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Happy Thanksgiving week! Thanks to the rise of remote work, peak travel times for the holiday may last a bit longer this year.
While the Wednesday before Thanksgiving has traditionally been the busiest day for travel as folks worked in the office at the beginning of the week, the ability to work from home has extended the peak travel days. This year, AAA is expecting to break records, with an estimated 79.9 million people set to venture over 50 miles between today and next Monday.
About 6 million people are expected to travel domestically by air this year, up 2% from last year and 11% from 2019, despite an increase in ticket prices in the past year. But air travel won’t necessarily be the easiest: Winter storms in the northeast and California and striking service workers at the Charlotte airport, an American Airlines hub, could cause delays.
For those traveling by car, the roads are expected to be the busiest on Tuesday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving, with over 71.7 million people planning on driving to their Thanksgiving destination. That’s more than the 70 million that drove in 2019, likely due to lower gas prices across the country.
So whether you’re taking extra time off to travel, or taking a few extra work-from-home days to try to beat out the peak travel times, be prepared for a more complicated commute this holiday season.
Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoy today’s edition!
WORK SMARTER
Practical insights and advice from Forbes staff and contributors to help you succeed in your job, accelerate your career and lead smarter
Interviewing for the top operational role at a company? Here’s what you should be prepared to answer during an interview for a COO position.
LinkedIn doesn’t only have to be a place for your professional portfolio––consider brand partnerships, creating education courses and more ways to earn money on the platform.
Check out the highest-paying remote jobs hiring for 2025.
As you get ready to go back to the office, remember your style choices can boost, and hinder, your performance at work.
SPOTLIGHT: What You Need To Know About Company Holiday Parties
Forbes’ contributors break down all you need to know for your office’s holiday party.
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Holiday season means holiday work parties. As you get ready to attend your next corporate celebration, here’s what you should know.
‘Tis the season for holiday work parties, where you and all of your colleagues get dressed up to (hopefully) celebrate a successful end to the year. It’s a time for employees— many of whom are craving more in-person interactions before a slew of RTO mandates go into effect in 2025—to come together in a less formal setting.
This year, as Covid-19 levels fall below last year’s numbers and flu and RSV rates head to pre-pandemic lows, workplaces are once again hosting get-togethers. Many companies are looking to host smaller gatherings with bigger budgets, according to a new report by ezCater.
“Rather than big parties, employers are organizing smaller gatherings because you build better connections in those settings,” says Kaushik Subramanian, chief revenue officer at ezCater. “People are looking for this setup where they can connect better with the folks that they typically work with on a regular basis.”
The most popular day for office holiday parties this year? Friday afternoons, during the workday.
To accommodate for post-work responsibilities, employers are also focusing on providing food options (buffets being the most popular among younger employees, according to Subramanian) instead of alcoholic beverages. The non-alcoholic movement has certainly grown in the last few years, and our contributors have recommended holding back on alcohol consumption at work events to make better impressions on your colleagues.
That’s not the only advice they have: ForbesWomen contributor Elizabeth Pearson writes about how your holiday party could be a secret job interview and what to do if that’s the case. But parties can also just be good opportunities to network with those who work in other departments or teams. Careers contributor Virginia Hogan breaks down how you can make the best of it and feel like you’ve successfully networked.
And lastly, if you’re looking for a bit of fashion advice and don’t know what to wear, lifestyle contributor Emma Sandler has some suggestions on what clutches you can bring.
TOUCH BASE
News from the world of work
Walmart is the latest employer to roll back on its DEI initiatives, following pressure from conservative social media personality Robby Starbuck. The megaretailer will no longer consider race and gender when choosing suppliers and will end racial equity training for staffers. Walmart will also exit from the LGBTQ rights group Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index.
Billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have been vocal about cuts to federal agencies as part of their Department of Government Efficiency. Part of the plan is a mandatory return-to-office policy that they hope will lead to “voluntary terminations.” Forbes’ editorial fellow Lindsey Choo reports on where the cuts could happen.
How would you feel if your manager was actually an artificial intelligence bot? A new study conducted by Wharton professors found that for some roles, like ride-share drivers and other gig workers, employees actually enjoyed having AI-powered managers. But it’s not always positive—in factory or warehouse settings, AI algorithms could push human employees beyond their physical and emotional limit.
Howard Lutnick rebuilt his financial firm after losing hundreds of employees and his brother on 9/11. Now, the CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald is on track to become Trump’s commerce secretary. Read Dan Alexander’s profile of “the most hated guy on Wall Street.”
Your next overnight work trip could be cut short, thanks to some hotels implementing dynamic pricing, according to a new report from Bloomberg. While travel-heavy companies were accustomed to booking year-long contracts with set rates, increased travel demand has led to more hotel chains switching to a demand-based model.
NUMBER TO NOTE
$561 per month
That’s the average amount employees returning to the office are spending on transportation, additional child and petcare, and domestic assistance, according to a 2024 BetterUp survey. That’s more than the average grocery bill for a household of two in the United States.
VIDEO
Alex Cooper’s Tips on How To Leverage Your EQ In Business Negotiations
QUIZ
In a true bout of holiday week productivity, what suite of workplace apps suffered a widespread outage Monday that impacted thousands of users?
A. Google Workplace
B. Microsoft 365
C. Slack
D. Zoom Workplace
Check if you got it right here.
This post was originally published on here
