I’d thought I might try something new this year - rather than end the year with a “best of” list, share my workplace Hero and Villain of 2025. Hero: Bank of America In October, Bank of America instituted a minimum hourly wage for U.S. employees of $25 per hour. Since 2017, starting salary for full-time U.S. employees at the bank will have gone up by more than $20,000. BofA also offers what I consider an exceptional benefits package, including 26 weeks of parental leave, a sabbatical program,...
5 months ago • 1 min read
Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate! While I often focus on the negative or the controversial, this week let’s take a look at what’s happened in the workplace that we can be thankful for. It might be a short list, but hey - what better day than today to count our blessings? The biggest positive trend has to be a focus on programs that impact employee well-being. Companies seem to be listening to their employees and providing benefits and policies that people actually want. We’re seeing...
6 months ago • 1 min read
In-person collaboration and creativity: the magic words behind so many hybrid and in-office work schedules. And as someone who works largely one-on-one, I’ll admit it sounds nice - until I remember that my office door closes. Most offices these days are open plan. Very industrial chic, very noisy, and no privacy to speak of. Historically, there have been few spaces for gathering in offices - other than conference rooms for meetings. Not really spaces brimming with creativity. Many companies...
7 months ago • 1 min read
The anthropologist David Graeber coined the term “bullshit jobs” in 2018. He defines them as jobs where those who do them pretend they aren’t as pointless as they are, and he argues that they cause psychological damage to those in them. I meet a lot of people, and when I ask them what they do, they usually tell me their very impressive job title. We talk more about their goals, their hopes for their careers, and their frustrations. And eventually we get to what they do all day, and it’s...
7 months ago • 1 min read
September always feels like the real-deal New Year to me - yes, even though kids in California go back to school in the first week of August. Outrageous. To lean into that back-to-school energy, this week I’m sharing some “school supplies” aka recommendations for the mad dash from now until the end of the year: Book: Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle, Emily and Amelia Nagoski. Self-explanatory - if you’re reading this, I’m pretty sure this book is relevant to your interests...
8 months ago • 1 min read
In a tidy follow up to the most recent STRUCK BY newsletter, there’s a widening gap between how employers and employees view hustle culture. Last week saw an email from the CEO of AT&T where he said what most execs have been tiptoeing around: “If a self-directed, virtual, or hybrid work schedule is essential for you to manage your career aspirations and life challenges, you will have a difficult time aligning your priorities with those of the company and the culture we aim to establish.” I...
9 months ago • 1 min read
Y’all, this is very funny to me: according to Randstad’s annual report this year, 83% of employees cite work-life balance as the reason they remain in their current jobs or look for new ones. Work-life balance knocked compensation off the top retention spot for the first time in the twenty-two year history of the report. So while the usual disclaimers about work-life balance apply (it’s different for everyone, does it even exist anymore, etc.) - what’s funny to me isn’t that folks value it....
9 months ago • 1 min read
It seems like there’s been a “Great” something happening every few months lately - and now here we are looking at the “Great Flattening”. As layoffs continue to roll on, more and more manager roles are being eliminated as companies seek to cut costs and “bureaucracy”. Millennials have worked their way into these roles just in time to be most impacted by the Great Flattening; caught between junior roles and the C-suite, older Millennials have had a higher increase in layoffs or firings than...
10 months ago • 1 min read
For people considering a move to a startup, equity is often the biggest part of their compensation packages. Your hard work now, says the company, will pay off when the company goes public down the road. But volatile economic conditions have led to a sharp downtick in both the number of IPOs and how much money they’ve raised over the past four years. As companies (sometimes unexpectedly) stay private for longer, employees can get restless. More and more companies are looking for ways to...
10 months ago • 1 min read