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Analysis of email traffic suggests remote work may stifle innovation

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The debate over what is lost when remote work replaces an in-person workplace just got an infusion of much-needed data. According to a study conducted at MIT, when workers go remote, the types of work relationships that encourage innovation tend to be hard hit.

Two and a half years after Covid-19 shut down offices and research labs around the world, “we can finally use data to address a critical question: How did the pandemic-induced adoption of remote working affect our creativity and innovation on the job?” says Carlo Ratti, professor of the practice of urban technology and planning and director of MIT’s Senseable City Lab. “Until now, we could only guess. Today we can finally start to put real data behind those hypotheses.”

The MIT researchers, with colleagues at Texas A&M University, Italian National Research Council, Technical University of Denmark, and Oxford University, analyzed aspects of a de-identified email network comprising 2,834 MIT research staff, faculty, and postdoctoral researchers, for 18 months starting in December 2019. All of the emails were anonymized and examined to analyze the network structure of their origins and destinations, not their content.

Toward late March 2020, the Covid pandemic abruptly ended much of the on-site research on MIT’s campus. With the shift to remote work, the new study shows, email communications between different research units fell off, leading to a decrease in what researchers call the “weak ties” that undergird the exchange of new ideas that tend to foster innovation.

Weak ties were defined as any connection between two people who had no mutual contact in the email network. In other words, two people, A and B, formed a weak tie if there was no third person C that both of them also contacted. “Strong ties,” on the other hand, which are the type of communication that tends to expose us to the same ideas repeatedly, increased. Over the course of the lockdown, the researchers found that “ego networks,” referring to an individual's unique web of connections, became more stagnant, with contacts becoming more similar each week.

The study was published in the August 22 issue of Nature Computational Science .

The researchers hypothesized that physical proximity should play a role in the development of weak ties. As such, weak ties between researchers in physically distant labs, who would be unlikely to encounter each other by chance even when working on campus, should not have dropped significantly when workers went remote. The data turned out to support that hypothesis, the team reports.

“Our research shows that co-location is a crucial factor to foster weak ties,” says Paolo Santi, researcher at MIT’s Senseable City Lab and at the Italian National Research Council. “Our data showed that weak ties evaporated at MIT starting on March 23, 2020, with a 38 percent drop,” he says. Over the next 18 months, the drop translated into an estimated cumulative loss of more than 5,100 new weak ties.

The idea that “weak ties” are conducive to innovation dates back to research published in 1973 by sociologist Mark Granovetter, who wrote that “an initially unpopular innovation spread by those with few weak ties is more likely to be confined to a few cliques. … Individuals with many weak ties are, by my arguments, best placed to diffuse such a difficult innovation.” Granovetter’s research was “just the beginning of a vast literature in sociology, which has subsequently confirmed and substantiated his ideas,” Ratti says.

In an accompanying commentary article in Nature Computational Science , John Meluso of the University of Vermont calls the “weak ties” idea “one of the oldest theories in social networks,” while pointing out that what generates and maintains the ties has remained vague. He notes that the new study’s computational techniques shed light on the causal mechanism of “propinquity,” the idea that proximity increases the odds of creating new connections and strengthening existing ones.

The researchers investigated not only the abrupt decline in weak ties when the MIT campus was shut down, but also the transition when researchers began returning to campus on July 15, 2021. A partial reinstatement of weak ties occurred after that point, the team found. With these findings, the researchers created a model that predicted that a complete return to the workplace would result in a “complete recovery of weak ties.”

Ratti and his colleagues suggest that as companies and organizations refine their post-lockdown remote work policies, they should try to find ways to encourage serendipitous interactions across departments and research units to foster the spread of new and diverse information. As Ratti explains, those interactions create exposure for those involved to “a diverse set of people and ideas.” At the same time, the study authors acknowledged that remote or hybrid work offers advantages to individuals, especially in terms of flexibility.

“Employers would make a mistake in discarding the newfound flexibility of the Covid years,” Ratti says. “Our study hints at the fact that establishing a work balance trade-off by combining in-person and remote interactions among colleagues seems to be the optimal solution, which could inform the transition to a hybrid, post-Covid-19 ‘new normal.’”

Achieving that balance could involve modeling the minimum amount of in-person work needed to keep weak ties activated. It could also involve transforming traditional office floor plans designed for individual tasks into “more open, dynamic spaces that encourage the so-called cafeteria effect,” in which people from diverse groups sit and converse together, or event-based spaces for different communities to converge, Ratti says.

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Writing for The Boston Globe , Prof. Carlo Ratti discusses his research exploring the impact of remote work on social relationships. “There does not need to be a complete return to the office; remote work has undeniable benefits, not least flexibility,” writes Ratti. “However, businesses and organizations must develop a new work regime, a methodology that emphasizes the best of what physical space can do for us.”

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NSF funds groundbreaking research project led by Northeastern to ‘democratize’ artificial intelligence

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Computer science professor David Bau is the lead principal investigator of National Deep Inference Fabric, a revolutionary new project involving industry and academic partners aimed at unlocking the secrets of AI.

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Groundbreaking research by Northeastern University will investigate how generative AI works and provide industry and the scientific community with unprecedented access to the inner workings of large language models.

Backed by a $9 million grant from the National Science Foundation , Northeastern will lead the National Deep Inference Fabric that will unlock the inner workings of large language models in the field of AI.

The project will create a computational infrastructure that will equip the scientific community with deep inferencing tools in order to develop innovative solutions across fields. An infrastructure with this capability does not currently exist.

At a fundamental level, large language models such as Open AI’s ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini are considered to be “black boxes” which limits both researchers and companies across multiple sectors in leveraging large-scale AI.

Sethuraman Panchanathan, director of the NSF, says the impact of NDIF will be far-reaching.

“Chatbots have transformed society’s relationship with AI, but how they operate is yet to be fully understood,” Panchanathan says. “With NDIF, U.S. researchers will be able peer inside the ‘black box’ of large language models, gaining new insights into how they operate and greater awareness of their potential impacts on society.”

Even the sharpest minds in artificial intelligence are still trying to wrap their heads around how these and other neural network-based tools reason and make decisions, explains David Bau, a computer science professor at Northeastern and the lead principal investigator for NDIF.

“We fundamentally don’t understand how these systems work, what they learned from the data, what their internal algorithms are,” Bau says. “I consider it one of the greatest mysteries facing scientists today — what is the basis for synthetic cognition?”

David Madigan, Northeastern’s provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, says the project will “help address one of the most pressing socio-technological problems of our time — how does AI work?”

“Progress toward solving this problem is clearly necessary before we can unlock the massive potential for AI to do good in a safe and trustworthy way,” Madigan says.

NDIF aims to democratize AI

In addition to establishing an infrastructure that will open up the inner workings of these AI models, NDIF aims to democratize AI, expanding access to large language models. 

Northeastern will be building an open software library of neural network tools that will enable researchers to conduct their experiments without having to bring their own resources, and sets of educational materials to teach them how to use NDIF. 

