How the Workplace Will Change in Trump's America

door hit you on the way out. So we're going to spend this episode taking a look at some things look out for in the workplace and work related things in the next year. I got a question before you, Becca, shoot, what would you say was the biggest issue in the workplace personally? I think that talking about sexual harassment in the workplace. It was talked about this year in a way that it hadn't been talked about in a while because of the high profile allegations and fire presidential campaign

Donald Trump. That was huge. The other thing that's huge and is something that we're going to talk about um I think has been the push for parental leave that you've seen and a lot of companies still a lot of people don't have it, but also the push for parental leave. In that, um, we don't talk about maternity and paternity leave as much. It's now this all encompassing parental leave. So those were the two biggest things for me. I mean, I know I cover these things, but what

about you. The death of Prince affected me deeply in the workplace. Yeah, you probably lost some productivity but also got some good tunes to listen to while working. I'm still working it out. Yeah, I'm sorry. I think that more seriously, and thank you by the way for your sympathy. I think that automation also something that we'll be talking

more about later. Given the discussion during the presidential campaign regarding jobs, immigration kind of took the four but there was also some acknowledgement that technology is advancing making things more productive with fewer people. And I don't see that abating anytime soon. Yeah, it's it's not and we'll definitely talk about that coming up. But yeah, those are some big issues. Other things that I wrote about was the rise of companies paying off your student debt as a

new benefit that we're seeing, which is interesting. Um, again, you have to work for all these benefits because the labor markets tightening, they tend to happen in very competitive fields, so not the very unevenly distributed was something I saw. Also. Another other thing that's rising is bonus compensation. You mean just in the absolute or as a proportion of total, proportion of total camp I see something that is familiar to people who may work, you know, on Wall Street

or at startups where they're granted options. You're saying that it's actually spreading to even more sort of ordinary. Yeah, because companies it's a lot safer for them to offer bonuses instead of raises, raises or something you can't really take away that cost a lot of money every year. A bonus is something you can offer at once if you're doing well that year. And after the recession, companies are doing better, but they're still nervous um and so

we're seeing a move towards bonuses. Well, that's been the year sort of in review, but as far as the year ahead, what is on your radar? So it's what I brought up as the biggest, one of the biggest things last year, and I think parental leave is going to be really big next year. Um I us wrote a story about how American Express up to its parental leave It didn't have parental leave. Before, it had primary and secondary leave, which is basically maternity and paternity leave.

Now it offers this all encompassing leave. It's twenty weeks of paid leave to any new parent of any kind. It's it's a big deal. It's they're doing it to attract employees and keep employees around in a competitive market. I've been pitched at least three more companies doing that since I wrote that story. But the bigger story, I think is going to be what if any legislation happens

on this. That was going to be my question. Obviously, companies can choose to use this as a perk in a in a competitive situation, but are there any laws being proposed or any activity that you've heard about going on right now that might take effect or at least gain steam during So it was pretty unprecedented that a Republican candidate would run on paid family leave of any sorts, and Donald Trump, pushed by his daughter Ivanka, did that.

When he campaigned, he said that he would push for six weeks of paid maternity leave for employees whose companies don't already offer it um and it was going to be paid for by some rewriting of the tax code. I think it'll be interesting to see if this does go anywhere because Republicans have been so against any type of federal paid family leave. Remind me, are there any laws on the books at either the municipal or state

level right now? Yeah, so that was a big story last year San Francisco and New York State passed a bigger parental leave laws New York State and that will be going into effect. So for you and me, Sam, who live in New York State, um and there, right, But if you work in New York, you know, we already have We have two kids, kids, we're full. Yeah. So there are a lot of moves happening in states and cities. There are some states that have their own laws.

That's cool. Yeah, it's great for families, but it's just so unevenly distributed, basically. And this is particularly true in terms of the kinds of jobs and the kinds of companies that are offering these perks. So if you work at um McDonald's, right, you're probably not getting you're not going to get that family leave of any sort. Software engineers, on the other hand, yeah, are probably fine. It won't really affect think all the good stuff tired of that.

