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For the second time in recent months, the Food and Drug Administration is bringing back some recently fired employees, including staffers who handle travel bookings for safety inspectors. More than 20 of the agencys roughly 60 travel staff will be reinstated, according to two FDA staffers notified of the plan this week, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential agency matters. Food scientists who test samples for bacteria and study potentially harmful chemicals also have been told they will get their jobs back, but have yet to receive any official confirmation. The same uncertainty hangs over employees who process agency records for release to lawyers, companies and journalists under the Freedom of Information Act. About 100 of those staffers were recently eliminated, according to an agency official with direct knowledge of the situation. But in recent days the FDA has missed multiple court-ordered deadlines to produce documents, which could result in hefty fines. That’s prompted plans to bring back a significant number of those staffers. The apparent reversals are the latest examples of the haphazard approach to agency cuts that have shrunk FDAs workforce by an estimated 20%, or about 3,500 jobs, in addition to an unspecified number of retirements, voluntary buyouts and resignations. In February, the FDA laid off about 700 provisional employees, including food and medical device reviewers, only to rehire many of them within days after pushback from industry, Congress and other parties. The Department of Health and Human Services hasn’t detailed exactly which positions or programs were cut in the mass layoffs. FDA Commissioner Marty Makary has repeatedly said that no FDA scientists were fired as part of the reductions. But at least two dozen food scientists who worked in a San Francisco testing laboratory and a Chicago research center were let go in March. An HHS spokesperson suggested the apparent mix-up was due to the fractured, outdated HR infrastructure we inherited from the Biden administration and are now actively overhauling. The spokesperson did not respond to specific questions about which employees are being reinstated but said the administration will streamline operations and fix the broken systems left to us. About 15 scientists working in FDAs Division of Food Processing Science and Technology in Chicago were told last week they be will reinstated, according to a staffer who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential agency matters. But a week later there has been no written confirmation and the scientists have not returned to the office. The groups research includes studying ways to prevent harmful bacteria from growing on produce and preventing the spread of microplastics and other particles from food packaging. I hope Commissioner Makary continues to assess these ill-informed cuts and works to bring back impacted employees expeditiously, said Susan Mayne of Yale University, the FDAs former food director. His legacy as commissioner is on the line. With more than 15,000 employees remaining across various U.S. and foreign offices, the FDAs core responsibilities are reviewing new drugs, medical products and food ingredients as well as inspecting thousands of factories. Makary has said no inspectors or medical reviewers were fired as part of the recent reductions. But current and former FDA officials note that those frontline employees are often supported by teams of administrative staff. FDA inspectors, for example, have long relied on travel bookers to coordinate trips to India and other countries that often involve visa permissions, security measures, ground transportation, tech support, translation services and other logistics. Inspectors can spend up to half the year traveling, a grueling workload that makes recruiting and retaining staff a challenge. For a brief period last month, inspectors were told they would be booking their own travel. The FDA set up a hotline to assist with making the arrangements. Then, agency leaders developed a plan to hire an outside contractor to perform the work. On Monday, staffers were informed that about a third of the fired staff who performed the work would be returning. The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Matthew Perrone, AP health writer AP reporter JoNel Aleccia contributed to this report.
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E-Commerce
Organizations look structured and logical from the outsideboxes and lines, reporting relationships, KPIs, and performance frameworks. But walk into any real meeting, and youll sense it: side glances, shifting energy, people going silent when one voice enters the room, unexplained resistance to change, and power dynamics no slide deck could predict. Thats not just dysfunction. Thats the system speaking, and most leaders arent listening. That is why we need something called systemic intelligence. Systemic intelligence is the capacity to sense and respond to the invisible forces shaping an organization’s behavior, culture, and outcomes. Its not about titles or tactics. Its about understanding: The unspoken agreements that guide behavior The loyalties people carryto past leaders, ideas, or roles The emotional undercurrents in teams and across departments The patterns of inclusion and exclusion that shape decision-making The stories that are being told, and the ones that arent If emotional intelligence helps you understand individuals, systemic intelligence enables you to understand relationships, fields, and patterns. Its what allows a leader to walk into a room and feel the temperature, not just the metrics, but the mood of an organization. Why This Matters More Than Ever The modern workplace is in flux. Hybrid work, generational shifts, AI transformation, and rising emotional exhaustion reveal how fragile many organizational systems are. And yet, most leadership development still focuses on logic, linearity, and surface-level skills. Heres the reality: 70% of transformation efforts fail, primarily due to hidden dynamicscultural resistance, misalignment, and lack of trust. Furthermore, only 27% of employees believe their companys values align with how work actually gets done. Most strategies fail not because they are wrong but because they are disconnected from the reality of the system they are trying to move. If leaders dont learn to see the system, they will be ruled by forces they don’t understand. A Moment That Changed Everything I once