The old rules of business etiquette are in big bleeping trouble. Ghosting is on the rise, with some workers not even showing up for their first day. Those who do stay are texting during meetings, skipping those team bonding happy hours or not returning emails and Slack messages. Is this a result of the pandemic or just an evolution of the cultural norms we expect in the office? Psychology professor Tessa West tells us how a perfect storm of disengagement and avoidance led to what some...

Many offices are enticing workers back with promises of taco trucks and cash bonuses, and like the biblical parable, prodigal colleagues are returning. But for some of those who had been showing up during the pandemic, there is growing discontent that they’re no longer being recognized for the sacrifices they made. That’s causing some sibling-like rivalry. We hear from several workers and a CEO who are dealing with these issues in their workplaces. Then, management professor Kristie Rogers...

A growing list of companies are demanding workers come back to the office for a few days a week. But for some workers, being back in the office reminds them of pre-pandemic times, when they say they regularly suffered slights small and large because of their race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation. Some would rather stay remote, and are seeking out jobs that afford them that opportunity. Jennifer Wameling is a transgender woman and details her journey from working in an office and being...

Unionization efforts in the U.S. are on the rise. According to the National Labor Relations Board, union election petitions jumped by 57 percent from October 2021 to March of this year, and a new Gallup poll finds Americans’ approval of labor unions is at its highest point since 1965. Even places that say they have favorable working conditions are seeing unionization efforts. Two Trader Joe’s stores, one in Massachusetts and another in Minneapolis, recently voted to unionize. With Labor Day...

With the unemployment rate down to 3.5%, some employers are struggling to fill key positions and offering promotions as a way to keep employees from leaving. We talk to Ebony Martin, a lab technician at a hospital in Chicago who thought about finding work elsewhere but instead received a promotion. She’s now thriving in her new role, but for some of the newly promoted that’s not the case. We hear from Steve Dion, a leadership coach, consultant and former HR executive who works with people who...

Many people turn to Glassdoor and similar workplace rating sites to check out an employer before accepting a job. But what about an internship? As summer comes to a close, and college students wrap up their latest internships, many are turning to a growing number of websites to rate their experience. And the companies. That’s giving future interns more information and the ability to be more selective. Sims Pettway, creator of the internship rating site Canary, tells us what makes for the...

U.S. colleges have seen a big decline in enrollment since the pandemic began. More than 1.3 million fewer students are enrolled in colleges now than in Spring 2020, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. In a tight labor market, it may make sense to skip getting a college degree and get a job instead. But what happens when the market turns soft, and employers can be more choosy? We hear about Kiah Peschel’s pandemic-driven decision to drop out of college and why...

At the height of the pandemic, major companies like Amazon, Walmart, Walgreens and CVS expanded benefits for workers, including access to more paid sick leave. Now, some of them are starting to pull back on those benefits. The benefit expansion seemed to signal the arrival of a more worker-centered workplace, but could the cuts signal a return to the way things were before the pandemic? We talk to Brian Kropp, a VP at the consulting firm Gartner, about why some companies are walking back...

We’ve taken you through some of the biggest moments in a career, from hire to retire. But how do you navigate your career during this time of uncertainty? In this episode, WSJ Life & Work columnists Rachel Feintzeig and Callum Borchers answer your questions on the changing job market, including how to get ahead when a lot of the workforce is still at home, putting your best foot forward to land a job, and if a potential economic downturn could signal the end of the Great...

From afar, retirement looks like a promised trip to Shangri-La at the end of our working lives. But for many, the abrupt change in the speed of life or loss of work identity can be very jarring. For Dr. David Ekerdt, a professor who spent his career studying retirement, and Dr. Sherry Mendelson, a writer and psychiatrist, the expectations of leaving the working world did not match the reality. Drawing on knowledge from their working years and their own retirements, they share tips on how to...

Exhausted by your job? Need to take care of family? Want to pursue a passion? Or maybe you need to take some time away from the grind. More workers now expect to take a break sometime in their careers. But can stepping away from work hurt your chances of getting back in the game? We hear from three people who went through it, and how they came back. And Carol Fishman Cohen, CEO of the career re-entry company iRelaunch, gives us tips for how to take a break without breaking your...

You’ve been working for a while now. Maybe you’re at the top of your game, but you’re feeling stagnant. You might be wondering: where has my motivation gone? This happened to Marissa Dacay as she was rising in the marketing division at Adobe. But instead of finding greener grass at a new company or in a new role, Marissa worked with her employer to pivot within Adobe. We talk about how she did that - and speak with organizational psychologist Allison Gabriel about three keys all employees...

The word “networking” may conjure images of cocktail parties filled with strangers handing out business cards. But, in reality, effective networking is about making deeper connections with potential allies. Chris Mossiah is a VP at JP Morgan Chase and a member of the LGBTQ community, and tapped into that community to be more authentic at work while growing their career. Also, networking expert Dorie Clark reveals how even introverts can succeed at networking and why dinner parties can be...

