A late August batch of links

Since the last batch of links went out, paying subscribers read about performance reviews and then about a reassessment I made about a person from my past. This coming weekend, they’ll read about what’s going on with job titles.

Below, you’ll find a batch of links that touch on the core topics of this newsletter: professional development, community building, and self care.

How Pharmacy Work Stopped Being So Great. If you’ve visited a pharmacy this year, you’ve seen this evolution in action. It’s only getting worse for the pharmacists. I hate seeing customers lose their cool with experts who are at their wits’ end.

What Beyoncé & Serena Williams have taught me about ambition and motherhood.

The Excitement and Anxiety of a New Start. “This fall is a moment of transition for many Americans.” That summarizes well what’s in the air right now, and it would be wise for managers to help people talk through these transitions. People are going to have a hard time beginning another round in the ring, this time with additional pressure to give more facetime to more people than they have had to previously.

‘Quiet quitting’ isn’t really about quitting. Here are the signs.

How Quitting a Job Changed My Personal Finances.

While some people are now in a stronger financial place and earning a higher salary, others who quit have faced financial hurdles. They’ve made it work by picking up part-time gigs on the side, giving up certain luxuries or, like the Karles, relocating to someplace less expensive. And despite the added stress, many feel that the decision was worth it.

The Surprising Benefit Some Companies Are Taking Away—Parental Leave.

FROM FRESHWORKS AND FAST CO. WORKS: What is the future of the employee experience? This interview captures well a lot of the apprehension and the tension of the current month and moment. Rare to. find an executive speak so honestly about what’s really going on beneath the surface.

Keep an eye on your student's mental health this back-to-school season.

CEOs Don’t Want to Reveal Their Pay to Anyone, Not Even Close Friends. This seems like a good way to gauge that you make more than you’re worth. If you’re afraid that people would balk at the suggestion, and you’d have a hard time justifying that number, you probably shouldn’t make that much.

The problem with praising exceptional women in business.

Unengaged workers are fired up about “quiet quitting.” This popular phrase of late doesn’t make sense, but setting that aside the disillusionment that the reporter discusses is real and relevant. I’m not sure this is a bad thing, despite what some of the hardest workers might believe about other generations. Perhaps we got it wrong.

10 companies that will let you work from anywhere and are hiring now.

Why do people leave startups? They don’t leave you because they want to. They leave because they feel they have to.

Shrinking head count and growing revenue: Welcome to the labor market paradox.

There's no going back for office workers.

And, often times, CEOs just don't have good reasons, she said — adding that they cite vague notions like "culture" or "mentorship," but when pressed they don't have clear plans for fostering either. "Bringing employees together for "culture" without doing any of the work is lazy."

"If you're relying on the water cooler for the best ideas in your company to be surfaced ... you are doing something very, very wrong," Grau said.