#workplace-culture

#workplace-culture

On September 11, a Marilyn Monroe impersonator sang a sultry rendition of "Happy Birthday" to an executive at the Virginia headquarters of the Society for Human Resource Management. The brief performance, which took place in a conference room with about 75 employees, came after remarks honoring the 24th anniversary of the 2001 terror attacks. Two former staffers who were present at the gathering, recordings of which were reviewed by Business Insider, said it was uncomfortable to see - and not just because it was sexually suggestive.

During those interviews, no one ever offered me a glass of water. Not the recruiter who greeted me. Not the other individuals who interviewed me. And no, not my future boss. I remember that at some point I had to use the bathroom. My future boss seemed annoyed that I asked where the ladies' room was. I scurried into the bathroom quickly, not wanting to be late for the next interview.

Let's start with a confession: I've never been fully authentic for a single day in my life. Neither have you. I don't mean this as an accusation. I see it as fact. The relentless cultural message telling us to "be ourselves" might be the cruelest advice we've ever collectively accepted. It promises liberation but brings anxiety. Because here's what nobody mentions when they sell you authenticity as the path to enlightenment: being your full, unfiltered self would make you unemployable, unfriendable

I think about hiring the same way. Like a stat sheet, a résumé might list someone's achievements, but it won't show how they adapt under pressure or support a team. Yet in the age of AI, companies often overlook that, prioritizing technical skills instead. According to a 2024 report from Microsoft and LinkedIn, 71% of employers said they would choose an AI-fluent candidate with less experience over someone more experienced but with limited AI knowledge.

This is a real escalation in the dispute with agency workers now joining picket lines due to the terrible way they have been treated by Job and Talent and Birmingham council. Birmingham council is spending a fortune it doesn't have on a dispute that could easily be resolved by agreeing a fair deal for workers. Unite does what it says on the trade union tin we are totally committed to fighting for the jobs, pay and conditions of all its members.

Early this year, Mark Zuckerberg made headlines by saying corporate culture needs more "masculine energy." This sentiment was echoed by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's call for the military-an employer of 2.1 million Americans-to return to a "warrior ethos", promoting traditional masculine standards like aggression and athleticism. And yet, according to recent news reports, recruits at ICE (another workplace) are struggling to pass basic fitness tests, and Hegseth allegedly installed a makeup room at the Pentagon.

Every workplace seems to have one. A manager who goes silent for days, then suddenly reappears in the team chat the moment senior leadership checks in. They'll swoop in to take credit for the work they hadn't touched, and say, "Oh yes, we've been addressing that." This type of boss shows up when there's an audience, then vanishes as soon as the higher-ups leave. I've started calling them the performative manager, because that's exactly what they are.

Gen X'ers may be a bit uncomfortable if you openly blurt out how much you're making at the office-but it's less of a taboo for Gen Z, according to a new survey from Kickresume. The poll, which measured 1,850 anonymous employees worldwide, found only 31% of people say salary is openly discussed at their job-while 37% have rules against discussing pay.

The particular problem that I'm worried about is wokeness, because the reason why I think the great feminization thesis is important to talk about is because I see a lot of people walking around right now thinking that wokeness is over. They say the vibe shift is here. We don't need to worry about it anymore. But I'm saying that if it's the result of structural forces and demographic feminization, then we cannot be so complacent because wokeness is here to stay.

The one thing I really couldn't get purchase on from your essay is I never got a sense of whether there were female virtues at all from your piece. If you want to know what I like about women. No, that's not my question. You can ask me. In fact, I invite you to commission from me an entire essay on the subject. What I like about women. My freelance rates are very reasonable. What do you like about women, Helen?

My boss calls me almost every night around 8 or 9 p.m. 'just to check something quickly,'

When Greg Giczi retired in February, his company threw him a party. Giczi had spent 12 years as president and general manager of WNIT-TV, a public television station based in South Bend, Indiana. Public broadcasting isn't known for lavish budgets, so the party took place at the studio-a "big, open space with dramatic lighting," Giczi describes. There were appetizers, wine, and beer, as well as heartfelt speeches.

