One in four Americans hitting peak burnout before turning 30, and over half of American workers across age ranges they are currently experiencing at least moderate levels of burnout. The state of modern workplace stress is accelerating, and it can create mental health concerns for employees鈥攁s well as high turnover, low productivity, and worse business outcomes for employers.

What鈥檚 fueling it? Increasingly, point to 鈥減seudowork.鈥� Pseudowork is busy work: the constant churn of e-mails, meetings, and low-impact tasks that leave employees drained and unfulfilled.

When a workday is filled with seemingly endless busy work, it may be a natural reaction to get home and ask yourself, 鈥淲hat did I actually accomplish today?鈥� Simultaneously exhausting and demoralizing, pseudowork may be a key contributor to the burnout increasingly felt by younger generations.

If pseudowork is a key contributor to employee burnout, then the solution may be the opposite: opportunities for real learning and development in the workplace. Almost a third of employees that high-quality training at work left them feeling 鈥渢ruly enlightened and invigorated.鈥� They also felt 鈥渉ighly valued and empowered鈥� by their employers, recognizing the continuous investment in their development. In addition to the obvious benefit of creating a more highly-skilled workforce, learning opportunities help employees feel a sense of achievement, excitement, and empowerment鈥攂reaking up the pattern of pseudowork and combatting burnout in the process.

This kind of meaningful learning can be unlocked through , which allows people from the entire 麻豆原创 ecosystem to access a wide range of to enjoy while taking a break from answering yet another e-mail. Structured 麻豆原创 Learning Journeys can allow workers to dive in at their own pace according to their unique needs and goals. They can be seamlessly integrated into daily work routines to allow employees to forge their own continuous learning path. As an said herself, 鈥溌槎乖� Certification boosts my confidence and adaptability. Continuous learning聽not only enriches my knowledge base but also ensures that the solutions I provide are cutting-edge and in sync with the evolving tech landscape.鈥�

By integrating continuous learning into daily routines, organizations can do more than build skills鈥攖hey can reinvigorate their teams and begin to truly counter the effects of pseudowork.

Sabine Benz is head of Enablement and Engagement at 麻豆原创.

Here are five key focus areas and tactics that support the success of BWN’s D&I program.

Empower Employee Engagement

Organizations can promote employee engagement to advance their D&I strategies by cultivating a culture of inclusivity and belonging, providing opportunities for employee input and participation in decision-making processes, offering D&I training and education, and creating affinity groups or employee resource groups to support underrepresented voices. Additionally, organizations can establish mentorship programs, career development opportunities, and leadership roles for diverse employees to promote their growth and advancement within the company.

Central to BWN’s mission is building and maintaining a vibrant community of engaged members. Through a diverse array of chapter events and initiatives, highlighted in its , BWN facilitates networking, knowledge sharing, and skills development opportunities. By organizing over 543 chapter events globally in 2023, BWN has successfully engaged over 19,000 members, driving robust engagement across the organization. This effort not only amplifies the voices of women and our allies but also cultivates a culture of inclusivity and collaboration. This is highly valued by Supriya Jha, chief diversity & inclusion officer at 麻豆原创: 鈥淭he Business Women鈥檚 Network has accelerated 麻豆原创鈥檚 journey toward its gender parity goal, which is a high priority within our overarching diversity and inclusion strategy. What makes BWN鈥檚 contributions to gender equality so impactful is its focus on business outcomes and elevation of 麻豆原创 as a responsible organization that drives positive change and opportunities for all.鈥�

Leverage 麻豆原创 Technology to Achieve KPIs

麻豆原创 can help organizations advance their D&I strategies by providing tools and applications that can enable organizations to track and measure diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, such as employee demographics and compensation data. Our solutions also help identify areas for improvement, create inclusive workplace cultures, and promote awareness and education on D&I topics. Additionally, 麻豆原创 solutions can help organizations develop and implement D&I policies and initiatives, as well as build a listening program that collects feedback from employees in the flow of work, enabling them to monitor progress and report on their D&I goals and outcomes.

