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Anyone who claims they havent felt the seductive pull of social plans interrupting their focus at work isnt being completely honest. Its something we all succumb to, especially in the summer months when nearly half of employees admit to feeling less productive at work. The lure of longer days, vacation plans, and social distractions can send managers into a spin about delivering at reduced capacity and facing a seasonal slowdown in outputs. But the summer holidaze isnt a threat to workplace performance. Its an opportunity. Tightening deadlines or demanding more in-office time might seem like solutions to keep teams in shape over summer. But they often backfire, fueling burnout, presenteeism, and resentment that lingers long after summer fades. Instead, smart managers use this time to rethink how work gets done. Leaders who embrace the summer rhythm, seek opportunities to innovate, and improve processes can unlock new ways to boost team morale and productivity. By shifting the focus from hours logged to outcomes delivered, leaders can create agile, resilient teamsand drive productivity well beyond August. Consider the following tool kit for turning the summer holidaze into a season of smart, sustainable success. What are you working with? Start with your most valuable resource: people. To manage effectively during the summer months, keep clear, accessible records of whos in and out of office. This allows you to set realistic expectations and plan accordingly when operating at reduced capacity. Pair this with a smooth handover process to ensure ongoing momentum, even when team members are away. Encouraging staff to spread their vacation time across the yearrather than clustering it in summercan help avoid bottlenecks. It also supports long-term well-being: research shows that workers who dont evenly space paid time off take an above average number of sick days in a typical year. By contrast, taking regular breaks leads to happier and more productive workers who are at lower risk of burnout. Understand your power tools Summer is an ideal time to rethink the tools that drive productivity. If you havent already, consider establishing a clear AI usage policy that guides employees on safe and responsible use of AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude. Large language models are great at streamlining repetitive tasks, freeing up your team to focus on higher-value strategic and creative work, which can be invaluable when operating with a skeleton team. But these tools are most effective when deployed consistently, confidently, and strategically. This is something a clear internal policy and robust AI training can support. Own the summer Lets face it: summer can be inherently disruptive. With people in and out on leave and children off school for the holidays, project timelines can slip and energy levels dip. Instead of resisting the seasonal rhythm, smart managers lean into flexibilityand still get great results. Companies like Pfizer, IBM, and Viacom are among the many companies offering staff summer hours, early-finish Fridays, or added autonomy over working hours during the summer months. These approaches dont just boost morale, theyve been shown to significantly improve overall well-being and employee experience. Balance increased flexibility with intentionality on work days. If youre running with a leaner team, get ruthless about your priorities. Decide what really needs to happen, communicate it clearly, and give your team the space and support to deliver. Effective planning beats reactive overwork every time and will enable you to do more with less. Soft-reset September No matter how old we get, September still carries that new school year energy. For working parents, it often marks the end of summer chaos and the return of routine. For everyone else, its a natural opportunity to reset. Use the summer as a low-stakes testing ground. Test out new ways of working with AI, pilot bold productivity strategies, trial half-day Fridays, explore streamlined workflows that cut out unnecessary admin. Then, come September, take stock. What worked? What didnt? What should stay? A thoughtful summer sets you up for a sharper, more focused fall. Turn it off and get outside At the heart of summer productivity is rest. All too often, employees dont get enough of it. Initiatives like summer hours are only effective if people truly disconnect. If staff are logging off at 3 p.m. but back online at 9 p.m., the benefits are lost. Thats why a formal “Right to Disconnect” policy matters. It encourages genuine rest, reinforces boundaries, and shows staff that their time off is respected. This only works when its modeled from the top. Leaders who visibly unplug over the summer give their teams permission to do the same. Ultimately, productivity and well-being arent at oddstheyre interdependent. A summer spent optimizing for both builds a team thats energized, resilient, rested, and ready to take on the months ahead.