worked with a leadership team navigating the aftermath of a merger. They had a new vision, a reorg plan, and a glossy set of PowerPoint decks. But something was stuck. Meetings were tense. Morale was low. Alignment felt forced. So, we paused the strategy session and held a story circle. One leader finally voiced what everyone else had been feeling: I still feel loyalty to our former CEO. We never really said goodbye. And it feels like were not allowed to grieve the culture we lost. In that moment, something shifted. What emerged wasnt just emotion; it was clarity. The energy in the room softened, and trust began to rebuild. The team could finally move forwardnot by pushing harder, but by acknowledging what had been in the system all along. What you dont name, you cant shift. The S.E.E.N. Framework for Systemic Intelligence Systemic intelligence isnt about having special powers. Its about cultivating a new kind of leadership presence thats attuned to whats happening beneath the surface. You dont develop this awareness by accident. You create it by practicing small but powerful shifts in observing, listening, and engaging with your organization as a living, breathing system. To help leaders begin, I use a simple guide: S.E.E.N. Its a reminder that before you can shape a system, you must first learn to see it. S Sense the Field. Slow down. Listen beyond the words. Whats present, but unspoken? Whats the emotional temperature? Before jumping into action, ask your team: Whats the mood in the room right now? Then sit with the silence. E Explore Hidden Loyalties. People dont just commit to goalsthey commit to identities, past leaders, and unspoken rules. What loyalties are operating beneath the surface? For example, a team resistant to innovation may not fear changethey may be protecting the legacy of a beloved product or person. E Examine the Energy Flow. Where is energy stuck? Who gets centered, and who gets sidelined? Where does attention naturally go? Where does it get blocked? Map informal influencenot just reporting lines. Who really holds trust in the system? N Name What Needs to Be Acknowledged. Often, healing doesnt come from solvingit comes from witnessing. What grief, transition, or injustice needs to be seen and honored? What if your next strategic move began with a ritual of acknowledgment, not another set of objectives? How to Start Seeing the System You dont need to become a therapist. You just need to become more attuned to the emotional undercurrents, unspoken dynamics, and patterns shaping your team. Here are a few ways to begin: Host Campfire Conversations. Create spaces where storiesnot just updatescan be shared. Start with: Tell us about a moment that shaped your connection to this organization. Bring in Outside Eyes. Artists, facilitators, systemic coaches, or organizational psychologists can help visualize dynamics your team may be too close to see. Use Visual Mapping. Ask: Whats the formal structure? Whats the informal one? Whos at the center of decisions, and whos on the margins? Slow the Agenda. Build in white space. Let emotion, silence, or discomfort have a seat at the table. Intelligence lives in the spaces were often too quick to fill. Most leaders try to fix what they can see. But true leadership begins by learning to sense what you cant. Strategy is important, and structure is necessary, but without systemic intelligence, even the best plans will stall. Because whats unacknowledged gets acted out, and whats seen can finally start to shift. So, the next time your team feels stuck, ask yourself: Whats really going on here? Whats in the system that no one is naming? That question might be your most strategic move yet.
Category:
E-Commerce
The Trump administration has framed tariffs as a necessary tool for bringing more jobs to the U.S. and reviving the manufacturing sector. But many economists have warned that widespread job creation is unlikely, given the cost to companiesand in the meantime, Trump’s substantial tariffs will drive up prices for both consumers and businesses, likely forcing them to cut costs through layoffs. Many frontline workers have already expressed concerns about the effect that the tariffs could have on their job security. In a survey by workforce management software company UKG, over half of the 5,000 frontline workers surveyeddefined as people who do shift work or are paid hourlysaid they believed they could be laid off, while 74% expect that the tariffs will affect their earnings potential. Gen Z workers were the most likely to be concerned about layoffs, but the majority of workers described feeling nervous, stressed, or angry about the impact of tariffs on their jobs. Though the tariffs have already shaken up financial markets, the vast majority of workers (77%) believe that Trump’s trade policies will harm smaller businesses more than Wall Street firms. According to the survey, tariffs are also driving changes in how workers are showing up on the job. Over 70% of respondents said their workplace behavior had changed in some capacity: Many of them claimed to be working harder to “prove their value,” while others were picking up additional shifts. Nearly half of workers were striving to increase their savings. About two-thirds of those surveyed said they expected the tariffs would likely limit their future job prospects. Workers have reason to be worried. President Trump’s trade policies already seem to be impacting the workforce: The automaker Stellantis has trimmed headcount by about 900 across several manufacturing plants anticipating the impact of tariffs, while Volvo is cutting up to 800 jobs. Just this week, UPS announced that it would slash 20,000 jobs within the year to reduce costs, citing “macroeconomic uncertainty” and also noting the high likelihood of decreased shipping volume from China due to the tariffs. (Another major factor is that UPS is significantly cutting back on deliveries for Amazon.) Agricultural exporters are feeling the financial effects of the tariffs and have turned to layoffs, according to a CNBC report. Some experts have said that the tariffs might eventually create more manufacturing jobs stateside, and a number of major companies have already said they are expanding their manufacturing footprint in the U.S. But a Goldman Sachs analysis found that the tariffs could also lead to hundreds of thousands of job losses across the workforcesomething that many workers clearly seem to anticipate.
Category:
E-Commerce
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