BWN strategically utilizes 麻豆原创 solutions to help streamline operations and achieve key performance indicators (KPIs). Leveraging , BWN can simplify the membership onboarding process, helping to ensure a seamless experience for new members. enables the creation of a robust analytics dashboard, providing valuable insights into member engagement and program effectiveness. With , BWN gains access to comprehensive member data, facilitating targeted career development initiatives. Moreover, empowers BWN to understand key drivers of employee engagement, including D&I, to improve employee experience through data-driven insights and action planning.

Promote Career Development

To truly make opportunities meaningful for everyone, employees need to be skilled and ready for increasingly demanding roles and growth. That is why an organization鈥檚 D&I programs must include targeted programs to support the advancement of skills, especially for underrepresented groups, as well as create a culture that values and supports diversity in leadership positions. To enable this reality, organizations must implement inclusive recruitment and promotion practices, set diversity goals, and provide resources for employees to learn about distinct cultures and perspectives.

BWN鈥檚 efforts are an outstanding illustration of this commitment, as it strives to advance the careers of its members through mentorship and professional development initiatives. With over 55% of members participating in mentorship programs, BWN empowers individuals to reach their full potential. By providing access to role-specific data and development plans through , BWN facilitates personalized career growth opportunities, contributing to a more diverse and skilled workforce.

Foster Allyship and Partnerships

To achieve gender parity, we must view it as a collective effort. Organizations play a crucial role in encouraging allyship and forming partnerships to advance D&I strategies. Leveraging online platforms and communication tools can bridge geographical gaps, connecting employees and facilitating open dialogues about diversity and inclusion. Training and resources on allyship, unconscious bias, and inclusive leadership allow employees to gain a deeper understanding of D&I issues. Equally vital is the need for organizations to learn from peers and other industries players鈥� best practices related to D&I.

Recognizing the importance of allyship and collaboration, BWN actively engages male allies, partners, and customers to drive meaningful change. With 13.5% of its membership comprising of men 鈥� a 4% increase since 2022 鈥� BWN cultivates a culture of inclusivity and mutual support. Moreover, through collaborative events with other Employee Network Groups and internal 麻豆原创 groups, BWN promotes intersectionality and solidarity within the organization, amplifying its impact beyond borders.

Use AI to Break Bias

Recognizing the inherent biases that can impede progress, organizations must . AI offers numerous avenues for breaking bias within organizations. A notable example is the implementation of AI-driven recruitment and promotion processes, which minimize unconscious biases, allowing talent to shine irrespective of gender or background. It is also possible to standardize the interview process, reducing bias by providing structured questions and evaluation criteria. Anonymized decision-making, facilitated by AI, removes identifying information from candidate profiles, preventing unconscious biases from influencing outcomes. Through the responsible and ethical use of AI technology, organizations can leverage its capabilities to create fairer and more equitable workplaces where diversity thrives. This approach not only promotes inclusivity but also enhances the quality of decision-making, leading to a more diverse and innovative workforce.

By embracing these key focus areas and tactics, BWN continues to inspire change, create opportunities, and thrive together, driving 麻豆原创’s success and building a more equitable future for all. This is supported by its recent awards, including the prestigious , which is a testament to the exceptional efforts and contributions made by BWN in advancing gender equality and promoting women’s leadership within 麻豆原创, and the , which recognizes the outstanding contributions and influence of employee resource groups (ERGs) in driving positive organizational change and promoting an inclusive workplace culture.

BWN’s commitment to diversity and inclusion sets a benchmark for excellence in the corporate world. Together, we elevate possibilities and inspire realities, paving the way for a more inclusive and prosperous future.

Mayara Alves Tabone is global product marketing specialist at 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors and BWN global communications director.

For the majority of employees, work comprises enjoyable projects and duties but also routines and tasks that can be tiring or difficult. To make the work experience as positive and efficient as possible, experts and companies around the globe seek to continuously improve the realities of their workforce. This is also true for 麻豆原创.

Meetings, All Kinds of Meetings

An important facet of today鈥檚 work reality is meetings. They are where all sorts of work decisions are prepared and made, where briefings take place, where teams build up their team identity, exchange thoughts, solve challenges, share updates, align across geographical time zones, and much more. In many cases and for many roles, meetings consume a considerable part of overall working hours. So it comes as no surprise that, in their most recent project, the Future of Work team at 麻豆原创 and 麻豆原创 AppHaus colleagues joined forces to develop an easy approach for teams to improve their meeting routines.

