Another Contentious US Election Means a Worker Productivity Dip

As chatter of the first US presidential debate hit workplaces across the country, executives a got a stark reminder about what happens when a contentious election cycle invades their offices.

Once considered taboo, talking politics at the water cooler is now quite common: Three in five US workers have discussed politics with coworkers over the last year, according to a report published by Glassdoor Inc. last November. While the office has long been seen as a place where Republicans and Democrats set aside their differences to accomplish shared goals, that ideal is fading. READ MORE

The shadowy new way employees are cheating their way to the top

Remi never intended to secretly outsource her job. It sort of just happened.

After graduating from college in 2019 with a degree in education, the Gen Zer found work at a Chicago publishing company. She did not love it. Most of her colleagues were decades older than her, and their struggles to use basic software forced her to become a one-woman IT operation. The work itself was uninspiring and relentless: On most days she juggled presentation slides, managed spreadsheets and databases, and formatted page layouts. READ MORE

Elon Musk Pitches Advertisers on a Return to X, Months After Telling Some to ‘F’ Themselves

Seven months after declaring that advertisers pulling their ads from his social-media platform X could “go f— yourself,” Elon Musk took a more congenial tone onstage at the advertising industry’s most important annual festival.

Musk joined Mark Read, chief executive of ad giant WPP, in a session Wednesday at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in France, a five-day event that draws thousands of the industry’s chief marketing officers, tech leaders, creative workers and others from around the world. READ MORE

The US economy is headed into a corporate bankruptcy cycle that will spike unemployment, veteran forecaster says

A wave of large bankruptcies is about to hit the US economy — and that could spark job losses for a growing number of Americans, according to Wall Street forecaster Danielle DiMartino Booth.

The QI Research CEO pointed to the climb in corporate bankruptcies over the past year, a sign that businesses are struggling under higher interest rates and tighter financial conditions. Corporate bankruptcies rose 88% through April this year, according to data from S&P Global. READ MORE

Elon Musk and the SEC Are on a Collision Course Again

Regulators once accused Elon Musk of fraud over a possible buyout that never happened. Now they are positioned to make similar allegations over one that did.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has been investigating Musk’s late disclosure of his purchases of Twitter stock before he took over the company. Excerpts of Musk’s testimony provided to the SEC, which came to light last month through a separate lawsuit, suggest Musk and his adviser brushed off compliance with a rule that required him to reveal his ownership once it passed 5% of Twitter’s shares. READ MORE

The Quiet Phasing Out Of Fridays At Work

The traditional five-day workweek focusing on being "in the office" is undergoing a significant shift, and we’re yet to see what system of work for knowledge workers will prevail. But one work pattern that is emerging is the idea of a “gentle Friday.” This gentle Friday is an unspoken agreement among colleagues to just…not expect too much from a Friday.

Bruce Daisley, a Sunday Times bestselling author, host of the award-winning podcast Eat Sleep Work Repeat, and expert on workplace trends, discusses Friday’s new identity and what combination of factors might have led us there. READ MORE

Identifying future leaders: How to unlock hidden and marginalized talent

HR leaders are having a hard time identifying future leaders who meet their company’s needs. From skill gaps making it difficult to replace retiring senior leaders to increasing global complexity making top positions that much more demanding, the task of identifying the “right” person for the job gets harder every year.

The pipeline of talent ready to step into key leadership positions is decreasing despite labor markets showing greater stability. Turnover rates are as high as ever, employees are feeling increasingly disengaged in their roles, jobs are taking longer to fill and productivity rates are sitting below years past. READ MORE

Why Dating Services Should Be An Employee Benefit

In the landscape of employee benefits, companies are continuously seeking innovative ways to enhance their workplace culture and support their employees’ well-being.

A study by Match published this year found that over 33% of U.S. adults surveyed are single, which translates to roughly 77 million people. Applying a similar proportion globally, this would suggest more than 2 billion single adults worldwide. READ MORE

Zombies: Ranks of world’s most debt-hobbled companies are soaring, and not all will survive

They are called zombies, companies so laden with debt that they are just stumbling by on the brink of survival, barely able to pay even the interest on their loans and often just a bad business hit away from dying off for good.

An Associated Press analysis found their numbers have soared to nearly 7,000 publicly traded companies around the world — 2,000 in the United States alone — whiplashed by years of piling up cheap debt followed by stubborn inflation that has pushed borrowing costs to decade highs. READ MORE

Why mandated RTO could lead to massive executive departures

A third of executives say they would leave their organization if it requires employees to return to the office, compounding HR’s challenge of retaining a strong leadership team, according to a recent Gartner report.

The flight risk is concerning because, according to a 2023 Gartner survey of 520 HR leaders across a number of industries and regions, 80% of CHROs do not think they have a deep list of possible replacements for senior roles. READ MORE

US states with the best economies in 2024 – and the worst

The United States has the largest economy in the world, and each of its states and territories play a part in keeping its massive engine running. The states with the largest populations also contribute the most to gross domestic product, but a new study from WalletHub looked under the hood to gauge additional indicators of performance and strength.

The analysis released Monday compared all 50 states and the District of Columbia based on their economic activity, economic health, and innovation potential using 28 metrics, including change in GDP, unemployment rate and fiscal health, to determine which ones are pulling the most weight when it comes to moving the U.S. economy forward.

Here are the states with the best economies in the nation right now, according to WalletHub: READ MORE

3 red flags that you’re doing performance management wrong

Most senior leaders are where they are because they understand that enabling their staff to perform at their best matters much more than anything they can accomplish alone.

While all managers engage in performance management, McKinsey’s recent report on CEO excellence found that tenured CEOs are particularly likely to find creating effective ecosystems a key personal strength. However, even the most experienced leaders find it incredibly difficult to manage performance effectively.  READ MORE

Musk Accused of $7.5 Billion of Insider Trades in Investor Suit

Elon Musk had inside knowledge of a miss on production and delivery numbers that Tesla Inc. was facing when he sold more than $7.5 billion in stock in 2022, a shareholder in the electric vehicle maker claimed in a lawsuit.

Tesla’s chief executive officer had nonpublic information that Tesla would miss the fourth-quarter targets that year when he sold the shares, Tesla investor Michael Perry alleged in the suit, filed Thursday in Delaware Chancery Court. READ MORE

The college job market offers a warning sign to the US labor market

It’s almost laughable at this point when Bryn Savidge gets a job rejection email.

“It’s like they’re all using the same AI algorithm to say, ‘Write this person a rejection letter.’” said Savidge, who graduated from Kenyon College, a small liberal arts college 50 miles from Columbus, Ohio, with a major in environmental science. A classic refrain is “We can tell you really want to change the world, but we’ve gone for more qualified candidates,” she said. “They always add an environmental quip.” READ MORE

Most job seekers lie or cheat during the hiring process

From little white lies to outright whoppers or sneaking answers for assessments, most recent job seekers admit they have used dishonest tactics before in order to land a gig. And some say they use such methods every time.

That's according to a new study from ResumeTemplates.com, which found seven out of ten people who applied for jobs within the past two years acknowledged either lying or cheating in some way during a hiring process. READ MORE

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy says attitude 'makes a big difference' at work

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said a good attitude and willingness to learn are important attributes for professionals looking to succeed in their careers.

"I think an embarrassing amount of how well you do, particularly in your 20s, has to do with attitude," Jassy told LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky in a video interview published last week. "Do you work hard? Are you more can do than naysaying? Do you do what you said you were gonna do? Can you work on a team?" READ MORE