The Twitter situation is stirring things up, he told the Financial Times this week in response to a question about whether mending staunch divides would be more of an engineering challenge or an interpersonal challenge. That, instead of an objective set of measures done by a broad group of people, youre sort of seeing seat-of-the-pants type activity.

In a nutshell, Gates thinks Musks approach is causing digital polarization to reach a fever pitchwhich could be catastrophic.   

The trouble began in October, when Musk officially bought the social networking site for $44 billion. Almost immediately, structure and order at Twitter began cratering. Advertisers fled en masse over concerns about his inconsistency, journalists were banned, the entire senior leadership team called it quits, and thousands of employees were laid offor came to work to discover their entire team had left. 

Musk has openly considered replatforming banned users, including former President Donald Trump, whose account has been reinstated after being banned for spreading misinformation and inciting violence. Research from Montclair State University found an immediate, visible, and measurable spike in hate speech on the platform after Musks takeover. Some of the people who were let go or left the company of their own accord were responsible for monitoring and removing abusive content on the platform.

Its all the opposite of what Gates thinks the world needs. Social media platforms with gigantic reach, like Twitter, bear requisite responsibility, Gates told FT. They need to focus on the things that incite riots or lead to huge misconceptions about the safety of vaccines or masks, he said, referring to misinformation.

Learning from the competition

Content regulation has been a growing issue across social media; Meta has notoriously had issues with misinformation, particularly when many denounced the platform for sharing fake news that they believed influenced the 2016 election.

In 2018, Nick Clegg, Metas now president of global affairs, helped the company assemble an independent oversight board populated by experts from around the world who, independent of the company, generally have a kind of belief in free expression, to help combat misinformation, he told Fortune during a panel at the CEO Initiative conference. 

Welcome to the club, he added of Musk.

Thats what happens when you run up social media companies. You cant keep everybody happy. And certainly in the United Stateshalf the country thinks that youre taking too much content down, the other half thinks you should take down more, Clegg said.

He suggested that Musk also consider implementing an independent oversight board, although thats unlikely given that Musk dismantled Twitters Trust and Safety Council last week. Musk certainly has his work cut out for himif he remains at the helm (the majority of Twitter users think he should step down as CEO, and he vowed hed do as they said but hasnt spoken on the matter since).

Clear, accessible, factual information is a longtime passion for Gates; in his annual year-end letter, which he published on his blog Tuesday morning, he counted Americas polarized political landscape as a prime factor in reversing progress on global health crises like COVID-19, polio, and malaria.

Its no wonder a social networking site with 329 million users and a gutted content moderation team strikes Gates as a disaster waiting to happen.  

Our new weekly Impact Report newsletter examines how ESG news and trends are shaping the roles and responsibilities of todays executives. Subscribe here.

It turns out that the lowest wage, on average, that workers with college degrees will accept is now $92,100, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New Yorks November 2022 SCE Labor Market Survey released Monday. 

While the average wage Americans would accept to change jobs (known as the reservation wage") has been trending steadily upwards since 2017, the tightened labor market during the COVID-19 pandemic sent it spiking. Among all workers, the average reservation wage was $73,667 last month, an increase from $72,873 recorded in July 2022. 

Employed Americans are driving these higher wage expectations, especially since March 2020, when the pandemic first hit. Among employed workers, the average reservation wage increased by 19.4% between then and November 2022. In that same time span, wage expectations jumped by only 12% for unemployed Americans. 

The number of open jobs is certainly helping to boost these wage expectations. At the end of October, there were 1.7 jobs available for every unemployed worker, which means that workers can be more pickyand demand higher wages. 

High inflation is also likely playing a role in workers continuing to push for better compensation. With annual inflation hitting 7.1% in November, Americans purchasing power is getting squeezed. Average hourly earnings increased annually by 5.1% that monthup to an average wage of $32.82 per hour, or roughly $63,000 a year. These increases havent exactly kept pace with price increases. When adjusted for inflation, real wages in the third quarter of 2022 actually fell by 3% year-over-year, according to the Payscale Index. 

Interestingly, while workers do have higher wage expectations now, theyre also prioritizing benefits to increase their spending power, New York Fed researchers found.

The struggle among workers to obtain wages that actually keep pace with inflation is just one reason many Americans now believe its harder to be part of the middle class. Even though incomes have continued to rise, those who can consider themselves middle-class (at least in a financial sense) have shrunk in the past five decades, according to Pew. 

This year, about 38% of all Americans consider themselves middle class, while 14% refer to themselves as upper-middle class, per survey data released by Gallup in May. 

