If you went on LinkedIn this week, you probably saw hot takes on (and parodies of) Hypersocial CEO Braden Wallake, who posted a weeping selfie after announcing layoffs. It now has almost 35,000 reactions and 7,000 comments, most accusing him of performative self-pity.

Wallake has since written a follow-up (“Yes, I am the crying CEO”), trying to help former employees find new opportunities. He seems genuine here, but social media pile-ons can be merciless and unfair. Still, when staff reductions become necessary, the focus should be on employees’ feelings, not your own.

Work Pray Code: Can the office fulfill our spiritual sides?

Work-life balance isn’t one-size-fits-all: Our psychologist explains. 

Chef predicted the future: Looking back at a Favreau fave.

Nobody actually worships their CEO. (At least, not since Steve Jobs passed away.) But UC Berkeley sociology professor Carolyn Chen, author of the new book Work Pray Code: When Work Becomes Religion in Silicon Valley, is concerned that companies are misusing traditional spiritual practices to keep employees at the office for extreme hours.

Many major companies have incorporated mindfulness training into their office cultures. For instance, Aetna saw productivity boosts worth $3,000 per employee of those who meditated. While Chen acknowledges these benefits, she told b. that such programs can’t fix the root causes of workaholism and burnout.

How do these programs go beyond helping workers chill out and perform better?

For some places, it might be just about productivity, but many of the places I studied understood it as being more than that. One of the HR executives I interviewed told me what differentiates great HR is [asking], “How do we nourish the souls of our employees?” They saw employees holistically — mind, body, and spirit.

What are some examples of that?

Salesforce has this huge conference each year, Dreamforce, and they brought in over 25 [Buddhist] monks to participate and essentially, in a sense, minister to participants. For other companies, it’s not just teaching people how to breathe; they might read poems of religious and spiritual texts.

I interviewed one former Catholic priest who has become an executive coach, and he said there’s nothing different.

Wouldn’t employees rather show up from 9 to 5 and then practice spirituality on their own time?

You don’t work just eight or nine hours in Silicon Valley. If you work 50 hours, that’s a light week. Most people I interviewed were working 60. If you’re working 60 hours per week, you don’t have time to take care of life. The solution to that work-life balance for [tech] companies is, “You show up for work and we’ll take care of life.”

In a way, Silicon Valley offers a great solution to this, but they also created the problem. There’s something deeply wrong with this picture in the first place. … People will continue worshiping work if they don’t have anything else.

Work Pray Code is available now.

(Source: Shutterstock)

The average American feels relaxed for a grand total of 40 minutes per day, according to a recent survey. This figure isn’t just stressful; it’s dangerous. The Mayo Clinic warns that burnout at work can lead to substance abuse, heart disease, high blood pressure and even type 2 diabetes.

Where should workers draw the line? Rice University professor Dr. Eden King, a former president of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, explains below how we can find our own balance.

Sleep-deprived parents of infants or caregivers of elderly family members… Young people who want to pursue non-work interests and hobbies… Workers busting it to get to the top of the ladder… They all struggle with work-life balance.

In fact, 72% of Americans consider work-life balance to be very important, but it means different things for different people.

The Balance Depends On You

Our experiences of work-life balance are driven by how we spend our time — and whether that time is aligned with what we personally value:

• • If family is the most important thing right now and you aren’t able to spend much time with them, you may feel off-balance.

• • Or if you feel like a project at work is really critical and you can’t prioritize it because of family obligations, you may also experience an imbalance. 

Make Your Own Game Plan

A personal strategy is key to creating change. Try to create schedules and patterns that help align your time with your values.

This may mean working from home to reduce commute times on days when your parents need you to take them to the doctor, or finding after-school activities for your kids on days when important meetings are held at work. It could even mean taking on a challenging work assignment when it is aligned with your goals or passion.

You might feel more balance if you make adjustments that fit with the particular kind of work-life experience that’s right for you.

(Source: Open Road Films)

Jon Favreau’s 2014 indie darling Chef, which had us drooling at the mouth over Cuban sandwiches and chocolate lava cakes, was nearly a decade ahead of its time. The comeback story of fictional celebrity chef Carl Casper has a few lessons for today’s workplace:

• Trust your employees’ judgment: Restaurant owner Riva (Dustin Hoffman) hires Carl, a contemporary chef, to run his kitchen but doesn’t allow him to deviate from a traditional menu. When Riva refuses to negotiate with Carl during a career-defining moment, Carl hits the road.
• Flexibility breeds advancement: Carl finds true happiness in his food truck because he aligned his passion with a versatile work environment that allowed him to flourish. (Likewise, millions of Americans who quit their jobs in the past year have started their own small businesses.)
• Support a healthy work-life balance: While working as head chef at the restaurant, Carl’s work often bled into the little time he had to spend with his son. Once Carl was able to successfully devote more time to his family, he became focused and inspired.

(Source: HBO)

We all prefer to have a window or aisle seat with nobody in the middle. To maximize your legroom the next time you fly, try this hack.

Premium economy cabins, such as Delta’s Comfort Plus or United’s Economy Plus, are available for an extra fee (or even free to certain elite members upon booking). It’s less expensive than first class and offers a few extra inches of legroom, but more importantly, airlines typically fill middle seats in this section from front to back. 

So choose an aisle or window seat in one of the last rows of premium economy. (If booking with a sweetheart, choose both the aisle and window seat, leaving the middle seat unfilled.) Who knows, you may get lucky!

Written by Marty Beckerman, Dr. Eden King, Antonio Ferme, and John Busby. Comic by John McNamee.