 |
|
|
|||||
Lets be honest: When we talk about workplace equity, menopause rarely makes the agenda. But it should. This life stage impacts half the workforce, often right when women are at the peak of their careers, influence, and leadership. As a CEO and advocate for womens health, Ive seen firsthand how menopause becomes an invisible career barrier. And now the data backs it up: Ignoring menopause in the workplace isnt just a health oversight, its a systemic equity issue. According to the latest U.S. Census Bureau data, full-time, year-round working women earn only 81 cents for every dollar earned by men in 2024, a gap thats actually widening. The year before, women earned almost 83 cents for every dollar. That should stop us in our tracks. Menopause often coincides with a critical phase in a womans career, when experience, insight, and leadership potential are at their highest. But symptoms like brain fog, fatigue, hot flashes, and mood swings can disrupt work and energy levels. The issue isnt the symptoms, its the silence surrounding them. Women are expected to power through. Some do, but for many it turns into what is known as the midcareer cliff. Women begin quietly stepping back, missing promotions, or leaving leadership roles altogether. This isnt just personal loss, its organizational erosion. When experienced women exit, we lose innovation, mentorship, and momentum across the pipeline. THE BUSINESS IMPERATIVE Lets be clear: Supporting women through menopause isnt a favor. Its a business imperative. If we want strong, competitive, resilient organizations, we need more women in leadership roles at every age, including midlife and beyond. Heres how companies can show up: 1. Make menopause part of the conversation Start normalizing it, openly, not awkwardly. Include menopause in DEI and wellness conversations just like we do with maternity or mental health. Train managers. Create employee resource groups. Let women share experiences, not suffer in silence. 2. Back words with policy Talking is great, but action matters. Promote flexible work options, access to hormone therapy or menopause specialists, and comprehensive benefit programslike what we did recently at Beacon Wellness Brands in partnership with Midi Health. These arent perks, theyre proof points. 3. Measure what matters If youre not tracking retention and promotion by age and gender, youre missing the story. Look at your data. If mid-career women are quietly disappearing, menopause might be a hidden factor. At Beacon Wellness, we believe real equity means meeting women where they are. That includes menopause. When we normalize and support this stage, women can keep leading, innovating, mentoringand building the future of work. Equity isnt a box to check off, its something you nurture over decades. And if were serious about closing the wage gap, we have to support the years that define a womans legacy, not just her entry. Workplaces that support women ultimately strengthen their entire organization. Maria Warrington is the CEO of Beacon Wellness Brands.
Category:
E-Commerce
A new study from MIT that shows that AI might be poised to replace a lot more jobs than what initial estimates might predict. According to researchers, a hidden mass of data reveals that AI is currently capable of taking over 11.7% of the labor market. The new estimate comes courtesy of a project called The Iceberg Index, which was made through a partnership between MIT and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), a federally funded research center in Tennessee. According to its website, the Iceberg Index simulates an agentic U.S.a human-AI workforce where 151M+ human workers coordinate with thousands of AI agents. In simpler terms, the tool is designed to simulate precisely how AI is poised to disrupt the current workforce, down to specific local zip codes. The Iceberg Index model treats Americas 151 million workers as individual agents, each categorized by their skills, tasks, occupation, and location. In total, it maps more than 32,000 skills and 923 occupations across 3,000 counties. In an interview with CNBC, Prasanna Balaprakash, ORNL director and co-leader of the research, described this as a digital twin for the U.S. labor market. Using that base of data, the index analyzes to what extent digital AI tools can already perform certain technical and cognitive tasks, and then produces an estimate of what AI exposure in each area looks like. Already, state governments in Tennessee, North Carolina, and Utah are using the index to prepare for AI-driven workforce changes. Here are three main takeaways from the study: AI is more pervasive in the workforce than we think Perhaps the biggest finding from the study is the discovery of what it calls a substantial measurement gap in how we typically think about AI replacing jobs. According to the report, if analysts only observe current AI adoption, which is mainly concentrated in computing and technology, theyll find that AI exposure accounts for only about 2.2% of the workforce, or around $211 billion in wage value (the report refers to this as Surface Index). But, it says, thats only the tip of the iceberg. By factoring in variables like AIs potential for automation in administrative, financial, and professional services, the numbers rise to 11.7% of the workforce and about $1.2 trillion in wages (this calculation is referred to as Iceberg Index). The studys authors emphasize that these results only represent technical AI exposure, not actual future displacement outcomes. Those depend on how companies, workers, and local governments adapt over time. The AI takeover is not limited to the coasts Its fairly common to assume that the most AI job exposure is concentrated in coastal hubs, where tech companies predominantly gather. But the Iceberg Index shows that AIs ability to take over work force tasks is distributed much more widely. Many states across the U.S., the study shows, register small AI impacts when accounting solely for current AI adoption in computing and tech, but much higher values when other variables are taken into consideration. Rust Belt states such as Ohio, Michigan, and Tennessee register modest Surface Index values but substantial Iceberg Index values driven by cognitive workfinancial analysis, administrative coordination, and professional servicesthat supports manufacturing operations, the study reads. How this data can actually make a difference Now that MIT and ORNL have successfully established the Iceberg Index, theyre hoping it can be used by local governments to protect workers and economies. Local lawmakers can use the map to source fine-grain insights, like examining a certain city block to see which skill sets are most in use and the likelihood of their automation. Per CNBC, MIT and ORNL have also built an interactive tool that lets states experiment with different policy leverslike adjusting training programs or shifting workforce dollarsto predict how those changes might affect local employment and gross domestic product. The Iceberg Index provides measurable intelligence for critical workforce decisions: where to invest in training, which skills to prioritize, how to balance infrastructure with human capital, the report reads. It reveals not only visible disruption in technology sectors but the larger transformation beneath the surface. By measuring exposure before adoption reshapes work, the Index enables states to prepare rather than reactturning AI into a navigable transition.
Category:
E-Commerce
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits declined last week in a sign that overall layoffs remain low, even as several high-profile companies have announced job cuts. U.S. applications for unemployment benefits in the week ending Nov. 22 dropped 6,000 from the previous week to 216,000, the Labor Department reported Wednesday. The figure is below the 230,000 forecast by economists, according to a survey by data provider FactSet. Applications for unemployment aid are seen as a proxy for layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market. The job cuts announced recently by large companies such as UPS and Amazon typically take weeks or months to fully implement and may not yet be reflected in the claims data. The four-week average of claims, which softens some of the week-to-week volatility, dropped 1,000 to 223,750. For now, the U.S. job market appears stuck in a low-hire, low-fire state that has kept the unemployment rate historically low, but has left those out of work struggling to find a new job. The total number of Americans filing for jobless benefits for the week ending Nov. 15 rose 7,000 to 1.96 million, the government said. The increase is a sign that the unemployed are taking longer to find new work. Last week, the government said that hiring picked up a bit in September, when employers added 119,000 new jobs. Yet the report also showed employers had shed jobs in August. And the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.4%, its highest level in four years, as more Americans came off the sidelines to look for work but did not all immediately find jobs. On Tuesday, the government reported that retail sales slowed in September after three months of healthy increases. Consumer confidence plunged to its second-lowest level in five years, while wholesale inflation eased a bit. The data suggests that both the economy and inflation are slowing, which boosted financial markets’ expectations that the Federal Reserve will reduce its key interest rate at its next meeting Dec. 9-10. Christopher Rugaber, AP economics writer
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||