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Tag: workforce

  • French Minister Backs Telecoms Group Orange’s Temporary Closure of Marseille Site Over Crime Fears

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    PARIS (Reuters) -French telecoms group Orange is right to temporarily close its site in Marseille to protect staff from problems related to drug gangs in the area, the country’s employment minister said on Friday, calling for a bigger police presence.

    Gang-related drug crime is on the rise in France and in particular in the Mediterranean port city, where the risks were highlighted by the murder this month of Mehdi Kessaci, the 20-year-old brother of anti-drug crime campaigner Amine Kessaci.

    “Orange is taking a decision that is needed to protect its workers,” Jean-Pierre Farandou told RTL radio, when asked about comments from an Orange official that it was closing the site in the Saint-Mauront area of Marseille from Friday to mid-December.

    “This is one more sign that we need to give this country additional means to fight drug trafficking,” Farandou said.

    The company employs around 1,000 at the site in Marseille.

    Sébastien Crozier, a director representing Orange staff members, told BFM TV that Orange had taken that decision “based on the information available to them, in addition to the information we have received from employees.”

    Crozier also described the current situation regarding that Marseille site as “absolutely critical”.

    Latin American cocaine shipments to Europe have led to more violence by organised crime groups across the continent, leaving dealers flush with cash and willing to fight it out to protect their lucrative patches, officials and analysts have said.

    According to French newspaper Le Parisien, French bank BNP Paribas was planning to leave a site in northern Paris, where it employs 2,000 staff, to regroup them on other sites, also as a response to rising crime in the area.

    Asked for comment, BNP Paribas did not mention crime, saying only that the relocation project was part of a broader redeployment of staff across its sites as the lease on the northern Paris site was running out.

    (Reporting by Dominique Vidalon, additional reporting by Mathieu Rosemain; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Exclusive-Trump Team Negotiating Trade Deal With Taiwan That Could Help Train US Workers, Sources Say

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    By Trevor Hunnicutt, Ben Blanchard and Yimou Lee

    WASHINGTON/TAIPEI (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is negotiating a deal that could commit Taiwan to fresh investment and training of U.S. workers in semiconductor manufacturing and other advanced industries, according to five people familiar with the matter.

    Under the arrangement, Taiwanese companies including TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, would send new capital and workers to expand their U.S. operations and train U.S. workers.

    Taiwan’s exports to the United States are currently subject to a 20% tariff, and Taipei has been in talks to reduce that figure as part of an overarching deal with Washington. Semiconductors, vital for all kinds of high-tech products, are currently exempt from tariffs while the U.S builds domestic capacity.

    One of the people said the total U.S. investment to be pledged by Taiwan would be smaller than that of its main regional economic rivals, and would include support to help Washington build science park infrastructure drawing on Taiwanese know-how. The person and others spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

    South Korea and Japan have pledged a total of $350 billion and $550 billion in investment in the U.S., respectively, under deals to trim U.S. tariffs on most of their goods to 15% from 25%.

    It was unclear when the Taiwan deal would close or what specifics would make it into the final agreement, according to the people. They cautioned that any deal terms could change until they were finalized in negotiations. The workforce training aspect of the deal has not previously been reported.

    “Until announced by President Trump, reporting about potential trade deals is speculation,” said White House spokesman Kush Desai. The U.S. trade representative’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

    Trump has previously said some skilled foreign workers may be necessary to train Americans in state-of-the-art factories.

    TAIWAN LOOKS TO REPLICATE ITS MODEL

    TSMC, which declined to comment on the trade talks, has struggled to find the right workers for its U.S. projects.

    CEO and Chairman C.C. Wei said in January building the new factory in Arizona has taken at least twice as long as in Taiwan, citing a shortage of skilled workers and gaps in the supply chain. TSMC, for example, brought half of the construction workers from Texas to Arizona, increasing costs due to relocation and accommodation, he said.

    Taiwan’s Office of Trade Negotiations said in a statement that its team was continuing to discuss supply chain cooperation with the United States under a “Taiwan model.”

    Taiwan began developing its science parks, where the bulk of its semiconductor manufacturing takes place, in the 1980s, building up a whole supply chain for seamless production.

    Speaking to reporters in Taipei on Wednesday, Taiwan Premier Cho Jung-tai said the two sides are at the stage of exchanging documents to firm up certain details.

    “It is very difficult for other countries to do this kind of work, because only we have this concept, practice, and track record of service parks, which allows us to undertake this kind of initiative in the United States,” he added.

    Last month, Taiwan Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun, who is leading talks aimed at reducing Trump’s tariffs on Taiwanese exports, said she was hopeful both sides could reach a consensus on expanding investment in the United States.

    While Taipei has been keen to show its commitment to Trump’s call to boost U.S. manufacturing, it has also said the most advanced semiconductor technologies and research will remain on Taiwan.

    Last week, Trump acknowledged criticism of programs that welcome skilled foreign workers but said doing so was necessary to dominate in key industries. In a speech at a U.S.-Saudi investment forum, Trump referenced opening up “a big plant with your friend from Taiwan, where we’re going to have 40 or 50% of the computer chip business.”

    He added: “Our people have to be taught. This is something they’ve never done, and we’re not going to be successful if we don’t allow people that invest billions of dollars in plant and equipment to bring a lot of their people from their country to get that plant open, operating and working.”

    Young Liu, chairman of Taiwan’s Foxconn, Nvidia’s largest server maker, said last week the company was looking to work with the U.S. and other countries to build science parks, adding that he hoped this could help trade negotiations.

    RISING TRUMP TARIFFS PROMPTED TALKS

    Taiwan’s representative to the APEC summit, Lin Hsin-i, said this month that he and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had discussed supply chains and semiconductors during a meeting on the sidelines of the event in South Korea. 

    Lin said Bessent had been keen to hear about Taiwan’s experience in building up its semiconductor clusters.

    Trump said in August the U.S. would impose a tariff of about 100% on imports of semiconductors but exempted companies that are manufacturing in the U.S. or have committed to do so, which includes TSMC, though U.S. officials are privately saying that they might not levy them soon, Reuters reported this month.

    TSMC, whose business is surging on strong demand for artificial intelligence applications, is investing $165 billion to build chip factories in Arizona, though the bulk of its production will remain in Taiwan.

    Other Taiwanese companies have announced new plans for investment in the United States, including silicon wafer manufacturer GlobalWafers.