The project will build an AI-enabled workforce by training scientists and students to serve as networks of experts, who will train users across disciplines.

“There will be online and in-person educational workshops that we will be running, and we’re going to do this geographically dispersed at many locations taking advantage of Northeastern’s physical presence in a lot of parts of the country,” Bau says. 

Research emerging from the fabric could have worldwide implications outside of science and academia, Bau explains. It could help demystify the underlying mechanisms of how these systems work to policymakers, creatives and others. 

“The goal of understanding how these systems work is to equip humanity with a better understanding for how we could effectively use these systems,” Bau says. “What are their capabilities? What are their limitations? What are their biases? What are the potential safety issues we might face by using them?”   

Putting AI through an MRI machine 

Large language models like Chat GPT and Google’s Gemini are trained on huge amounts of data using deep learning techniques. Underlying these techniques are neural networks, synthetic processes that loosely mimic the activity of a human brain that enable these chatbots to make decisions. 

But when you use these services through a web browser or an app, you are interacting with them in a way that obscures these processes, Bau says. 

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“They give you the answers, but they don’t give you any insights as to what computation has happened in the middle,” Bau says. “Those computations are locked up inside the computer, and for efficiency reasons, they’re not exposed to the outside world. And so, the large commercial players are creating systems to run AIs in deployment, but they’re not suitable for answering the scientific questions of how they actually work.”  

At NDIF, researchers will be able to take a deeper look at the neural pathways these chatbots make, Bau says, allowing them to see what’s going on under the hood while these AI models actively respond to prompts and questions. 

Researchers won’t have direct access to Open AI’s Chat GPT or Google’s Gemini as the companies haven’t opened up their models for outside research. They will instead be able to access open source AI models from companies such as Mistral AI and Meta. 

“What we’re trying to do with NDIF is the equivalent of running an AI with its head stuck in an MRI machine, except the difference is the MRI is in full resolution. We can read every single neuron at every single moment,” Bau says.  

But how are they doing this? 

Significant computational power required

Such an operation requires significant computational power on the hardware front. As part of the undertaking, Northeastern has teamed up with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, which is building data centers equipped with state-of-the-art graphics processing units (GPUs) at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications. NDIF will leverage the resources of the NCSA DeltaAI project. 

NDIF will partner with New America’s Public Interest Technology University Network, a consortium of 63 universities and colleges, to ensure that the new NDIF research capabilities advance interdisciplinary research in the public interest.  

Northeastern is building the software layer of the project, Bau says. 

“The software layer is the thing that enables the scientists to customize these experiments and to share these very large neural networks that are running on this very fancy hardware,” he says. 

Northeastern professors Jonathan Bell, Carla Brodley, Bryon Wallace and Arjun Guha are co-PIs on the initiative.

Guha explains the barriers that have hindered research into the inner-workings of large generative AI models up to now. 

“Conducting research to crack open large neural networks poses significant engineering challenges,” he says. “First of all, large AI models require specialized hardware to run, which puts the cost out of reach of most labs. Second, scientific experiments that open up models require running the networks in ways that are very different from standard commercial operations. The infrastructure for conducting science on large-scale AI does not exist today.”

NDIF will have implications beyond the scientific community in academia. The social sciences and humanities, as well as neuroscience, medicine and patient care can benefit from the project.

“Understanding how large networks work, and especially what information informs their outputs, is critical if we are going to use such systems to inform patient care,” Wallace says. 

NDIF will also prioritize the ethical use of AI with a focus on social responsibility and transparency. The project will include collaboration with public interest technology organizations.

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New NSF grant targets large language models and generative AI, exploring how they work and implications for societal impacts

The U.S. National Science Foundation has announced a grant of $9 million to Northeastern University for research to investigate how large language models (LLMs) and generative AI operate, focusing on the computing process called deep inference and AI’s long-term societal impacts. 

The research seeks to establish a  National Deep Inference Fabric (NDIF), a collaborative research platform. The goal is to provide U.S. researchers with access to cutting-edge LLMs within a transparent experimental platform that reveals the systems’ internal computations — a capability currently unavailable in academia.

“Chatbots have transformed society’s relationship with AI, but how they operate is yet to be fully understood”, said Sethuraman Panchanathan, director of the U.S. National Science Foundation. “With NDIF, U.S. researchers will be able peer inside the ‘black box’ of large language models, gaining new insights into how they operate and greater awareness of their potential impacts on society.”

LLMs, such as those behind chatbots like ChatGPT, have emerged as a transformative force in AI with profound capabilities including general-purpose knowledge and language skills. However, their sheer size — often more than 100 billion parameters — poses a significant challenge for researchers investigating how the systems operate, especially without adequate computing resources. 

The NDIF project aims to address that gap by creating a platform for exploring such large-scale AI systems. NDIF will leverage the resources of the  National Center for Supercomputing Applications DeltaAI project , a high-capacity AI-focused cluster in the NSF computing portfolio that combines high-performance data processing and high-speed storage, ideal for designing and deploying new software resources to study LLM inference.

The broader impacts of the NDIF project extend beyond academia. The project has significant implications for a range of scientific disciplines, including computing, medicine, neuroscience, linguistics, social sciences and the humanities. 

"In the always evolving realm of emerging technologies like AI, understanding the inner workings of LLMs is paramount,” said Dilma DaSilva, NSF's acting assistant director for Computer and Information Science and Engineering. “As we navigate the complexities of these transformative systems, we must ensure transparency and accountability, paving the way for inclusive and beneficial applications of AI-powered solutions. This investment in deep inference research not only empowers academic exploration, it fosters a culture of ethical and responsible AI development." 

NDIF will actively collaborate with public interest technology groups to ensure that innovations in AI uphold principles of ethics, transparency and social responsibility in the deployment of LLMs. 

"Understanding the mechanisms behind the strength of modern LLMs is one of the most pressing mysteries facing scientists today, raising fundamental questions about cognition as well as the many societal impacts of AI," said David Bau, principal investigator and assistant professor of computer science at Northeastern University. "NDIF defines a new, fully transparent way to access the largest models that is both powerful and cost-effective. It will democratize scientific access to the largest open AI models."

In addition, the project will help build a next-generation, AI-enabled workforce by providing comprehensive training to students and equipping them to serve as networks of experts. NDIF will support and train graduate students in AI, disseminate educational materials for university and professional use, and make tools for the science of large-scale AI widely available to users in other disciplines. 

“NDIF will create a research framework that helps the research community explore the factors that ensure LLMs are safe and secure, which aligns with the goals of the White House Executive Order on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence,” said Eleni Miltsakaki, the NSF program director for NDIF. “Launching NDIF will break new ground in the scientific study of very large language models, equipping researchers with deep inferencing tools that will enable them to study the internal mechanisms of these models. This investment in knowledge itself will unlock important research problems in every field impacted by large-scale AI." 

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Live Updates: U.S. Job Growth Slows

The economy added 175,000 jobs in April, a slowdown in hiring. The unemployment rate ticked up to 3.9 percent.

