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#FutureOfWork

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Women @ Work – Is the great resignation set to continue?

The pandemic continues to take a heavy toll on women – burnout, for example, has reached alarmingly high levels. At the same time, many women have made career and life decisions driven by their experiences during the pandemic. For some, this has meant seeking new, more flexible working patterns; for others, it has meant leaving their employers or the workforce entirely.Is the great resignation set to continue?  What will it take for organisations to support and retain women in the new normal?  After a two-year setback for gender equality in the workplace, what actions should employers be taking? editor and invited experts Tessa MurrayEditor Dr Vinika Devasar RaoExecutive Director, INSEAD Emerging Markets Institute and Gender Initiative; Director, Hoffman Global Institute for Business & Society, Asia Emma CoddGlobal Inclusion Leader, Deloitte

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Redesigning Work: Is hybrid the answer? A ThinkIn with Lynda Gratton

This is a newsroom ThinkIn. In-person and digital-only tickets are available.Two years into the COVID19 pandemic and people in the UK are feeling things return to some semblance of normality – socialising is allowed, masks are not always required and the news isn’t always about COVID. But one change seems here to stay: hybrid working. And Lynda Gratton suggests, in her new book ‘Redesigning Work’ that this is the greatest global shift in the world of work for a century. But it’s not all plain sailing. Adapting global businesses and habits to this new structure of working requires a significant effort and a fundamental re-learning.Lynda has spent thirty years researching the technological, demographic, cultural and societal trends that are shaping work. Combining her knowledge and years of experience with all that the pandemic has taught us, she presents a four-step framework for redesigning work. Join this ThinkIn as we ask: how can we make remote working work.  editor and invited experts James HardingCo-Founder and Editor Lynda GrattonProfessor of Management Practice at London Business School and Author of ‘The 100 Year Life: Living and Working in an Age of Longevity’

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Systemic change in the workplace: Is the answer allyship?

This is a digital-only ThinkIn.Gender, race, ethnicity, religion, disability, sexual orientation, class, mental health, geography are just some of the factors that give people more or fewer opportunities for success because of the barriers put up by society. What mechanisms truly work in getting people to notice, challenge and ultimately change their everyday behaviour, ingrained habits and well-worn relationships in the workplace? Do the people with the most power to make change identify with “allyship” as a concept? How can we tell active allyship apart from performative allyship, and how do we call it out when we do? Given there’s no such thing as the perfect ally, whose job is it to be an ally to the allies when they get it wrong? editor and invited experts Liz MoseleyEditor Dr David SmithAssociate Professor at Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School; Author, ‘Good Guys: How Men Can Be Better Allies for Women in the Workplace’ Jackie HenryManaging Partner, People and Purpose, Deloitte UK

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In conversation with Google’s Matt Brittin

This is a digital-only ThinkIn. As one of the superpowers of the internet, Google’s technology, tools and services  touch the daily lives of billions of people who go online every day. Google’s enormous presence and influence comes with great responsibility. Society expects higher standards from corporations and Governments are paying closer attention than ever to how big tech operates. Matt Brittin will be in conversation with James Harding, Tortoise editor and co-founder, about how Google approaches this responsibility, and the role digital technology, tools and skills can play in enabling a sustainable and inclusive recovery from Covid19 – from tackling climate change to supporting an evolving labour market. editor and invited experts James Harding Co-Founder and Editor Matt Brittin President of EMEA Business & Operations for Google

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What does it mean to work well?

This is a digital-only ThinkIn. One in six people experience mental health problems in the workplace and it’s estimated that over 12% of sick days can be attributed to issues associated with poor mental health.  But what does it actually mean to look after your mental health? Are there ground rules or is it different for everyone? In the latest in a series of ThinkIns that aim to critically examine the public conversation about mental health and wellbeing, we ask where the responsibility lies for ensuring good mental health. Has progress been made to support those who struggle with their mental wellbeing? What should we be doing to create healthy habits in the workplace? editor and invited experts Liz Moseley Editor Jen Fisher Chief Wellbeing Officer, Deloitte US Ricardo Araya Professor of Global Mental Health, and Director of the Centre for Global Mental Health, King’s College London Sapna Mahajan Director, Genomics in Society, Genome Canada

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Is hybrid working worse for women?

