Sick shaming is infecting offices, why younger workers are struggling, and more top insights

What’s happening in the world of work: The Saturday edition of the Daily Rundown highlights the business trends, perspectives, and hot topics you need to know to work smarter. Read on and join the conversation.

Where younger workers are struggling: Employees between 18 and 37 are twice as likely to be uncomfortable with ambiguity as their older counterparts, according to a recent study conducted in Australia. The disparity poses challenges for employers and workers alike. Being comfortable around uncertainty has been tied to better performance, increased satisfaction and higher earnings. The researchers attributed the increased fear to several possible causes, including increased reliance on technology and shifts in parenting styles. Fortunately, comfort with ambiguity can be developed. It all starts with practice. • Here’s what people are saying.

Sick shaming infiltrates the office: In the midst of flu season, a new kind of bug is spreading around the office: sick shaming. Employees are increasingly less willing to tolerate sick colleagues, and are finding new and not-so-subtle ways to combat germ-ridden coworkers who insist on coming in, The Wall Street Journal’s Chip Cutter reports. Much of this can be chalked up to what researchers refer to as “presenteeism,” where employees work while sick because they fear losing pay, falling behind or missing out on facetime with managers. • Here’s what people are saying.

You Asked: "I sponsor a team of contractors that, lately, has had high turnover. Some feedback I’ve gotten is that they feel less valued because they’re not full time employees. What can I do?" — Allison Morgan, project specialist and Johnson & Johnson Vision

• “Contractors often feel like second class citizens for good reason...they sometimes are second class citizens! For most of us, job security is vital, and the fact that these employees are temporary by definition can make them feel disposable. Your best approach is to make these folks feel secure and valued for the length of their contract. Include them as much as possible in decision making relevant to their positions, compensate them fairly, and let them know how important they are to the success of your mission. In other words, treat them the way they deserve to be treated, as essential members of your team.” — Ellen Ruppel Shell, journalism professor at Boston University and author of “The Job: Work and Its Future in a Time of Radical Change”
• “Turnover is a challenge for any manager but presents legal obstacles when your workforce is contractors. The indirect ways to promote loyalty (picnics, happy hours, training, sports teams, mailboxes, etc.) are exactly the kinds of activities that can lead to misclassification lawsuits. The regulations that legally distinguish independent contractors from regular employees require employers to draw a line between them in social events. So, what can you do? Acknowledge the real frustration that contractors’ face in being at Johnson & Johnson, but not of Johnson & Johnson. While informal loyalty mechanisms aren’t possible, formal compensation is. You might not be able to invite the contractors to happy hour, but you could always pay them more, which I suspect, would offset some of these feelings.” — Louis Hyman, professor at Cornell University and author of “Temp: How American Work, American Business, and the American Dream Became Temporary”
• Executive coach and author Jan Rutherford: “Just because temporary workers are paid differently, work in varied locations or work different hours doesn't mean the way they're motivated is any different than the rest of your staff. Connecting with them at the human level creates an environment where everyone's strengths are leveraged and people are inspired.” Here's more from Jan:

Looking for career advice from the pros? Submit your questions in the comments with #YouAsked and we’ll take care of the rest.

One solution to the gender pay gap? Transparency. Requiring companies to report on the pay disparity between men and women employees has the power to shrink such gaps, according to a recent study. The researchers, who examined two groups of Danish companies, found that salary gaps declined by 7% over five years at firms that were required to report on their disparities. The gap stayed put at companies that lacked such requirements. The firms with transparency requirements also saw an increase in the number of women hired and promoted. And they also experienced a decline in overall wage costs. • Here’s what people are saying.

Failure can be a team sport, where everyone (ultimately) wins: Failure hurts, but individuals and groups can derive major benefits from the experience, under the right conditions. According to a study published in the journal Organization Science, teams that prioritize psychological safety and have a clear system to share the lessons they have learned with others are especially capable of benefiting from setbacks. That ideal combination helps employees feel like it’s okay to share, rather than hide, their failures and it allows them to view teammates as resources, not rivals. • Here’s what people are saying.

One last idea: Instead of succumbing to the endless quest to build a perfect resume, Quartz’s Olivia Goldhill writes that we should accept that many of those achievements will fade quickly and focus on activities that bring us the most personal meaning.

“Our names and legacies are mortal, just like us. And so we are free to choose a more meaningful lodestar to guide our lives, rather than chasing the ephemeral possibility that our names will be spoken with gravitas once we’re dead.”

What's your take? Join the conversations on today's stories in the comments.

— Scott Olster and Kelli Nguyen