鈥淎s featured by Forbes in May 2023, an average . This is a challenge we want to address with the Meeting Workout game,鈥� says Andreas Hauser, SVP and head of 麻豆原创 AppHaus Network. 鈥淏y innovatively blending play with productivity, we can transform these hours into opportunities for meaningful engagement and collaborative innovation, paving the way for a future where every meeting is a step towards building stronger, more dynamic teams.鈥�

The Imperative for Efficient Meetings

According to a , inefficient meetings have been identified as the top disruptor to productivity, with an excessive number of meetings following close behind. As 麻豆原创 Chief Future of Work Officer Christian Schmeichel states: 鈥淭he way we are working is changing rapidly, and both the rise of hybrid work and new technologies have increased the number of meetings for many of us. Hence, it鈥檚 an imperative to foster meetings that best utilize our time, spark energy, and drive outcomes. The Meeting Workout game can help with an engaging workshop format that can not only improve meeting effectiveness but can enable teams to set new standards for workplace collaboration on their journey into the future of work.鈥�

Playing for a Better Meeting Experience

From the initial idea to create a game for teams to improve their meeting routines, it took the New Work Practices team and 麻豆原创 AppHaus a few weeks to design, test, and produce the Meeting Workout game. However, what might look like a fun project was very similar to any other design and innovation project.

鈥淚n our planning meetings and test sessions we really tried to put ourselves in the shoes of all kinds of teams in different organizations and setups,鈥� recall project members Beate Riefer, UX designer at 麻豆原创 AppHaus, and Filip Weidenbach, HR project expert in New Work Practices. 鈥淭hrough a very generic phrasing of the cards and in simple steps, the game should be applicable in the most diverse, if not all, environments. It鈥檚 not as easy as it might seem 鈥� and it鈥檚 the reason why we established breaks in our meetings to keep the energy and concentration levels up. Here鈥檚 an important recommendation for all teams playing the Meeting Workout game: have plenty of sticky notes and a variety of snacks available!鈥�

50 Meeting Workout Games Available

The Meeting Workout game can be a perfect opportunity to help actively inspire and support teams in restructuring their current meeting formats. Users can choose between the virtual version available on Mural, a do-it-yourself, , and a tangible board game version.

The Future of Work team at 麻豆原创 is gifting 50 board game versions on a first-come, first-serve basis. People or teams that would like to test and use the board game can contact PressFutureOfWork@sap.com, thereby acknowledging that their postal address and contact information will be used only for the delivery of the game shipment, in accordance with the .

Waltraud Grimm is communications lead for 麻豆原创 Future of Work.
Imke Vierjahn is communications lead for 麻豆原创 AppHaus.

Top photo courtesy of Hyun Lee

At the recent NRF event, the world’s largest retail conference, the mantra of “adjust and adapt” echoed through the halls. AI and digital acceleration took the center stage, making innovation the heart of the conversation. Retailers also highlighted a crucial focus on a motivated workforce, emphasizing how an empowered workforce is critical to delivering exceptional customer experiences.

In a landscape challenged by high turnover rates, retailers showcased their commitment to navigating complexity through strategic investments in their most valuable asset 鈥� their people. One of the pivotal elements that drives employee motivation and engagement in the retail industry is incentive compensation, where associates are often paid on commission.

During NRF, Daniel Jasper from Neiman Marcus shared insights into how incentive compensation automation transformed the company鈥檚 commission payment process. With over 40 stores and a complex commission structure, Neiman Marcus faced challenges in managing incentive compensation. Its previous incentive management system was cumbersome and complex, which led to errors, delays, and frustration among sales associates. Implementing helped streamline the process, providing real-time monitoring of commission calculations. This allowed Neiman Marcus to identify and resolve issues proactively, resulting in improved accuracy and timeliness of commission payments. “Rather than waiting to hear from associates that something is wrong, we can monitor the calculations in real-time and resolve issues in advance,鈥� said Jasper. This shift has been a game-changer for Neiman Marcus, driving better sales and revenue growth.

麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Incentive Management is one of the sales performance management solutions in the 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors portfolio, and it offers a sophisticated platform for tailoring incentive programs to suit the unique needs of retail associates. With powerful analytics, embedded intelligence, and built-in workflows, this solution can revolutionize compensation management. Its intelligent design can not only foster trust but also ignite motivation among store associates. Through a user-friendly mobile app, retail customers can enjoy a comprehensive and easily accessible view of both store and individual performance metrics, promoting transparency and a unified understanding of team dynamics and trends. Personalized recommendations, relevant insights, and interactive monitoring help enhance the user experience, while the mobile app helps ensure that store associates can access their incentives anytime, anywhere, from any device.

The solution’s agility helps facilitate a swift rollout of new and updated compensation plans, offering the flexibility to manage broadly or tailor plans to individual needs. With a steadfast commitment to accuracy and traceability, associates can trust the fairness of calculations, fostering a positive work environment. The effective dating functionalities help further empower organizations, allowing seamless management of associate promotions and transfers.

鈥淩etail businesses more than ever need the ability to design and manage incentive plans that align with ever-changing organizational goals, with a focus on store-level personalization and granularity that allow for improved accuracy and timeliness of commission payments,鈥� said Rahul Iyer, general manager of Sales Performance Management at 麻豆原创. “With 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Incentive Management, retailers can incorporate key performance indicators, such as sales per hour and units per sale, into their incentive structure. The mobile app can provide visibility and transparency into individual and store performance, effectively motivating and ensuring optimal performance from their associates.”

In essence, 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Incentive Management emerges as an indispensable tool, helping to empower retail customers to optimize workforce performance and drive sustained success. Displaying key performance indicators and incentives has proven to be a game changer, helping to drive focus on store and individual performance. The result? Associates are more attentive to customers, guiding them through purchasing decisions and enhancing overall satisfaction.

In the always-changing retail world, success comes down to three things: using better technology, having happy employees, and keeping customers in focus. The story of Neiman Marcus proves that automating incentives can be a game changer. It shows how a motivated and well-connected team can not just boost how things work but also bring in more sales and money.

To stay ahead in retail, you need to be ready for change and invest in both tech and your team. This is a clear lesson for retailers planning for the future. Learn more about how . To learn more about how sales performance management solutions can support your organization, visit the鈥�.

Kevin Coxwell is vice president of GTM for Sales Performance Management at 麻豆原创.

With the recent announcement of 麻豆原创鈥檚 expanded partnership with , the vision for enterprise-ready generative AI able to enhance human productivity and development in the workplace is becoming reality. The integration of solutions with Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot in Viva Learning will improve how organizations recruit, retain, and upskill their workforces to address skills gaps. In fact, 75% of business leaders say attracting and retaining critical talent is the No. 1 impediment to future growth and success.

鈥淭he skills gap is one of the biggest challenges that organizations are facing today,鈥� said 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Chief Marketing & Solutions Officer Aaron Green, speaking to 麻豆原创 customers . 鈥淎s we talk to our customers around the world — and it doesn鈥檛 matter the region, the industry, the size of the organization — we hear one message: How can we change the way we think about skills? How can we be better prepared for the future?鈥�

Transforming Business at Scale

To gauge the transformative scale of the collaboration of 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors and Microsoft, it is helpful to look at the reach of both organizations. Today, more than 248 million people use 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors software. It is the largest HR suite on the market and available in more than 100 localized frameworks to drive truly global business. As one of the world鈥檚 leading brands, Microsoft supports 1 billion people who use Microsoft Office and 280 million daily active users of Microsoft Teams.

鈥淎I is fundamental to the future of business,鈥� said Green, who put the power of generative AI for the enterprise into context for the audience. 鈥淎I is going to enable all of us to transform business at scale.鈥�

Innovations that Future-Proof the Workforce

麻豆原创 SuccessFactors introduced three powerful innovations at 麻豆原创 Sapphire that will help businesses future-proof their workforce and address critical skills gaps.

The first innovation comes with embedding generative AI capabilities, in partnership with Microsoft, to enhance recruiting and learning processes. Customers will be able to deliver dramatically improved experiences for employees. These experiences are embedded in the flow of work, so that employees will not need to switch between interfaces or apps to complete a routine task or learning activity. Also, hiring managers and recruiters will be able to create tailored job descriptions and better prepare for interviews — both of which include built-in checks for biased language — through the hyper-personalization capabilities of generative AI. These new capabilities were presented in the demo onstage during the main stage keynote at 麻豆原创 Sapphire.

