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Lessons Learned from Students, Candidates, Employees & Employers 

Introduction:

I was proud to be asked to lead this roundtable discussion on a topic that is critical to the growing field of photonics. That in no way makes me an expert in DEI. As a business owner who works with many of the market leaders in photonics, I am simply committed to doing the work.

I’m pleased to share the highlights from our active discussion on topics including:

• What’s the state of the industry today?
• What are some actions you can take to improve diversity in photonics, whether you’re a student, candidate, employee, or employer? 

There is no new normal. Every company we work with is experimenting with work modes, fully back in office, remote, and hybrid work environments. A recent Accenture survey revealed that 83% of workers say a hybrid model would be optimal for them. Given the competition for top talent, high-growth organizations are enabling productivity anywhere workforce models.

In a world of ever-shorter attention spans and the scarcity of labor, gamification can offer a way to attract, engage, and motivate your team. Gamification uses game elements in a non-gaming context, a concept that has been helping companies to improve employee engagement and outcomes.

“Change is coming”--it's a bit of a troupe. After the world-changing experience of the COVID pandemic, frequent, rapid change in business has become universal and continual. [Check out our blog on important lessons learned.] Some of the biggest changes are common across all businesses:

Is your culture a true competitive advantage? In today's market, with little opportunity for face-to-face relationship building, your business culture matters more than ever to ensure a positive customer experience and win the war for talent. Brand development based on a strong culture supports connection, growth, and sustainability within the working environment. Take a look at 9 ways you can leverage culture in your company to help strengthen your brand and promote a positive company.

Employee engagement is important all the time, but we are in a period where its importance has
become paramount. COVID-driven location dispersion, general anxiety, and employee dissatisfaction have made engagement even more challenging. 77% of US employees are currently reporting burnout and 52% of employees intend to look for a new job. In addition, nearly two-thirds of US-based employees that McKinsey surveyed said that COVID-19 has caused them to reflect on their purpose in life. And nearly half said that they are reconsidering the kind of work they do because of the pandemic.

Employee engagement has been top of mind for business leaders for years and has only grown in importance after a year of most workers operating remotely. The topic made headlines with the WeWork CEO’s controversial comments recently at the Wall Street Journal’s Future of Everything Festival, stating that more engaged employees want to come back to the office. “Those who are least engaged are very comfortable working from home,” Sandeep Mathrani said. The debate about his comments shows how strongly many feel about the concept of engagement.

We know that change is good, that's why we are expanding our change management support! Like you, we recognize how critical this is to the success of your organization's initiatives. In the companies we work with, the pace of change, employee fatigue, and the need for our support has grown over the last year. We are proud to announce that we are expanding: