Workers at Microsoft Japan enjoyed an enviable perk this summer: working four days a week, enjoying a three-day weekend — and getting their normal, five-day paycheck. The result, the company says, was a productivity boost of 40%. Microsoft Japan says it became more efficient in several areas, including lower electricity costs, …
Women at the wheel get bigger tips than men do WORKING OUT how much to tip in America is never easy. Bartenders, it is said, should be tipped $1 a drink, the equivalent of 10% for a $10 cocktail. Waiters, meanwhile, apparently deserve 15-20%. Such questions of tipping etiquette are …
WeWork notifies tenants that it has taken at least 1,600 phone booths out of service due to reports of “potentially elevated levels of formaldehyde,” according to an email obtained by CNBC. The company says it might take another 700 phone booths out of service as a precautionary measure. The phone …
New research finds a link between worker and customer satisfaction A HAPPY customer is a repeat customer, or so the saying goes. But how to keep customers happy? The answer, according to a recent study, is to treat your own employees well. Glassdoor, a website which lets workers assess employers, …
It’s a fine line between jaunty and annoying. When Lisette Sand-Freedman, 42, took a four-day family trip to the Dominican Republic in February, she chose her out-of-office email message carefully. “In case of emergency, please call 911” was what rolled into the inboxes of chief marketing officers, publicists and celebrities …
The women at the Belgian nonprofit Femma decided quickly how to spend their new free time. One took up Spanish classes. Another studied flamenco dance. A senior manager revived her interest in art crafts. Four years ago, the feminist advocacy organization polled its 60,000 female members on their biggest frustrations. …
In the open-plan office, wireless headphones are the new cubicles. Once upon a time, offices had walls inside them. They weren’t glass, like the conference rooms of 2019, but were made of drywall, and were usually painted a neutral color, like many of the walls you know and love. Over …
Employees have a new favorite perk, and it’s not free craft-brewed beer, student loan repayment benefits or eco-friendly roof gardens at the office. It’s much simpler: More time off. In its 17th annual employee benefits trend survey released this week — just as Spring Break season hit its peak — …
WELLINGTON, New Zealand — A New Zealand firm that let its employees work four days a week while being paid for five says the experiment was so successful that it hoped to make the change permanent. The firm, Perpetual Guardian, which manages trusts, wills and estates, found the change actually …
A cubicle-free workplace without private offices is supposed to force employees to collaborate. To have them talk more face-to-face. To get them off instant messenger and spontaneously brainstroming about new ideas. But a recent study by two researchers offers evidence to support what many people who work in open offices already know: …
The percentage of LGBTQ workers who say they are closeted at work only decreased by four points since 2008. That’s according to a new study on workplace climate for LGBTQ employees published by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. While societal and cultural changes — including the Supreme Court’s legalization of same-sex marriage in 2015 — have …
Condemning all sexual dynamics in the workplace stereotypes men as abusers and women as perpetual victims. The fallout from the Harvey Weinstein scandals and the ripples from the “#MeToo” movement are having indubitably positive effects — above all, exposing and bringing to account predators who have enjoyed impunity due to …