<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	xmlns:georss="http://www.georss.org/georss" xmlns:geo="http://www.w3.org/2003/01/geo/wgs84_pos#" xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>Business &#38; MoneyCategory: Work/Life Balance &#124; Business &#38; Money &#124; TIME.com</title>
	<atom:link href="http://business.time.com/category/careers-workplace/worklife-balance/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://business.time.com</link>
	<description>The latest news and commentary on the economy, the markets, and business</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Thu, 23 May 2013 12:00:57 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
	<generator>http://wordpress.com/</generator>
<cloud domain='business.time.com' port='80' path='/?rsscloud=notify' registerProcedure='' protocol='http-post' />
<image>
		<url>http://1.gravatar.com/blavatar/d8fe9c72e6ddb8decc694e4fdd84f015?s=96&#038;d=http%3A%2F%2Fs2.wp.com%2Fi%2Fbuttonw-com.png</url>
		<title>Business &#38; MoneyCategory: Work/Life Balance &#124; Business &#38; Money &#124; TIME.com</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com</link>
	</image>
	<atom:link rel="search" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" href="http://business.time.com/osd.xml" title="Business &#38; Money" />
	<atom:link rel='hub' href='http://business.time.com/?pushpress=hub'/>
		<item>
		<title>Cure Your Work Addiction. Here&#8217;s How</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2013/05/08/cure-your-work-addiction-heres-how/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2013/05/08/cure-your-work-addiction-heres-how/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 08 May 2013 15:03:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Lewis Schiff</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Careers & Workplace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Work/Life Balance]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=79425</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=79425&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://business.time.com/2013/05/08/cure-your-work-addiction-heres-how/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Work/Life Balance</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/careers-workplace/worklife-balance/</primary_category_link>
		<media:content url="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/44310a1af940f994952d1e4db73096cd?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F1.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">TIME.com</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/125x57-inc.png" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">125x57-inc</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>When &#8216;Flex Time&#8217; Means Ripping Off Workers</title>
		<link>http://ideas.time.com/2013/05/03/when-flex-time-means-ripping-off-workers/</link>
		<comments>http://ideas.time.com/2013/05/03/when-flex-time-means-ripping-off-workers/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 03 May 2013 14:27:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Judith Warner</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Careers & Workplace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Work/Life Balance]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=79265</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The “Working Families Flexibility Act” is actually a business-friendly Trojan Horse.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=79265&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://ideas.time.com/2013/05/03/when-flex-time-means-ripping-off-workers/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Work/Life Balance</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/careers-workplace/worklife-balance/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/flex-time.jpeg?w=240</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/flex-time.jpeg?w=240" />
		<media:content url="http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/flex-time.jpeg?w=240" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">Flex time</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/44310a1af940f994952d1e4db73096cd?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F1.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">TIME.com</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Staying Aloft as the Cupcake Bubble Deflates</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2013/04/27/staying-aloft-as-the-cupcake-bubble-deflates/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2013/04/27/staying-aloft-as-the-cupcake-bubble-deflates/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 27 Apr 2013 15:00:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sarah Max</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Entrepreneurship]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food and Beverage Industry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Retail]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Small Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Start-Ups]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Work/Life Balance]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=78424</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Before there seemed to be a Magnolia Bakery-inspired cupcake shop on every corner – or cupcake-themed reality shows on cable – Susan Sarich noticed that there weren&#8217;t many places to buy made-from-scratch baked goods. “Most people were getting their cakes and cookies from grocery stores,” says Sarich, who was previously director of catering for the Clift Hotel in San Francisco. “They were looking at the labels and wondering why there were 65 ingredients when there should only be five.” After spending more than a year developing a business plan and researching real estate in the Los Angeles area, Sarich and her partner, Houston Striggow, opened their first SusieCakes in Brentwood in 2006. The old-fashioned bakery was inspired by Sarich’s grandmothers, both avid bakers whose recipes for such goodies as Whoopie Pies and Vanilla Butter Cream frosting she inherited on 4&#215;6 index cards. (MORE: A Nation of Renters: Should We Be Worried That Fewer Americans Own Homes?) Today SusieCakes has eight locations in California and is working with a financial partner to expand into three to five more locations in the next 18 months. Sarich, who doesn&#8217;t franchise, says she plans to gradually build the brand nationally. “I see it becoming the neighborhood bakery in a lot of places,” she says. It might seem like a sugar-coated view, given that many experts are warning that Americans have had their fill of cupcakes, both from local shops and national chains. In June 2011 Crumbs Bake Shop went public on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the ticker CRMB. After briefly trading for more than $13 a share, the stock crumbled into the low single digits. A couple of weeks ago the stock took another big dive after the company said sales this year would be 22% lower than projected, and was recently trading around $1.40 a share – less than the price of one of its mini cupcakes. The Wall Street Journal met the news with this headline: &#8220;Forget Gold, the Gourmet-Cupcake Market Is Crashing.&#8221; SusieCakes does sell its share of cupcakes, but Sarich doesn&#8217;t worry about if and when the<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=78424&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://business.time.com/2013/04/27/staying-aloft-as-the-cupcake-bubble-deflates/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Entrepreneurship</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/small-business/entrepreneurship-small-business/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/gedc0021.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/gedc0021.jpg?w=240" />
		<media:content url="http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/gedc0021.jpg?w=240" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">GE DIGITAL CAMERA</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/3db8cd804a921bfa6f8a0ab92abe8cb6?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F0.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">sarahmaxtime</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Who Is Happiest At Work? Probably Not Who You Think</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2013/04/25/who-is-happiest-at-work-probably-not-who-you-think/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2013/04/25/who-is-happiest-at-work-probably-not-who-you-think/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 25 Apr 2013 13:00:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brad Tuttle</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Careers & Workplace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Companies & Industries]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Management & Leadership]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Management Strategies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Work/Life Balance]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=78454</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[How to find happiness in the workplace? One theory has it that the most deeply fulfilled workers are those facing the most daunting challenges. Another holds that the formula for contentment is being surrounded by colleagues that pick up your slack. For insights regarding happiness and performance in the workplace, let&#8217;s check out some recent research. Who Is Happiest at Work? Writing at Harvard Business Review, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, a professor at the business school and the author of Evolve! Succeeding in the Digital Culture of Tomorrow, says that the happiest people tend to be those facing the toughest—but most worthwhile—challenges. We&#8217;re talking stuff like teaching kids in inner city schools, working for solutions to homelessness, or improving health in developing countries. In her research concerning what motivates people at highly innovative companies, Kanter found, &#8220;Money acted as a scorecard, but it did not get people up-and-at &#8216;em for the daily work, nor did it help people go home every day with a feeling of fulfillment.