The New Way We Work

Work has changed a lot in the last few years: from the shift to remote work to the struggle over returning to the office, from the great resignation to mass layoffs at tech and media companies, from the rise in union organizing to the rise in AI in workplaces. So what does 2024 hold for companies, leaders, and employees?  Today’s episode is a recording of a recent LinkedIn Audio conversation with Fast Company Staff Editor AJ Hess breaking down advice and predictions for what to expect next.

The end of the year brings a lot of office traditions: holiday parties, year-end bonuses if you’re lucky, and often performance reviews. In this LinkedIn Audio conversation with senior editor Julia Herbst, we talk about common biases to avoid, what to say about areas of improvement, and how to get the most out of the process.

Workplaces move through design trends and conceptual themes just like other parts of modern interior commercial design. Remember the evolution of the cubicle farm, or the early 2000s’ startup office with a long communal desk (and ping pong table nearby)? But now, with our in-office and work-from-home routines in flux, what design elements will the future office feature? Fast Company writer Nate Berg talks through several design proposals centered around Gen Z employees, remote workers, and hybrid work styles with some of the top office design firms. Check out our deep dive into new office design concepts, including what both employers and employees are looking for, plus images of these hypothetical workspaces: RTO in 2024: Fast Company’s 8-point guide for designing an office your workers actually want to return to.

Sometimes, taking a scary, big career risk is the move that changes everything. We asked attendees at the Fast Company Innovation Festival a few months ago to share the biggest career risks they’ve ever taken. We heard everything, from switching to a new industry to dedicating their work to a cause they care about.

Emotional intelligence remains a workplace buzzword that confuses many people. On this episode from our LinkedIn Audio series, Farah Harris, author of ‘The Color of Emotional Intelligence,’ discusses how emotional awareness and management play into our office lives. It’s a skill often treated as optional, but mastering emotional intelligence—the ability to manage your emotions and understanding the emotions of those around you—is essential for weathering transitions, maintaining healthy relationships, and communicating clearly.

For decades, the typical image of a midlife crisis has been a man buying a sports car or getting a divorce and marrying a younger woman. Whether or not that still rings true, for women in the workplace that has nothing to do with reality. Midlife for women is the time when menopause, family caregiving, career ambitions, and a range of other personal shifts come together. In fact, author and consultant Lucy Ryan calls it the “midlife collision” and advocates for workplaces to offer much more flexibility for women in this stage of life. She says we need to reframe the typical career timeline to include a robust, energetic, and creative period of work later in life, when women with a supportive workplace can adapt to these changes while staying engaged and productive in their jobs.

After hearing from experts about how AI is changing the office, we decided to test out a few AI tools and report back on how they brilliantly changed our workflow. But as it turns out, some of these tools are definitely not ready to deliver the productivity boosts they promise.

This year, funding for AI-related startups has surpassed $23 billion dollars, and thousands of AI tools promise to automate tasks in every type of job. But instead of thinking about how technology can replace humans, Aneesh Raman, vice president and head of the Opportunity Project at LinkedIn, believes this system-level change will bring more humanity into the workplace. Aneesh shared his thoughts on a skill-first approach to job searching, why philosophy and ethics are in-demand areas of expertise, and how to think about the growth of AI in the long term.

Giving negative feedback at work may feel uncomfortable, but it's a necessary part of communication. Here are some tips for making the process constructive.

The housing crisis in the U.S. continues to get worse, with the highest mortgage rates in a generation currently and rents outpacing inflation by more than 40%. And the problem isn’t just in cities like New York and San Francisco. It’s affecting many other places where tourism is a major industry or high-cost areas that have unique jobs (like being a ski patroller), which don’t pay enough to actually afford the rent there. ‘Fast Company’ writer Pavithra Mohan has been interviewing people in a variety of occupations about the real-life struggles of being priced out of housing in the place where your job requires you to be. For more, check out our ongoing series of firsthand accounts on the topic: I make $60,000 working in the Hamptons. Here’s how the other half lives What it’s like to be a ski patroller in an expensive mountain town

If your boss is constantly checking up on you, looking over your shoulder—literally, figuratively, even virtually—here are some strategies for creating a better working relationship.

A couple of weeks ago, the U.S. went over the “childcare cliff” as billions of dollars of pandemic-era federal funding for childcare expired. But childcare providers have been struggling since well before the pandemic, with rising costs and little recourse but to raise their own prices. The chain reaction now for providers, children, and parents could mean a large decrease in women in the workforce and lower wages for workers. Fast Company staff writer Pavithra Mohan explains why the childcare industry has been so difficult to unionize, and what new efforts are starting to emerge.

It's nerve-racking to negotiate your salary, especially with a new employer! Here's how to reframe the conversation and ask for what you want.

When the Supreme Court ruled in June that race-based affirmative action practices in college admissions was unconstitutional, it not only sent universities scrambling, but it also caused a lot of confusion within companies. What would it mean for diversity, equity, and inclusion departments and initiatives? It didn’t help that as soon as the decision was issued, opponents of DEI efforts capitalized on the confusion with fear-mongering and misinformation. So, how does the affirmative-action ruling actually change both hiring and DEI initiatives at companies? LaFawn Davis, senior vice president of Environmental, Social, and Governance at Indeed, helped to parse out exactly what the ruling changes . . . and what it doesn’t.

We’re in an era where employee fulfillment and purpose are essential, but have management principles caught up? Today’s episode was recorded live at the Fast Company Innovation Festival last week in New York City, with Rachel Korberg, founder and executive director of the Family and Workers Fund, and Sarah Kalloch, executive director of the nonprofit Good Jobs Institute. We talked about the science behind what makes a good job, how that meaning has changed, and why getting employee satisfaction right is so important right now.