It’s open season on senior talent, thanks to the Federal Trade Commission’s ban on noncompete agreements, announced earlier this week. The ban was met with applause from pro-labor groups but swiftly criticized by business groups that filed lawsuits shortly after. That’s because the decision could have major implications for recruiters, employers, and some of their employees. It could spur an incredibly hot war for top talent with fewer barriers restricting high-level staff from job hopping over to competitors, experts say, but also could drive employees to take what they’ve learned to start th ..read more

This story was first published by WorkLife sibling Digiday Influencer agency Billion Dollar Boy (BDB) is launching a creator community membership program on Thursday as it expands its consultative services and partnerships. With the launch of the so-called FiveTwoNine: The Creator Club membership, the 10-year-old agency will provide creators and brands with physical space out of its London headquarters, along with educational resources, events and access to its platform. The aim is to support the growing business needs of influencers and creators and develop brand partnerships as the sector gr ..read more

The average worker spends about 37% of their time at work in meetings or coordinating them. Workers spend about half a workday per week just scheduling meetings.  That time spent in meetings and managing them costs employers an annual average of over $29,000. The average worker attends about 6 team and internal meetings a week, about 5 one-on-one meetings, and about 5 external meetings. Internal meetings are the most common recurring meeting but also most often rescheduled. Coordinating and rescheduling those costs employers an average of over $5,000 annually. Since February 2020, pe ..read more

This story was first published by WorkLife sibling Digiday The rise of the chief AI officer should be no surprise. The position is simply the latest in a long line of roles that businesses have added to the C-Suite over the years to signal to the market that they’re on top of the newest shiny object. And AI, of course, is the shiniest new object. It’s a familiar pattern — a hot new thing is introduced to the industry, as is a new C-Suite exec to tackle it, only for a few years to go by and that role to no longer exist as either everyone is now implementing the hot new thing into their work or ..read more

Lois Castillo says the same thing to all her potential employers: she needs access to AI tools to do her job well.  “I say ‘hey, I will be one of the best leaders you have, but I need Grammarly to do my job,’” said Castillo, who is dyslexic. “At other organizations, I was paying for it myself because the organization didn’t really understand it.” Castillo is the head of diversity, equity and inclusion at digital advertising platform company Basis Technologies where she excels at her job thanks to assistance from AI.  Continue reading this article on worklife.news. Sign up for WorkLif ..read more

The return to offices has led building landlords and employers to revamp spaces to attract people back to in-person work, with some designing offices to mimic cafes or airport lounges, for instance. Now they’re starting to turn to more unusual amenities, like golf simulators. The golf course has long been a setting for conducting business among higher-level (typically male) staff when wooing new clients or executives, and golf simulators in the workplace provide a new opportunity for staff of all levels to connect and have a more unique workplace experience. The lounges also offer a sustainabl ..read more

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts • Google Play • Spotify Middle managers have been underwater since the 70s. The biggest challenges, frustrations and reasons for discontent among this middle layer of the workforce, were prolifically documented by news outlets through the following decades. Fast forward 50 years, and woefully little has changed. Continue reading this article on worklife.news. Sign up for WorkLife newsletters to get the latest on how workplaces and workforces are changing ..read more

It would be impossible to overstate the impact AI is having on the business of people management, yet it is curious that an industry focused entirely on human beings so often makes them incidental in conversations around the hottest tech innovation.  “The future of work will always be built on human connection,” Eric Mosley, CEO of the human capital management solutions (HCM) company Workhuman, reassured thousands of HR managers gathered in Austin for its annual Workhuman Live convention last week, which served as a crucible for industry conversation around keeping the focus on people eve ..read more

A new trend has emerged on TikTok where women are engaging in small acts of feminism, or “micro-feminism,” as they’ve coined it, at work. Videos under the tag have upwards of 10 million views collectively, with creators across the world sharing their own experiences. Ashley Chaney helped start the trend with her original clip others have been stitching, and says her favorite form of micro feminism is simply addressing women first in a group email, like opening with “Hello Kathy, and Joe.” “It’s like little acts that make men pissed off,” TikTok creator and attorney Katie Wood says in a clip sh ..read more

Olivia Dreizen Howell is an entrepreneur and business owner. That means she wears many hats and works long hours. But she believes her workload is invisible to others because she works from home. Because of that one small detail, most people in her life don’t believe she is actually working that hard and instead give her a laundry list of other tasks to do at home.  “I’ve found it is very, very difficult for people to understand that although I work in my home, in an office in a bedroom in my house, I’m not simply hanging around the house all day, and I’m working,” said Dreizen Howell. “T ..read more