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E-Commerce
Last month, my friend Amy, a mid-level marketing manager at a Fortune 500 company, had her entire junior analyst team “restructured.” Why officially? “Strategic realignment.” Reality? AI tools now handle what used to be three full-time positions. Amy isn’t alone in this new reality. AI has eliminated 76,440 jobs in 2025 alone, and 41% of global employers plan to reduce their workforce in the next five years due to AI automation. But, you don’t just lose your current job when this happens, you lose the corporate ladder you were climbing. The relationships you made and the personal career brand you built that led to promotions and growth are gone. The Career Ladder is Breaking (and No One’s Talking About It) We are currently experiencing changes in the job market that we have never seen post-industrial revolution, specifically in Big Tech. Big Tech reduced hiring new graduates by 25% in 2024 compared to 2023. Simultaneously, they increased hiring professionals with 25 years of experience by 27%. How can you pay your dues, learn, and build your career when there are no entry-level positions to be had? This paradox is becoming more and more common in today’s workforce; companies want someone with experience, but there are fewer and fewer positions that allow an employee to gain experience. This sea change feels different. The past 35 years have given us more rapid change than at any time in history. The speed at which technology has advanced has placed us in the dot-com boom, the mobile phone revolution, and the cloud transformation. AI isn’t just changing what we do and how we perform, it’s eliminating the steps we traditionally started with to learn, grow, and develop our soft and hard skills to build a foundation for a career. Speed and Efficiency Now, Devastation Later The entry-level people who filled the office floor, built a unique and diverse team, and brought life and energy into the office are now being phased out. AI does what they did faster and AI doesn’t take sick days or need health insurance. Lawyers who have just passed the bar, learning the basics of a profession via document review? That process is now automated. The new generation of the workforce feels a risk when investing in a four-year degree. A study from the World Economic Forum revealed that 49% of US Gen Z job hunters believe AI has reduced the value of their college education. What will this lead to in 1015 years, as people with experience and knowledge begin to retire and fewer people are qualified to assume those roles? Another question: for those of us in the midst of a career, how do we advance when the ladder that was once just a few rungs up is chopped off and thrown in a corporate fireplace? Companies Currently Solving the Problem When studying organizations meeting these changes head-on and winning, I’ve seen a few commonalities. They dont simply cut costs to cut costs. They are fundamentally reimagining how work gets done. For example: British Columbia Investment Management Corporation BCI increased productivity by 10% to 20% for 84% of their Microsoft Copilot users while increasing job satisfaction by 68%. This resulted in saving more than 2,300 person-hours with automation. This was accomplished not by simply implementing AI, but by the way they redesigned workflows around human-AI collaboration. Daiichi Sankyo Within a month of building their internal AI system (DS-GAI), over 80% of employees reported improved productivity and accuracy. They’re using AI advancements not to replace current employees, but to augment their capabilities. These are the types of approaches any company looking to implement AI and automation can work into their deployment project plans can follow. How can they foster increased human-tech collaboration? How can they make their current team more productive and take the business to levels previously unattainable? People Ahead of the Curve The good news is, there are plenty of professionals who are thriving during these days of upheaval and transition. For the most part, these people are taking three common approaches to find ways to use AI to their advantage. They orchestrate with AI Successful people I know dont fight AI, they teach themselves how to direct it and use it to their benefit. They understand that humans will always be in charge of technology. With that knowledge, they can position themselves as the conductor with an orchestra of AI at their command. They Focus on Uniquely Human Skills Develop and hone the skills that AI amplifies. Humans will be freed to build creative problem-solving, strategic thinking, relationship-building processes, and guidelines. When AI is deployed to do all mundane repetitive tasks, these skills are where humans must thrive. They Position Themselves at the Intersection The future will be written and commanded by individuals who bridge the unique creative minds of humans with the efficiency, accuracy, and speed of AI. What is the common thread of these three points? How you use AI to your advantage. You can stand on the beach and scream at the coming tidal wave or grab a surfboard and teach yourself to ride that wave. Those who choose the latter path will be those who run the world. The World We Know is on Deaths Door The truth we all must face today is that 20252026 will be the year companies prepare for a generational change in how we work with AI. This will disrupt nearly every industry. Org charts will be completely rewritten or scrapped entirely. But remember that you can make a difference and influence this change by simply preparing yourself as I have laid out in this article. The choice is no longer whether AI is for you, the choiceis how you decide to leverage AI to your benefit. Weve seen this before; I remember people pushing back against using computers, people pushing back against using email, people pushing back against cellphones. Pushing back against AI today is precisely what those people did. The professionals who embrace this change and use AI as a tool for advancement will be the ones who write the org charts of the future. Start today. Your future self will thank you.
