Working-from-home caps will be scrapped for thousands of Australian public sector workers — but business lobbyists in one capital city say any such moves at local level would be a “death knell” for CBD retail.
Key points:
As part of the agreement, caps on the number of days staff can work from home will be removed
The deal was reached between the Community and Public Sector Union and the Australian Public Service Commission
Business lobby groups are concerned about potential ramifications for retail and productivity
The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) yesterday announced it had struck a deal with the Australian Public Service Commission for more flexible working arrangements.
The deal includes an agreement to remove caps on the number of days staff can work from home, allowing them to stay at home permanently unless there were “clear business reasons” to refuse a request.
“Federal public servants can make a request to work from home,” CPSU National Secretary Melissa Donnelly told ABC Radio Perth.
“There are limited circumstances [where] it can be refused, but there’s a bias towards ‘yes’, and there are no caps.
“Some companies, some government agencies, have just come up with arbitrary rules about the number of days in the office and the number of days working from home, and this deal gets rid of those caps as well.”
The CPSU has more than 120,000 members across Australia and has described the deal as a “groundbreaking” one that would “open doors for individuals…
As we enter artificial intelligence’s brave new world, humans have naturally come to fear what the future holds. Do computers like HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey pose an existential threat? Or in an incident not from Hollywood fiction, an Air Force official’s recent remarks implying that a drone had autonomously changed course and killed its operator, only to be later declared a hypothetical, certainly raised alarm.
Closer to home for most of us, the release of large language models like ChatGPT have renewed worries about automation, reminiscent of earlier fears about mechanization. AI has advanced far beyond rote data-storage tasks and can even pass the bar exam, or write news, or research papers, leading to fears of massive white-collar unemployment.
But, as new research looking at data of job churn over the past two decades finds, the impact of automation on workers and industries is, in fact, pretty hard to predict given the complexity of the labor market, requiring carefully crafted policies that take these nuances into account.
First, changes in exposure to automation are not intuitive: they do not easily mesh with “blue-collar” and “white-collar” jobs, as typically defined. Instead, automation is more closely linked to the tasks and characteristics of each job, such as repetitiveness and face-to-face interactions. That translates to the three most automation-exposed jobs: office and administrative support, production, and business and financial operations occupations.
Meanwhile, the three least automation-exposed jobs are in personal care; installation, maintenance and repair occupations; and teaching. In other words, even with the Internet of Things controlling your HVAC system, it cannot fix itself when it needs new refrigerant, but its smart-panel interface can help the technician diagnose the problem remotely quickly and know what equipment to bring for a repair. But back-end accountants in that company may not fare as well in the AI jobs sweepstakes.
While automation can displace workers, history suggests that new technology also tends to boost productivity and create new jobs. Consider the automobile: while horses and buggies are outdated, we still need humans to drive (at least until autonomous vehicles come to full fruition), and the assembly line helped automate manufacturing with entire new classes of jobs created for every part of a car and all its electronic systems, with almost 1 million U.S. workers in auto manufacturing today.
But automation has continued in the auto industry over the decades, with robots helping to make hard and heavy physical labor tasks easier, without fully displacing workers. So there is a push-pull with automation, and the relative sizes of these countervailing effects remains an area of active scholarly debate.
“ It is rare for an entire job class to disappear overnight; changes mainly take place over generations ”
Second, it is rare for an entire job class to disappear overnight; changes mainly take place over generations. The research shows that newer generations of workers, perhaps deterred by the job insecurity observed in earlier generations and lured by high wages in the technology sector, are less inclined to enter automation-prone jobs than those before them. However, after embarking down those career paths, workers tend to stay in their fields, even if the prospects of automation loom large, likely because reskilling is time-consuming and expensive. It is relatively easy for recent high school graduates to opt for tech-centric college degrees like computer science, but learning new skills like coding is more difficult for mid-career professionals in automation-susceptible fields like manufacturing.
Adjustments to automation can be slow on the business side as well. Incorporating automated technology takes time because modern production tasks tend to be so intertwined that automating one part of a business can affect all other operations. For example, when AT&T, once the country’s largest firm, began replacing telephone operators with mechanical switchboards, they found that operators had become central to the complex production system that grew around them, which is why there are fewer operators today, but some still exist.
Third, the research found that the share of workers in highly automation-exposed occupations tends to be clustered, ranging from about 25% to 36% across commuting zones. The least-exposed areas in the U.S. are across the Mountain West, thanks to the area’s high shares of workers in management, retail sales and construction (which hasn’t had much automation or productivity improvement in decades but additive manufacturing may be a game-changer), as well as those on the East and West coasts, with their more innovative finance and tech industries.
On the other hand, those most exposed to automation tend to be located in the Great Plains and Rust Belt, namely due to agriculture. In spite of the fact that U.S. agriculture has been exposed to automation for over a century (more efficient machines and advances in biotechnology), it has become even more technology-driven recently, making ag workers more likely to be impacted by automation.
So will the robots take over your job soon? More likely, they will make our jobs easier and more efficient. Trying to slow the adoption of technology is both futile and counterproductive: taxing or overregulating tech adoption may backfire, especially given global competitiveness and other countries who may not pause. While the advent of a new era of automation is likely to be both gradually incorporated and result in complements to human labor rather than full replacement, thoughtful policies can help disrupted workers transition to new and better opportunities, ensuring we can harness the transformative power of automation and foster a future of work that benefits all.
Eric Carlson is associate economist at the Economic Innovation Group; DJ Nordquist is EIG’s executive vice president.
About two years ago, one of my psychiatry patients was giving me particular trouble. He had depression, and despite his usual chattiness, I just couldn’t find a way to engage him on our Zoom calls. He seemed to be avoiding eye contact and stayed quiet, giving only short answers to my questions. I worried he would drop out of treatment, so I suggested that we do something I rarely do with patients: go for a walk.
We met at a park on a brisk fall day and sat on a bench when we were done. Among the few people nearby was a group of workers, who were cleaning the grounds, chatting loudly, and obviously having fun. As I tried to ask my patient about his studies, he kept breaking eye contact with me to look at the workers. Just as we were finishing, he became tearful and said that he felt very lonely. It was the most he’d opened up to me in many months, and I was relieved. Perhaps the sight of these convivial young men was a reminder of his painful isolation that he simply couldn’t ignore. Or perhaps the act of walking together had finally made him comfortable enough to open up. Either way, it never would have happened on Zoom or in my office.
My experience with my patient runs contrary to the American fixation on attention. At work, we are lauded for displaying unbroken focus on the task at hand, while some companies punish employees for taking too many breaks away from their computer. With friends, we are expected to be active and engaged listeners, something that demands nearly constant awareness. Being hyper-focused on what people are saying and trying hard not to break your attention might seem like a way to fast-forward a friendship and make meaningful connections. But in fact, that level of intensity can make you feel less connected to other people. If you really want to nurture a relationship, shared distraction might be more powerful.
If you’ve ever defused an awkward social situation with unrelated small talk or an icebreaker game, you’re already familiar with the social benefits of distraction. Indeed, a handful of studies, while not investigating distraction per se, have suggested that engaging in a shared distracting activity, such as physical exercise, can enhance feelings of social connectedness and pleasure. This is in stark contrast to the alienating, alone-together experience of people who each engage in their own distracting activity, such as staring at their smartphone.
Although the mechanism by which distraction might increase a feeling of social connectedness is unclear, there are some plausible explanations. Engaging in physical activity, even one as gentle as walking, has been associated with a substantial increase in creative, divergent, and associative thinking—perhaps because moving takes our focus away from ourselves. Creative thinking, in turn, has the potential to move the conversation along in unpredictable ways, perhaps activating the neural reward pathways that rejoice in novelty and thereby making us delight more in one another’s presence. And moving isn’t strictly necessary for the creative benefits of distraction to occur: A 2022 study published in Nature found that just taking note of one’s environment can enhance creative thinking.