鈥淲e really believe in a big way in this notion of 鈥榠n the flow of work,’鈥� said Kirk Koenigsbauer, chief operating officer and corporate vice president of the Experiences and Devices Group at Microsoft, who shared insights during the panel discussion of the HXM keynote. 鈥淲e think it鈥檚 paramount in terms of driving scale, reducing friction, and increasing the reach of HR systems into places where people are naturally working on a day-to-day basis. Our whole thesis is that if we can build these HR solutions into the flow of work, you鈥檒l get much more adoption, you鈥檒l get much more engagement… We鈥檙e really excited to work with 麻豆原创.鈥�

A second key innovation is the introduction of a talent intelligence hub that uses AI to build, maintain, and infer a skills portfolio for each employee in the workforce. This depth of insight, using the whole-self model, enables employees to find personalized recommendations for learning courses, mentors, and internal jobs. Organizations benefit from having an overview of employee skills and improved visibility to carry out workforce planning.

鈥淭his is a moment where we can introduce a way to value workers differently: using data to help them grow in a way that makes sense for them while also supporting the needs within the business,鈥� said Meg Bear, president and chief product officer for 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors, in the panel discussion at the HXM keynote. 鈥淲hen we can create an environment where each person thrives, they鈥檙e going to be able to achieve a lot more for the business.鈥�

The third innovation is enhanced functionality that brings together 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors, 麻豆原创 Fieldglass, and 麻豆原创 S/4HANA Cloud for increased workforce visibility across employees and external workers. A recent study found that by increasing their use of external workers. A total workforce management strategy enables leaders to bring in skilled talent to fill roles in mission-critical projects at the right time.

are planned for availability in the 2H 2023 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors release.

Total Workforce Management for a Future-Ready Workforce

, a leading international bank with a presence in 59 markets and a focus on Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, adopted from 麻豆原创 to remain competitive and compliant. Melinda McKinley, global head of HR Strategy and Digital Transformation at Standard Chartered, spoke with Green onstage at 麻豆原创 Sapphire Orlando about what it meant for the organization to modernize its outdated, on-premise technology and how it enabled a future-ready workforce for its 83,000 employees and almost 14,000 external workers.

McKinley described how Standard Chartered applied a total workforce management strategy by integrating with in the cloud to deliver a truly holistic capability across its permanent and contingent workforce. She shared that with the introduction of position management in October 2022, the bank achieved a breakthrough in its HR transformation journey. 鈥淥ne of the key things that set us on a path for a future-ready workforce was really embracing the foundational architecture that position management brings. That meant immediately we had a visualization of our total workforce — our contingent and our employee base, which is leading to more robust, data-driven hiring decisions.鈥�

Standard Chartered remediated 75 interfaces to third-party systems and migrated 3.5 million data records from its legacy platform. It achieved an 87% reduction of reports and improved colleague experience with a new employee portal.

By taking a holistic view of its permanent and external workforce with total workforce management, the HR team at Standard Chartered set a foundation for integrated talent management, management of regulatory requirements, and strategic corporate planning in partnership with the finance team. 鈥淲e鈥檙e working really closely with our finance colleagues to bring finance and HR data together a little more seamlessly through the use of 麻豆原创 Analytics Cloud with the aim of making a real difference to bottom-up planning through our corporate plan,鈥� McKinley said.

Standard Chartered transformed its HR processes with total workforce management and .

Developing a Growth Mindset

麻豆原创 is committed to a responsible approach to AI and was one of the first companies to define guiding principles for using AI in its software. In this framework, 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors solutions use AI to streamline HR processes, enhance workforce planning, and help employees better navigate their careers. While many people are still trying to understand the scope and potential of AI technology, the experts in the panel discussion, each with decades of experience in the tech industry, offered their perspectives on how AI will shape the future of work.

鈥淲e think there is a big opportunity for AI, generally, to eliminate a lot of that mundane work,鈥� said Koenigsbauer, who cited the potential for AI to help people access information differently and be more creative.

Bear agreed: 鈥淲ork will change. We have to adapt as organizations and equip our workers with an understanding that this is an opportunity. Companies that embrace these shifting dynamics, that develop ways to improve because of them — those are the organizations that will grow and thrive.鈥�

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