• Despite negative stereotypes, some people are working longer in a hybrid world.
• This "work intensification" has been going on for decades.
• Setting boundaries is crucial to avoid burning out, says organizational psychologist Amanda Jones.

In an era of quiet quitting, the Great Resignation, and lazy girl jobs, the assumption is that workers are slacking.

These trends are actually all symptoms of a workforce that is toiling harder and longer and doing more with less, according to Amanda Jones. The senior lecturer in organizational behaviour and HR management at King's Business School at King's College London specializes in remote working and work-life balance.

Jones told Business Insider that "work intensification has been happening for decades. She remembers hearing about it and becoming interested in the concept while she was at school.

When Jones was doing her doctorate, a professor at Cardiff University called Alan Felsted, agreed to be her examiner. He has studied work intensification extensively.

"One of the things that always fascinates me about this is that it's never gone down," Jones said, pointing to Felsted's research. "We are working harder progressively over time."

The end result isn't increased productivity, it's burnout and detachment.

Jones said that quitting as a concept in response to feeling overwhelmed by one's workload is "quite victim-blaming; it could be just that they can't take it anymore."

'Race to the bottom'

The negative impacts of work intensification include burnout and stress, which can lead to people taking long-term sick leave and putting a strain on the economy.

"You've got people who are economically inactive, so they're not paying taxes, they're possibly receiving benefits instead," Jones said.

"It's going to not only cost more, but if we're doing this to people in the skilled section of the workforce, it's also not going to help us with our skills gaps, so productivity will reduce," she added. "It does feel a bit like a race to the bottom."

Some companies are implementing a four-day workweek, which is a step in the right direction, in Jones' view.

All organizations should be aware that "what's happening isn't going to benefit them in the long run," she said. "I think probably there's a policy intervention that's necessary."

Increasingly intense digital world

Researchers have linked work intensification to the pandemic.

The stereotype is that people who work remotely are less productive, stepping away from their computers to do household chores or run errands.

This has factored into the decisions of several prominent companies requiring their staff to return to the office — sometimes up to five days a week.

This is another misconception, though, Jones said, because people who work from home can actually attend more meetings than before.

"It provides you with more opportunity to participate in work," she said.

"If you can't go to a meeting, in the old days, you couldn't go to a meeting, you couldn't physically get there. Now, we can go to everything."

Setting boundaries

Having work at our fingertips — emails and messaging apps on our phones — has caused our professional lives to bleed into our personal ones more than ever.

"People go on holiday and they do all this extra work," Jones said. "It doesn't feel difficult — you've got your phone in your hand and you're able to let go."

Jones said she's taken note of this and now deletes her email and her LinkedIn apps when she goes on vacation.

"There's this whole requirement to build your brand and to constantly be employable and always be looking for work, which adds to the intensification. It's this 'I must always be marketable' culture, which, for younger people, I worry they're going to be burned out before they're 30 at this rate."

Jones also recommends setting boundaries to avoid getting sucked into the work intensification cycle, even if it's difficult to do so.

"If you are in a context where your organization is not supporting that so much, often people don't feel that they have any choice other than to exit or try to retrain or do something else," she said.

Ultimately, people need to be aware of what is and is not acceptable and healthy for them.

"Some people do just have a propensity toward overwork, and we do have a duty of care to make sure that we are not overburdening those kind of people," Jones said.

"But then again, they're exactly the kind of people who tend to get things done. So I think there's that element of having to have self-awareness and knowing how to look after yourself."

• I've worked in corporate offices in Spain and the United States over the past decade.
• In Spain, work lunches felt longer and more social. In the US, they feel quicker and more optimized.
• I miss Spain's generous paid time off policies and how easy it felt to connect with my coworkers.

I grew up in Barcelona in a bicultural household — my mother's from the United States and my father's from Spain.

I mostly lived in Spain but visited the US regularly and never felt I fully belonged to one culture or the other.

For many years, I worked in corporate communications in Spain. In 2019, I moved to the United States and continued my corporate career.

I've now spent about a decade working for several American and Spanish companies, but I'm still surprised by how different the two places' corporate cultures and office environments can feel.

Forming personal connections at work felt more important than networking in Spain

In Spain, it felt fairly natural and easy to connect with coworkers on a personal level and become friends.

I'm still in touch with about a dozen people I met at my first job, plus many colleagues from my other previous roles back home. We still attend each other's birthday parties and weddings.

However, at the three companies I've worked at in the United States, I've found it harder to form strong connections with my coworkers.