&#8221; On the other hand, when workers feel like they can make a difference, it leaves them more fulfilled. That&#8217;s a deeper level of happiness that money just can&#8217;t buy. (MORE: There&#8217;s One Upside for Unemployed Older Workers: Happiness) A study by Leadership IQ offers a very different perspective on what makes workers happy. The study found that in 42% of companies, the lowest-performing employees were more engaged and motivated than their middle- and high-performing colleagues. And why did the slackers enjoy their jobs more? A Fast Company post theorized: In most organizations, low performers are pretty much left alone. They are happy as clams because no one notices or bothers them. They can just sit there quietly and won’t be discovered as long as no one does anything to alter the terrain. As for their higher-performing colleagues, no wonder they&#8217;re not quite as happy: They have to pull more weight to make up for the low performers. Many of the best workers are stressed out and feel undervalued—often because, in fact, they are. Which<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=78454&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://business.time.com/2013/04/25/who-is-happiest-at-work-probably-not-who-you-think/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Work/Life Balance</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/careers-workplace/worklife-balance/</primary_category_link>
		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/f8de938518e7b986d552694ed99aa54d?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F0.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">bradtuttle</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Efficiency Backlash: Businesses Find Too Much Downsizing Can Hurt the Bottom Line</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2013/04/23/overdoing-efficiency-when-businesses-discover-they-cant-keep-downsizing-the-workforce/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2013/04/23/overdoing-efficiency-when-businesses-discover-they-cant-keep-downsizing-the-workforce/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 23 Apr 2013 09:45:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brad Tuttle</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Careers & Workplace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Companies & Industries]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food and Beverage Industry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Future of Retail]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Job Markets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Management & Leadership]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Retail]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Work/Life Balance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Costco]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Darden]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[darden restaurants]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dining Out]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[efficiency]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fast food]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[JC Penney]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[McDonalds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[MIT]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[red lobster]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[restaurants]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Trader Joe's]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wages]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[waiters]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Walmart]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=78213</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[One national restaurant chain realizes that overburdening its employees hurts sales, as well as the company brand. Will more businesses follow its lead? In the business world, efficiency is king. The corporate quest to cut salaries and get more out of employees, thereby maximizing profits, is never-ending. At some point, however, increasing the workload on employees backfires. The burden becomes too much for workers to bear, and when employees are overwhelmed and can&#8217;t keep up with their duties, it&#8217;s just plain bad for business. Last week, Red Lobster basically admitted that it had crossed the line with the introduction of a policy aimed at increasing efficiency and lowering restaurant costs. In July 2012, the restaurant chain, owned by Orlando-based Darden Restaurants, eliminated the busboy position, demoted many waiters to lower-paid status as &#8220;service assistants&#8221; and forced the remaining full-fledged servers to increase the number of tables they handled from three to four. At the time, Red Lobster said the changes were being made after testing showed that diners and restaurant employees alike approved of the new policies. An Orlando Sentinel story published at the time of the switch offered some other perspectives: &#8216;We&#8217;re going to be completely worn out,&#8217; said Bob Meehan, a longtime server at Red Lobster in Lake Worth. &#8216;It&#8217;s definitely going to hurt service.&#8217; Chris Muller, dean of Boston University&#8217;s hospitality school, said worker morale will likely suffer. &#8216;If you don&#8217;t like the people you&#8217;re working with and for &#8230; it&#8217;s going to show,&#8217; he said. (MORE: Why Restaurants Have Been Holding Back on Hiking Menu Prices) Lo and behold, it appears as if Red Lobster is now acknowledging that these critics may have been on to something. Less than a year after the four-table policy was launched, the company announced it is reversing the decision, and waitstaff will go back to serving three tables at a time. A Red Lobster spokesperson told the Orlando Sentinel that while some customers liked the four-table policy, once it was introduced around the country, &#8220;far more folks told us that<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=78213&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://business.time.com/2013/04/23/overdoing-efficiency-when-businesses-discover-they-cant-keep-downsizing-the-workforce/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Retail</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/companies-industries/retail-big-companies/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/152362094-copy.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/152362094-copy.jpg?w=240" />
		<media:content url="http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/152362094-copy.jpg?w=240" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">Pedestrians walk by a Red Lobster restaurant in Times Square in New York City on Sept. 19, 2012.</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/f8de938518e7b986d552694ed99aa54d?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F0.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">bradtuttle</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Can You Afford to Start Parenting at Middle Age?</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2013/04/11/can-you-afford-to-start-parenting-at-middle-age/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2013/04/11/can-you-afford-to-start-parenting-at-middle-age/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 11 Apr 2013 11:21:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Martha C. White</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Budgeting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Careers & Workplace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Decision Making]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Planning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saving & Spending]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Work/Life Balance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[family]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[kids]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[parenting]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://moneyland.time.com/?p=44584</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Advances in reproductive technology and a trend towards marriage later in life have led to an increase in older parents. But do these old fogies know what they&#8217;re getting themselves into, financially speaking? Actually, there are some economic advantages to having children when you&#8217;ve reached a more mature age (for more, read Jeffrey Kluger&#8217;s story in the new issue of TIME, available to subscribers here). Older parents tend to be more financially stable. They&#8217;ve (hopefully) eliminated their student loans and dug out of any ill-conceived credit-card debt run up in their young adult years. They’re more likely than parents who are barely out of their teens to own a home and have money set aside for retirement and emergency expenses. There’s a “but” here, though. Taking on parenthood at a more advanced age can mean paying for things like tuition and textbooks when many of your peers are enjoying the financial freedom of being empty-nesters. And with a growing number of adult children returning home to live after college, there’s a good chance that your kid could still be raiding the fridge when you’re eligible for Social Security. None of this has to be a dealbreaker, of course; it just requires more forethought and planning. Here are some questions experts in financial planning and late-in-life parenting suggest that you should ask yourself before trying to have a child. Who’s paying for college? The biggest financial challenge for older parents is that they’ll probably be looking to retire just when some major financial obligations hit. &#8220;Retirement dates coincide with college and wedding expenses,&#8221; says David Lamp, a certified financial planner at Brighton Jones. &#8220;I&#8217;d say the cluster of life events is a little bit tighter now.&#8221; (MORE: Got Stuff? Typical American Family Home Cluttered with Possessions &#8212; And Stressing Us Out) As a parent, the impulse to give your child the best of everything is only natural, but it also can be financially devastating, he says. The smart move is to &#8220;favor putting money towards retirement, with the idea being that there<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=58452&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://business.time.com/2013/04/11/can-you-afford-to-start-parenting-at-middle-age/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Decision Making</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/planning/decision-making-planning/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/sb10068929c-001-e1352925446375.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/sb10068929c-001-e1352925446375.jpg?w=240" />
