January 2024 - Parks & Recreation - 45

Flower Piano is an event in which 12 pianos
are placed within the San Francisco
Botanical Garden for performances by
musicians and open play by the public.
take advantage of lower temperatures.
Running clubs in Tempe,
Arizona, time their early morning
runs to start at 5 a.m. Kids' daylight
activities generally take place only
under shade shelters or at shaded
playgrounds. And some agencies
are experimenting with earlier and
later open hours to better address
impacts of extreme heat.
The Workplace
Health and Wellness
Most of the focus of park and recreation
agencies in improving health
and well-being is directed toward the
communities they serve. However,
Allison Colman, NRPA's senior director
of programs, says the park and
recreation industry will see an equally
heavy focus on both workforce development
and staff well-being in 2024.
" The profession will look inward, "
Colman says, " and take
steps to better prioritize the mental
health and well-being of our own
workforce. " She points to the results
of the American Psychological Association's
2023 Work in America
Survey that shows people want to
work for an organization that values
their psychological well-being,
provides support for mental health
and respects work/life boundaries
(tinyurl.com/fmc6vze5).
Gallup's influential State of the
Global Workplace: 2023 Report (tinyurl.
com/2puzue5p) shows a definite uptick
in employee engagement since
the pandemic ended, but the engagement
of remote workers to the mission
and purpose of their organization
has fallen to a record low.
A Four-Day Work Week?
The idea of the four-day work week
is gaining steam across America.
According to Bankrate, a financial
service and comparison company,
81 percent of the full-time workforce
support a four-day work week and
more than 90 percent of younger
workers support more flexible work
options. Oshan Jarow, a Future Perfect
Fellow at Vox, writes in the November
9, 2023 issue that support
from workers for a four-day work
week has never been higher and that
demonstration programs internationally
have shown the benefits outweigh
the negatives. " The word is good -
employees are happier [tinyurl.com/
mrxv8eek], and employers seem to
exhibit the same amount of productivity
[tinyurl.com/2s486wve] they
do with five-day [work] weeks. "
Across these experiments, the results
tell a similar story: Paying people
the same amount for less time
worked leaves them feeling happier
and healthier and often boosts business,
too. Studies have shown no
declines in productivity or work program.
But there can be unintended
consequences. While the four-day
work week could lower carbon emissions
and reduce traffic congestion,
it would have a negative effect on
public transportation systems and
the increased public use of local park
and recreation services would affect
agency work programs and budgets.
There May Be a Four-Day Work
Week in Your Future, But You
Are Going Back to the Office
A four-day work week might sound
great to workers, but 95 percent of
companies with more than 100 employees
plan to bring people back
to the office in 2024, according to
Jon Cooper, CEO and founder at
Overalls, a concierge-like tech and
financial benefit company.
The
pandemic may have led employers
to tolerate and even encourage fullremote
work, but that era is over.
However, despite the firm employer
conviction to bring employees back
to the office, 65 percent of employees
want to continue to work from
home, a trend that points to a large
disconnect between employee and
employer preference of where people
will work from.
Recreational Program Trends
Walking Trips Down 36
Percent Nationwide
The pandemic caused many people
to spend more time in parks and
walking on trails, but paradoxically,
since the pandemic began, walking
trips have declined precipitously
nationwide.
A new report published by StreetPARK
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PHOTO COURTESY OF TRAVIS LANGE
http://tinyurl.com/mrxv8eek http://tinyurl.com/mrxv8eek http://tinyurl.com/2s486wve http://tinyurl.com/fmc6vze5 http://tinyurl.com/2puzue5p http://tinyurl.com/2puzue5p
January 2024 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of January 2024 - Parks & Recreation
