What Are Corporate America’s Top Frustrations in 2024?

Read time : 4 mins

Level : Intermediate

By creativeart freepik.com

By Michael Dinich | Wealth of Geeks undefined

Salary dissatisfaction, lack of appreciation and poor work-life balance are corporate America’s top frustrations — according to the nation’s Human Resources (HR) pros.

A new survey of 1,000 human resource professionals revealed the biggest challenges facing the workforce today, along with the pain points HR problem solvers are feeling in their departments.

Twenty-nine percent of respondents said feeling underpaid is the most common source of discontent for workers at their company, along with being unappreciated (26%), poor work-life balance (25%) and dissatisfaction with benefits (23%).

And according to the survey, the most common types of issues that get brought to the HR department are rooted in poor communication (44%), rule violations (40%), toxic negativity (38%), and gossip (37%). Continue reading


Nobel economics prize goes to 3 economists who found that freer societies are more likely to prosper

Read time : 3 mins

Level : Advanced

Academy of Sciences permanent secretary Hans Ellegren, center, Jakob Svensson, left, and Jan Teorell, of the Nobel assembly announce the Nobel memorial prize in economics winners, Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A Robinson, seen on screen, during a press meeting at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden, Monday Oct. 14, 2024. (Christine Olsson/TT News Agency via AP)

By DANIEL NIEMANN, MIKE CORDER and PAUL WISEMAN Associated Press

STOCKHOLM (AP) — The Nobel memorial prize in economics was awarded Monday to three economists who have studied why some countries are rich and others poor and have documented that freer, open societies are more likely to prosper.

The work by Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A. Robinson “demonstrated the importance of societal institutions for a country’s prosperity,” the Nobel committee of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said at the announcement in Stockholm.

Acemoglu and Johnson work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, while Robinson does his research at the University of Chicago.

Jakob Svensson, chair of the Committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences, said their analysis has provided “a much deeper understanding of the root causes of why countries fail or succeed.” Continue reading


In Senegal, the bastion of the region’s Francophonie, French is giving way to local languages

Read time : 4 mins

Level : Intermediate

A man sits outside a stationary store with French signs in Dakar, Senegal, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Annie Risemberg)

By MONIKA PRONCZUK Associated Press

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — For decades Senegal, a former French colony in West Africa, has been touted as the bastion of the French language in the region. Leopold Sedar Senghor, the country’s first president and a poet, is considered one of the founding fathers of the concept of Francophonie, a global alliance of French-speaking countries.

But many say a shift is underway. While French remains the country’s official language, inscribed into its constitution, its influence is waning. It is giving way to Wolof, the most widely spoken local language — and not just on the street, where the latter has always been dominant, but in the halls of power: government offices, university corridors and mainstream media. Continue reading


Amazon, Target and other retailers are ramping up hiring for the holiday shopping season

Read time : 3 mins

Level : Advanced

FILE – Amazon employees load packages on carts before being put on to trucks for distribution to customers for Amazon’s annual Prime Day event at an Amazon’s DAX7 delivery station on July 16, 2024, in South Gate, Calif. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)

By HALELUYA HADERO AP Business Writer

Retailers are ramping up hiring for the holiday season, but fewer seasonal employees are expected to be taken on this year to help customers in stores and assemble online orders in warehouses.

E-commerce giant Amazon said Thursday it will hire 250,000 full, part-time and seasonal workers for the crucial shopping period, rounding out a series of announcements made in recent weeks by the country’s top retailers.

Amazon is hiring the same number of employees it did last year, similar to Bath & Body Works and Target, which said in September it planned to bring in roughly 100,000 seasonal employees and offer current employees the option to work extra hours during the holiday shopping period. Continue reading


Can a Good Cup of Coffee Turn a Bad Day Around?

Read time : 2 mins

Level : Intermediate

Michael Dinich | Wealth of Geeks undefined

Over half of Americans claim a good cup of coffee can be “so powerful,” it can turn their worst days around into good ones.

On the flip side, in a poll of 2,000 American coffee drinkers, 31% said their entire day can be ruined if their coffee isn’t right. Some are so in-tune with their coffee, they can tell when they’ve received the incorrect order based on if it doesn’t taste right (25%) or doesn’t look right (9%).

Commissioned by La Colombe and Chobani and conducted by Talker Research, the study revealed how both hot coffee and iced coffee drinkers prefer their brews. Continue reading