Journal

A former Wieden+Kennedy employee says the advertising titan’s bold statement following a week of violence risks concealing deeper issues.

Last week, two black men were killed by police officers, five police officers were killed by a revenge-seeking vigilante, and, to much acclaim, the advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy posted a statement on the matter on its home page. In publications from Advertising Week to the Washington Post, the message, which was originally delivered by a black employee to colleagues via an internal email, was applauded after the company’s management team amplified its words by featuring the statement on the company website and promoting it to the press.

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New research claims “collaborative overload” is real. Here’s where to find thinking time, even if you’re always in meetings.

Collaboration sounds great, but it’s possible to have too much of a good thing. A recent cover story in Harvard Business Review looked at the topic of “collaborative overload” and the burnout that can result. According to the article by Rob Cross, Reb Rebele, and Adam Grant, “Over the past two decades, the time spent by managers and employees in collaborative activities has ballooned by 50% or more.” In many organizations, they note, the proportion of time spent on meetings, responding to emails, and on the phone hovers at around 80%.

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Even recent grads can have leverage. Here are several strategies that you can use to make sure you are getting what you’re worth.

Summer jobs and internships can help you sharpen your interview skills, but when it comes to negotiating your first salary, there aren’t many dress rehearsals. Entry-level positions often have set pay scales, but it’s still wise to prepare yourself for the conversation, says Jill Tipograph, cofounder of Early Stage Careers, a career guidance firm that works with recent college graduates.

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While many companies try diversity initiatives to change the ratio, these three companies have achieved parity with a different approach.

Some of the world’s largest banks and insurance providers just signed a pledge aimed at getting more women into leadership at their organizations. The likes of Barclays, HSBC, Deutche Bank, and Morgan Stanley, among other firms, agreed to set goals to diversify their upper management and report on their progress annually. Failure to meet the goals will be tied to the bonuses of their senior executive teams. According to Catalyst, women make up nearly half of all employees in the financial services industry, but only 25% of senior management roles.

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Employment law is the next frontier in LGBT rights in the U.S. Here’s how to find LGBT-friendly employers while that battle rages.

In a recent lawsuit backed by the Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), a transgender woman secured a $115,000 settlement from her employer after being harassed, barred from using the correct restroom, prevented from changing her name and gender on employment records, and denied coverage for medically necessary procedures.

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Facebook, Slack, Microsoft, and others are building armies of virtual helpers, but they’re not exactly fighting one another.

Creating a new mobile app used to begin with a simple question: iOS or Android?

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LinkedIn’s Eddie Vivas has a front-row seat to the changes reshaping the job market. Here’s what he says you need to know.

Pop quiz: How many companies were looking for people with a background in cloud computing in 2014? So few that it didn’t even make LinkedIn’s list of the most sought-after job skills by U.S. employers. Just two years later, cloud computing tops that exact same list.

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