OG Tuesday Issue #194

⌛ Time Management: Feeling “time poor?” You’re not the only one.

💃 Gender Bias: Why one of Time’s 2024 women of the year struggled to secure funding for her research.

🧠 Mind and Mood: Your brain, your waves. Understanding what’s real and what’s marketing when it comes to your brainwaves.

🏳️‍🌈 Pride Month: Reflecting on how pronouns became such a cultural landmine.

💡 Insight: How living in a weight-loss culture impacts the Black community.

Survey says: Parents are among the most productive and profitable employees…when employers adequately support their needs.

The survey we’re talking about is The ROI of Caregiving Benefits conducted by caregiver support consultancy The Fifth Trimester and care provider Vivvi.

In addition to the banner finding that “workplace support for parents pays off,” they captured many other fascinating insights about work, workplaces, and caregivers:

• Most respondents feel their caregiving responsibilities drive them to be more productive and efficient at work.
• 69% of respondents would work more often on site if their employers provided backup or subsidized child care.
• 57% of respondents would take on more high-level work if their employers provided backup or subsidized child care.
• 9 out of 10 respondents would take an ongoing child care subsidy over an immediate cash bonus of the same amount.
• Only 22% of respondents feel welcome and comfortable to express their parent or caregiver identities at work.

The survey’s bottom line is more than parents being good for companies’ bottom lines. It’s breaking down biases that could otherwise—and have historically—discounted caregivers and even pushed them out of the workforce.

“Contrary to the stereotype of the distracted, overwhelmed, disheveled mess, our data shows that parents are not “quiet quitting” anything,” write the survey’s authors.

“Their caregiving responsibilities compel them to seek meaning, flexibility, and benefits like child care specifically because of their ambition to create value. The upshot: When businesses support parents’ caregiving needs, they get back their most productive, and profitable work ever.”

Read the full white paper >

This workshop is tailored to boost learners’ confidence and skills in utilizing AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Copilot.

From crafting effective prompts to hands-on practice sessions, this workshop is suitable for beginners and those seeking to enhance their AI chatbot proficiency.

By the workshop’s end, attendees will grasp AI chatbots’ capabilities and limitations, learn prompt optimization techniques, and make regular use of these tools in their workflows!

Register today.

One TA reader wants help balancing their team and their own work:

The biggest challenge I am currently facing is that I find myself constantly waiting for one of my staff members to run into a problem and need my help (this happens a lot in my field) and I feel I can never get to a starting point on my actual work tasks.

Managing others is rewarding, worthwhile work. (And it takes a whole lot of precious time.)

Managing people really means managing a thousand different things. It’s not just all the meetings, but also the communication, troubleshooting, mentoring, morale, emotions, professional development, and so on and so forth.

It’s a lot, but that’s not even half of the challenge. It’s a lot that’s also unpredictable, unplanned, and uncontrollable.

Sure, you blocked off those hours to finish your presentation, but the work crisis everyone needs your help with doesn’t care about your perfect time-blocking skills.

“As a manager, you’re not being paid to just churn out work; you’re being paid to help others become more empowered and efficient,” writes learning and development expert Bobby Powers in his LinkedIn article. “Sometimes that means that you have to hit your brake pedal in order to help someone else hit the gas.”

He shares two helpful realizations he had during this stage of his own career:

1. Accept and embrace all the distractions.

“As a manager, the distractions ARE the job. I had been frustrated by the number of distractions that arose each day. But then I realized that those “distractions” embodied the human elements of leadership: empathizing with team members, developing my team, and solving problems. As soon as I began viewing those tasks as meaningful leadership work rather than distractions, my perspective improved and I began to appreciate those aspects of the job.”

2. Prioritization will save your sanity.

“Prioritization is paramount. I had to learn how to lead myself, which would help me become a better leader of my team. And in order to lead myself, I had to get better at prioritizing important tasks. I still had personal tasks I needed to complete, and I had to find time to complete them.”

Read the rest of his sage managerial advice >

CaterCow partners with thousands of local eateries to ensure your office gets delicious, timely catering every time.

Whether you need a one-off meal or a regular lunch program, they’ve got you covered.

Choose from a variety of options where admins or team managers can order for everyone, or have employees can choose their own meals with group ordering.

Order directly online or have an account manager handle everything for you.

Say goodbye to catering stress.

Heads up! CaterCow is only in NYC, SF Bay Area, LA County, the Greater Boston/Cambridge Area, DC, Chicago, and Austin.

Don’t wait for someone to pull the chair out for you, take your own seat at the table.

What does this mean?

Advocate for yourself and your visions.

In a perfect world, every people manager will bring the next opportunity or seek out your expertise themselves, but when they don’t? Communicate what you envision your next step in your career. Ask for more responsibilities.

Ask to be invited to that meeting, maybe you’ll share some dialogue or maybe you will just be a fly on the wall, either way, folks will remember your drive, your attendance, or at the very least, it will open a dialogue.

Randi Petrocelli, Director of People & Culture

⭐️ Help our TA community! Share your best career advice here.

📖 How to Talk to Anyone by Leil Lowndes is your ultimate guide to improving social skills.

🍳 Keep cooking times and temps handy with these air fryer cheat sheet magnets.

📱 House your fave articles, videos, and links with the Pocket app.

👶 Keep pacifiers clean and close by with the Ali+Oli Silicone Pacifier Holder Case.

• LHH is hiring for a Human Resources Business Partner (Chicago, IL).
• Ariat International is hiring for a Retail Marketing Manager (San Leandro, CA/Hybrid).
• Worldwide Clinical Trials is hiring for a Director of Clinical Operations Phase I (San Antonio, TX).
• Apex is hiring for a Network Engineer (Sumter, SC).
• Inventia Life Science is hiring for a Digital Marketing Manager (CA/Remote).