ICYMI: Workers Embrace 'Act Your Wage'

Employers are seeing more workers say no to working weekends and fewer workers applying for promotions and find that they need more people to do the same work. The trend is called “act your wage,” and employers are changing their policies to retain workers.

US labor productivity, measured by how much the average worker gets done in an hour, fell by 5.9 percent in the first quarter of 2022 and 4.1 percent in the second. It rose 0.8 percent in the third.

At Goldman Sachs, first-year analysts complained to bank leaders about working an average of 95 hours per week, which was detrimental to their physical and mental health. The investment bank responded by hiring additional bankers and enforcing boundaries around working hours.

A Portland, Maine marketing and advertising firm, Pulp+Wire employees weren't using their full three weeks of vacation per year. The firm switched to an unlimited vacation policy and shut down the office during peak vacation times.

New paradigms for 2023 problems.

Employers are finding creative ways to adapt their workplace culture so employees can have a work-life balance. They are finding developing new paradigms.