It’s been a crazy week, to say the least. Luckily, we’ve had our ear to the ground pulling together a list of must-read articles. In case you missed it (ICYMI), here is the skinny on this week’s headlines featuring eyebrow raising workplace trends and meaningful career advice.
Who runs the business world?
Introverts. Well, at least they are about to. There is no doubt that we are living in an automated world. Traditionally, or maybe even stereotypically, extroverts have been successful executives, marketers and sales people who are great at building face-to-face relationships. Introverts, on the other hand, were responsible for the innovation. With the shift to a virtual workplace and online buying environment, introverts are excelling. A recent Inc. article, Introverts Will Soon Rule the Business World, highlights how and why introverts are taking over. Here’s an interesting snippet from the article:
“…companies are scaling down traditional “road warrior” outside selling (which favors extroverts) in favor of inside selling, where the salesperson sits alone in an office and communicates with customers online. Inside selling favors introverts because it’s heavy on research (to find out more about a customer), doesn’t involve crowds of people, and requires an ability to create innovative solutions to unique customer problems.”
Read the full article, here!
The great debate: After work emails
Here’s something you probably already know: 50% of U.S workers check their email before and after work! I’m shocked this number isn’t higher. Atlantic contributing editor, Ian Bogost, claims that “email sorting is just the default activity when there’s nothing else to do.” I couldn’t agree more! This week The Atlantic published an article, The After-Work Email Quandary, which features a new survey of 2,000 people conducted by Workfront, the article claims “40% of employees feel that it’s fine to answer work emails during dinner.” To add to this, a Gallup poll shows that “86% of those who frequently check email while away from work saw it as a positive development.” Check out the full article for more eyebrow raising revelations!
Beyond full employment
Good news! Unemployment in the U.S. is the lowest it has been since 2000 and worker wages are on the rise. According to an article by Business Insider:
“Initial weekly unemployment insurance claims, or jobless claims, plunged to 262,000 from 296,000. This was much lower than the 290,000 expected by economists, and it represented a 15-year low.”
“Wages are on the rise. The employment cost index, or ECI, climbed by 0.7% in Q1, a pace that was a bit stronger than the 0.6% rate expected by economists. This represents a 2.6% gain from a year ago, a big jump from the 2.2% gain last quarter. Private wages jumped 2.8% in the past year, the biggest jump since Q3 2008.”
Read the full article to get the full details!
Giving back
Millions of lives were impacted by the protests in Baltimore and the earthquake in Nepal this week. In case you missed it, here are a few ways you can give back.