workplace

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Prosecutors: Shooting Hoax Was Effort to Bond at Work

Malika Brittingham allegedly wanted to 'trauma bond' with her colleagues

(Newser) - A scare about a supposed shooting that prompted a lockdown at New Jersey's largest military base was a hoax caused by a civilian employee who wanted to "trauma bond" with her colleagues, according to federal prosecutors. Malika Brittingham, a civilian who works for the Naval Air Warfare Center...

Push to Get Workers Back in the Office Is Meeting Resistance

Mandates rise at places like Microsoft, Paramount, but office attendance remains stubbornly low

(Newser) - Many large companies are tightening their return-to-the-office policies, but workers aren't exactly flooding back to their desks. Names like Microsoft, Paramount, and NBCUniversal are ramping up in-person requirements, with some, such as Paramount, telling employees to return full time or consider a buyout. The New York Times and...

Tests Suggest More Workers Are Using Fentanyl

Positivity rate in random tests has doubled since 2020

(Newser) - A growing share of American workers are testing positive for fentanyl in random workplace drug checks, according to new data from Quest Diagnostics. The lab analyzed more than 8 million urine tests and found that 1.13% were positive for fentanyl in 2024, up from 0.91% the previous...

22-Year-Old: It's Time to Rethink Work-Life Balance

For Emil Barr, that means virtually all work while he's young

(Newser) - Emil Barr is a successful 22-year-old entrepreneur, and in a Wall Street Journal essay he chalks up that success to his unusual approach to the work-life balance conundrum: He obliterated it. Which is to say, the founder of the Step Up Social startup has been working pretty much constantly since...

Trump Administration Nixes an Infamous Musk Initiative

Email to federal workers asking for '5 things' they'd accomplished in previous week is axed

(Newser) - Federal workers are officially off the hook from responding to Elon Musk's "five things" email. Reuters reports that the Trump administration has nixed the ex-DOGE leader's infamous directive , which was sent to government employees in February mandating that they detail what they'd accomplished at work in...

Trump Expands Religious Expression for Federal Workers

New guidelines allow prayer, proselytizing on the federal clock

(Newser) - Federal workers now have broader leeway to pray and discuss their faith at the office under new guidelines from the Trump administration. The changes, outlined by the Office of Personnel Management, permit employees to share religious beliefs and try to "persuade others of the correctness of their own...

Cops: He Was Power-Washing Oven, Then Got Trapped

Nicolas Lopez Gomez, 38, dies after getting stuck in industrial oven at Missouri Gilster-Mary Lee plant

(Newser) - A worker at a Missouri cereal plant died after getting trapped in one of the facility's industrial ovens. Per a Friday statement from the Perryville Police Department, cops were dispatched to the Gilster-Mary Lee plant in Perryville shortly after 3pm local time on Thursday, after a male employee got...

Worker Compared to Darth Vader Awarded $40K

Lorna Rooke of the NHS didn't appreciate being compared to infamous Star Wars villain

(Newser) - An NHS worker has been awarded $40,000 by a UK court after being compared to one of the most famous onscreen bad guys of all time. "Darth Vader is a legendary villain of the Star Wars series, and being aligned with his personality is insulting," Judge Kathryn...

The Best Places to Work, According to Their Employees

The No. 1 spot in USA Today survey is a mortgage lender in Wisconsin

(Newser) - USA Today is out with its annual best-places-to-work list, based on employee surveys conducted with Energage. It turns out that a mortgage-lending company in Wisconsin comes in at No. 1 in the survey, which this year included responses from 2,251 companies. (Nearly 40,000 were invited to participate....

These Jobs Have the Worst Gender Pay Gap

Careers in the financial sector topped the list

(Newser) - The gender pay gap persists, but it apparently really thrives in the financial sector. Quartz reports that of the top jobs with pay disparities analyzed by financial educator Goat Academy, the majority were in finance."These inequalities are partly due to disparities in hiring, negotiation, and promotion practices, as...