That study also found that pairs working together virtually were less likely to notice their surroundings; instead, they spent more time looking directly at each other’s images. This is decidedly not good for conversation. Staring at a social partner’s face is cognitively and emotionally exhausting, and can be a sign of a domineering nature. Just as you’ve probably experienced the social benefits of distraction, you’ve also probably noticed the social drawbacks of too much intensity. Years ago, hundreds of thousands of people, myself included, went to the Museum of Modern Art to see the Serbian conceptual artist Marina Abramović’s classic performance piece, in which she sat at a small wooden table, staring silently and impassively for several minutes at the face of any visitor who sat across from her. The encounters were uncomfortable at best, and grueling at worst. By removing nearly all ambient stimulation and props, Abramović had underscored their crucial importance.
The discomfort of extended eye contact helps explain why having natural-seeming, friendship-enforcing interactions over platforms like Zoom and FaceTime can be so difficult: They largely remove the rich world of distractions and force us to stare at the face of our social partner. But for most of us, some degree of virtual connection is unavoidable. For example, a recent Pew Research Center survey estimated that more than 30 percent of employed American adults continue to work largely by Zoom, and even more on a hybrid schedule. But we can still leverage the social advantages of distraction even when we can’t physically be with friends and loved ones.
One idea is simply to turn off your camera, and thereby remove the option of staring intently into each other’s pixelated eyes. During the height of the pandemic, I taught my residents by Zoom and became very frustrated when they switched off their video. I thought they were zoning out, but perhaps they were stretching or pacing about their apartment, getting a small dose of distraction and making their Zoom experience richer. The reason it felt annoying to me was because it was one-sided; maybe we would have had a better, more creative dialogue if we had all gone off camera together. At the other extreme, try leaving your video on and picking a conversation-starting background, or taking your conversation partner on a virtual tour of your surroundings, or playing a game together. If your friend spaces out, don’t take offense as I did. Ask them what they just saw or imagined and let the conversation flow.
When you have the luxury of face-to-face contact, skip the staring contest and get out in the world together. You’ll be surprised at the places that can nurture conversation: a lively bar, a challenging fitness class, the sidelines of a riotous parade. Shouting over the noise can be a bonding experience. But be sure you don’t pick something that’s too distracting—otherwise you’ll each be in your own bubble of experience. That happened to me a few years ago, zip-lining with my husband in the Catskill Mountains. It was fun, but ultimately an exercise of being alone together. We debriefed later.
There’s a time and place for intense, focused conversation, if not intense, focused eye contact. If your friend comes to you in a crisis, or your partner is in the middle of confessing their love, they probably won’t appreciate you pointing out the guy with his pet scarlet macaw passing by (yes, I’ve had the pleasure of seeing this a few times in New York City). But mostly, we stand to benefit when we allow a little bit of the world to intrude.
For the eighth year in a row, Austin Pets Alive! has been selected as a recipient of funds raised during Austin Subaru’s Share the Love campaign. The annual fundraiser, which ran from November 2022 to January 2023, pledges to donate $250 when a new vehicle is purchased or leased. The 2022 Share the Love campaign has been the most successful to date for our organization, bringing in a tail-wagging $125,000! This awe-inspiring donation can contribute to our organization in many ways! With a contribution like this we we are can do any of the following:
treat 416 parvo puppies.
vaccinate 2,500 litters of puppies.
perform 62 life-saving surgeries.
purchase a vehicle for our transport team and support its maintenance.
Our friends at Austin Subaru support APA! throughout the year and we’re honored to see the hard work and passion they gave to finish the most recent Share the Love campaign on such a high note! The success of the campaign is due to a fundraising concept that easily engages the public and is partnered with the passion that each employee puts behind their effort to share the fundraiser with their customers. And as if raising over $100k doesn’t showcase this company’s passion enough, this generous company makes sure to mark the check celebration by coming on site to put in some sweat equity by participating in a volunteer project!
In celebration of this donation, the dealership team rolled up their sleeves and “dug” in to help us beautify a piece of our shelter! The team got to work laying out the frame for a memorial garden, shoveling fresh dirt into wheelbarrows, then smoothing it into the garden area. With 12 people contributing a couple of hours, we were able to make huge progress and are now ready for the next phase in this project!
Thank you Austin Subaru for your continuous support year after year — support that has helped save the lives of hundreds of animals! This generous support furthers APA!’s mission to provide innovative life-saving medical care and support so that more pets can be saved each year.
The numbers: Private-sector employment jumped by 296,000 in April and hit a nine-month high, payroll processor ADP said Wednesday, in a sign the U.S. labor market is still going strong.
The increase in hiring was much larger than expected. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had forecast a gain of 133,000 private sector jobs.
The numbers: The U.S. added a robust 236,000 new jobs in March, defying the Federal Reserve’s hopes for a big slowdown in hiring as the central bank struggles to tame inflation. The consensus economist forecast called for a nonfarm-payrolls expansion of 238,000.
The solid increase in employment last month followed a revised 326,000 gain in February and a gain of 472,000 in January.
While the increase in hiring was the smallest monthly rise in more than two years, the number of jobs created last month was much greater than is typical.
The U.S. economy has shown recent signs of stress.
The unemployment rate, meanwhile, slipped to 3.5% from 3.6% as more people searched for and found work. That’s another sign of labor-market vigor.
There was some good news in the report for the Fed, though.
Wage growth continued to moderate closer to level the Fed would prefer. Hourly wages increased a mild 0.3% last month, the government said Friday.
The increase in pay over the past year also slowed again to a nearly two-year low of 4.2% from 4.6% in February.
What’s more, the share of people working or looking for work rose a tick to 62.6%. That’s the highest labor-force participation rate since February 2020, the last month before the pandemic’s onset.
When more people look for work, companies don’t have to compete as hard for workers via higher pay.
Still, the U.S. has added a whopping 1 million–plus new jobs in the first three months of the year. The labor market is not cooling off as much as the Fed would like.
“ The Black unemployment rate fell to 5% last month, the lowest level since records began being kept in the early 1970s. ”
Key details: About one-third of the new jobs created last month — 72,000 — were at service-sector companies such as bars and restaurants whose employment still has not returned to prepandemic levels.
Americans are going out to eat a lot and spending relatively more on services than on goods.
Government employment increased by 47,000. Hiring also rose at professional businesses and in healthcare. Retailers cut 15,000 jobs.
Employment fell slightly in manufacturing and construction, or goods-producing industries, which are under more pressure from rising interest rates.
The strong labor market has benefited all groups, but especially Black Americans. The Black unemployment rate fell to 5% last month, the lowest level since records began being kept in the early 1970s.
Big picture: The ongoing tightness in the labor market could inflame inflation and even push the Fed to raise interest rates more than currently forecast to try to get prices under control.
Higher borrowing costs reduce inflation by slowing the economy, but most Fed rate-hike cycles since World War II have been followed by recession.
On the flip side, the U.S. economy is starting to show more signs of deterioration due to the series of rapid Fed interest-rate increases since last year.
If these trends continue the economy — and inflation — are bound to slow.
The U.S. is still growing for now, however, and the labor market remains an oasis of strength.
Low unemployment and rising wages have allowed Americans to keep spending. And so far they’ve keep the economy out of a widely predicted recession.
Looking ahead: “The U.S. labor market is losing some momentum, but remains far too vibrant for the Fed to pause [its rate-hike campaign] in May,” said senior economist Sal Guatieri at BMO Capital Markets
“Although job growth is gradually slowing, it remains too strong for the Federal Reserve,” said Sal Guatieri of PNC Financial Services.