This is a digital-only ThinkIn. By now, many of us have been involved with a hybrid working environment for a few months; indeed, it seems to be the new normal for many employers globally. And while it may have its perks, such as a reduced commute, are we ignoring the risk that more choice on where and when to work may increase inequality? Flexible working offers greater freedom to those with caring responsibilities or disabilities to work from home – but what can we do to avoid unintended consequences of this freedom? How do we ensure that this new way of working enables rather than hinders equality?   editor and invited experts Liz Moseley Editor Emma Codd Global Inclusion Leader for Deloitte Lenita Freidenvall Senior Lecturer of Political Science at Stockholm University and Co-Director of the Women in Politics Research Network Rosie Campbell Director of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership, King’s College London

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In conversation with Simon Sinek

This is a digital-only ThinkIn.Self-confessed ‘unshakeable optimist’ Simon Sinek has been described as a ‘visionary’. His book Start With Why, published in 2009, became a global sensation. Since then, he’s written several best-sellers including Leaders Eat Last and The Infinite Game. His first ThinkIn with Tortoise back in 2019 drew one of our biggest ever live audiences. We’re delighted to welcome him back, virtually this time, for an hour of his characteristic wit and wisdom reflecting on the power of optimism in tough times, the future of leadership and how the experiences of the past two years will impact working culture.Photograph Andrew Dolgin editor James HardingCo-founder and Editor

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The Tortoise Responsible Business Summit

Long stories short Luis Rubiales resigned as president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation.Nato announced plans for its biggest military exercise since the Cold War.Novak Djokovic won a record-equalling 24th grand slam at the US Open. Firefighters for hire During California’s 2021 Caldor Wildfire, the president of the state’s firefighter union got a call from a crew leader about a mysterious set of ribbons. They were the same colour and type used by firefighters to communicate with passing crews – but the firefighters hadn’t placed them. So what? The ribbons had been placed by private firefighters, to designate which homes they had been paid to protect. Across the Western US, encounters with firefighters-for-hire have become standard as the private sector offers services such as: fire suppression workers, including pilots and drone operators;hand-crews for forest and structure maintenance needed to stop the spread of blazes; andsupplemental equipment like accommodation or food for crews based in the wilderness. The US – and the world – will have worse wildfires. Cash-for-disaster-prevention businesses are meeting a growing demand for protection, prompting debate over the balance of profit, individual rights and social responsibility in the arena of public safety.  The players. Private firefighting is being used by four main groups: The uber-wealthy – including George Lucas’s Skywalker Ranch – retain their own 24-hour on-call firefighters. Last month Oprah Winfrey was accused of going private to protect her Maui estate from fires that killed 115.Insurance companies offer fire-protection services packaged into home coverage policies.Utility companies have fire-suppression workers for high burn risk infrastructure.The US Forest Service, responsible for 193 million acres nationwide, spends 58 per cent of its fire budget on “contracted resources”. Life in Gordon Gekko hues. Live-in fire protection is unlikely for anyone but billionaires, but two features of wildfires mean private firefighting helps the bottom line: Fires fluctuate. The number of fires is steadily trending upwards, but their severity fluctuates; in 2020 4.3 million acres were burned in California, compared with 363,939 acres in 2022. The Forest Service’s model of contracting allows bulking-out numbers in bad years, without risking a deficit in calmer ones.Preparation is key. Reducing vegetation or spraying buildings with flame retardant limits a blaze’s destruction and insurance companies like USAA, Travellers and Liberty Mutual now offer these services to policyholders. In the past six years insurers have lost 20 years’ worth of underwritten profits to wildfires, says Janet Ruiz of the Insurance Information Institute – investing in protection saves the cost of payouts following total destruction. Budget cuts. Experts say normal homeowners as well as the rich are increasingly inclined to buy these kinds of policies if they can, because tight budgets at the US Forest Service have forced it to focus on existing fires rather than prevention. They “don’t have the money to work on preventative things like education and defensible spaces,” says Dr Char Miller IV, director of Environmental Analysis at Pomona College. Which leaves open the question of what happens to those without coverage. The other guys. Worries include:  Coordination chaos. Managing a wildfire is no easy feat. Private crews can add confusion and more work for government crews, who now have to plan for the rescue of private firefighters if they get into trouble, says Sonoma Valley firefighter Varian Bartolini.Live free, might die. “They have a right to be back there, but they can’t impede our operations,” says Orange County Fire Chief Brian Fennessy. “If you get yourself killed because you chose to stay too long after it’s been evacuated, that’s not on us.”Stopgap, not solution. Some, like Miller, see the industry not as a necessary outgrowth of the free market but a reflection of the poor state of public utilities in the US. He worries that if governments aren’t incentivised to change course, those unable to switch to a new type of policy will be at greater risk of harm.Enrichment from emergency. For Brian Rice, the union boss, the fact of profits being contingent on disaster is enough of a reason to oppose the privatisation trend. “That a government entity is using tax dollars to allow a company to make a profit off of an emergency is  just plain wrong,” he says. “If their profit margin is 30 per cent, that’s 30 per cent of those tax dollars it could have paid for another firefighter.”  Two realities: wildfires are growing in number and severity, and private firefighting is expanding to meet demand. And the pattern is familiar. Private security firms patrol elite suburbs so diligently that police don’t have to. In the UK, the privatisation of healthcare is led not by policy but the steady spread of private health insurance. Where the state doesn’t assert itself, it shrinks. Also, in the nibs Right media GERDing for trouble Donors pick Labour Morocco mourns Chinese spy Thanks for reading. Please tell your friends to sign up, send us ideas and tell us what you think. Email sensemaker@tortoisemedia.com. Photograph Choose which Tortoise newsletters you receive NEW from tortoise

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Back to reality: how will going back to work work?

