Weekly digest

The 10 Must-Read Articles for Recruiters This Week

Top stories of the week

As burnout continues to rise among workers, some companies have turned to a solution that many associate with the world of teachers and professors: the sabbatical.

Although offering sabbaticals is far from common — the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) found that only 5% of companies offered them in 2019 —  they could be another tool to help retain and attract overworked and pandemic-fatigued workers.

Toward the end of last year, several large well-known banks (including Citi and Goldman Sachs) and smaller companies started to offer sabbaticals. So far, the results have been positive. “Employees who take sabbaticals say they return to work energized and more productive,” The Wall Street Journal reports. “Managers who are worried about retaining top talent and how the COVID-19 era is wearing on employees’ well-being find sabbaticals engender loyalty and greater creativity.”

You can learn more about the benefits of sabbaticals by checking out the top spot on our list below of must-read articles for talent professionals. And further down the list, you can also find out why it’s important to rethink your job descriptions; how passing on a promotion ended up helping the CHRO at IBM build her career; and why we’re predicting recruiters will be the stars of 2022.

Here are the must-read articles from this week:

1. The Sabbatical, a Power Move for the Burnout Era (The Wall Street Journal)

2. HR Executives Share Some of the Biggest Challenges of 2021 (CNN Business)

3. Quitting Is Just Half the Story: The Truth Behind the ‘Great Resignation’ (The Guardian)

4. It’s Time to Rethink Job Descriptions for the Digital Era (Harvard Business Review)

5. I Passed on a Big Promotion and Still Grew My Career. This Is What It Took (Fast Company)

6. ‘I’m Not Burned Out. I’m No Longer Fit to Work in D&I’ (TLNT)

7. 4 Tips to Help You Retain and Hire Employees into 2022 (Human Resource Executive)

8. The Competition for Global Talent Means Paid Leave Is a Non-Negotiable (HR Dive)

9. Is Finding a ‘New Normal’ in the Workplace Impossible? (BBC Worklife)

10. Time’s Person of the Year for 2022? We’re Predicting . . . Recruiters! (LinkedIn Talent Blog)

This week’s must-listen podcast:

David Green’s HR Trends and Predictions for 2022 (Digital HR Leaders)

To receive blog posts like this one straight in your inbox, subscribe to the blog newsletter.

Have blog stories delivered to your inbox