Market reaction: Futures contracts on the Dow Jones Industrial Average YM00, +0.19%
rose 64 points, or 0.2%, to 33,723. S&P 500 futures ES00, +0.24%
gained 9.75 points, or 0.2%, to 4,141.75. Stock trading resumes again on Monday.
The numbers: The U.S. added a robust 236,000 new jobs in March, defying the Federal Reserve’s hopes for a big slowdown in hiring as the central bank struggles to tame inflation. The consensus economist forecast called for a nonfarm-payrolls expansion of 238,000.
The solid increase in employment last month followed a revised 326,000 gain in February and a gain of 472,000 in January.
While the increase in hiring was the smallest monthly rise in more than two years, the number of jobs created last month was much greater than is typical.
The U.S. economy has shown recent signs of stress.
The unemployment rate, meanwhile, slipped to 3.5% from 3.6% as more people searched for and found work. That’s another sign of labor-market vigor.
There was some good news in the report for the Fed, though.
Wage growth continued to moderate closer to level the Fed would prefer. Hourly wages increased a mild 0.3% last month, the government said Friday.
The increase in pay over the past year also slowed again to a nearly two-year low of 4.2% from 4.6% in February.
What’s more, the share of people working or looking for work rose a tick to 62.6%. That’s the highest labor-force participation rate since February 2020, the last month before the pandemic’s onset.
When more people look for work, companies don’t have to compete as hard for workers via higher pay.
Still, the U.S. has added a whopping 1 million–plus new jobs in the first three months of the year. The labor market is not cooling off as much as the Fed would like.
“ The Black unemployment rate fell to 5% last month, the lowest level since records began being kept in the early 1970s. ”
Key details: About one-third of the new jobs created last month — 72,000 — were at service-sector companies such as bars and restaurants whose employment still has not returned to prepandemic levels.
Americans are going out to eat a lot and spending relatively more on services than on goods.
Government employment increased by 47,000. Hiring also rose at professional businesses and in healthcare. Retailers cut 15,000 jobs.
Employment fell slightly in manufacturing and construction, or goods-producing industries, which are under more pressure from rising interest rates.
The strong labor market has benefited all groups, but especially Black Americans. The Black unemployment rate fell to 5% last month, the lowest level since records began being kept in the early 1970s.
Big picture: The ongoing tightness in the labor market could inflame inflation and even push the Fed to raise interest rates more than currently forecast to try to get prices under control.
Higher borrowing costs reduce inflation by slowing the economy, but most Fed rate-hike cycles since World War II have been followed by recession.
On the flip side, the U.S. economy is starting to show more signs of deterioration due to the series of rapid Fed interest-rate increases since last year.
If these trends continue the economy — and inflation — are bound to slow.
The U.S. is still growing for now, however, and the labor market remains an oasis of strength.
Low unemployment and rising wages have allowed Americans to keep spending. And so far they’ve keep the economy out of a widely predicted recession.
Looking ahead: “The U.S. labor market is losing some momentum, but remains far too vibrant for the Fed to pause [its rate-hike campaign] in May,” said senior economist Sal Guatieri at BMO Capital Markets
“Although job growth is gradually slowing, it remains too strong for the Federal Reserve,” said Sal Guatieri of PNC Financial Services.
Market reaction: Futures contracts on the Dow Jones Industrial Average YM00, +0.19%
rose 64 points, or 0.2%, to 33,723. S&P 500 futures ES00, +0.24%
gained 9.75 points, or 0.2%, to 4,141.75. Stock trading resumes again on Monday.
The numbers: The U.S. added a robust 236,000 new jobs in March, defying the Federal Reserve’s hopes for a big slowdown in hiring as the central bank struggles to tame inflation. The consensus economist forecast called for a nonfarm-payrolls expansion of 238,000.
The solid increase in employment last month followed a revised 326,000 gain in February and a gain of 472,000 in January.
While the increase in hiring was the smallest monthly rise in more than two years, the number of jobs created last month was much greater than is typical.
The U.S. economy has shown recent signs of stress.
The unemployment rate, meanwhile, slipped to 3.5% from 3.6% as more people searched for and found work. That’s another sign of labor-market vigor.
There was some good news in the report for the Fed, though.
Wage growth continued to moderate closer to level the Fed would prefer. Hourly wages increased a mild 0.3% last month, the government said Friday.
The increase in pay over the past year also slowed again to a nearly two-year low of 4.2% from 4.6% in February.
What’s more, the share of people working or looking for work rose a tick to 62.6%. That’s the highest labor-force participation rate since February 2020, the last month before the pandemic’s onset.
When more people look for work, companies don’t have to compete as hard for workers via higher pay.
Still, the U.S. has added a whopping 1 million–plus new jobs in the first three months of the year. The labor market is not cooling off as much as the Fed would like.
“ The Black unemployment rate fell to 5% last month, the lowest level since records began being kept in the early 1970s. ”
Key details: About one-third of the new jobs created last month — 72,000 — were at service-sector companies such as bars and restaurants whose employment still has not returned to prepandemic levels.
Americans are going out to eat a lot and spending relatively more on services than on goods.
Government employment increased by 47,000. Hiring also rose at professional businesses and in healthcare. Retailers cut 15,000 jobs.
Employment fell slightly in manufacturing and construction, or goods-producing industries, which are under more pressure from rising interest rates.
The strong labor market has benefited all groups, but especially Black Americans. The Black unemployment rate fell to 5% last month, the lowest level since records began being kept in the early 1970s.
Big picture: The ongoing tightness in the labor market could inflame inflation and even push the Fed to raise interest rates more than currently forecast to try to get prices under control.
Higher borrowing costs reduce inflation by slowing the economy, but most Fed rate-hike cycles since World War II have been followed by recession.
On the flip side, the U.S. economy is starting to show more signs of deterioration due to the series of rapid Fed interest-rate increases since last year.
If these trends continue the economy — and inflation — are bound to slow.
The U.S. is still growing for now, however, and the labor market remains an oasis of strength.
Low unemployment and rising wages have allowed Americans to keep spending. And so far they’ve keep the economy out of a widely predicted recession.
Looking ahead: “The U.S. labor market is losing some momentum, but remains far too vibrant for the Fed to pause [its rate-hike campaign] in May,” said senior economist Sal Guatieri at BMO Capital Markets
“Although job growth is gradually slowing, it remains too strong for the Federal Reserve,” said Sal Guatieri of PNC Financial Services.
Market reaction: Futures contracts on the Dow Jones Industrial Average YM00, +0.19%
rose 64 points, or 0.2%, to 33,723. S&P 500 futures ES00, +0.24%
gained 9.75 points, or 0.2%, to 4,141.75. Stock trading resumes again on Monday.
Austin Pets Alive! has long been known for innovating, collaborating, and sharing our knowledge of how to save animals’ lives.
But animal welfare is also about humans—the humans who love and own pets, and the humans who work in animal shelters. That’s why we are so thrilled to introduce Pet Pals, our brand new program for at-risk and vulnerable working-age youth to participate in an 8-week paid internship!
The interns, who are between 16 and 21 years old, are learning the ins and outs of shelter management, and gaining the necessary skills and experience to work in animal sheltering—including at Austin Pets Alive!.
Nine interns form our inaugural class. Starting on February 4, every Saturday they are meeting at APA!’s Town Lake Animal Center campus for four hours to explore the world of animal welfare and learn important professional skills.
Each session includes a lesson and/or training, group discussion and activity, one-on-one mentoring, lunch and refreshments, and walking and playing with animals.
The program also involves resume building, mock interviews, and “building up all those interview skills that a young person probably usually doesn’t have access to before they start looking for a job,” says Alexis Telfair-Garcia, APA!’s Social Work Program Development Manager—and one of the country’s very first social workers on staff at an animal shelter.
