Welcome to this week’s edition of Top 5, our round-up of weekly trends in the world of work. Before we dive into this week’s trends, we want to take a moment to address the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. Ever since the crisis happened last week, we’ve been keeping a close eye on the unfolding events. Our immediate thoughts and concerns are with our colleagues and associates who have family and friends in the region. We have established a core crisis team who are analysing how we can best direct our resources.
In this week’s edition of Top 5, we’re looking at the power of paternity leave, the workers deciding to start coasting for a bit at their jobs, rising wages in Japan, and the French company offering a mid-career break to its workers.
Other headlines in the world of work
Construction needs half a million workers to meet demand in 2022 in the U.S.
Will staff ever return to the office full-time?
More on the metaverse and the future of work: the CEOs experimenting with a new virtual working world.
Is the four-day work week a silver bullet for burnout?
We’ve got a full breakdown of all the top headlines in the world of work that you can’t miss this week.
#1. Is paternity leave the key to workplace equality?
For decades, mothers have traditionally been the ones who left work to look after children.
But the pandemic has accelerated a new shift: fathers wanting to take more of an active role in family life. Fast-moving changes in the workplace parental leave world have resulted in big shifts for mothers and fathers alike, as well as the co-workers who pick up the slack.
If older, male leaders within an organization look down on younger colleagues taking time off to spend with their families, they might be risking losing those employees to different companies with more forward-thinking policies.
Are we still thinking of fathers as the breadwinners in the family, and the women as breadwinners? Read more here.