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E-Commerce
Want more housing market stories from Lance Lamberts ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. National home prices rose 0.2% year over year from June 2024 to June 2025, according to the Zillow Home Value Index reading published July 17decelerated from the 3.2% year-over-year rate from June 2023 to June 2024. And more metro-area housing markets are seeing declines: > 31 of the nations 300 largest housing markets (10%) had a falling year-over-year reading in the January 2024 to January 2025 window. > 42 of the nations 300 largest housing markets (14%) had a falling year-over-year reading in the February 2024 to February 2025 window. > 60 of the nations 300 largest housing markets (20%) had a falling year-over-year reading in the March 2024 to March 2025 window. > 80 of the nations 300 largest housing markets (27%) had a falling year-over-year reading in the April 2024 to April 2025 window. > 96 of the nations 300 largest housing markets (32%) had a falling year-over-year reading in the May 2024 to May 2025 window. > 109 of the nations 300 largest housing markets (36%) had a falling year-over-year reading in the June 2024 to June 2025 window. While 36% of the 300 largest housing markets are currently experiencing year-over-year home price declines, that share is gradually increasing as the supply-demand balance continues to shift directionally toward buyers in this affordability-constrained and post-housing boom environment. Home prices are still climbing in many regions where active inventory remains well below pre-pandemic 2019 levels, such as pockets of the Northeast and Midwest. In contrast, some pockets in states like Arizona, Texas, Florida, Colorado, and Louisianawhere active inventory exceeds pre-pandemic 2019 levelsare seeing modest home price corrections. Year-over-year home value declines, using the Zillow Home Value Index, are evident in major metros such as Austin (-5.8%); Tampa, Florida (-5.7%); Miami (-3.8%); Dallas (-3.7%); Orlando (-3.7%); Phoenix (-3.5%); San Francisco (-3.4%); San Antonio (-3.3%); Jacksonville, Florida (-3.2%); Atlanta (-2.9%); Denver (-2.7%); San Diego (-2.4%); Raleigh, North Carolina (-2.1%); Sacramento (-1.8%); Houston (-1.8%); Riverside, California (-1.5%); New Orleans (-1.2%); Charlotte, North Carolina (-1.0%); Memphis (-1.0%); San Jose (-0.9%); Portland, Oregon (-0.4%); Seattle (-0.1%); Los Angeles (-0.4%); and Birmingham, Alabama (-0.1%). Click here for an interactive version of the chart below. !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}})}(); The markets seeing the most softness, where homebuyers have gained the most leverage, are primarily located in Sun Belt regions, particularly the Gulf Coast and Mountain West. Many of these areas saw major price surges during the Pandemic Housing Boom, with home price growth outpacing local income levels. As pandemic-driven domestic migration slowed and mortgage rates rose, markets like Tampa and Austin faced challenges, relying on local income levels to support frothy home prices. This softening trend is further compounded by an abundance of new home supply in the Sun Belt. Builders are often willing to lower prices or offer affordability incentives to maintain sales, which also has a cooling effect on the resale market. Some buyers who would have previously considered existing homes are now opting for new homes with more favorable deals. Given the shift in active housing inventory and months of supply, along with the soft level of appreciation in more markets this spring, ResiClub expects the number of metro areas with year-over-year home price declines in the Zillow Home Value Index to continue ticking up in the coming months. This softening and regional variation should not surprise ResiClub Pro membersweve been closely documenting it. ResiClub Pro members can view our latest analysis of home prices across 800-plus metros and 3,000-plus counties here.
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E-Commerce
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