Your Work Friends
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Its not just you - work is bonkers. You get hit from all sides. Your boss. Your team. Your clients. Another org change. A layoff. Which makes you want to chuck it all and live off the grid.
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Your Work Friends
New Week, New Headlines: The Death of Happy Hour? & Silicon Valley Drama: Zuckerberg's 'Masculine Energy' & Why Tech Workers Are Fleeing
Here's the work news we're covering this week.
Nearly half of tech workers are job hunting in 2025 - but why? Join us as we dive into the shifting landscape of workplace benefits and what's really driving the Great Tech Migration.
Plus, is this the end of corporate happy hours? We explore the US Surgeon General's new alcohol advisory and its impact on workplace culture. From Airbnb's remarkable response to the LA wildfires to TikTok's controversial PTO policy, and Mark Zuckerberg's problematic comments about 'masculine energy' in tech - this episode unpacks the latest workplace trends shaping corporate America.
End on a positive note with updates on minimum wage increases across 21 US states affecting over 9.2 million workers.
Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered professional advice. We are not responsible for any losses, damages, or liabilities that may arise from the use of this podcast. The views expressed in this podcast may not be those of the host or the management.
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while I was working in corporate. If I ever pitched, hey, we should do like an edible bar.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh my God, I would have been fired.
Speaker 1:Fired. Hey going on, mel Happy. What the fuck year is it? Happy 2025.
Speaker 2:It does start to feel like a blur right. I'm about to be 45 and I'm like how old am I? How do I forget?
Speaker 1:You know, when you realize you've lived a lot of life.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and where it's just all melding together.
Speaker 1:Just in this year alone, the amount of big crisis news that happened is pretty substantial.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's unbelievable what we're living through. Gosh, the wildfires happening right now. I can't stop watching it out there. I have some friends in LA that are okay, but I said that it's come close to the property. That was a scary time. We're living in turbulent times.
Speaker 1:Indeed, indeed. I know I always had this question. Is it always been this turbulent, and are we just more attuned to it because of social media and we have all this access to information? Has it always been this nuts we just now know about it all or is it actually getting more nutty? I?
Speaker 2:think both. I think both because we have swift access to information that didn't exist a long time ago, but I also do think it's getting increasingly nuttier.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:We're here. New week, new headlines. New week, new headlines Mel what are you talking about today? A couple of things. Nearly half of tech workers are seeking new roles 50% yeah, that's a big loss. And then I have some FIA news about minimum wage and some WTF news about needing more masculine energy in organizations.
Speaker 1:More, more Fantastic. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:How about?
Speaker 1:you, the U S surgeon general came out with an advisory on alcohol may cause cancer. Is this finally the end of happy hour? I want to talk about that, and I also have some F? Yeah and WTF news related actually to the LA wildfires. I want to celebrate a company that's getting it right, and once you call out a company that is absolutely getting it wrong, let's do wrong, let's do it, let's do it.
Speaker 1:Last week the US Surgeon General came out with wanting to put an advisory on alcohol, saying that it causes cancer. Did you hear this?
Speaker 2:I did yeah.
Speaker 1:This has been going on for a while the news that wine isn't good for you, alcohol's not good for you, Alcohol is not good for you, Beer is not good for you. When you and I were growing up, it was like oh, maybe red wine it's good for you.
Speaker 2:It's okay, it lasts a day.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, italians drink it all the time.
Speaker 2:It's like everything.
Speaker 1:Moderation yes.
Speaker 2:But now they're saying, man, what's that going to do to happy hours at work? A couple of things. Yeah, there's definitely been a shift in alcohol culture, Cause, like when you and I were growing up, it was still a big thing but, I noticed younger generations are moving more towards gardening.
Speaker 2:With dispensaries it's a little bit safer and I think you know what the people are going to. It's just like with smoking. Right, they know the risk. They're going to make their own choice on what they want to do. You might see some impact. But I think honestly, with any happy hour, you should be giving options to everybody. Not everyone drinks, so you do need to think about what does a quote-unquote happy hour actually look like for coworkers.
Speaker 1:It's interesting because the majority of networking events at work revolve around alcohol. Yeah, they still do. We put together any kind of conference and you're going to have networking events that have open bar beer and wine and blah, blah, blah, blah blah.
Speaker 1:Interesting though the data absolutely backs up what you just said. Number one on the alcohol consumption corporate events, the idea of having networking specifically around happy hours is down 30% actually because they're making space for physical activity or doing the cooking class or the knitting thing. We saw that pick up during COVID where people were like let's paint by numbers together on Zoom. And the other thing is too Gen Z, to your very good point. They don't drink as much, they don't want to drink as much. And there's another piece here that there's not as much of an investment in professional relationships as there used to be with Gen Z and with all other generations. A lot of people are like hey, I don't want to work 10 hours a day and then go have a beer with somebody and then talk about work again.