Many Americans saw wealth gains that fueled a pandemic boom: Data from Bloomberg and economists at the University of California, Berkeley, found those whose average real wealth falls in the 50th to 90th percentile (or the middle 40% of the population) hitting $393,300 during March 2022.

Sadly, it now looks like that was the peakand since then, middle-class wealth fell about 7% as of the end of October thanks to inflation, a down market, and other economic headwinds.

It's no wonder, then, that workers are demanding higher salaries than ever before.

Our new weekly Impact Report newsletter examines how ESG news and trends are shaping the roles and responsibilities of todays executives. Subscribe here.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which he founded with his now ex-wife in 2000, has donated nearly $66 billion since it began, and every year, Gates writes a letter about what the foundation has been up to and his outlook for next year. 

This years letter, published Tuesday, highlighted the foundations focus on improving childrens math skills, eradicating polio, and using artificial intelligence-powered ultrasounds to save mothers and their babiesamong other efforts. But Gates gave a special mention to one person in particular. 

Our secret weapon, which should not be secret at all, is the incredible generosity of Warren Buffett, Gates wrote. Since 2006, his gifts to the foundation have totaled about $45 billion, if you count the appreciation of Berkshire Hathaway stock after it was given.

Gates said that Buffetts donation is likely the largest gift ever given to the foundation, which has an endowment of $53 billion. He added that he modeled his annual giving letter after Buffetts annual letter to the shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway. 

Buffett, who is the chairman and chief executive officer of the holding company, has a net worth $105 billion according to Bloomberg, making him the sixth richest person in the world. Like Gates, he has previously pledged to give away the bulk of his wealthmore than 99% to be exact, either during his lifetime or immediately following his death.

Gates and Buffett have become close friends over the years, often playing bridge together. Theyve also been seen together at basketball games and other public eventsand at one point, Gates even held a seat on Berkshire Hathaways board. 

Although Gates letter highlighted his foundations accomplishments this year, he warned that over the last few years, progress in cutting the childhood death rate by half has slowed and even reversed. Thats largely due to the pandemic that has killed millions, the war in Ukraine that has sent food and energy prices soaring, rising inflation, and climate change that has led to more extreme weather, Gates wrote. 

The people who were already worst off are bearing most of the pain of these setbacks, and the worst thing we could do is retreat from supporting them, Gates wrote. Through the foundation and my personal work, I am trying to make sure that, even with everything else going on, the world continues to do more to help the poorest. Getting more support for this is a key goal.

So the Gates foundation chose to increase its spending from $6 billion a year (pre-pandemic) to $9 billion by 2026, as announced over the summer. To do so, Gates said he allocated $20 billion of his own money to the foundations endowment. 

I describe our top global priority this way: We help people in poor countries who shouldnt die, not die, Gates wrote. Especially children.

Our new weekly Impact Report newsletter examines how ESG news and trends are shaping the roles and responsibilities of todays executives. Subscribe here.

Everything slows down and hurries up at the same time, says Joe Mull host of the Boss Better Now podcast. People are distracted and we get a little bit of senioritis at the end of the year, right as the holidays come upon us.

To compound that general malaise, the flu, RSV, and COVID continue to plague the work force and many are calling out sick, adding to their teams workload in the final countdown to the holidays. 

But there is a way to transform the malaise into greater workplace productivity. 

These experts offer advice on how to reenergize your team in the days leading up to the new year and once everyone has regrouped in January. 

Spot burnout

In order to combat this general slowdown you have to be able to spot the signs first. 

Deb Muller, the CEO of HR Acuity, a 2021 Fortune Best Small Workplaces, says it manifests on her team as irritability, sudden tardiness to meetings, or an influx of sick requests. Employees might appear disengaged or become more sensitive to feedback. 

Mullers team is remote, and spotting burnout when you dont work together in person is a bit different. 

People start not showing on video, or they look disheveled or theyre late, she says. Maybe they arent showing to meetings or are keeping to themselves. 

Plus, unlike other holidays your team might look forward to, the winter holidays are family-oriented and likely fraught with tension for many employees. Others might not have anyone to celebrate with this time of year.

The holidays are not always happy for a lot of people, whether its a mental health issue or people dont have friends or family around them and theyre isolated, Muller says. In these situations, Muller reminds employees of available support hotlines. 

And even if youre a huge fan of Christmas, you cant escape the tizzy of events: ugly sweater parties, your sons school play, the live nativity at church, and the gift exchange with college friends. 