		<media:content url="http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/sb10068929c-001-e1352925446375.jpg?w=240" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">older parent with young child</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/9a5a9e4f28beb5afb59b1202632d219a?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F0.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">marthacwhite</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Free Lunches at Work? The Tax Man Wants a Bite</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2013/04/10/free-lunches-at-work-the-taxman-wants-a-bite/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2013/04/10/free-lunches-at-work-the-taxman-wants-a-bite/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 10 Apr 2013 09:45:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christopher Matthews</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Careers & Workplace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Technology & Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Work/Life Balance]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=77113</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In Silicon Valley, the employee perks are the stuff of legend. Parents-to-be at Facebook are given a bonus to help with expenses and extensive maternity and paternity leave. Software company Evernote will pay to have their employees&#8217; apartments cleaned twice every month. And Google — perhaps the most generous when it comes to fringe benefits — lavishes its employees with free concierge service and a cafeteria chock full of gourmet food. While these benefits are partially a product of the intense competition for qualified tech workers, they may also be a way for companies to simply increase compensation without giving the tax man a cut. And according to an article in yesterday&#8217;s Wall Street Journal, the IRS is taking notice: There is growing controversy among tax experts about how to treat these coveted freebies. The Internal Revenue Service also has been focusing on the topic, according to attorneys who practice in the area, examining whether the free food is a fringe benefit on which employees should pay additional tax. The Journal report describes the conundrum the IRS faces when deciding how hard it should try to collect taxes on these fringe benefits. On the one hand, it&#8217;s not fair for cash compensation to be taxed while perks like free food aren&#8217;t. At the same time, taxing fringe benefits isn&#8217;t as simple as taxing cash compensation, and the law allows for exceptions, like when workers are stationed in remote locations where purchasing lunch isn&#8217;t feasible. (MORE: Apps and Sites That Make Filing Taxes Easier) It makes sense that the IRS would be looking into these practices at this time, as fringe benefits are a growing component of employee compensation overall. According to a recent USA Today study, employee-paid benefits now account for 19.7% of total compensation, up from 16.6% in 2000 and less than 10% in the 1960s. One key driver of this phenomenon is the rising cost of health care. As health care costs have risen, many workers have received a larger percentage of their compensation as health care benefits. But there has been a cultural shift as well<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=77113&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://business.time.com/2013/04/10/free-lunches-at-work-the-taxman-wants-a-bite/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Technology &amp; Media</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/technology-media/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/rtr3d4wk-copy.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/rtr3d4wk-copy.jpg?w=240" />
		<media:content url="http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/rtr3d4wk-copy.jpg?w=240" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">Facebook headquarters</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://2.gravatar.com/avatar/8f9a71742e964af96ca58c01a0577a0d?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F2.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">christopherrmatthews</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>March Madness Will Cost Businesses $134 Million. Why Aren&#8217;t Employers Concerned?</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2013/03/19/march-madness-will-cost-businesses-134-million-why-arent-employers-concerned/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2013/03/19/march-madness-will-cost-businesses-134-million-why-arent-employers-concerned/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 19 Mar 2013 09:45:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Josh Sanburn</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business of Sports]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Careers & Workplace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Companies & Industries]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Work/Life Balance]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=74869</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The NCAA men’s basketball tournament will cost U.S. companies an estimated $134 million in “lost wages” this week. But do employers care? Not really. A survey released last week by job outplacement firm Challenger, Gray &#38; Christmas found that the men’s college basketball tournament – which lasts three weeks – will cost $134 million in just the first two days (Thursday and Friday) of the tournament. An estimated 3 million U.S. employees will spend one to three hours at work watching the games, and two-thirds of all workers will follow the tournament at some point during work hours. (MORE: How Sesame Street Counted All the Way to 1 Billion YouTube Views) A few decades ago, the idea that employees would be able to spend hours watching a sporting event during normal working hours would’ve been unthinkable. But our work and personal lives have become completely tangled, and today most bosses are not only fine with employees who watch a few games or set up an office pool, they almost encourage it. According to a separate survey by staffing firm OfficeTeam, when office managers and executives were asked whether the NCAA basketball tournament had a negative effect on employee productivity, 75% said there was no impact, and 16% said there was either a very positive or somewhat positive impact. And one-fifth of employers said those activities elicited a positive impact on employee morale. That’s despite the fact the tournament likely takes more than $100 million out of productivity in just two days. “That’s a big number,” says John Challenger of Challenger, Gray &#38; Christmas, referring to how much the tournament is expected to cost businesses. “And yet, I think companies that allow their employees freedom and autonomy recognize that the workplace brings people’s personal lives in. It’s the way the modern workplace works.” The acceptance of March Madness into the workplace is of course just one example of how the workplace has changed. Today, employees check Facebook, share YouTube videos, or instant message with friends throughout the work day. But more<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=74869&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://business.time.com/2013/03/19/march-madness-will-cost-businesses-134-million-why-arent-employers-concerned/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Work/Life Balance</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/careers-workplace/worklife-balance/</primary_category_link>