Salary, vacation days and benefits: negotiating at work can feel like a second job. But Yale professor and negotiation expert Barry Nalebuff says few of us do it right. He says it helps if you think about … pie! We explain what that means - and he answers your questions about navigating tricky situations at the bargaining table. Plus - we want to hear your career advice! Email us at [email protected], or leave us a voicemail at 212-416-2394. For Further Reading: Barry Nalebuff’s book on...

Most people who’ve made it know: there’s no success without failure. But learning how to recover and keep going after failure can be a challenge, even for seemingly successful people. Author Min Jin Lee gave up a career in law to become a professional writer, and confronted rejection, shame and her own fear of failure head-on. It took many years of struggle before her second novel Pachinko became a best-seller and was turned into an Apple TV series. She says the experience led her to believe...

This year’s crop of new college graduates are walking into one of the hottest job markets in generations. Some are demanding big paychecks from their new employers, but money isn’t the only thing on their “must have” list. WSJ reporter Lindsay Ellis brings us conversations with new grads who are prioritizing company culture and work life balance. Jeff Beavers, Michigan State University’s executive director of career services, digs into the difficulty of networking during COVID times and how...

Having trouble figuring out where to go next in your career journey? The next season of As We Work will take you through all the steps, from getting that first job right out of college all the way to retirement. We’ll talk about the changing expectations from new graduates, the lessons that come from failure, how to network and even how to negotiate at work. We’d love to hear your questions about how to negotiate a better salary, benefits, more time off, or anything else you might want...

Now Hiring: No degree required. A growing number of tech companies are looking to fill roles that require special skills, but not necessarily a college diploma. They’re being called “new collar” jobs. Now, some people who have worked hourly jobs like food service or retail are setting themselves on a new career track and many are getting paid to learn on the job. In this conversation from the WSJ Jobs Summit, Joanna Estanislao details her journey from working hospitality to a full-time role...

Experience is usually a plus when looking for a job, but if you’re a more “seasoned” worker, subtle biases could stand in the way of landing the position you want. It’s called ageism: the belief that older employees aren’t as adaptable or desirable. But there are simple ways to position yourself so a hiring manager can see past the dates on your resume and instead see the skills you’ll bring to the job. At the WSJ Jobs Summit, Tess Vigeland spoke to Ginny Cheng, a career coach and Global Head...

What does it mean to stand up to your employer and demand change? Recently, workers at Disney successfully pushed their CEO to speak out against Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill. And they are not the only ones to become activists on the job. Google employee Tanuja Gupta helped organize a walkout that led to a change in company policy, and influenced a federal law banning forced arbitration in sexual misconduct cases at work. She details why she stayed at a company she calls a microcosm of the...

How do we make meaningful connections at work when our colleagues are just images on a screen? Lucy Suros, CEO of e-learning company Articulate, says creating virtual hangouts where people don’t work is just one way to build company culture when you don’t have any offices. And workplace and leadership expert David Burkus tells us why maintaining work relationships, even while working remotely, is essential for long-term career growth. Also, Nitin Nohria, former dean of the Harvard Business...

Addressing and improving mental health has become a workplace touchstone in the past few years. Many employees report feeling anxious, stressed and even burned out. But social psychologist Dr. Amy Cuddy says we are experiencing something more specific to this moment, something she calls “pandemic flux syndrome.” Host Tess Vigeland spoke with Cuddy at the WSJ Health Forum about why feeling powerless is particularly detrimental to mental health, how business leaders can help their workers cope...

Ford Fund Director Pamela Alexander and former Fifth Third Bank Senior vice president Nicole Johnson-Scales reached similar positions on the corporate ladder. But, like many women in the upper levels of the corporate world, the pandemic made them reevaluate their career goals. Stay on the corporate ladder or step off? Maybe leap to a totally new one? And, as two of a small number of Black women in the top echelons of corporate America, what would their decisions mean for other women with...

Salary transparency has become a buzzword, from legislatures to social media, as a way to help improve pay equity in the workplace. But talking about how much we earn is still a no-go for many people. That is partly because the notion that we are “paid what we are worth” is so ingrained in our thinking. Today on the podcast, writer Victoria Walker talks about why she defied the taboo and shared her salary publicly. And sociologist Jake Rosenfeld explains why the “pay for performance” model is...

After 11 years behind the mic at the business and economics show “Marketplace,” Tess Vigeland had reached the top of her game. That’s when she decided to leap. She left her job with no backup plan to travel across Southeast Asia with nothing but a suitcase, a backpack and a camera bag. Tess’ story took place years before the Great Resignation began. As she likes to say, she was a “quitter before quitting was cool.” It’s just one reason she’s diving into the changing workplace in "As We Work."...