for Talent Professionals This Week

“At least for now,” Adam Galinsky, a professor at Columbia Business School, told The New York Times, “companies are opting for the carrot over the stick: rewarding workers for coming into the office rather than punishing them for staying home.”

And what do these carrots look like? As the Times reports, tech companies are rolling out all kinds of perks in the name of making the return-to-office, well, more fun. In no particular order, here are some examples:

1. A concert headlined by U.S. pop star Lizzo.
2. Ornate balloon sculptures ripe for selfies.
3. Foosball tables somehow upgraded to be both a work surface and a table game.
4. Free fitness classes and, for those not inclined to sweat, build-your-own terrarium classes.
5. Happy hours and food trucks.
6. And, of course, lots of free food, drink, and company swag.

To learn more about these perks — and whether they’ve been successful in luring a reluctant workforce back to the office — check out the top spot in our list below of must-read articles for talent professionals.

And further down the list, you can learn why nearly 40 North American companies decided to pilot a four-day workweek earlier this month; why one fully remote business believes it has cracked the code for maintaining a high retention rate; and how the metaverse could drastically change the way we work (say hello to AI-powered, human-like bot colleagues!).

Here are the must-read articles from this week:

1. Welcome Back to the Office. Isn’t This Fun? (The New York Times)

2. Turns Out the Great Resignation May Be Followed by the Great Regret (The Guardian)

3. Thousands of Employees Are Testing a 4-Day Workweek Starting Today: ‘It’s Inevitable We’ll See Bigger Companies Doing This’ (CNBC)

4. A Top Tech Recruiter Shares His Secrets for Building a Personal Brand (LinkedIn Talent Blog)

5. More Than Half of the Working Day Is Spent Kinda, Sorta Working (Bloomberg)

6. Preparing for the Future of Campus Recruiting (ERE)

7. How Remote Teams Win with Retention (Doist)

8. The Tussle Over Location-Based Pay (BBC Hello Hybrid)

9. Google’s Ex-HR Chief Says Hybrid Work Won’t Last (Bloomberg)

10. How the Metaverse Could Change Work (Harvard Business Review)

This week’s must-listen podcast:

Amy Schultz: How the Recruiter Got Recruited! (How I Got Hired)

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