Passion Capital

"Passion Capital" is the world's most valuable asset, according to Paul Alofs, author of the book, Passion Capital.  Many businesses are recognizing that in order to tap into a worker's passion capital, especially in creative industries, they may have to re-envision their work policies. When or how an employee is inspired may not be up to a regular 9-5 work timetable and thus, innovative businesses are allowing more flex-time, telecommuting, employee perks, employee choices, and are looking to see how they can reward and encourage their employees.

More and more studies indicate that working longer does not equal more productivity.  In fact, after more than 8 hours of work, productivity drops by half.  Moreover, long overtime hours cause an employee's health to worsen and doubles the employee's risk of depression.  European countries where working over 48 hours a week is prohibited still manage to maintain a competitive edge while also having a high happiness quotient.

As mentioned on my other blog, in the article "On Volunteering", one of the worse feelings is a person putting in the work and not being appreciated for it.  Major companies like Symantec and Intuit have instituted a type of crowd-sourced bonus system whereby anybody in the company can nominate a co-worker for a bonus.  Not only does the employee get a bonus, but the social recognition helps too!

Take a look at some of the ways companies are trying to tap into and recharge passion capital:

AOL Huffington Post Media Group:  Special nap rooms to rest during the day.

CouchSurfing:  Option to work one month from anywhere in the world

Autodesk:  Pipes in soft ambient noise to help employees focus

Betterment:  No official work hours; employees choose when and where they want to work

Booklist: Walking Out on the Boys

Frances Conley was the first woman ever appointed to a full professorship of neurosurgery at an American medical school. But she resigned due to sexual harassment, revealing tales of fondling in the operating room to Time magazine. In 1998, she published a tell-all book called Walking Out on the Boys.

The publication of this book coincided with the results of a 30-year MIT study on female faculty members. The study concluded that there was a generational pattern: that while junior faculty thought sexual discrimination was a thing of the past -- when they were promoted, they felt "invisible" and excluded.

One even wrote: "I mean literally not heard! Where you say something, and it's just ignored until one of your male colleagues says the same thing 10 minutes later!"

The study concluded that "in no case was this discrimination conscious or deliberate. Indeed, it was usually totally unconscious and unknowing. Nevertheless, the effects are real."

Between the 1960's and 1990s, there was a big increase in the number of women earning Ph.D.s in math, science, and engineering. Yet, the number of female research faculty members at MIT remained at 9%.