    Any agreement with Taiwan could rile Beijing. Chinese President Xi Jinping told Trump in a call on Monday that Taiwan’s “return to China” was an important matter for the country. The White House has not commented on that element of the call.

    The United States is Chinese-claimed Taiwan’s most important international backer and the ultimate guarantor of its security, despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties. 

    (Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt, Ben Blanchard and Yimou Lee; Additional reporting by Jeanny Kao in Taipei and Andrea Shalal in Washington)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Trump Seizes Control of Republicans’ 2026 Election Strategy With His Presidency on the Line

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    By Nandita Bose and Tim Reid

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Donald Trump isn’t on the ballot in next November’s midterm elections, but he’s plunging into them with his own presidency at stake. He’s calling candidates, making early endorsements, shaping strategy and pushing economic messaging to try to keep Congress in Republican hands, according to nine Republicans involved in election strategy.

    As early as this summer, 18 months before Election Day 2026, Trump was urging Republican congressmen exploring Senate or gubernatorial runs to stand for reelection instead to avoid party primary fights, according to a White House official, a senior Trump adviser and a party operative.

    Such an early, hands-on involvement in midterm elections is unprecedented for a president in modern times.

    “Presidents usually are wheeled into action later in the campaign season,” said Bill Galston, who was a senior adviser in former Democratic President Bill Clinton’s White House. “This is extremely unusual.”

    TRUMP WHEELS INTO BATTLE EARLY

    Trump’s urgency spiked after state and local elections on November 4 when exit polling showed voters punished Republicans over the rising cost of living.

    In multiple meetings immediately after the vote, Trump angrily told aides that Republicans should own the affordability message, the White House official told Reuters on condition of anonymity to discuss Trump’s reaction.

    The president reminded his staff that he had returned to the White House on a promise to tackle inflation. Republicans should not cede ground to Democrats on the issue but highlight where his administration had succeeded in bringing down prices, said the official, who was briefed on the meetings.

    Trump “has been absolutely clear that affordability is the center of our economic agenda,” the White House official said.

    Costs have continued to rise in the U.S., in part because of sweeping tariffs Trump has imposed on foreign imports. Trump scrapped some tariffs this month to reduce prices on beef, coffee, fruit and other groceries.

    “He’s definitely going to exert more pressure on the administration to move even quicker to provide policy solutions,” the senior Trump adviser said.

    The White House official said Trump’s involvement includes frequent check-ins with senior advisers, bursts of calls to political allies, and regular sessions where aides walk him through polling, fundraising numbers, and research on voter sentiment.

    Trump has seen his poll numbers slide in recent weeks, driven in part by voters’ unhappiness with his handling of the economy. His approval rating has fallen to 38%, the lowest this year, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on November 18.

    “The reality is, when a president is unpopular, he takes seats away from his party,” said Doug Heye, a Republican strategist who has been a Trump critic.

    Trump got a reality check last week on his sway over Republican lawmakers when he was forced to reverse his opposition to releasing Justice Department files on Jeffrey Epstein, the late convicted sex offender, after a rebellion by his supporters and House Republicans.

    Trump’s poor approval ratings raise uncertainty about whether he can keep Republicans unified heading into the midterms if voter frustration over inflation and living costs persists.

    White House spokesperson Kush Desai said in a statement to Reuters that Trump has a strong record that he will continue to emphasize.

    “This month alone President Trump has delivered yet another drug pricing deal, five new trade deals, record-breaking commercial and investment deals with Saudi Arabia, new stock market highs, and a blockbuster jobs report,” Desai said.

    Trump wants party candidates to run on his package of tax cuts, which was passed in July by the Republican-controlled Congress, six Republican party operatives told Reuters.  

    The aim is to impress on voters that they will receive bigger tax refunds from the Internal Revenue Service after they file their returns next April, putting more money in pockets and offsetting angst over rising prices.

    The One Big Beautiful Bill Act made permanent many tax cuts Trump passed in 2017 during his first term, including expanded tax credits for parents with children and extra deductions on state and local taxes.

    The overall average tax cut for an individual taxpayer will be $3,752 in 2026, according to an analysis of the bill by the Tax Foundation, a Washington-based nonpartisan nonprofit.

    “People are going to get money back in their pocket in April because of the tax cuts,” the Trump adviser said. “That hasn’t connected to the electorate yet.”

    Kyle Kondik, a nonpartisan elections analyst at the University of Virginia Center for Politics, said tax cuts may not be a winning issue for Republicans.

    “The tax cuts don’t necessarily mean that prices are lower. People are very pessimistic about the economy,” Kondik said.

    CREATING A FIREWALL AGAINST IMPEACHMENT

    For Trump, keeping Republican control of Congress next November is also about self-preservation, strong> said a second White House aide.

    Republicans have narrow majorities in both the House and Senate. If they lose just one chamber, Democrats would likely be able to thwart much of Trump’s agenda in the last two years of his presidency.

    Losing control of the House would also give Democrats the power to impeach Trump for a third time. House Democrats impeached Trump twice during his 2017-2021 term but on both occasions the Republican-controlled Senate did not vote to remove him from office. Nevertheless, the impeachment process consumes a presidency and can derail policy goals.

    “This is as much about him (Trump) as it is about the future of the party,” said one Republican operative focused on Senate races. “The Senate is the last line of defense before attacks on the president can move forward in terms of impeachment,” she said.

    Trump and party operatives will be focused on turning out infrequent voters – a strategy that succeeded for Trump in the presidential election last year. “Republicans have to turn out non-midterm voters to be successful,” the Trump adviser said.

    In the summer, Trump spoke to three Republican congressmen – Bill Huizenga of Michigan, Zach Nunn of Iowa and Mike Lawler of New York – encouraging them to drop their bids for higher office and run again for their House seats, to lessen the risk of a Democratic takeover in the chamber, the White House official and Trump adviser said. All three have since announced they are running for reelection.

    A spokesman for Nunn sent a statement the congressman released on July 11, thanking Trump for his support and stating he will run again for his House seat. The offices of Huizenga and Lawler did not respond to a request for comment.

    Trump has already endorsed at least 16 Senate candidates including in close Senate races in North Carolina and Michigan, and at least 47 House candidates, an unusually large number this early in an election cycle, according to a lobbyist with close ties to the White House.

