What We’re Reading

Learning:

It’s a bit sad to think of all the high school kids turning their backs on building treehouses and sitting in class dutifully learning about Darwin or Newton to pass some exam, when the work that made Darwin and Newton famous was actually closer in spirit to building treehouses than studying for exams.

Pay:

Recessions lead to layoffs, not compensation cuts. Experienced hiring managers know this, which is why bonuses can be given in a bountiful environment easier than raises can. Because you cannot take back a raise. You can always add to someone’s comp, slowly, little by little, over time. You cannot take a penny of that back once someone’s gotten accustomed to it. I mean, you can take it back, but then you’ll have an employee who hates you, hates the company, hates the customers, and if you multiply that by five or ten affected workers, your business is in trouble.

This is the number one way you know, for sure, that the salary increases currently happening in the economy are not going to be transitory. They’re going to stick. People are going to get anchored to them overnight.

Driving:

For all of 2020, 38,680 people died on U.S. roads - up 7.2% or nearly 2,600 more than in 2019, even though Americans drove 13% fewer miles, preliminary data showed. The fatality rate hit 1.37 deaths per 100 million miles, the highest figure since 2006.

Jobs:

Have a good weekend.