The Half-off Week
Anyone Working Out There?
We’re back after the Fourth, and what a weekend it was. Here in Atlanta, we had the Peachtree Road race, the world’s largest 10K with 56,000 participants. People come from all over the world to run our iconic Peachtree Road with thousands more on the sidelines cheering them on. We’ve said this before, but July 4 is truly the city’s “best day.” In addition, we had the World Cup, the start of the Tour de France, and fireworks galore for the nation’s 250th birthday.
So now this is the week when it feels like the whole country checks out. It’s not like August in Italy, but data shows that around half of US workers admit to “quiet vacationing” around the Fourth, quietly stepping back without putting in for the PTO time, and the number runs higher for younger employees. We’re not here to point fingers, though. If anything, the research on rest points the other way, so we came back thinking about what actually pays off at work.
Last week, we mentioned Ford’s “gray beards,” the veteran engineers it brought back after AI could not replace their judgment. This week, there’s even more with CNBC reporting that among leaders who cut roles for AI, 55 percent now say those calls were wrong. It goes further than a few reversals. New data from Ramp and Revelio Labs found the heaviest AI adopters grew headcount about 10 percent over two years, with entry-level roles growing more, not less. The company that treated AI as a reason to cut people is quietly becoming the exception, not the rule.
The second story is quieter and, to us, just as telling. A large study out of the Shift Project at Harvard looked at Fair Workweek laws, the local rules that require predictable schedules for hourly workers. Across 87,000 workers in five cities, advance-notice scheduling improved sharply, and back-to-back closing-and-opening shifts fell. Coverage held steady, and health insurance ticked up slightly. Treating people’s time as worth protecting turned out not to cost the thing everyone said it would.
That is our throughline this week. Betting on people, their judgment, their schedules, and their rest, just keeps outperforming other strategies.
What we’re reading
Employers who laid off workers citing AI are already regretting it: CNBC The follow-up to last week’s gray beards. An Orgvue survey found 39 percent of leaders cut roles for AI and 55 percent now say they got it wrong.
Heavy AI adoption is linked to more hiring, not fewer jobs: Big Technology A study of 21,000 firms found the biggest adopters added headcount.
Fair Workweek laws improved workers’ lives without cutting pay or benefits: HR Dive A Harvard study of 87,000 hourly workers.
Grief has entered the workplace, and here is what leaders can do: Fast Company A practical read on a skill no one puts in a management handbook.
California state workers protest as the return-to-office mandate takes effect: CapRadio A live example of a mandate arriving ahead of the reasoning meant to support it.
Half of workers are “quiet vacationing” around the Fourth: CNBC (behavioral data, 2024)