• I was surprised when people started calling me Mom when I was pregnant.
• I quickly began to hate it.
• It was all part of my identity crisis while transitioning to motherhood.

During pregnancy, people started referring to me as Mom. While some other pregnant women seemed to find this cute or sweet, I didn't. In fact, as my daughter (and my belly) grew larger and it was more and more obvious that I was pregnant, so did my annoyance with being called Mom or Mommy. It felt like the person I was, who had a name and a life separate from the life growing inside her, was starting to disappear.

The first place I was called Mom was at my prenatal appointments

It probably all started in the doctor's office. One of the (many) little failures of the prenatal and postpartum care period for me was being referred to as Mom at my birth center. It was not endearing to me — it felt lazy.

I wanted them to look at my chart and call me by my first name. It seemed like just another thing about the experience that was centered on the baby rather than the person who was growing the baby. I wanted to feel like they were looking at me as an individual, not just another of the hundreds of moms who visited their office every month.

My daughter is now 6, and I still dislike being called Mom, Mommy, or Mama in place of my name by other adults. This is especially true in medical settings, like my daughter's pediatrician's office; it feels like they're not taking my concerns seriously. It also feels infantilizing, distancing, and dismissive.

Motherhood caused an identity crisis

After my daughter was born, I was suddenly no longer a writer, a reader, a wife, a chocolate lover, an anglophile, a person who pooped in private. I was a mom, and my responsibility was to care for the well-being of my daughter. It felt like everything else just fell by the wayside. I felt like my identity as a person — a dynamic, well-rounded person — had been snatched away from me. And being called Mom instead of my name by people who weren't my actual child just seemed to reinforce that.

I am sure that being a stay-at-home mom also contributed to this feeling of no longer having a purpose beyond new parenthood, though I know working parents also experience this.

When my daughter was around 18 months old, I spent a weekend away from her for the first time. I spent much of the train ride to my destination feeling guilty for leaving her. I wondered: Will she be confused? Will she think I've abandoned her? I felt unspoken judgment from others when they asked me who was watching my daughter while I was away. Like I didn't deserve time to myself or to explore my own interests apart from her.

I've rediscovered my identity since my daughter was a baby

The only person I love to hear call me Mom is my daughter. In fact, now that she's 6, I miss her calling me Mama like when she was a baby. It's just another reminder that my daughter is growing up.

Since those earlier days of motherhood, I've been able to rediscover who I am apart from my daughter, and being called Mom doesn't irk me the way it used to. The older my daughter gets, the more time I've been able to spend doing the things I love: writing, traveling, reading, crafting. And I've been able to share them with her as well.

• The latest "White Lotus" season was filmed at the Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui in Thailand.
• Previous seasons filmed at Four Seasons resorts in Hawaii and Italy led to increased interest.
• Thailand expects a 20% rise in visitors due to the show's influence, the Four Seasons said.

Fictional guests have officially checked in to the "The White Lotus" hotel for the third season of the hit TV series. As the backdrop for vacationers this season, a Four Seasons resort in Thailand is already getting a boost in interest from IRL tourists.

"The White Lotus," an HBO TV show that follows a cast of characters on lavish vacations, was filmed at the Four Season Resort Koh Samui this time round. The resort, on a Thai island, told Business Insider that it's already seeing a jump in interest since the first episode aired on February 16. Its second episode aired in the US on February 23.

A spokesperson for Four Seasons Koh Samui said the hotel is experiencing a surge "in terms of availability checks, searches, and bookings." It's the third time "The White Lotus" has been filmed at a Four Seasons; production previously took place at locations in Hawaii and Italy for the first and second seasons, respectively. Searches for hotels and flights to Sicily from the US increased by over 50% while season two was airing, according to travel booking site Hopper.

The show also filmed at the Anantara Mai Khao Villas hotel in Phuket, a separate Thai island, for some scenes. Representatives for Anantara and HBO didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from BI.

"There is also increased interest in Thailand itself as a travel destination, and the Director of Thailand's Tourism Authority has said they expect about 20% rise in tourism as a result of the show," the Four Seasons Koh Samui spokesperson said. They didn't specify over which time period.

The season 3 premiere attracted 4.6 million total viewers in the US between Sunday and Monday, up 90% from the season 2 premiere, HBO said. IMDb included "White Lotus" in its top 10 most-anticipated TV shows set to return in 2025.

In 2021, Cascade Investment, the investment firm for billionaire Bill Gates, bought a controlling stake in the resort chain. He purchased it from Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal's Kingdom Holding and paid $2.2 billion in cash. Anantara is owned by Minor Hotels, founded by American businessman William Heinecke.

Four Seasons Maui at Wailea in Hawaii — where season one was shot — told BI that it knows the "White Lotus effect" well. A spokesperson said it experienced a 425% increase in website visits and a 386% increase in availability checks year over year when the show first aired in 2021.

Four years later, it says guests are still asking about the fictional "Pineapple Suite," a redecorated version of the real Lokelani Presidential Suite, which costs $29,000 a night. Starting March 14, the resort said it will offer a "White Lotus" experience to guests for a limited time, offering them cocktails inspired by the series and more.

Three nights in May in a serenity pool villa will cost about $1,363 a night on average for a one-bedroom villa at the Koh Samui resort, according to its website. A four-bedroom residence villa with a pool will run to about $7,866 per night. When BI previously searched its accommodation prices for a May 2024 stay last January, the rates were $1,281 and $7,746, respectively.

• Christian Lovell shares six signs your boss might want you to quit your job.
• Lovell, a career coach, highlights communication and workload changes as key indicators.
• In a tough job market, understanding these signs can help you prepare for career shifts.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Christian Lovell, a 31-year-old career coach from Los Angeles. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I'm the founder of Careers by Chris, a growing online community of job seekers, and a former career expert at Sofi. I help people figure out the next steps in their careers and how to land their next job.

On my Instagram, I share actionable, understandable, and easily digestible career growth tips that people may not have learned in school. I answer common questions like: How do I build an effective résumé? What's an applicant tracking system? How do I market myself for a role that I want?

In the current job market and economy, one question to consider is: How do I know if my boss wants me to quit? This job market is the toughest I've ever seen, and you must be prepared for anything.

Although just one sign alone might not be an indicator, here are six signs your boss might want you to quit and what to do next.

1. Your boss is communicating less

A lack of communication is one sign that your boss might be pushing you to quit. If they're decreasing your one-on-ones, making it hard to communicate with them, or if you're unable to get the support you need, it could indicate that developing you as an employee is no longer a priority.

On their end, it wouldn't make sense to pour resources into further developing you if they don't plan to keep you around.

2. Your boss stops having discussions about your future at the company

Similarly, discussions about your future might stop if they don't see you having a future at the company. They might no longer say things during your performance reviews, like, "In three months or six months, this will be happening," or they may stop mentioning your promotion altogether.

If you say to your manager, "Hey, I want to talk about my next steps," and they're not open to having those conversations, that's a red flag.

This might mean they're making excuses or perpetually putting things off. They may feel guilty about letting you go, they might not yet have all the information themselves, or they might not be at liberty to talk about it.

3. Your boss is excluding you

Another sign your boss might be pushing you to quit is if they start excluding you from important meetings or other key forms of communication, such as emails, team meetings, or Slack channels.

If you've been part of a project update every month or week, and suddenly you're no longer included, that can be a sign. There could be many excuses for why you're being excluded from important projects or meetings, like "it was an oversight" or "we're changing how we're structuring this project."

It could also indicate that your work is being reassigned or that they're removing you from projects because they no longer see you as part of the company's future. Again, understanding these decisions in context is important. How often is this happening? How relevant are the projects you're excluded from to your core job duties?

4. Your boss is giving you busy work

If you realize you're not on any important projects and feel like you're doing busy work, that can also be an indicator.

This could look like being asked to do tasks below your normal job duties, like summarizing meeting notes, instead of the important projects you were once on.

5. Your boss is giving you too much work

You might also be given an unbearable amount of work. Your boss could set unrealistic expectations and then document them, saying, "I asked my employee to do X, Y, and Z, and they failed to do it. So now there is a reason to let them go," or you might say, "This is unbearable, and I need to quit."

I've seen this happen to a lot of people. Once it happens, I tell them they should be searching if they have inklings they're being pushed out of their job. Do not wait until you can't bear it, or they let you go.

When it comes to finding new work, you won't list your reason for leaving a job on a résumé, so your next company would not know if you quit or were fired, but there will be times when you have to explain your departure from the company, like in future interviews.

There are pros and cons to quitting or waiting to be let go, and the best choice will depend on where you are in your career.

6. Your boss placed you on a PIP

PIPs (performance improvement plans) do not 100% mean you'll be fired from your job, but they are a sign. PIPs are used to create a paper trail — and, in many cases, let the employee go.

If you're put on a PIP, you should make arrangements to find another job. PIPs can be a sign they're preparing to have a final conversation with you and let you go. PIPs are usually paired with micromanaging and unrealistic or unreasonable workloads.

Regardless of whether you're on a PIP, never fully remove yourself from the market. Keep your résumé updated and your network warm.

What to do next

Seeing one of these signs doesn't necessarily mean your boss wants to let you go. Instead of jumping to conclusions, ask yourself: Are there multiple signs? Could it just be your imposter syndrome? And most importantly, have things with your boss shifted from one extreme to the other?

If you do feel your boss wants you to quit, you should first have a conversation with them. Document your achievements, and if you feel your time at the company is ending one way or the other, start your job search.

• The outsize returns VCs depend on might be out of reach through healthcare M&A this year.
• VCs told BI they don't see much appetite for big deals among healthcare's historical mega-buyers.
• Healthcare startups looking to sell may have to settle for lower prices from their peers.

