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A majority of those expecting a holiday bonus this year are planning to check out once the check clears. According to a recent survey of 2,000 American workers by AI job application assistant JobHire AI, 59% are maybe or definitely expecting a bonus this year. Among them, 48% are already job hunting or planning to quit after their bonus is paid, and another 20% are considering leaving in the new year. The job market often sees a lot of activity following the holiday lull, as many spend the break reflecting on the previous year and setting goals for the next. This year, however, may see even more aggressive job -hopping, as many workers have become more financially dependent on their year-end bonusmeaning more are hanging on to a job they dont want until after its been paid out. From Bonus to Baseline According to the survey, 27% of workers say their annual bonus is essential for their household finances and another 42% say it helps a lot. The survey highlighted that something that was previously used as a retention tool became more like a way to delay resignations, says JobHire AIs CEO Artem Zakharov. Workers have come to view the bonus as a financial lifeline, but not a reason to stay. Overall, 68% of survey respondents admit to having stayed at a job longer than they wanted just to collect their bonus before leaving in the past, and many say theyre planning to do the same this year. When you expect to receive a huge part of your compensation package in one quarter, once that transaction is complete, there is no more incentive to stay, Zakharov says. In a survey conducted earlier this year by online job platform Monster, 95% of American workers said their wages havent kept up with rising costs, and 56% were actively searching for a higher-paying job just to keep up. At the same time, 69% struggled to find work in a slow job market. With a new year usually comes new budgets, explains Monster career expert Vicki Salemi. Companies may have frozen their headcount until year-end, so January opens up new budgets, and they may start posting new opportunities. Will there be jobs to hop into in 2026? Workers also demonstrated a lot of interest in changing roles this time last year, but struggled to find work due a slowdown in the market, and the situation hasnt improved much since. We saw job hugging this year, where people were less likely to leave their full-time job because they were concerned about job security, Salemi says, adding that new hires are often the first to get let go in whats referred to as last-in, first-out. Even if they were unhappy there was trepidation, because if they went to a new job they could be in the first round of layoffs, so that created a holding pattern across the ecosystem. Though its been a slow year for the job market overall, there are some pockets that are trending in the opposite direction. It’s been a tale of two markets, says Laura Ullrich, the director of economic research for online job platform Indeed. From a macro point of view, it’s a low-hire, low-fire environment, but if you look under the hood, some sectors like healthcare and leisure and hospitality remain relatively strong. Outside of those sectors, Ullrich warns, the desire to find a new employer in 2026 might be high, but the opportunities remain limited. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, unemployed job seekers are taking an average of 27 weeks to land a new full time role, up from 25 weeks last year. People may have the desire to switch jobs, but I doubt were going to see a big increase in quits if hiring isnt increasing at the same time, she says. With the level of uncertainty we have in the economy, its unlikely people will leave their job without another job lined up. Job-Hoppers Will Need to Get Creative in 2026 Those looking for a new job once their annual bonus arrives may find few opportunities in this market, but there are ways to tilt the odds in their favor. For example, Ullrich says those desperate for a new gig in 2026 may want to pivot their careers toward one of those booming sectors. For example, tech firms may not be hiring as many software developers, but there is a need for tech skills in the healthcare sector. Because some sectors are doing well and others arent hiring as much, think about how the skills that you have can be applied to a wider array of sectors, she says. Applying them in new ways could be very valuable in this labor market. Those who know they want a new job in the new year might also want to start their search now, even before receiving their year-end bonus. This is a great time for job seekers to start looking, rather than waiting until the first quarter, because there are significantly less applications so theres less competition, says Monsters Salemi. Some companies also have fiscal year budgets that end in January, and if they don’t fill this job the budget goes away, so there are many companies eager to hire right now. Though it could mean forgoing the annual bonus, Salemi says it may be worth making the move now, rather than risk getting stuck for another year.
