Pim de Morree

Unveiling the impact of return-to-office mandates on firm performance in a new study. Time to settle the working-from-home debate.

Maren Gube, Cynthia Mathieu, and Debra Sabatini Hennelly

Too many organizations with unsustainable “work hard, play hard” cultures believe that checking the well-being box by offering mindfulness training or yoga classes qualifies them as having a positive and safe culture when, in fact, they’re merely “carewashing.” Like the more familiar term greenwashing, carewashing is derived from whitewashing: covering up or putting a misleading spin on a failure to meet some commitment, stated claim, or standard.

Elaine Lin Hering

There is a common leadership misconception that merely encouraging team members to voice their opinions will foster an environment of openness. But people won’t speak up unless they feel safe doing so. As a leader, this means you have to address the underlying reasons for employee reticence, including the individual and systemic barriers to speaking up. This article outlines several tactics that managers can use to provide alternative paths that feel safe for employees to say what’s on their minds.

Natalia Emanuel, Emma Harrington, and Amanda Pallais

While much has been said about the potential benefits of remote work for women, recent research examines how working from home affects the professional development of female software engineers at a Fortune 500 company, revealing that its impact varies by career stage. Junior women engineers benefit significantly from in-person mentorship, receiving 40% more feedback when sitting near colleagues, while senior women face reduced productivity due to increased mentoring duties.

LeadDev

We asked 1,100+ engineering leaders how their roles are changing in response to a rapidly changing economic landscape in 2024. Here’s what we found.

Jackie Colburn

There’s one trait every great leader has in common. I observe it when I facilitate Design Sprints and strategic workshops. It’s the same…

Gergely Orosz

Young software engineers discuss values, what frustrates them about working in tech, and what they really think of older colleagues. Responses to our exclusive survey.

Emily Webber

I have worked with Communities of Practice in organisations for many years. One recent trend I have seen is people using the term community when they mean the more formal construct of a profession and vice versa.

Nicholas Bloom, Ruobing Han and James Laing

A trial investigating the effects of a hybrid working schedule in a Chinese technology firm in 2021–2022 shows that working from home two days a week improved job satisfaction, reduced quitting and did not affect performance.

Mark Mortensen and Amy C. Edmondson

There is no easy solution for companies trying to craft policies that balance in-office and flexible working, as there are undeniable benefits to both approaches. But much of the recent messaging from company leaders demanding that employees return to the office has felt tone-deaf at best and dictatorial at worst. To be successful, companies need to engage in dialogue with employees and be explicit and honest about which outcomes are most critical.

Sid Sijbrandij & Hannah Bates

To get remote work right, start with your recruiting and onboarding.

Emily Webber

In my last post, A framework for thinking about team memory, joining up and serendipity in hybrid organisations, I introduced a framework for thinking about Team Memory. I have now turned this into a Miro board template for a workshop, which is available on the Miroverse.

Shruti Salunkhe

This article delves into the fundamental principles required to establish a culture of excellence within a product team.

John Cutler

When trying to understand where a team or company is at, one of the first things I do is talk to people about how they spend their time and energy. Words like empowered, feature factory, and outcome-oriented are squishy and can mean a million things. Behaviors don't lie (provided you make it safe for people to share reality). There are only so many hours in a week, and we have finite energy to do thoughtful work.