If you're stuck in a rut, examining your company's mission, your career-development opportunities and your relationship with your manager can alter your perspective. "Before scheduling [a] meeting with their manager, professionals should first write down a list of what in their role is most frustrating or daunting and causing unhappiness, as well as proposed solutions," writes recruiter Kevin Roeder.

A search for a better salary and benefits may partially explain why so many workers are quitting, but people also want the "emotional compensation" of an organizational culture that meets their needs, Michael Lee Stallard writes. He offers Costco's long-running success as an example of a culture-led company and notes that emotional connection is even more important since the pandemic began.

Plain talk about how to deal with people through curiosity and positivity is why Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People" remains valuable today, writes Daniel Akst. "Again and again, Carnegie asks us to refrain from judging, to exercise understanding and restraint in dealing with others, to lay aside our parochial problems and interests, and to get genuinely interested in our fellow humans by rising above the self-interest that is our common lot," Akst writes.

Some companies are introducing child care benefits, such as on-site day care and affordable tutoring, as they look to build an appealing environment for workers. Companies are also rolling out benefits for other family members, such as employees' parents.

The reopening of the US economy has led to growth, but difficulties in hiring and a shortage of materials have slowed expansion and have increased inflation, the Federal Reserve says in a semiannual report to Congress. However, the report reaffirms the Fed's view that the economy clearly is recovering from the pandemic.

Virgin Galactic flew Virgin Group founder Richard Branson into suborbital space this past Sunday, validating the billionaire's commercial space vision. "I have dreamt of this moment since I was a kid. Honestly, nothing can prepare for the view from space," Branson said after the flight.