So yeah, I think that's a really big story to look out for. I think it'll be interesting to see if anything happens. I hope people hold Donald Trump to this campaign promise. And I think that some people on the other side of the ai'll, are you hoping to use this presidency to get something post through that they've been trying to make hapbin for a while? Sounds cool? So yeah, what's what's your number one thing? Well? I

also just referred to this moments ago. But automation is clearly taking greater and greater hold in the American workplace. And when we think about automation, we often think of it in an industrial setting, UM, large robots, if you will, working in auto plants. We've seen that now for a couple of decades, but we're beginning to see it appear

in many other ways. UM. At the time that we recorded this, Amazon just successfully completed its first drone delivery to an actual customer, and according to the company, it only took thirteen minutes from the time the customer ordered their product, which was popcorn. I was going to ask what the product was, and yes, I think it was popcorn and you can understand what what you need delivered

by a jone. I need it now. Yeah, a weird thing to get delivered because in thirteen minutes, doesn't popcorn get kind of I don't know, but it's certainly lightweight. It was it was it was popped popcorn. I don't think it was popped. It might have already got it. That would be awesome though, Um, that's gonna be like a new movie theater. But yeah, so obviously it's a lightweight product, easy to transport, doesn't require a big, heavy duty drone, which would not only be expensive but also

fright ing. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. I think that, you know, we're going to see a lot more automation, particularly when it comes to software, and

we're beginning to already see some of that. There's been a rise of companies, particularly when they're trying to communicate and interact with their customers with chat bots, so that you're just entering sort of natural language questions or requests through a messaging service and then they're responding as if it's a human in this sort of like testing the Turing test kind of way, and that is going to

have an effect on jobs. Yeah, I wrote about these chat bots and they it's not even necessarily in customer service facing roles, but some companies were using them internally and replacing job functions internally. So for example, there would be like, um, you worked in a call center and you needed to viewer. Normally you would call in sick to your manager, but actually now you just do it with a chat butt right, right, So you know there

are efficiencies to be had. Unfortunately that result in some jobs being lost, right, And I know you said that most of the time we talk about this in manufacturing. I think it's obviously going to continue happening in manufacturing. I saw that, um that the carrier plant that Donald Trump made the deal with to keep some human jobs here in the US and Indiana, they're going to be investing money that they're saving and research and development that they will use to automate jobs that will lead to

further layoffs. So those jobs are continuing to go away. That's right. I mean, immigration isn't really the issue. It never really was the issue. The issue is going to be what do we do when robots, be they big machines or lines of code, are able to do many

many things that we count on humans for today. Up happens when the power and potential of every employee and leader in your workforce is released and corn Ferry can get you there by aligning your people to your strategy, attracting, developing, engaging, and rewarding them to reach new heights. With corn Fill, you get a partner who truly understands people, leadership, and the new landscape of work, a partner who knows how to take your business up. Learn more at corn ferry

dot com slash up. So, Becca, what's next on our list? So? This is something we haven't talked about on game plan yet, but I think a big thing to look out for will be minimum wage increases. Obviously a hot button issue over the past year. Are we going to start to see some of those changes take effect? Yeah? So? Uh, for states voted for minimum wage increases, Washington State, Arizona, Colorado, and Maine, they all voted for various different increases, so

they're not all necessarily going to fifteen. So yeah. So the minimum wage fight for minium wage increases is often talked about as the fight for fifteen, which is fifteen dollars. It's very catchy slogan. Sure, and there's a big movement of people that was a protest at the beginning of December. But yeah, so the minimum wage increases that happened, I don't don't believe any of them made it to exactly none of the state ones. This is something that people

have been talking about and it's been gaining steam. Earlier this month, there was actually a win for people doing this. Um, a group of New Jersey airport workers they unionized and got a fifteen minimum That's great. How many how many workers are we talking about here? That's a not insignificant number of people to suddenly get minimum wage, right or even more than minimum and symbolically, I think it's a

thing that's happening. Another thing that people say, especially um the fast food companies, they claim that a higher minimum wage will lead to quicker automation and kill more jobs. See I find a flaw in that argument, because if higher wages lead to automation, well why aren't they just going to automation already? Like the higher wages should have nothing to do with it, right, I mean, I guess they're they're saying, we are automating a little bit like

I think there was. I think at McDonald's you can order from more kiosks. Now, that's right, But they're like, if we have to pay more, we're just going to do it faster. Yeah. Although I got to say, if we're I a sort of you know, cold blooded, rapacious CEO of McDonald's, I suspect I would want to be putting the kiosks in as soon as possible, in as many places as possible, using minimum wage as some sort of like cudgel doesn't seem to line up with just

sort of business strategy. I mean, I wish you were the CEO of McDonald's. Obviously they would be oh man, I'd fire everybody. Yeah, it would just be robot Burger City. Yeah. So I mean that these are the exact arguments and fights that are playing out now. But yeah, this this movement is definitely gaining some steam and I think it will be something to look out for. So the last thing on our list is something that is very dear to my heart. We've discussed this from time to time.