In the office, it's rare to have conversations that aren't related to the job or that go any deeper than the weekly "How was your weekend?" small talk.

Instead, it seems the best and most important way to form relationships with other professionals here is by networking. The US workplace can feel competitive, so maybe the motivation to get ahead makes it easier for people to connect that way.

Lunch breaks feel so different

While working in Spain, it was common to regularly grab lunch with colleagues or my boss and enjoy a full one-hour break.

One company I worked at gave employees a daily stipend for lunch, which covered meals from set menus that included an appetizer, entrée, and a dessert or coffee.

I felt encouraged to eat a full midday meal, which helped me take a much-needed break from the office each day.

In the US, lunch breaks feel shorter and like they should be optimized. Many of my American colleagues spend their lunch breaks running errands or eating in front of their computers.

It feels more common to have lunch in solitude than with a big group of coworkers here, and people tend to eat cold sandwiches and salads instead of hot meals.

Job titles seem to have more variety here

When I moved, I quickly noticed just how much importance many Americans place on corporate hierarchical titles.

In Spain, I felt job titles were fairly simple and straightforward and the companies I worked at seemed to have fewer tiers.

At big American companies, though, it's common to find several titles and tiers related to just one role. For example, assistant vice president, executive vice president, vice president, and senior vice president.

With so many levels and roles available, it almost feels easier to move up quicker in the US corporate world than in Spain.

Lastly, I miss the PTO policies in Spain

Paid vacation day policies vary around the world, but Spain definitely seems to prioritize work-life balance more than the US.

In Spain, employees get at least 30 days of paid time off a year. In the US, workers aren't guaranteed PTO — it's up to the employers to decide how much they'll offer (if any).

Many Americans have to work for months to earn less than half of the paid vacation days I automatically received in Spain.

With my wedding coming up, I especially miss Spain's policy that gives employees up to 15 extra days of paid leave when they get legally married.

For most users, Windows 10 will stop receiving security updates and other official support from Microsoft on October 14, 2025, about five months from today. Until recently, Microsoft had also said that users running the Microsoft Office apps on Windows 10 would also lose support on that date, whether they were using the continually updated Microsoft 365 versions of those apps or the buy-once-own-forever versions included in Office 2021 or Office 2024.

Microsoft has recently tweaked this policy, however (as seen by The Verge). Now, Windows 10 users of the Microsoft 365 apps will still be eligible to receive software updates and support through October of 2028, "in the interest of maintaining your security while you upgrade to Windows 11." Microsoft is taking a similar approach to Windows Defender malware definitions, which will be offered to Windows 10 users "through at least October 2028."

The policy is a change from a few months ago, when Microsoft insisted that Office apps running on Windows 10 would become officially unsupported on October 14. The perpetually licensed versions of Office will be supported in accordance with Microsoft's "Fixed Lifecycle Policy," which guarantees support and security updates for a fixed number of years after a software product's initial release. For Office 2021, this means Windows 10 users will get support through October of 2026; for Office 2024, this should extend to October of 2029.

Read full article

Comments

A day after the US Copyright Office dropped a bombshell pre-publication report challenging artificial intelligence firms' argument that all AI training should be considered fair use, the Trump administration fired the head of the Copyright Office, Shira Perlmutter—sparking speculation that the controversial report hastened her removal.

Tensions have apparently only escalated since. Now, as industry advocates decry the report as overstepping the office's authority, social media posts on Monday described an apparent standoff at the Copyright Office between Capitol Police and men rumored to be with Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

A source familiar with the matter told Wired that the men were actually "Brian Nieves, who claimed he was the new deputy librarian, and Paul Perkins, who said he was the new acting director of the Copyright Office, as well as acting Registrar," but it remains "unclear whether the men accurately identified themselves." A spokesperson for the Capitol Police told Wired that no one was escorted off the premises or denied entry to the office.

Read full article

Comments

• The days of offering perks to fill labor shortages are long gone — in fact, some companies wouldn't mind shedding workers.
• So they're going hardcore with stricter RTO rules, low-performer layoffs, and pullbacks on pay.
• With recession fears rising, companies want to cut costs, and workers are clinging to whatever job they have.

When Monday morning rolls around, you may be feeling a lot like Garfield; that's kind of the point.

In recent months, BI has reported on a litany of changes that companies are making to performance reviews, return-to-office mandates, middle management, and compensation structures that have office workers feeling like the grumpy orange cat about their jobs. They may be drowning their sorrows in recession-friendly frozen pizzas — while their bosses are just hoping they quit.