Long stories short Luis Rubiales resigned as president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation.Nato announced plans for its biggest military exercise since the Cold War.Novak Djokovic won a record-equalling 24th grand slam at the US Open. Firefighters for hire During California’s 2021 Caldor Wildfire, the president of the state’s firefighter union got a call from a crew leader about a mysterious set of ribbons. They were the same colour and type used by firefighters to communicate with passing crews – but the firefighters hadn’t placed them. So what? The ribbons had been placed by private firefighters, to designate which homes they had been paid to protect. Across the Western US, encounters with firefighters-for-hire have become standard as the private sector offers services such as: fire suppression workers, including pilots and drone operators;hand-crews for forest and structure maintenance needed to stop the spread of blazes; andsupplemental equipment like accommodation or food for crews based in the wilderness. The US – and the world – will have worse wildfires. Cash-for-disaster-prevention businesses are meeting a growing demand for protection, prompting debate over the balance of profit, individual rights and social responsibility in the arena of public safety.  The players. Private firefighting is being used by four main groups: The uber-wealthy – including George Lucas’s Skywalker Ranch – retain their own 24-hour on-call firefighters. Last month Oprah Winfrey was accused of going private to protect her Maui estate from fires that killed 115.Insurance companies offer fire-protection services packaged into home coverage policies.Utility companies have fire-suppression workers for high burn risk infrastructure.The US Forest Service, responsible for 193 million acres nationwide, spends 58 per cent of its fire budget on “contracted resources”. Life in Gordon Gekko hues. Live-in fire protection is unlikely for anyone but billionaires, but two features of wildfires mean private firefighting helps the bottom line: Fires fluctuate. The number of fires is steadily trending upwards, but their severity fluctuates; in 2020 4.3 million acres were burned in California, compared with 363,939 acres in 2022. The Forest Service’s model of contracting allows bulking-out numbers in bad years, without risking a deficit in calmer ones.Preparation is key. Reducing vegetation or spraying buildings with flame retardant limits a blaze’s destruction and insurance companies like USAA, Travellers and Liberty Mutual now offer these services to policyholders. In the past six years insurers have lost 20 years’ worth of underwritten profits to wildfires, says Janet Ruiz of the Insurance Information Institute – investing in protection saves the cost of payouts following total destruction. Budget cuts. Experts say normal homeowners as well as the rich are increasingly inclined to buy these kinds of policies if they can, because tight budgets at the US Forest Service have forced it to focus on existing fires rather than prevention. They “don’t have the money to work on preventative things like education and defensible spaces,” says Dr Char Miller IV, director of Environmental Analysis at Pomona College. Which leaves open the question of what happens to those without coverage. The other guys. Worries include:  Coordination chaos. Managing a wildfire is no easy feat. Private crews can add confusion and more work for government crews, who now have to plan for the rescue of private firefighters if they get into trouble, says Sonoma Valley firefighter Varian Bartolini.Live free, might die. “They have a right to be back there, but they can’t impede our operations,” says Orange County Fire Chief Brian Fennessy. “If you get yourself killed because you chose to stay too long after it’s been evacuated, that’s not on us.”Stopgap, not solution. Some, like Miller, see the industry not as a necessary outgrowth of the free market but a reflection of the poor state of public utilities in the US. He worries that if governments aren’t incentivised to change course, those unable to switch to a new type of policy will be at greater risk of harm.Enrichment from emergency. For Brian Rice, the union boss, the fact of profits being contingent on disaster is enough of a reason to oppose the privatisation trend. “That a government entity is using tax dollars to allow a company to make a profit off of an emergency is  just plain wrong,” he says. “If their profit margin is 30 per cent, that’s 30 per cent of those tax dollars it could have paid for another firefighter.”  Two realities: wildfires are growing in number and severity, and private firefighting is expanding to meet demand. And the pattern is familiar. Private security firms patrol elite suburbs so diligently that police don’t have to. In the UK, the privatisation of healthcare is led not by policy but the steady spread of private health insurance. Where the state doesn’t assert itself, it shrinks. Also, in the nibs Right media GERDing for trouble Donors pick Labour Morocco mourns Chinese spy Thanks for reading. Please tell your friends to sign up, send us ideas and tell us what you think. Email sensemaker@tortoisemedia.com. Photograph Choose which Tortoise newsletters you receive NEW from tortoise