ArcaMax

$24.4 million.

That's how much Meta, the parent company of Facebook, spent to protect CEO Mark Zuckerberg in 2024. It's a lot of money, and it raises an uncomfortable question -- how much did your company spend to protect its most valuable employee, y-o-u?

Somewhat less than $24.4 million, I'm guessing.

If you are feeling unprotected and ...Read more

It isn't often that I disagree with The New York Times, but this time, they've gone too far.

It was a recent Work Friend column that raised my hackles (and when my hackles are raised, you need a really tall ladder to get them down.)

The headline, "My Boss Wants to Sleep on my Couch Every Week," describes the dilemma a reader sent to the ...Read more

I have an idea -- instead of waking up every morning feeling fraught and frustrated with your job, you retire. Hang it up. Toddle off into the sunset. Take this job and you-know-what it.

Sounds good, don't it?

No more mean managers. No more conniving co-workers. No more asinine assignments. No more doomed doables. Instead, it's just you, ...Read more

Congratulations! You made it through "Dry January." It was a struggle, but you did it.

Then came "Freedom from Fidgeting February" and "No Mayhem March" and "Avoid Anxiety April." Again, not easy, but well worth the effort. And now comes the most difficult month of all.

"Make No Complaints May"

Considering the many miseries of your job, it ...Read more

Feeling stressed at work?

I don't blame you.

The economy is looking rocky. The entire concept of job security feels like a quaint idea from another century. Your manager gives you too much to do and too little time to do it in. Your chances for getting another job are fading fast.

Yes, you have many reasons for feeling stressed at work, but...Read more

It happens every workday morning. You wake up full of energy and optimism. You leap out of bed and rocket to your workplace. Bursting with vim and vigor, you tackle the projects that stand before you, a hard-driving dynamo from 9 to 5, who does not rest, even for a second, until you have accomplished everything that is expected of you and more...Read more

"Maybe you just aren't fun anymore," a reader wrote to me recently. With all due respect to this reader, are you fun? No, please, are you having it? What is so fun out there, hmm? Is someone having a party full of Nerds Gummy Clusters and total disassociation?

Apparently, the tone around this column space has trended too serious for some people...Read more

CEOs are pounding their desktops. "Back to the office!" they cry. "Back to the office, say I!"

You really can't blame them. To a CEO, an employee is not just someone they pay. An employee is someone they own.

It was COVID-19 that sent employees sliding into home. Not only did remote work keep employees healthier, but it also made them ...Read more

Are you an "outie" or an "innie"?

If that's a question you can't answer, you're not watching "Severance."

The buzzy sci-fi drama on Apple TV+ tells the story of Lumon Industries -- a giant, malevolent corporation where the onboarding of some[ML1] employees includes a special surgical procedure. A company neurosurgeon inserts a chip into the ...Read more

You definitely want to work less, but are you willing to work more to work less? That's the question.

Journalist Bob Brody thought he had the answer. After retiring from a demanding job in a big city, Brody moved to the peace and quiet of an ancient hillside town in Southern Italy, where he attempted to embrace the local philosophy of "il dolce...Read more

If you want a truly terrifying horror film experience, don't go to a movie theater. Go to the office.

It's true! There are more thrills, chills and jump scares in your workplace than in any monster flick. The popcorn is better, too.

It's the ordinary office location that makes workplace horror so frightening. You don't expect to see a ghoul ...Read more

If you think that being forced to attend a bad meeting is the worst thing that can happen in your workday, I've got news. No matter how boring, unproductive and just plain stupid a bad meeting can be -- and believe me, they can -- the pain you will suffer during the meeting is nothing compared to the pain you will feel after the meeting is ...Read more

You've decided that improving your time-management skills is essential to reducing your stress, boosting your career and retaining what's left of your emotional health.

Well, I've got news -- you blew it!

Simply by reading this column you've proved that you have no idea of what a good use of your time is, but since you've gotten this far, ...Read more