Everywhere I turn - podcasts, research calls, dinner conversations - people are talking about "toxic workplaces." The phrase has become ubiquitous; almost unavoidable. So I did what most researchers do when they're curious (or procrastinating): I Googled it. That led me to a chart showing the term's meteoric rise beginning in the early 2010s. The curve shoots upward like a fever.

These questions were central to a recent roundtable discussion that we hosted together with Visma. There seems to be a growing awareness that diversity in teams is more than just a moral goal. It demonstrably leads to better performance and innovation. Companies with inclusive teams can leverage new perspectives and innovate more quickly. The key question, therefore, is how organizations can attract women and enable them to grow sustainably toward leadership positions.

Chairs have choices about how to organize meetings, help staff feel included or excluded, coach new assistant professors about participation norms, and assign people to committees. How chairs do these routine tasks can have powerful effects on how department members relate to one another and the quality of relationships that develop. Cumulatively, small moments of interaction have a profound influence on a department and its culture

It started with coding. Generative AI's aptitude for writing code was the death knell for traditional software development, and companies wanted "vibe" coders. Big Tech execs have been praising the vibes this year: Sundar Pichai is vibe coding a web page, Mark Zuckerberg says AI is coming for mid-level engineering work, and Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski says he's become an amateur coder thanks to vibe coding. Startups are vibe-coding their way into existence.

How did I manage to convince my Fitbit that I had a rigorous workout in the middle of the workday? It was not a treadmill desk, though I do have one of those at home. Also, not a trick. I did not put my Fitbit onto my cat and make her run around the apartment. It was actually quite a serious answer. It was a clash with a co-worker that made my heart rate go up to 140

"One of the most recognised signs of a toxic workplace is when the hiring manager says something along the lines of the team being like a family," says Duris. "This might imply that you'll be expected to constantly go above and beyond and sacrifice your personal time." Duris adds that while some genuinely nurturing workplaces do use the "family" metaphor to describe a supportive culture, jobseekers should be cautious if it's paired with other warning signs - such as vague answers, long hours, or visible stress among employees.

Then comes the pause-that slight hesitation before things turn official. Soon the updates are moving, action items are ticked off, and by 9:31 the call is over. That's it. Productive? Absolutely. The efficiency is impressive. But what's notably missing are the small but meaningful interactions that have been squeezed out as efficiency was gained -the side conversations, the shared laughs, the inside jokes that remind people they belong.

In these broken times, it's not easy to spare a thought for the plight of the humble civil servant. But bear with me and open your heart. Last week, it emerged that the Cabinet Office has brought in new rules for civil servants about the types of meetings they can hold. Anything that constitutes a networking meeting now has to be held outside working hours.

Employers are entitled to base recruitment decisions on whether a prospective colleague might damage office harmony by not supporting the same team, the employment judge Daniel Wright said. He ruled that a boss would not be breaking employment law, for example, if they rejected a job application from an avid Tottenham Hotspur supporter because the office was full of Arsenal fans. The comments came in the case of a woman who took legal action after she lost out on a job with a marketing agency because she didn't vibe with her interviewer.

The international category recognizes best workplaces for innovators based in regions beyond North America that have invested in human capital and innovation infrastructure in their home markets. Leveraging internal innovations and outside expertise, the climate fintech company created a tool to customize investment portfolios for businesses pursuing decarbonization. ESR, Shenzhen, China The real estate asset management company tripled the size of its R&D team last year to continue nurturing new ideas, such as its new MagSafe wireless mouse.

PB&J Parties Let's face it, most office routines aren't exactly thrilling. You answer emails, survive meetings that could have been a Slack message, and silently curse your co-worker for not saving the spreadsheet you need on the shared drive. But some offices have embraced the weird and wonderful, establishing traditions that range from hilarious to outright bizarre. Here are 15 of the greatest work traditions I've heard about from readers.