“Pet Pals gives us and our community an urgently-needed opportunity to close the gap between human and animal services, and develop the next generation of animal welfare leaders,” Alexis says. “We hope, and expect, that this progress won’t stop in Austin, either—but that animal shelters in other communities will start Pet Pals programs of their own.”
Social work students from the University of Texas and St. Edward’s University serve as mentors for the Pet Pals interns, along with Austin Pets Alive! volunteers.
Dr. Ellen Jefferson, President and CEO of Austin Pets Alive!, says her excitement for Pet Pals is in part due to engaging the interns in the urgent work of saving the lives of cats and dogs—and it’s also about helping these young animal lovers realize their dreams.
“One intern told us she’s planning to major in animal science to become a veterinarian, and believes this program can help her get there. Another said they were moved to participate by the death of a beloved dog, and wanting to save the lives of other animals in this pet’s honor,” she says.
“Pet Pals will open doors and new paths for our interns, and change the lives of the cats and dogs who they touch with their work. We’re so proud to be part of the Pet Pals participants’ journey to do great things for people and pets.”
The pandemic initiated a slew of transformations, and though many have not stuck, one indisputably has: Telehealth is booming in America. This golden age of electronic engagement has one massive benefit—doctors are more accessible than ever. Unfortunately, this virtue is also proving to be telehealth’s biggest problem. For patients, being able to reach their doctors by video visit, phone call, or email is incredibly convenient, but physicians have been overwhelmed by the constant communication. This cost is now being shifted back to the patients, and almost every interaction with a doctor, no matter how casual, counts as some form of “visit” now.
At the start of the pandemic, telehealth was lauded as the beginningofarevolutioninmedicine. Patients quickly became adept at using online portals to reach their doctors, frequently writing to them with quick questions or concerns in between visits. But when in-person visits largely resumed, this higher volume of online messaging did not go away. In fact, it did not even seem to decrease. And though a video appointment and office visit might be interchangeable in a doctor’s daily schedule, busy physicians found themselves with little time to respond to those smaller communications.
To stay above water, some doctors and health systems have started charging for many of their responses. These in-between interactions, once considered a standard part of care, are being reframed as separate services, many of which warrant additional charges. Having an informal relationship with your doctor is now just fiction: You get the care that you pay for.
When Jed Jacobsohn got COVID for the first time in May, he began gathering information. How long should he quarantine for? How could his two young children stay healthy? He decided to give his doctor a quick call, and after five minutes, he hung up satisfied, he told me. Next thing he knew, he had a $180 bill. His satisfaction evaporated.
For a patient, five minutes is fleeting; for a doctor, five minutes on the phone generates a chunk of associated work, including reviewing the patient’s chart, updating notes, and putting in orders for medications, tests, or referrals. Most doctors work for health systems that use “relative value units” to calculate how they get compensated. “You can think of them like productivity points,” A Jay Holmgren, an assistant professor at UC San Francisco who researches asynchronous messaging, told me. In order to get paid, doctors must get a certain amount of work done. Since March 2020, billing for both synchronous telehealth (that is, video visits) and asynchronous telehealth (emails and other online messages) has been allowed for the majority of providers, Holmgren told me. One explanation for billing for messages is that health systems were recognizing the time spent responding as work and ensuring that physicians could answer queries without working outside of their hours, reducing their patient load, or taking a pay cut. For those who work in private practice, billing for messaging can function as self-accountability. When Reed Wilson, a doctor in internal medicine and cardiology, used to run a private practice, he rarely had time left by the end of his long workdays to answer or respond to calls or online messages. He worried that they would get pushed aside. “That’s why I had the administrative fee,” Wilson told me. “I was providing a service.” Of course, both health systems and private practices are also businesses, which benefit from new revenue streams
Being billed painfully large amounts of money for seemingly small increments of health care is nothing new. So why does the idea of a $180 bill for a phone call hit so hard? Part of the resistance can be attributed to the distinction between cost and value, Jeremy Greene, a doctor and researcher at Johns Hopkins who also wrote a book on telemedicine, told me. Jacobsohn, for instance, had really only phoned his physician to be responsible and avoid using Twitter or Google as his only source of information. Telehealth can certainly be a good substitute for an in-person visit, but if a quick phone call with a doctor simply affirms what a patient already knows, paying the bill might feel like a waste of money—especially if the patients themselves are coughing up the cash.
Although Jacobsohn paid a particularly high amount because of his insurance plan, even if an insurance company is footing the bill, being charged might still rankle. Calling your doctor or emailing them has long been part of standard care; paying for it is new. The disconnect between patients’ past expectations and new reality comes down to the hidden costs of care. At the same time, though a five-minute phone call is more work for a doctor than many patients realize, it can also feel less fulfilling than another type of visit. For some, feeling truly seen by their doctor requires actually seeing their doctor (whether that’s in person or on a video call).
Patients do value different types of interactions with doctors differently. Burt Rosen, a patient advocate who is dealing with two different types of cancer, puts it this way: “If I were scaling this emotionally, I would say in-person visits should be the most expensive, video should be below it, and then calls should be below that.” If each of these services takes the same amount of time, by a certain logic, they should have the same charge; but for most people it doesn’t quite measure out that way. “If a televisit is not good enough but then costs as much as an in-person visit, then we’re effectively creating a substandard mode of care,” Greene said. This doesn’t mean that telehealth itself is subpar, but rather that paying for an unsatisfying telehealth visit might register more strongly than paying for a disappointing in-person one. Even the purported convenience of telehealth might not be quite the panacea it once seemed: Zoe Steinberg, a medical illustrator who is disabled and deals with many doctor appointments as a result, told me that she generally appreciates telehealth, but finds it frustrating to have to make what counts as an entire doctor appointment for a quick query that any health-care provider—not just a doctor—could answer. “I’ve definitely had days where I was just pulling my hair out because of little issues with telehealth that I’m having,” she said.
Ultimately, these bills for all encounters with a doctor are a more honest representation of how medicine works now than one in which a friendly doctor can field questions as a complimentary service. The field has long been shifting toward corporatization, and away from the more genteel norms once associated with care. This latest trend is edging out one of the remaining areas that had not been made fully transactional. Yes, being a doctor means cultivating meaningful, intimate relationships with patients. But, like so many other jobs, being a doctor is becoming more and more standardized.
It’s hard to believe you can be what you cannot see. And one of the least diverse professions in America is veterinary medicine.
It’s a long-standing issue. In 2013, veterinary medicine was the whitest job in America, according to The Atlantic, and last year’s Bureau of Labor Statistics data showed that only 2.2% of veterinarians are Black, with Asian and Latinx vets severely underrepresented as well. The overwhelming majority of vets are white women. A lack of visible representation, high vet school tuition costs, six-figure student debt and enduring biases are some of the reasons for this.
To put stories behind those numbers, HuffPost interviewed three Black veterinarians to hear why there are still so few Black people in the profession today, what continues to excite them about their jobs and their advice to those who want to follow in their path.
Answers were edited for clarity and length.
Dr. Charles McMillan is the medical director and owner of GoodVets Atlanta Group Hospitals. A graduate of Tuskegee University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, he has 10 years of experience as a vet.
When did you first want to be a veterinarian?
Since I was 5-6 years old, I always wanted to be a veterinarian. My very first veterinarian job was when I was 14. I started cleaning kennels and walking dogs [at a clinic], unpaid, of course. After a few months, the doctor took an interest in me and allowed me to be on payroll and allowed me, once my duties were done, to come in and shadow him. That experience nurtured that desire.
Nicole Buchanan for HuffPost
Dr. Charles McMillan, owner of Good Vets in the West Buckhead neighborhood of Atlanta, opened his new clinic in January.
When did you meet other Black veterinarians?
