In this week's episode, Nick and Geoff discuss a recent study that finds AI dramatically improves students' homework scores and speed but meaningfully hurts exam performance, creating strong lessons for how employers think about talent development. They also examine new research which links the four-day work week directly to lower obesity rates and discuss what employers who cannot yet make that shift can do to capture similar benefits.

 Key Takeaways

• A study of tens of thousands of students found that AI users saw homework scores improve by 18% but exam scores decline by 20%, signaling that AI is helping students complete work without actually learning the underlying material
• Findings from the study translates directly to talent development risks in the workplace
• Zynga founder, Mark Pincus, recently spoke on the issue's core risk: AI can get you to a B+, but it will not get you to an A—and if you have never done the foundational work, you cannot even recognize what an A looks like
• According to the Financial Times, an investment bank made fewer return offers to its 2025 intern class after senior financiers found that interns' initially impressive work seemed shallow once probed further
• Research across 33 OECD countries found a 1% reduction in annual working hours correlates with a 0.16% decrease in obesity rates
• A four-day work week represents roughly a 20% reduction in hours, suggesting meaningful population-level health effects
• Employers who cannot implement a four-day work week can pursue similar benefits by stacking smaller interventions: stress management programs, healthy food access, structured breaks, and flexible scheduling all address the same underlying mechanisms without changing the work arrangement itself

In this week's episode, Nick and Geoff dig into two stories. A National Bureau of Economic Research study identifies "LinkedIn time traveling," where candidates retroactively edit old job entries to stuff AI keywords and exaggerate skills. Then the episode turns to new data showing AI is significantly worsening an already acute workplace loneliness crisis, with 44% of employees now choosing AI over collaborating with a colleague. They dig into practical strategies for what employers can do about it.

 Key Takeaways

• One in five LinkedIn users engage in "time traveling", the term for a newly uncovered practice of retroactively editing past job entries to add AI keywords, remove DEI references, and inflate skills
• The behavior is being driven in part by candidates attempting to game AI screening tools, stuffing profiles with keywords designed to pass algorithmic filters, and to make them appear more fit for certain roles
• The US Surgeon General has equated the health impact of chronic loneliness to smoking 15 cigarettes a day, yet most employers are not treating it with anything close to the urgency they would apply to a physical health risk of equivalent scale
• 44% of employees choose AI over collaborating with a colleague, 75% seek advice from AI rather than a coworker, and 37% use AI for brainstorming out of fear of judgment, a pattern that is accelerating workplace isolation
• The most effective employer response is intentional collaboration: stack projects with multiple people, use AI in shared team settings rather than in isolation, and reframe AI as a team member rather than a private tool

In this week's episode, Nick and Geoff dig into a single story with wide implications for every employer thinking about GLP-1 coverage. Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan disclosed that the company spends $250 million annually on GLP-1 medications—one-eighth of its total healthcare spend—and called it a good investment. Nick and Geoff unpack what that means for employers of all sizes, why adoption has quietly plateaued at 36%, and why the direct-to-consumer market may be the most sustainable path forward for companies that can't absorb full coverage.

Key Takeaways

• Bank of America spends $250 million annually on GLP-1s—one-eighth of its $2 billion total healthcare spend—making it the fastest-growing benefits category by a significant margin, up from effectively zero just four or five years ago
• Moynihan called it a good investment but acknowledged that access is gated through a health coaching program, a guardrail that reduces early dropout and creates accountability on both sides of the investment
• 29% of employees say they would switch employers to access GLP-1 coverage, making it one of the only pharmaceutical benefits with genuine recruitment power alongside salary and remote work flexibility
• GLP-1 employer adoption has plateaued at 36%, up only two percentage points from 2024, reflecting real hesitation among companies that haven't yet covered it and quiet anxiety among those that have about cost trajectory and the difficulty of removing the benefit once offered
• The direct-to-consumer (D2C) subsidy model, where employers contribute a fixed monthly amount toward an employee's own D2C purchase rather than covering the drug outright, may be the most practical and sustainable path forward for mid-size and smaller organizations, since D2C prices tend to decline as scale grows unlike employer-plan drug prices

In this week's episode, Nick and Geoff dig into two surveys that together reveal how Gen Z workers are managing their energy, focus, and mental health at work. New data on "micro joys" shows that short, restorative breaks are already happening with or without employer support—and the data makes a compelling case for getting ahead of the trend. Then, a landmark finding that daily marijuana use has surpassed daily alcohol consumption for the first time raises questions most employers have not answered.

