My office knows me as the open-air office evangelist. I saw our group go from a team-derived clique system to a cohesive family unit over the first month we acclimated to our open-air office, after years of being in cubes, separated by department. It was the eavesdropper in me, I couldn’t help myself but involve myself in conversations being had in front of my face, and that, in turn, became team synergy, camaraderie, and a fair amount of heckling.

I do miss the heckling, to be honest, but we’ve all been rightfully grateful to have the ability to stay healthy and keep working apart these past few months. As states move from yellow to green, and from phase to phase, we are starting to think about how the office will change—and what, if anything, can stay the same?

While we are working from home week in and week out, the lines between personal and professional time blur together like the days of the week. In the last few weeks, I’ve found myself thinking “Oh great it’s Monday” only, surprise! it’s actually Thursday! (this has happened more than once). I find myself logging in earlier, and sending emails later, and checking my inbox when I’m walking the dog, reading the chats from my Microsoft Teams app on my phone while making a meal, and overall just obsessing about work way more than I should.

Now, like most Americans, I have nowhere to be at the moment. The only place I can be is home. But after overthinking if I should ask for a day off while simultaneously thinking about what I would even do with the time, I logged 8 hours of paid time off (PTO). Let me tell you, dear reader, it was a well allocated resource, and I hope I can inspire you to put your time off to good use too.

Everyone’s Invited! Talent communities are key for companies looking to build a talent pipeline to make hires now and in the future. Download the pdf.

Nexxt’s Talent Communities service helps companies build their talent pipelines. According to a recent survey, 53% of job seekers said talent communities are a great way to submit information to a company without committing to a specific opportunity and 77% of job seekers said they are interested in becoming members. Accordingly, Nexxt’s Talent Communities offering can make that happen.

The modern-day workplace requires a lot of flexibility. Employees want more than a regular paycheck. They want to have autonomy, work-life balance, make meaningful contributions through their job and, most importantly, they want company trust.

Running a high-trust company means leaders are respectful, reliable, flexible, communicative and authentic with their employees. They understand and highlight individual strengths, challenge and encourage employees, and know that their team is qualified to complete the job.

If your company is such a great place to work, then why does talent sourcing continue to be an ongoing challenge? In a job market that was just flipped upside down—went from hard to source talent to not so much, but it could easily change again, and regardless of the job market, sourcing talent should never end. Technology and generational factors all play a part in attracting—and retaining—talent at your organization. Here are some possible recruiting blind spots your team may not be aware of.

With employees having to work from home these days, many companies are getting a taste of what it would be like to have a workforce that is completely remote. If you’re one of the many businesses that is considering such a transition, here are a few things to keep in mind!