Here is the published version of this week’s Forbes Careers newsletter, which brings the latest workplace news and career advice straight to your inbox every Tuesday.
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Would you be willing to run a Walmart supercenter for $128,000, plus $20,000 in stock and a bonus that could equal 200% of your salary? The retail giant is hoping so—or at least that an enhanced compensation plan, which includes a new benefit of $20,000 in stock grants for top managers, will better reflect the complexity of a job that means operating a multimillion dollar business, managing hundreds of workers and handling a vast array of responsibilities that has only ballooned in recent years.
I’m stepping in for Emmy Lucas this week, and you can read more here about Walmart’s new pay plan for the managers who lead their 4,600-odd U.S. stores. The company says turnover has stabilized after 2022, but such stock plans can’t hurt with retention either, given managers’ access to it will vest over time. It also raises an interesting question: Why don’t more frontline workers or managers get stock grants in industries where the competition for talent is tough? The practice is growing, but many still don’t get access to the same kind of shares as their corporate bosses.
Also this week: We’ll dive into recent research that shows those return-to-office mandates your boss insists on may have more downsides than they think. More on that below. Plus: the latest career advice.
Hope it’s a great week!
WORK SMARTER
Practical insights and advice from Forbes staff and contributors to help you succeed in your job, accelerate your career and lead smarter
How to network—for those who don’t like networking.
ChatGPT might one day come for your job. In the meantime, put it to work to help you prep for interviews.
Making a mid-career pivot? Here’s what to expect next.
If you’re bored at work, there are ways to liven things up. Here are five ways to conquer boredom on the job so you can move on.
Interviews might seem like a way to promote just yourself. But you can also demonstrate your teamwork skills.
TOUCH BASE
News from the world of work
Walmart’s new pay plan: The retail giant announced Monday it plans to give store managers annual stock grants worth up to $20,000, a benefit that follows other pay program changes the company introduced for its store managers earlier this month. Walmart will give the top store manager at each of the company’s more than 4,600 U.S. stores annual stock grants valued at up to $20,000, depending on the size and format of the store. U.S. CEO John Furner said store manager turnover has stabilized “quite a bit” since 2022, but the move should still help with retention, as grants will be made annually but vest on a quarterly basis over a three-year period.
More evidence against RTO mandates: Need fresh ammo to persuade your boss they shouldn’t make office returns mandatory? Two new studies suggest remote work not only lures more diverse and experienced candidates willing to trade higher pay for flexibility—but that office mandates don’t appear to boost financial performance, hurting job satisfaction instead. Check out our story here.
More tech layoffs: The economy may not be heading for the recession so many feared, but job cuts continue, with layoffs at Activision and Xbox planned by Microsoft. The move follows other cuts at tech companies like Google, Amazon and more. On Tuesday, UPS announced it would lay off some 12,000 employees—and require workers to come to the office five days a week.
Best remote gigs: Senior contributor Laura Begley Bloom reports on FlexJobs’ ranking of the top 30 companies for remote jobs. This year, FluentU—an online education company that offers innovative language immersion through real-world video content—is at the top of the list, Bloom reports. Check out the rest of the list here.
CHECKLIST
Add these books and videos to your to-do list
- Forbes spoke with Stanford University professor Bob Sutton—author of the book The No A**hole Rule that many people wish their boss had read—about his new book, The Friction Project. It looks at the forces in organizations that make it harder to get things done, and how you can subtract more of what you and your team do, rather than add to it.
- Remember that CEO whose employee sold their dog to return to the office? It sounds like a Saturday Night Live sketch, but it’s the title of this recent exclusive video interview Forbes did with Clearlink CEO James Clarke, who also appeared to rail against employees taking care of kids during work hours in the initial video clip, which went viral back in April 2021. “No one should have to make a choice of having children or having a job … that was not my intention at all,” he told Diane Brady. “I failed.”
NUMBER TO NOTE
35%
How much more likely professionals working from home are to be let go than onsite employees, according to data from job change and human capital insights provider Live Data Technologies cited by the Wall Street Journal. Senior contributor Jack Kelly summarizes the report’s findings here, as well as the best way for remote workers to try and survive layoffs.
QUIZ
Data from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission finds that the EEOC received 73,485 new discrimination charges for fiscal year 2022, representing an almost 20% increase from the previous fiscal year, reports contributor Chris Westfall. Which state had the most workplace discrimination charges?
- North Carolina
- Tennessee
- Mississippi
- Nevada
Check if you got it right here.
