Google is fighting the Labor Department's request for wage history, saying the request is unreasonable and too expensive to compile. The department is auditing government contractors to identify gender wage disparity, which department Pacific Regional Director Janette Wipper says is systemic at Google.

The labor force participation rate for women dropped between 1999 and 2016 after several decades of gains. Some of the losses can be attributed to declining workforce participation by single women without children, who may have been displaced by automation and other economic factors.

Effective male mentors challenge the female mentee and provide direct professional feedback that shows they care, writes David G. Smith, associate professor of sociology at the US Naval Academy. Mentors should get rid of any preconceived notions about the person and avoid taking shortcuts to make the process easier, he writes.

Survey data from 10,767 adults found people working in business operations jobs, such as marketing or human resources, were 85% more likely to have self-rated fair or poor health, compared with other occupations. Researchers said workers who did not have paid sick leave benefits were 35% more likely to have fair or poor health, along with 23% of those who had trouble with work-life balance.

Airbnb has its own university-style program to help train its employees in data science. About 500 employees have taken at least one class at Data University since its launch last year.

Contrary opinions aren't automatically valid, but leaders need at least to listen to direct reports who speak up, John Baldoni notes in this blog post and video. Such employees are candidates for greater responsibility because they "have demonstrated that they have the guts to voice opposition when they believe it is necessary," he writes.