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Monthly change in jobs

+175,000 jobs in April

Lydia DePillis

U.S. employers added 175,000 jobs in April.

The American job market may be shifting into a lower gear this spring, a turn that economists have expected for months after a vigorous rebound from the pandemic shock.

Employers added 175,000 positions in April, the Labor Department reported Friday, undershooting forecasts. The unemployment rate ticked up to 3.9 percent.

A less torrid expansion isn’t necessarily bad news, given that layoffs have remained low and most sectors appear stable.

“It’s not a bad economy; it’s still a healthy economy,” said Perc Pineda, chief economist at the Plastics Industry Association. “I think it’s part of the cycle. We cannot continue robust growth indefinitely considering the limits of our economy.”

Wage growth moderated sharply, sinking to 3.9 percent from a year earlier. The average number of hours worked per week also sank, signaling a decline in labor demand.

The labor market has defied projections of a considerable slowdown for over a year in the face of a rapid escalation in borrowing costs, a minor banking crisis and two major wars. But economic growth declined markedly in the first quarter, signaling that the exuberance that characterized last year’s job market might be fading.

The hiring figures for February and March, which came in higher than expected, may have been flattered by an unusually warm winter. Employment growth has been narrowing to a few industries, and that trend continued in April, with health care accounting for a third of the growth.

Leisure and hospitality employment was essentially flat, arresting what had been fairly swift growth as the industry approaches its prepandemic staffing levels.

Lulls in interest-rate-sensitive sectors like technology and manufacturing have been offset by unabated growth in industries like health care, which is powered by aging demographics, and state and local government, which has been catching up after losing workers to better offers during the pandemic.

Federal funding has supported construction work on large infrastructure projects and private investment in clean energy development, as well as subsidies for industries like child care that continue to filter through the economy.

“Depending on where you land, it’s a question of how many of us can end up working for the government in some form or fashion,” said Belinda Román, an associate professor of economics at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio.

As wages have risen — outpacing inflation on average for nearly a year — more people have started looking for jobs, allowing employers to fill positions more quickly. The increased flow of both legal and undocumented immigrants added about 80,000 workers to the labor supply each month last year, according to calculations by Goldman Sachs, and will add another 50,000 per month this year.

And beyond public spending, much of the enduring strength stems from purchases by households, which have been burning through bank balances built during the pandemic. As savings rates decline and delinquency rates on consumer loans rise, that rocket fuel is likely to run dry, leaving an economy that’s still fundamentally sound.

“We are still forecasting what we’d call a modest slowdown, but we’ve got the picture improving again,” said Stephen Brown, deputy chief North America economist for Capital Economics. “For the average worker, it’s not going to feel like a slowdown.”

J. Edward Moreno

The weakening of the dollar may be a welcome sign for other countries, like Japan and South Korea, which have seen their own currencies depreciate against the dollar .

The dollar index, a gauge that measures its strength against a basket of currencies, dropped about .70 percent on the news of weaker-than-expected jobs numbers. It’s on course for its biggest one-day drop of the year.

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Joe Rennison

This week began with fears of stubborn inflation and higher interest rates weighing on the stock market. It now looks set to end with Powell reassuring investors that rates are unlikely to move higher, and with a slowing labor market brings back hopes of rates moving lower this year.

Ben Casselman

Despite the slowdown in hiring, job growth was pretty broad-based in April. Health care, retail, transportation and warehousing all added a significant number of jobs, and blue-collar sectors like manufacturing and construction also grew.

One surprise: The leisure and hospitality sector, which has helped lead the way on job growth in recent months, added only 5,000 jobs in April.

The interest rate sensitive two-year treasury yield is down 0.1 percentage points, marking the biggest one-day decline of the year, a sign investors see lower interest rates on the horizon.

Investors are now back to betting on two quarter-point cuts to interest rates this year, based on prices in futures markets. At the start of the week, they were betting on just one.

Talmon Joseph Smith

The unemployment rate ticked up ever so slightly in April, to 3.9 percent. But the Black unemployment rate, which recently jumped up to 6.4 percent, worrying some labor economists, shifted back downward to 5.6 percent.

Jeanna Smialek

Together with a slower increase in payrolls and a tick up in the unemployment rate, the wage cooldown in this report is likely to reinforce to the Fed that the job market is cooling. But it’s not so slow that it would be a reason to worry that things are falling apart, especially since March payroll gains were revised up.

Jim Tankersley

On first blush, this report shows exactly the sort of slowing Biden was talking about two years ago — a drop in the pace of job creation but not a huge one, without any corresponding jump in the unemployment rate. It looks like a good report for the president.

To be sure, Republicans are almost certain to attack Biden for the slowdown in monthly job creation, as they have in the past when month-to-month numbers have dipped.

Average hourly earnings, which the Federal Reserve keeps a close eye on, climbed 3.9 percent in April from a year earlier. That was both cooler than the previous reading and slightly cooler than the 4 percent economists had forecast.

Investors are welcoming signs of a cooling labor market, sending S&P 500 futures rising.

The index shot higher after the numbers were released and is now more than 1 percent higher for the day.

Investors reacted positively on Wednesday to Powell’s message that rates are “unlikely” to go any higher, despite stubborn inflation. And that should insulate markets against the possibility that the jobs report signal today that the economy is still running hot.

Futures on the S&P 500, which allow investors to bet on the market before the official start of trading, nudged higher ahead of the fresh jobs numbers being released.

It is now nearly two years since President Biden, writing in The Wall Street Journal , cautioned that it was time for the economy to downshift on job creation — to “to something closer to 150,000” jobs per month. Job growth has indeed slowed since then, but not by nearly as much as the president said would be a sign of moving into “the next phase of recovery.”

Biden has celebrated the continued heat in the job market, which remains arguably his strongest data point to voters about his stewardship of the economy. But he and his aides have grown anxious that progress on inflation has stalled in the opening months of this year, fueling further voter dissatisfaction with price growth in the economy.

Data shows a healthy economy, but consumers feel gloomy.

Recent economic data shows that the U.S. economy remains solid, even as consumers become increasingly pessimistic.

The labor market appears to have cooled this year, according to data released by the Labor Department on Wednesday. Employers had 8.5 million unfilled job openings on the last day of March, the fewest since early 2021.

A different Labor Department gauge, the Employment Cost Index, showed that the growth of labor costs accelerated in the first quarter , which may make employers less eager to increase their head counts. The index indicated that the cost of wages and benefits rose more than expected, at 4.2 percent year over year.

At the same time, employers may be getting more bang for their buck. Labor productivity nudged up 0.3 percent in the first three months of this year, pushing productivity to increase 2.9 percent over last year.

The American economy at large is cooling but still growing, even as inflation weighs it down. Gross domestic product, adjusted for inflation, increased at a 1.6 percent annual rate in the first three months of the year, the Commerce Department reported last week.

While signs point to a resilience, the outlook among consumers isn’t so rosy. Consumer confidence dropped for a third consecutive month in April, hitting its lowest level since July 2022, according to a Conference Board survey released Tuesday.

