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"Welcome to the executive suite. But beware: Your smallest acts can cause big consequences."

"Like many workers, Ivelisse Rivera, a physician at Community Health Center, Middletown, Conn., feels stressed-out by mounting workloads. And she didn't expect to get much help during her employer's annual staff meeting last November-just the usual speeches on medical issues."

"Heather Logrippo says her employees didn't seem too enthusiastic at first when she handed out construction paper and crayons and told them to find a quiet place for 30 minutes."

"For Valentine's Day on Monday, Amy McMahon will be celebrating twice. She's preparing a romantic candlelight dinner for her longtime boyfriend and giving him a gift card from his favorite fitness website. That same day, Ms. McMahon will be giving her "work husband" some small heart-shaped cakes and a sentimental card."

Managers concede that favoritism plays a big role in deciding who gets promoted, however few will admit to playing favorites.

When Frank Lloyd Wright unveiled the Johnson Wax Building in 1939, it showcased a new way of looking at work. One room, covering half an acre (0.2 hectare), was filled with women, lined up in rows, typing. Work didn't necessarily mean loud, dirty factories, but it still involved sitting in orderly rows, doing orderly work for a finicky boss.

I've been pondering the future since my dad took me to visit the World Future Society headquarters in Bethesda, Md., when I was 10 years old. And now that I'm a career writer, it's my job to think about what the workplace will look like -- and what it will demand from us -- in 2025.

Q: I'm an intelligent, talented and creative person, but I'm lacking motivation to perform my job to the best of my abilities, and it is starting to show. I'm planning on leaving my firm for graduate school next year, but in the meantime, do you have any ideas on how I can regain my motivation at work? There are no upcoming projects which even hold the remotest level of interest for me, and based on my recent performance review, I would not likely be assigned them to begin with.

If you're gay or lesbian and you're closeted at your office, you're not alone. Despite major strides in acceptance over the last 15 years, many still struggle with the decision to come out at work. A recent Harris poll conducted with Out & Equal and Witeck-Combs Communications indicated that 44% of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) participants feel unable to talk freely to co-workers about their partners, and up to 78% don't feel comfortable bringing their partners to corporate social functions.

Longtime runner Ray Gobis posted a 3:09 at the Boston Marathon in April-his personal best. The cause wasn't a new training technique or the perfect weather. It was because Mr. Gobis got laid off.

When it comes to displaying feelings at work, you have to be careful. There's passionate -- and there's emotionally unstable.

Nowadays, new laptops usually come with built-in Webcams, including the ultra-small, inexpensive models known as netbooks. But many people don't know what to do with these Webcams or how to use them for videoconferencing with other people. Some don't even realize their computers have these tiny videocameras.

A few months ago, Andrea Kornfeld was working on a computer program to shave milliseconds off of transactions at Merrill Lynch. Now, she's spending her severance pay on a mosquito net and malaria pills for her new job: as a Peace Corps volunteer teaching computer skills to high-school students in Cameroon.

With the unemployment rate hitting a new 25-year high Friday, many workers and layoff victims in the worst-suffering industries are looking for safer sectors.

The joy of a private office-it's something 89% of senior managers in the U.S. have celebrated. Soon after, though, there's the realization that the space feels cut off from the action. At times, the four walls can feel like barriers to keeping in touch with colleagues.

The Underlying Psychology Of Office Politics