Speaker 2:Unless you're already work friends, maybe you might do that on your own. But what we always heard, as leaders too, it's not fun if it's mandated. Fun so it's if you're wanting to do things that build teams, that foster networking, collaboration. Think about how you build that into the actual work day, not an extra thing for people to take on, because everyone's at their limit, I think with what they can take on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think focusing on those. What are the real connections that benefit work? What are those authentic community pieces that you can, to your point, build in within the workday? Absolutely huge. Do you think happy hour is going to go away completely?
Speaker 2:I don't think so.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:No, I don't think so. I think there's always going to be a place where people want to do that, and there are people who go to happy hours that don't. They don't drink alcohol. Bars do offer alternatives beyond the cocktail, but I don't think it'll completely go away.
Speaker 2:I think there will still be happy hours. I just don't think it'll be as central of a focus, and I think that's a positive thing, although I would say stay away from taking your employees on a hiking retreats, like that poor guy that got lost a few months ago's. Avoid that kind of stuff because, again, that's not even inclusive. Someone has a disability. How are they supposed to hike through the freaking woods?
Speaker 1:so just be thoughtful about this is the one where I was like because it comes with a warning. Yeah, we know it causes cancer. Is this going to feel like too much of a liability for organizations?
Speaker 2:I don't think so, because it's optional. You have the option to drink. They're not forcing you to drink. So how is that? I don't know.
Speaker 1:That's a liability for the org I was trying to flip it and think about it this way yeah, If I ever pitched hey, we should do like an edible bar.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh my God, I would have been fired.
Speaker 1:Fired I know today. Why wouldn't you?
Speaker 2:Why wouldn't you? They have those edible like gourmet dining experiences. They have one in Boston.
Speaker 1:Weed is legal a whole bunch of places and a lot of people will say that weed is a healthier option than alcohol. Yeah, yeah, but you could never do that. You would never do that. Most of us would be like you would never do that. The legal liability of that. But then why is it okay for alcohol? Still, that's where I was like. I know, listen, I agree I don't think this is going to die anytime soon, but I do think it's going to continue to decline and I honestly think it's not a bad thing because it'll probably give way for more real, authentic connections and community and we should rethink what networking and community looks like in an organization Cause I think that was just an old school default.
Speaker 2:This is what it looks like. It doesn't need to. Nearly half of tech workers are seeking new roles. This came out in an article in ITProcom by Emma Wellicott. Itprocom by Emma Wellicott. The headline here declining employee benefits and reduced flexible working options have most tech staff looking elsewhere.
Speaker 1:Oh, so it's not an unemployment thing, it is a. I'm looking.
Speaker 2:I am looking, actively looking. So the TLDR here, careersite Dice, conducted a survey and 47% of tech workers said they were actively seeking new roles. 47% this is a rise of 29% up from last year's survey. That's huge.
Speaker 1:That's huge. For the most part, most corporate organizations are running anywhere between a 10 to 15% turnover, like somewhere around that right. It's not like. That's a high number.
Speaker 2:Yeah, anyway, and salaries are on the rise in tech, especially with AI. There are a ton of hot job areas in tech right now to get into, but that's not what's really attracting or keeping talent. And, although it's important, it's not equating to employee satisfaction and we've just talked about this recently. Like, salary has always been King, but culture is starting to take precedent. It's still important, but there are other things leading the way. So, although salaries are on the rise, folks are still disappointed with salaries. The report found that 6 in 10 tech professionals still feel underpaid. This was the highest number to ever be reported on the survey. In fact, that 6 in 10 feel underpaid. The CEO of Dice noted they're seeing a clear disconnect between what tech professionals value and what they're receiving from their employers. I'm going to argue I don't think that's just happening in the tech market but, 47% of people looking for new jobs.
Speaker 1:I also say a lot of times tech workers are your higher salaried individuals as well.
Speaker 2:Salary is not what they're looking for, although they feel like they're not being paid enough. That's not the issue. That is not what they're looking for. Although they feel like they're not being paid enough, that's not the issue. That's not why they're seeking new roles. It's the total package, and they're just feeling like they might be getting the salary, but they're not getting the total package. So what came out of the article? It's not going to and this is my prediction as well. It's not just going to impact the tech market.
