Where taking time off isn’t optional

Editor’s Note: A version of this story appeared in CNN’s Work Transformed newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free, here. Forget unlimited paid time off. Some companies are instituting mandatory paid time off instead. While unlimited vacation days sound good on paper, several companies have discovered such policies often cause workers to take less time off than they would with a more traditional vacation policy. At photo book company Chatbooks, workers weren’t taking enough time off, so the company now requires employees to take a full week off each quarter. Airline marketing strategy firm SimpliFlying has been mandating paid time off since 2016. Its workers must take a week off every eight weeks. And just to make sure they’re truly using the time to recharge, workers won’t get paid for the week if they’re caught doing work during their time off. Read more about how mandatory PTO works here. Uber and Lyft, meet your new employees Rideshare companies Uber and Lyft must reclassify their drivers in California as employees rather than independent contractors, a California appeals court ruled last week. Why is that a big deal? Employment and labor laws offer protections – including overtime pay, a minimum wage and paid sick leave – that don’t apply to independent contractors. Forcing Uber and Lyft to shift workers from independent contractors to employee status would mean a big – and costly – shakeup to their business models. Last week’s ruling hasn’t ended the drama. The companies have spent a stunning amount (*cough cough* more than $185 million *cough cough*) on a ballot initiative called Proposition 22 that would allow ride-hail and delivery drivers to continue to be treated as independent contractors, with a few new benefit concessions. Read CNN Business’ Sara O’Brien’s report about what the court ruling means for gig workers Get on your boss’s good side You don’t need to be best friends with your boss. You don’t even necessarily have to like your boss. But for the sake of your career, you need to have a good relationship. And if things were already rocky between you and your manager, working remotely could cause additional strain. I, for one, have great bosses (hey, they edit this thing) so I reached out to experts to get tips on how to repair a broken relationship with your boss when you aren’t in the office. Figure out the problem: One expert told me there are generally three root causes of a bad employee-boss relationship: work quality, loyalty or team player issues, and a difference in personality or work style. Learn their preferences: Find out how your boss wants to communicate and how often. Don’t call them all the time if they prefer Slack or email. Get more tips on getting along with your boss in a remote world here. WFH Tip: You are what you eat Getting a decent meal between video calls can be tough these days. But Work Transformed reader Drew Schaar in Columbus, Ohio, has a tip: You must meal prep! With days filled with back-to-back virtual meetings, it can sometimes be difficult to find the time to cook lunch during the workday. My fix? Planning meals (and snacks) that I can prepare quickly. I’m getting some much-needed help from my company’s culinary team who recently started providing delicious weekly menus complete with shopping lists, step-by-step instructions and recipes that can be prepped ahead and customized. Rise of the robots? Not so fast… By 2025, 85 million jobs could be lost to machines, according to a recent report from the World Economic Forum. Jobs that are at risk due to automation and the integration of technology include administrative assistants, bookkeepers, and payroll clerks, reports CNN Business’ Hanna Ziady. But there’s a silver lining: This shift in the division of labor between humans and machines could also create 97 million new jobs, the report found. Demand for roles in data and artificial intelligence, engineering, cloud computing and product development are expected to rise. Click here to read more about the future of work. The jobs of tomorrow Looking for your next career? Here are the top 10 job roles with increasing demand across industries, according to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Survey 2020: 1. Data analysts and scientists 2. AI and machine learning specialists 3. Big data specialists 4. Digital marketing and strategy specialists 5. Process automation specialists 6. Business development professionals 7. Digital transformation specialists 8. Information security analysts 9. Software and applications developers 10. Internet of Things specialists Coffee break Working from home likely means you’re making your own coffee these days. That means business is booming for coffee subscription company Bottomless, reports CNN Business’ Alicia Wallace. The company gives customers a smart scale that recognizes when a bag of beans is running low and aims to have another on their doorstep so they never miss a cup of joe. The service now has 6,000 active customers. A year ago, it had 750. This year has already been tough enough, why add the anxiety of running out of coffee to the list?