For their 15th wedding anniversary, Katie Walley-Wiegert and her husband decided to take a beach vacation with their young son. But the trip didn’t go as planned. Walley-Wiegert wound up needing to pack her computer because of a work assignment she couldn’t ignore.
The 38-year-old marketing professional had just landed a podcast interview for an executive she worked with, and he had a short window to prepare. As she labored away through most of the vacation, she regretted not being present for her toddler’s introduction to the ocean.
“I know my husband and my son are having this once-in-a-lifetime first experience, and I am missing it,” Walley-Wiegert said. “And it’s heartbreaking in some regards, because that first will never come again.”
Navigating the line between work time and personal time is tricky for a lot of people. With laptop computers and smartphones making it possible to log in anytime to do work from anywhere, many find it hard to disconnect even when they take vacations.
“It doesn’t take much to just quickly answer an email on your phone or just quickly open up the laptop whilst you’re lying next to the pool,” said Marais Bester, an occupational psychologist in the Netherlands, and senior consultant at SHL, a talent acquisition and management platform. “You get your company-issued phone, you get your company-issued laptop, and there is an expectation to some extent to respond as quickly as possible.”
The compulsion to keep working while on vacation can be so strong that some people carve out time by feigning illness as an excuse to skip group outings, said Amy Biedenstein, senior vice president at human resources software and services company Dayforce.
“There’s starting to be some pressure from families, too, to say, ‘Hey, we need you to be focused and with us when we’re on vacation,’ so I think people are feeling increasingly like they have to hide it,” Biedenstein said.
With the Northern Hemisphere’s summer vacation season in full swing, experts offer practical advice for setting boundaries with work during your time off.
Getting ready for a vacation
Once you have your vacation dates set, let teammates know when you plan to be off. Make sure your time off is booked on your office’s electronic calendar, which can reduce the number of work requests you receive while you’re out, Biedenstein said.
For many people, getting ready for vacation means working late the night before to finish time-sensitive tasks that can’t wait until they’re back. Try starting earlier. Assessing what needs to get done a week in advance may help reduce last-minute cramming.
You can also block off the afternoon before you leave to tie up loose ends and your first day back in the office to catch up, said time management and productivity coach Alexis Haselberger. Set the automatic replies on your email, Slack, and other apps to say you’re not checking messages and will respond the week of your return instead of your first day back, Haselberger advised.
If it’s not possible to be completely out of touch, schedule times to check in on work and let co-workers know what those times will be. You can also share your preferred way to be contacted in the event of an emergency.
When Biedenstein’s children were little, she sometimes used evenings to work when she had to during family vacations. The time on task made her mind churn to the point she had trouble sleeping. Biedenstein shifted to waking up early and getting in an hour of work before breakfast.
“Once the family was up and moving, that was my cue that work is over and now it’s family time,” she said.
Leaving work starts with your phone
Amanda Olsen, a reporter for the Times Review Newsgroup on Eastern Long Island, doesn’t mind answering occasional questions from work when she is taking a staycation to get things done around the house.
When she and her family take backpacking and multi-day canoeing trips in the Adirondacks, Olsen, 47, turns off her cellphone’s alerts and notifications. To further make the most of the time outdoors, Olsen sometimes camps in locations with no phone reception.
“Part of that is to disconnect more thoroughly from the world and work,” she said.
Some people recommend leaving work phones behind entirely during vacations. Others temporarily delete work apps such as Slack or email from their phones, although they may need help from tech support to reinstall the apps when they return.
If being unreachable is not an option, set a time to check work emails and notifications once in the morning, and then leave the phone behind for the rest of the day.
“It’s really easy to take that work phone and set it down somewhere and walk away from it,” Biedenstein said.
Time off starts at the top
Pressure to perform turns work into an obsession for some people, especially if they’re concerned about getting a promotion, Bester said. One coping strategy is a “quiet vacation” — traveling to a vacation destination discreetly but checking email regularly and doing some amount of work.
“You know you need to take a vacation, you know your body desperately needs the rest, but you still might keep up appearances ... or there’s a culture which expects you to always be on,” Bester said.
One way to improve the chances of vacationing without interruptions is to put a structured plan in place to hand off projects to colleagues, he said. Leaders can encourage those steps.
A manager or executive who immediately answers calls and emails, or checks in with employees instead of unplugging while on vacation, sends the message that the people working under them should do the same.
“When leadership models good behavior, when leadership can take a break and disconnect, then we see employees follow suit,” Biedenstein said.
Employers also can show a workplace that recognizes the importance of time off, as well as a commitment to workers who struggle to pay for vacations, by offering corporate discount programs for airlines or cruises, Biedenstein said.