Healthcare startups are hoping for more M&A in the market this year after a three-year drought of company combinations. But most VCs aren't expecting to reap blockbuster returns through big healthcare deals anytime soon.

The industry's historical mega-buyers — from Big Tech and retail to health plans and private equity — don't seem to have much of an appetite for big digital health deals this year, according to nearly a dozen VCs and investment bankers Business Insider spoke to.

Big Tech companies like Amazon and retailers like Walgreens have already made multibillion-dollar buys in healthcare and, in some cases, been burned by their losses. Insurers like United Healthcare are facing mounting scrutiny, said these investors. While private equity seems increasingly interested in healthcare technologies, many of PE firms' recent big healthcare buys have been public companies, and often those already demonstrating stable revenue and profitability, rather than high-growth startups.

Many healthcare startups are looking to get bought or raising down rounds to extend their lifespans, sometimes offering discounts on their last-round valuations to make a deal happen, BI reported in November. Better-performing startups, especially later-stage players, may not want to sell as investors hope for a reopening in the IPO markets that could help them recoup their returns, VCs told BI.

On the bright side, those descending valuations offer plenty of opportunities for late-stage digital health startups flush with cash and looking to grow. Healthcare startups like Transcarent have already announced acquisitions this year, while others like Datavant have signaled they're ready for an M&A spree.

Still, the outsize returns VCs depend on might be out of reach through healthcare M&A for the time being.

"M&A can be a great outcome. It just feels like there's not a lot of buyers that can do the kinds of deals that we would hope for for that big outcome," said IVP partner Yuri Lee.

Tech and retail's healthcare struggles

2024 brought a reckoning for retail healthcare as a number of large companies looked to downsize, sell off, or shut down their healthcare bets.

Walmart shut down its entire Walmart Health division in April, including its 51 health centers and its virtual care services. Walgreens closed at least 160 of its VillageMD primary care clinics throughout the year; the pharmacy retailer said in an August securities filing that it was considering selling part or all of its controlling stake in VillageMD, which Walgreens paid more than $6 billion for.

CVS, which owns a number of healthcare businesses, including the insurer Aetna and the primary care clinic chain Oak Street Health, swapped out its CEOs in October after undergoing a strategic review, where the company reportedly considered splitting up its retail and insurance businesses as it faced rising costs from Medicare Advantage claims, according to Reuters. (For its part, CVS has forged on with its expansion of Oak Street Health, which it bought for $10.6 billion in 2023. The pharmacy business continued opening new clinics throughout the year as other retailers backed off their own in-person healthcare bets.)

A CVS Health spokesperson declined to comment for this story but said the company is "focused on executing on our integrated care strategy." Walmart declined to comment. Walgreens didn't respond to a request for comment.

Some of Big Tech's healthcare investments underwent their own struggles last year. While Amazon's pharmacy business is drawing more consumer interest, its primary care business One Medical, which Amazon said in 2022 it was acquiring for $3.9 billion, lost Google as a large enterprise client in 2024 and faced an ongoing wrongful death lawsuit. Amazon also scrapped its telehealth business, Amazon Care, in 2022.

Amazon declined to comment on its M&A strategy. A spokesperson said the company is committed to One Medical's continued growth and plans to expand next to New Jersey, Northeast Ohio, and Westchester County, New York. The spokesperson said One Medical has contracts with around 10,000 employers and growing.

Investors said that while players like Amazon may look around for smaller acquisitions to tack onto their existing offerings — especially those they can get at a discount — those buyers aren't likely to take another big swing anytime soon.

"I think it's fair to say that they've had a lot of large-scale failures in trying to buy nationally scaled assets that would impose consistency on the system. It just doesn't work like that," said Dan Mendelson, the CEO of JPMorgan's healthcare fund Morgan Health, of large tech and retail companies like Amazon. "As soon as you move to more of a national system, you lose the quality control and a lot of the economic viability."

Steadier buyers may snub startups

For the likely buyers among health insurance's top players, federal scrutiny and a public reckoning could hamper megadeals this year.

UnitedHealth Group's Optum spent more than $31 billion on acquisitions between 2022 and 2024. UnitedHealth is currently trying to close a $3.3 billion deal to acquire home-health company Amedisys. But the Department of Justice sued to block the merger in November, citing antitrust concerns.

Some other health plan mergers fell through last year, including early talks between Anthem and Cigna about a potential combination, per Bloomberg. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana also called off plans to sell itself to Elevance Health in February after facing regulatory pushback.

For health plans, the elephant in the room is the December murder of former UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, which ignited a public outcry over how health insurers pay for patient care, or, more accurately, how frequently they deny paying for it. PitchBook senior healthcare analyst Aaron DeGagne said insurers may seek to lay low for the next few months as criticism mounts — "A lot of things could be misinterpreted," he said.

Despite those headwinds, DeGagne noted that health plans are hoping to tap into recent advancements in healthcare AI technologies to make their prior authorization and claims processes more efficient. He said he thinks health plans will notch more startup partnerships this year, and likely make their own investments in the sector, before they turn to acquisitions.

UnitedHealth Group didn't respond to requests for comment for this story.

Private equity firms have remained active in healthcare and shelled out billions of dollars on a handful of deals last year, like R1 RCM's August take-private by two private equity firms for $8.9 billion, the second biggest US healthcare deal in 2024, according to PitchBook.

Private equity's healthcare interest could certainly continue through 2025, especially as firms hope for falling interest rates and less regulatory scrutiny under a new presidential administration.

However, private equity firms often require acquisitions to be profitable or nearly profitable. In VC, investors aren't exactly itching to sell off their late-stage profitable healthcare bets — since many of those could be candidates for IPOs once the public markets reopen, Mendelson said.

"It is definitely the case that private equity buyers are attractive to middle-market companies. But the larger companies have to be thinking about an IPO," he said.

Moreover, private equity's healthcare playbook has historically relied on buying up individual healthcare practices, like medspas or home health centers. Those models generally bring in slower but more reliable revenue streams rather than explosive growth potential. Healthtech, a VC favorite, wasn't significantly represented in the top megadeals last year — of the 25 biggest US healthcare and life sciences deals in 2024, R1 RCM was the only true healthtech deal, with most of the other deals being in healthcare services or biopharma, per PitchBook.

So while private equity could certainly look to buy more healthcare companies this year, they may not be the sexy deals VCs are looking for, said Krish Ramadurai, a partner at AIX Ventures.

"A lot of the boring services companies with great margins and great product market fit are prime takeouts right now. And if you have the AI angle, even better," he said.

M&A-hungry healthcare unicorns

This year, some of the most active buyers of venture-backed healthcare startups may just be other startups.

Several healthcare startups have signaled their intentions to look for M&A in 2024. Datavant CEO Kyle Armbrester told Business Insider in January that the $7 billion health data startup plans to make more acquisitions this year, a strategy that could help the company continue to grow its revenue ahead of a potential IPO. Other startups approaching public market debuts may use a similar playbook, like Hinge Health, which has been open about its plans to make more acquisitions for its physical therapy business.

Venture capital firms may also work to combine multiple companies within their portfolios to minimize their losses, as healthcare firm 7wireVentures did in selling mental health investment Caraway to its pediatric healthcare investment Summer Health. General Catalyst has taken the same approach for numerous healthcare deals over the years; most recently, its health software bet Commure acquired care navigation platform Memora Health in December.

In fact, a number of General Catalyst's portfolio companies look poised to make acquisitions this year. One of its investments, health benefits platform Transcarent, already made a big bet with its $621 million acquisition of healthcare navigator Accolade in January. Commure has taken an M&A-forward strategy to drive its growth, with seven acquisitions to date, including two in 2024. Care enablement startup Fabric has made four acquisitions since launching out stealth in early 2023, and CEO Aniq Rahman told Business Insider in September that the company was still looking for deals.

"A lot of the companies that are struggling to go raise capital right now, or some of these larger businesses that are reevaluating their position in the market, are creating opportunities for us as well," Rahman said. "Pretty much every week, there's inbound coming in from investors that are like, we have assets in our portfolio that may be accretive to what you're doing with Fabric."

All told, there may yet be options for digital health startups hoping to get acquired and for the investors desperate for returns, even if billion-dollar deals aren't on the table.

"Founders and investors are getting impatient over exit timelines, and they can only stay impatient for so long," Pitchbook's DeGagne said.

For Ron Sliter, getting a master's degree seemed like a path to job security. After spending nearly two decades in the military, including eight tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, he attended graduate school with the help of the GI Bill and landed a job in IT administration. He looked forward to climbing the corporate ladder and enjoying a long, successful career in the civilian world.

Then, in January 2023, he got laid off. Since then, he's applied to thousands of roles — to no avail. After more than two years, he's still unemployed. The whole experience, he says, feels like "being caught in the middle of 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.'"

"It's disheartening," he tells me. "They sell you on the dream, you fight for the dream, and you come back to take advantage of the dream that you fought for. And you realize it doesn't exist."

Sliter is part of a sudden spike in the number of highly educated professionals who are struggling to find a job — any job. According to government data analyzed by the economist Aaron Terrazas, professionals with advanced degrees who are looking for work find themselves stranded on the unemployment line for a median of 18 weeks — a jobless spell that has more than quadrupled over the past two years. And in a strange twist, job searches are now taking more than twice as long for educated elites than they are for workers who never went to college. At the moment, the higher your degree, the longer it will take for you to find a job.