 Key Takeaways

• 77% of Gen Z workers are already intentionally building "micro joys" into their workday, and 82% say they have their best ideas away from their desk
• Breaks are happening with or without employer support, and the case for sanctioning them is both a productivity and a culture argument
• Gen Z's top workplace perks are healthy snacks and beverages and more time outdoors, both at 43%, far ahead of extra days off at 24%, signaling a generational shift toward making the workday itself more sustainable rather than just maximizing time away from it
• In a tight labor market, many employees are reluctant to step away without an explicit organizational endorsement, which is why employer-sponsored break tools matter not just for the break itself but for the permission they signal
• Daily marijuana use in the US has surpassed daily alcohol consumption for the first time, with Gen Z being the only generation where marijuana use now exceeds alcohol use after work
• 51% of Gen Z workers report using THC during the workday, and 52% of the full workforce across all generations report self-medicating in some form during work hours

In this week's episode, Nick and Geoff take a break from AI headlines to dig into three stories that together paint a troubling picture of the current job market. In Texas, LinkedIn is under investigation for ghost job postings. A new survey finds 72% of employees believe return-to-office mandates are stealth layoffs. Lastly, Glassdoor data shows 57% of recently laid-off workers are considering accepting lower pay, with women bearing a disproportionate share of the cuts.

Key Takeaways

• Texas has opened a consumer protection investigation against LinkedIn under the Deceptive Trade Practices Act, alleging between one-fifth and one-third of job postings are ghost jobs; Nick proposes a practical fix: require employers to periodically verify postings are still active, automatically removing any that go unconfirmed
• LinkedIn's new AI slop flag for content is its clearest acknowledgment that platform trust is eroding, but no equivalent tool exists for job postings that would solve for the trust problem
• 72% of employees believe return-to-office mandates are being used as stealth layoffs, with an average trust score of just 59 out of 100 for employer RTO motives—meanwhile, 46% of workers admit to coffee badging, coming in just to swipe a badge before leaving
• Nick draws a clear distinction between employers who always communicated an in-office expectation and those who hired remotely and are now changing the terms (only the latter represents a genuine breach of the employment social contract)
• 57% of recently laid-off workers are considering accepting lower salaries, and pay cuts are disproportionately affecting women, backtracking after three decades of progress on narrowing the gender pay gap in a relatively short period

In this week's episode, Nick and Geoff dig into two landmark AI employment lawsuits every HR leader should be following, and a new workforce sentiment story. Meta employees are suing over an AI-driven layoff process they claim targeted workers on protected leave. The Workday class action advances on the question of whether AI vendors or their employer clients bear liability for hiring bias. Lastly, a survey shows younger workers increasingly describe their relationship with their employer as a "situationship" with no long-term commitment on either side.

Key Takeaways

• Twenty-six current and former Meta employees allege the company used AI to score, rank, and select employees for termination without neutralizing protected leave as an input
• Meta's spokesperson categorically denies AI made those decisions, creating a stark factual divide at the center of the case
• Mobley v. Workday is advancing through the courts on the argument that AI hiring tools that replace functions normally performed by employers carry commensurate liability
• Workday's defense—that its tools only screen candidates and final decisions rest with employers—may be valid but puts its own customers on notice that they bear the liability for how AI outputs are used
• HR and IT leaders should be asking vendors directly how their tools handle protected class attributes, what bias testing has been conducted, and where liability sits before using AI in any consequential hiring or termination process
• 59% of workers report no clear long-term path at their current employer, and the resulting "situationship" is partly a job market story
• Employees cannot afford to leave but see no investment in their development either, a dynamic compounded by the hollowing out of middle management and the redirection of organizational energy toward AI over people

In this week's episode, Nick and Geoff reunite after Nick's summer hiatus to break down three recent headlines. Tesla caps employee AI token spending at $200 a week, a dramatic reversal from the gamified leaderboards of just six months ago. Starbucks bets it can replace $400 million in enterprise software spend by rebuilding tools in-house with AI. Lastly, Gartner projects one in five companies will cut more than half their middle managers by year-end, a structural efficiency trend with consequences that are only starting to show up.