I was generally always the only Black person on staff, the only Black person at these hospitals, and that carried through to varying degrees throughout my career, so much so that I became habituated to it. I didn’t meet another Black veterinarian until one of my professors at the Tuskegee school of veterinary medicine. It gave me that exposure that I was missing.
Upon graduating vet school, I kind of returned back to that reality. I was one of the few Black interns at my internship, and in a number of my jobs, I was one of the only, if not the only, Black veterinarian there. Tuskegee was a break from reality. It allowed me to create a lot of lasting bonds, and it was also the impetus for me to want to effect change.
What was it like to be the only Black veterinarian in these rooms?
Clients were kind of surprised at seeing you. Cohorts were kind of surprised at seeing you. It almost forced you to lose your individuality in a sense. Because there are so few Black veterinarians, and from other kinds of marginalized groups, you feel like there is the extra sense of responsibility.
If a person from a dominant group makes a mistake, they’re just like, “Well, it’s that individual person’s training, it’s that individual person’s shortcomings.” If, as a minority, you make a mistake, a generalization is automatically had that “all Black veterinarians are like this.” That wears on you. It’s hard to kind of gauge. You’re living your life through a whole bunch of stereotype threats. When you know you’re part of a group that is so few in numbers in a particular profession, it creates this psychic anxiety that you can’t really measure.
Nicole Buchanan for HuffPost
Dr. Charles McMillan treats a 9-month-old kitten named Moody.
Why are there still so few Black veterinarians?
It’s multidimensional. [Beyond representation issues], there are very few veterinary schools, so that makes that access limited, but also there is some research recently that suggests there are biases within the admission process in and of itself. And then what do you do after leaving vet school? We know that people from marginalized backgrounds come out with more student debt [on] average. We also know if you’re able to make it through that kind of jungle of obstacles, then once you’re out in practice, there’s not a lot of Black veterinarians in leadership roles to reach down, mentor and bring up people from these marginalized groups.
Once you’re an associate, you don’t really see any upward mobility because a lot of places say it’s good to have Black workers or people from marginalized groups, but still there is a disconnect between making that leap from worker to “now do we trust this person to actually run this hospital, recruit for this hospital,” and things of that nature.
Some people believe that the lack of Black veterinarians means that there is a lack of desire amongst Blacks to be veterinarians. Or we’re seeing a lack of aptitude. You look at the numbers and you come up with this faulty conclusion.
“When you know you’re part of a group that is so few in numbers in a particular profession, it creates this psychic anxiety that you can’t really measure.”
– Dr. Charles McMillan
That’s what I try to argue against. It’s not a lack of desire. You don’t see a lot of people who look and sound like you doing what you aspire to do, so it makes it seem like it’s a little more unattainable. Society tries to typecast Black and brown people to certain professions, so it’s a lot easier to go into those professions than one where you’ve never seen folks. Over time, your desire and your aspiration to be a veterinarian gets muted. It gets smaller and smaller. That’s the silent killer of these aspirations.
What’s your pitch for Black professionals who want to be veterinarians?
Veterinarians are born. Just as many Black veterinarians are born as there are white veterinarians. The lack of exposure, the lack of access and all the other things … leads and redirects Black veterinarians and other people from marginalized groups from pursuing those passions. My goal is to let people know, don’t let those numbers deter you. My goal is to prepare the profession and make it as healthy as possible so that I can, in confidence, recommend my kids go into the profession.
The profession, we are at a crossroads. Diversity is one of the reasons why we’re there. We need to improve those numbers so that we can continue to attract the best and brightest for this profession and cultivate their natural love for this profession, so we are not left in the dark ages of creativity and innovation.
Dr. Niccole Bruno is the founder and CEO of Blendvet, a veterinarian hospital certification program. Before pivoting to working full time at Blendvet in 2022, she was chief of staff of Companion Animal Hospital in Spring, Texas.
What are you currently doing?
My goal is to certify veterinary hospitals in DEI — or diversity, equity, inclusion — by having them go through a program where all of their staff is trained in certain categories related to DEI. If they go through the modules and they do community service, and they change something internally within their hospitals, then they become certified.
I see it as an opportunity to really change our culture of veterinary medicine. I think that the next generation of veterinarians really wants that, and I’m trying to be ahead of that so they have a better experience than I had early on in my career. I turned 40 in 2020, and I started to think about, “What legacy am I leaving? Am I leaving the profession better than I started?” To me, the answer was no. I have two Black children. I think about my children and if they decide they want to be a vet because they’ll see it. They have an auntie and they have a mom that’s a veterinarian, so they will never doubt that they can be veterinarians. But if they are, what kind of pipeline are they entering? I need to do what I can to make it better.
Michael Starghill for HuffPost
Dr. Niccole Bruno is the founder and CEO of Blendvet in Katy, Texas.
In your company bio, you talk about dealing with “racism, misogyny and stereotypical behaviors” in your career. Could you share more about that?
I dealt with a lot of imposter syndrome, which I later learned was stereotype threat, because I felt like I had to prove that I was worthy of being a veterinarian, of being in those rooms.
A lot of times, people don’t assume that I’m the veterinarian. I’ve had clients request for the doctor to come in like they hadn’t seen the doctor. And my staff is like: “What are you talking about? The doctor was just in there.” And I go back in there, and they’re like, “Oh, I didn’t know you were the doctor.”
I did have a client that refused to have me do his pet’s surgery. It was very early on in my career, but it was a surgery that I felt comfortable doing. The owner did not know what was going on with the pet, and I … found the problem, went in there and said, “I can do the surgery. Here’s how much it will cost,” and he was just like, “I want somebody else to do the surgery.”
Was it my age? Was it my gender? Was it my race? … I do look young. And in 2009 [when it happened], I looked much younger. People have biases towards age, towards a newer grad or towards a Black woman or a Latinx woman, or the fact that I was a woman at all. Those are the parts you can’t really separate, and I never got clarity because, even though my boss ended up doing the surgery, he didn’t provide clarity. He just told me [the client] was being chauvinistic, but as I reminded my boss in that moment, “You can’t just say that, that it’s just a gender thing.” Because a lot of us are women. It could have been so much more than that. It’s hard.
“I did have a client that refused to have me do his pet’s surgery.”
– Dr. Niccole Bruno
I’ve shared this story with veterinary students and people that are in practice now.And we talk about all of the steps, where was it missed? What could I have done? What could the hospital have had in place as far as rules to not allow this? What should the leader have done in that moment? It’s a case that is teachable. I had a student last week tell me that he watched a BIPOC veterinarian be declined by a white woman to have her pet seen by him, and it was horrible for [my student] to watch.
Why should Black professionals and those from other underrepresented groups pursue veterinary medicine despite the existing barriers?
In general, I think what we do is an amazing job. We have the ability to make something feel better that cannot communicate. It’s a science; it’s playing detective. It’s asking the owners the right questions but also fact-checking by seeing if it matches with the patient. Every case is a little piece of an investigation. When you are able to make a pet feel better, when you have a client that has struggled with trying to understand how to treat their pet and you can figure it out and give them tools to make it better, it’s just so rewarding.
Michael Starghill for HuffPost
Dr. Niccole Bruno’s goal is to increase diversity, equity and inclusion in the veterinary profession.
Do you think your colleagues share your urgency for improving diversity in veterinary medicine?
All of my colleagues of color, we recognize what the diversity problem is and we all do what we can to be the change. I have friends that have started programs through their hospital to allow students to come and shadow. They go do career days within their communities. They mentor.
But in general, when I walk into hospitals, I don’t think that my white colleagues are necessarily thinking about diversity as much as we are. Merck did a veterinary well-being study in 2021, and it actually pointed out that BIPOC veterinary professionals, their No. 1 concern is diversity in veterinary medicine. That was at 46%. Whereas white colleagues, their No. 1 concern was the veterinary shortage.
