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The benefits of taking time off from work are well-documented. In previous coverage, Fast Company has detailed how vacations stave off burnout, promote engagement, and may even help you be healthier. There are a number of ways to get more out of your vacation days, says time-off expert Jackie Swayze, founder of Maximizing My PTO, a website that helps people use a number of tips and tricks to plan unusual getaways. She says that one size does not fit all when it comes to paid time off. There’s so much more creativity to be had than the standard, you know, take one week off in the summer, she says. Here are some ways others have made their time off distinctly their own. Honor your personal priorities Sundie Leigh Jones, a software development engineer, says she makes the most of her PTO by focusing on her priorities. One of the ways she does so is to use time off for her birthday and her daughters. Im big on spending my free time building up my relationships, and I like to do that by traveling to people I love or with people I love, she says. Since her birthday typically falls around Labor Day and her daughters is during the summer, those are good times to take a day to celebrate, she says. And if they fall adjacent to a weekend, thats an opportunity to make the celebration into a long weekend. Plan a speed getaway Swayze recommends checking your local airport’s flight schedules. There are likely direct flights that make getting to a particular destination convenient. That recipe for a quick trip may require little to no time off. For example, she recently flew to Ireland for St. Patricks Day. While some might balk at flying several hours to a destination for such a quick trip, she says that changing your thinking about doing short trips can open up new opportunities for adventure. There’s never enough time in a place ever. I’d much rather go somewhere for just a couple of days than not ever go at all, she says. Combine your PTO with flexible work time Swayze says remote work opportunities can open up other ways to extend your PTO options. While her husbands job typically requires him to be in the office five days per week, he does have some flexibility to work remotely. When they found a great deal on a flight to Paris out of Detroit, they flew from Chicago to Detroit the night before. He worked out of the hotel the next day and then they boarded their flight to Europe. Once in Europe, working East Coast hours tends to mean getting the morning to explore and working from 3 to 11 p.m., she says. Play hard, then work hard. (Of course, its important to check that your employer allows work from anywhere and to also ensure that working in other states or countries wont create new tax obligations.) Work on your hobbies or side hustles Jones owns a number of income properties in other states, so shell schedule her PTO to be able to go tend to those properties, taking off a day or two on a given week to create a long weekend. She even planted an orchard during one of her breaks. Because her day job tends to make her sedentary, she says she relishes the opportunity to do physical labor when she takes time off. I took two weeks off, and we transformed a part of my property . . . [into] a small fruit orchard, she says. We worked 10 hours a day on the orchard. Then, on the off days, we explored the Pacific Northwest. While that may not sound restful, she says that she enjoys the trips and the chance to build her property portfolio. Plus, all that physical activity leaves her eager to get back to her desk job, she says. Be strategic about when you take time off Cornia Leslie is the public relations manager at email verification service ZeroBounce. While her company has an unlimited PTO policy, shes concerned about how much is too much. Still, she says she needs at least four to five days off to begin disconnecting from work, so she planned a long vacation last year, spending nearly a month in Europe. It was my first real vacation in seven years. I was able to fully relax and stop checking my email compulsively, she says. To prepare, she made plans for her tasks to be covered and wrote some content in advance.Leslie says that she actually felt more secure about taking vacation time when she had a set amount of PTO. I dont want to abuse this policy, so I try to plan ahead: Batch my time off, use it less often, but make it count, she says. Longer vacations are more restorative for me than scattering single days here and there.In addition to a longer-than-average vacation, it may also be possible to use your time off to plan a sabbatical to learn something new, travel, or work on a personal project. Swayze encourages people to think about being strategic and use the PTO that they are due. I plan trips pretty far in advance, so I’m looking at my whole year of PTO all at once, she says. By thinking through the time off you have available to you, as well as holidays and seasonal fluctuations in your work, you can create times for rest, experiences, and adventures throughout the year in the ways that best suit you.