    WITHOUT TRUMP ON BALLOT, REPUBLICANS STRUGGLE

    Trump has said publicly he believes one reason his party did poorly in This month’s elections was because he was not on the ballot.

    As a result, Trump will be front and center in the midterm campaign, hitting the trail to talk up his tax cuts. “President Trump’s hands-on engagement is a decisive advantage heading into 2026,” Kiersten Pels, the Republican National Committee press secretary, said. 

    Democrats relish the idea of a more visible Trump, saying he will help drive turnout among their party members.

    “Every stop on his midterm campaign tour will remind them of how he has made life harder for everyday Americans,” Kendall Witmer, a spokesperson for the Democratic National Committee, told Reuters.

    (Reporting by Nandita Bose and Tim Reid, editing by Ross Colvin and Suzanne Goldenberg)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Exclusive-DOGE ‘Doesn’t Exist’ With Eight Months Left on Its Charter

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    WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency has disbanded with eight months left to its mandate, ending an initiative launched with fanfare as a symbol of Trump’s pledge to slash the government’s size but which critics say delivered few measurable savings.

    “That doesn’t exist,” Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor told Reuters earlier this month when asked about DOGE’s status. 

    It is no longer a “centralized entity,” Kupor added, in the first public comments from the Trump administration on the end of DOGE. 

    The agency, set up in January, made dramatic forays across Washington in the early months of Trump’s second term to rapidly shrink federal agencies, cut their budgets or redirect their work to Trump priorities. The OPM, the federal government’s human resources office, has since taken over many of DOGE’s functions, according to Kupor and documents reviewed by Reuters.

    At least two prominent DOGE employees are now involved with the National Design Studio, a new body created through an executive order signed by Trump in August. That body is headed by Joe Gebbia, co-founder of Airbnb, and Trump’s order directed him to beautify government websites.

    Gebbia was part of billionaire Elon Musk’s DOGE team while DOGE employee Edward Coristine, nicknamed “Big Balls,” encouraged followers on his X account to apply to join. 

    The fading away of DOGE is in sharp contrast to the government-wide effort over months to draw attention to it, with Trump, his advisers and cabinet secretaries posting about it on social media. Musk, who led DOGE initially, regularly touted its work on his X platform and at one point brandished a chainsaw to advertise his efforts to cut government jobs.

    “This is the chainsaw for bureaucracy,” Musk said, holding the tool above his head at the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, in February.

    DOGE claimed to have slashed tens of billions of dollars in expenditures, but it was impossible for outside financial experts to verify that because the unit did not provide detailed public accounting of its work.

    “President Trump was given a clear mandate to reduce waste, fraud and abuse across the federal government, and he continues to actively deliver on that commitment,” said White House spokeswoman Liz Huston in an email to Reuters.

    TRUMP OFFICIALS HAVE BEEN SIGNALING DOGE’S DEMISE

    Trump administration officials have not openly said that DOGE no longer exists, even after Musk’s public feud with Trump in May. Musk has since left Washington.

    Trump and his team have nevertheless signaled its demise in public since this summer, even though the U.S. president signed an executive order earlier in his term decreeing that DOGE would last through July 2026.

    In statements to reporters, Trump often talks about DOGE in the past tense. Acting DOGE Administrator Amy Gleason, whose background is in healthcare tech, formally became an adviser to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy in March, according to a court filing, in addition to her role with DOGE. Her public statements have largely focused on her HHS role.

    Republican-led states, including Idaho and Florida, meanwhile are creating local entities similar to DOGE.

    A government-wide hiring freeze – another hallmark of DOGE – is also over, Kupor said.

    Trump on his first day in office barred federal agencies from bringing on new employees, with exceptions for positions his team deemed necessary to enforce immigration laws and protect public safety. He later said DOGE representatives must approve any other exceptions, adding that agencies should hire “no more than one employee for every four” that depart.

    “There is no target around reductions” anymore, Kupor said.

    FORMER DOGE EMPLOYEES MOVE ON TO NEW ROLES

    DOGE staff have also taken on other roles in the administration. Most prominent is Gebbia, whom Trump tasked with improving the “visual presentation” of government websites.

    So far, his design studio has launched websites to recruit law enforcement officers to patrol Washington, D.C., and advertise the president’s drug pricing program. Gebbia declined an interview with Reuters via a spokesperson. 

    Zachary Terrell, part of the DOGE team given access to government health systems in the early days of Trump’s second term, is now chief technology officer at the Department of Health and Human Services. Rachel Riley, who had the same access according to court filings, is now chief of the Office of Naval Research, according to the office’s website. 

    Jeremy Lewin, who helped Musk and the Trump administration dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development, now oversees foreign assistance at the State Department, according to the agency’s website.

    Musk shortly after Trump’s election said he had a mandate to “delete the mountain” of government regulations. He made undoing government regulations and remaking the government with AI two key tenets of DOGE, in addition to eliminating federal government jobs. 

    The administration is still working toward slashing regulations. The White House budget office has tasked Scott Langmack, who was DOGE’s representative at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, with creating custom AI applications to pore through U.S. regulations and determine which ones to eliminate, according to his LinkedIn profile.

    Musk, meanwhile, has reappeared in Washington. This week, he attended a White House dinner for Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

    (Reporting by Courtney Rozen; editing by Chris Sanders and Deepa Babington)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Solved cold case shows how UT-Arlington students serve the community | Opinion

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    University of Texas at Arlington faculty member Patricia Eddings was aiming high when she first proposed that the Arlington Police Department allow her criminal justice students to dive into unsolved homicide cases.

    Eddings, who also directs our university’s program in forensic applications of science and technology, said she hoped UTA students would find new leads so officers could pursue justice for victims and their loved ones. Our Mavericks did even better.

    Police announced Nov. 17 that they have made an arrest in the 1991 homicide of an Arlington woman whose body was found on a rural stretch of road in Johnson County. And they credited our students for cracking the case. Without Eddings and our UTA students — and the dedicated work of Arlington police — this case would have remained cold.

    “I just want them to love their careers as much as I love mine,” Eddings says of her students.