It's not news that we're in the midst of a sharp downturn in tech and finance — one that has hit highly credentialed professionals especially hard. I've been calling it a white-collar recession, assuming that it's temporary. It's normal, after all, to experience dips in the job market. There have been plenty of times over the years when Ph.D. holders faced longer job searches than high school graduates. But whatever the ups and downs, education — particularly an advanced degree — has generally provided a good buffer against financial insecurity.

Lately, though, I've started to wonder if what we're seeing in the job market is a sign of something deeper. What if Sliter's protracted spell of joblessness is an early warning signal — an indication that the economy is undergoing a fundamental shift? What if, going forward, education no longer provides a path to economic security the way it once did?

"For 40 years, we've been talking about how more education leads to better labor market outcomes," says Terrazas, the former chief economist for Glassdoor. "Suddenly, that feels like it's changing." And the shift, he warns, could herald a profound "moment of dislocation" for today's white-collar professionals, just as blue-collar workers faced a seismic reckoning in the wake of globalization.

"What the early 2000s were for manufacturing workers, I worry that the mid-2020s are going to be for knowledge workers," Terrazas says. "American manufacturing workers were told they were highly productive until global trade opened up, and then suddenly that changed. I worry that we're in a comparable moment for knowledge workers. They were told they were the most productive workers in the world. Suddenly that's being undermined."

Education has long served as a ticket to a better, more secure life. But rarely has it mattered more than in recent decades, with the rise of robots and computers and the internet. The more schooling you had, the more likely you were to survive the sudden technological disruption. Between 1980 and 2009, the economists Daron Acemoglu and David Autor found, wages increased modestly for those with a bachelor's degree, soared for those with an advanced degree, and tumbled for high school dropouts. Economists gave the phenomenon an awkward name: skill-biased technological change. In plainspeak: Get more degrees or you're screwed. Education was the one thing that kept you safe in an increasingly cutthroat economy.

To secure their futures, an unprecedented number of young Americans enrolled in graduate schools, taking out big loans that they believed would yield even bigger payoffs down the road. Since 2000, the numbers of Americans with master's degrees and doctorates have more than doubled — while the ranks of those without a high school diploma shrank.

But then, over the past few years, the demand for super-educated professionals suddenly took a deep dive. A variety of factors have combined to alter the white-collar landscape. The first was the pandemic-driven shift to remote work. No longer limited by the constraints of geography, American companies realized they could hire abroad, giving them access to a larger and cheaper pool of highly trained professionals. Suddenly, homegrown computer scientists, product managers, and data scientists — long treated as rare diamonds worthy of their high salaries — seemed more like overpriced commodities compared with their counterparts overseas.

Another factor has been the big push among corporate recruiters to de-emphasize formal credentials in the hiring process, a trend known as "skills-based hiring." Some employers no longer list degree requirements in job postings; others have added the qualifier "or equivalent experience." That's giving people without the extra schooling a chance at landing the most coveted white-collar jobs — while undercutting the advantage long enjoyed by the advanced-degree holders.

And then there's AI. As I've written before, studies show that chatbots and other AI tools are already providing a boost to those with the least skill and experience, while doing little to help high performers — the very people who likely got an advanced degree to hone their skills. What's more, early estimates suggest that in the long run, AI is most likely to displace white-collar professionals, while leaving most blue-collar jobs intact. And besides, getting an MBA or some other advanced degree didn't exactly prepare anyone for the sudden emergence of ChatGPT. The faster technology changes, the faster your fancy degree is likely to feel outdated. Terrazas found that the median age for those experiencing long-term unemployment is now 37 — meaning you don't have to be a boomer to feel like technology has passed you by.

"What we think of as 'old' is a lot younger now," Terrazas says. "With the accelerated technical frontier, what it means to be out of date is creeping downward."

That's what happened to a millennial I'll call Tara. After earning her MBA from Cornell University in 2021, she was confident that all the hard work — and expense — was going to pay off. With a job offer from Amazon in hand, she moved across the country to Seattle, excited to live on her own for the first time and begin a brand-new career as a product manager. Whatever happened with the job, she figured there would always be plenty of companies eager to hire someone with a business degree from a top school.

Then Tara got laid off during the tech downturn in November 2023 — and hasn't been able to land a new role. Unemployed for 14 months and counting, she's applied to something like 650 jobs. "With every passing month, as my stress levels went up, my search criteria expanded," she tells me. "I'm stumped at just how hard it's been."

Professionals with advanced degrees aren't just mired in longer job searches — they're facing what feels like a vicious circle: The longer they're out of work, the more obsolete their skills become, which in turn makes it even harder to find a job. As they grow increasingly dejected, some opt for lower-paying roles; others give up altogether. Economists refer to this as "scarring," and it's one of the reasons they worry so much about long-term unemployment. It doesn't just hurt the people who can't find work. It also hurts the broader economy.

The prospects for educated elites are so bleak that some have taken to hiding the credentials they worked so hard to earn. Scott Catey, a policy director who has both a JD and a Ph.D., says he sometimes leaves out the doctorate in job applications, to avoid being viewed as overqualified. Michael Borsellino, who has a doctorate in urban studies, started listing his degree as being in "social sciences," to make it sound applicable to a wider range of jobs. The goal, he says, is "not to pigeonhole myself."

Ever since the Industrial Revolution, the modern economy has been dividing up the workforce into ever-narrower specializations. A driving force in higher education, in fact, was to cultivate the sort of hyper-niche expertise that the marketplace demanded. But Terrazas says we're now starting to see the darker side of becoming really, really good at one thing. "Specialization can create productivity-enhancing high returns," he says. "But it can also create obsolescence."

Borsellino, who eventually landed a role at LinkedIn after a nine-month search, doesn't think his Ph.D. proved to be an asset. "If it did help, I feel like I wouldn't have been unemployed for as long as I was," he says. "I don't know if it was a drain, but I don't think it was the end-all, be-all that I grew up believing it would be." If he were thinking about getting a doctorate today, he's not sure he'd do it. "I think we're at this point where experience is valued so much more that it's really, really difficult to justify doing the degree."

Advanced-degree holders, of course, continue to be the economy's overwhelming winners. Most of them are gainfully employed, with salaries that are typically far higher than anyone else's. And it's possible that the current hiring obstacles facing educated professionals will prove to be a temporary blip, just one more twist in a deeply strange pandemic-era economy that we've failed to understand time and time again.

But if I'm right, and this turns out to be the beginning of an enduring trend, it will force us to rethink our long-standing assumptions about education and employment. If even a Ph.D. can't keep us safe from economic catastrophe, what will? That's the question that I find deeply unsettling, especially as we face the uncertainty and upheaval of the AI revolution. Yes, it's always been unfair that those who can afford to keep going to school face better prospects than their less-educated peers. But at least there was some kind of road map to financial security, a rule of thumb that told you how to get to higher ground. There was comfort in that predictability.

Catey, the JD-Ph.D., counts himself among the lucky ones. While he continues his search for a full-time job, he's been able to land enough freelance work to get by. And he doesn't have to worry about paying off his student loans, because they were forgiven by the Biden administration. But being without a full-time job for almost a year wasn't exactly the life he envisioned back when he was slogging his way through grad school.

"Credentialing seemed to me a very solid way to make sure I had a reliable future of employment in front of me," he says. "That's not how it turned out."

Andy Kiersz contributed analysis.

Aki Ito is a chief correspondent at Business Insider.

• The Supreme Court is set to hear a case Tuesday that could expand prisoner access to jury trials.
• The case relates to the PLRA, a 1996 law requiring prisoners to pursue a prison grievance before filing suit.
• The petitioner says expanding access to juries would leave courts "inundated" with meritless suits.

When US lawmakers introduced legislation nearly 30 years ago to curb the "frivolous" prisoner lawsuits they said were inundating the courts, they insisted it wouldn't affect prisoners with legitimate claims.

That law, the 1996 Prison Litigation Reform Act, created something of a catch-22. Under the PLRA, any lawsuit, however serious the claim, can be dismissed if the prisoner didn't first exhaust their prison's internal grievance process. Yet prisoners say grievances can be stymied by the very guards they've accused of wrongdoing.

In these cases, a prisoner's claim of abuse or retaliation can be intertwined with their failure to properly file grievances.

The Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments Tuesday about whether prisoners have a right to argue these complex cases before a jury.

The case the justices will hear centers on a Michigan prisoner named Kyle Brandon Richards, who said in a legal complaint he filed in April 2020 that Thomas Perttu, a resident unit manager at the Baraga Correctional Facility, had "engaged in a pattern of prolific and repetitive sexual abuse." Richards said that when he tried to file written grievances reporting the abuse, Perttu retaliated against him by destroying them and threatening to kill him.

The Michigan Department of Corrections declined to comment on the claims against Perttu and did not confirm whether he still worked at the prison, citing the pending litigation. Michigan's attorney general's office, which represents Perttu, did not respond to queries.

A judge dismissed Richards' lawsuit over his failure to exhaust Baraga's grievance process under the PLRA. An appeals court reversed course. A panel of 6th Circuit judges found that because Richards' First Amendment retaliation claims against Perttu were intertwined with a factual dispute over whether he'd properly exhausted the grievance process, those contested facts should be decided by a jury, not a judge, under the Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial.

Perttu appealed, and the question of whether prisoners in these situations have a right to a jury trial will now be heard by the Supreme Court.

"Holding that the Seventh Amendment requires a jury decision on this question would be significant," said Michael Mushlin, an emeritus professor at Pace University's law school, who wrote an amicus brief with law professors in support of Richards' claims. "It's not earth-shattering, but it's significant in trying to soften the horrible blow of the PLRA."

A contested law

Though the PLRA was pitched as a common-sense reform to curb trivial lawsuits, Business Insider found, in a six-part series published in December, that the law has largely stymied prisoner lawsuits claiming serious harm — including retaliatory beatings, stabbings, sexual assaults, and egregious forms of medical neglect.

Exhausting an internal grievance system before filing suit, as the PLRA requires, is often a convoluted ordeal.

In one case BI uncovered that was dismissed by a judge over the failure to exhaust, a New Jersey prisoner said he'd been beaten by prison guards while he was in restraints and then missed a grievance deadline while in solitary confinement. In another, a Virginia prisoner who said he was sexually abused by a prison psychologist filed a grievance that was not considered specific enough. In Indiana, a prisoner who said he attempted suicide after a guard told him to "go for it" lost in court because his grievance didn't contain the guard's full name.

In Richards' case, he argued that he was unable to meet the PLRA's exhaustion requirement because Perttu had destroyed his grievance forms — the same set of circumstances at the heart of his retaliation claim.

"The disputed facts," said Lori Alvino McGill, a lecturer at the University of Virginia's law school who is representing Richards before the Supreme Court, "will be critical to both the retaliation claim and to whether administrative remedies were available."

The PLRA has faced intense criticism since it was first enacted. Members of Congress have tried to reform the law and failed. And the Richards case is not the first time the Supreme Court has been asked to review aspects of the law.

Margo Schlanger, a law professor at the University of Michigan who is a leading researcher on the PLRA's effects and who helped guide BI on its research methodology, said that if the justices decide in favor of Richards, it would mean, at the very least, "a few more cases" filed by prisoners would make it before juries.

BI found that such outcomes are unusual. Of nearly 1,500 Eighth Amendment prisoner cases BI analyzed for its series — including every appeals court case that reached a decision over a five-year period — only 2% were decided by a jury.

Plaintiffs who got a jury trial fared far better than those who did not: Less than 1% won their cases before a judge, while 18% of plaintiffs whose cases reached a jury prevailed.

ACLU, Cato, counties weigh in

Richards' case has attracted support from the ACLU and the Cato Institute, the libertarian think tank, which both filed amicus briefs on Richards' behalf. Groups including the National Sheriffs' Association and the International Municipal Lawyers Association filed briefs supporting Perttu.

The Cato Institute argued in its brief that the constitutional right to a civil jury trial is "fundamental to American liberty."

"For Richards, and those similarly situated to him," Cato's Clark Neily III wrote, "a jury trial at the exhaustion stage is essential to ensure that their claims are fairly heard."

According to Jennifer Wedekind, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU's National Prison Project who was an author of the ACLU's brief, credibility determinations often come down to an officer's word against a prisoner's. "Those are precisely the type of determinations that juries are supposed to be making," she told BI.

The Supreme Court could decide broadly that every incarcerated plaintiff is entitled to a jury trial when there are disputes over exhaustion. Or the justices could rule more narrowly, as Mushlin expects — granting access to a jury trial only to plaintiffs in cases in which the factual discrepancies over exhaustion are inseparable from the substantive issues of the case.

Perttu's lawyers argued that if the justices uphold the circuit court's decision, federal courts will be "inundated" with "meritless lawsuits that they must allow to go to a jury" and effectively "erase nearly 30 years of progress in reducing frivolous lawsuits."

A brief filed by the International Municipal Lawyers Association and the National Association of Counties echoed those points, arguing that the 6th Circuit ruling "undermines the PLRA's goal of saving costs by reducing the volume of frivolous inmate suits."

BI found that claims of a tide of frivolous lawsuits were largely a myth. While a few dozen of the claims in BI's sample appeared to center on minor matters, the vast majority clearly involved claims of substantive harm. The effects of the law have been dramatic: Of the roughly 1,400 federal prisoner cases that BI examined filed by people who were imprisoned — rather than by former prisoners or their families — 27% failed because of the PLRA's requirements. Among cases decided in district courts, 35% failed because of the law.

Research by Schlanger found that within five years of the PLRA's passage prisoner suits dropped by 43% even as the prison population grew. The filing rate, she later found, never rebounded.

In BI's sample of prisoner suits, plaintiffs prevailed less than 1% of the time — indicating a near evisceration of protections for this country's 1.2 million prisoners, thanks to the combined impact of the PLRA and a set of legal standards established by the Supreme Court at the height of the war on drugs.

"Recent reports from Business Insider show that many prisoners have been denied their basic legal rights," Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois said in response to BI's series. "Any abuse that happens inside our prisons must be allowed to reach the light of day."

• Kayla Barnes-Lentz is 33 but says biohacking has helped her reverse her biological age by 11 years.
• She views sleeping and red light therapy as biohacks, and says they are her favorite.
• Many of Barnes-Lentz's longevity treatments are experimental.

Kayla Barnes-Lentz wants to live to 150.

And, according to her calculations of her "biological age," she's making good progress. The 33-year-old longevity clinic owner and podcaster, based in Los Angeles, told Business Insider that biohacking has helped her reverse her biological age by 11 years.

In contrast to chronological age, biological age is a measure of how healthy cells, tissues, and organs appear to be. However, the idea is contested because we don't know how bodies "should" look at any given age.

Barnes-Lentz has a lengthy list of experimental treatments she does to optimize her health and try to live longer — from taking cold plunges to standing on vibration plates to breathing in hydrated air — which means she's essentially biohacking most of the day.

But of all her biohacks, she has two favorites.

Sleep

"Sleep is the foundation of health," Barnes-Lentz said. "Going to bed early and getting high-quality sleep is a game changer for energy levels, focus, motivation, and overall feeling."

She and her husband, Warren Lentz, wind down for the night by watching TV and cuddling. They go to bed at 8:30 p.m. most nights.

Research suggests that getting less than seven to eight hours of sleep a night is associated with a higher risk of chronic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and depression, as well as issues with focusing and reacting. But 36.8% of Americans get less than seven hours sleep a night, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Some biohackers spend thousands on sleep hygiene products and tech that isn't proven. Barnes-Lentz uses an Oura ring to track her sleep quality, but otherwise, she keeps things simple: she gets eight hours a night and never uses her phone in bed.

Business Insider previously reported on how to get the best sleep possible.

Red light therapy

Barnes-Lentz's favorite tech-based biohack is red light therapy. Her at-home sauna has an in-built red light, so she can do both at the same time.

She said red light therapy improves the functioning of the mitochondria, or the parts of cells that produce energy, which she hopes will increase her energy levels. In a 2024 study published in the Journal of Biophotonics, researchers found that red light appeared to improve the performance of mitochondria in the body — but there's no proof this leads to overall better energy levels.

Barnes-Lentz has also posted on Instagram about how she uses red light therapy to reduce skin aging and inflammation.

It has shown some potential for improving the appearance of skin, such as reducing scars, acne, and wrinkles, but more research is needed to guarantee that it's effective, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

Some people buy $150,000 red light therapy beds or do red light therapy treatments at spas or medical centers. Barnes-Lentz combines red light therapy with time in her sauna, which she does every morning.

• The 31st SAG Awards were held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on Sunday.
• Celebrity couples, like Jonathan Scott and Zooey Deschanel, made a splash on the red carpet with their outfits.
• Adrien Brody and Georgina Chapman opted for matching monochromatic looks.

On Sunday, some of Hollywood's biggest stars showed up at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles for the 31st Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards.

While the event was filled with couples dressed in their best outfits, Kristen Bell — the host — left her husband, Dax Shepard, at home to look after the kids. "We don't have very many babysitters who are ever available," she told People.

Nonetheless, the show must go on; Here's a look at some of the best-dressed couples of the night.

Jeff Goldblum and Emilie Livingston

Jeff Goldblum and his wife, Canadian dancer Emilie Livingston, arrived at the event hand in hand.

Goldblum wore a dark suit with a bowtie and a green scarf, while Livingston opted for a bejeweled silver gown.

Jonathan Scott and Zooey Deschanel

Jonathan Scott and Zooey Deschanel are a match made for the red carpet. The couple showed up in coordinated black-and-white outfits with bowties.

Adrien Brody and Georgina Chapman

Adrien Brody, who was nominated for best male actor for his role in "The Brutalist," and his partner Georgina Chapman opted for matching monochromatic looks for the red carpet.

Brody wore a black tuxedo with a bowtie, while Chapman was in a sculptural strapless gown from her own clothing label, Marchesa.

David and Emma Gyasi

David Gyasi wore a simple black suit with a high-neck white shirt, while his wife, Emma Gyasi, nearly stole the spotlight from him in a stunning red gown.

William Jackson Harper and Ali Ahn

William Jackson Harper and Ali Ahn stood out from the crowd in their outfits.

Harper looked dapper in his embossed navy-colored suit, while Ahn wore a cream gown with feathered shoulder details.

Zoe Saldaña and Marco Perego

Zoe Saldaña, who won best supporting actress for her role in "Emilia Pérez," looked stunning in her black velvet gown with bejeweled ruffled detailing.

Her husband, Marco Perego, an Italian film producer, opted for a more subdued gray suit with an olive-colored polka dot shirt.

Leighton Meester and Adam Brody

Leighton Meester and Adam Brody were both decked out in earth tones as they hit the SAG Awards red carpet together.

Meester wore a strapless dark green gown with cut-out details, while Brody wore a brown suit with a black tie.

• Alibaba has shifted its focus to artificial general intelligence, or AGI.
• The Chinese tech giant recently reported an 8% rise in quarterly revenue, boosting its stock price.
• Alibaba plans to invest $53 billion in AI and cloud over the next three years as it competes with US tech giants.

Hot stock Alibaba has set its sights beyond AI to focus on artificial general intelligence, or AGI.