Those are the differences. I think they’re both relatable: We have a veterinary shortage, so we should be thinking about who else might want to join our profession.
The clientele is diverse, and they want to see themselves in us, and I want to do what I can to not only improve the representation but also to really train my colleagues about how to appreciate cultural differences and how to connect with people. At the end of the day, how we treat animals is by having the relationships with the people. And if they say yes, then we can treat their pets, we can offer services, and they’ll pay for them because they understand and they trust us. But if we don’t have a connection with clients, they don’t come back, they don’t do what we ask them to do and the pet suffers in the end.
What would be your advice for Black professionals who want to become a vet?
Not to give up. Know that there are opportunities out there to find mentors. I’m part of an advisory group called Pawsibilities. We do exist. We may not be a lot, but there are many of us that are willing to mentor students through this platform and some of our colleges and veterinary schools.
Dr. Donna Jarrell is the attending veterinarian at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and director of its Center for Comparative Medicine. She grew up in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and was the second Black attendee and first Black woman graduate (in 1988) of the North Carolina State College of Veterinary Medicine.
Can you explain your role?
Currently I’m the attending veterinarian, the senior position at Mass General Hospital, which has a huge research institute. My department at MGH is 130 people. I actually have seven veterinarians and three residents all providing veterinary care to an array of species of animals, from zebrafish to mice. We have over 100,000 mice under our care. And then we have sheep and goats, and really a variety of species. I’ve moved up and now am more in the administrative realm, I would say. I’m overseeing the care of all these animals.
Researchers partner with us. We take care of their animals and then we support them as they perform their different experiments. Our focus is to balance the welfare of the animals against the knowledge of the potential gains from the experiments. We are the guardians of the animals during their experimental phases.
Vanessa Leroy for HuffPost
Dr. Donna Jarrell is director of the Center for Comparative Medicine and an attending veterinarian at Massachusetts General Hospital in Charlestown, Massachusetts.
We’ve expanded our reach. I’ve been there for 28 years, and we got very involved in pet therapy programs, and we’re helping the hospital to do that. Now we’re even asked to look at things like service dogs in the workplace and what are the welfare concerns of having animals in our hospital.
I get up every morning, even 35 years later, loving what I do. It is truly a calling. A lot of the advancements that we are successful at at Mass General circle back right around to the veterinary profession.
Are you the only Black veterinarian at your job?
I am the only Black veterinarian on my staff. We have more diversity [in] our residency [program] because we can be purposeful in our recruitment. New England is not a popular place for people of color. Getting people to move to New England is interesting. I’m still oftentimes the only Black veterinarian in the room. I’m excited when I’m not.
I’m not the only African American veterinarian in Boston. There’s actually five of us, and we get together on Sundays for brunch. We find our community and we shore each other up. And take care of each other.
“I get up every morning, even 35 years later, loving what I do.”
– Dr. Donna Jarrell
Can you share more about your path to being a veterinarian?
When I turned 16, I was very purposeful. I went and interviewed at three or four different hospitals in my hometown, wanting to be a kennel worker. I told every one of them that my goal was to become a veterinarian.
I was hired by one of the veterinarians in town. He was white. They all were white. Two years in, I’m a senior in high school, he says, “You know, you’re pretty smart. I think you should go down into the veterinary tech program in the state and then come back and work for me.” I thought, “I told you I don’t want to be a veterinary tech, I want to be you.” So that was kind of a turn-off.
I went away to college, and when I came back that summer, he had sold his practice to a Black veterinarian that had been teaching at Tuskegee University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, which produced the highest percentage of veterinarians of color. And [the new owner, Calvert Jeffers] became my boss. And because he had been an instructor at the vet school, he was outstanding at teaching me. I was no longer just a kennel worker on a path to being a great vet tech; he actually supported my dream and helped me to really get that confidence in being in that environment.
Vanessa Leroy for HuffPost
Dr. Donna Jarrell looks at caged mice used for immunology and cancer research in a lab at Massachusetts General Hospital.
You’ve been many firsts. Could you share more about that experience?
From high school on, there were often times I was the only Black student in my AP classes. I’ve always been in that arena of opening doors. In vet school, there was one male African American student who was two years ahead of me, and the two of us were two out of over 220 students. You have to learn how to establish yourself. I learned how to navigate being the only one. I always went back to my community, my family, my friends to regroup, shall we say. I always had a community behind me that would tell me, “You’ve got to go back, you’ve got to finish.”
I do a lot of mentoring, and I think about things like imposter syndrome and how does it happen. Pursuing veterinary medicine requires a strong academic record, and that is flaked with a lot of obstacles, shall we say, from teachers who don’t see you as [someone with] high potential or successful [at] standardized test-taking, and how you do on that. We all know that the AAA+ student doesn’t necessarily translate into the most high-performing clinicians, but that had to be proven, I’ll say, over the years.
Why are there still so few Black veterinarians?
There are many obstacles to getting there. … There are so many needs in the medical profession across the board that if you are successful academically, everyone wants you to go into human medicine. Appreciating the role of veterinary medicine and how it can serve the community was not something you heard a lot about in our community.
I do really believe that you need to see other veterinarians of color to see yourself in that opportunity.
Do you think, in your career, you will see Black representation increase in veterinary medicine?
It has hovered between 1% and 4% for 40 years. I think that the recruitment of underrepresented minorities in vet schools at higher levels, like NC State, is realistically where I think we’ll see the numbers change. It may take another 50 years to see that number grow because it’s a long journey.
Feb. 10, 2023 – Cancer is not just a devastating personal diagnosis. It reaches beyond, into everyday relationships with complex social rules and even its own vocabulary. It’s a disease that has touched just about everyone in some shape or form and still, few people want to think about it, let alone talk about it.
There’s no “one size fits all” strategy that addresses when to tell someone that you have or had cancer, how to tell them, and who to tell. Best practices for disclosure in dating and intimate relationships, in the workplace, or even with friends can vary by cancer type, age, or context. But regardless of who you ask – psychologists, career experts, or patients themselves – one common thread exists: It’s personal.
Relationships, Timing, and Vulnerability
Discussing one’s cancer can be difficult, especially when it comes to relationships and dating. The American Cancer Society points to challenges like feeling unattractive because one’s appearance has changed, problems with sexual function (e.g., vaginal dryness, inability to sustain an erection, or fertility issues), fear of being naked in front of someone else, and questions around finding someone who has an interest in dating someone who has or has had cancer.
“When it comes to dating someone for the first time, the question of whether or not to discuss one’s cancer status depends on [if] you think that it’s a friendship that is going somewhere, a relationship that has potential for growth,” explains Anita Astley, a licensed marriage and family therapist and author of Unf*ck Your Life and Relationships.
Samantha Cummis, a 53 year-old breast cancer survivor with BRCA mutations, says she “typically would not tell somebody right away, unless it comes up, like people are talking about their family and [mention] ‘my sister had cancer,’ and then I wouldn’t hold back. Or if someone asks, “why don’t you have children,” I might bring it up then.” (As part of her treatment, Cummis had her ovaries removed.) Cummis believes that holding back for too long, especially if the relationship is going strong after the first few dates, might raise issues about trust.
But she also emphasizes that context is essential. A person with stage IV lung cancer who is a 10-year survivor might have a different take on dating than she as a 15-year survivor with scars that she says are sexual in nature.
“I have to tell someone I’m with before I take my shirt off,” she says.
Patty Moran, PhD, a clinical psychologist at the University of California-San Francisco’s Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, says “keeping it a secret is a real burden. If somebody is going to have a bad reaction or not going to be accepting or supportive, there comes a point where it’s better to know than not; you don’t want to move on with a relationship and then find out months and months down the road that somebody is going to have a bad reaction.”
