The National Labor Relations Board has overturned an Obama-era rule that gave employees permission to use work email for personal purposes, including union organizing. The new decision was based on employers' property rights -- namely, that employers own their email systems and, therefore, can set parameters for how those systems can be used.

Studies suggest that employees are concerned about burnout, flexible working hours and remote working opportunities, writes Pierre Ferrandon. "Businesses must be alive to these changes and think about how they can exploit them to gain competitive advantage and attract the top talent," he writes.

A spending bill passed by the House includes legislation to change the US retirement system through the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act. Changes include making it easier for small employers to band together to administer retirement plans and removing obstacles to employers' offering of annuities in plans.

Artificial intelligence bots are one way that employees can feel safe discussing their mental health, writes Spoke CEO Jay Srinivasan. "It seems to boil down to AI's ever-improving understanding of language coupled with its discretion around personal matters, allowing individuals to start conversations that sometimes are hard with other humans," Srinivasan writes.

Be precise when correcting an employee's poor performance to avoid creating a "transparency illusion," write professors Michael Schaerer and Roderick Swaab in discussing their research. "Some managers may fear that communicating negative feedback will lead to interpersonal conflict, but it is entirely possible to deliver it in a clear and direct way while remaining respectful and considerate of an employee's wellbeing," they write.