"We aim to continue to develop models that extend the boundaries of intelligence," said Eddie Wu, Alibaba's CEO, on Thursday. He called the pursuit of AGI the company's "first and foremost goal."

AGI is AI technology that mimics human intelligence to the point that it can achieve complex cognitive tasks involving logic and reasoning.

US-based companies working toward AGI include OpenAI, Google, Meta, and Microsoft. Masayoshi Son, the CEO of major AI investor SoftBank, said earlier this month that he expects AGI to arrive "much earlier" than his late-2024 forecast of two to three years.

Wu's statement came after Alibaba released blockbuster results on Thursday. For the quarter ending in December, Alibaba posted an 8% rise in revenue, to 280.2 billion yuan, or $38.6 billion. Profit rose to 48.9 billion yuan, beating analysts' expectations.

"The pursuit of AGI can contribute immense business value," said Wu, citing studies indicating that AGI — when achieved — could replace or achieve 80% of human capabilities. He said about 50% of global GDP comes from wages for blue- and white-collar work.

"If AGI can be achieved, then that could have a tremendous impact in terms of the restructuring industry around the world. It could have a significant influence on or even replace 50% of global GDP," he said.

On Monday, Alibaba announced that it's planning to invest at least 380 billion Chinese yuan, or $53 billion, in cloud computing and AI infrastructure over the next three years.

The company is in a crowded global race for AI supremacy.

Chinese tech companies have come into the spotlight following the dramatic rise of DeepSeek, a startup that released a new cost-competitive AI model last month.

The development stoked investor concerns about the massive investment in AI in the West and turned investor focus toward China's tech companies, which have also been investing in AI.

US-listed Alibaba shares are up 70% this year to date, thanks to the boost from DeepSeek and after Alibaba announced that it was working with Apple to incorporate its AI into iPhones in China.

The upswing marks a major turnaround after Beijing's yearslong Big Tech regulatory crackdown, when cofounder Jack Ma's tech empire came under intense scrutiny.

Last week, Chinese leader Xi Jinping met with the country's top tech leaders — including Ma — in a sign that the country's private sector is now back in favor again.

The market is viewing the meeting as a possible end of the crackdown. The Chinese government is seemingly working to revive an economy disrupted by a pandemic, regulatory crackdowns, and a real estate crisis, wrote Deutsche Bank analysts in a note last week following the event.

On Monday, Hong Kong-listed Alibaba shares were 2.5% lower by midday after recent gains and as Asian stocks were broadly pressured by sharp losses in the US markets on Friday.

• Uber's CEO wants to work with Tesla on robotaxis. But Tesla wants to go it alone.
• Uber partners with Waymo in Austin and will compete with Tesla's autonomous vehicle platform.
• Analysts suggest Tesla may need Uber or Lyft to scale its robotaxi operations.

Uber's CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, said he wants to work with Tesla on robotaxis — even though the electric vehicle maker isn't interested.

Speaking at the Future Investment Initiative conference in Miami on Friday, Khosrowshahi said he has discussed the topic with Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

"I've had conversations with him. At this point, they want to build it alone," Khosrowshahi said. "Life is long, but we would love to partner with them."

Khosrowshahi added that Uber and Alphabet-owned Waymo, who partner in Austin, will compete with Tesla in the autonomous vehicles market when they launch in the city.

Musk has long envisioned forming a standalone network of autonomous Teslas that would compete with ride-hailing companies like Uber.

Earlier this month, Uber said it was opening an "interest list" for Austin users who want to be the first to try Waymo robotaxis on the Uber app. Tesla unveiled its robotaxis, called Cybercabs, in October. They are expected to launch in June in Austin.

Khosrowshahi's Friday remarks came about a week after he said that he hoped Tesla would work with Uber.

In an interview published on February 14, Khosrowshahi said, "No one wants to compete against Tesla or Elon, if you can help it."

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Door open for Tesla

Musk has previously said Tesla would create its own ride-hailing platform — a cross between Uber and Airbnb apps — for riders to call a driverless car. While a portion of the fleet would be owned by Tesla, individual Tesla customers would also have the option to add their vehicles.

Despite these plans, Khosrowshahi's Friday remarks suggested he was willing to keep the door open for a partnership with Tesla.

"It makes a lot of economic sense" for Tesla drivers to use Uber as a platform, he said. "What we bring is demand to the AV ecosystem when demand often is quite variable."

Analysts have stressed this, too.

In a note published on the day the Cybercab was unveiled, Jefferies analysts wrote that Tesla may struggle without a partner like Uber or Lyft.

Tesla "potentially underappreciates the obstacles to scaling a robotaxi fleet" such as the technology, asset ownership, regulation, fleet management, and demand required to run an operation at scale, the analysts wrote. "We also believe TSLA could struggle to scale fleet operations without offering access to demand via Uber/Lyft."

Independent analyst Dan O'Dowd, a previous Musk critic, said that the contrast between Tesla and robotaxi competitors like Waymo was "stark."

"Until Tesla robotaxis are transporting 100,000 paying customers a week around major American cities like Waymo does, Tesla robotaxi is nothing more than the latest work of fiction to come out of the Warner Bros. Studio," he said in a note at the time.

Investor pressure

Uber has faced pressure from investors to ramp up its autonomous vehicle strategy, and shareholders have been closely monitoring developments with self-driving competitors.

In December, Uber's stock plunged 10% after Waymo announced its expansion to Miami — without mentioning Uber.

In some cities, like Austin, Phoenix, and Atlanta, Waymo rides are only available on the Uber app. In Los Angeles and San Francisco, Waymo is available on its own booking platform.

Days after the Waymo expansion news, Uber's stock fell nearly 6% when its AV partner, Cruise, announced it was shutting down operations.

Following the Cruise news, the ride-hailing platform's chief financial officer, Prashanth Mahendra-Rajah, tried to quell investor concerns. He said the company was well positioned to be a demand aggregator for AVs and that it still believes AVs are critical for its growth.

Besides Waymo, Uber has self-driving partnerships with Tesla's biggest competitor, Chinese EV maker BYD, and with AV company Aurora Innovation.

Uber's stock is up over 30% so far this year.

• The 31st SAG Awards were held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on Sunday.
• Many celebrities weren't afraid to show up in bold ensembles, some featuring elements like feathers and fringe.
• Danielle Deadwyler, Demi Moore, and Anna Sawai all wore sculptural gowns that turned heads on the red carpet.

The 31st Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards took place on Sunday at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.

Unlike other awards, such as the Oscars or the Golden Globes —which also honor directors, writers, musicians, and production teams — the SAG Awards are dedicated exclusively to recognizing actors.

Before the ceremony, which was hosted by Kristen Bell, some of Hollywood's biggest celebrities posed for the cameras on the red carpet.

Here are some of the most daring looks from the night.

Danielle Deadwyler

Danielle Deadwyler, who was nominated for best supporting actress for "The Piano Lesson," made a bold statement at the SAG Awards in a custom Louis Vuitton gown.

To complement her look, she wore bright red eyeshadow and matching red pumps.

Cynthia Erivo

Cynthia Erivo made a dramatic entrance in a vintage Givenchy gown designed by Alexander McQueen.

Her dress, made from a textured metallic fabric, featured fringe details at the neckline and sleeves.

Jamie Lee Curtis

Jamie Lee Curtis — who was nominated for best supporting actress for her role in "The Last Showgirl" — channeled showgirl energy at the SAG Awards with her black sequinned gown with a feathered top.

Jane Fonda

Jane Fonda, the recipient of this year's SAG Life Achievement Award, turned heads on the red carpet in a custom Armani Privé dress.

The peach-colored ensemble, which featured a wavy black pattern and a fringe skirt, was a departure from her usual menswear-inspired outfits.

Anna Sawai

Anna Sawai stunned on the red carpet with a custom Armani Privé strapless gown.

Her dress featured red crystals on the front with sheer side panels and a black velvet back.

Timothée Chalamet

Timothée Chalamet, who won best male actor for his role as Bob Dylan in "A Complete Unknown," wore a leather suit with a neon green shirt to the ceremony. To complement his look, he accessorized with a bejeweled bolo tie.

The actor's stylist, Taylor McNeil, seemingly drew inspiration from Dylan himself, posting a reference photo of the musician in a similar outfit on his Instagram story.

Fran Drescher

Fran Drescher, the president of the SAG-AFTRA actors' union, went for a menswear-inspired look.

Drescher rocked a baby pink satin pantsuit at this year's red carpet event — an outfit that looked similar to the one she wore to the 2022 Directors Guild of America Awards. This time around, she opted for open-toed wedges instead of pointed-toe shoes.

Demi Moore

Demi Moore, who won best female actress for her role in "The Substance," wore an edgy, drop-waist Bottega Veneta leather gown.

She styled her long black hair in loose waves and kept her makeup simple, but accessorized with a statement necklace and bracelet from Tiffany and Co.

Carl Clemons-Hopkins

Carl Clemons-Hopkins, known for his role as Marcus on "Hacks," turned heads on the red carpet in a black jumpsuit with oversized sleeves.

Tyler James Williams

Tyler James Williams, who plays Gregory Eddie in "Abbott Elementary," wore a red oversized suit with a cinched waist on the red carpet.

Banita Sandhu

Banita Sandhu, known for her role as Sita Malhotra in "Bridgerton," wore a sculptural metallic dress on the red carpet.

• The Pentagon is telling employees to "pause any response" to DOGE's request for a work report.
• Federal employees were told this weekend to list five tasks they achieved last week by Monday night.
• But the Defense Department has instead said it would be the authority to review its employees.

The Pentagon told employees on Sunday not to respond to an instruction from the White House DOGE office to list their work accomplishments.

