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As my husband was growing his finance career, the year-end bonus became a pivotal moment: to see how much his hard work translated into cash. And rather than rushing to tell me the news, he and his close peers would gather at a local bar on bonus day to share their numbers. They wanted to know who got paid how much. You share your bonus number with your colleagues? I asked in disbelief. Why would you do that? We want to know the range of bonuses given out, he shared. This also helps us understand how we can get paid more next time around and do better. When I started my career, I remember a mentor once telling me, Dont talk about religion, sex, or politics at work, she cautioned. And dont ever tell anyone how much you make. While some of those corporate rules have changed, many of us still remain reluctant to talk about how much we make. According to one study, only 19% of employees have asked coworkers about their salaries. And most, 68%, say they avoid talking about money at work at all. Despite this reluctance to mention finances, many say that they do want to talk about pay at work: 56% say they wish discussing salaries wasnt taboo. So this begs the question: If we cant talk about our salaries openly, how can we be motivated to work harder, avoid miscommunications and misunderstandings about salaries, and ultimately close the gender and racial pay gaps? If you want to get better about talking about money, and understanding your earning potential, heres the case for why you should talk to your coworkers about how much you make: Find out if you are being paid fairly and equitably You may feel you are being paid less than your coworkers, especially compared to recent external hires. You may feel that your company is taking advantage of you, overworking and underpaying you. You may feel that you received the lowest salary increase and got the worst bonus ever this year. And these are all feelings; we need to move from feelings to facts to understand if theres an issue with our pay or not. According to the1935 National Labor Relations Act, employees have a right to talk to each other about their salaries. While companies may discourage it, it is not illegal for employees to discuss their compensation with each other. If you do decide to talk to your coworkers about your salary, you should be prepared for what you might hear. First, you want to make sure you are discussing the topic of pay with trusted colleagues, or risk having your salary being gossiped about. Second, if you find out you are being paid fairly and equitably versus your peers, you can then put your mind and ease, and go back to making an impact at work. Third, if you find out you are being paid less than peers who are doing the same job as you, be prepared to work through feelings of anger, jealousy, or resentment. While they could be better at negotiating, they also could have experiences you dont have and may be performing better at their job than you. Be prepared to consider all of that before discussing your pay with others at work. Discover whats really important to leadership If your coworker is getting paid more than you, and you are both at the same level, this is a moment to also get curious and discover whats important to leadership. In my husbands case, finding out what bonuses others were paid had him reflect on two key things: first, his coworkers performance versus his own performance. He could be self-aware and think about what he could be doing better, and what he could learn from his coworker. Second, he could acknowledge that his coworkers bonus was about their performance, but also what deals they were placed on. How much they got paid was also about what work was ultimately important and seen as valuable to leadership. As priorities continue to shift for your company in an uncertain market, make sure you are working on business deals, initiatives, and projects important to leadership. You may not have full control over this. If you have the power to pause or stop work thats no longer relevant, do that, or make the case to your boss on why you shouldnt be working on that initiative anymore. And if you have the opportunity and bandwidth to raise your hand to work on a project thats of importance to leadership, go for it. Discovering what leadership thinks is valuable work during this time is also a way to make sure you are positioned to get compensated well. Use the data to advocate for your own pay As I discuss in my book Reimagine Inclusion: Debunking 13 Myths to Transform Your Workplace, I was raised not to talk about money. My parents taught me to never ask someone how much they make or to discuss how much you make, or to ask how much something cost or was worth. It wasnt until well into my adulthood that I discovered how much my father made working as an executive and what my mother made as a teacher. It took me years to break the silence and learn how to talk about money. And the more I started to read about money, to talk about money, to think about money, over time it slowly became easier to talk about my own compensation. Talking to your coworkers about your salary can help give you data points to help advocate for your own pay. That doesnt mean you should walk into your bosss office and say, Well I discovered Mita is making this much, and so I should have my salary increased by $10,000 dollars. But it does provide another data point into how your compensation is determined, which includes what projects you are working on, what your performance is, the pay range for your current role, your expertise and experiences, what the external market is offering for your role, and more. You can use the information you receive from your coworkers to have a productive conversation with your boss when advocating for your pay. If we want to create fair and equitable workplaces for everyone, we need to get comfortable talking about how much money we each make. The pros of talking about our salaries with our coworkers just might outweigh the cons, so we all can feel comfortable and confident and know our own worth.