    University of Texas at Arlington students are recognized for their work in obtaining an arrest in a 1991 cold case during a press conference on Monday, Nov. 17, 2025. The Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice partnered with the Arlington Police Department to allow students to review cold case files.
    University of Texas at Arlington students are recognized for their work in obtaining an arrest in a 1991 cold case during a press conference on Monday, Nov. 17, 2025. The Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice partnered with the Arlington Police Department to allow students to review cold case files. None amccoy@star-telegram.com

    Closing a cold case is an enormous win for our community. It also represents why a university like ours should be considered essential civic infrastructure — a shared investment and public good that benefits the entire region.

    Through experiential learning opportunities like this cold case partnership with Arlington police, we strengthen the connection between classrooms and careers to build a strong workforce and make a positive impact on civic life. Nearly all of the 15 students in Eddings’ class say they intend to pursue careers as forensic scientists, crime scene investigators or law enforcement officers. In a few years, you’ll see them in labs, testifying in court, or patrolling our streets.

    Arlington Police Chief Al Jones said his department “put trust into these young men and women who will be our future leaders.”

    The University makes Dallas-Fort Worth stronger by teaching and training well-educated, workforce-ready graduates who are sustaining and transforming our local economy. With more than 280,000 alumni, 79% of whom remain in Texas, UTA graduates can be found in just about every company, nonprofit organization and government agency in the region.

    In every corner of our campus, you’ll find examples of UTA preparing career-ready graduates to improve their lives and strengthen our economy and communities, including in fields with critical workforce shortages. We work with area employers to create talent pipelines for indispensable roles that yield profound societal benefits.

    Every year, our nursing program — the largest in Texas — sends hundreds of future nurses into local hospitals and health facilities so they can get hands-on experience caring for your loved ones. Our College of Education will send about 160 student teachers into area classrooms in spring 2026. Those students will eventually lead classrooms in Arlington, Fort Worth, Dallas, Mansfield, Irving, Grand Prairie and Hurst-Euless-Bedford — all top employers of our education majors.

    We have broadcast communication students who have developed promotional videos for area nonprofits. Landscape architecture students have worked with municipalities to protect coastlines from floating garbage. Social work students volunteer at the Salvation Army for course credit. This is valuable extracurricular coursework that prepares students for employment.

    As president of UTA, I am clear-eyed about perceptions that challenge the roles of institutions of higher education, both here in Texas and across the country.

    Those perceptions don’t describe the UTA I know. There are no ivory towers here — just smart faculty and hardworking students learning valuable knowledge, making impacts during their time at UTA and gaining experience so they can launch meaningful careers that advance our region.

    Jennifer Cowley is president of the University of Texas at Arlington, a position she has held since 2022.

    Jennifer Cowley
    Jennifer Cowley

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  • If Your Employees Are Taking On Second Jobs, Here’s How to Handle It

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    Taking a second job is nothing particularly new, but having to take on extra duties when you’re already working a full time role is no easy task. Yet that’s exactly what three in 10 of the full-time workers surveyed by Seattle-based Resume Templates said they planned to do this year to help cover the extra expenses that the holiday season brings (perhaps worsened this year by tariffs and inflation). And over a third of workers already working full-time said that they’re already working other gigs to earn extra income. 

    In essence, this means a majority of the 1,000 full-time workers in the survey were concerned enough about living costs at the end of 2025 that they’re taking on extra work. 

    Of these people, about half are raising more money by taking on extra hours at their existing employer. Other workers have taken on work at delivery services, joined ride-share companies, taken up seasonal jobs in stores, or were freelancing HRDive notes. Others took traditional “pocket money” roles like pet sitting and babysitting, while others tried earning income from social media.

    The report notes that more people say it’s going to be harder to afford holiday expenses this year than last year, with some 61 percent feeling this way, and about a third of people are planning to spend less on gifts, holiday decorations and travel this year than in 2024. About three in 10 people say that the loss of government benefits like SNAP or assistance with insurance are partly to blame for their financial issues. 

    So far you may be thinking that this data merely supports evidence that the economy and the job market are in trouble, but that there’s not much relevance for your company. But there’s one piece of data in the report that will give you concern: over a third of people taking on more work, 39 percent in fact, say that this necessity already has or probably will damage their productivity on their existing full time role. While this makes sense (everybody only has so much energy and time to give, and a full time job is already demanding) this has immediate knock-on effects for their employers who could see a trickle-down impact on the company productivity and profitability. 

    In the report Julia Toothacre, chief career strategist at Resume Templates, writes that workers who take on extra duties “need to stay mindful of their energy and mental health” because “overworking can quickly lead to burnout, fatigue, and declining performance in both their main job and side work.” Toothacre also suggests that workers may need to scale back productivity to “a sustainable level,” and that “doing ‘enough’ to meet expectations, rather than constantly overperforming, might be the healthiest choice.” This advice, while sensible from an overworked, underpaid frontline employee point of view is clearly not going to please employers who may be relying on their workers being fired up and ready to tackle, say, a busy retail season.

    Earlier this year a report said that a growing share of the workforce was “secretly” working second jobs, with perhaps up to 5 percent of the tech workforce pulling off this feat. The new report, meanwhile, backs up a study from June this year that said a similar shockingly high percentage of workers were going to seek additional duties to make ends meet — with economic woes tied to uncertainty, uncommunicative employers, and unhappiness in the workplace playing a role.

    What can you do about this in your company?

    It depends on your official stance on second jobs: banning workers from taking on extra work means that if they find themselves forced into an economic corner because the income they earn from you isn’t enough, they may simply quit for better paying roles elsewhere. If you tolerate workers taking on second roles, then a savvy leader may boost opportunities like flexible working schedules: the data suggests that workers are going to be taking on second jobs anyway, so if you’re their primary employer doing the most you can to ensure they’re not burned out seems smart, since it may protect their productivity. 

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  • Spirit Airlines Unions Agree to Pay Cuts for Flight Attendants, Pilots

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    NEW YORK (Reuters) -The unions representing Spirit Airlines pilots and flight attendants said on Tuesday that they have reached an agreement with the company for pay and benefits cuts as the carrier tries to rein in costs as part of its ongoing Chapter 11 restructuring process.

      The amended collective bargaining agreements, which are subject to member and court approval, include snapbacks timed for when the ultra-low-cost-carrier expects to be profitable again. Spirit filed for bankruptcy for the second time in a year in August; it said it expects to report losses until 2027.

    The Air Line Pilots Association said it has agreed to Spirit’s plans to reduce hourly pay by 8% and slash its retirement account contributions by half from 16% to 8%. The amended collective bargaining agreement will last from the beginning of 2026 through the end of 2027. 