The benefits of a pause
Taking a clear break to recharge, refocus, and take your mind off the daily stresses of the workplace is extremely healthy, Bester said.
“Just to zone out, go into your sort-of nothing box or do something pleasurable, you know, spending time with loved ones,” he said. “All of those things have major benefits from a psychological well-being perspective.”
After work intruded on her wedding anniversary trip, Walley-Wiegert plans to go back to the same beach with her family. This time, as someone who now works as a freelancer, she’s setting her own rules. She let her current and potential clients know that she’d be offline for a few days.
“This is my take two,” she said.
Jobless Claims Touch New Cycle High as Questions Swirl Around the Data
The latest weekly jobless claims data may seem like a routine update, but today’s report lands at a moment when even the most basic economic numbers are under extraordinary scrutiny.
Initial claims for unemployment insurance jumped to 226,000 last week, rising by 7,000 and notching the second straight week of upward revisions. The four-week moving average edged down only slightly, a signal that the recent uptick is not just a fluke. But the most eye-catching figure is in continuing claims, which climbed to 1.97 million (now at their highest level since November 2021). That means nearly two million Americans are still drawing unemployment benefits, a reality that is quietly but steadily building in the background of the U.S. economy.
What makes this week’s data even more important is the context in which it arrives. Just days ago, the firing of the Bureau of Labor Statistics chief triggered a new round of debate over the integrity of U.S. jobs data. Last month’s jobs report saw not just a disappointing headline number but sweeping downward revisions for prior months, fueling both political outrage and genuine concern over whether the numbers still reflect reality.
Against this backdrop, the increase in both initial and continuing claims is more than just a statistical footnote. On the ground, rising continuing claims mean more people are staying unemployed for longer, which is a potential warning sign for both the labor market and consumer spending ahead.
The numbers also show a subtle but unmistakable shift when compared to last year. Unadjusted continuing claims are up by nearly 100,000 compared to the same week in 2024. While not yet a crisis, this accumulation of small changes is often how economic turning points start to take shape. At the same time, the backdrop of data revisions and leadership turmoil at key statistical agencies means that every wobble in the numbers now gets amplified.
For businesses, a rise in continuing claims could signal softer consumer demand ahead as households grow more cautious about spending in the face of an uncertain job market. And for consumers, the confidence that underpins much of the U.S. economy is shaped not just by their own paychecks, but by the drumbeat of headlines about layoffs, job searches, and political drama over the data itself.
This is why Havas Edge tracks jobless claims so closely, even when the headlines are focused elsewhere. In times of uncertainty (about both the numbers and what they mean for everyday Americans), the weekly claims report remains one of the fastest and most revealing barometers of where the economy is heading.
President Trump has spoken many times about sparking a resurgence in American manufacturing, but the evidence suggests it's not happening -- at least not yet.
It takes a long time to build a new factory, and while tariffs are giving an advantage to some domestic producers, they are also raising costs. Slumping consumer confidence isn't helping much either; some U.S. factories are cutting production because people are getting less and less willing to spend.
Is it just a matter of time before the sector booms? Or is the notion of a U.S. manufacturing renaissance just a pipe dream?
Between 2017 and 2022, 400,181 Uber trips resulted in reports of sexual assault or sexual misconduct in the US, or around one every eight minutes, according to sealed documents seen by The New York Times. The company had only disclosed 12,522 accounts of serious sexual assaults during the same period. The report is based on interviews with current a former employees, internal documents, and court records under seal as part of "large-scale sexual assault litigation against Uber."
"There is no 'tolerable' level of sexual assault," Uber's US head of safety Hanna Nilles told the NYT. She added that about 75 percent of the reports were "less serious," including comments about a passenger's appearance, flirting, or using explicit language. In addition, reports had not been audited by the company and could have included incorrect or fraudulent reports submitted by passengers.
Publicly, Uber has stated in marketing campaigns that it's one of the safest options for travel, citing the rarity of assaults. However, the NYT notes that the company had failed to take actions that would likely have improved passenger security — like pairing female passengers with female drivers, using sophisticated matching algorithms, and warning passengers about factors linked to attacks.
In several cases cited by the report, drivers with a recorded pattern of inappropriate behavior were kept on the platform and then proceeded to sexually assault passengers. It also shows that Uber rejected safety measures like cameras in cars so as not to disrupt its business model, dictating that drivers are contractors and not employees. It also stopped a potential feature pairing female drivers with female passengers over fears of stoking culture wars, among other business reasons.