This time of year, people are exhausted, says Natasha Maddock, co-founder and non-executive director at Events Made Simple, a corporate events planning company.

Give them a break 

At a time of year when everyone is busy with their personal lives, scheduling a fun team building exercise can just compound the burden employees are feeling to stay on top of everything. 

Instead, Mull says the best way to energize staff is to give them time off. That might look like offering a random half day this month, shutting down the office early or canceling a few afternoon meetings on a Friday to give everyone time to finish shopping or just relax. 

After the two plus years workers have endured and amid the craziness of the holiday season, nobody wants to attend mandatory fun, he says. They also dont want to be encouraged or asked to be resilient. What they want is less work, time away, and more flexibility.

Allowing for that break might also mean reviewing your teams PTO requests and making sure everyone has taken advantage. If you have to accommodate a lot of time off this month, Mull recommends flexible scheduling. Let employees work late one day so they can leave early the next. To create buy-in, he suggests holding a team meeting so everyone can decide how to help out so everyone can take time away. 

When my job fits into the rest of my life like a puzzle piece, I become more loyal to that workplace, Mull says. 

Maddock also suggests lightening loads by looking at tasks that can be pushed off to the new year. 

I tend to ask three questions, she says. Does it have to be done? If it doesnt get it off your list immediately. Second is: does it need to be done by me? Could I delegate this? And finally, does it have to be done now?

Keep things light

Amy Spurling says December is the busiest month for her team as they finish out their fourth quarter and finalize a litany of new clients who plan to launch the companys HR platform on Jan. 1. That means everyone has to buckle down for December, its not time to coast. 

With that in mind, entertaining half days or a bunch of PTO just isnt possible. Instead, 

Spurling tries to keep things light. 

Theres a lot of memes and sorts of things that happen in Slack, but we make sure leadership is taking part in that, she says. It just takes the temperature down a bit and ups the fun factor for folks so theres some levity.

Manage remote relationships

Got a remote staff? The game changes a bit. Whether your company functions through Zoom by necessity or as a function of the pandemic, spotting burnout is complicated by the distance. And it can be difficult to connect and team build as a result. 

One way Muller tries to give her team a break is by cancelling a planned meeting every once in a while and suggesting her staff take a break from their desks to read a book, walk the dog or grab a cup of coffee. If a particular employee is struggling, she might suggest that their one on one phone call take place while each walks their neighborhood. 

Why dont you grab your Airpods and lets just walk and talk, she says. Its important to model those kinds of things. 

Plan ahead

The holiday slump is here, but you can prep for the 2023 slump now by incorporating better practices beginning in January. 

Muller uses summer Fridays to give employees half days throughout the summer. First Fridays are held throughout the year to give everyone a half day on the first Friday of the month. 

Spurling monitors PTO requests all through the year to make sure employees are using their unlimited time off, which includes a mandatory minimum of three weeks throughout the year. That might mean forcing a vacation in June, so your employee can give it their all come the busy time of year. 

One of my VPs is known for that, she says. People need to know that there is an  expectation that theyre going to take time because people need to recharge.

Show appreciation

If youre going to compliment your team this time of year as a way to reenergize them, be specific, Mull says. 

The most important thing is that we specifically articulate to people the difference they make in the lives of others, and not with general platitudes like thank you, youre appreciated, Mull says. But we list specific habits, routines, and characteristics noticed by their boss and teammates. 

Words of affirmation are great, but money speaks louder. A holiday bonus can invigorate some staff if its a possibility for your company. Mull suggests coupling those expressions of gratitude with gifts, rewards and bonuses that carry a high perception of value to workers.. 

Capitalize on the New Year mindset

When your team regroups in January, use this time to set and articulate company goals and plans for the year. Its the perfect time to revisit job descriptions and get back into the groove . 

The first few days back after a break are always hard, but they also provide an opportunity for supervisors and leaders to empower their teams to think and work in new and exciting ways, says Laura Ashley-Timms, COO at Notion.

Danielle McMahon, Wileys Chief People & Business Operations Officer, says one way to do this is to speak to employees about their roles and how they can advance within the company. Holding check ins to see how they feel about their roles can help them to feel more engaged and fulfilled. 

These activities, as well as performance feedback, ought to be prioritized rather than placed on the back burner, McMahon says. 

Spurling says her team doesnt experience a lag come January because they know the first quarter of the year is one of their busiest, and the companys expectations and priorities are clear.  

The game plan is already set, so they kind of roll back in, she says. 

Holding a meeting when you return to the office can give everyone a sense of direction as they get back into the swing of things.