Fortunately, research suggests that fears about how someone responds to the information do not always equate to reality. Findings from a study examining people’s interest in dating a cancer survivor show that single and divorced people are as likely to be interested in a date with a cancer survivor as someone without a cancer history, unless they are still in active treatment. In these cases, widowed people expressed little interest in dating a survivor, mostly because they had already experienced the loss of a loved one. This is where age comes into play.
“If you’re in your late 20s or 30s, you can go – you know, four or five dates,” she says. I think that when you are older, maybe on the first or second date; if that person is not going to be able to deal with it, then there’s no point in pursuing other dates with them,” says Astley.
Thirty-seven-year-old Steve Rubin’s experience is altogether different from Cummis. Diagnosed with a rare bone cancer (osteosarcoma) at age 30, Rubin says that it came at a time when his career was soaring and he was engaged to be married.
Despite a postponed wedding and several recurrences since, Rubin often counts his blessings.
“I got very lucky that my wife was just rock solid and fortunately we have had years and years to build a really solid foundation. But if you don’t have that solid foundation, then I think you do the best you can,” he says.
It’s important to avoid underestimating the magnitude of a cancer diagnosis. “It’s a huge thing; the person has to be on board for it. If they’re the type of person who’s meant to be with you, then that’s amazing,” says Rubin. “And if they’re not, then focus on your health first, on your personal development next, and put it into developing the type of life that somebody wants to join – not out of pity – but because you’ve focused on making yourself a good person.”
Having a game plan for how you might respond to a person’s reaction(s) can also be helpful.
“I’ve had to learn to leave space for people to process the weight of my story,” says Rubin, something that his wife has helped him with.
Navigating Work and Careers
Many of the considerations around dating also apply to the workplace.
Rebecca Nellis, executive director of the nonprofit Cancers and Careers, says that where and when you disclose is a choice. “It may change over time, in the evolution of how you see yourself, how your treatment is going, what you need, how your workplace is reacting to what you have or haven’t shared.” This is especially true for online spaces.
“The way that people disclose online has an impact on relationships and dating, as well as on the employment space,” Nellis emphasizes, noting that it’s important to consider whether you’d be comfortable with a current or future colleague knowing your story. “If it was on the front page of your favorite news site, would you be OK?”
Finally, to avoid any potential landmines:
Be strategic. Locate any materials that might have been provided in the initial days of being hired, e.g., policies and procedures or employee handbooks. Discuss physical or mental limitations with your health care team and check out company policies for health leave and absences. It’s also important to check out the Americans with Disabilities Act, which provides a federal safety net for people with disabilities.
Decide who you are going to tell. Nellis says that people often disclose to their managers versus an HR person. On one hand, it makes sense; this is the person who is closest to their day-to-day work and assigning deadlines and projects. On the other, HR people typically go through some sort of training and are much closer to company policy. It’s helpful to consider if the manager will know what to do or if they can be a helpful ally and advocate in going to HR. When it comes to colleagues, the same rings true; you may decide to share some information with certain people or only a few. It often depends on cancer type and comfort levels. An important rule of thumb is to assess how colleagues have been treated in complicated situations at work.
Don’t forget that everyone’s different. While some people can’t imagine disclosing, others share a lot of information. Like relationships, the workplace can be another setting to derive support and feel more like yourself.
“Disclosure is a packet, not necessarily a one-time thing,” says Moran. Regardless of the environment or context, “you can disclose a lot or a little right from the start. Just be compassionate with yourself about how hard interpersonal communication is. If you stumble, it’s OK, just trust yourself.”
If you have ever felt like a full day of back-to-back meetings was draining your life force, you’re not alone.
Many of us dread a packed work calendar. Wasting too much time in meetings is a distraction preventing 67% of professionals from making more of an impact, according to a 2019 survey of nearly 2,000 people by organizational consultancy Korn Ferry.
But it’s not just that a high number of meetings can give us feelings of anxiety. There’s actually research that shows how attending too many — and seldom taking breaks — can cause our brains to work differently.
Study Finds Stress Levels Spiked Amid Back-To-Back Meetings
In 2021, researchers at Microsoft’s Human Factors Lab asked 14 people to take part in video calls while wearing electroencephalogram equipment that monitored electrical activity in their brains. On one Monday, some participants were given four half-hour meetings without breaks, while others had four half-hour meetings with a 10-minute break between each for meditation; then, on the following Monday, the two groups switched.
Among those who got no breaks, beta wave activity increased in the brain with each successive meeting, indicating heightened stress levels. In fact, just the anticipation of the next call caused a spike in beta activity during the transition period between meetings, researchers found.
In a Microsoft study last year, beta wave activity increased in the brains of people who had successive meetings with no breaks, indicating a rise in stress. Beta activity remained stable in those who took 10-minute breaks.
Meanwhile, the researchers also measured the difference in right and left alpha wave activity over frontal regions of the brain — known as frontal alpha asymmetry — which can indicate levels of mental engagement.
Participants who took breaks showed positive frontal alpha asymmetry, suggesting higher engagement during the meetings, while those without breaks had negative asymmetry, indicating that they were more mentally withdrawn.
When study participants had breaks between meetings, their brains showed signs of higher engagement.
“I’m not surprised that people who took breaks between meetings felt better. People who take breaks in general feel better,” said Laura Vanderkam, a time management expert and the author of “Tranquility by Tuesday: 9 Ways To Calm the Chaos and Make Time for What Matters.”
“We all take breaks one way or another; it’s just [that] many times they’re unconscious. By choosing when and how to take a break, you notice the break happening and reap the rejuvenation,” Vanderkam said.
One big caveat to Microsoft’s findings, of course, is that the sample size of participants was small. But the study aligns with a large body of other research suggesting that meeting overload causes unproductive, unhappy employees who feel like their schedule is ruling their life.
In a recent survey of 76 companies, for example, management researchers found that employee productivity more than doubled when meetings were reduced by 40%.
“This is largely because employees felt more empowered and autonomous,” the researchers wrote in March for Harvard Business Review. “Rather than a schedule being the boss, they owned their to-do lists and held themselves accountable, which consequently increased their satisfaction by 52%.”
Making The Most Of Breaks In Meeting Marathons
If you’re looking for ways to make your own breaks more impactful, try to resist scrolling on social media or reading your email, experts said.
“Many people check email between meetings as a form of a break, and I get that,” Vanderkam said. “But [it is] even better to batch email at some point in the day, or only do it between every other meeting, and use those little bits of time for something else that will add joy and meaning to your life, like a 10-minute walk outside.”
Holistic health coach and mindfulness teacher Rosie Acosta recommended a relaxation technique in which you breathe in for three seconds and out for six, repeating as necessary.
“You only need to do three to five cycles before your body starts to respond and release tension,” she said. “Most of us sit at computers a lot. So if you do sit, perhaps use this time to stand and stretch. The biggest way to reset is to shut down the distractions.”
And if you’re a manager, try setting your teams up for success by avoiding marathon meeting days and building in more breaks.
“To make 10-minute breaks work, it’s helpful for organizations to set a culture that meetings start at, say, the hour and end 10-15 minutes early,” Vanderkam said. “That allows for a break or a ‘passing period’ like in a high school for people who need to travel.”
The big takeaway? It’s better to take a short breather than to power through a slew of meetings, as even a few minutes can make a big difference in our stress levels and ability to focus.
“When we are laser-focused on a task, we tend to create tension in our body, we stop breathing, and we stay in that tension throughout the day,” Acosta said. “If we are able to take short breaks to either do some breathing or even just relaxing of your shoulders, it gives your body the space it needs to feel relaxed.”
Nailing what to wear to work is a challenge during any time of year, but come winter, it’s especially difficult. When temperatures drop, it’s hard to focus on much more than just not freezing like a solid block of ice. So if you find yourself reaching for the same pants and sweater all too often, don’t worry—we’re here to help you out.
