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There is no escaping it: too much news is bad for you. It should come with a government health warning: “This intellectual diet is fine taken in small doses, and preferably in weekly instalments, via a well-balanced newsletter, such as 10 things from William Montgomery." So, as another week slips by, here are 10 things which caught my attention and may have escaped yours. Please feel free to share on social media and forward to your colleagues and friends so they can also subscribe, learn and engage. I would be very grateful if you did. William Montgomery 1. How to earn, and keep, your team’s trust. When employees trust their manager, they’re more likely to follow through on goals and be forthcoming about challenges. That’s why it’s important to reinforce your trustworthiness. Here’s how you build, and keep, your team’s trust: READ MORE >>2. Europe’s most diverse companies. Which companies are leading the way on diversity? Statista, the market and consumer data company, compiled a list of 850 companies after surveying over 100,000 workers across 16 European countries. French luxury brand Hermès made the best impression, followed by Italian fashion label Giorgio Armani and German chipmaker Infineon. Employees were asked to score their employer on inclusivity and various aspects of diversity, including gender, age, ethnicity, disability and sexual orientation, with the assessment of under-represented groups given more weight. The Financial Times 3. Exec’s back to office explained. Bosses are far more eager to return to office settings than rank-and-file knowledge workers, based on a recent Future Forum survey. But why? Here are the three reasons why they're likely so keen on in-person interactions: a cynical explanation, a kind one and a subconscious one. [1] The cynical argument is that bosses enjoy the loftier privileges of status in an office setting rather than online meetings where "no one gets a bigger tile." [2] The kind explanation involves a sincere belief that in-person collaboration is better for their organisation. [3] Executives may just subconsciously prefer the office, because that's how they achieved success. The Economist 4. How to effectively communicate online. Now more than ever before, we're communicating primarily online. Often, it can be difficult to pick up on our colleagues' body language or social cues through a screen. To remedy these challenges, here are four laws of digital communication: value others visibly, communicate carefully, collaborate competently and trust. These principles allow us all to continue to show that level of trust and connection, regardless of the channel. Editor 5. How normal is overtime for you? Working overtime is no longer the exclusive terrain of workaholics or people eager to climb the career ladder. The pandemic has lengthened the working day by almost two hours, as it has become common practice for remote workers to work during breakfast or after hours. Workers globally are now clocking an extra 9.2 hours without pay every week (up from 7.3 hours last year), according to the ADP Research Institute. One in 10 are even working a minimum of 20 hours for free each week. How many unpaid hours do you work on average per week? Let us know in our latest poll. VOTE HERE >> 6. Cost of living crisis looms. Workers will need a pay rise of more than 7% next year just to stand still as surging inflation and looming tax rises erode their spending power, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). Official data found that prices jumped 4.2% in the 12 months to October. In an impending cost of living crisis, the average family will be up to £2,000-a-year worse off in 2022, with gas prices soaring 28%, petrol costs rising 22%, food prices increasing 1.3% and alcohol costs up 2%, the IFS added. The Telegraph 7. COP26 outcome gets mixed reviews. Ending the COP26 summit with no deal would’ve been "the worst possible result," according to the United Nations' climate secretary, who called the outcome "a good compromise.” Media outlets around the world weren't fully convinced; reviews ranged from relief about the overtime deal to "we are still on the road to hell," according to one Scottish newspaper. The U.S. climate envoy acknowledged the pact, which included a last-minute language change, was "imperfect" but the meeting "was not the finish line." Fortune 8. Masks ‘most effective Covid measure’. Wearing a mask is the single most effective public health measure for avoiding Covid-19, reducing incidence by 53%, according to the first global study of its kind. A “systematic review and meta analysis” of public health and non-pharmaceutical approaches to tackling the virus found “several personal protective” measures, “including hand washing, mask wearing and physical distancing”, caused reductions in the incidence of Covid-19. In England, the legal requirement to wear a mask ended in July. The Guardian 9. The train arriving on platform one has been delayed for 50 years. Fifty years after the last train chugged out of Okehampton station, the Dartmoor line has reopened. Thousands of sleepers and miles of track have been laid, so that four-carriage trains can once again wend their way from the old station in Okehampton to Exeter, where there are connections, for those that want them, to Waterloo. Locals, who’ve been fighting for the line to be restored for years, say it will bring more tourists to the relatively unvisited area, and ease traffic on the A30, the only main road to Cornwall and Devon from the rest of the UK. The Times 10. The bottom line. 53% of British adults would now like to re-join the EU, rising to 77% among 18- to 34-year-olds. 47% would rather stay out. 40% of adults would like there to be another referendum on EU membership within the next five years. The Independent |