With workers reluctant to return to the office, companies are considering using additional pay and other perks as an incentive for those who make the commute. However, experts say paying in-office and remote workers different amounts could add to pay gaps between demographic groups and could lead to legal challenges.

Numerous national brands are combating staff shortages by running recruitment ads on TV and social media. Safelite Group increased its application pool by 50% since launching TV, Instagram and TikTok promotions in June.

Employers can help their staff members understand how to get the most tax savings out of their health savings accounts, writes Kevin Robertson of HSA Bank. "HSAs are designed for double duty -- covering health care costs in the present and saving for long-term health care needs through investment options -- and maximizing contributions can help accountholders take full advantage of this," Robertson writes.

About half of women who take jobs in IT leave by age 35, stressing the need for an inclusive workplace culture, per a report from Accenture and Girls Who Code. In this article, Prangya Pandab offers four ways companies can recruit more women, including by addressing their salary structures.

The workforce has more age diversity than ever, and when generational differences are understood and positively accepted, teams comprising intergenerational workers can "offer better decision-making, more-productive collaboration, and improved overall performance," write Megan Gerhardt, Josephine Nachemson-Ekwall and Brandon Fogel. The authors provide four strategies, each with a team-based activity, that leaders can use to cultivate trust among intergenerational groups.

I remember the first time Jared, our (then) marketing manager, and I worked together on a project. We’d been charged to come up with new ideas for content products. He and I hadn’t worked together long, but I knew he was bright, spirited and creative. I looked forward to the project.

It was magic. In under an hour -- and while sharing a package of Grandma’s Oatmeal Raisin cookies -- Jared and I came up with two ideas for new content products. They were unlike anything the company had done to date. We pitched the ideas to our boss and he loved them. They launched just months later.

Those ideas would become the first of several that Jared and I would create together. He and I just had chemistry -- and that developed into a real friendship. Our meetings weren't just about the task at hand. I’d also hear about his niece and nephew, his volunteer work in San Francisco and the sweet relationship he had with his grandmother (and how they watched “The Wizard of Oz” together.) He’d hear about my kids and my on-again, off-again relationship with Stitch Fix.

And it worked. Those organic conversations created a closeness to where we could almost read each other’s minds. It also developed a trust that enabled us to be honest when we had to be. “I’m not sure about that topic. What about this?”

Work conversations that let colleagues become closer -- even friends -- can lead to some of your best innovations, as we see in today’s Leadership & Development story. How are you fostering those spaces and opportunities for peers to nurture this? Let me know! And if you enjoy this brief, tell others so they can benefit also.