That pessimism was driven by expectations that it will be harder to find a job, that inflation will persist and that interest rates will stay high.

This comes as mortgage rates exceeded 7 percent in April for the first time this year. Home prices were 6.4 percent higher in February than a year earlier, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller home price index released Tuesday, putting them nearly 50 percent higher than before the pandemic.

Companies that sell consumer products are beginning to worry that customers will continue to tighten their purse strings and buy fewer discretionary items, whether it’s an iced latte or new shoes.

“I think you’re clearly seeing value-seeking behavior,” said Steve Cahillane, chief executive of Kellanova, formerly known as Kellogg’s. “The consumers under the most pressure from a discretionary-income standpoint are eating out less.”

For the Federal Reserve, unemployment and wages are in focus.

Jerome H. Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, made it clear this week that central bankers are watching the job market as they consider whether and when they can lower interest rates this year.

That puts Friday’s employment report — and particularly fresh readings on unemployment and wage gains — into focus for those wondering what might come next for borrowing costs.

At the Fed’s policy meeting this week, officials kept interest rates at 5.3 percent , the highest level in more than two decades. The bank started 2024 expecting to cut rates several times, but those plans have been delayed by surprisingly stubborn inflation.

It is taking longer than foreseen to gain confidence that inflation is coming fully under control, Mr. Powell said during a news conference after the meeting. He laid out several possibilities for what could come next with rates, and the job market is a factor in some scenarios.

If inflation begins to cool again, that would pave the way for rate cuts, he said. So, too, could evidence that the job market is cooling unexpectedly. But a combination of persistent inflation and continuing strength in the labor market could prompt the Fed to leave rates unchanged for longer.

Mr. Powell emphasized repeatedly that the Fed does not specifically target wage growth when setting policy, but he also suggested that pay gains might need to slow further for inflation to come down sufficiently and in a lasting way.

Many economists think that rapid wage gains can help keep inflation elevated. When companies are paying more, they are likely to try to charge more for products and services to cover labor costs.

“We don’t target wages, we target price inflation,” Mr. Powell said this week. When it comes to cooling the economy, he said, “part of that will probably be having wage increases move down incrementally toward levels that are more sustainable.”

That is likely to keep pay in the spotlight on Friday, when the Labor Department releases fresh data on average hourly earnings.

The jobless rate will also be a key number to watch for the Fed, since a rise in unemployment often signals a weakening labor market. Mr. Powell suggested this week that it would take more than a small jump in unemployment for the Fed to feel that the job market was struggling enough to merit lower rates.

“It would have to be meaningful and get our attention and lead us to think that the labor market was really significantly weakening for us to want to react to it,” he said, adding that an increase of a couple of tenths of a percentage point in the unemployment rate would probably not meet that standard. “It would be a broader thing,” he said.

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America, we have a problem. People aren't feeling engaged with their work

A new Gallup report finds employee engagement in need of a rebound, finding only 32% of U.S. workers to be engaged with their work. Malte Mueller/Getty Images/fStop hide caption

A new Gallup report finds employee engagement in need of a rebound, finding only 32% of U.S. workers to be engaged with their work.

When Tanvi Sinha first got into accounting 17 years ago, she worked from the office every day, even Saturdays in the busy season.

She enjoyed lunches out with colleagues and opportunities to learn just by listening and watching others. She grew professionally, aspiring to leadership roles.

Now that her company has made working from the office optional, Sinha wonders if newcomers to the field will ever feel as connected to their work as she has been.

"I'm pretty sure that their engagement would be affected," says Sinha, now an audit manager with the accounting firm Matthews, Carter & Boyce in Fairfax, Virginia.

A new report from Gallup finds that large numbers of workers, especially Gen Zers and young millennials, are not engaged with their jobs. And that could make their climb up the career ladder harder, as well as hurt companies' overall performance.

Employee engagement has fallen since 2020

The Gallup survey of roughly 67,000 people in 2022 found only 32% of workers are engaged with their work compared with 36% in 2020.

The share of workers found to be "actively disengaged" has risen since 2020, while the share of those in the middle — those considered "not engaged" — has remained about the same.

Engagement had been rising in the decade before the pandemic, following the Great Recession, but started to fall in 2021.

Younger workers have seen a bigger drop in engagement than older ones. Those under 35 reported feeling less heard and less cared about at work. Fewer Gen Zers and young millennials reported having someone at work who encourages their development and fewer opportunities to learn and grow.

"There's a growing disconnect between employee [and] employer. You could almost equate it to employees becoming a little bit more like gig workers," says Jim Harter, chief workplace scientist at Gallup and author of the new report.

A recession might be coming. Here's what it could look like

Gig work by its nature doesn't lend itself to loyalty or long-term relationships between employees and employers. Workers may feel less motivated to put their best selves forward.

"In the context of high-performance customer service, retaining your best people, that's a problem," Harter says.

Having actively disengaged workers can be highly detrimental to companies. Employees who aren't getting most of their workplace needs met often share their negativity with other people, Harter says. That could bring down company morale.

Engagement is lacking among onsite, hybrid and fully-remote employees

Gallup measures a worker's level of engagement based on a series of questions such as: Does the employee understand what is expected of them at work? Do their opinions seem to count? Do they have opportunities to do what they do best? Do they have a best friend at work?

While engagement dipped across a wide swath of workers, the biggest declines were among what Gallup calls "remote-ready onsite workers" — those who could do their jobs from home but are working from the office.

Planet Money

The economics behind 'quiet quitting' — and what we should call it instead.

But Harter says there are troubling findings among those who are fully remote too.

More of them are falling into the middle category — somewhere between engaged and actively disengaged — which Harter equates to quiet quitting .

Meanwhile, workers across different categories — onsite, hybrid, and fully-remote — all saw declines in feeling connected to the mission or purpose of their organizations. Clarity of expectations was also lower across the groups.

And the share of workers who said their company cares about their overall wellbeing has fallen dramatically, from about 50% early in the pandemic, when many companies rolled out all kinds of accommodations for employees, to half that today.

Some companies are recognizing the importance of mental wellness

With elevated levels of quiet quitting and real quitting , Stephanie Frias believes companies are having a reckoning.

"I think companies are realizing that this is key — for people to feel engaged and connected at work," says Frias, who is chief people officer at Lyra Health. "It's not just about the work that people are doing. It is: how do you instill meaning in that work?"

The idea of working in the office, all day, every day? No thanks, say workers

Her company provides mental health services to other companies, focusing on individuals as well as organizations overall, and training managers to notice and respond to acute situations.

With all the disruptions of the pandemic, what worked in the past isn't necessarily going to work now, and there really isn't a playbook, Frias says. Workers today want to engage with work, but in a way that's convenient and palatable to their lifestyles.

"It will be a journey and a ride," she says.

Finding a balance when remote work is highly prized

As a manager at her accounting firm, Sinha has been trying to find the right balance.

She likes working from home and knows others do too. But she makes a point of being in the office two or three times a week, sometimes just for a few hours, and encourages her teams to find times when they can be in together, too.