Speaker 2:I think we're going to see that shift in prioritization of salary to total package across the board in every industry. You and I talk about that often. What they're saying is the talent in tech is expecting job security, benefits, flexibility and development opportunities. All of the things that we consistently say are core to the experience, because, at the end of the day, it is a two-way contract between employers and employees, and employers need to recognize that, and that's how you recognize it by actually pulling together total packages that support the whole human right. That's going to be the big differentiator for orgs going forward. So we'll see. We'll see what happens. I don't think they're going to get it. Yeah, I don't think so either. I think we'll cover some of that in WTF shortly, but there's an interesting tug of war happening between employers and employees right now. One to watch.
Speaker 1:Yeah, If last year was absolutely a employer market.
Speaker 1:I think this year we'll start to see some employee market coming back because we have peak 65 happening. We have a massive job market and, honestly, a talent shortage, especially in tech. If the H-1B immigration stuff starts to happen and we don't have H-1B visa holders which, by the way, can be anywhere from 65,000 to 85,000 professionals, by the way, can be anywhere from 65,000 to 85,000 professionals, mostly again in tech you're going to have some of that balance of power go back to the employees, but it's going to be rocky for the next several years as everyone's trying to figure out their ass from their elbow with AI.
Speaker 2:Absolutely yeah, all right. So we have some f yeah, and wtf right, we do, we do. I'm gonna start with my wtf. You may have heard this, but mark zuckerberg went on joe rogan's podcast and said most companies need more masculine energy I don't even know what the fuck that is.
Speaker 1:Honestly, what are you even talking about? Thank you, what are you talking about?
Speaker 2:exactly. He also said there's a rise of culturally neutered companies in neutering neutered okay he used the word.
Speaker 2:How cringe can you be? Yeah, I just hear balls, that's all yeahferring that there is an imbalance of feminine and masculine energy, one I'd like to understand. Dude, how the fuck are you defining this? What are you even talking about? What does this even mean? And also, I just want to remind everybody this is coming from a man who started Facebook so he could essentially host the college version of Hot or Not we're around.
Speaker 2:When Facebook first launched, he completely stole the idea for Hot or Not to rate women on college campuses and to see who was available. That's why there used to be the my favorite the relationship status someone always putting what's complicated and you're like it's not, it's just a situation, but like this coming from that guy. Also and this is my biggest pet peeve, I hate the shit so much, he noted because he has three sisters and three daughters. He wants women to succeed. I have to be really honest here. I cannot stand. I cannot stand when men who behave poorly and make these bullshit statements hide behind the fact but I'm a girl dad, but I have women in my life. If you have women in your life, why do you hate them so much? Show up for them.
Speaker 2:Don't make these statements. What are you even saying, bro? I don't know.
Speaker 1:This guy changes his mind on who the fuck he is. More than anybody I've met in my life the amount of just flip-flopping on who he is to me concerning as a leader, and also I agree with you, I think, that idea of oh, I have a wife.
Speaker 2:I have daughters. Yeah, what does that even mean? It doesn't mean anything. Then do things that support women. You can't hide behind the fact that you have women in your life. It doesn't mean you're not a shithead.
Speaker 1:No, and it doesn't mean your product doesn't massively impact women. Quite honestly.
Speaker 2:Or your corporate environment that you're creating and how that impacts women, or being one of the largest organizations globally and how you're setting precedent to make workplaces even more male friendly when you on, women are leaving the workplace in droves, mainly because it's not for lack of mentorship or over-mentored, it's a lack of sponsorship and it's a toxic environment, no matter what environment. It's just unreal. Anyway, he went on to say and I'll leave you with this oh my God, it gets worse. It gets worse. Neutered masculine energy, all the above. If you're a woman, it probably feels like corporate worlds are too masculine, but maybe women just don't have enough of that masculine energy. I'm just going to end with shut the fuck up. Yeah, what are you talking about? What are you even talking about? How do you feel about that? What do you think?
Speaker 1:I think we're looking at someone who's wildly unconfident and never has been, never will be, and is kissing the ass of a couple people.
Speaker 2:He's afraid Trump's going to put him in jail, so he's totally pandering to that crowd, also promoting toxic masculinity. That's what this is.
Speaker 1:So that's my WTF. All right, my WTF and my FIA has to do with the LA wildfires, and one of the things I'm always looking at is how people respond, especially in crisis, and I think that reveals a lot about the character of a company, the value of a company, whether they do something, whether they don't do something, because, by the way, not doing anything when you could step up to play is also saying something.