    The airline agreed to incrementally restore the pilots’ pay starting in August 2028 with a 4% raise and then another 4% in January 2029. Retirement contributions will return to 16% by July 2029.

    Spirit declined a request for comment. 

    The flight attendants union said in a memo seen by Reuters that it is recommending its members vote in favor of the agreement, which would go into effect at the beginning of 2026.

    The union representing Spirit’s flight attendants said the contract changes protect base pay and healthcare benefits. The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA agreed to reduce incentive overtime pay from one-and-a-half times to one time and eliminate ground holding pay. Overtime pay will improve in July 2027, with the threshold for earning overtime rising to 95 credited hours from 85.

    Spirit has agreed to revert to the original term of the flight attendants’ labor agreement once it achieves a 7.5% or higher adjusted pre-tax margin in three consecutive quarters.

    (Reporting by Doyinsola Oladipo in New York; Editing by Alistair Bell)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • US Airline Group Urges Congress to Pay Controllers During Future Shutdowns

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    WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The head of a trade group representing major U.S. airlines will call on Wednesday for permanently ending aviation disruptions during government shutdowns by ensuring air traffic controllers and other key workers are paid.

    Airlines for America, the group representing American Airlines
    , Delta Air Lines , Southwest Airlines , United Airlines and others, will tell a U.S. Senate aviation subcommittee that the 43-day government shutdown and government imposed flight cuts disrupted 6 million passengers and 50,000 flights because of rising air traffic controller absences.

    “We should never subject our air traffic control system to this chaos again,” A4A CEO Chris Sununu will say according to his written testimony. “This simply should never happen again.” 

    (Reporting by David Shepardson)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Ukraine Begins Mass Production of Interceptor Drones to Bolster Air Defence

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    KYIV (Reuters) -Ukraine has started mass production of its new domestically developed interceptor drones to strengthen air defences, the Ukrainian defence ministry said on Friday.

    As the war with Russia approaches the four-year mark, Ukrainian cities and towns far from the frontline are under nearly daily assault from hundreds of Russian drones.

    In the latest attack on Ukraine, 430 drones were used, Ukrainian officials said.

    The ministry said that the first three manufacturers have already started production, and 11 more were preparing to set up production lines.

    The drones would be based on a domestically developed technology called ‘Octopus”. The ministry said the technology to intercept Shahed drones was tested in combat and proved that it was working “at night, under jamming, and at low altitudes.”

    President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said that the goal was to manufacture up to 1,000 of the interceptors a day.

    Russia is investing heavily in long-range drones and has been steadily increasing the number of drones it uses in a single strike on Ukraine.

    Interceptor drones, which cost a few thousand dollars each, are also important for Ukraine as it can save its more expensive missiles for faster, deadlier cruise and ballistic threats.

    (Reporting by Olena Harmash, Editing by William Maclean)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Want Better Results From Your Gen-Z Employees? Tell Them the ‘Why’ Behind Every Task

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    Every generation differs from the one before, especially in the workplace — as media reports never stop telling us. Millennials were famously “lazy,” Boomers are (according to younger workers) pretty much stick-in-the-muds, and Gen-Z? Well, they’re a completely different kettle of fish, even at work. They’re reportedly quick to quit, sensitive to mental health matters and keen to shun boring office traditions.

    A new report highlights a subtly different aspect of working with Gen-Z staff, which may help you understand some of the difficulties managers report when wrangling Gen-Z workers through the day. Gen-Z won’t just hop to it when you “order” them to work. It may not be so much a case of generational entitlement, nor disrespect for their elders. Gen-Z may just need to be told why a task is important before they agree to tackle it.

    Writing for Psychology Today, Georgia-based executive coaching expert Tim Elmore points out that sports brand Nike has tried a new campaign to appeal to younger customers: the new “Why Do It?” push, a play on the famous “Just Do It” motto, is all about “igniting that spark for a new generation, daring them to step forward” according to Nike’s chief marketing officer Nicole Graham. 

    He says the trick to motivating and training Gen-Z workers rests on presenting the “why” reasons behind tasks right from the beginning. It helps younger workers “see the big picture,” which motivates them “to invest more time and energy,” Elmore explains. Allowing workers to peep behind the curtain is also a powerful motivational maneuver, he notes, since it can foster better decision-making, creativity and problem-soling, because people may make “wiser choices” if they know a project’s overall context. It can even increase employee ownership. This could be the most important aspect of telling workers why, he says, since once they “buy into both ‘what” and “why,’ they ‘own’ their job instead of ‘renting’ it.” 

    As to why Gen-Z needs this kind of support, which older managers may easily dismiss as young, inexperienced workers making demands above their station, Elmore suggests it’s partly due to the way Gen-Z voraciously consumes social media—a system that sometimes allows them to “see everything” about parts of the world in ways that just weren’t possible before. This may be driving the high anxiety Gen-Z suffers, as well as their frustration with what they may perceive to be a lack of transparency from management or company cultures that simply encourage a “do it because I said so” mentality. Gen-Z may need more “whys” than older workers because some “know too much and need to be convinced it’s worth it to step into action and become involved,” he writes, while others need an explanation “because they know too little,” since they’ve never had a full-time job before and need a leadership figure to walk them through the process. 

    In a Reddit discussion on the way Gen-Z behaves at work, some commenters wrote opinions that showed conflict with the way Gen-Z workers behave. “I won’t go as far as labeling Gen Z as lazy, but the entitlement is real,” one person wrote, arguing that “they would rather quit rather than work through challenges because they think they work isn’t supposed to be hard or stressful.” 

    But another Reddit user explained things in a way that chimes with Elmore’s thinking. Gen-Z workers are “largely immature in my experience,” they said, adding “but they’ll grow out of it.” The reasons may be because “they missed out on a lot of the social aspects of college,” the user wrote, noting that they think “they just need the number of years they spent in online college to get to the maturity level that previous generations had when they finished regular college. Not their fault, of course.” The user also added they’ve had to do a “lot more coaching for Gen Z people than others seem to have needed,” which chimes with explaining more “whys,” as Elmore suggests. But they concluded with a sentiment that may appeal to savvy business leaders: “I just like to help them learn.”

    This aligns with other reports that say Gen-Z really wants more on-the job training than their older colleagues. 