		<media:content url="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/d88247e41871fc555c4a2747167091d2?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F1.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">jsanburn</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>So Your Video Went Viral: Great! Just Don&#8217;t Expect to Get Rich</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2013/03/13/so-your-video-went-viral-great-just-dont-expect-to-get-rich/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2013/03/13/so-your-video-went-viral-great-just-dont-expect-to-get-rich/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 13 Mar 2013 17:06:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brad Tuttle</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Advertising]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Career Strategies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Careers & Workplace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Companies & Industries]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Technology & Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wealth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Work/Life Balance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bitter Barista]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[viral]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Viral Spiral]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[viral videos]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[YouTube]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=74529</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Thanks to the Internet, it&#8217;s never been easier to become briefly famous. Posting an especially creative, embarrassing, funny, or otherwise highly &#8220;shareable&#8221; video or blog online will usually do the trick. But becoming rich and famous? That&#8217;s far more difficult. The original creators of the &#8220;Harlem Shake&#8221; should see a big chunk of change because they&#8217;re entitled to a portion of the ad revenues generated from each video featuring the song that&#8217;s posted at YouTube. A year ago, the New York Times highlighted how the family behind the &#8220;Charlie Bit My Finger&#8221; video—viewed well over 400 million times since it was posted on YouTube in 2007—had helped net its creators over $150,000. The vast majority of online videos and blog posts, on the other hand, never go viral. Instead, they&#8217;re mostly ignored. And even those that do manage to generate widespread attention rarely result in a big cash windfall for the people behind them. (MORE: Testing the Science of Sharing at the Super Bowl: Can Viral Ads Be Manufactured?) The Seattle Times recently pointed out a few examples of people who attained Internet fame—and very little in the way of a monetary payoff afterwards. There was the kid playing the drums on the washing machine. His video, posted last December, has been viewed more than 1.7 million times. He and his dad were flown out to Chicago to appear on &#8220;The Steve Harvey Show,&#8221; and his family is being given an all-expenses-paid trip to New Orleans so he can perform at a cleaning industry convention. Those are some nice perks. But how much actual money has the video pulled in? Around $400 in YouTube ad revenues. Another example is the &#8220;Bitter Barista,&#8221; a blog filled with snarky comments about coffee shop customers. It was created by Matt Watson, a (bitter) barista in Seattle, who wound up getting attention from Internet tabloids around the globe. Did he manage to turn his 15 minutes of fame into big money? Not really. “I had a lot of people who would tell me that,<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=74529&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://business.time.com/2013/03/13/so-your-video-went-viral-great-just-dont-expect-to-get-rich/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Career Strategies</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/careers-workplace/career-strategies/</primary_category_link>
		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/f8de938518e7b986d552694ed99aa54d?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F0.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">bradtuttle</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Weird Money: 9 Odd Factoids from Recent Consumer Surveys and Studies</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2013/03/12/weird-money-9-odd-factoids-from-recent-consumer-surveys-and-studies/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2013/03/12/weird-money-9-odd-factoids-from-recent-consumer-surveys-and-studies/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 12 Mar 2013 13:00:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brad Tuttle</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Careers & Workplace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Companies & Industries]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food and Beverage Industry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Healthcare]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Insurance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mobile]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Odd Spending]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Planning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saving]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saving & Spending]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Smart Spending]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Technology & Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Telecom]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Work/Life Balance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[alcohol]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[auto insurance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[beer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BET]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bud Light]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[celebrity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cell phones]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cheap beer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[do not call list]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Donald Trump]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[driving]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fame]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[flexible hours]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oprah Winfrey]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[smartphones]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Texting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[underage drinking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=74347</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Ever wonder which alcohol brands are most popular … among consumers who are too young to buy alcohol? Is daylight savings harmless, or does it cost us hundreds of millions of dollars annually? And most pressing of all, which celebrity do you wish was your insurance agent? Here&#8217;s a sampling of factoids from some new consumer studies and surveys, ranging from weird to obvious to just plain ridiculous: I Don&#8217;t Drink Legally. But When I Do Drink, It&#8217;s Bud Light A survey conducted by Boston University researchers and the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth asked 1,032 underage youths (ages 13 to 20) to name the brands of alcohol they&#8217;d consumed in the previous 30 days. By far, the label named most often was Bud Light, with nearly 30% under-21s admitting to imbibing. Researchers raised concerns about the possibility of alcohol brands being marketed (consciously or unconsciously) to underage drinkers. As many commenters noted, though, the most popularly named brands also tend to simply be cheap and widely available around the country. Stay thirsty my friends—it&#8217;s better to be thirsty than drink bad beer. Do Not Call List = Sometimes OK to Call List In a Consumer Federation of America survey, 55% of respondents thought that no telemarketers could call households if the numbers had been placed on the Do Not Call (DNC) list. This isn&#8217;t the case, however. Companies are allowed to call you with sales pitches if you&#8217;ve done business with them recently. The DNC doesn&#8217;t put a stop to calls from political organizations and charities either. (MORE: Turns Out You Won&#8217;t Get Rich Hunting Pythons in Florida) You&#8217;re Literally Spending Years on That Phone The average cellphone owner spends about 90 minutes per day staring at their mobile device for the purposes of texting, browsing, e-mail, gaming, and, oh yeah, talking on the phone. Doing the math, that adds up to a total of about 23 days per year—and 3.9 years in the average lifetime—spent staring at a device. We&#8217;re Not Just Losing an Hour—But Money As<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=74347&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://business.time.com/2013/03/12/weird-money-9-odd-factoids-from-recent-consumer-surveys-and-studies/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Odd Spending</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/saving-spending/odd-spending/</primary_category_link>
		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/f8de938518e7b986d552694ed99aa54d?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F0.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">bradtuttle</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Why We&#8217;re Spending So Much on Botox, Makeup and Facelifts</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2013/02/27/why-were-spending-so-much-on-botox-makeup-and-facelifts/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2013/02/27/why-were-spending-so-much-on-botox-makeup-and-facelifts/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 27 Feb 2013 15:00:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Martha C. White</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Career Strategies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Careers & Workplace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Health Care]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Healthcare]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Odd Spending]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saving & Spending]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Work/Life Balance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Botox]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cosmetic surgery]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[facelift]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[plastic surgery]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=72827</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Last year, Americans spent more on products and procedures to make our faces look better. The reason? Well, it may seem counterintuitive, but experts say the lackluster economy is part of the reason for our collective vanity.  