Back in the 2010s, phone booths were pronounced dead. Who needed ‘em with smartphones in every pocket?

In our brave new hybrid-work world, however, soundproof pods are the hottest office furniture item, allowing for private Zoom meetings without hogging a large conference room. One manufacturer, Room, has sold over $100 million worth of the units, which start at $6,000 each. (That sounds expensive for a few square feet of floorspace, but prefab pods are reportedly 55% cheaper than new construction.)

The only problem: Some workers stay in them all day, necessitating strict time limits as if they were treadmills at the gym. A couple of Room booths even arrived at business.com HQ in January, and they somehow feel both modern and retro. Keep on knocking, Jeff, but we aren’t coming out of here.

Pay transparency: It’s here … in job listings and Gen Z convos

Employee of the Month: Can office award programs breed envy?

The Shawshank Redemption: Let’s dig into long-term planning

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Salaries used to be a complete mystery for job applicants and eventual coworkers. Now, however, there’s a clear move toward pay transparency in (and out of) the workplace.

A dozen states and cities across the U.S. now require that businesses make pay ranges public for open positions. Some companies have found a way around this: absurdly large ranges. (Netflix reportedly listed software engineer roles as paying between $90,000 and $900,000.)

But eyebrow-raising obfuscation can only go so far. That’s because younger workers are shockingly comfortable sharing their income. We don’t just mean blasting pay stubs on TikTok — though that’s happening too. Approximately 80% of Gen Z employees are willing to reveal their salaries with peers, according to Adobe. It’s a massive generational shift; most older workers consider pay a highly sensitive topic.

So, is salary transparency good or bad for business?

Here are the positives: Job seekers are 75% more likely to respond to listings with listed pay ranges, Indeed found. And when candidates are given a range without asking, their positive interview perception increases by 30%. Overall, this suggests a boon for hiring as long as your ranges stay competitive — or at least in line with industry standards.

However, if an employee discovers that coworkers at their level earn significantly more, prepare for bitterness and tough questions. (This might convince companies to lower top pay instead of increasing pay overall.) Major salary discrepancies could even result in discrimination claims. The gender pay gap is narrower than ever and salary transparency is partly why, experts believe.

Via LinkedIn, marketing consultant and Girls in Tech board member Jan Dewar recommends, “It’s important to stay on top of the local laws and regulations where your company operates or has employees,” and “support managers throughout the transition to address employee concerns.”

The good news for everyone: Workers are more productive when they feel fairly compensated, according to research compiled by the Society for Human Resource Management. Knowing a manager’s salary can even inspire employees to work harder for a promotion.

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Dr. Steven Rogelberg is a chancellor’s professor at UNC Charlotte, former president of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, and author of Glad We Met: The Art and Science of 1:1 Meetings.

Around half of organizations hold company-wide award programs, typically recognizing excellence in achieving goals and epitomizing organizational values. In general, they are designed to motivate the workforce to engage in actions critical to organizational success.

Research is generally aligned with that hope: employees exposed to such programs do tend to outperform employees who aren’t.

But a recent study investigated the impact of not winning on those nominated for the award. In contrast to employees who weren’t nominated at all, the researchers found individuals nominated but not selected for an award displayed reduced levels of collaborative engagement with the actual winners. This was especially true if they were part of the same team or shared an office space.

Clearly, these nominees are still key talent. While the negative effects of not winning appear to subside in time, managers should take steps to mitigate them:

• Praise and recognize those who were nominated but did not win. Help them still feel appreciated and seen.
• Actively help non-winners manage their feelings. Don’t ignore them.  Talk to them about what happened and why. Offer support for future nominations to elevate their case.
• Express your hope that they will continue their excellence and their active collaboration with others — even with those who did win.

These actions taken together can serve to decrease the unintended consequences of award programs while maximizing the positive benefits.

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We tend to measure business success on a quarterly basis, but this leads to shortsighted decision-making. Even limiting our performance metrics to year over year can hinder strategic thinking.

Do you realize that Apple patented its VR headset in 2008? And starting today, 16 years later, you can finally purchase the Apple Vision Pro.

To keep thriving, you need to step back and think long term. Steve Jobs knew it, and so did Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) in The Shawshank Redemption. In fact, Andy was dealing with the longest term possible: a life sentence. 

When Andy asked himself where he wanted to be in 27 years, he decided it was on the outside of Shawshank Penitentiary’s walls. So, did he just try to hack out a minimum, viable tunnel before the end of the fiscal year? 

No, he worked slowly. He cultivated relationships that would help him reach his goals, like a trusted supplier of pinup posters in Red (Morgan Freeman). Then he broke the goal into small chunks, literally, as he dumped chunks of his wall in the yard one pocket at a time. And when all those years of work finally paid off, he was sure to thank the people who got him there — with a tropical escape for Red and a surprise visit from the sheriff for the warden.

(This movie is so good, we might even buy an Apple Vision Pro to watch it in 3D.)

Written by Dan Ketchum and John McNamee. Comic by John McNamee.