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E-Commerce
For the past few years, hybrid work has meant splitting time between home and office. And for the most part, people like itflexibility, fewer commutes, more balance. But theres a new hybrid model on the rise, and it has nothing to do with geography. As Artificial Intelligence is woven into the fabric of business alongside humans and begins to help support human workloads, the future of hybrid work wont only be defined by where we work, but by how we work together with our AI counterparts. As Agentic AI enters a more mature phase, organizations are moving beyond experimentation to ask deeper questions: How does AI complement human strengths? What does meaningful collaboration between people and machines realistically look like? How can AI reach its full potential to drive business value? (Hint: its not going to do it all by itself.) The future of work isnt about automating humans out of their jobs (although some jobs will become obsolete); its about augmenting peoples skills with technology that helps them be faster, better, and more efficient than they could be on their own. In the not-too-distant future, hybrid roles will be defined as part human, part AI, where technology enhances the judgment, creativity, and efficiency of its human counterpart. Whats the Worst that can Happen? From apocalyptic headlines to late-night TV jokes about being replaced by robots, it can be easy to find signs of AI anxiety. According to an independent market survey conducted for Concentrix of 1,000 US consumers aged 18 and up, 51% of people would characterize themselves as somewhat familiar with autonomous decision-making or agentic AI. There is work to be done to bring everyone up to speed on what AIs purpose is, and isnt. When asked about whether Agentic AI will have a positive or negative impact on the future of work, 36% saw the glass half full with a somewhat to mostly positive view that AI will be helpful, but acknowledged that there are risks; 31% of respondents stood in the glass half empty crowd with a somewhat to mostly negative sentiment, saying AI could introduce job losses and ethical issues. Public opinion remains divided, reflecting the uncertainty among workers in the market. Beyond simple efficiencies For now, AI is just starting to prove its worth by helping people with tedious or time-consuming tasks, like helping write important emails, summarizing meetings, and producing (simple) reports. But the reality is that these days wont last longcompanies are already moving on from low-hanging efficiencies toward revenue growth and innovation. Forward-thinking companies are shaking things up by challenging their workforce’s skills and tech-savviness and revamping their internal operations to be AI-centric, actively shifting from Prompt-Engineering to Agentic Engineering (Prompts + Data integration), instead of just slapping in chatbots and calling it a day. Companies that struggle with adoption of AI are often going about it the wrong way. They have been looking for places where AI can automate a task or replace a human, rather than enhance the experience of a journey or workflow. They have been piloting AI projects and arbitrarily cutting humans out of the loop, oftentimes with disastrous effects. AI won’t replace you, but someone using it better, will The biggest mistake companies make when implementing AI? Using it to replace people instead of empowering them. The next evolution is for companies to stop thinking about how to replace human employees with AI, and start thinking about how AI can augment human laborand vice versa. AI needs humans to thrive, and humans will thrive with AI. If AI can take care of the low-hanging fruit of a persons workload, the human is then freed to do more contextual, empathetic, and strategic thinking. There is tremendous value in the human experience that improves business outcomes in ways that AI cannot do alone. Understanding of how emotion, context, and humor play into everyday life, is where humans excel. Emotional Intelligence (EQ) may well be the perfect companion to augment AIs speed and efficiency, and we havent begun to discover what were capable of when we truly embrace the potential of the hybrid world. Interpretation and integration While some jobs that arent as heavily reliant on EQ to be successful may be automated, AI is already creating new opportunities for people who can interpret, manage, and integrate AI-driven technologies. The hybrid jobs of tomorrow are starting to be found in a variety of industries. In healthcare, the AI-Assisted Healthcare Professional will help doctors and nurses use AI to enhance diagnostics, personalize treatment plans, and manage patient data effectively, to lead to better patient outcomes. Designers who have woven AI technologies into the user interfaces have created better user experiences. Creative professionals who have used AI to rapidly create music, marketing content, and movie making are in demand. Were only seeing the beginning of hybrid jobshuman imagination will define those that come next. Your AI coworker just dropped you a message, dont leave it unread What will it take for humans to build trust in Agentic AI? Exactly half (50%) of survey respondents said greater human insight and ability to intervene is a good place to start. They want proof of AIs accuracy and reliability over time (42%). And they desire more regulatory oversight (41%). These findings tell us that people are ready to embrace a more integrated, collaborative approach to AI, but they desire a trusted human counterpart to have peace of mind that AIs not in charge, its part of a hybrid work team. Time to go out and make friends with your AI colleague.
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E-Commerce
Brand licensing deals can be an easy way to make a quick buck, but it’s not without risks. A man who splurged for one of President Donald Trump’s officially licensed watches learned that lesson the hard way after the timepiece arrived with an unfortunate typo. The $640 limited-edition “Inauguration First Lady” watch the Rhode Island man bought read “Rump” instead of “Trump” across its pink face. “We expected that it would have the integrity of the president of the United States,” Tim Petit, who bought the watch for his wife, told the local news station WJAR. He said it made his wife cry. [Screenshot: NBC 10 WJAR/YouTube] Perhaps expecting integrity from a product that trades on the name and likeness of the first felon president in U.S. history, a man whose second term in office has become a historic tangle of conflicts of interest, is asking for too much. But it’s also a pitfall that all brands face when they outsource their products. Licensing your brand can increase brand recognition and profits without cost risks, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, but without specific, enforced licensing requirements, you risk losing out on quality control. Not that the Trump brand is particularly airtight. Trump has long made money from licensing deals, with resulting products such as Trump: The Game, Trump Water, and Trump Steaks. In between terms, Trump cashed in on new product releases like Trump Sneakers and God Bless the USA Bibles, all using LLCs that licensed his name and likeness to manufacture and market Trump-themed kitsch to his political supporters. [Screenshot: gettrumpwatches.com] Trump Watches aren’t sold directly by Trump, his business, or an aligned political entity, but by TheBestWatchesonEarth LLC, a manufacturer with a business address at a nondescript Wyoming building, which is also home to a daycare center. With Trump back in office, Trump Watches and other licensed storefronts represent something unprecedented: a president personally profiting off of merch sales, a category that until now has been relegated to campaign fundraising. And in a shocking but not surprising twist for the president who’s made domestic manufacturing central to his political agenda, the watches make no claim to be made in the United States (GQ actually sourced them to China). Luckily for the Rhode Island couple with the misspelled watch, the story has a happy ending. Though Trump Watches has a strict policy of no refunds or exchanges and states on its website that “images shown are for illustration purposes only and may not be an exact representation of the product,” the company made an exception for the “Rump” watch, though only after the media got involved. Petit said he didn’t hear back from the company until after WJAR reached out for comment, and then he got a call from Trump Watches offering to replace the watch and gift him an $800 coupon. Sometimes all it takes is a free press.
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E-Commerce
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