The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) says that while total cosmetic surgeries fell by 2% last year, the number of what they call “minimally invasive” procedures rose by 6%. The most popular of these were Botox and Dysport (the brand names for botulinum toxin) injections, followed by soft tissue filler injections, chemical peels, laser hair removal, and microdermabrasion. In 2011, the number of both surgeries and minimally invasive procedures rose, although the uptick in more expensive operations was the smaller increase of the two. “Facial rejuvenation procedures, both surgical and minimally-invasive, experienced the most growth in 2012,” an ASPS press release states. That includes a record-high 6.1 million botulinum toxin injections to freeze our frown lines and crows’ feet. And although the overall number of surgeries fell, the ASPS says demand for facelifts and eyelid surgeries rose 6% and 4%, respectively. (MORE: Plastic Surgery as Economic Indicator) The so-called “lipstick effect” is something consumer psychologists trot out as soon as the economy heads south: The theory goes that we cut back on big-ticket spending, but buy ourselves little indulgences as consolation prizes. Instead of buying a new suit, for example, maybe we’ll buy that designer’s cologne. Instead of a pair of pricey pumps, we’ll settle for the aforementioned lipstick. Or, in this case, we’ll get Botox instead of a pricier nose job or tummy tuck. Maybe we can start calling it the “injection effect” instead. Unsurprisingly, wealthier Americans seem more willing to keep spending in order to look good. A new survey by Unity Marketing, which examines the spending patterns of affluent Americans, found that the rich are becoming more cautious and keeping those platinum cards in their wallets. But president Pam Danzinger says there are a few spending category outliers. For instance, spending on beauty services increased a whopping 26.5% last<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=72827&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://business.time.com/2013/02/27/why-were-spending-so-much-on-botox-makeup-and-facelifts/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Odd Spending</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/saving-spending/odd-spending/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/dv1768028.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/dv1768028.jpg?w=240" />
		<media:content url="http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/dv1768028.jpg?w=240" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">dv1768028</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/9a5a9e4f28beb5afb59b1202632d219a?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F0.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">marthacwhite</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Memo Read Round the World: Yahoo Says No to Working at Home</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2013/02/26/memo-read-round-the-world-yahoo-says-no-to-working-at-home/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2013/02/26/memo-read-round-the-world-yahoo-says-no-to-working-at-home/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 26 Feb 2013 15:00:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Kadlec</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Career Strategies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Careers & Workplace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Management & Leadership]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Technology & Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Work/Life Balance]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=72944</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In a memo read round the world, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer has made it clear that working at home will not be an option on her watch. For a contemporary technology-driven company this is a striking position, one that appears to set back the modern workplace and working parents by about two decades. Eliminating the ability to telecommute eats away at the core of what Yahoo, an Internet pioneer, and Mayer, a new mother, would seem to be all about. Predictably, reaction was swift. Mommy blogs expressed outrage at this anti-family policy. Technology blogs called it misguided. Workplace blogs said the ban might even be unlawful, though that&#8217;s hard to fathom. No one should be surprised if Mayer reverses herself—like Netflix when it angered millions of faithful customers 17 months ago with a steep price hike masked in a plan to break apart its DVD rental and streaming services. Or, dare I say it, like New Coke. Such blunders surface from time to time in the corporate world and all one can do is marvel. (MORE: Why Marissa Mayer Is Feeling Lucky) Mayer’s edict went out to employees last week in an internal note announcing that starting June 1 all employees will be expected to report to work each day at a Yahoo office. At Mayer’s instruction, Yahoo HR head Jackie Reses wrote the memo, first reported at Allthingsd.com. The memo read, in part: “To become the absolute best place to work, communication and collaboration will be important, so we need to be working side-by-side. That is why it is critical that we are all present in our offices. Some of the best decisions and insights come from hallway and cafeteria discussions, meeting new people, and impromptu team meetings. Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home.” Mayer took the helm at Yahoo in July. She’s been overhauling the troubled company and famously decided to take only two weeks of maternity leave when her son was born in October. So she is leading by example. Things need<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=72944&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://business.time.com/2013/02/26/memo-read-round-the-world-yahoo-says-no-to-working-at-home/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Work/Life Balance</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/careers-workplace/worklife-balance/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/1500_mayer.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/1500_mayer.jpg?w=240" />
		<media:content url="http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/1500_mayer.jpg?w=240" medium="image" />

		<media:content url="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/d69b05e696e822e7e41ae630be72226a?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F1.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">dankadlec</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>What&#8217;s It&#8217;s Really Like to Have a Quirky Job Title? The &#8216;Ambassador of Buzz&#8217; Has His Say</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2013/02/25/whats-its-really-like-to-have-a-quirky-job-title-the-ambassador-of-buzz-has-his-say/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2013/02/25/whats-its-really-like-to-have-a-quirky-job-title-the-ambassador-of-buzz-has-his-say/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 25 Feb 2013 18:43:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brad Tuttle</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business of Creativity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Career Strategies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Careers & Workplace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Information Technology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Technology & Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Work/Life Balance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[job titles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[offbeat job titles]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=72427</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Hey, if nothing else, having an offbeat job title helped the Ambassador of Buzz generate enough buzz to be featured in a Q&#38;A at Time.com. After we ran a post exploring whether quirky job titles like Ninja, Grand Poo-Bah, and Ambassador of Buzz were awesome or silly, unprofessional, and perhaps even harmful to one&#8217;s career, the real-life Ambassador of Buzz reached out to us. Taylor Aldredge holds the job title of Ambassador of Buzz at Grasshopper, a Massachusetts-based company that bills itself as &#8220;The Entrepreneur&#8217;s Phone System&#8221; and provides clients with services such as toll-free and local numbers, unlimited extensions, custom automated greetings, and voicemail and faxes via e-mail. We wanted to find out more about what it&#8217;s like having such a wacky job title. As the Q&#38;A with Aldredge below reveals, he mostly loves being known as the Ambassador of Buzz. The job title can lead to some confusion, however. FYI: The job isn&#8217;t about getting people drunk—not officially, anyway. (MORE: Ambassador of Buzz? Are Offbeat Job Titles Awesome or Unprofessional?) TIME: Tell us about the title. Who came up with it? Why this title and not a more standard one? What does it mean? Aldredge: Grasshopper’s co-founders, Siamak Taghaddos and David Hauser, originally created the Ambassador of Buzz title because they wanted to create a new position that did more than just PR, social media, and marketing. It needed to include everything from acting as a brand ambassador to building relationships, talking to customers, and representing Grasshopper at events. It was a new kind of position that required a new kind of title to represent Grasshopper’s core values and brand promise. A standard title just didn’t accomplish getting all the responsibilities under one roof. As an ambassador, I’m responsible of bringing our brand’s message to the world. “Buzz” reflects all the buzz and marketing that we can generate for Grasshopper and our customers through all sorts of marketing efforts. Speaking of which, do you often get questions about what the title means? When I go to networking events<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=72427&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://business.time.com/2013/02/25/whats-its-really-like-to-have-a-quirky-job-title-the-ambassador-of-buzz-has-his-say/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Careers &amp; Workplace</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/careers-workplace/</primary_category_link>