    All of this may play into they way you manage your youngest workers. If they seem slow to get going on freshly set tasks, it might not be because they’re lazy: it’s just that they need to see the reasoning behind the tasks before they commit to them.

    The early-rate deadline for the 2026 Inc. Regionals Awards is Friday, November 14, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply now.

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    Kit Eaton

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  • US Hires 50,000 Federal Workers Under Trump, Boosting Immigration Roles

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    WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. government has hired 50,000 employees since President Donald Trump took office, his top personnel official said, with the new staff largely in national security positions reflecting the administration’s policy focus.

    The bulk of the new hires, reported first by Reuters, work at Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said Scott Kupor, the federal government’s human resources director, in an interview on Thursday night.

    The staff changes are part of Trump’s campaign to reshape the government while sharply cutting other federal jobs. 

    The administration brought on the new employees while freezing hiring and laying off workers in other parts of the government, such as the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Health and Human Services. 

    The administration expects to shed about 300,000 workers this year, Kupor said in August.

    Trump appointed billionaire Elon Musk in January to launch a project to downsize the 2.4 million-strong federal civilian workforce. Musk, with Trump’s backing, said the federal workforce had become too big and too inefficient.

    Trump’s administration dismissed employees charged with enforcing civil rights laws, collecting tax revenue and overseeing clean energy projects.

    As part of the downsizing, about 154,000 employees accepted a buyout offer from the Trump administration. The buyouts impacted a wide range of government activities, including weather forecasting, food safety, health programs and space projects, according to former federal employees and unions who spoke to Reuters earlier this year.

    (Reporting by Courtney Rozen; Editing by Sonali Paul)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • White House to Make Housing Recommendations Within Months, Hassett Says

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    WASHINGTON (Reuters) -White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett on Thursday said the Trump administration is weighing steps to address housing affordability, with advisers set to make recommendations “in the next few weeks to months.”

    “The 50-year mortgage is something that’s on the table,” he told Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” program. “The 50-year mortgage is just one of many, many policies that are currently being studied.”

    (Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Katharine Jackson)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Italy Urges US to Unlock Pay for Military Base Workers Amid Shutdown

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    MILAN (Reuters) -Local staff at some American military bases in Italy have not been paid due to the U.S. government shutdown and Rome is in talks with U.S. authorities to resolve the issue, the Italian foreign ministry said on Saturday.

    About 2,000 non-military Italian employees, mainly at Aviano Air Base and the Vicenza army base in northeast Italy, missed their October pay despite being employed under Italian work contracts, the ministry said.

    Italian workers at U.S. Navy bases in the country, however, were paid on time as the navy applies different rules to the army and air force.

    In the United States, the record-long shutdown has left millions of federal government workers without paychecks, has frozen critical food aid and has snarled airline travel, among other impacts.

    Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani urged both Washington and the U.S. embassy in Rome to act swiftly, regardless of when the shutdown ends.

    “(Italy’s) foreign ministry has made a request to the U.S. embassy in Rome, which confirmed that the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force are examining with the Pentagon the possibility of using their own funds to pay the Italian employees,” the ministry said in a statement.

    (Reporting by Francesca Landini; Editing by Susan Fenton)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • US Hit With Second Day of Flight Cuts as Shutdown Drags On

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    WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. airlines and travelers slogged through a second day of flight cuts across the country on Saturday as the government shutdown was expected to drive more cancellations in the days to come.  

    The Federal Aviation Administration instructed airlines to cut 4% of flights on Saturday at 40 major airports because of the shutdown. The cuts will rise to 6% on Tuesday and then to 10% by November 14.

    The cuts, which began at 6 a.m. ET (1100 GMT) on Friday, include about 700 flights from the four largest carriers – American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines.

    Airlines will cut fewer flights on Saturday than Friday because of lower overall volume. United will cut 168 flights, down from 184 Friday, while Southwest will cancel just under 100 flights, down from 120.

    During the record 39-day government shutdown, 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 security screeners have been forced to work without pay, leading to increased absenteeism. Many air traffic controllers were notified on Thursday that they would receive no compensation for a second pay period next week.

    The Trump administration has ramped up pressure on Congressional Democrats to agree to a Republican plan to fund the federal government, which would allow it to reopen. 

    Raising the specter of dramatic air-travel disruptions is one such effort. Democrats contend Republicans are to blame for the shutdown because they refuse to negotiate over extending health insurance subsidies.

    U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said it was possible that he could require 20% cuts in air traffic if things get worse and more controllers do not show up for work.

    “I assess the data,” Duffy said. “We’re going to make decisions based on what we see in the airspace.”

    Separate from the cancellations, absences of air traffic controllers on Friday forced the FAA to delay hundreds of flights at 10 airports including Atlanta, San Francisco, Houston, Phoenix, Washington, D.C., and Newark. More than 5,600 flights were delayed Friday.

    Earlier this week, FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said 20% to 40% of controllers were not showing up for work on any given day.

    (Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Your Staff Are Hiding Their Menopause Symptoms. Here’s How You Can Help

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    Menopause isn’t exactly pleasant, to say the least, but a new survey says that workplace culture is making the process just that much harder for many female workers because they feel they can’t talk about their experiences as they’re having them in the office. The study may prompt you to have a conversation with your workers about creating a supportive and open culture. 

    The survey of 900 employed U.S. women, from San Francisco-based resume service LiveCareer found that 97 percent of women who are experiencing menopause symptoms felt pressured to either hide or downplay what they were experiencing, news site Human Resources Director reported. 

    The report says 91 percent of women begin experiencing symptoms before they turn 50, which often coincides with reaching leadership levels in their career progression. In terms of symptoms, 61 percent experience mood swings or anxiety, and 60 percent say they have issues when trying to focus and stay productive. Meanwhile, 51 percent say they go through “brain fog,” and 46 percent say they have sleep-related problems. All of these symptoms may impact women’s day-to-day workplace experience, even affecting their performance and their interactions with colleagues or direct reports. LiveCareer’s report highlights this, noting that this can “erode confidence and concentration,” and the data backs this up, with 69 percent of respondents saying they experience “significant” work performance impacts when they’re suffering symptoms. 

