Fortune

Tesla is taking the next steps in developing its humanoid Optimus robots—or at least it’s hiring workers to take those literal steps. For up to $48 an hour, you could help collect data to train Tesla’s AI-powered robots, designed to automate work in company factories. According to job listings on LinkedIn, Indeed, and Tesla’s website, Elon Musk’s electric-vehicle company is hiring “data collection operators” to gather movement information and provide equipment feedback on the Optimus robots. Workers are required to wear motion-capture suits and virtual reality headsets to simulate the movements and actions of the bots. Per the job listing, applicants must be able to walk for over seven hours a day and should be between 5-foot-7 and 5-foot-11 in order to operate the motion-capture suits. Read more: https://lnkd.in/dezzpDEU

When Yankees legend Derek Jeter hung up his cleats after 20 years in the major league, he knew he wanted to make a foray into business. It’s a common second act for athletes; making investments, embarking on philanthropic missions, and founding companies are some of the most popular routes for the newly retired workers with a competitive mentality. (Another common avenue these days: real estate.) So when Jeter, the legendary All-Star shortstop, turned his attention toward the business world, he knew what he needed: mentors. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eN8TQSAs

Like clockwork, the internet will get itself into a tizzy on what we can or can’t do when going into work. The modern office is a relatively new invention, one with fraught rules and ebbing culture that places workers in an artificial situation not unlike a Great Dane in a sweater or a crab in a terrarium. And a simple pair of shorts seems to be the new straw that has broken the camel’s worn back. A recently posted TikTok posted by @mtyreshiadaily set off a debate regarding office attire. In her video, Tyreshia explained she was asked to reschedule a job interview after the recruiter asked her to change clothes. Read more: https://lnkd.in/enp5FSqS

Tests for Amazon’s drone delivery program have become a regular fact of life for residents of College Station, Texas. The town, which is home to Texas A&M University, is the testing ground for Amazon’s drone delivery program. The program started in 2022, and its main goal is to figure out how to use drones to fulfill some of the estimated 5.9 billion packages Amazon delivered in 2023. The idea, in theory at least, is that these unmanned drones would pick up an order for the usual household items and tchotchkes people order on Amazon and deposit them at their house. Read more here: bit.ly/4cAzQfB

Workers are increasingly anxious about losing their jobs as executives threaten to replace them with AI, according to a Federal Reserve Bank of New York survey—but that still won’t entice job hunters to lower their salary expectations for a new role. Every four months, the NY Fed asks about 1,000 people about their job situation and outlook—and the share of people who think they’re likely to be unemployed in the next four months has reached a record high. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eucUZbtu

The U.K. is considering joining a host of other European countries in making it more costly for restless employers to contact their employees after the working day ends. The country’s fresh-faced Labour government is drafting legislation that would outlaw late-night WhatsApps, emails, and Slacks and potentially fine dissenting bosses heftily. While commonplace across Europe, legislation giving workers a “right to disconnect” has lagged behind in the U.K., but now might become more European if reported changes to work culture are implemented.  Read more: https://lnkd.in/e8XCh9P7

London lawyers already have 180,000 reasons to plump for a job at a U.S. giant in the city, provided they’re prepared to sacrifice their personal lives, get used to three hours of sleep a night, and await the inevitable burnout. However, a host of U.S. law firms are sweetening the deal further by offering fresh-faced millennials the opportunity to bring their friends into the struggle for hefty financial rewards. After bumping starting salaries to upwards of £180,000 ($236,000) for newly qualified junior lawyers, U.S. groups, including Kirkland & Ellis and Paul Weiss, are extending referral bonus schemes that will bag junior staff a £38,000 ($50,000) bonus for referring a future colleague. The incentives come as law firms scramble for an increasingly slim talent pool after a rebound in dealmaking activity this year. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eA5bH_T6

Palantir’s CEO Alex Karp is famously unorthodox—and that applies to everything from his fitness regimen to his hiring strategy. The CEO enjoys meeting prospective employees personally, and reportedly prides himself on hiring or discarding a candidate within two minutes of meeting them. “If you ask the question that the Stanford, Harvard, Yale person has answered a thousand times, all you’re learning is that the Stanford, Harvard, Yale person has learned to play the game,” he told the New York Times. Instead, Karp looks for something less obvious. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eqQSXWtY

Companies are sweetening the pot for incoming executives: No move to company headquarters? No problem. Starbucks’ incoming CEO Brian Niccol, who lives in California, will not be required to relocate to the coffee chain’s headquarters in Seattle. Hillary Super, Victoria Secret’s incoming chief executive, will also be permitted to work remotely, pioneering an apparent trend of a company’s top brass working from afar. It’s a mouth-watering prospect for executives wanting to retain some day-to-day flexibility and spend some extra time at home with family. But some remote CEOs could get a massive wake-up call, some future of work experts say: Not only will their employees resent their boss’s absence from the office, it could be hurting the company itself. Read more: https://lnkd.in/esrZ9MXk

To rent comfortably in New York, you need to make more than $135,000, according to Moody's’s. In 2019, the necessary income was around $111,000, so there’s been about a 22% increase in only five years. Renting comfortably is defined as spending no more than 30% of your earnings on housing, and that’s becoming much more difficult across the country because rents are high and incomes haven’t always kept up. For instance, in Massachusetts, you need to make more than $113,000 to afford your rent. But the “median household income in the state of New York and Massachusetts do not support living in an average priced apartment without burden,” a Moody’s analysis read. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eS6KSBhB