I believe the office temperature issue. I you know, stereotypically as a woman get cold, right, do you get warm? Yes? I like it. I like it cooler in the office, and I presume you like it warmer, right, So this is a a perennial issue, and I predict in seen that maybe we're going to start to see the end of that, the end of the wars. You're crazy, what

are you talking about. So there have been a couple of apps that came out or have come out in the last year where employees tell the app, you know, they're too cold, they're too hot, and the building will adjust. But also the app is collecting all this data all the time so people, so it knows how warm and how cold to make it for the people who sit there. So I feel like there are two sort of trendlets embedded in what you're describing. First of all, it reminds

me a little bit going back to our automation discussion. Right, if you are fortunate enough to work in an office where they actually will adjust the temperature, presumably that is done because you have placed a request, maybe over the phone, maybe via email, and a human being receives that and says, fine, moved tempers Often they say I'm not changing this because I got ten competing requests. But yeah, that's right, that's right.

But it's still a person who's making that decision. Of course, now that is being sort of outsourced to an algorithm. And then the other trend is the what we've already seen in our homes, which can be when you install a nest, thermostat or a competing product. Right, the idea that enhanced and increased sensors can pull more information together and then software can sort of try to come up

with some solution. Right. And that's another trend that I think we're going to start seeing in new office buildings there will have these sensors built in um, which is slightly controversial because you don't want to be working surrounded by sensors. No, it's creepy. On the other hand, I do want to be warm. You want to be warm, and I and I will make a pro sensor argument, which is that first of all, that information doesn't necessarily

have to be identifiable. It can just be there is movement in this room, there is a person in this room. And the benefit makes buildings more efficient, and that obviously has some ramifications ecologically building. That's why companies are doing that. Yeah, it saves it saves them money. And buildings traditionally have been tremendously inefficient use users, if you will, of fossil fuels and other things. So some of these steps are

actually quite good for the environment. I do have a question, though, Yes, what will we complain about in the summer if not office air conditioning? Sunlight? Sunlight? Yeah, that's the next time. Just the shades adjust the shades, got it, can't wait, I'm going to be pro shades up. Oh no, blackout total all the time. You can't wait for see you in the summer. And before we close out, we will do a final New Year's resolution. Half bake takes. Half bake takes. Okay, Sam, what you got? My lunch is

the Achilles heel, if you will of my diet. I'm here at work. I like to go out for lunch. I think lunch can be a useful break from the work day. Also it can be obviously a time to conduct business as well. And I order too much food. Um, this is true. I think whenever you go to a restaurant, right, you just get large portions and then I proceed to eat all of it. Um. So my half bake New Year's resolution is to try to get a better handle on my lunch because I think my breakfast is pretty

good and my dinners actually are also reasonable. But it can just all kind of go to hell during lunchtime. It's hard because you want that pick me up in the middle of the day. Yeah, it's like a little reward or something, or an encouragement, but it maybe it doesn't have to be a cheeseburger. Definitely not. How about you. Mine is too. I get a lot of emails as

a part of my job. Obviously of them are not useful or interesting none, but I skip a dent of them, and I think if I were slightly better about reading through my emails, I wouldn't miss that one percent. Hey Becca, what if there was a bot? Oh my god, is there that could sort through your emails for you? I bet there is. I'm sure that's right. Final prediction bought reading your emails. And this has been half big takes, half baked takes. Thank you for a listen link to

game Plan. You can find me on Twitter. I'm at rs Greenfield and i am at Sam Grobart. If you like the show, please head on over to iTunes or wherever you listen to your podcast to rate and review and subscribe. It means a lot to us it surely does. And to hear this show as well as many others from the Bloomberg mothership, go check out our new consumer Bloomberg app. You can find that at Google Play or at Apple's app Store. Game Plan is produced by Liz

Smith and Magnus Hendrickson. The head of Bloomberg Podcast is Alcmcape. We'll be taking a break next week so we can celebrate the holidays, but we'll see you in Mary, Mary, Happy, Happy. Get the most from your people and send your business soaring with corn Ferry. From executive search to talent strategy, leadership development, rewards and succession planning. Corn Ferry knows up is more than a direction, it's your future. Learn more at corn ferry dot com. Slash up, bien venito, game

planga la mega Okay. I like how you guys pressed the button to let us know your laugh