That's because rising recession fears have contributed to conflicting incentives for companies looking to cut costs and employees who want to hang on to whatever job they have. Gone are the days of big raises and job-hopping, so workers are more likely to put up with changing polices — even if they don't like it.

While companies make changes for all kinds of reasons, the current economic climate provides a chance for them to go hardcore and not sweat the attrition along the way. Several Big Tech companies have made moves to identify and disincentivize low performers. When Uber upped the ante on return-to-office and changed eligibility for sabbaticals, its CEO said the policy changes could drive some workers to quit.

"The good news is the economy is still really strong. The job market is strong," Dara Khosrowshahi said. "People who work at Uber, they have lots of opportunities everywhere."

While he's right that unemployment is still low, it's gotten much harder in recent years to get a new job, especially for white-collar workers. The quit rate, which was high during the Great Resignation, has slowed way down.

And so the grumpy cat workers only get grumpier. Just 31% of those surveyed by Gallup in February 2025 said that they were engaged at work, a tumble from pre-pandemic 2023 highs. Gen Zers are particularly disconnected, which may stem from a sharp turnaround in policies like DEI or sudden layoffs, which stand in stark contrast to pandemic-era workplace rhetoric.

Indeed, fewer workers surveyed by Gallup say that they feel cared for at work, a share that's tumbled since pre-pandemic and then post-vaccine highs.

In the "take this job and shove it" period, that would have been a clear sign to walk away and find something new. But rising recession fears are instead leading to an uneasy stay. As Business Insider's Aki Ito reported, America's workers are getting restless — they can't leave their roles, even as the walls tighten around them, and that might only be exacerbated by the uncertain economic climate under Trump's tariffs.

Workers are increasingly less likely to say that they're satisfied with their wages at their current jobs, according to the New York Fed, even as the share of job seekers remains well below summer 2024 levels. Wage growth has slowed from 2022 peaks, according to the Atlanta Fed's Wage Growth Tracker, and even switching jobs might not garner a big raise these days.

Workers seem to understand their static fates, at least: In November 2024, a slim majority of the New York Fed respondents said that they were satisfied with prospects for advancement at their current jobs. By March 2025, that fell to 48.7%.

Do you have a story to share about your job? Contact this reporter at [email protected].

• BNY is requiring employees to work in the office four days a week, up from three.
• The news comes as banks across Wall Street pull bankers back to the office full time.
• Business Insider obtained the memo, which said the bank has no plans for fully in-office work.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp., known for helping financial clients clear and custody securities, is the latest bank to rein in remote work. In a memo to staff, the firm's executive committee announced that it was asking employees to return to the office four days a week.

The memo, a copy of which was obtained by BI, said the new requirement would take place starting September 2, 2025, the day after Labor Day. The firm, commonly known as BNY, has required its workers to be in the office three days a week since 2023. Managers were called back to the office four days a week earlier this year.

The switch comes as companies from Amazon to AT&T start asking workers to return to pre-pandemic norms. Similar efforts are unfolding across Wall Street: JPMorgan Chase called its workers back to the office five days a week earlier this year, prompting some workers to explore unionization efforts or look for new jobs.

The memo from BNY's executive committee focuses on the importance of community and culture, which requires that employees spend more time together in the office.

It also emphasized the importance of "personal flexibility."

Indeed, BNY told its 51,000-plus employees it has "no plans" to require five days a week. It said employees will also continue to have the flexibility to work two weeks a year from anywhere, a perk the bank has dubbed "work from anywhere."

The bank, which also offers wealth management and investment advice, had previously instituted a 2-week "recharge period" around the end of each year, which allows employees to work remotely and skip non-essential activities, like internal meetings.

See the memo below:

As we continue to place even more emphasis on our community and culture, we believe that it is important that all of us spend more time together working, leading and learning from each other. As a result, we have decided that it is appropriate to ask all employees* to return to the office 4 days a week by September 2, 2025.

As a leadership team, we're committed to maintaining personal flexibility, and will continue to support remote work one day a week. We have no plans to return to 5 days in office unless circumstances were to demand otherwise.

We also want to remind everyone that we provide a "work from anywhere" benefit and a range of other benefits to help colleagues care for their mental and physical health and wellbeing. 

This step is also facilitated by the continued investments our firm is making in our offices and workspaces to deliver a modern, world-class in-office experience to our employees.