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E-Commerce
When the natural environment is stretched beyond its ability to meet basic human needs for food, clean air, drinkable water, and shelter, it is not just a humanitarian concern for the world community. Research shows that these crises are a matter of national security for the U.S. and other countries. The Pentagon and the U.S. intelligence community have long paid close attention to the influence of climate change on national security. Although recent intelligence reports of the Trump administration have omitted any mention of climate change, prior intelligence reports have shown how climate change can generate flash points for global conflict, affect how troops and equipment work, and influence which defense locations are vulnerable. The effects of ecological disruptions on national security get less attention. But they, too, can cause social and political instability, economic strife and strained international relations. Ecological disruptions occur when ecosystems that provide natural resources are compromised and can no longer meet basic human needs. Examples include overfishing, human disease, and environmental crime. Protecting access to fish Some 3.2 billion people worldwide rely on fisheries as a major source of protein. Overexploitation of ocean fisheries is a common root of international conflict. From the 1950s to the 1970s, intermittent conflict broke out between British and Icelandic fishermen over the Icelandic cod fisheries, which had been depleted by overfishing. The Icelandic government sought to ban British trawlers from a broader area around the countrys coast, but the British continued to fish. The result was standoffs between fishing boats and Icelandic gunboats, and even the intervention of the British Royal Navy. These Cod Wars broke diplomatic relations between Iceland and the United Kingdom for a time. Iceland even threatened to withdraw from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and close a U.S. military base in Iceland. The U.K. ultimately agreed to abide by a 200-mile territorial limit on fishing around Iceland. Decades later, in 2012, the British government issued an apology and offered 1,000 pounds each in compensation to 2,500 British fishermen for the loss of jobs and livelihoods that resulted from abiding by the 200-mile limit. More recently, Chinas rampant overfishing of its own coastal waters has meant expanding fishing in the South China Sea and using fishing fleets to assert new territorial claims. Indonesia has responded by blowing up more than 40 Chinese vessels accused of fishing illegally in its waters and stealing more than $4 billion per year in Indonesian profits. The U.S., Australia, New Zealand, and Britain have stepped up naval patrols against illegal fishing in the waters of Pacific island nations. Conflicts have arisen with Chinese coast guard vessels that routinely escort fishing fleets entering other countries waters without permission. Chinas fishing fleets have expanded their activities off the coasts of Africa and South America, depleting fish stocks and creating political instability in those regions, too. In 2024, the U.S. Coast Guard and Argentinean navy began joint exercises to combat illegal Chinese fishing in the Atlantic Ocean. Public health crises The best-known examples of ecologically related public health crises that jeopardize national security involve what are called zoonotic diseases, which spread from animals to humans as a result of close contact between people and wildlife. More than 70% of the worlds emerging infectious diseasesuncommon or newly identified infectious diseasesstem from contact with wild animals. The risks of animal-to-human disease transmission are especially high for those who handle or eat wild meat. A recent example is the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 global pandemic. Epidemiological and genetic studies suggest that SARS-CoV-2 first spilled over to humans from wild animals sold in the Huanan live animal market in Wuhan, China. Although the specific animal that served as the original host is still under investigation, bats and other mammals are considered likely natural reservoirs of SARS-CoV-2 because they harbor other coronaviruses with closely related genomes. Following the zoonotic spillover event, the pathogen spread rapidly across the globe, killing more than 7 million people and causing acute disruptions not only to global markets and supply chains but also to social cohesion and political stability. Countries with high COVID-19 mortality rates had elevated levels of civil disorder and fatalities caused by political violence as the trust of citizens in the ability of governments to protect them eroded. Many other zoonotic diseases caused by human-wildlife contact, such as Zika, Ebola, SARS, and West Nile virus, have similarly generated international political and economic crises that have activated security measures within the U.S. government. Environmental crime Illegal paching and trade of wildlife and forest products is valued at $91 billion to $258 billion per year. That makes environmental crime one of the worlds largest crime sectors, comparable with drug trafficking, at $344 billion, and human trafficking, at $157 billion. Exorbitant black market prices for rare wildlife specimens and body parts provide funding for terrorist groups, drug cartels, and criminal organizations. Illegal logging helps finance terrorist groups such as Al-Shabaab in Somalia, where trade in charcoal has become a critical revenue source. Money from illegally cut trees turned into charcoal and sold to markets in the Middle East has funded al-Shabab-linked suicide bombings in Mogadishu, the 2013 Westgate mall attack in Nairobi that killed 67 Kenyan and non-Kenyan nationals, and the 2015 massacre of 147 university students in Garissa, Kenya. Those and other terrorist activities funded through environmental crime have contributed to the destabilization of countries throughout the Horn of Africa. These examples make clear how ecological disruptions to nature increase national security risks. National security is not just a matter of military strength. It also depends on the ability of a nation to maintain productive and stable ecosystems, resilient biological communities, and sustainable access to natural resources. Sovereign nations already develop and protect physical infrastructure that is essential to security, such as roads, communication networks, and power grids. The natural world plays an equally vital role in social and political stability and, we believe, deserves more attention in planning for national security. Bradley J. Cardinale is a professor of ecosystem science and management at Penn State. Emmett Duffy is a chief scientist at the Tennenbaum Marine Observatories Network and MarineGEO at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center at the Smithsonian Institution. Rod Schoonover is an adjunct professor at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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E-Commerce