Uber told the NYT that millions of rides happen each day, and the vast majority in the US, around 99.9 percent, occur without incident. However, with details of horrific assaults and Uber wilfully failing to deal with the problem, the report is yet another damning indictment of the company's growth-above-all culture.
The Trump administration is giving your 401(k) plan a shot of private capital. President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order on Thursday that would open the door for 401(k)s to invest in private equity, real estate, cryptocurrency, and other so-called “alternative assets” that have historically been off-limits to everyday retirement savers — a sharp break from the framework that has defined most 401(k) plans for decades.
The order will reportedly instruct the Department of Labor to reexamine federal guidance that has long discouraged plan administrators from offering access to private markets. It will also call on the Treasury Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to work with the Labor Department to clarify how fiduciary rules should apply to funds that include alternatives such as crypto or private equity, according to Bloomberg reporting that cites a person familiar with the plan.
According to an anonymous White House official speaking to Reuters, the executive order aims to “facilitate access to alternative assets for participant-directed defined-contribution retirement savings plans by revising applicable regulations and guidance.”
Crypto didn’t stay silent. As forex and crypto trackers reported, Bitcoin surged roughly 2% on the news — poking above $116,000 — as Ethereum followed suit, signaling investor optimism and a potential shift in market psychology.
This move would be a major win for private asset managers and cryptocurrency advocates, who have lobbied for years to unlock a portion of the estimated $9–$12.5 trillion parked in U.S. defined-contribution plans, which could shift trillions from passive index funds into illiquid vehicles. Firms such as Blackstone, KKR, Apollo, and crypto platforms could see a flood of retail capital — if employers choose to include such offerings and regulators finalize changes. Meanwhile, financial instruments are bubbling up. Private-credit ETFs are rapidly gaining traction. Firms such as State Street, in partnership with Apollo, are experimenting with structures that offer a taste of private returns via liquid vehicles, with built-in buyback mechanisms to navigate enforcement thresholds.
Trump’s expected order would revive and expand on efforts from the president’s first term, when the Labor Department under then-Secretary Eugene Scalia issued guidance allowing private equity in some 401(k) funds. That rule was later rolled back under President Joe Biden, whose administration expressed concern about retail investors being exposed to high-risk, high-fee products.
Now, Trump’s administration is seeking to not only reinstate that pathway but go further — adding real estate and digital assets to the list. The order’s language also appears designed to reduce litigation concerns for plan administrators, a key factor that has previously deterred the use of alternatives.
The coming executive order also dovetails with Trump’s broader effort to elevate the digital asset structure into mainstream financial infrastructure. In July, the White House hosted a “Crypto Week” and signed a law regulating stablecoins — the GENIUS Act — the first such federal law in the U.S. Venture capitalist David Sacks is the administration’s “AI and crypto czar,” and Trump has talked about wanting to be the “first crypto president.” In March, the president called for creating a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. The Trump family has also launched a blockchain venture, which has added an estimated $600-plus million to the president’s net worth.
Critics have been raising alarms about the inclusion of alternative assets in retirement plans, citing higher fees, limited liquidity, and weaker disclosure requirements compared to publicly traded securities. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, in a June letter to Empower Retirement, warned that private investments lack transparency and pose “unsubstantiated claims of high returns.” Legal expert Jerry Schlichter has gone further, calling private equity for 401(k)s “a minefield of danger” for plan administrators, citing illiquidity, valuation opacity, and reputational risk.
Industry leaders such as BlackRock CEO Larry Fink have also acknowledged the risks, including potential litigation. Fink said on a recent earnings call, “There is a lot of litigation risk. There are a lot of issues related to the defined contribution business.” BlackRock’s chief financial officer, Martin Small, added that industry-wide litigation reform may be necessary to avoid legal bottlenecks. Still, BlackRock plans to launch a retirement fund next year that includes private equity and credit.
While the coming executive order will lay the groundwork for expanded access, adoption will likely be gradual — and some lawyers are, according to Bloomberg, already preparing legal challenges tied to investor suitability and fiduciary duty.
The last major overhaul of U.S. retirement policy came in 2006, when the Pension Protection Act encouraged automatic 401(k) enrollment and endorsed target-date funds as a default option — moves designed to simplify retirement saving and limit risk. Trump’s order takes a different approach: expanding the menu of investment choices, increasing exposure to illiquid and complex assets, and potentially putting more legal pressure back on employers.
Whether the change in 401(k) plans delivers broader opportunity or bigger risk will depend on how regulators write the rules — and how employers respond. For now, the message from Washington is unmistakable: The boundaries of retirement investing are shifting, and passive index plans may be a thing of the past. Whether savers are ready for that shift remains to be seen.