Being in the office together helps us collaborate and move work forward more efficiently. Occasional remote work can be effective, but in person we can respond more quickly to dynamic, fast-paced financial markets and better serve our clients. Most managers are already in the office 4 days a week, and we have seen the positive momentum this creates.

While we expect all employees to return to the office 4 days a week by September 2 at the latest, our offices are already open to you to come in as frequently as you'd like. 

One BNY is more than an idea or a concept — it's a culture, and culture is made up of people. Which means all of us. Thank you for your commitment to our clients, our company and our community, and to this next step on our journey to Thrive Together.

The Executive Committee

• Honda on Wednesday issued a return-to-office order for its US-based staff.
• The internal memo says that employees must work in the office at least 80% of the time by October 6.
• The automaker joins a list of major companies, including JPMorgan and Amazon, issuing RTO orders.

Honda on Wednesday issued a return-to-office order for its US-based staff, according to an internal memo viewed by Business Insider.

"As Honda faces a rapidly changing business environment and increasingly competitive market conditions, we believe it is essential for associates to return to working primarily at on-site offices. Therefore, effective October 6, 2025, Honda is requiring associates to work on-site at least 80% of their work week," the memo reads.

The memo says spontaneous interactions between staff members are "critical" to driving innovation at the company, and working on-site will promote essential in-person collaboration and problem solving. It was signed by Kazuhiro Takizawa, the president and CEO of American Honda Motors Co., and Kensuke Oe, the president of Honda Development & Manufacturing of America.

"This information is being shared with associates today to provide the longest timeline possible to begin to prepare for this transition," the memo continues. "Simultaneously, Honda is evaluation how this change will impact facilities, including cafeterias and common spaces, as well as studying other workstyle-related items to ease the transition and prepare sites for associates to be able to start reporting to the office as early as July 7, 2025."

Honda employs 30,000 associates in the US, with manufacturing plants throughout the country, including Alabama, Indiana, Ohio, North and South Carolina, and Georgia, according to its public employment statistics. Seventy-five percent of those employees work in manufacturing, and 24% in sales, research and development, and finance. It is unclear exactly how many Honda employees are remote workers.

"We understand that workstyle change is difficult, and associates will likely have many questions now and in the coming months," the memo reads. "But, we believe this will make Honda an even stronger and more competitive company for the future."

When reached by Business Insider, a spokesperson for Honda confirmed the RTO order and its October 6 deadline.

"Beginning October 6, Honda will return to a majority onsite work style requiring our associates to work on-site 80% of the time," the spokesperson said. "This decision is driven by the rapidly changing business environment, which requires increased collaboration and innovation that we believe can best be achieved through in-person teamwork. Our work policy will continue to provide flexibility for our associates to work remotely up to 20% of the time."

With its Wednesday memo, Honda joins a list of major companies, including JPMorgan and Amazon, that have issued RTO orders.

Read the full memo below:

This email is intended for US associates at American Honda, American Honda Finance Corp., American Honda Foundation, Honda Development & Manufacturing of America, and Honda Racing Corp. USA.

As Honda faces a rapidly changing business environment and increasingly competitive market conditions, we believe it is essential for associates to return to working primarily at on-site offices. Therefore, effective October 6, 2025, Honda is requiring associates to work on-site at least 80% of their work week

Increasing opportunities for spontaneous interaction and Y-Gaya style discussions is needed to drive innovation, strengthen our Challenging Spirit and maintain a customer-centric focus. This is critical to Honda's Second Founding.

Additionally, in keeping with the Honda PHilosophy, working primarily on-site increases the likelihood of associates going "to the spot" to understand the real situation and address key problems by collaborating with teams, peers and leaders.

This information is being shared with associates today to provide the longest timeline possible to begin to prepare for this transition. Simultaneously, Honda is evaluation how this change will impact facilities, including cafeterias and common spaces, as well as studying other workstyle-related items to ease the transition and prepare sites for associates to be able to start reporting to the office as early as July 7, 2025.

We understand that workstyle change is difficult, and associates will likely have many questions now and in the coming months. But, we believe this will make Honda an even stronger and more competitive company for the future. We are committed to continuing communication, and you will see additional updates to support your team with this transition. If you have questions, please contact a member of your leadership team or local HR business partner.

Thank you for your support.

Kazuhiro Takizawa

President & CEO, American Honda Motor Co., Inc

Chief Officer, North America Regional Operations

Kensuke Oe

President, Honda Development & Manufacturing of America