The C Sheet February 11: First-Generation Professionals, Amazon’s Pay Bump and Peloton Layoffs

1. “FGPs”

With a shift to focus on improving diversity and inclusion, one group tends to be forgotten: First-generation professionals. It’s important that businesses work to support these individuals—here’s how:  How Does Your Company Support “First-Generation Professionals”? (Harvard Business Review) 

2. Amazon Raises Their Bar

Amazon’s raising their salary cap for corporate employees. From $160,000 to $350,000, the move comes from trying to compete in a tight labor market. Amazon is raising base salary cap to $350,000 (The Seattle Times) 

3. Peloton Treads Water 

This week Peloton announced a mass layoff of 2,800 employees and that their CEO was stepping down. The new CEO’s tenure got off to a rocky start when the laid off employees crashed his first all-hands meeting. Peloton CEO Barry McCarthy’s first all-hands meeting ends early as laid-off employees crash it (CNBC) 

4. Meeting Madness 

Visier’s CEO Ryan Wong shares why your Zoom-packed calendar hurts both your team’s productivity and wellbeing. Here’s why too much collaboration can be a bad thing, plus tips for getting out of the meeting vortex. Our Meeting Obsession Is Hurting Our Work And Our Wellbeing (Entrepreneur) 

5. Spot the Manager

Are you promoting the right people? In this podcast episode with former Walmart.com CEO Carter Cast, he shares how to spot potential and how you can foster career growth for employees whose paths don’t lead to management. Podcast: Are You Promoting the Right People to Management? (KelloggInsight) 

6. Flaws of the Four-Day Work Week

During the early days of the pandemic, social media management startup Buffer switched to a four-day work week. While the company reports higher productivity and wellbeing since the switch, this has suffered: Pandemic burnout is forcing some companies to reconsider a 40-hour schedule. This tech startup has been running a 4-day workweek for 2 years, and it’s made employees happier and more productive. (Business Insider)