The full article offers 10 tools that use generative AI to help increase your productivity Full disclosure, I have not tried any of them but here are a few that look really interesting.

GPT of Google Sheets cleans lists, converts formats, summarizes and translates Google sheets. 

Eleven Labs clones your voice for use in games, story-telling, etc. 

PaperCup.com translates and dubs video into over 70 languages

Needless to say, watch this space. ChatGPT wasn't even a thing when the last WEBrief went out. Two months later, I'd be ashamed if I didn't mention it. 

One I'm loving that wasn't on this list is genei.io. It summarizes PDFs and web pages!

Why are we willing to share some of our most intimate details with your local grocer, but fervently against sharing data with our employers? I'm not lobbying for sharing more employee data here; I’m suggesting we think long and hard about the data we collect about our workers. 

Based on data about where and when you shop and what you buy, grocery stores and others can infer a great deal about your age, life stage, family, ethnicity, income, gender, health, and much more. Combined with information from your loyalty card, credit card, and data from other aggregators, it's likely your grocer knows more about you than even your closest friends.

Of course, they promise individual information is de-identified and aggregated before it's shared with their “partners and others” but don’t let that lull you into a false sense of security. An MIT study found that 90% of shopper data could be re-identied using as few as four purchases, the purchase date, and store location. 

Now imagine if the data from workplace trackers that follow your keystrokes, watch what you're working on, follow where you go, and listen in on meetings was combined your buying behavior, app usage, and more? 

Let’s take a lesson here before it’s too late. Just because we can do something, doesn't mean we should.

I have to be honest. Cushman & Wakefield's metaverse-based journey to the future of cities weirded me out at first, but I found I spent far more time exploring the site and actually watching the videos than usual. The link here will take you to one of my favorites. I particularly appreciated that it wasn't all optimistic and cheery about the future of cities in general and real estate in particular. It acknowledged that the journey between where we are and some better state won't be without its bumps in the road addressing issues like the threat of greater inequality. 

It's called the “Stopping Home Office Work’s Unproductive Problems,” or The Show Up Act. I kid you not. They want to drag federal employees back to 2019. As the name implies, the supporters of the bill claim that productivity has suffered because of people working from home. Under the “Show Up” bill, any agency wanting to allow telework would have to address:

• "Any adverse effects” of increased offsite work on customer service—I don't even know what that means

• "The cost of paying locality pay to employees receiving higher city-based rates even though they were no longer working there"—Sounds like a policy problem to me

• "The costs of maintaining under-used office space"—Instead we should needlessly force people to come in so our bloated real estate portfolio doesn't draw attention to the opportunity to cut costs?

• "Any technology-related issues that prevented employees from being fully productive"—They're just addressing this now?

Forgive my rant but this whole line of argument needs to be turned on its head. Instead of having to prove telework is causing problems, the government ought to require agencies to:

• Prove there is a problem before they call people back

• Prove how they are going to make up for the extra costs of having them on-site

• Justify why they need to hold on to under-occupied office space. 

No doubt the Show Up Act is a reaction to Congressmen Sarbanes and Connolly's proposed Telework Metrics & Cost Savings Act that was proposed last July. Among other things, it would require agencies to measure and report to Congress the results of they telework programs. What a concept! Measuring rather than guessing!

"Federal employee telework has been tested and proven during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Congressman Sarbanes. “The flexibility of this program heightened work productivity, improved employee retention and delivered high-quality government service for the American people."

Fortunately, the bill is not likely to pass the Democratic-controlled Senate.

Based on a global study by The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), when employees don't commute to the office, they save an average of 70 minutes a day. They spend about 28 of those minutes (40%) actually working, 24 minutes (34%) enjoying leisure activities, and 8 minutes (11%) caregiving. China and Japan have the longest average commute (over 100 minutes a day). Serbia has the lowest (51 minutes) and the U.S. has the second lowest (55 minutes). 

The data comes from two NBER surveys with 19k and 25k respondents. 

Based on data from Inrix, vehicle miles travelled (VMT) and gas usage are still below pre-pandemic levels. According to their forecast, the combined impact of fuel efficiency, electric vehicle sales, and hybrid working, suggests it never will!

Download the WE 2023 Sponsor Benefit table for all the details about the benefits of being a WE sponsor at various levels. Contact David Karpook, Susan Spiers, or Pat Turnbull for questions and opportunities. 

Even seemingly innocuous phrases like "Kind Regards" can be off-putting or perceived as passive aggressive. Here are some others you might want to avoid:

• As per our conversation
• Make sure
• Noted
• According to my records
• Circling back
• Obviously
• Correct me if I'm wrong
• Any updates on this?
• Please advise

The article offers a number of other examples along with suggestions for alternatives. 

Kind Regards,

Kate

Apologies if that sounded passive aggressive.