    As to why so many women feel they can’t talk about this in the workplace, 61 percent say the culture “doesn’t support these conversations,” and a depressingly high proportion—61 percent—also say they fear being judged. Thirty-three percent think it’s not relevant to discuss the matter at work, which is their prerogative of course, but a worrying 18 percent say they don’t trust HR—possibly implying they feel the HR department will somehow use this information against them in the future. As the report notes, this experience has bigger implications, including on workers’ mental health, since “a culture of silence and stigma leaves many midlife working women managing serious symptoms without support.”

    Why should you care about this? 

    You may feel that your open, friendly company culture means yours is an organization where a female employee experiencing menopause feels accepted and supported. But the data show that this might not be true, and that many women may be holding back on talking about their menopause or partly hiding the impact it’s actually having on them. Talking to your staff to make it clear that you will support them through the process may go a long way to boosting the morale of menopausal workers, and it also shows that you’re an inclusive, compassionate leader—characteristics that may help lift workforce morale.

    The LiveCareer data also shows that nearly one in three women experiencing menopause have thought about changing their jobs or dialing back on working hours. This clearly has implications for their employers, who would have to go through the time-consuming and expensive process of recruiting to replace that role, or at least shuffle resources to cover someone who’s dialing back on hours worked.

    Lastly, menopause symptoms, and the stress of having to suppress them, can be considered a mental health issue too. In today’s stressful workplaces, creating a company culture where it’s acceptable to talk about mental health matters can be seen as a boon.

    Dan Simons, co-owner of the Founding Farmers Restaurant Group, a medium-sized D.C.-based company, recently landed his company in the spotlight for the right reasons when he explained that he encouraged workers to talk about mental health. “If you can leave your problems at the door, then I can presume you must be able to leave your left leg at the door,” Simons said, highlighting a certain hypocrisy in some workplace cultures. “I just don’t believe people can truly separate parts of themselves, nor should they, nor is it the most productive way to live,” he said.

    The early-rate deadline for the 2026 Inc. Regionals Awards is Friday, November 14, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply now.

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  • For First Time in Long US Government Shutdown, Hints of Progress Toward Reopening

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    By David Morgan and Bo Erickson

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The first glimmers toward ending a near-record long federal government shutdown were seen in the U.S. Capitol on Monday, as leading Senate Republicans and Democrats talked of a possible “off-ramp” to the disruption.

    For 34 days, a standoff between Congress and President Donald Trump has shuttered a range of federal programs including those that provide aid for low-income Americans, U.S. soldiers’ paychecks and airport operations.

    A new fiscal year began on October 1 with no legislation enacted to fund these activities. Thousands of federal workers have now been furloughed, and the battle has hung up around $1.7 trillion in discretionary funds that account for about one-third of total U.S. spending annually.

    “I’m optimistic,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican, told reporters when asked about prospects for ending the government shutdown that has many federal employees performing their jobs without paychecks.

    Asked if he was confident of ending the shutdown, Thune, of South Dakota, hedged, saying: “Don’t push it.”

    The comment was a small but significant change in tone. Democrats have linked government funding to extending a U.S. health insurance subsidy that is on the verge of expiring.

    Low-income families are seeing their food stamp benefits expire or only partially funded.

    “Based on, sort of, my gut of how these things operate, I think we’re getting close to an off-ramp here,” Thune said.

    The No. 2 Senate Democrat, Dick Durbin of Illinois said, “I sense that, too.” But he quickly added: “We’re still stuck with this premise of what we’re going to do about healthcare costs.”

    Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins of Maine told reporters that progress was made with Democrats offering specific language to break the impasse and staffs from both parties laboring over the weekend. “It just feels better this week,” she said.

    Nonetheless, Collins admonished: “It could all fall apart again. And I don’t mean to imply there’s an agreement.” 

    Meanwhile, a bipartisan handful of House of Representatives moderates floated a compromise plan.

    Axios reported a group of four House centrists, three Republicans and one Democrat, offered a plan to extend the expanded Affordable Care Act tax credit for two years, but with new caps on people whose income is at the upper end of qualifying.

    Since October 1, groups of Senate Republicans and Democrats have held sporadic private meetings to look at ways to resolve the gridlock that has consumed Washington but so far have been unable to get to the finish line.

    (Reporting by David Morgan and Bo Erickson, Writing by Richard Cowan; Editing by David Gregorio)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Fed’s Cook Acknowledges Attempt to Remove Her, Declines Comment Amid Legal Action

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    (Reuters) -Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook on Monday said “it is the honor of my life” to work at the central bank amid attempts by the Trump administration to fire her.

    Cook’s comments came after a speech on the economy, and she said of the legal attempt to remove her that “because the case is ongoing, it would be inappropriate for me to comment further today.” She added in an appearance at the Brookings Institution “I am beyond grateful” for the support she has gotten.

    The case to remove Cook is now before the Supreme Court. 

    (Reporting by Michael S. Derby; Editing by Chris Reese)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Trump Administration to Use Emergency Funds to Pay Partial Food Aid Benefits

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    (Reuters) -The Trump administration said it plans on Monday to partially fund food aid for millions of Americans after two judges ruled it must use contingency funds to pay for the benefits in November during the government shutdown.

    (Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Chris Reese)

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  • Why Hiring Managers Say Many Gen-Z Workers Aren’t Prepared for the Workplace

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    You may think it’s a tired old trope to say that Gen-Z workers aren’t fitting into the workplace in the same way that older generations have, but new data from pre-employment skills testing outfit Criteria suggests that company leaders who hire new workers actually agree, to an alarming extent. 

    In fact, the California-based company’s data, from its Hiring Benchmark Report, says that of the 350 hiring managers polled for their survey, just 8 percent feel that Gen-Z workers are “well-prepared” for the modern workplace. Now, a sizable 49 percent did say Gen-Z was “somewhat” ready, but another large share—43 percent—flatly responded “no.” 

    Interestingly, Criteria’s data looked into the age breakdown of the respondents driving these stats and found that Gen-Z agrees: Just 24 percent think their own generation is ready to join the workforce. That number “falls steeply among older workers,” the report notes, suggesting older workers are more skeptical about how the youngest workers will fit in, and there’s also a note that women were, on the whole, slightly more positive about Gen-Z workers than men were.

    Perhaps more importantly, at least when it comes to data that may impact your company, fully 50 percent of the hiring professionals surveyed said they definitely think Gen-Z workers should be recruited “differently to other generations,” and a further 37 percent said they somewhat agreed with this notion. 

