Companies often say they desire a more diverse workplace without really understanding how to achieve this goal. Katherine Zaleski, in Opinions for the New York Times highlights the fact that small changes in the interview process can make a huge difference. From making sure the panel includes one woman, to perks that are mentioned, such as maternal leave and child care subsidy.
Are you in the market for a financial planner? Turns out that there are numerous kinds to choose from and even with current laws stating that they must do what is in your best interest, that’s not always what happens. Before you sign on the line, read this detailed article from the New York Times. Before You Pay for Financial Advice, Read This Guide. It offers links to further information and even a fiduciary pledge.
As social media use continues to escalate around the world, you might be surprised to learn who is leading the pack. Even with over two billion users, Facebook isn’t growing at the rapid rate of Instagram, who last year gained 100 million users in six-months. Farhad Manjoo for the New York Times dives deeper into the intricacies of our love for (and frustrations with) social media in his article, Why Instagram Is Becoming Facebook’s Next Facebook.
Did you wait until the last minute to prepare your taxes this year? You do have an extra three days, the deadline is April 18th. Have questions? Need to know about forms and deductions? Try this article from the New York Times and if that doesn’t get you where you need to be,
give me a call!
After a string of issues involving both customer and driver dissatisfaction, Uber has vowed to make new investments into the driver experience. But even as they talk about changes, the company is still engaged in a massive behavioral experiment in order to entice drivers to work more and longer hours, at times in less lucrative areas.
Noam Schreiber for the New York Times thinks that, “By mastering their workers’ mental circuitry, Uber and the like may be taking the economy back toward a pre-New Deal era when businesses had enormous power over workers and few checks on their ability to exploit it.” Read more here: How Uber Uses Psychological Tricks to Push Its Drivers’ Buttons
As more and more traditionally male, “blue-collar” jobs disappear, a new trend of “pink-collar” work is on the rise. This is causing an interesting divide in the workplace where unemployed men are not willing to move into these jobs such as health aide. One that takes soothing and calm, a “woman’s touch,” one man quipped in the article, Why Men Don’t Want the Jobs Done Mostly by Women. Even as factories continue to close or automate, men are not seeking these types of middle-skill jobs. Although lack of training and need for extra schooling play a part, researchers and sociologists are finding that the biggest reason is how the jobs are viewed. At this point, many employers are turning to rebranding to encourage more men to apply. One such ad in a hospital compared the excitement of being a surgery nurse to the rush of mountain climbing.
The attempted merger of AT&T and Time Warner has drawn a lot of attention lately. So much that a Senate hearing was held last week to investigate the possibility of the combined companies forming a monopoly. During the meeting of the Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee, Mark Cuban, internet entrepreneur, made the comment that people should not be concerned with the waning phone business but internet giants, Google and Facebook. Jonathan Taplin, Op-Ed contributor for the New York Times, investigates this further in, Forget AT&T. The Real Monopolies Are Google and Facebook.
Many teenagers are now creating LinkedIn profiles in order to share a more “adult” view of their achievements with colleges and universities during the admissions process. Some question the health of having our children so future-focused, while others make a living teaching students how to tailor these profiles to best showcase their skills and achievements. What do you think? In the current climate of highly competitive college admissions, should you pull out all the stops in an effort to land the college of your dreams?
During this election season especially, the public has employed more and more tools to influence the online political narrative, or so it seems, according to Amanda Hess for the New York Times in, Memes, Myself and I: The Internet Lets Us All Run the Campaign. What a fascinating read and another look into the ways social media continues to inform our views as a nation. Now, if I could just find the perfect Accounting meme to steer clients my way.
But small manufacturers like Marlin are vital if the United States is to narrow the nation’s class divide and build a society that offers greater opportunities for everyone — rich and poor, black and white, high school graduates and Ph.D.s.
Factories such as Marlin Steel who make very specific products, are still providing jobs in the urban setting where there is a great need for employment. As more and more jobs are lost to automation and outsourcing, these smaller companies are making a difference and creating hope in cities across the U.S.
Read more about this current development here: Small Factories Emerge as a Weapon in the Fight Against Poverty. Maybe there truly is a light at the end of the tunnel for those seeking skilled work in urban settings and for the crisis of unemployment in our country.