Research shows male employees who regularly socialize with male bosses earn faster promotions and better pay. However, bonding between female bosses and their female subordinates does not boost the career path or earnings for females.

If your career is not progressing as quickly as you would like, it could be because your achievements aren't visible enough. Taking steps such as consulting with experts rather than researching problems on your own and attending industry meetings instead of working long hours will help draw attention to you and your abilities, suggests Roberta Matuson.

Keeping a healthy work-life balance is hard, but tools to organize your time and keep track of your professional commitments can help. Albert Costill lists a number of apps to help workers make the most of their time, including Offtime, which allows users to block off time, free from notifications and distractions.

Learn from last year's HR missteps, which included being slow to adapt to business trends and assuming employees won't talk about workplace problems, writes Michael Klazema, chief marketing technologist for VODW. "By learning from 2019 trends and blunders, embracing new technological possibilities, and striving to create a company that employees want to talk about positively rather than negatively, your business can stay competitive in the job market as 2020 unfolds," he writes.

U.S. Army is changing how it interviews for the position of battalion commander, a key middle-level management position, away from physical tests and recommendations from superiors to an anonymous system that uses writing tests, psychological tests and simulated scenarios. The Army has tapped into techniques used by the private sector, particularly how symphony orchestra candidates perform behind a curtain to reduce bias.

The penalty for working part-time is about 20% less in pay per hour and rises to 25% if benefits are factored in, according to the Economic Policy Institute and Penn State economics professor Lonnie Golden. "While some workers prefer the time flexibility that part-time working provides, more than 4 million US part-time workers still would prefer to work a full-time job," says Golden.

Employers use meditation, yoga, sound baths and other wellness techniques to reduce employee stress and prevent burnout, although critics say making fundamental workplace improvements would be more effective. "I've seen firsthand what five deep belly breaths before a meeting can do," says Cassandra Bianco, founder of Wellbeings.

According to Freedom House, 2019 marked the 14th consecutive year of decline in global freedom. This interactive map looks at trends in global freedom as well as internet freedom around the world.