Speaker 1:Yeah, or they do something actually counterproductive, and this is an example of a company doing something massively counterproductive. So TikTok told their LA-based workers to use their personal or their sick time if they couldn't work from home during the LA evacuations. Now here's the deal TikTok's LA company office closed because they didn't have power. Tiktok's LA company office closed because they didn't have power. Everybody had to work from home. Yes, it was in Culver City. The office wasn't getting evacuated, but everybody lives all the fuck over LA, so some people were in evacuation zone. You had to use your sick time during an evacuation where your house might get burned down an evacuation where your house might get burned down.
Speaker 2:Listen, if you're an employee and that's how your org shows up, during a crisis moment where you could lose everything, and you're just trying to think about what the hell do I prioritize to take with me because I'm about to lose everything, I don't know I'd be making some really long, hard choices about where my future is, because that's really awful.
Speaker 1:Yeah, human crisis isn't a policy decision. It is not. It is not, especially when, by the way, tiktok employees have 10 sick days and then 15 vacation days. Basically, they don't have a ton of PTO. That's an awful policy.
Speaker 2:And it's just what are you doing? What are you doing? Why aren't you just saying do what you need to do, Protect yourself, protect your family? Again, going back to where's the humanity, I can't even imagine logging into work. I'd be just like I'll talk to you. When I talk to you, what's the F? Yeah version of that you mentioned?
Speaker 1:So, yeah, the F? Yeah version of this is listen, there are a ton of companies that have stepped up to play, from Planet Fitness opening up all of their gyms 24 hour fitness opening up all their gyms for showers, wifi gym for first responders and for evacuees. Fantastic U-Haul you can store your stuff here for 30 days. There are massive examples of this, but there was one company that just stepped up super quick, organized very quickly and they made a massive impact. So Airbnb has pledged to house at least 25,000 evacuees for free. Oh, wow, that's amazing. That's a significant investment. Number one, right. Number two you and I both know operationally trying to pull that off as an emergency internally.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's a lot of work that's around the clock A lot of work.
Speaker 1:Yeah, made it happen. And number three quite honestly, they don't have to do any of that. No, they don't have to do any of that. Let me give you an example. Vrbo, which competes with Airbnb, very nicely said hey, you can cancel for free If you had a reservation with us in LA. That's what they did. That's great. I think that's great. It's something. It's something.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this is a. That's an unprecedented offer.
Speaker 1:Again, an Airbnb to me as one of these companies that really tries very hard to do the right thing, even when they go through layoffs, even when they go through things like restructuring as well. If you remember, when they laid folks off during COVID, they were the company, one of the first companies, that did that whole list of people that said we hate to have to lose this amazing talent. Here are their names. Here's what they do Pick from this list. That was Airbnb. So I really think, looking at some of these companies that are showing up to play Airbnb, booey Love it. I love seeing it.
Speaker 2:That's good, yep. My F yeah, that I'm closing on is 21 US states have upped the minimum wage as of January 1. Fantastic I know we talked about this last year of January 1. Fantastic, I know we talked about this last year. That's going to help over 9.2 million workers, many of which already fall below the poverty line, and this is a massive, important change because, as you and I discussed last year, minimum wage has not been federal. Minimum wage has not been updated since 2009.
Speaker 2:10 states out of those 21 states now offer at least $15 an hour or more, which impacts over a third of all US workers. So they suspect that it's going to have a considerable impact to the workforce and by 2027, that can increase to nearly half the workforce. And by 2027, that can increase to nearly half the workforce. And this increase across the board will increase someone's salary on average between $201 per year up to $1,291. So over 9 million workers are going to benefit from this increase. Love to these states. So if you live in one of these states, check it out Maine, vermont, washington, montana, minnesota, illinois, michigan, new York, rhode Island, south Dakota, ohio, new Jersey, connecticut, california, colorado, nebraska, missouri, virginia, delaware, arizona and Alaska. Very nice, yeah.
Speaker 1:Very nice, yeah, very nice, yeah. Golf clubs I love it, I love it, and that'll be the last increase for at least four years, I know, or 20.
Speaker 2:No, I'm just joking.
Speaker 1:Oh man, all right. Positive thinking, positive news. Positive news. Positive news, positive news.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So listen, if you are a minimum wage worker and you are unaware of this increase and you live in one of those states, check it out. Really good news. This episode was produced, edited and all things by us myself, mel Plett and Francesca Ranieri. Our music is by Pink Zebra, and if you loved this conversation and you want to contribute your thoughts with us, please do. You can visit us at yourworkfriendscom, but you can also join us over on LinkedIn. We have a LinkedIn community page and we have the TikToks which is likely going away by the end of this week and Instagram. So please join us in the socials. And if you like this and you've benefited from this episode and you think someone else can benefit from this episode, please rate and subscribe. We'd really appreciate it. That helps keep us going. Take care, friends. Bye friends. Bye friends. You.