When you’re armed with a fresh batch of inspiring outfits, power dressing in the cold is quite effortless. You can mix and match trends in a way that feels just right even when it’s 30ºF outside. Below, you’ll find outfit combinations that are easy to throw together come Monday morning. Grab a coffee and your laptop, and you’ll be ready to take on the world. Read on for a rundown of our favorite new work-outfit ideas (designed primarily for more creative office settings), and shop the styles you want to wear to impress your boss.
There’s no doubt that the past two years have changed our perception of “office dressing,” with many of us now working from home due to the unprecedented pandemic. Of course, there are still many who have to go to a physical workplace, so with that in mind, (along with the hope that this year brings us back to the workplace safely), we wanted to share some of the best online stores to buy business casual work clothes that are actually affordable (even if they do lean more casual these days).
At Who What Wear, we’ve found that one of the best resources for a refresh is from our cool and creative readers, which is why we tapped our Who What Wear Insiders Facebook group to get their insight into where to shop for work.
Below, you’ll find a breakdown from women who work across different industries and encounter dress codes that range from techie relaxed (think jeans and hoodies) to ultra-formal. (We’re looking at you, lawyers.) Armed with the insider shopping knowledge from other women who have been deep in the work-dressing doldrums, you’ll have a little spark to help inspire your Monday-to-Friday dressing. So check out their takes on the best stores for buying work clothes and what to keep an eye out for at each.
I said it during my entire pregnancy, but don’t we all: “I’m never doing this again.” But when I said never, I actually growled it. Truth be told, I kinda knew deep down, while I felt the bean rolling around in there, that I really wasn’t going to do it again. Not because it wasn’t a good experience – I was lucky enough to have a really easy, textbook pregnancy. Even the delivery was pretty straightforward – despite two epidurals not working, everything happened within a tolerable amount of time with no complications.
But I only wanted to have one kid. That’s it. And so did my husband. Here’s why.
– We felt complete. We already had a fur baby when the bean was born, and our cozy little family felt right with our single addition. We didn’t feel like we were missing anything (or anyone). Three plus a pup was what our family was meant to be.
– I felt complete. I always have to experience everything once: the crazy waterslide, the terrifying roller coaster, the strange exotic raw food. But then I’m done. I’ve earned my bragging rights. I have my Facebook profile pic. Drop the mic – this kid is outta here! Same with having my bean – yes, I really wanted to know what it was like to be pregnant and feel a baby kick, and experience the first time you hold your son or daughter. But once I did it, I was good. Check!
– We started late. I had my son in my mid-30s, and truth be told, the sleepless nights were much more wearing than had they been when I was in my 20s. I had sleepless nights in my 20s anyway and I bounced back pretty easily. By my mid-30s, sleep was a hot commodity, and the idea of doing an infant schedule while having a toddler or child as I closed in on 40 seemed way past its expiration date.
– I would’ve had to sacrifice my career. I’m self-employed and work from home, so mat leave pay wasn’t an option. Not to mention my office is at home, and with two kids, or even just the newborn at home during the day, lets just say it doesn’t create the most conducive working environment. Problem is, when you’re a freelance writer, no editor is going to hold your job till you come back from a maternity break. I had somehow manged to balance and continue to build my writing business with my son being born, but two would’ve completely tipped the scales. And, while this may be controversial or selfish or whatever to other parents, my career is important to me. Family always comes first, but I’ve had a passion for writing since kindergarten, and I am so proud of the writing career I’ve managed to build in such a tumultuous time in print journalist. So, my job played a pretty big role in deciding whether to have another child.
– We had no room in our house. Logistically, it just would have completely overcrowded our home. And I would’ve lost my home office/craft room. Not gonna happen!
A full-time work-from-home mom, Jennifer Cox (our “Supermom in Training”) loves dabbling in healthy cooking, craft projects, family outings, and more, sharing with readers everything she knows about being an (almost) superhero mommy.
Potty training – it just might be one of the most challenging things for parents. There are so many things that factor into the success and timeline of potty training, from whether your child is actually ready to carrying it through until there are no more accidents at all, even at night. It can be a long process – but now, with families at home more than ever, it’s the perfect time to conquer this milestone. Use these 4 potty training tips that will save your sanity.
– Make the potty as accessible as possible. Yes, it’s great to have one in the bathroom so your little one can mimic mommy and daddy on the toilet. But kids who are learning to potty train also don’t recognize the urge until the very last-minute, and getting to the bathroom on time could be a huge challenge. It may not be the decor accent of choice, but a potty in common rooms like the living room or kitchen could also help things along.
– Let accidents happen. Yes, the cleanups are awful. And I know all about changing sheets in the middle of the night. But the more that you child is out of diapers and accurately feeling what’s going on down there (wet underwear or bedding), they won’t feel the true discomfort of it and, hence, want to use the toilet. (Quick tip: If nighttime bed-wetting is a problem, layer sheet, plastic sheet, sheet, so you already have another dry later ready to go.)
– Have a reward system in place. Bribery may not be the best parenting route for other lessons, but when it comes to potty training, you want to do anything that works. What’s your child’s sweet spot? Smarties? Doritos? Keep them handy and in sight but out of reach. ONLY give them out with a successful number one or two in the potty.
– Make it fun. No- it’s not fun for you. I get it. But when it’s more fun for them, they’ll be more inclined to get into it. Let them help you choose a potty. Decorate it with stickers. If you’re training with a toilet, there are decals you can affix to the bottom of the bowl for boys’ “target practice,” as well as flushable floating targets (my mom used Cheerios with my brother). And pick out new big-boy or big-girl underwear together.
Melany xx
Married with three kids, MList’s Melany is a jack-of-all-trades. Not only is she a hardworking mom but she’s a serial saver (she loves her MList Card!), she loves to cook, she is very spiritual, and she is very organized. She is also chronically busy. Get her take on what to see, do and buy in Montreal and beyond.
Who would’ve guessed big boy Tomato Paste, who started losing his
appetite at the shelter due to stress, would soon spend every day
getting cuddles and wearing fun costumes in his new home? (Well, maybe
we could’ve guessed!). Now affectionately nicknamed Tommy, this
incontinent kitty is getting the peace, love, and routine he craves from
his new family thanks to support from friends like you.
Tommy
came to APA! with an old tail injury that made it hard for him to
control where and when he had to go potty. He needs his bladder gently
squeezed a couple times a day to empty it, and it took a lot of time and
treats for this gentleman to accept that he needs some extra help.
Because of you, we were able to give Tommy the medications he requires to stay comfortable while getting his bladder expressed and support his dedicated foster as she cared for an incontinent kitty for the first time. At another shelter, Tommy might have faced needless euthanasia because of extra care that only takes a few minutes out of the day and that anyone can learn how to do with practice and patience.
When we say Katie was a dedicated foster, we mean it! She
brought Tommy into our clinic almost every day for the first couple
weeks to get help expressing his bladder. That’s determination! Katie
wanted to give this handsome kitty a lap to curl up in at night, which
meant lots of practice and teamwork to find the routine he needed.
Ultimately, she couldn’t let this lovebug go and soon Tommy became our
14th incontinent cat adopted in 2022! Katie says “We were
definitely a bit intimidated by the prospect of adopting an incontinent
cat, but after getting a good routine down with him it’s totally
manageable.”
Now that
she and Tommy are on the same page, Katie has a friend to greet her
when she comes home from work and Tommy finally has the loving family he
deserves. “I’m really glad we took a chance on him, he’s the sweetest and most charismatic boy!”
We’re
so excited to say “Happy tails” to this distinguished kitty and we’re
so grateful to YOU for making stories like this possible this holiday
season and every day.