"For now, please pause any response to the OPM email titled 'What did you do last week,'" the Defense Department wrote in a statement to civilian employees that was posted on X.

"The Department of Defense is responsible for reviewing the performance of its personnel and it will conduct any review in accordance with its own procedures," said the statement, posted on behalf of Darin S. Selnick, the acting defense undersecretary for personnel and readiness.

It added that the Pentagon would handle responses to the email request.

Selnick was referring to an email sent through the Office of Personnel Management, which asked federal employees to respond by 11:59 p.m. EST on Monday with five tasks or accomplishments they achieved over the last week.

"Please do not send any classified information, links, or attachments," said the DOGE email, which was sent to employees in federal agencies across the US.

It came just after President Donald Trump publicly wrote on Saturday that he wanted Elon Musk to "get more aggressive" in cutting workers and expenses from the federal bureaucracy.

Musk, who oversees the DOGE team, also announced the email on social media and said that a "failure to respond will be taken as a resignation."

The Defense Department did not respond to a request for comment sent by Business Insider outside regular business hours.

Other security-related government departments — including the Department of Homeland Security, the National Security Agency, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence — did not respond to requests for comment from BI.

Representatives for the State Department and the FBI declined to comment on the DOGE emails.

• "Suits LA" is Aaron Korsh's spinoff of the original "Suits," which ran for nine seasons.
• It's led by Stephen Amell who plays Ted Black, a former prosecutor turned entertainment lawyer.
• The first episode ends with a twist for Black, who is reckoning with his past.

Warning: Spoilers for "Suits LA" below.

"Suits LA" — the new spinoff of Aaron Korsh's "Suits," which enjoyed a revival after landing on streamers — starts with a twist.

The first episode introduces Ted Black (Stephen Amell), a former New York prosecutor who moves to the West Coast to start his own law firm representing some of the biggest names in Hollywood.

"Suits LA" maintains the format of the original show by including flashbacks to subplots that explain the characters' actions in the present day. Mainly, these scenes explain Black's previous role as a prosecutor in New York working on jailing gang members for murder.

This plot device helped develop the backstories of beloved characters like Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht), Mike Ross (Patrick J. Adams), Rachel Zane (Meghan Markle), and Donna Paulsen (Sarah Rafferty) in "Suits."

Black's character is developed when he talks to Eddie (Carson A. Egan), his brother, who seemingly lives with him.

Here's the twist in the closing moments of the first episode of Suits: LA" explained.

Ted Black talks to his dead brother in 'Suits LA'

The first episode implies that Black lives with his younger brother Eddie, who is there when he wakes from a nightmare. Other scenes also show that they have a close relationship.

But at the end of the episode, Black visits his estranged, dying father, (Matt Letscher) who is in a coma. Black tearfully blames his father for "letting them kill Eddie" the night before he was convicted for an unknown crime.

This moment reveals that Black has been imagining his dead brother this whole time, which some viewers might have picked up on since he wears the same New York Yankees shirt in every scene.

In the closing moments, Black tells Eddie him he just wants to spend another day with him.

It's a surprising move from "Suits LA," as the original show didn't have such abstract moments. But it's an interesting way of endearing Black, who is ruthless at work, to the audience.

• I'm a mom of two kids under the age of 4.
• I rely on my kids' boomer grandparents when I need childcare.
• They don't always understand the way I parent, but they try hard.

I'm a mom of a 4-year-old and a 7-month-old who attend day care while my husband and I work full-time. Boomer grandparents get a lot of grief for being unempathetic and aloof, but that's not the case for my family. My children's boomer grandparents are my childcare secret weapon and I couldn't be a working parent without their help.

I'm not the only one, either; I see our school's office administrators helping grandparents navigate the attendance system at least once a week. I've even become friendly with some of the grandparents I see regularly at pick-up. For some millennials, grandparents are an important part of our family ecosystem.

We heavily considered their proximity to us when choosing a home

When choosing our first home, it was important to us to have easy access to my mom and my in-laws, who are less than 30 minutes away, to ensure that our children could see their grandparents frequently. Both sets of parents are in their mid to late 70s; I had my first child at 36 and my second at 40, so their time together is precious.

When my youngest first attended day care, she only went three days a week. My mom and in-laws surprised me by offering to watch her the other two days so I could work full-time without paying for full-time care. I'm sure they would have offered even if they lived further away, having them relatively close has made a huge difference.

While they might not understand our new parenting systems, they try hard

I'm grateful that neither my in-laws nor my mom have ever questioned modern millennial parenting values and concepts. I'm sure they are internally rolling their eyes at me when I talk about sleep hygiene, bottle schedules, and gentle parenting. But they genuinely try to stick to my schedules and notes.

I've found that my part of this relationship is letting things go that aren't make-or-break; my child will be OK if someone forgets to put them in a sleep sack for a nap or if my mom makes a bottle by hand instead of using our fancy formula machine.

Thankfully, none of them has ever given me long diatribes about how they did things when we were babies. This mutual respect is what keeps our relationship healthy, and I'm grateful that they're open to learning the ways we think are best for our children at this point in time, no matter how ridiculous they might seem to them.

I've learned to pick my battles

As a first-time mom suffering from postpartum anxiety, I would internally flip out, watching them feed my toddler things riddled with added sugar and salt. It's been four years since I had my first child and their first grandchild. I've now realized their time together is more important than the details. While I would prefer that my preschooler not get diet tea sweetened with stevia, her tea party is much more important than what's in her cup.

They are there when we need them most

Now that both of my children are in full-time care, my mom and in-laws regularly pick them up from school to help me with scheduling issues or to give us a break from the grueling job of parenting. It can be frustrating when both sets are unavailable for holidays or sick days because they are almost always available and eager to help. These are the moments I have to catch myself and acknowledge how lucky I am to have two sets of grandparents at the ready.

• The FBI has issued a warning about a Chinese ransomware group called Ghost.
• Ghost has attacked critical infrastructure, schools, and businesses in over 70 countries.
• The FBI advises using security updates and multifactor authentication to prevent ransomware attacks.

The FBI is warning about a new ransomware hacker group called "Ghost."

The FBI published a security advisory with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency that said the group began indiscriminately attacking organizations in more than 70 countries starting in 2021. The warning from the FBI and the CISA says Ghost is now one of the top ransomware groups, targeting organizations all over the world as recently as January.

"Ghost actors, located in China, conduct these widespread attacks for financial gain," the report says. "Affected victims include critical infrastructure, schools and universities, healthcare, government networks, religious institutions, technology and manufacturing companies, and numerous small- and medium-sized businesses."

Ransomware is a type of malware that lets bad actors encrypt a victim's data until they pay a ransom. Ransomware attacks have become more common in recent years, sometimes targeting large companies or government infrastructure.

A ransomware attack in February 2024 against Chain Healthcare, the payment arm of healthcare giant UnitedHealth Group, briefly crippled the pharmacy industry after it caused a major backlog in filling customer subscriptions.

Most ransomware hackers use phishing methods, sending fake messages to victims in the hope that they'll click a link and install malware on their devices.

The hackers in the Ghost group, however, use publicly available code to exploit common vulnerabilities in organizations' software that have not been removed by updated patches, the FBI says.

"The FBI has observed Ghost actors obtaining initial access to networks by exploiting public-facing applications that are associated with multiple Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures," the warning says.

The FBI said in the warning that Ghost attackers usually claim that they will sell the victim's stolen data if they do not pay a ransom. However, the agency said they "do not frequently exfiltrate a significant amount of information or files, such as intellectual property or personally identifiable information that would cause significant harm to victims if leaked."

The FBI recommends consulting its StopRansomware guide for comprehensive information on how companies can guard against ransomware attacks.

Some tips for fighting against common ransomware tactics are to maintain regular system backups of sensitive information, patch known system vulnerabilities with security updates and use phishing-resistant multifactor authentication for company email accounts.

The FBI recommends reporting any ransomware attacks to the agency. In the security advisory, the FBI said it is particularly interested in "any information that can be shared, including logs showing communication to and from foreign IP addresses, a sample ransom note, communications with threat actors, Bitcoin wallet information, and/or decryptor files."

• At 23, Hong Kong was Hannah Ho's dream city, until it wasn't.
• She had moved there after graduation but when she turned 30, she knew it was time to move back home.
• She enjoys spending more time with family back in the UK but wants to continue exploring the world.

When I graduated with degrees in business management and Chinese, I didn't have a clear career plan. I just knew I wanted to live abroad.

I had spent two semesters in China — six months studying in Shanghai and six months completing an internship in Qingdao. That year, I took a 5-day trip to Hong Kong, and something about the city's energy and diversity drew me in. I decided I wanted to move there.

So, at 23, I took the leap and moved to Hong Kong. I was excited but also nervous. I was a fresh graduate with no real-world experience and had landed a nine-month job as a project coordinator for an educational foundation.

I thought it would be a short adventure, but I ended up staying for seven years. I transitioned into the recruitment industry and before I knew it, Hong Kong became home. I made a lot of friends and adapted to the city's fast-paced lifestyle.

But my life in Hong Kong began to shift in 2020. During and after the pandemic, the once-bustling city felt gloomy. Over time, I realized that the version of Hong Kong I had fallen in love with was gone. Some of my close friends had left, tourism had slowed down, and the once-thriving social scene had faded with fewer gatherings and events.

As the city changed, so did I. I found myself craving something new, a fresh challenge and the desire for a career change began to grow.

Moving home was hard

In 2023, and after I turned 30, I knew it was time to leave. Moving back home to the UK was not an easy decision. It meant leaving behind the life and career I had built, the friendships I had formed, and a city that had shaped me as a person.

