Emailing, texting, or calling employees outside of normal office hours can drive them to quiet quit. As if that weren't enough, this workaholic practice might soon be illegal in California.

AB 2751, the proposed "right to disconnect" bill — modeled after a French labor law — would let workers statewide ignore communications from their managers while not on the clock. Employers could even risk fines for reaching out without an emergency or scheduling issue.

Whether or not the bill passes, encouraging work-life balance could help your odds of winning business.com's World's Best Boss Contest. All nominations must be received by April 12, 2024.

Today's Edition...

LinkedIn vs. reality: Is everybody losing their jobs or employed?

Exercise: Physical fitness can get your business in shape

Jerry Maguire: Personal loyalty will show you the money

Is Everybody Losing Their Jobs or Is Everybody Employed?

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Paramount cut 800 employees the day after its record-smashing Super Bowl. Microsoft shed 1,900 positions days after announcing a $3 trillion valuation. Sony razed 8% of its PlayStation division after it rose to 54% of the gaming industry market share.

Our own research at business.com found that companies leading the way in layoffs — usually a sign of deep financial trouble — also lead in profits.

On a grander scale, the U.S. economy is seeing energetic 3.3% annual growth and unemployment at its lowest in half a century. All the while, headlines confoundingly announce hundreds of thousands of job losses, and your LinkedIn newsfeed probably shows connection after connection looking for work.

What, exactly, is going on here?

These layoffs are centered in three key sectors — tech, media and finance — which are all extremely high-profile. In contrast, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the fastest-growing career fields include wind turbine service technicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, actuaries, solar panel installers, and veterinary technicians. (No offense to anyone in these professions, but they don't exactly generate clicks.)

Tech, media, and finance firms are also cutting costs as interest rates rise. The cheap money from lockdown-era investment and overhiring frenzies is now a lot costlier; when valuations drop — such as VICE Media plummeting from $5.7 billion to $350 million — and cost-cutting ensues, layoffs often foot the bill. This is how California's tech workers, previously the most in-demand employees on the planet, have a 5.1% unemployment rate (the highest in years) while nationwide unemployment is a paltry 3.9%.

On the small business side, fortunately, the grass is looking a few shades greener. Nearly 60% of small businesses — which account for almost half of private-sector employment — plan to add jobs this year, according to a recent Goldman Sachs survey.

In contrast, scorched-earth layoff strategies that the big dogs pursue rarely pay off, according to two decades of profitability studies collected by Harvard Business Review. Yet, the ability of small businesses to grow in this environment looks a lot like good, responsible accounting … and unlike the financial headlines, it actually makes sense.

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How Physical Fitness Can Get Your Business in Shape

(Source: Shutterstock)

Dr. Steven Rogelberg is a chancellor's professor at UNC Charlotte, former president of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, and author of Glad We Met: The Art and Science of 1:1 Meetings.

Exercise positively impacts our health and well-being. It also appears to impact work-related outcomes.

A new study tracked 200 employees across 10 workdays and had an intriguing finding: Physical activity improved task performance (and self-rated creativity) the next day. This could be through better sleep, more energy, and greater cognitive focus.

Given these outcomes, the call for exercise is even clearer. Here are some evidence-based ways to foster the habit:

Be patient and stick with it. Remind yourself that routines take time to develop.
Start small. Build momentum. The goal is "30 minutes a day, 5 days a week," according to the CDC. But you don't have to start there. Set modest goals and keep working to expand over time.
Make motivation irrelevant. Exercise should be more like brushing your teeth — done as a necessity for good health — than something we must be excited to do. Instead, just focus on the benefits and feelings you get post-exercise.

Physical activity is key to human thriving both in and out of work. Take the plunge. It will pay dividends.

On April 5 in Business History:

1806: Isaac Quintard patented the first apple cider mill for mass production. (The first recorded apple cider recipes date back to 55 B.C., but that's comparing apples and … uh … )
1814: The Central Bank of Netherlands produced its first banknotes — no, not tulip bulbs, real banknotes.
1923: The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company started making inflatable tires. But it's still younger than Michelin Group, founded in 1888.
1976: Business magnate and pilot Howard Hughes, one of the wealthiest and most famous people in the world, passed away.
2016: PayPal rescinded a $3.6 million investment in North Carolina after the state passed anti-LGBT legislation.

Jerry Maguire: Personal Loyalty Will Show You the Money

(Source: Sony Pictures)

When sports agent Jerry Maguire (Tom Cruise) gets himself fired from Sports Management International in 1996's Jerry Maguire — by writing a manifesto that calls for more integrity, honesty, and personalization — only one client sticks with him: the erratic and amped-up Rod Tidwell (Cuba Gooding Jr.).

It should be the end of Maguire's career, but by giving Tidwell his full attention and commitment, they both reap the rewards, proving that "the key to this business is personal relationships."

This isn't just feel-good pablum. A Salesforce study of 6,700 consumers found that:

95% are more likely to be loyal to a company they trust
84% say that being treated like a person, not a number, is essential to winning their business
80% believe their experience with a company is just as important as its products/services

Loyalty is a two-way street. Make your clients and customers feel they complete you, and the feeling will be mutual.