A late October batch of links
Since the most recent batch of links went out, paying subscribers have read my High Holy Days reflections and how to lead productive weekly 1:1s with your manager. This coming weekend, they’ll find some insights about how to break out of a holding pattern this season.
Below, you’ll see a batch of links that cover, broadly, the themes of this newsletter, which are professional development, community building, and self care.
The science behind why you need a hobby to boost your brain health and self-esteem. During the periods of my life I’m proudest, I can point to projects I am working on and passionate about that weren’t assigned to be, that I’ve chosen. I gauge myself on how I am electing to spend my time - and who with - and hobbies contribute positively to the overall outlook.
Don’t be the last person to know about layoffs.
Hard work hasn’t paid off in a while. We’d all be better off if we treated worker productivity not as a metric we can track but as an idea to aspire for. I think it’s a distraction from reality more so than a gauge of how we’re doing.
Retailers’ Holiday Wish: That Strapped Shoppers Will Spend.
Women in Leadership Roles Are Quitting at Faster Rate Than Ever. Feels like this is a good way to compete for and to retain talent, to illustrate how your company is bucking this trend and making space for women to rise up and to remain at companies that support them.
Everything you need to know before embarking on salary transparency.
Why we love to hate the middle manager. I’d posit that it’s because we build departments the wrong ways consistently and should instead default to doers.
Remote employees are working less, sleeping and playing more, Fed study finds.
What Outperformers Do Differently to Tap Internal Talent.
While often overlooked as a lever for talent, offering employees lateral moves can be an untapped gold mine for companies. By adopting leading practices for internal mobility, companies can better deploy existing worker capacity and benefit from more successful hires who hit the ground running in new roles with greater institutional knowledge, higher levels of engagement and retention, and even improved gender equity.
What is quiet firing, and how do you know if it’s happening to you?
What's behind the 'quiet quitting' trend? Segments like these are valuable, but I think it’s coming a month or more too late. People have made up their minds about this cohort already, and at this point I cannot imagine people are hearing about the phenomenon for the first time. I wonder if the ship had sailed on this segment before it aired.
Day Traders Go Back to Their Day Jobs as Stock Market Swoons. People probably rationalized or negotiated a year or more to make a go of it, but this fall the harsh realities of a reopening and reawakening life outside the home have established themselves, and financial concerns have taken hold over people’s decisions of whether to stay or return.
Botox and bubble baths are Band-Aids. Here’s how to avoid consumerist self care.
More U.S. companies charging employees for job training if they quit. As we see some relationships between employer and employee improve, in other areas of the economy are seeing the opposite set in. Some people are hiring workers that they don’t trust to do the jobs.