When Facebook rebranded as Meta and focused its mission on a VR future, it was a moonshot — but unfortunately for Mark Zuckerberg, this rocket is struggling to get off the ground. The company’s stock just crashed 25% after a weak earnings report, falling to a six-year low.

In addition to challenges facing the entire digital ad space, investors are concerned about the billions upon billions that Meta is spending on its Reality Labs division. Early avatar designs required a total overhaul — with, y’know, legs — and most people just don’t seem excited to live inside Ready Player One yet. (At the moment, they’re far more excited about rival TikTok.)

However, Zuckerberg was proven right after his previous big bets on Instagram and Whatsapp, so doubting him could prove shortsighted — in the real world and every other.

Sunday Scaries: Not your fun day?

Bias: What the latest research says.

House of the Dragon: An epic comeback.

(Source: Shutterstock)

The weekend is supposed to be relaxing, but as the clock ticks down on Sunday evening, it’s normal to feel anxious. A 2018 LinkedIn survey of 3,000 American workers found that 80% worry about the coming week on Sundays. (It’s even higher for younger workers: 94% of Gen Z and 91% of millennials.)

So, how can we spend the last bit of our weekends relaxing instead of fretting?

There’s no single app or mindfulness hack to change the intimidating nature of Mondays. (Just ask Garfield.) But a lot of companies are taking a multipronged approach to improving the mental health of their employees, and these strategies could help combat the Sunday Scaries.

Make Mondays (Sort of) Fun

Even if nobody looks forward to Mondays, you can give employees a little something to anticipate, even if it’s just bagels and gourmet cream cheese, a morning meditation, or a creative brainstorm. Matcha Mondays, anyone?

Keep Mondays WFH

Many companies have embraced a hybrid schedule, asking employees to return to the office for two or three days per week. If that’s your business’ policy, why not select Monday as a WFH day? Employees will be back in the swing of things by Tuesday.

Announce Your “Employee of the Month” on a Monday

It might not brighten everybody’s day, but public recognition will brighten someone else’s — and it demonstrates that you appreciate your staff’s hard work on the day they least feel like doing it.

Embrace Wellness Every Day

It takes a holistic approach to combat stress, sleeplessness, burnout, and (you guessed it) the Sunday Scaries. Follow Chipotle’s lead by offering employees resources like access to a virtual platform that provides helpful content and virtual visits with a licensed therapist.

There isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer. But if you create a welcoming and positive workplace culture, Mondays won’t seem so scary after all.

(Source: Shutterstock)

Dr. Steven Rogelberg is Chancellor’s Professor at UNC Charlotte and former president of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

Bias can limit the experiences and opportunities for people based on non-job-related factors. We need to be aware of it, as we don’t want to overtly or subtly favor a particular demographic group in our decision-making.  

Here are some quick-hitting 2022 insights from the Journal of Business and Psychology:

• Tattoos: Job applicants with visible tattoos are less likely to get offers than other applicants — and when they are hired, they receive lower salaries and lower ratings of competence. (This was especially the case for those who had “extreme” visible tattoos.)
• Weight: Ratings of supervisor competence are biased by weight. Heavier supervisors received lower ratings of competence from their directs.
• Race: Even with identical levels of drug possession, Black males are dealt more severe charges than White males. This can result in a selection bias as background checks reflect this differential treatment.  
• Mothers: In comparison to women without children, mothers appear to experience more interpersonal hostility at work. These findings were consistent across job types.

Diversity Statements Can Discourage Bias

New research also examined diversity statements. First, releasing diversity statements is associated with higher DE&I ratings.

Second, the content of the statement matters. Emphasizing identity-conscious (i.e., specifically highlighting inequities experienced by various groups) as opposed to colorblind content (just a general statement of the importance of DE&I) is associated with higher ratings.

Of course, diversity statements are only one part of a holistic strategy to address discrimination at work. Other examples include proper training, clear systems for addressing cases of discrimination promptly and appropriately, and examining our processes and practices to be sure they are operating fairly, as intended. 

We’ll continue to keep you up to date with the latest research.

Do you have a question for the Organizational Psychologist’s Couch? Email b.newsletter@business.com and you could see the answer here.

(Source: HBO)

Game of Thrones had millions of fans around the world. And then it, uh, didn’t. Even the cast was disappointed with the series finale. When HBO announced the prequel series House of the Dragon, skepticism was rampant; it sounded like a money grab for a franchise long past its prime.

Fortunately, the new series (which finished its first season on October 23) is a slam dunk with critics and a massive hit with viewers. House of the Dragon can teach us a lesson — on-screen and off.

Amid all the brewing Targaryen animosity and deceptive politics transpiring in King’s Landing, King Viserys is adamant that Queen Aemma Arryn would give birth to a boy. When she dies in childbirth along with their son, Viserys has no proper succession plan in place, leading him to make a series of decisions — and haphazard reversals of those decisions — that split the kingdom. (Kind of like when the original “GoT” showrunners ran out of novel material from George R.R. Martin?)

In business, you need a strong backup plan for when things don’t play out the way you expected. While King Viserys arguably didn’t redeem himself, the producers at HBO have won back fans by returning to the source material: House of the Dragon is based on a novel (Fire & Blood) that Martin has already completed — with a beginning, middle, and end.

(Source: Shutterstock)

With Halloween right around the corner, we’re brewing up this frightening yet delicious potion that hints at one of Disney’s all-time classics, Snow White. There are a ton of “poison apple” cocktail iterations online, but our recipe is super simple and calls for:

• 2 oz. sour apple schnapps
• 2 oz. Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey
• ⅓ cup hard apple cider
• ⅓ cup apple-cranberry juice
• 1 edible “eyeball”

To bring the cocktail together, mix all of your liquids in a cocktail shaker or large glass, chill with ice, pour into your favorite cocktail glass (we recommend a martini glass or goblet), and garnish with the “eyeball.”

If you want to go for a mocktail version, use non-alcoholic apple cider, ditch the Fireball, and swap the sour apple schnapps for bright apple syrup.

Written by Ali Saleh and Antonio Ferme. Comic by John McNamee.

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