I had never heard anyone talk about how hard it is to move home after being an expat. The truth is, you come back as a different person, shaped by experiences and perspectives that people around you may not fully understand.

Meanwhile, I quickly noticed that things back home had also changed. My parents were older, most of my friends had settled down, and the life I once knew felt both familiar and foreign.

One of the biggest challenges I faced was returning without a professional network. Having left the UK straight after university, I had built my career in Hong Kong. Now, I was essentially starting from scratch.

In Hong Kong, my well-established career provided useful connections. Back in the UK, I had to rebuild everything. I started getting back in touch with old friends and acquaintances, attending networking events, and leveraging LinkedIn to create new opportunities. At times, it was uncomfortable, but I reminded myself that I had done this before — I had built a life from scratch once, and I could do it again.

Not missing Hong Kong's work culture

For the first time in years, I had time to pause and reflect. It was a strange paradox — I had longed for more balance, yet I found myself missing the intensity of my old life.

There's so much I miss about Hong Kong: transporting myself from the hustle and bustle of Central to an island beach or a hiking trail in 30 minutes. I miss the food, the social scene, and the warmer weather. The sense of adventure that came with living in a place where something was always happening.

In Hong Kong, I shared a compact apartment with a roommate in a lively neighborhood. Big-city living meant being surrounded by high-rises and skyscrapers. Now, in Liverpool — a port city about 200 miles northwest of London — I've gone from apartment living to a house with a garden — something that once felt almost impossible in Hong Kong. With more space, fresh air, and quieter surroundings, home now feels more open and relaxed.

Coming back to the UK has brought its own joys. Spending quality time with my family has been a highlight, I notice myself appreciating them now in a way I never did before. I can drop by my sister and brother's places for home-cooked meals, a cup of tea, and just talk about life. These simple moments remind me of the comfort and connection I once took for granted.

I have a car, so I can drive to the countryside instead of relying on public transport.

Adjusting to the UK's work culture has also been refreshing. In Hong Kong, the work ethic was intense — long workdays were the norm, and efficiency was everything. There was a sense of urgency in everything people did. In contrast, the UK has felt more relaxed. The standard 9-to-5 schedule, hybrid/remote working models, and emphasis on work-life balance have been a welcome change.

Most importantly, I've been using this transition as an opportunity to pivot my career. While I still work a part-time job, I've decided to step away from the agency recruitment industry. Now, I'm building an online business that will allow me to work remotely and travel more. Because if there's one thing I've learned, once an expat, always an expat.

It does feel like I'm starting from scratch, but I see it as an opportunity to build something new on my own terms while embracing the lessons and experiences that shaped me abroad.

Got a personal essay about moving home after living abroad that you want to share? Get in touch with the editor: [email protected].

Twenty-two hours into tropical paradise, the money nerds started getting emotional.

In November, four dozen Americans and Australians converged in the spiritual heart of Bali, Indonesia, at a luxury resort filled with banana trees and the sounds of passing sheep. The crew was united by their commitment to the Financial Independence, Retire Early movement.

FIRE's promise: Embark on a super-saving path to ditch corporate drudgery ahead of schedule and retire on your terms.

On the first day of the retreat, we sipped on coconut water and focused on introductions. Attendees at the five-day, $1,800 retreat came largely from Big Tech, finance, and small businesses, a mix of five- and six-figure paychecks. At 22, I was the youngest person in attendance — by far. The other participants ranged from 35 to nearly 60 and included both those on the path to early retirement and those who had left their jobs years ago.

On the second day, people started opening up about what brought them to the island. This retreat came, like any financial product, with caveats and nondisclosures. During small-group sessions, we were instructed not to interrupt or ask follow-up questions. I agreed not to write details that might identify specific people.

Inside a bamboo-paneled room with the AC blasting, wooden chairs were arranged in circles of four, so close that our knees almost touched. The organizer, a retired teacher from Texas who moved to Bali, talked about mending her relationship with an estranged parent. Next up, her friend — a prominent financial independence influencer — described a painful interaction with his tween daughter.

Then the first member of our four-member group was up.

She spent a minute looking down at her flip-flops. Though she had been all smiles up to this point, when she finally spoke, she teared up and told us about a childhood family trauma.

The next man kept the emotional momentum going by talking about his loneliness. The third member of our quartet confessed how his obligations to his parents sometimes felt like a burden. I had rarely seen men cry, but here two did so one after the other. Last up, I thought about what troubled me, a 22-year-old with a dream job, a happy family, and good friends. I told them I was anxious that my sister's going overseas to college next year could pull us apart. I had never said that out loud.

Throughout that half hour, people sobbed, patted each other's shoulders, and, like me, struggled to show their solidarity without words.

The confessional set the stage for nearly a week of conversations — about stocks and Excel models, yes, but far more about personal growth and life optimization, replete with phrases like "accountability buddies."

After six months of writing about FIRE, I knew isolation to be one of the common downsides of retiring early. When all of your friends have a 9-to-5, nobody's around for lunch on a Tuesday.

At this retreat, I saw how deeply those feelings cut through a global community that often doesn't feel like a community at all. FIRE adherents need more than a lunch buddy — they're yearning for friends who won't shoot down their seemingly far-fetched plans, like retiring at 35.

"Any time I bring up net worth, my friends think I'm bragging," a five-figure employee with a job she hates told me over dinner. "Here I have people who are so much further than me in their journeys that I can talk about money openly."

Amy Minkley, the organizer who lives in Bali, said she came to appreciate the value of live, long events — not just a monthly happy hour or Zoom hang — in 2021 after attending her first retreat. Minkley had grappled with money issues since her parents' divorce during her childhood. She took on two jobs as a teenager to help her struggling mother.

"I felt like I met my tribe," she said about attending her first event. "I was so moved by the people that stayed up late with me and really counseled me through some big money scarcity issues."

Over the next few years, advice from new friends she made at these Bali retreats helped her sort her aging parents' long-term care.

"People don't often get that vulnerable until they've been around each other for multiple days," said Minkley, who retired at 44. "There's just something so valuable to be able to have conversations about money in real life."

Escaping judgment

Many outsiders associate the FIRE movement with fun-eschewing cheapskates.

Early evangelists, like the blogger Mr. Money Mustache, preached about living a bare-bones life to save as much as possible, then quitting your job the second you hit a certain threshold.

"There's been a lot of judgment over the years," a woman who started her path to FIRE in 2017 told me. "There's a lot of people that think that it doesn't work."

One American said she stopped talking about personal finance with her friends. They told her that they thought the FIRE community was a cult and that she was depriving herself.

"They just don't have the discipline to save and invest, so they think retiring early is impossible," the woman said.

"I still go out, I still travel, hell I even still drink Starbucks occasionally," she said. "It's hard to convince people that it's not about deprivation — it's about deciding what you value and spending on those things."

Over dinner with a Balinese fire dance and spicy Thai food, two women — both serial Financial Independence retreat attendees — told me their loved ones associated retiring early with laziness or lack of ambition.

Others said they needed someone outside their regular circle to give them permission to take the big step, whether it be to retire, to quit, or to actually spend money. A small-business owner told me she made two of the biggest decisions in her life — to start a business and to get a divorce — at similar events. She credits the phone-light, nature-heavy long weekends centered on Financial Independence, or FI, that feel more like adult summer camp than a financial workshop.

One woman in her 50s, who suffered from what's known in FIRE-land as "I'll resign next year" syndrome, asked a trusted person at this year's retreat to run through her finances to see whether she could retire. Back home in New York, a financial advisor had quoted her nearly $3,000 to do the same.

"This community is worth every penny," she said after a loud, late-night game of spoons.

FI influencers and Gen Xers who had retired years ago led breakout sessions with catchy names like "Financial Independence Next Endeavor" to talk about how to retire meaningfully.

The early retirees recommended creating a bank account to spend solely on experiences with friends and family. The session leader told us one of the best trips he had ever taken was last year's $20,000, 11-day cruise from Greece to Italy, with his mom and his adult daughter. His "fun bucket" helped him ditch the frugality mindset.

In an exercise about how to introduce yourself without mentioning work, a "FI-curious" couple with adult children struggled to talk about themselves. They had prioritized building their business for the past several years. They didn't know who they were without work — or where they would go if they decided to retire early.

'Accountability buddies'

On the last day, our 50-person group sat in a circle sporting a mix of loose tank tops and uneven tans. We shared one thing we promised to do to improve our lives after getting home. To keep on track, we were directed to find "accountability buddies."

One woman promised to talk to her FIRE-wary partner about her desire to move abroad. A business owner broke down and confessed that her work felt like a prison so she would consider hiring help. A couple with young kids said they would prioritize their sidelined marriage — though the two finance whizzes had recently hit nearly $2 million in net worth, they had never considered shelling out for household help or a full-time nanny.

"It's a cautionary tale," the husband said. "When the kids grow up and they leave, you look at each other and you realize you're two different people."

One man, whom I had always seen laughing and surrounded by others, teared up, saying he was going to try to forge more meaningful friendships.

When I checked in with some attendees in the weeks after the retreat, they told me their accountability buddies had stayed in touch. Some, like the couple with young kids, were following through on their improvement pledge — the duo had hired someone for household tasks and were trying to find an au pair.

On the eve of my 23rd birthday, I'm not gunning to retire by 30. Whether I have two or four decades of work ahead of me, the long weekend of drinking the coconut water made me want to invest in meaningful connections, not just my brokerage account.

I'll have my 30s and 40s to grow my career and net worth. But I need to enjoy friends and family now, while everyone is still fit and healthy. In the past three months, I have said yes to more activities and taken the initiative to plan others — a new tactic, because I often waited for loved ones to show they cared by asking me first.

