With increasingly digital workplaces, many companies pay for their employees’ cellphone plans. This is a nice perk, but can also make work/life balance difficult because employees are essentially expected to be “on call” 24/7. One company, Reston-based financial planning firm Fox, Joss & Yankee, has taken a different approach. The company gives its workers iPads and pays for a data plan for those devices, which allows their employees to work remotely, but doesn’t come with an expectation that they have to answer emails after their normal hours are clocked in. By having separate gadgets, “They really can keep their personal life and their work life separate.”

Read more in this Washington Post article.

If you are a young professional preparing to enter the next stage of your career, you should have certain skills mastered by now. Check out this Brazen Careerist blog to find a list of the top five career-related tasks you should know how to do and quick tips to brush up on those skills.

41 percent of people who graduated from college within the past two years are underemployed or working in jobs that do not require a college degree. ”A solution is sorely needed to bridge the disconnect between employers that are concerned about college graduates being unprepared for available jobs and the graduates who feel overqualified for them,” said David Smith, senior managing director of Accenture’s Talent & Organization practice.  Click here to learn several tips for how employers can improve how they hire and foster young employees.

Companies hired the fewest employees in seven months in April while manufacturing growth slowed to a crawl, suggesting the economy has run into a soft patch as budget-cutting in Washington starts to bite. Read more on Reuters.com.

Portland just passed a local paid sick leave ordinance in March, and New York City is poised to do the same. This new law, follows a template set by a handful of other cities, and Connecticut, in the last seven years. Businesses with at least six employees have to provide one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours an employee works, up to 40 hours a year, as well as protect the employee’s job. Companies with five or fewer employees must offer the same amount of unpaid, job-protected time off. An employee must work at least 240 hours before becoming eligible. As you can imagine, business owners have mixed feelings on the law.

Read more in this New York Times article.