👨🏻‍⚖️ Employment attorney RTO suggestions

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Good Morning,

If you’ve ever thought to yourself, “what does Boris Johnson, former UK Prime Minister, think about remote work?” then you’re in luck, because I have the answer for you:

This is the first time I’ve heard the “if you’re working remotely, how else will you meet your significant other?” argument against remote work.

Though, to his credit, 22% of married American couples actually met at work, and you can be sure sparks aren’t as likely to fly over Zoom calls.

But Boris came of age well before a viable alternative — online dating — was mainstream. Plus, is he really the person you want to take romantic advice from? I’ll let you be the judge.

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Need to Know

🚨 FBI warns about remote job scams
As we’ve mentioned before, there’s been a serious uptick in remote job scams in the last few years, and the FBI has been tracking them. Some advice shared in the article:

• Pay attention to email addresses and website URLs — for example, sometimes you might see a “o” substituted with a “0”

• Don't respond to unsolicited job offers

• Never send money to an alleged employer or interviewer

Remember that no legitimate employer will request that you send them money, no matter how professional they may act.

One woman interviewed said she uploaded her resume to careerbuilder.com and soon after she fell victim to a scam, almost losing her bank account.

Be vigilant! (CBS News)

👨🏻‍⚖️ Employment lawyer’s RTO guidance
Here are the four steps, summarized, that attorney and law firm partner Craig Levey shared:

1. Read your employment contract in full, looking for any representations made or clauses included that allow for remote work. Language in here could give you leverage in negotiating a remote policy.

2. Consider your legal protections. If you have a disability that requires accommodation, and office work is a true burden given that disability, there’s a chance you’d be able to get permission to stay remote.

3. Speak with your manager. If you’re at a point where you’re considering leaving a company anyway because of the policy, it’s worth discussing with your manager in case they have the ability to make an exception.

4. Apply for unemployment if you leave due to the RTO policy. This one is a bit hazy — it may depend on whether a terminated job due to RTO policy is technically ruled a resignation, and further, this will vary by state — but Craig says there’s no harm in applying.

I’m not a lawyer, and Craig here doesn’t know your situation, so please don’t consider this formal legal advice 🙂 (Business Insider)

🥊 How remote managers can combat employee loneliness
While remote work can contribute to employee loneliness, remote and hybrid work aren’t going away anytime soon, and there are steps leaders can take other than enforcing a return to office that can help counter feelings of isolation:

• Establish Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) to build community and help employees get to know each other on a more personal level.

• Foster casual conversations, both in structured and unstructured environments. For example, creating Slack or Teams channels for people based in the same city or with similar interests can be a great way to help people connect.

• Be flexible when offering opportunities to connect. Remember that in these hybrid and remote environments, it will take more flexibility to bring people together. But since work is often a big part of people’s social lives, it’s especially important to create these opportunities for your employees.

As anyone can guess, better employee health — physical and mental — is not only better for the employee, but better for their colleagues’ health and the company’s bottom line. The best policies are a true win-win-win. (Fast Company)

💼 Jobs report steady
Worth sharing a couple of notes about this month’s jobs report:

• The unemployment rate stayed the same as last month at 4.1%, further reducing fears that we’re heading into a recession.

• Most jobs growth came in the food services, healthcare, and government segments. While those can occasionally allow WFH, the ones we typically see more WFH opportunities in (information, financial, business services, etc.) saw minimal or no growth.

It’s been mentioned before, but it’s always important to understand the numbers in the headlines. Even with positive jobs growth this year, tech and other remote-friendly fields haven’t been contributing as much to the trend, which impacts remote job seekers. (Barron’s)

👩🏻‍💼 Study: fully in-office isn’t good for culture
Sometimes I grapple with sharing studies like this, because of the organizations behind them and their incentives: PwC announced a while back that they were enforcing a 3-day RTO mandate for employees, and they and their clients are likely beneficiaries of a hybrid future.

But past that — the results of this PwC study did show that hybrid beat in-office in a number of categories: sense of belonging, inclusion, engagement, and more.

Fully remote work didn’t score as high as hybrid in the data shared here, but I wouldn’t be concerned about that (especially considering the study sponsor).

First: I think hybrid can be a great arrangement, and tons of Americans want it too. (When Remote Source was first launched in 2017, the term “remote work” included what we call “hybrid” today.)

Second: it’s important to keep in mind that most companies that allow remote work today didn’t allow any remote work just 5 years ago.

Change takes time, especially in large organizations. It would be challenging to make all aspects of remote work equivalent to — or better than — primarily office work.

But remote work is a long-term trend worth betting on, and the quality of it’s adoption will only get better over time. (Fortune)

Stuff We Like

🤝 Harvard Business Review interview advice
Tons of good advice in this article worth digging into. Most importantly: research the company and the role, construct good stories about yourself and your experience, and practice telling those stories.

Further, treat the interview like a conversation, intentionally prepare your space for a virtual interview, and — my favorite — if the interview is going poorly, don’t panic. Thanks for that tip! (Harvard Business Review)

🏆 Best desk chairs
This guy claims to have spent over 5,000 hours testing chairs. Does that mean he’s halfway to being a chair master? Anyway, his favorite is the Branch Verve. (Tom’s Guide)

🎷 Find work-life balance in NOLA
I suppose with a nickname like “The Big Easy,” it may have always been assumed that New Orleans had great work-life balance. But this Travel + Leisure Reddit analysis crowns the city #1. (Travel + Leisure)