Working patterns post-pandemic

In the post-pandemic workplace, there is less pressure to be at the desk for eight-plus hours a day. But the time at which attendance is reduced matters. Employees feel less self-conscious about leaving in the afternoon, after they have accomplished most of the tasks and had face time with the boss. Many log back on from home in the evening, so it is well understood that slipping out before 5pm isn’t a sign of slacking off.Showing up late is another story. Even if an employee plans to compensate by staying at the office longer, it can look and feel like he is lagging behind colleagues who arrived sooner. This is part of productivity theatre, the office drama where visibility is key to playing the role of a dedicated employee. Acting methods include scheduling emails to be sent after you’ve called it a day, so it appears you’re still working.

(Adapted from “Why We’re Leaving the Office Earlier but Still Showing Up On Time,” by Callum Borchers, published on Aug 20, 2025, by the Wall Street Journal)

Trumps’ interest in crypto

Eric Trump wasn’t always a crypto bro. He says banks made him this way. In early 2021, not long after the Jan 6 riot at the US Capitol, several banks that the Trumps did business with cut them off, shutting down hundreds of accounts for the family’s businesses without citing an explicit reason, Trump said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.The Trump Organisation went scrambling, scattering millions across accounts at regional banks before eventually migrating to a new bank that he declined to name. “At that time, I realised how fragile the financial system was and how easily it could be weaponised against you,” Trump said, adding that he believed that the decisions were political. Since then, the Trumps have built substantial interests in bitcoin mining and acquisition and various other crypto tokens.

(Adapted from “How Eric Trump Became One of Crypto’s Greatest Evangelists,” by Vicky Ge Huang, published on Aug 24, 2025, by the Wall Street Journal)

AI skills of Gen Zs

There is a bright spot in the job market when it comes to workers with actual experience in machine learning. They’re in their early 20s, they have AI know-how, and a bunch of them are making $1m a year. Base salaries for non-managerial workers in AI with zero to three years of experience grew by around 12pc from 2024 to 2025, the largest gain of any experience group, according to a new report by the AI staffing firm Burtch Works, which analysed the compensation of thousands of AI and data-science candidates. The report also found that people with AI experience are being promoted to management roles roughly twice as fast as their counterparts in other technology fields. They’re jumping the ladder as a result of their skills and impact instead of their years on the job.

(Adapted from “These AI-Skilled 20-Somethings Are Making Hundreds of Thousands a Year” by Katherine Bindley, published on Aug 26, 2025, by the Wall Street Journal)

Google lawsuit ruling

Alphabet shares jumped over 9pc to close at an all-time high of $230.66, a day after a judge ruled the tech giant doesn’t have to sell its Chrome browser following an antitrust lawsuit brought by the federal government. Judge Amit Mehta said other companies, including Apple, can also continue receiving payments for using Google search on their devices, although the decision prohibits Google from striking exclusive deals. Judge Mehta said worries consumers could be hurt by a forced sale of Chrome factored into the decision, along with the surge in popularity of artificial intelligence chatbots like ChatGPT that could become a competitive threat. Last year,

Judge Mehta determined that Google had broken antitrust laws through its domination of online search, but at the time, didn’t decide on solutions.

(Adapted from “Analysts See ‘A Win’ for Alphabet As Google Dodges Big Antitrust Court Hit,” by Bill McColl, published on Sept 3, 2025, by Investopedia)

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, September 8th, 2025