Key Takeaways

• Tesla now requires manager approval for AI token spend above $200 per week, and Uber blew through its entire 2026 token budget by March
• Caps might be signaling negative ROI, not just cost management, since companies with these resources would keep spending if the returns were there
• Starbucks is attempting to replace roughly $400 million in annual enterprise software contracts by rebuilding tools in-house with AI and internal engineers
• If Starbucks succeeds, it could mark a meaningful shift in the build-versus-buy calculus for enterprise software and accelerate the so-called SaaSpocalypse for software vendors
• Gartner projects one in five companies will eliminate more than half their middle managers by the end of the year, but a cautionary case study shows a VP of engineering with 47 direct reports approving decisions in Slack with no context or coaching until their best engineer quietly quit
• Only 6% of Gen Z aspires to senior leadership according to Deloitte research, a rational response to watching middle management disappear and remaining managers stretched to unsustainable spans of control

In this week's episode, Geoff sits down with Kat Kibben, keynote speaker, bestselling author, and one of LinkedIn's top voices on hiring. Drawing on 15 years working across HR technology, employer brand strategy, and recruiting education, Kat shares a no-nonsense playbook for key stages of the hiring funnel, from writing job postings that actually attract the right candidates to using AI screening tools without embedding bias.

Key Takeaways

• The real reason you are getting too many unqualified applicants is almost always the lack of specificity in job posting, not the volume of candidates in the market
• Candidates should apply if they meet 60% or more of a job posting's requirements, because recruiters rarely expect 100% fit and most postings significantly overstate what is actually needed
• AI screening tools should be limited to clear yes-or-no questions at the initial stage and used to clarify ambiguous criteria in the maybe pile—machines should gather information, not make hiring decisions
• When companies use AI or bot-driven screening, candidates often are not told they are talking to a bot and do not know how to adjust, so these interviews reward the most confident performers rather than the best-fit candidates
• Bank of America's AI upskilling framework centers on one principle—never trust the yes—reflecting a shift from teaching prompt skills to building the human judgment needed to evaluate AI outputs critically

In this week's episode, Geoff sits down with Greg Hawks, keynote speaker, corporate culture expert, and bestselling author of Act Like an Owner. Drawing on 25 years of leadership experience and a framework born from running a nonprofit and managing rental properties simultaneously, Greg shares why most engagement strategies target the wrong employees, what it actually takes to build culture that sticks, and how leaders can maintain trust through layoffs and AI uncertainty.

 Key Takeaways

• Greg's owner-renter-vandal framework identifies three archetypes in every organization: (i) owners who take genuine initiative, (ii) renters who do their job transactionally, and (iii) vandals whose active disengagement undermines everyone around them
• Most engagement strategies focus on converting disengaged employees to engaged, but the real leverage is in addressing the actively disengaged—when vandals are dealt with, the disengaged re-engage on their own
• Vandals persist for four predictable reasons: they (i) generate significant revenue, (ii) have long tenure, (ii) benefit from nepotism, or (iv) they're in a position of power (e.g., the founder of the company)
• Culture is built through consistent leadership habits, not values recitations—Greg's most effective tool is leaders sharing weekly personal challenges they faced in living out company values, which creates the thick trust that makes honest communication possible
• Transparent, proactive communication is the only mechanism that preserves trust through layoffs
• AI should be treated as a partner to experiment with openly rather than a threat to stay quiet about

In this week's episode, Nick and Geoff dig into two studies that challenge the dominant narratives around remote work and Gen Z in the workplace. New research shows remote work has plateaued at 26% of paid full-time days, while a survey of 18,000 US adults reveals that one in four Gen Z workers are depressed and quietly self-managing rather than seeking formal treatment.

Key Takeaways

• Remote work has plateaued at roughly 26% of paid full-time days, down only marginally from 27% two years ago and far above the pre-COVID baseline of 7%, suggesting most employers have settled into hybrid arrangements and are staying there
• Stanford economist Nicholas Bloom predicts hybrid work will increase as younger, more flexible CEOs replace older executives, while JP Morgan's Jamie Dimon argues one recession would be enough to push on-site requirements significantly higher
• Approximately 25% of Gen Z workers are experiencing depression, and many have quietly abandoned formal treatment after financially draining and unsuccessful experiences with antidepressants
• Half of depressed Gen Z workers are using marijuana as a coping mechanism and 70% of Gen Z CBD users are using it specifically for mental wellness, though similar patterns exist among millennials
• Manager training focused on mental health awareness is the most actionable employer response, and in-person work gives managers meaningfully better visibility into employees who may be quietly struggling