"Pick a few days, come to work, mingle with people, talk to people," she says.

It's not just about being social. It's about exposure to other parts of the business.

Sinha says audit teams used to sit in conference rooms together and go to client sites together, so everyone on the team knew every aspect of the audit. Now you may only work on your one part.

"That's not a holistic picture," she says.

The Future of Work: more evidence, less drama

By Bernard Magenhann, JRC Acting Director-General

Profound transformations have swept through our workplaces in recent years. Digital tools, automation and algorithmic management are increasingly widespread across various economic sectors. Algorithmically-driven automation tools, initially used for task allocation and workers’ monitoring in digital labour platforms, are increasingly adopted in traditional workplaces as well, and for a wider range of tasks.

Labour Day is a fitting moment to consider how this new wave of technological change is reshaping our labour markets.  What impact will it have on the composition of the labour force, and what are the potential risks and opportunities for workers and businesses? Most importantly, how can we be best prepared for these changes?

Amid rapid technological advancement, concerns about the future of work are natural.  Understanding how automation, digitalisation and algorithmic management are reshaping employment dynamics in the digital age is crucial. The research agenda on the changing nature of work carried out by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre in collaboration with the Commission’s Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion helps us better understand how we can anticipate challenges and seize opportunities, while still protecting the wellbeing of workers and ensuring the best possible working environments.

So, what is the expected impact on work and workers of these technological advancements?

Don't panic!

Contrary to apocalyptic narratives, the future of work is not a doomsday scenario that will render human labour obsolete. From the research conducted so far, automation has been and will likely continue to be a gradual, incremental process. We are witnessing the integration of digital technologies to complement existing automation technologies, improving workflows and processes. For example, in manufacturing, robots equipped with AI-driven sensors enhance precision and efficiency, leading to more productive and efficient production lines.

Indeed, the advent of automation is not synonymous with large-scale job destruction. Any employment reduction linked to technological upgrading is often mitigated by increases in productivity, volumes produced, and the emergence of new types of jobs. Instead of replacing workers ‘ en masse’ , automation often alters the nature of tasks and quality of jobs overall, with the tasks reassigned and workers redeployed to new roles. The share of maintenance staff and engineers, for example, is likely to increase in a more automated world. Investing in education and training and embracing life-long learning is crucial for workers and employers to adapt to these shifts.

Lending a (metallic) hand

Automation of repetitive and arduous tasks can reduce physical strain, fatigue and stress levels resulting in safer, more comfortable working environments and allowing some workers to focus on more fulfilling tasks. For example, in the healthcare sector digital technologies could improve work coordination processes, freeing up time for caregiving activities.

From ergonomics to mental health

Nevertheless, our research also suggests increased pressure and pace due to automation and algorithmic management, which can offset the positive impacts and take a toll on mental health and job quality. This underscores the need for proactive measures to safeguard worker wellbeing.

Additionally, concerns about digital monitoring and surveillance of workers must be addressed. The rise of algorithmic management, characterised by algorithms organising, monitoring and optimising work processes, is transforming traditional employment dynamics. While research conducted so far suggests that the current institutional and regulatory frameworks still seem to mitigate major impacts, concerns about workers’ rights and privacy remain valid.

The reduction of workers’ autonomy is another concern, as tasks become more standardised, potentially leading to workers losing agency. There is also a risk of increased discrimination, as the algorithms dictating work assignments and schedules could replicate biases and inequalities. However, human decisions can also be discriminatory, and automation can be used to reduce human biases. The dynamics in this evolving landscape need to be closely monitored so that EU institutions and European governments have robust evidence to support future policy decisions to grasp the benefits of these technologies and protect workers. 

Losing the middle?

Contrary to fears of a disappearing middle, research indicates that there is no universal pattern of job polarisation as a result of technical change. Instead, we observe continuous occupational upgrading, with a growing demand for high-skilled occupations. However, in some countries and periods, workers with middle and particularly low levels of skills face increasing difficulties in the labour market. Recent research suggests that advanced tools, such as generative AI, may decrease disparities within occupations, increasing productivity, particularly among less-experienced and lower-skilled workers.

Keeping up with change: the real challenge?

Adapting to change remains the real challenge. As digitalisation, automation and algorithmic management become a reality across all workplaces, leaders in both the public and private sectors must stay alert to their human impact.

Ultimately, it is about understanding the direction of future changes, boosting productivity and fostering innovation, while protecting workers' rights and ensuring a fair and inclusive labour market for all. We hope our research contributes to this objective.

Happy Labour Day!

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Florida sees thriving future if climate resilience managed, research finds

Florida wildlife corridor will spearhead climate resilience if allowed to evolve and essential preparatory work done, study says

Climate predictions in Florida, for the most part, make pretty grim reading. Rising oceans threaten to submerge most of the state by the end of the century, and soaring temperatures could make it too hot to live here anyway.

But new research by a coalition of prominent universities paints a more upbeat picture of Florida’s future as a thriving state for humans and wildlife, with natural resources harnessed to mitigate the worst effects of the climate emergency generally, as well as extreme weather events such as hurricanes and floods.

Such a prosperous tomorrow, the authors say, can only follow essential preparatory work today.

One key element, an 18m-acre swath of protected land called the Florida wildlife corridor , is already mostly in place, and will spearhead Florida’s climate resilience if properly managed and allowed to evolve, the researchers believe.

“We are very blessed in Florida to have the opportunity to have a land conservation project as ambitious as the wildlife corridor, and right now a little over 30% of the state is permanently conserved,” said Joshua Daskin, conservation director of Archbold Biological Station , an ecological research non-profit that compiled the report in collaboration with five universities from Tallahassee to south Florida.

“Without decades of work by conservationists, by state agencies, by non-profits, by landowners, we wouldn’t have the opportunity to reap the benefits of resilience to fires, storms, floods and heat.”

The study makes a number of recommendations for the corridor, a private-public partnership finally approved by the Florida legislature in 2021 after years of planning, with a vision for a single, unrestricted wildlife passageway running hundreds of miles from the southern Everglades to the Alabama border.

Rich in flora and fauna, and home to almost all of Florida’s land-based imperiled species such as panthers, black bears and bald eagles, the corridor was designed to be primarily a conservation project, with little focus on climate resilience.

Yet the report notes that two-thirds of Florida’s floodplains, covering about 10m acres, are contained within the corridor, bringing potentially “billions of dollars’ worth of flood hazard protection” if they remain undeveloped.

Another cited example is how the conservation of large, connected open spaces such as those provided by the corridor limits the exposure of people and property to wildfire, although the report concedes managed burns would still be necessary to further reduce the risk and preserve wildlife habitats.

Protecting large acreages of forests and woodlands in perpetuity preserves substantial numbers of trees that lower carbon dioxide levels and slow global warming.

With an estimated 90% of Florida’s population of 22 million living within 20 miles of the corridor, and with up to another 1,000 people arriving every day , the authors say residents current and future have a vested interest in, and will be dependent on, what the experts call a “credible motivation” of its protections.