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E-Commerce
For most leaders these last five years have been ones of great volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. Political dynamics, economic shifts, massive layoffs, strategy pivots, technology disruptions, and more are shaping how we lead and what we can accomplish together. Leading through uncertainty is no longer a mere possibility, it’s core to the job description. Times of uncertainty call for fast executive decision-making with limited information, good enough risk assessment, and repeated pivots. I know this because I led a global philanthropy network while the world shut down in 2020. During those initial months, I relied less on staff input to determine our direction, despite deeply valuing a culture of co-ownership. My choices as an executive during this period had to be fast and decisive to keep us afloat, but also had significant ramifications. While I was able to effectively pivot to help our organization survive the crisis, I noticed that the staff who previously had driven programs now lacked ownership and motivation to move things forward. They deferred to me when I needed them to own their expertise. They didnt have audacious goals that matched our big North Star. They didnt bring ideas to brainstorms on how we could further innovate. At the time this frustrated me; I was exhausted and burnt out from managing the crisis without much support and I desperately needed my board and staff team to step up. What Ive learned since is just how common this is. After a period that requires a more top-down approach to decision-making, organizations and leaders rarely snap back to a high agency and collaborative cultureeven if thats what they value. Why? Because teams have become conditioned to defer to others to make decisions, and we exist in a culture where this is the norm. What leaders need to do is find a way to reinvigorate that distributed leadership as quickly as possible after the initial crisis management. How we lead during these moments can set us up to become more nimble, adaptable, and creative. Given the continued volatility we are all experiencing, leaders who can embrace uncertainty as the time to share and shift power will find themselves better supported and prepared to navigate ongoing turbulence. Here are three strategies I have observed and learned to use with boards, staff teams, and leaders as soon as possible after or during periods of uncertainty to help organizations move through the crisis while deepening a culture of shared agency. 1. Disrupt any top-down culture creep If your crisis management plan or campaign requires a tight-knit group of leaders to make decisions, look for ways to redistribute that power as quickly as possible. This might mean delegating some of the lower risk decision-making opportunities to team members and fully getting out of their way. You could also try taking yourself out of the picture temporarily to help disrupt the well-grooved habits that people might have in relying on your input. Leaders who step away for a week or two off while putting in place an interim leadership structure often come back to find that their teams have rebuilt more trust and agency. One executive I worked with faced a strategic crisis at the same time as their pre-planned time off. While some leaders might have cancelled their vacation, I encouraged the leader to take that leave. They put in place an interim leadership team, created a point of contact for the Board to rely on if things escalated further, and quickly distributed power and authority. Now, the interim leadership team continues to be an important brain trust, supporting a more distributed approach to decision-making. The new relationships and capacity built during that crisis moment have helped the organization adapt as circumstances continue to change. Its important to remember that top-down leadership is the culture were swimming in, and it is the obvious choice. Distributed leadership requires active planning, focus, practice, and a counter-cultural approach. When done well, strategic leadership redundancy allows for organizations and leaders to be more nimble and resilient. 2. Re-orient to story and purpose Crisis often narrows our point of view to daily or weekly operations. Leaders, however, need to quickly get back to being the chief visionary officer. Teams rely on leaders to provide this perspective, inspire them to connect to each other, and work towards a shared purpose. Over the years, Ive talked to numerous teams during times of crisis and transition. One thing that I hear is that leaders have to default to being doers during this time, despite the fact that their genius lies in being storytellers, visionaries, strategic dot connectors, and community builders. When I talk with the people around these leaders, a common thread is that people want to feel inspired and connected to the vision that brought them to the work in the first place. Look for opportunities to remind people of your shared values or help connect them to the bigger picture of where they are going. When you tell the story of what you are building together, you refocus and reenergize people to bring their best selves in working toward your shared North Star. As leaders, its not always easy to prioritize this kind of vision and value-setting work. It might seem more frivolous than the clear tasks and list of items you can easily check off. But over my 20+ years in social change and public sector roles, Ive seen that executives who lead with this kind of visionary approach first are the ones who are able to build teams of people enthusiastic about navigating uncharted waters. 