		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/f8de938518e7b986d552694ed99aa54d?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F0.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">bradtuttle</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Three Strategies for Saving Money on College That May Not Work as Promised</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2013/02/14/three-strategies-for-saving-money-on-college-that-may-not-work-as-promised/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2013/02/14/three-strategies-for-saving-money-on-college-that-may-not-work-as-promised/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 14 Feb 2013 17:38:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brad Tuttle</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Borrowing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Career Strategies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Careers & Workplace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Educational Financing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Planning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saving]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saving & Spending]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Smart Spending]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Work/Life Balance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Appalachian State]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[college]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[College Students]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[community college]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[financial aid]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[grants]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[private college]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[public university]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[state college]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Student loan debt]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=70710</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Yes, you can save money and avoid student loan debt by employing some of the classic strategies suggested by personal finance gurus. But you may not save as much as you think—and you could even wind up spending more. Here&#8217;s a look at three oft-circulated strategies for limiting college costs—and why each of them is a bit simplistic, flawed, and perhaps even misleading: Attend Community College, Then Switch to a Four-Year School Community college costs maybe a few grand per year, a fraction of what the typical four-year public university runs. Private schools are even more expensive, as we all know. So it&#8217;s no wonder that many personal finance experts suggest that students stock up on cheap community college credits for a couple of years. The idea is to then transfer to a four-year college and finish up. Both your degree and your resume will state where you completed your college education, not where you began it. (MORE: How a $54K-Per-Year School Is Deemed a &#8216;Best Value College&#8217;) This appears to be a win-win. You can save money and still graduate from an institution with a reputation that&#8217;s superior to a community college, right? Well, the strategy is not without its downsides. A Money magazine story recommending the community college money-saving strategy noted one such issue: Transferring can be a social challenge, since your child will be a newcomer among classmates who have already made friends. Also, the most elite schools take very few transfers: Princeton accepted none and Dartmouth only 4% of applicants last year, although the University of Pennsylvania did take 20%. That&#8217;s not the strategy&#8217;s only flaw. CBS News recently cited a study, from the Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation, that indicates students who start at community college and finish up their degrees at four-year public universities tend to borrow about the same amount as students who attend state colleges for all four years: &#8220;Many students have traditionally been guided to follow the transfer route, with the assumption it will help them save on certain college costs,&#8221;<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=70710&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://business.time.com/2013/02/14/three-strategies-for-saving-money-on-college-that-may-not-work-as-promised/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Educational Financing</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/planning/educational-financing/</primary_category_link>
		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/f8de938518e7b986d552694ed99aa54d?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F0.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">bradtuttle</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Ambassador of Buzz? Are Offbeat Job Titles Awesome or Unprofessional?</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2013/02/11/ambassador-of-buzz-are-offbeat-job-titles-awesome-or-unprofessional/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2013/02/11/ambassador-of-buzz-are-offbeat-job-titles-awesome-or-unprofessional/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 11 Feb 2013 13:00:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brad Tuttle</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Advertising]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Business of Creativity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Career Strategies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Careers & Workplace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Companies & Industries]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Job Markets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Publishing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Technology & Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Work/Life Balance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[About.com]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gen Y]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[guru]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[job titles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[millennials]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[monster.com]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ninja]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trendy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=70171</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Why be just another generic associate when you could hold the job title of ninja, happy maker or ambassador of buzz? Quirky job titles can give the impression that worker and company alike are fun, hip and creative. Then again, they might just come off as silly. Offbeat job titles have been around for years, especially in cutting-edge tech firms and funky, laid-back places like Oregon. A 2009 story highlighted, for instance, how companies in the state were handing employees job titles such as consultant of pleasure and (you gotta love this one) grand pooh-bah. The Boston Globe now reports that the fun, irreverent-job-title trend is spreading to &#8220;more traditional fields&#8221; including publishing and advertising. So a young woman who answers phone calls and greets guests in an office isn&#8217;t being called a receptionist but a director of first impressions. An employee at an advertising firm traded in the stodgy title of senior vice president of business development for the New Agey (but sorta vague) title creator of opportunities. And yes, a worker who might have been a mere corporate-communications assistant in a different era is now known as the firm&#8217;s ambassador of buzz. (MORE: 5 Reasons Your Top Employee Isn&#8217;t Happy) The shift to hipper, offbeat job titles is motivated partly because companies want to come off as trendy, creative, innovative and forward thinking. It certainly doesn&#8217;t hurt that the titles seem to make millennial workers happier with their jobs. Surveys show that younger workers aren&#8217;t fans of traditional workplace rules and hierarchies, and instead of being a small cog in a firm, they like to consider their roles to be crucial to their employers&#8217; success. In which case, a pumped-up job title fits, Susan Heathfield, a human-resources expert for about.com, told the Globe: &#8216;Generation Y, or our millennials, were groomed by families to have an overly inflated emphasis on their own self-worth,&#8217; said Heathfield. &#8216;You are going to see this increasingly reflected in job titles. They are not going to have a title like receptionist and feel rewarded.&#8217;<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=70171&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://business.time.com/2013/02/11/ambassador-of-buzz-are-offbeat-job-titles-awesome-or-unprofessional/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Careers &amp; Workplace</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/careers-workplace/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/1500_jobs.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/1500_jobs.jpg?w=240" />
		<media:content url="http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/1500_jobs.jpg?w=240" medium="image" />