“Not everybody is first and foremost concerned with protecting panthers, or Florida scrub jays, or other wildlife, and that’s understandable. We all have our lives to live,” Daskin said.

“But people are concerned about protecting their property, protecting their well being and protecting their economies as our climate changes. So the corridor, and the resilience benefits this study identified, really resonates with people for lots of different reasons.”

One important concern, Daskin said, is how development will be managed to accommodate the large numbers wanting to make Florida their home.

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“What makes sense in more places, whether in the corridor or outside, is clustered development, building at somewhat higher densities,” he said.

“Instead of everyone getting a five-acre ranch, as is happening in some parts of the state, we’re talking about walkable, livable communities that reduce the need to drive everywhere and the need to commute as far as we do today. Research shows this makes people’s lives healthier, happier and more affordable, and from a municipal perspective it’s cheaper to provide public services, like emergency services, utilities, and so forth.”

So far, about 10m acres of the corridor are in existing conservation zones, with the remaining eight classified as “opportunity areas”. The report calls for “recurring, high-level [state] funding” for conservation, and highlights the benefits of purchasing land considered “missing links” in the corridor, or incentivizing private owners to work their land productively and keep it out of the hands of developers.

Success, the report concedes, will “require political will”, something not shown earlier this week when the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission agreed to surrender protections of the ecologically sensitive Split Oak Forest east of Orlando and allow a toll road to be built right through it.

Daskin, however, is confident there remains a common desire for conservation, noting that the corridor was established by the unanimous consent of a Florida legislature mindful of its future benefits.

“One of the beautiful things about the corridor is how it protects the things that make the state so attractive to new residents,” Daskin said.

“People come here because they want to be outside, they want to see wildlife, they want to recreate, whether it’s hunting and fishing, paddling, swimming.

“If we lose the corridor we lose those things that attract people here, we lose the habitat for wildlife, and we lose a lot of these climate benefits.”

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• Journalists Sense Turmoil in Their Industry Amid Continued Passion for Their Work

77% would choose their career all over again, though 57% are highly concerned about future restrictions on press freedom

Table of contents.

• ‘Struggling’ and ‘chaotic’ are the words journalists most often use to describe their industry
• Journalists say the industry’s best function is getting the news out, but many say it fails at getting the story right
• Mixed reports of salaries and newsroom growth in the past year
• Most journalists are not in a union, but many say they would join
• About one-in-ten journalists have experienced harassment inside their organization, most often along political lines
• Journalists largely say COVID-19 has changed their organizations forever
• Journalists see false and made-up news as a big problem and don’t have much confidence in how the industry handles it
• Most journalists think it is important to report on the false statements of public figures
• Vast majority of journalists are against requiring a license to be a journalist
• Most journalists who were harassed by someone outside their organization in the past year say it happened on social media
• Journalists sense that Americans don’t have high trust in the news media overall, but think their own audience trusts them
• Many journalists feel connected to their audiences; the public doesn’t feel the same level of connection
• Journalists express confidence in their sources but rarely interview them in person
• Journalists less likely than the public to say each side of a story always deserves equal coverage
• Journalists have mixed views on whether they can keep their personal views out of their reporting
• About half of journalists took part in workplace diversity training in the past year; more likely among Black, Hispanic and Asian journalists
• Journalists who say their news organization has a left-leaning audience are more likely to engage with diversity issues, see diversity shortfalls
• Freelancers far less engaged with issues of diversity at news organizations
• Younger journalists less satisfied with their organization’s diversity efforts
• Oldest journalists most concerned about possible press restrictions, but also most satisfied in their jobs
• Online journalists most likely to say their organization is expanding
• TV journalists most likely to want a license requirement
• Radio and podcast journalists feel most connected to their audience
• TV journalists are more likely to say their newsroom is diverse – and to take part in diversity trainings
• Acknowledgments
• Appendix: Detailed tables of the composition of the journalist survey sample
• Survey of journalists
• Advisory board
• Open-ended questions asked in the survey of journalists
• February survey of U.S. adults: American Trends Panel survey methodology
• March survey of U.S. adults: American Trends Panel survey methodology

Much of Pew Research Center’s earlier research on the U.S. news environment has focused on the public’s news consumption habits and views toward the news media. This major new undertaking was designed to capture the other side of the equation, asking U.S.-based journalists to provide their own perspective on the industry they work in.

The main source of data for this study is a Pew Research Center survey of 11,889 U.S.-based journalists who are currently working in the news industry and said that they report, edit or create original news stories in their current job. The survey was conducted online between Feb. 16 and March 17, 2022. See Appendix for a detailed demographic profile of the journalists who completed the survey.

Because there is no readily available list of all U.S. journalists, Center researchers relied on commercial databases of journalists based in the U.S. as well as supplemental lists of news organizations to create a broad and diverse sample of over 160,000 journalists from as many types of outlets and areas of reporting as possible. Although it is impossible to be certain every segment of the journalism profession in the U.S. is covered by the sample, the use of multiple databases and supplemental lists ensured that journalists from a variety of different reporting areas, news platform types, as well as outlet sizes and types – such as those who work for organizations that are intended to primarily reach a particular demographic group – were represented.

Propensity weighting was used to ensure that the responses of the 11,889 respondents aligned with the full sample of over 160,000 journalists with respect to job titles, media outlet type, freelance status and geographic location.

See topline for the questions asked in the survey. For more information on the development of the sample of journalists or the survey weighting, please see the methodology .

Another major goal of this study was to see how the views and attitudes of journalists compare with those of the American public. To accomplish this, the report also draws upon two surveys of U.S. adults – one of 9,388 adults conducted Feb. 7-13, 2022, and another of 10,441 adults conducted March 7-13, 2022. All respondents who took part in these two surveys are members of the Center’s American Trends Panel , an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. Recruiting our panelists by phone or mail ensures that nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. This gives us confidence that any sample can represent the whole population (see our Methods 101 explainer on random sampling). To further ensure that each survey reflects a balanced cross-section of the nation, the data is weighted to match the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories.

See topline for the questions asked in the two surveys of U.S. adults, and the methodology .

This is the latest report in Pew Research Center’s ongoing investigation of the state of news, information and journalism in the digital age, a research program funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts, with generous support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

From the economic upheaval of the digital age to the rise of political polarization and the COVID-19 pandemic , journalism in America has been in a state of turmoil for decades . While U.S. journalists recognize the many challenges facing their industry, they continue to express a high degree of satisfaction and fulfillment in their jobs, according to an extensive new Pew Research Center survey of nearly 12,000 working U.S.-based journalists.

Seven-in-ten journalists surveyed say they are “very” or “somewhat” satisfied with their job, and an identical share say they often feel excited about their work. Even larger majorities say they are either “extremely” or “very” proud of their work – and that if they had to do it all over again, they would still pursue a career in the news industry. About half of journalists say their job has a positive impact on their emotional well-being, higher than the 34% who say it is bad for their emotional well-being.