Not Everyone Loves Amazon's Latest 'Home Run'

Online retailer's mandate that employees return to on-site work 5 days a week kicks in on Thursday

(Newser) - New year, new workplace—or, rather, a return to the old workplace for many Amazon.com workers who'd been toiling remotely a couple of days a week since the pandemic. CEO Andy Jassy sent out a memo in September announcing that, barring extenuating circumstances or preapproved arrangements, employees would...

Starbucks 'Making a Change' for New Parents

Chain boosts paid parental leave to 18 weeks for birth parents, 12 weeks for non-birth parents

(Newser) - Good news for moms- and dads-to-be who work for Starbucks: The coffee giant is expanding its paid parental leave policy. Quartz reports that, starting in March, birth parents who put in an average of 20 hours a week will receive 100% of their paycheck for 18 weeks—or triple the...

Young People Are Balking at Becoming Managers

Gen Z doesn't want the stress, per new Robert Walters survey

(Newser) - If you're worried that some young whippersnapper may someday become your boss, you may breathe a little easier at the latest finding: Young professionals really don't want that type of job. That's according to the latest research from headhunting and recruitment company Robert Walters, which found that...

Welcome to the Era of the 10-to-4 Workday

Recent report based on traffic patterns sees a shift in when employees head in to the office

(Newser) - One of Dolly Parton's most famous tunes may need an update. A "Global Traffic Scorecard" for 2023, released earlier this summer by traffic-data analysis firm INRIX Inc., says that traffic patterns reveal a "new normal" —basically, a workday that's no longer a 9-to-5, but more...

Boss Says He Wants to Hold Workers 'Captive All Day Long'

Australia's Chris Ellison has banned working from home, doesn't want staffers going out for coffee

(Newser) - Chris Ellison already sniffs at his employees working from home. Now, he doesn't even want them going out to get coffee. "I don't want them leaving the building," the head of Australian mining firm Mineral Resources said during a financial earnings report on Wednesday, noting he'...

In Australia, a 'Historic Day for Working People'

Nation implements 'right to disconnnect' law, giving employees right to ignore after-hours contact

(Newser) - Ever get an email or phone call from your boss at home just as you're settling down to binge-watch your favorite show? If you're in Australia, you are now free to ignore that after-hours communication. A "right to disconnect" rule is now in play for workers as...

FDIC Chairman to Resign After Workplace Culture Accusations

More than 500 employees reported sexual harassment, racism, sexism, bullying, you name it

(Newser) - The chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. announced Monday that he's leaving in response to an independent review's findings that the independent agency is rife with sexual harassment and discrimination. Martin Gruenberg said he'll resign once a successor is confirmed, CNBC reports, and a White House...

Workers Are Cheating on Drug Tests Like Never Before
Workers Are Cheating on
Drug Tests Like Never Before
the rundown
May 15, 2024 12:15 PM CDT

Workers Are Cheating on Drug Tests Like Never Before

Quest Diagnostics describes 633% spike in swapped tests in 2023

(Newser) - Most of the millions of drug screens performed in the US each year come back negative. A small but growing fraction, however, come back positive. And a rapidly increasing number show signs of tampering. Indeed, US workers are cheating on drug tests at the highest rate in decades, according to...

People Are Happiest at Work Than Ever...Sort of

Conference Board's latest survey ranks job satisfaction higher than ever, but with a caveat

(Newser) - Morale is up for employees these days, at least according to Conference Board's latest report on US job satisfaction. Worker satisfaction hit an all-time high since the nonprofit research group began distributing the survey in 1987, with 62.7% of respondents reporting back that they're satisfied on the...

Sanitation Firm Fined $650K for Hiring Kids to Clean Factories

Fayette Janitorial Service has also agreed to no longer hire minors to work in meatpacking plants

(Newser) - A Tennessee-based sanitation company has agreed to pay more than half a million dollars after a federal investigation found it illegally hired at least two dozen children to clean dangerous meat-processing facilities in Iowa and Virginia. The US Department of Labor announced Monday that Fayette Janitorial Service LLC entered into...

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