    The report digs into these responses, noting that Gen-Z workers are “known to be the first digital natives, having grown up with access to the Internet and smart mobile devices.” This means they have a “unique outlook,” along with a “a new approach to the world and the workplace, which may require a shift in recruitment strategies.” These modified strategies could include “mobile-first recruitment or social recruitment” methods. This part of the report marries up to a recent study that looked into how younger generations get data about their employment benefits, finding that 37 percent of Gen-Z workers have used social platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Reddit, and even YouTube to seek out benefits information—the highest percentage of any generation responding to the survey. This data fully underscores that Gen-Z’s thinking is indeed digital-first, and social-media-centric. 

    One criticism leveled at Gen-Z workers is that they’ve already become too reliant on AI technology, eroding their critical thinking abilities. A New York Magazine report this year asserted that basically everybody was cheating their way through college using AI—meaning that they lack certain basic skills critical to taking on duties in the typical workplace.

    But AI is also said to be impacting the entry-level roles which many Gen-Z workers would be stepping into as they leave education and enter the job market. Interestingly, Criteria’s data notes that 37 percent of hiring managers say they’re hiring mostly for entry-level roles, with industries like finance and transportation and logistics being more likely to be looking for mostly entry-level staff. The tech industry, as you may suspect, is the one least likely to say they’re recruiting entry-level workers. 

    So what’s the takeaway for you?

    It may be harder than you expect to find quality talent in the young worker applicant pool—you may have to fish harder than in the past before you catch the right candidates. And you may be best advised to avoid traditional job postings and instead look at using social platforms to recruit Gen-Z staff.

    Another takeaway from the new study is that once you have successfully selected new Gen-Z employees to join your ranks, you may have to invest a little more time and money than previously to polish their skills. Gen-Z thinks very differently about work-life balance, which may require you to offer a more flexible suite of employee benefits, and you may have to encourage them to use their own critical faculties before relying on automation software like AI.

    That said, Gen-Z’s digital-first status also could benefit your whole workforce, and maybe even teach some old dogs some new AI tricks.

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    Kit Eaton

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  • Job Hugging Replaced Quiet Quitting, but it Won’t Last. Here’s How to Retain Talent

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    As companies reduce recruiting to a bare minimum, employees have increasingly responded by holding tightly to the relatively secure jobs they already have, and forgetting about trying to jump to better professional or salary opportunities elsewhere. The upshot of that job hugging is that managers should benefit from increased staff stability, especially with a majority of those workers now saying they’re strapping themselves in for at least two more years — whether they want to or not.

    Remember the heady, indeed headache-y Great Resignation of 2021-2023, when the post-pandemic abundance of job openings and rising wages led workers to swap employers at dizzying paces? Job hugging is creating an opposite situation you might call the Grand Retention. That’s happening as employees hold tight to secure and comfortable positions, and banish any thoughts about facing today’s cold and inhospitable employment market. According to a new survey by work opportunity platform Monster, nearly 50 percent of the 1,004 U.S. workers it surveyed said they’d joined the current job hugging trend, with 63 percent predicting its spread across workplaces will accelerate in 2026.

    As a result, employers may finally be rid of cold-sweat flashbacks of Great Resignation era scrambling to fill jobs.

    According to Monster, nearly half of all workers it questioned said they’re not only holding tight to their existing jobs, but in doing so are sticking with them longer than they had planned to. That stay-put strategy looks set to be in place long–term, too. Fully 75 percent of respondents said they intend on sticking with their current employers for at least two more years, by which time today’s anemic hiring rates may have rebounded.

    In other words, the unofficial motto for the workforce facing today’s miserly job market is to move slow and break nothing — especially anything affecting employment security.

    “Workers are holding on tighter than ever, but not because they’re complacent but because they’re cautious,” said Monster career expert Vicki Salemi in comments on the findings. “Job security and stability have become emotional safety nets. The new loyalty is about survival, not necessarily satisfaction.” 

    It’s also not entirely about loyalty, but also about sticking solidly with stable work. That’s why the job hugging trend winds up being a two-way street for both employers and their clingy workers.

    On the one hand, companies can rely on rock solid staff stability, which may allow them to optimize their workforce through assignment changes or other potentially disruptive moves at minimal risk of affected employees quitting. At the same time, business owners Monster also surveyed said they appreciated the employee commitment, institutional knowledge, and lower turnover costs that job hugging affords.

    On the other hand, employees benefit from the comfort of safeguarding their pay and benefits, as well as their employment security — the reasons most cited for their job hugging decision. The fact that three-quarters of respondents said they plan to stay put for at least two more years is also in part due to that defensive clinginess being viewed either neutrally, or in a positive fashion by a combined 93 percent of survey participants. Who’d fault a colleague from refusing to jump ship in a raging typhoon?

    So what could go wrong with staffs putting headlocks on their jobs?

    On the employee side, 94 percent of respondents said defensively digging into their current roles increased the risk they’ll eventually regret missed chances of higher pay. Other potentially negative consequences participants cited included burning out from lack of change, or feeling their career advancement had become stuck.

    That last concern may also create problems for business owners. Minimal turnover may result in many employees feeling they’ve stagnated while waiting out the labor market freeze. That’s especially true of higher performers, who in a less dire employment scenario would likely look for better outside possibilities — or demand internal opportunities.

    According to a recent blog post by management consultancy Korn Ferry — which initially coined the term “job hugging” — those risks mean businesses should act now to minimize their consequences in the future. In doing so, the company advises companies to identify their most talented and productive workers, and offer them additional training and advancement opportunities.

    Doing that should keep more valued employees satisfied as long as national hiring rates remain flat, and give them additional reasons to stay put when the job market opens up again.

    “Show your employees that you care about them reaching their personal objectives,” said Alan Guarino, Korn Ferry’s vice chairman of board and CEO services practice, in comments on managing the job hugging craze. “(G)ive them a safe, fair, working environment, and you will win the long game.”

    Indeed, while Monster’s survey indicates respondents believe job hugging will likely accelerate into 2026, Salemi says employers should remain mindful that the trend will weaken once job markets pick up again. Preparing for that, businesses should start making moves now to retain people they’ll want to keep when the current labor market freeze starts thawing.

    “Staying put doesn’t mean standing still,” she said. “Workers can continue to explore new opportunities passively and evaluate them carefully. The bar for making a move may be higher right now, but it’s not closed.”

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