At the same time, however, journalists recognize serious challenges in the news media more broadly. Indeed, when asked to describe their industry in a single word, nearly three-quarters of journalists surveyed (72%) use a word with negative connotations, with the most common responses being words that relate to “struggling” and “chaos.” Other, far less common negative words include “biased” and “partisan,” as well as “difficult” and “stressful.” (See Chapter 1 for more detailed figures and the methodology for more details about the question asked.)

The survey of 11,889 U.S. journalists, conducted Feb. 16-March 17, 2022, identified several specific areas of concern for journalists, including the future of press freedom, widespread misinformation, political polarization and the impact of social media.

More than half of journalists surveyed (57%) say they are “extremely” or “very” concerned about the prospect of press restrictions being imposed in the United States. And about seven-in-ten journalists (71%) say made-up news and information is a very big problem for the country, higher than the 50% of U.S. adults who say the same. At the same time, four-in-ten journalists say that news organizations are generally doing a bad job managing or correcting misinformation.

A large majority of journalists say they come across misinformation at least sometimes when they are working on a story, and while most say they are confident in their ability to recognize it, about a quarter of reporting journalists (26%) say they have unknowingly reported on a story that was later found to contain false information.

How to report on false statements has become a vexing question for journalists amid a turbulent political climate. The survey asked journalists what they think is the best approach to coverage when a public figure makes a false statement. By two-to-one, journalists are more likely to say the best approach is to “report on the statement because it is important for the public to know about” (64%) rather than to “not report on the statement because it gives attention to the falsehoods and the public figure” (32%).

Still, there is no consensus that opposing views always warrant equal coverage. What historically may have been considered a standard norm of journalism (and even a requirement for broadcast stations in their election coverage ) seems, in today’s political environment, to be facing a reevaluation as heated debate ensues around the issue of “bothsidesism” – whether news outlets should be committed to always giving equal attention to all sides of an issue.

A little over half of journalists surveyed (55%) say that in reporting the news, every side does not always deserve equal coverage, greater than the share who say journalists should always strive to give every side equal coverage (44%). 

On the other hand, journalists express wide support for another long-standing norm of journalism: keeping their own views out of their reporting. Roughly eight-in-ten journalists surveyed (82%) say journalists should do this, although there is far less consensus over whether journalists meet this standard. Just over half (55%) think journalists are largely able to keep their views out of their reporting, while 43% say journalists are often unable to.

Some of journalists’ views – such as whether every side deserves equal coverage – are connected to the ideological composition of their audiences. Journalists were asked about the political leanings of the audience at the organization where they work (or the main one they work for if they work for more than one), and roughly half say that their audience leans predominantly to the left (32%) or right (20%). An additional third say their organization has a more politically mixed audience, while 13% are unsure.

Even as they recognize audience leanings, journalists express deep concerns over political sorting in news consumption habits, with three-quarters of those surveyed saying it is a major problem when people with the same political views get their news from the same news organizations. The American public, however, appears much less worried: Roughly four-in-ten U.S. adults (39%) say this a major problem. To be able to make comparisons between journalists’ views and those of the public on certain key issues, the Center conducted two separate surveys around the same time as the journalist survey, posing some of the same questions to roughly 10,000 U.S. adults who are part of the Center’s  American Trends Panel . (Read more about those two surveys in the methodology section .)

Maintaining widespread journalistic credibility in a polarized climate can seem like an impossible task – and many journalists seem to recognize that. While three-quarters of journalists say that journalists largely agree on the basic facts of the news – even if they report on them in different ways – about half of journalists surveyed (52%) say it is not possible to report news that “nearly everyone finds accurate.” An even greater share of the U.S. public overall (62%) says it is not possible to report news that is universally accepted as accurate.

Journalists and the public far apart on their assessment of today’s news industry 

The survey’s results show that journalists recognize that the public views them and their work with deep skepticism . When asked what one word they think the public would use to describe the news industry these days, journalists overwhelmingly give negative responses, with many predicting that the public would describe the news media as “inaccurate,” “untrustworthy,” “biased” or “partisan.” (Read the methodology for more detail.)

Moreover, just 14% of journalists surveyed say they think the U.S. public has a great deal or fair amount of trust in the information it gets from news organizations these days. Most believe that Americans as a whole have some trust (44%) or little to no trust (42%).

When a similar question was posed to the general public, 29% of U.S. adults say they have at least a fair amount of trust in the information they get from news outlets, while 27% say they have some trust and 44% have little to none.

This disconnect between journalists and the public also comes through when each group is asked about the job news organizations are doing with five core functions of journalism: covering the most important stories of the day, reporting the news accurately, serving as a watchdog over elected leaders, giving voice to the underrepresented, and managing or correcting misinformation.

In all five areas, journalists give far more positive assessments than the general public of the work news organizations are doing. And on four of the five items, Americans on the whole are significantly more likely to say the news media is doing a bad job than a good job. For example, while 65% of journalists say news organizations do a very or somewhat good job reporting the news accurately, 35% of the public agrees, while 43% of U.S. adults say journalists do a bad job of this.

Similarly, while nearly half of journalists (46%) say they feel extremely or very connected with their audiences, only about a quarter of the public (26%) feels that connection with their main news organizations.

Journalists see social media as both a blessing and a curse

These days, many journalists connect with audiences through social media, and they see this as a double-edged sword. On the one hand, 94% of journalists surveyed report using social media in their work to some degree, and these journalists see a number of ways that social media helps them do their jobs. For example, among journalists who use social media for their work, 87% say it has a very or somewhat positive impact on promoting news stories, and 79% say it helps them connect with their audience and find sources for their news stories.

At the same time, however, two-thirds of all journalists surveyed (67%) say social media has a very or somewhat negative impact on the state of journalism as a whole. Just 18% say social media has a positive impact on the news industry, while 14% say it has neither a positive nor negative impact.

Additionally, roughly four-in-ten journalists (42%) say they have experienced job-related harassment or threats by someone outside their own organization in the past year, and within this group, a large majority (78%) say that harassment came through social media at least once. That means that one-third of all journalists surveyed report being harassed on social media in the last 12 months.

Journalists offer mixed views about diversity and inclusion in the newsroom

As issues of diversity and inclusion in the workspace gain heightened attention around the country , journalists offer mixed views of how their organizations are doing at diversifying staff. Although two-thirds (67%) say their organization has achieved sufficient gender diversity, about half as many – 32% – say it has reached sufficient racial and ethnic diversity. And fewer than half of respondents (42%) characterize addressing issues around diversity and inclusion as a major priority for their newsroom.

Roughly two-thirds of journalists say their organization generally treats everyone fairly regardless of age, gender, or race and ethnicity. But these figures are not quite as high among certain groups. For example, Black, Hispanic and Asian journalists are less likely than White journalists to say that their organization treats everyone fairly based on race and ethnicity. Read Chapter 6 for more details. (The appendix provides a detailed demographic profile of the journalists who completed the survey.)

