Contrary to popular belief, the four-day work week suggests that working fewer hours doesn’t necessarily mean a reduction in productivity. According to a 2017 trial of a six-hour work day in a nursing home in Sweden, working fewer hours for the same pay led to a 10% reduction in sick leave and improved quality of care for the patients.

The New Economics Foundation, a British think tank, has long supported the concept. For one, it points out that countries with shorter working hours tend to consume less energy and leave a smaller carbon footprint. Moving out of the fast lane and into slow, sustainable living may be a contributing factor.

If implemented properly, the move towards a shorter work week would also positively contribute to social and economic quality, easing dependence on debt-fueled growth. The Netherlands and Germany have shorter work weeks than the UK and the US, yet their economies are stronger. Redistributing work hours equally across an economy would also lower unemployment.

The benefits would be felt inside the home, too. Parents would be better able to balance their time, spend less on childcare, and spend more quality time with their children. People would also free up more time and care and focus these instead on family, friends, and neighbors, strengthening familial and community bonds.

Transparency. Transparent leadership requires excellent communication and is an often overlooked component of compassionate leadership. Over time, being honest about the state of the business, ideally before considering layoffs, helps to maximize the chances that the experience will be a respectable and equitable one for your employee.

See the person beyond the employee. Recognize that your employee is an influencer beyond their work community. They are also grandparents, parents, children, siblings, friends, and neighbors who are likely to discuss their experience within their networks. Remembering the “whole person” can help you approach the topic with better sensitivity.

Focus on strengths. Highlighting unique talents and honoring specific contributions set a tone of respect and also provide a deserved boost to self-esteem.

Avoid criticism. While obvious, this is important to mention, considering how emotionally intense this conversation is for both you and your employee. Preparing notes and doing a bit of practice can help you stay on script through the storm as well as mentally prepared to manage any unexpected reactions with dignity.

Welcome mat. Sometimes compassion is in the candor. If sincere, be sure to mention that you look forward to working with them again in the future once better business conditions are revived. This helps to convey your genuine sadness in having to let them go and also shows that you appreciate and respect them and their contributions.

Extend your hand. As a standard part of the layoff process, consider offering continued coaching to help plan for their future during this transition. You can play an integral role in securing their future. Happily be listed as a reference and, for your superstars, offer to recommend them to your own network.

Cost-effectiveness. Most videos can be easily produced with your smartphone and shared across free platforms, making it one of the most cost-effective lead generation tools. Plus, 80% of marketers who use video say that it has directly led to an increase in sales.

Visibility and engagement. Gain the edge on your competition with the market visibility video facilitates. With business profiles composing one-third of Instagram’s top-watched “stories,” video gives a relational face to your brand that helps keep your customers personally engaged in between transactions.

Sales generation. By 2022, 82% of the average business’s website traffic is expected to come from video streaming. With 40% of global shoppers saying that they have purchased products they first discovered on YouTube as well as marketers experiencing a 66% improvement in generating qualified leads, the impact video can have on your sales pipelines is astounding.

Message retention. Visual communication has the ability to say more with less and allows you to communicate complex topics in a more high-impact way. As an added bonus, the impact of your marketing message will also be much greater with viewers better able to retain the overall message, since there’s just 10% retention when reading text compared to a whopping 95% retention rate through video.

What is it? Clubhouse is a free, invite-only, audio-based social platform where you choose your level of participation in a diverse group of live conversations. In essence, Clubhouse is the next-gen comeback of AM radio where “callers are welcome.”

Where can I get it? The app is downloadable to your personal devices. You’ll find it in the Apple and Google app stores.

How do I get in? Requesting an invitation from someone who is already an active member on Clubhouse is the quickest way to gain active membership to the community.

Who is on it? With the diversity of name-droppable “room” hosts, nowhere else can you go room to room and find Elon Musk discussing the future of SpaceX, CNN’s Lisa Lang hosting a moderated open forum, or Oprah Winfrey and Mark Cuban taking questions from those who “raise” their hands to speak.

Why should I consider this for business purposes? Clubhouse’s ability to expand your reach and brand engagement is a new frontier in networking. It enables a rapid expansion of your visibility and voice by being that kind of platform where anyone, including you, has the opportunity to instantly position themselves as a thought leader within a given room.

What are some baseline strategies to grow my business on Clubhouse? This platform is all about people making real connections in real time and has changed the game for business speed dating.

Raise your hand or get invited to “the stage,” and you instantly become a content creator. While you’re speaking, the audience usually looks at your profile, which links to other social networks; watch your social followers grow every time you use the platform.

If you’re contributing within a given “room,” it is customary to schedule follow-ups and message someone you just met and interacted with, giving your sales meeting calendar an instant boost.

Once you get your bearings and a few followers, consider hosting your own room and topics with other industry experts to further market your business and position yourself as a thought leader.