Silicon Valley Bank Crisis, and 4 Day Work Weeks

Tuesday morning articles

  • Canada, other governments hustle to stop Silicon Valley Bank crisis from spreading Shares in several U.S. banks sell off hard as government takes over another bank (CBC)

  • American workers aren’t returning to the office like their international counterparts—here’s why: Even as people got vaccinated and Covid restrictions eased over the years, U.S. office occupancy remains stagnant around 40% to 60% of pre-pandemic levels, Meanwhile, office attendance has returned to 70% to 90% in Europe and the Middle East, and around 80% to 110% in some Asian cities, meaning some workers are spending more time in the office now than pre-Covid. (CNBC)

  • World’s Largest Four-Day Work Week Trial Finds Few Are Going Back: And about one in six employees in the study said no amount of money would convince them to return to five days a week. (Bloomberg)

  • Burned Out, More Americans Are Turning to Part-Time Jobs: The number of people working part time rose by 1.2 million in December and January—most were people who chose it. ‘25 hours is the new 35.’ (Wall Street Journal)

  • Institutional Investors Are Using Reddit to Make Investment Decisions. Here’s Where They Lurk. And it’s not just Reddit — digital media from newsletters to TikTok are also playing a role. (Institutional Investor)

  • Are Defined Benefit Pension Funds Still Useful Recruiting, Retention Tools? Essential to public sector employees, a pension fund is a forgotten benefit for most workers in the private sector. (Chief Investment Officer)

  • How Gas From Texas Becomes Cooking Fuel in France: Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Europe is importing U.S. natural gas like never before to heat homes, generate electricity and power factories. (Wall Street Journal)

  • The Fed-Up Copywriter Who Helped France Finally Embrace #MeToo: An Instagram account calling out powerful men has spurred dismissals for harassment. (Businessweek)

  • Closing Out the Search Bar: What would it mean to replace the click economy and its cornerstone, the search bar, with something like a conversation? (Slate)

  • Colds Haven’t Changed. So Why Do They Suddenly Feel So Bad? We all forgot how nasty colds are. (The Atlantic)

  • World in Photos: From Ukraine and Beyond, One Year of War: A curation of photographs from twelve months of war. (Grid)

  • Bono and the Edge Take Dave Letterman Back to the Start in ‘A Sort of Homecoming’ Trailer: ‘ The documentary, Bono & The Edge: A Sort of Homecoming, With Dave Letterman, arrives on March 17.’ (Rolling Stone)