Younger journalists give lowest grades on newsroom diversity, older journalists more worried about the future of press freedom

In a number of areas, there is a large amount of agreement across different groups of journalists. Still, some differences do emerge – particularly by age.

The youngest journalists (ages 18 to 29) are least likely to say their organization has enough diversity in the newsroom in a number of areas. For instance, nearly seven-in-ten (68%) say there is not enough racial and ethnic diversity, compared with 37% of journalists ages 65 and older who say the same. Younger journalists also engage with this issue more: About half of journalists under 50 say they discuss their organization’s diversity with colleagues at least several times a month, far higher than the 30% of those 65 and older who say this.

The oldest group of journalists, meanwhile, tend to feel more fulfilled by their job. Three-quarters of journalists 65 and older say their job has a very or somewhat positive impact on their emotional well-being, substantially higher than the 29% of journalists under 30 who say the same. Older journalists, meanwhile, are more worried about the future of press freedom – 68% say they are extremely or very concerned about possible restrictions on press freedom in the country, compared with 42% of those ages 18 to 29. (Read Chapter 7 for more details.)

Other key findings from the survey include:

• The survey sought to gauge the financial standing of journalists and the economics of the organizations they work for. The findings could be read with optimism or concern – depending on one’s vantage point. About four-in-ten journalists surveyed (41%) say they received a salary increase in the past year. The greatest portion – 50% – say their salary has stayed the same, while far fewer (7%) experienced a pay cut. Looking at news organizations more broadly, journalists are somewhat more likely to say their news organization has been expanding (30%) in the past year than to say it’s been cutting back (22%), with absence of change again being most common (46%). All in all, many journalists – 42% – say they are at least somewhat concerned about their job security, though far fewer express the highest level of concern.
• Despite concerns about the spread of misinformation and reporters inserting their own views into stories, about three-quarters of journalists (74%) say that people should be allowed to practice journalism without needing a license, while one-quarter say people should be required to have a license should in order to practice journalism.
• The vast majority of journalists surveyed say that at least some of the stories they have worked on in the past year had to do with the COVID-19 pandemic. But perhaps even more striking, six-in-ten say that the pandemic has brought either a great deal (26%) or a fair amount (34%) of permanent change to news reporting at their organization.
• Journalists’ opinions also sometimes differ based on the platform of their organization – particularly journalists who work in television. Compared with those in print, audio or online journalism, journalists who work for an organization that originated on TV seem the least happy with their job. About one-third (34%) say the news industry has a very or somewhat positive impact on their emotional well-being, considerably lower than the 54% of those who work online, 52% who work in print and 48% who work in radio or podcasting who say the same. And TV journalists are much more likely to say they were harassed by someone outside their organization in the past year (58%).

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Articles on Work-related stress

Displaying 1 - 20 of 71 articles.

Too much heat in the kitchen: survey shows toxic work conditions mean many chefs are getting out

Shelagh K. Mooney , Auckland University of Technology ; Matthew Brenner , Southern Cross University , and Richard Robinson , The University of Queensland

It’s beginning to look a lot like burnout. How to take care of yourself before the holidays start

Sophie Scott , University of Notre Dame Australia and Gordon Parker , UNSW Sydney

Stress can cause heart attacks. Could tackling workplace bullying save lives?

Adrienne O'Neil , Deakin University

5 strategies employers can use to address workplace mental health issues

Patricia L. Haynes , University of Arizona

Stress is a health hazard. But a supportive circle of friends can help undo the damaging effects on your DNA

Divya Mehta , Queensland University of Technology

Overlooked and undervalued, New Zealand’s community caregivers have become the ‘invisible’ essential workers

Katherine Ravenswood , Auckland University of Technology ; Amber Nicholson , Auckland University of Technology , and Fiona Hurd , Auckland University of Technology

Why the four-day week is not the solution to modern work stress

Abigail Marks , Newcastle University

High rates of COVID-19 burnout could lead to shortage of health-care  workers

Robert Maunder , University of Toronto and Gillian Strudwick , University of Toronto

It’s all too easy to be offended by an innocent work email — but there are ways to avoid it

Theodore E. (Ted) Zorn , Massey University

Our uni teachers were already among the world’s most stressed. COVID and student feedback have just made things worse

Megan Lee , Southern Cross University ; Dima Nasrawi , Southern Cross University ; Marie Hutchinson , Southern Cross University , and Richard Lakeman , Southern Cross University

Open-plan office noise increases stress and worsens mood: we’ve measured the effects

Libby (Elizabeth) Sander , Bond University

Tackling burnout: How to deal with stress and safety in the workplace

Kristen Deuzeman , Northern Alberta Institute of Technology

Can narcissistic managers fake that they care?

Melvyn R.W. Hamstra , IÉSEG School of Management

Millennials are not the only ‘burnout generation’ (just ask the rest of us)

Steven David Hitchcock , University of Sydney

How Biden’s dogs could make the Oval Office a workplace with less stress and better decision-making

Ellen Furlong , Illinois Wesleyan University

Exhausted by 2020? Here are 5 ways to recover and feel more rested throughout 2021

Peter A. Heslin , UNSW Sydney

Stressed out working from home? Consider a hotel day pass

Nita Chhinzer , University of Guelph

More neurotic, less agreeable, less conscientious: how job insecurity shapes your personality

Lena Wang , RMIT University ; Chia-Huei Wu , University of Leeds ; Mark Griffin , Curtin University , and Sharon Kaye Parker , Curtin University

How to recover from burnout and chronic work stress – according to a psychologist

Rajvinder Samra , The Open University

The end of dangerous working conditions starts with informed consumers

Patrick Neumann , Toronto Metropolitan University and Cory Searcy , Toronto Metropolitan University

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College of Engineering

Civil Engineering Student Callender Showcases Work at ACI Conference

BATON ROUGE, LA – Andrew Callender, a senior in civil engineering from Baton Rouge, recently presented his research group’s work on producing low-carbon concrete using Louisiana-sourced materials at the American Concrete Institute’s (ACI) conference in New Orleans.

Thirty students from across the world applied to present at the conference. Callender was one of 10 chosen.

“Currently, about 8% of man-made carbon emissions come from the cement industry,” said Callender, who currently works as an undergraduate research assistant in Assistant Professor Yen-Fang Su’s laboratory. “A new cement blend called Limestone Calcined Clay (LC3) is shown to lower emissions by using clay and limestone in cement blends. For my project, I used Louisiana Clays for the clay portion and replaced the limestone with powdered oyster shells. This offers the potential to create extremely environmentally friendly cement in our state. The best part is the materials to create LC3 are cheaper than the ones to produce traditional cement.”

For Su, Callender’s success in research and at the conference came as no surprise, calling him one of the top undergraduate students he’s mentored at LSU.

“I always remember our first meeting with Andrew; I encountered a young soul brimming with passion, eager to immerse himself in the world of concrete research,” Su said. “He was genuinely driven by a desire to understand and contribute to advancements in low-carbon cementitious materials. After one year of research in my group, Andrew has equipped himself with most of the skills and mindset he needs to be successful in graduate study.”

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