3. Engage openly in learning and reflection Uncertainty necessarily moves many leaders into a control-oriented mindset. However, navigating uncertainty and sharing power over a long period of time requires curiosity and a beginners mindset. Reject your knee-jerk reaction to have all the answers. Instead, model holding uncertainty and curiosity to the people around you. Admit where you have learning edges and acknowledge the questions youre holding. Anne-Laure Le Cunff, neuroscientist and author of Tiny Experiments, shares this wisdom: Leaders need to optimize for curiosity by creating an environment where its safe to experiment and learn in public. When teams see their leaders openly sharing their learning process, including the missteps and uncertainties, it creates psychological safety, which encourages everyone to embrace their own curiosity. This is how you can create a virtuous cycle of continuous reinvention. Curiosity is also power-sharing in practice. This shifts leadership from being about I share answers and direct people around me to complete tasks to I identify questions from my perspective and enable people to come together to experiment, learn, and find solutions together. From here organizations get better results and can navigate uncertainty with more relationship and trust. Together these three practices help break down any unhelpful power dynamics, create trust, and reinvigorate teams to co-own and co-create. Better yet, leaders who implement these practices before a crisis will find themselves well-equipped to navigate uncertainty with creativity, clarity, and courage. Good leaders can use their power; great leaders know when to give that power back.
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E-Commerce
If your sofa was made between 1970 and 2014, its foam is likely loaded with flame retardantschemicals that can escape into dust and end up in the air you breathe. A new study led by the California Department of Public Health shows the payoff of swapping it out: people who replaced their old, chemical-filled sofas or chairs with new, flame-retardant-free models saw levels of one common chemical, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), drop by half in just over a year. The chemicals became ubiquitous in upholstered furniture thanks to older regulations in California. The state’s large market meant that flame retardants were used in furniture nationwide. The tobacco industry originally lobbied for the rules in the 1960s, when smoking was a common cause of fires and the industry didnt want to make self-extinguishing cigarettes. But flame retardants didn’t prevent fires effectively. Instead, they were linked to cancer risk, hormone disruption, and reduced IQ levels in children. By the early 2000s, manufacturers began phasing out one type of flame retardant, and by 2014, California finally revised its flammability rules so that companies could sell furniture without flame retardants. In the early 2000s, there was a lot of accumulating evidence of the health effects associated with these chemicals, particularly for neurological development for children,” says Robin Dodson, a research scientist at the Silent Spring Institute and one of the authors of the study. “So the industry kind of saw the writing on the wall and opted for a phase out of BDE flame retardants in upholstered furniture.” Initially, manufacturers switched to organophosphate flame retardants (OPFRs). But after California updated its rules, some phased out flame retardants completely, so it became possible to buy furniture without them. In a previous study, the researchers found a significant reduction in PBDE chemicals in dust after furniture was replaced in a house. The new study is the first to look at what happens biologically. The chemicals dont go away immediatelyPBDEs have half lives in the body ranging from 1.8 to 6.5 years. But when large furniture like a sofa is replaced, they quickly drop. (There was less change in OPFRs, which have a shorter half-life in the body and which are still present in other products, from cars to electronics.) The scientists also studied a companion group of people who didnt replace furniture. They also saw a drop in PBDEs in their blood and urine, thanks to the fact that more products are being made without the chemicals. But levels dropped two to four times more slowly than in those who got new furniture. That doesnt mean you need to immediately buy a new couch if your budget is tight. (There’s also currently no safe, environmentally friendly way to dispose of old flame-retardant-filled furniture.) Our number-one tip right now today for flame retardants is to actually keep dust levels low inside of your house, says Dodson. That means, for example, vacuuming with a HEPA filter that can capture dust. Washing hands before making food or eating also makes a significant difference, especially for children. But when you do get new furniture, Dodson says, look for items that are specifically made without the chemicals. We’ve been generally telling people, don’t run and throw out your couch, she says. But when choosing new furniture, choose without flame retardants.
Category:
E-Commerce
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