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World Congress 2024 • Aug 20, 2024 • Session details

1000 things we tried for new work. Here are the results.

Niklas Wiesauer

Can a 36-hour workweek and transparent salaries cure employee burnout? Discover the exact 'new work' experiments one agency used to build a high-retention culture.

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#1 about 3 min

Defining new work and measuring employee happiness

New work dynamics focus on making employees happy, retaining talent, and continuously measuring satisfaction.

#2 about 4 min

Company background and the impact of workplace stress

High levels of stress and burnout in the media industry drive the need to improve working conditions and overall well-being.

#3 about 3 min

Transitioning to a reduced 36-hour work week

Reducing standard weekly hours and eliminating all-in contracts helps compensate employees fairly without sacrificing productivity.

#4 about 2 min

Protecting employee focus with communication rules and OKRs

Limiting instant messaging, reducing default meeting times, and introducing OKRs help teams maintain productivity within shorter weeks.

#5 about 3 min

Balancing unlimited vacation and remote work culture

Unlimited vacation and remote work policies rely heavily on establishing mutual trust during the hiring process.

#6 about 3 min

Fostering connection through regular team offsite gatherings

Combining large annual offsites with small monthly gatherings builds lasting connections in a remote-first team.

#7 about 4 min

Redesigning office spaces for diverse work needs

Creating specific work zones and giving employees dedicated budgets for improvements encourages voluntary in-person attendance.

#8 about 4 min

Creating a transparent and predictable salary model

A customized formula factoring base inflation, role, company success, and loyalty provides financial transparency and security.

#9 about 1 min

Gamifying employee growth with functional development plans

Structured development plans that track skill acquisition and recommend training help employees visualize their long-term career progression.

#10 about 3 min

Aligning company benefits with core organizational purpose

Connecting new work initiatives and client events to a core purpose ensures long-term employee engagement.

#11 about 2 min

Focusing on implementation rigor over new initiatives

Prioritizing the successful execution of existing models before adding new benefits maintains a high standard of workplace quality.

#12 about 2 min

Balancing psychological safety with strict performance expectations

Maintaining trust in a remote culture requires separating from employees who consistently violate agreements and negatively impact teams.

#13 about 2 min

Measuring productivity and team output with OKRs

Balancing daily business tasks with structured goals remains a key challenge when assessing productivity in shortened work weeks.

Matching moments

3:28 min

Fostering flexibility, remote work, and personal wellbeing in tech

Eva-Maria Weidner Eva-Maria Weidner · WWC 2024

3:41 min

Sustaining company culture against fully remote competition models

Oliver Winzenried +4 · WWC 2023

2:10 min

Modernizing corporate hierarchies and remote work cultures

Anu Bharadwaj Anu Bharadwaj +3 · WWC 2025

3:53 min

Designing modern workplaces around essential human needs

Rudi Bauer Rudi Bauer +1 · Cappuccino with HR

2:28 min

Upgrading corporate benefits to provide real value to technical employees

Rudi Bauer +2 · Cappuccino with HR

1:13 min

Evaluating hybrid work models and office return policies

Sue Quackenbush Sue Quackenbush · WWC 2024

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