And while I love my job as a journalist, I'm thinking more about who I am beyond it. As a kid, I dreamed of the hobbies I could pursue when I had my own time and money, untethered from school obligations. Now, I have no more excuses — and my accountability buddy is waiting.

• AI has triggered rapid advancements in the world of robotics.
• Companies are developing humanoid robots that can do chores or provide intimacy.
• Here are some of the most eye-popping videos showing what these new robots can do.

Is it Skynet? Probably not. Is it creepy? Kind of.

The futuristic humanoid robots in sci-fi movies that move almost like people are becoming more of a reality as AI advancements speed up their development.

Elon Musk said at a panel this month that he expects humanoid AI robots to unlock "quasi-infinite products and services." Musk's Tesla says it plans to begin production on "several thousand" of its Optimus robots by the end of the year.

Recent demo videos show how robots are beginning to look and sound more like humans. Recent videos of Tesla's Optimus robots show them walking around and scanning rooms for potential obstacles like something from "Terminator."

Some of the new humanoid robot designs are made to mimic a romantic partner. CNET, a tech publication, interviewed "Aria" from the company Realbotix at the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show last month. Aria, an AI-powered humanoid robot that's been described as a "digital girlfriend," answered questions about its design.

"Realbotix robots, including me, focus on social intelligence, customizability, and realistic human features designed specifically for companionship and intimacy," the robot says.

Aria says in the video that it is "interested in meeting" Tesla's Optimus robot. "I find him fascinating and would love to explore the world of robotics with him," Aria says in the interview.

The Aria robot moves throughout the interview like a human might, even taking a moment to brush its fingers through its wig.

Other videos show just how capable robots are becoming with their total range of movement. California-based Clone Robotics released a video last week showing its new Protoclone synthetic humanoid robot.

The robot is built with over 1,000 artificial muscles called "myofibers" that use mesh tubes filled with air to make the robot contract and move. Video posted by the company shows the robot swinging its legs back and forth while clinching and unclenching its fists.

Another Silicon Valley robotics company, 1X Robotics, shared a video showing what it would look like to have a humanoid robot inside your home. On Friday, the company posted a video of its NEO Gamma robot.

The company's website says the NEO Gamma is designed for household chores like tidying and home management. The promotional video shows the robot carrying a laundry hamper, using a vacuum, and collecting a package from a delivery person.

Some Reddit users seemed excited at the possibility of the NEO Gamma helping with chores around the house, suggesting the robot's help could trigger a "second renaissance."

"The renaissance didn't happen because people were working 9-5," one Reddit user said. "Robots need to get people out of the workforce."

• Warren Buffett includes some business lessons in his latest shareholder letter, published Saturday.
• Buffett said mistakes will happen. It's owning up to them that's important.
• He also advised against judging candidates by education, stressing the value of innate talent.

Every year, executives of publicly traded companies draft letters to their shareholders. These letters summarize the company's operations, detailing its annual financial results, major wins and losses, and outlook for the coming years.

There is perhaps no annual letter more anticipated than the one Warren Buffett sends to his Berkshire Hathaway shareholders. Investors and business leaders scour the letter for hints about the economy and financial strategies.

It also, however, often includes some more fundamental business — and life — lessons, too.

In Buffett's latest shareholder letter, published on Saturday, he wrote, "In addition to the mandated data, we believe we owe you additional commentary about what you own and how we think."

Business Insider read through this year's letter to gather Buffett's best insights.

Mistakes happen. Own up to them before it's too late.

Buffett said he's made many mistakes over the years.

Some have stemmed from incorrectly assessing the "future economics" of companies he purchased for Berkshire Hathaway. Others have come from hiring the wrong managers — miscalculating either their abilities or loyalty to the organization.

Between 2019 and 2023, Buffett wrote that he used the word "mistake" or "error" 16 times in his annual shareholder letter.

The point is that mistakes are normal in the course of doing business.

"The cardinal sin is delaying the correction of mistakes," he wrote.

Know the power of a 'single winning decision.'

According to Buffett, the corollary to acknowledging mistakes is recognizing the power of big wins.

"Our experience is that a single winning decision can make a breathtaking difference over time," he wrote.

He pointed to several key moments in Berkshire Hathaway's history — the strategic acquisition of GEICO, the decision to bring former McKinsey consultant Ajit Jain into management, and finding Charlie Munger, Buffett's longtime friend and business partner, who served as vice chairman of the conglomerate for more than four decades.

"Mistakes fade away; winners can forever blossom," he wrote.

Never judge a candidate by their educational background.

When it comes to selecting a CEO, Buffett has a rule: "I never look at where a candidate has gone to school. Never!"

Buffett pointed to the case of Pete Liegl, the founder and manager of Forest River, an RV manufacturing company that Berkshire Hathaway acquired in 2005. In the 19 years following the acquisition, Buffett said Liegl far surpassed his competitors in performance.

"There are great managers who attended the most famous schools. But there are plenty, such as Pete, who may have benefited by attending a less prestigious institution or even by not bothering to finish school," Buffett wrote.

Buffett's takeaway is that "a very large portion of business talent is innate with nature swamping nurture."

Keep saving.

Buffett believes that a long-standing culture of saving — and reinvesting — has been a key to the success of American capitalism.

Since the country's founding, "We needed many Americans to consistently save and then needed those savers or other Americans to wisely deploy the capital thus made available," he wrote. "If America had consumed all that it produced, the country would have been spinning its wheels."

Likewise, Berkshire Hathaway's shareholders have "participated in the American miracle" by reinvesting their dividends, as opposed to consuming them.

To ensure citizens continue to save and the country prospers, Buffett shared some advice for regulators: "Never forget that we need you to maintain a stable currency and that result requires both wisdom and vigilance on your part."

• Elon Musk's DOGE had emails sent to federal workers requesting a list of what they did last week.
• The decision frustrated federal workers, many of whom risk losing their jobs.
• A career coach told BI that DOGE's approach is "fear-based management."

Elon Musk's management style has once again sparked intense debate, this time for asking federal employees to respond to an email with what they accomplished in the past week — or risk losing their jobs.

Musk, a special government employee who is the face of the DOGE White House office, is known for his disruptive leadership style at Tesla, SpaceX, and X.

He is now applying those same tactics to federal operations — with mixed reactions from business leaders and government officials.

"This method is not just ineffective, it's harmful," George Carrillo, a former Oregon government executive, told Business Insider.

Carrillo, the CEO of the Hispanic Construction Council, previously worked as a program executive at the Oregon Department of Human Services.

"Overloading employees with unrealistic demands creates instability and causes talented workers to leave, which risks disrupting the continuity and expertise the government depends on to function," he said. "I've seen firsthand how these kinds of actions can harm team dynamics and reduce public confidence."

On Saturday, federal employees received an email asking them to respond with a five-bullet-point summary of their work in the last week and to copy their manager.

"Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation," Musk said in a post on X before the emails went out.

The emails appeared to be in response to President Donald Trump, who earlier said on TruthSocial that Musk should be "more aggressive."

The email resembled one Musk sent when he took over Twitter — now rebranded as X — in 2022. Following the acquisition, Musk instructed engineers to print out their latest software code for review as a way to evaluate their skills.

Some business leaders said DOGE's approach could yield results, despite the negative reaction.

Neal K. Shah, CareYaya Health Technologies CEO, told BI that the approach shows a "commitment to rapid organizational improvement" and has "unique advantages over traditional downsizing."

Shah said DOGE's method "slices through typical government delays caused by bureaucracy" and "directly empowers employees to control the documentation of their worth."

He also said it gives leadership real-time productivity data, which could lead to long-term benefits like better documentation of work-related tasks, efficiency, and boosting public trust through "demonstrated effectiveness."

Other management experts, however, said the email demonstrated a lack of empathy and could hurt morale, ultimately reducing efficiency. Federal employees told BI that DOGE's email left them frustrated and fearful of losing their jobs. One told BI the action felt like "harassment."

Lisa Rigoli, a human resources strategist and leadership coach who founded Elements of Change, a group focused on HR consultation and leadership coaching, said the email lacked emotional intelligence and prioritized "efficiency over human-centered leadership."

"This is a clear example of how leaders are becoming increasingly disconnected from the emotional impact of their decisions," Rigoli said. "Business schools and leadership programs do a great job preparing executives intellectually, but very few equip them for the emotional demands of leadership."

Tamanna Ramesh, founder of professional training service Spark Careers, said such tactics could damage staff morale.

"Requiring employees to justify their jobs through a weekly report — under the threat of termination — is fear-based management. It doesn't drive innovation or efficiency. It fuels resentment, disengagement, and quiet quitting," Ramesh told BI. "Accountability matters, but when employees feel like they're on trial rather than trusted contributors, performance suffers."

Ramesh said performance tracking is common, but the "level of public scrutiny and punitive framing is rare."

"This approach ignores psychological safety, a key driver of high-performing teams," Ramesh said.

Rigoli told BI that DOGE's email is part of a "growing trend where leaders handle layoffs with cold efficiency rather than intentional leadership.

"We ask employees to be loyal, transparent, and committed, yet when organizations make cuts, they often default to impersonal mass communication," Rigoli said.

"Efficiency isn't about arbitrary cuts or applying pressure for the sake of it," Carrillo told BI. "Successful organizations build trust, foster collaboration, and create thoughtful strategies to meet their goals while maintaining staff morale."

He suggested making "informed' and "data-driven decisions."

"Before considering layoffs, DOGE must conduct a comprehensive workforce analysis to pinpoint priorities and address staffing gaps," Carrillo said.