As companies grapple with a tight job market and resigning employees, some are turning to former workers who might be interested in returning -- boomerang employees, as they are frequently called. These workers might have gained skills in the interim and are familiar enough with the company to start without much onboarding.

To prepare for a parental leave as a freelancer, give plenty of notice, map out a coverage plan for the work, get personal finances in line and communicate that you will check in on a regular basis -- say every two weeks. "It's better to start in advance and work on the various debrief and transition documents whenever you can, rather than waiting until you're 38 weeks along -- uncomfortable, exhausted -- and then try to bang out a plan," says Jaime Maser, founder of Maser Communications, who has taken three maternity leaves.

Constantly measuring your career progress against others' progress can be detrimental due to uneven comparisons, incomplete data sets, biases and myriad other reasons -- but it's still hard to resist the urge. Irina Filonova, founder of The PhD Whisperer, an evidence-based coaching and training practice, offers three suggestions for making such social comparisons wisely.

Employers facing a labor shortage should consider recruiting retired people, mothers who want to get back to work and young adults who are still in school, writes Francesca Di Meglio. Looking to people from other industries can also be helpful, especially people with skills such as "blockchain, data analytics, and cybersecurity," Di Meglio writes.

There were 571,000 jobs added to private payrolls in October, according to ADP, above the Dow Jones estimate of 395,000. "Job gains are accelerating across all industries, and especially among large companies," said Moody's Analytics Chief Economist Mark Zandi, who predicted "more big job gains" in coming months if the pandemic remains under control.

Businesses want employees back in the office and are paying for space in high-end, amenity-rich buildings in an attempt to encourage their return. As an example of the trend, SL Green Realty has been able to find tenants for more than 90% of the space in a new $3 billion office tower in New York City.

Researchers shared preliminary results from their study of biological samples from wild and captive deer in Iowa, and the data suggest people who will be taking part in hunting seasons that are getting underway around the country should be careful. Over the entire nine-month study period, 33% of deer were positive for the coronavirus, and by the time the work wound down in December 2020, 80% were positive. Although deer seem to have been passing the virus among themselves, it's not clear how they were exposed or whether they could pass the virus to people.