		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/f8de938518e7b986d552694ed99aa54d?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F0.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">bradtuttle</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>TurboTax Vs. H&amp;R Block: Here&#8217;s the Other Class War Sparked by Taxes</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2013/02/08/turbotax-vs-hr-block-heres-the-other-class-war-sparked-by-taxes/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2013/02/08/turbotax-vs-hr-block-heres-the-other-class-war-sparked-by-taxes/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 08 Feb 2013 17:30:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Martha C. White</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Careers & Workplace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saving & Spending]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Smart Spending]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Taxes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Technology & Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Work/Life Balance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[H&R Block]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[income taxes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[online tax preparation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tax filing deadline]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tax prep]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tax preparation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[taxes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Turbo Tax]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[TurboTax]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=69969</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Who knew tax preparation could get so controversial? As tax season kicks into gear, archrivals H&#38;R Block and Intuit, maker of TurboTax software, are squabbling like reality show housewives. In the process, they’ve kicked off a contentious social media conversation around our usually unspoken ideas about work, education, and social status. The bickering began when Intuit rolled out commercials in which customers who use an unnamed tax service (pretty obviously intended to be H&#38;R Block) are horrified to find their tax preparer working as a shopgirl in a clothing store in one of the ads. In another ad, a customer&#8217;s tax guy is fixing a clogged pipe under their kitchen sink. “I thought you were a tax expert,” the homeowner says to Bob the plumber as his wife raises her eyebrows and darts out of the room, presumably to go double-check the tax paperwork. (The commercials are here and here.) H&#38;R Block filed a lawsuit to try to block the commercials. It was unsuccessful; last week, a federal district court judge rejected the request. Company CEO Bill Cobb accused Intuit of “taking cheap shots at hardworking plumbers and retail sales clerks, not to mention millions of Americans holding down two jobs.” Then he took the battle to Twitter. The company launched a campaign, #iamhrblock, featuring snapshots of its tax preparers holding up signs — many of which say what they do for a living outside of tax season. It’s an eclectic list: air-traffic controller, owner of a power-washing company, Zumba instructor. There are also some whose full-time professions hew a little more closely to our idea of “tax pro” and that go beyond the scope of Intuit’s on-screen portrayals: CPAs, people with MBAs, business and accounting degrees, and Registered Tax Return Preparers. (MORE: 10 Ways to Fight Back Your $1,000 Payroll Tax Hike) Regular people, some of them customers of one service or the other, started to weigh in on Facebook and Twitter as well. Some posted criticisms of the TurboTax ads, charging Intuit with being classist or misleading in its<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=69969&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://business.time.com/2013/02/08/turbotax-vs-hr-block-heres-the-other-class-war-sparked-by-taxes/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Taxes</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/economy-policy/taxes-economy-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/1040a1.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/1040a1.jpg?w=240" />
		<media:content url="http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/1040a1.jpg?w=240" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">1040a</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/9a5a9e4f28beb5afb59b1202632d219a?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F0.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">marthacwhite</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>No Cigar: CEOs Hand Out Pay Cuts After Becoming Dads</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2013/01/10/no-cigar-ceos-hand-out-pay-cuts-after-becoming-dads/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2013/01/10/no-cigar-ceos-hand-out-pay-cuts-after-becoming-dads/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 10 Jan 2013 16:00:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Martha C. White</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Careers & Workplace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Work/Life Balance]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=66192</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Your CEO’s wife is having a baby? You might want to pick that congratulatory card off the 99-cent rack, because your salary could take a hit after the bundle of joy arrives &#8212; even though your head honcho is likely to increase the size of his own paycheck.  It sounds bizarre, but a new study finds that male CEOs whose wives have babies pay their workers less — around 0.2% or $100 a year on average, according to the authors of “Fatherhood and Managerial Style: How a Male CEO’s Children Affect the Wages of His Employees.&#8221; It&#8217;s not a lot, but it&#8217;s statistically significant &#8212; and provides some fascinating insight into the deep-seated motivations behind human behavior. &#8220;After his child’s birth, a male CEO husbands his firm’s resources for himself and his growing family, at the expense of his employees,” write the authors. (MORE: Is Broadband Internet Access a Public Utility?) The impact of a CEO becoming a father on his workers’ pay isn’t uniform, though; the results vary depending on whether the new child is a boy or a girl, as well as the gender of the employees. The study, which looked at 10,655 companies in Denmark over the course of a decade, found that all of that 0.2% drop was attributable to the CEOs whose wives gave birth to boys; when they divided the results by gender, having a girl had no net effect on wages, while having a boy made them drop 0.4%. This is because having a child affects a male CEO’s outlook towards women, researchers say. The psychology is complex and somewhat subtle, but the upshot is that having a daughter brings out personality traits that are considered feminine: being in tune with the needs and welfare of others — which includes the realization that cutting workers’ pay is going to be unpleasant for them. (MORE: AIG Considers Suing the U.S. Government for Bailing it Out) If the baby is a boy, though, there’s no check on the CEO&#8217;s impulse to hoard resources for his<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=66192&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://business.time.com/2013/01/10/no-cigar-ceos-hand-out-pay-cuts-after-becoming-dads/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Work/Life Balance</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/careers-workplace/worklife-balance/</primary_category_link>
		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/9a5a9e4f28beb5afb59b1202632d219a?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F0.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">marthacwhite</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Is Most Personal Finance Advice Useless? Author Exposes Industry&#8217;s &#8216;Dark Side&#8217;</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2013/01/10/is-most-personal-finance-advice-useless-author-exposes-industrys-dark-side/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2013/01/10/is-most-personal-finance-advice-useless-author-exposes-industrys-dark-side/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 10 Jan 2013 14:00:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brad Tuttle</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Companies & Industries]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Decision Making]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Financial Education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Personal Finance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Planning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Publishing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saving]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saving & Spending]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Smart Spending]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Work/Life Balance]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=66178</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[According to a new book digging into the curious history and modern-day big business of personal finance, much of the advice doled out by &#8220;experts&#8221; in books, on Oprah Winfrey&#8216;s couch, and on their own TV shows is simplistic, misleading, contradictory, or otherwise useless. Suze Orman, Dave Ramsey, and Jim Cramer are among the boldface-name financial gurus who are skewered in Pound Foolish: Exposing the Dark Side of the Personal Finance Industry, the new book by Helaine Olen, a New York City-based journalist and former personal finance columnist herself. The book was recently described by the New York Times as &#8220;a take-no-prisoners examination of the ways she says we have been scared, misled or bamboozled by those purporting to help us achieve financial security.