Five years after the COVID-19 pandemic began, the United States finds itself in the midst of another public health crisis. This particular pandemic is a psychological one: widespread loneliness and isolation. About half of adults in the U.S. report feeling lonelywhat former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has characterized as an epidemic. The increase in social isolation has extensive costs for schools, workplaces, and civic organizations, where performance, productivity, and engagement are diminished, he wrote in 2023. As a business school professor who studies intergenerational relationships, I believe that our workplaces hold untapped potential for alleviating isolation. When colleagues do form friendships at work, they often gravitate toward people their own age. But fostering meaningful connections across generational lines can benefit not just organizations, but workers own sense of purpose and mental health. Working solo The COVID-19 pandemic affected all ages differently. Prior to 2020, it seemed that younger generations were leading a strong push away from working in the office. Once many Americans were working remotely, however, Generation Zthose born 1997-2012reported the highest levels of loneliness. The problem, Id argue, is how organizations early questions about working through the pandemic centered on efficiency. Was it possible to do our jobs remotely? Would we be as productive? Was remote work viable long term? For many jobs, the answer was yes, resulting in persistent work-from-home options even after it became physically safe to return to offices. Yet companies overlooked crucial elements that contribute to employees commitment and well-being, particularly strong relationships between colleagues. These factors are especially vital during early career years as young workers establish networks, learn their roles, and develop professional identitiesall considerably more challenging in remote or hybrid environments. Just 31% of U.S. employees feel engaged on the job, according to January 2025 data from Gallup, a 10-year low. Only 39% of employees strongly feel that someone at work cares about them as a person, and only 30% strongly agree that someone cares about their development. Workers younger than 35, especially members of Gen Z, experienced a more significant decline in engagement than other age groups, dropping 5 points compared with the previous year. Five generations Since hybrid and remote work appear to be here to stay, we need innovative solutions to combat disconnectedness. One overlooked opportunity might lie in a demographic reality that many organizations view as a challenge. Today, there are five generations in the workplace, more than any other time in history. This increase in diversity is primarily due to older workers remaining in the workforce longer than in the past, whether because of economic necessity or increased longevity and health. In 2024, 18% of the U.S. workforce belonged to Gen Z. Theyve surpassed the baby boomers, born 1946-1964, who make up 15%. Gen X, meanwhile (the generation born 1965-1980) comprise 31%. The largest group are millennials, born 1981-1996, who represent 36% of workers. Finally, 1% of the workforce belong to the Silent Generation, born 1928-1945. While such age diversity presents challenges, it also holds unique potential. The importance of workplace friendships is well documented. Research has found positive workplace relationships are beneficial to teamwork, career development and building a sense of community, and they help employees find more meaning in their work. Workplace friendships can help offset job stress and exhaustion and contribute to mental health. The benefits of such relationships can reach beyond the workplace, increasing overall well-being. However, these friendships rarely cross generational lines. A phenomenon known as age similarity preference often causes us to gravitate toward people similar in age, including among our coworkers. This broader tendency to connect with people we deem most similar to ourselves is well documented, and age can be a particularly visible sign of surface-level differenceone that leads people to assume, often incorrectly, that they hold similar views. While natural, this tendency limits interactions and relationships, leading to higher levels of conflict. Not only do intergenerational connections at work bring professional benefits but they also can combat isolation. For example, relationships with colleagues from different generations tend to have fewer feelings of competition and pressure, as they likely occupy different life and career stages. An older colleague who has navigated office politics or balanced raising young children with career demands can provide valuable advice and support to coworkers facing these challenges for the first time. Forming intergenerational friendships can help break down negative stereotypes about people who are older or younger by revealing areas of common interest. Beyond Gen Z The benefits of these relationships extend beyond younger generations, especially given how widespread post-pandemic loneliness is. Adults in mid-to-late career stagesGen Xers and baby boomersare in their prime years for generativity: the life stage when people are most likely to be motivated to share knowledge and expertise, preparing the next generation fo success. Generativity leads to benefits for the mentors too, such as higher self-esteem. People of all ages benefit from meaningful intergenerational relationships, but it takes an effort to create them. Employers can help by setting up opportunities to connect. For example, a mutual mentoring program can be a fantastic way to encourage not only learning, but unexpected friendships as well. Jonna, a Gen Xer I met through my generational consulting work, sought out a Gen Z mentor at her office and was grateful for her insight, as well as the chance to give advice. I like to believe I am someone with a growth mindset and in touch with current realities, but I quickly learned that Hannah had perspectives on many things that stretched me and my thinking, she said. Our partnership has helped me approach every situation with curiosity instead of judgment. Hannah, her mentor-mentee, found the partnership just as beneficial. The experience was a reminder that regardless of age, we all have something to contribute, and bridging generational gaps can lead to innovative solutions and a richer understanding of the world. Reaching out to colleagues who are significantly older or younger might seem unexpected. But it may also build a more connected, resilient workforce, where wisdom and innovation flow freely across generational divides. Megan Gerhardt is a professor of management at the Farmer School of Business at Miami University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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E-Commerce
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