Remember the scene in La La Land when every car key at the pool party belonged to a Prius? If you live in L.A., you know that’s a slight exaggeration — very slight — but in the future, it’ll basically be the law.

California will ban all sales of new gas-powered cars by 2035, likely forcing a nationwide change due to the size of the state’s economy. Most automakers were headed in this direction anyway. But, even though a dozen years is a lot of runway, it still marks a significant milestone.

Someday you won’t choose whether to go green with your next vehicle, just which shade of green you prefer.

Calling in sick: Does remote work mean never taking a day off?

Psychologist: A few ways to keep your top talent.

Tommy Boy: Classic comedy is a tutorial on SPIN Selling.

(Source: Shutterstock)

Remote work is changing the sick day. Employees who are mildly under the weather can now perform their job without bringing their germs to the office. That’s good for productivity, but if they’re more than mildly under the weather and still feel pressured to work — as two-thirds of American workers do now — it’s not healthy for anyone, including employers.

While 7 in 10 employees in the U.S. have guaranteed sick leave, it’s typically only for a week per year. Many companies blend sick days into Paid Time Off, which means employees have even less incentive to rest during an illness, as they sacrifice vacation days. That’s one thing for the common cold, but quite another with waning Covid vaccine efficiency.

Sick Workers Suffer Performance Declines

If you merely have the sniffles and can otherwise perform at 100% (or close enough), remote work is a perfect solution. However, if you should rest and take care of yourself but telecommute anyway, your work will likely suffer — and you’ll need more sick days later.

This could affect your mental health along with your physical health: A Danish study found that working while sick increases the risk of depression. Taking a sick day when needed is critical for employee wellbeing, which reflects a company’s health and culture.

Encourage Taking Sick Days

You should have a clear paid leave policy for serious illness (and for other reasons). If employees feel they can’t produce work that’s up to par, they should be able to let you know without guilt.

Communication is always key. Perhaps the employee feels up to performing simpler tasks while they recuperate, just not work that requires a great deal of thought and effort.

What If You Suspect an Employee Is Playing Hooky?

There’s a decent chance you’re not paranoid. Forty percent of workers have pretended to be sick, according to a 2017 CareerBuilder survey. (A quarter of employers have fired a worker for faking an illness!)

If you believe an employee is abusing your generous leave policy, you may be within your rights to request a doctor’s note, though HIPAA limits the specific information you could receive. And if the employee is actually sick, they might resent you for the demand.

Set a Healthy Example

If managers and executives continue to work when they feel awful, it’s not doing the company any favors. But when sick employees know they can take the time to recover — because they’ve seen their own bosses take a day or two off — the whole team benefits. Nobody should feel as if they have to clock in from their hospital bed.

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Dr. Eden King is a Rice University professor of psychology and former president of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

After two-plus years of business challenges — a global pandemic, economic uncertainty, and supply chain struggles — the rate at which workers quit their jobs has reached a 20-year high. The labor market shift known as the Great Resignation is putting a heavy burden on employers to retain talented workers.

The most effective solution is to address the factors that push employees away. Thanks to the Pew Foundation, we know exactly what they are.

Few Opportunities for Advancement (63%)

Employees are more satisfied with their jobs when they get to learn, grow, and acquire new skills. (And of course, this development helps organizations too!)

Providing clear, consistent, and adaptable opportunities for development is another way to retain top talent. Such opportunities should be clearly linked with a career path that aligns with individuals’ goals.

Inadequate Pay (63%)

Satisfaction with pay is also a critical predictor of turnover. Employees need to feel like they are treated fairly and that they are valued.

Make sure to consider internal equity (e.g., salary compression between new and longtime workers) as well as external equity (e.g., what the market is offering for particular jobs and expertise). You can also expand the pie by thinking creatively about non-monetary aspects of compensation like vacation time or wellness perks.

Feeling Disrespected at Work (57%)

There is some truth to the idiom “people don’t quit jobs, they quit bosses.” The quality of an employee’s relationship with their supervisor is one of the strongest determinants of turnover.

So leaders can improve retention by building or bolstering their relationships with team members. Prioritize listening and conveying respect for employees’ perspectives, whether it’s in a meeting, presentation, or feedback session.

Leaders have the opportunity to turn the Great Resignation around for their teams by investing time and resources into building relationships, career opportunities, and fair compensation systems.

(Source: Paramount)

Tommy Boy is more than a beloved ‘90s comedy that shows Chris Farley at the height of his enthusiastic, twitchy, hilarious powers. One particular scene is a masterclass in SPIN (Situation, Problem, Implication, Need-payoff) Selling, which Neil Rackham popularized in 1988. 

While attempting to sell brake pads to factory manager Ted Nelson, Tommy (Farley) realizes that simply lecturing his customers isn’t enough. Tommy flips the script, harnesses his “chicken-wing” mode, and starts asking questions instead: 

• Situation: Nelson wants a guaranteed label on the box to assure customers of the product’s quality. Tommy catches Nelson’s attention by questioning the reality of this situation. 
• Problem: After ranting about the “Guarantee Fairy,” Tommy addresses the core of the problem: A label doesn’t actually correlate with the quality of a product.
• Implication: Tommy implies that Nelson’s previous brake-pad seller who “guaranteed” their effectiveness was simply lying. 
• Need-Payoff: Nelson finally understands that he must sell a quality product superior to his competition’s, label or not.

Spin your selling strategy and have the customer answer your questions. As Richard (David Spade) wisely told Tommy, “These people are buying you, not just brake pads.”

A one-of-a-kind, gluten-free, low-sugar “natural beer” fermented from bananas, millet, sorghum, and honey, Soonish is slightly tart and subtly sweet. A lighter, healthier option that won’t weigh you down, it still packs a punch at 4.2% ABV. To paraphrase Gwen Stefani, this stuff is bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S.

Written by Jane Meggitt, Dr. Eden King, Antonio Ferme, and Aaron Goldfarb. Comic by John McNamee.