&#8221; Below, Olen answers our queries about her new book, the state of financial literacy, and the worst personal finance advice she&#8217;s ever heard, among other things: TIME: Many of the critiques in the book concerning personal finance gurus involve the way they spread the (unfair) message that basically says: If you&#8217;re not rich, it&#8217;s your own damn fault. Look in the mirror rather than blaming the economy, health emergencies, job layoffs, or any outside circumstances. But sometimes, isn&#8217;t it largely the individual&#8217;s fault that he or she is deeply in debt or hasn&#8217;t saved a penny for retirement? What about the people whose closets are overflowing with rarely or never-worn clothes, and the families with smartphone bills over $300 a month? Helaine Olen: Our salaries are stagnating or falling, and our net worth plunged by 40% between 2007 and 2010. That didn’t happen because people had a $300 a month smartphone bill. Give me a break. Are there financially irresponsible people out there? Of course there are. Always have been, always will be. But if we are going to tell people to look in the mirror, we need to take a hard look at the precariousness of American life and the predatory nature of our financial institutions as well. (MORE: Why More Americans Will Fall Behind<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=66178&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://business.time.com/2013/01/10/is-most-personal-finance-advice-useless-author-exposes-industrys-dark-side/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Personal Finance</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/personal-finance-2/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/ap050705016470.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/ap050705016470.jpg?w=240" />
		<media:content url="http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/ap050705016470.jpg?w=240" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">AP050705016470</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/f8de938518e7b986d552694ed99aa54d?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F0.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">bradtuttle</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Closing the Chore Gap</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2012/12/21/closing-the-chore-gap/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2012/12/21/closing-the-chore-gap/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 21 Dec 2012 10:45:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>David Futrelle</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Careers & Workplace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Work/Life Balance]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=64846</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The so-called Second-Shift isn’t just a figment of the imagination of working women irritated that they have to nag their husbands to do their fair share of the chores. A new study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development shows that across the developed world, women do far more of the unpaid domestic work that keeps households running, even when they’re also putting in many hours at work. Men, it’s true, tend to put in more hours at jobs than women do, but when you add together the total number of hours of work, both paid and unpaid, women worked more than men in all but a handful of the developed countries the OECD included in its analysis. In the US, the difference in total time worked is significant but not enormous:  On average, women put in 21 minutes a day more at work and at home than men do (which, coincidentally, is also the average for all OECD countries surveyed). The real difference is between paid and unpaid work &#8212; what you might call the &#8220;chore gap.&#8221; American men put in about 5 hours a day on the job; women put in four. But women make up the difference and then some at home, putting in a little over 4 hours on housework and childcare, compared to only 2.7 hours for men. The work of raising children still falls overwhelmingly to mothers, not fathers. (MORE: More Women Are In the Workforce — So Why Are They Still Doing So Many Chores?) The problem here goes well beyond resentment over who’s been doing their fair share of the dishes. The gender gap in total hours worked, and even more so the vast differences between men and women in paid and unpaid work, help to perpetuate some persistent inequalities. Obviously, women who work fewer hours earn less; they also tend to earn less per hour and get fewer benefits. And it’s hard to put in the hours necessary to compete in high pressure jobs when you&#8217;re pulling double duty at home.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=64846&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://business.time.com/2012/12/21/closing-the-chore-gap/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Work/Life Balance</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/careers-workplace/worklife-balance/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/83065876.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/83065876.jpg?w=240" />
		<media:content url="http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/83065876.jpg?w=240" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">83065876</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://2.gravatar.com/avatar/297c01e606ce762c0604fa72c26c8b29?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F2.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">dsfutrelle</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Parent Holiday Conundrum: How to Walk the Fine Line Between Treating and Spoiling Your Kids</title>
		<link>http://business.time.com/2012/12/20/parent-holiday-conundrum-how-walk-the-fine-line-between-treating-and-spoiling-your-kids/</link>
		<comments>http://business.time.com/2012/12/20/parent-holiday-conundrum-how-walk-the-fine-line-between-treating-and-spoiling-your-kids/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 20 Dec 2012 14:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kit Yarrow</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Budgeting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Psychology of Money]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saving & Spending]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Smart Spending]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Work/Life Balance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[children]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christmas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[family]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gifts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[holiday shopping]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[kids]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[parents]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[spoiled kids]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[spoiling]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://business.time.com/?p=64790</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Parents are in a pickle at this time of year, caught in between conflicting impulses: the urge to indulge kids with piles of goodies and the fear of raising entitled brats who get everything they want. Is it remotely possible to be Santa and a responsible parent at the same time? Moms and dads have obviously ambivalent feelings about the holidays. In a survey conducted last year, the majority of parents said they feel guilty if they don’t buy everything on their kid’s wish lists and yet they also think they’re spoiling their kids. Despite the fact that most parents acknowledge they spoil their children, especially around the holidays, we do it anyway, largely because the yearning to make a kid&#8217;s magical dreams come true—not to the mention the guilt—is overpowering. But why is it that the compulsion to indulge kids seems so much stronger nowadays? Here are a few reasons: Kids Have More Power in the House Over the past century, we’ve seen a steady narrowing of the power gap between parents and their children. Parents of every generation have loved their kids, but decade after decade, they&#8217;ve moved up the rungs of the typical family hierarchy&#8217;s list of needs. In the early 1900s, when many families still had farms and there were plenty of chores to be done, children were a source of economic security. It was assumed that kids had obligations to help the family that fed, housed, and clothed them. (MORE: Why Holiday Season &#8216;Self-Gifting&#8217; Is Such a Huge Trend) The children of Baby Boomers, on the other hand, were viewed as prizes that parents needed to guide, shape, and take responsibility for. Children were encouraged to look out for themselves, rather than focus on serving their families. Today&#8217;s parents often feel like it&#8217;s their job to make sure their kids&#8217; lives are filled with nonstop happiness and joy. All of which helps explain why kids today have more say in everything from what’s for dinner to where the family vacations—and also, of course, what winds<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=business.time.com&#038;blog=31173800&#038;post=64790&#038;subd=timebusinessblog&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://business.time.com/2012/12/20/parent-holiday-conundrum-how-walk-the-fine-line-between-treating-and-spoiling-your-kids/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Smart Spending</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://business.time.com/category/saving-spending/smart-spending/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/presents.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/presents.jpg?w=240" />
		<media:content url="http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/presents.jpg?w=240" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">Too Many Presents</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/44310a1af940f994952d1e4db73096cd?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F1.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">TIME.com</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
	</channel>
</rss>
