Psychologist talks about three areas that employers should change to keep up with modern times

As the newer generations enter the workplace, it is evident that the workplace culture is changing. To keep up with it, psychologist and Wharton graduate Adam Grant spoke to CNBC Make It about the top three things that need to be worked upon if one wishes to understand their workplace better. To give some more context, Grant collaborated with BetterUp in 2022 to find the Center for Purpose and Performance. It was a collective of many organizational psychologists and leaders that aimed to promote and implement research about human potential.

They've also announced a grant of about $100K for researchers who wish to delve deeper into areas of workplace trends and human potential. Grant has figured out the three main problem areas for workplaces that, if not fixed, would make it difficult for them to keep up. The three biggest areas of necessary focus that he found are employee motivation, workplace well-being and artificial intelligence.

The first important thing is for workers to feel motivated and inspired to work. Grant says, "It's the sense that you are not at peak capacity, then you are missing motivation and meaning but you're not depressed because you still have hope and you're not burning out because you still have some energy, but you are just kind of mailing it in. It's quiet quitting if that term is still in vogue." He further mentions a feeling known as 'permacrisis,' which refers to a huge amount of uncertainty that stems from exposure to ongoing and unprecedented global issues. To fight quiet quitting, Grant suggested having "entry interviews" as well as "stay interviews."

The next issue is the vibe and culture of the workplace. You can easily start hating a job you love solely because of the culture of the office. He says that one of the best pieces of advice he heard concerning how one can establish company policies that work was from a manager who said, "It's okay to call in sick and it's okay to call in sad." He elaborated on how the manager's approach wasn't treating sad days as individual holidays but instead including them in sick leaves. That can help normalize mental health as part of your overall health and well-being. He finally said, "We have evidence going back decades that managers who care about their employees end up with more motivated people who are more likely to stay (with the company) and do better work."

Lastly, he explained how needing to keep up with AI is the "most obvious" and "immediately happening" thing of the three points. He stated, "I've seen probably a dozen different studies showing that if you're a software programmer or a salesperson or a writer and you're at the bottom of the performance distribution, using an AI tool can help you catch up and I think we have barely scratched the surface of that." He isn't wrong either. The world we now live in is dominated by AI and it's important to know how it works.