Early January batch of links
Since the last batch of links went out, paying subscribers received a long essay from me about friendship through the years, then a Q&A with someone who has lost two jobs in the past year. This coming weekend, they will find some advice on how to present themselves in job interviews amid the bearish market we find ourselves in.
Below, you’ll find a batch of links spanning the topics this newsletter covers, which are professional development, community building, and self care.
Yes, Your Job Is Important. But It’s Not All-Important.
These glimmers of progress are incredibly encouraging. As we think about this new year and what we want our professional lives to look like, we should all take some time to reflect on who we are and what gives us meaning beyond what we do.
As White-Collar Layoffs Rise, Blue-Collar Resilience Faces Test in 2023.
Employees and managers have a key disagreement about this one factor of remote work that affects productivity. I don’t think the Musk era at Twitter is a reliable example for any business lessons now or ahead. The final example given should have been from a company that isn’t Twitter where dysfunction and non-leadership is a story of its own category.
Want to be healthier? Hang out with your friends.
When Grandma Is a TikTok Star and the Grandkids Are the Managers. There have to be more people in the family not supportive of these grandmothers doing these videos than people in the family who are supportive of these grandmothers doing these videos.
Want to land a remote job in 2023? These 20 companies are on a hiring spree.
When Having It All Means It’s All Falling Apart. I’ve definitely had those moments when you expect everything else to fall apart around you because so much is out of order. It’s never a good idea to blow the whole thing up, as much as you’d like to start over with everything. I speak openly about a period in 2014 when I felt like everything I had built was crumbling at once, and I’m better off for finding my way through it the appropriate way, one thing at a time.
The Debate Swirling Inside HR Departments: How to Lay Off Workers.
Pay transparency can actually be good for employers, according to these experts. It makes sense for companies first starting out not to be compelled to announce their rates but to embrace it from the beginning as part of their ethos. Eventually, this is going to be the norm everywhere. You may as well be ahead of the times and use it as a recruiting tool.
Young, Educated American Men ‘Quiet Quit’ Jobs the Most During Covid.
Disney Is Bringing Employees Back Four Days a Week. Finally, we have a real test of whether people will quit if forced to work together in person than they’d choose to. My suspicion is that this won’t get the blowback that future of work aficionados are waiting for. People really like Disney and Iger. More Iger time.
Career challenge: Here are the smartest ways to transition smoothly to a new manager.
Leaders, make this your one resolution for the New Year. Agreed. If something needs to get done because it’s a priority, we should treat it as an essential component of the role, and thus it should be rewarded. Otherwise, leave it behind or figure out how to hire someone to take on these assignments exclusively, to be evaluated on those areas alone. We shouldn’t presume people will do things themselves because they will.
Workplace Friendships Are Worth the Awkwardness.
Employers’ Diversity Commitments Are Facing Their Biggest Test. These positions and these programs are an unfortunate casualty of the bearish market we’ve endured. The standalone roles get spun back into overall responsibilities of someone else, and as a result deemphasized for now. There are dozens of other examples like these decisions taking place at companies all at once, most of them far less high profile than these ones.