Insights from Q5 Australia to help you lead with impact in 2025 Start 2025 strong with 7 key leadership lessons from Q5’s Australian team. From co-designing solutions and clear communication to embracing change and fostering team culture, these insights help leaders innovate, adapt, and empower their teams for success in the evolving business landscape. Reading time: 4 minutes In Australia and New Zealand, we see a new year as having…
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a permanent increase in the automatic extension period for certain Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) up to 540 days. The final rule will take effect on January 13, 2025. Background on the History of Automatic EAD Extensions The automatic extension of EADs was first introduced in 2016 to address extended processing times, which led to gaps in employment. Prior to the automatic extension, an…
Gilles Dellaert is the global head of Blackstone Credit and Insurance (BXCI), which was created to bring together Blackstone’s corporate credit, asset-based finance, and insurance groups. BXCI now manages more than $350 billion in assets, accounting for the bulk of Blackstone’s total credit assets and a substantial part of the firm’s $1 trillion-plus of assets under management (AUM). McKinsey’s Andrew Reich, Ari Libarikian, and David Schoeman sat down with Dellaert…
This includes the shutting down of Russian-language media, illegal detentions and searches of representatives of opposition parties and movements, the removal of opposition candidates from elections, the violation of the law by the authorities themselves (which has become commonplace), as well as the active and massive use of public resources, manipulations and falsifications in the elections, which allowed the Sandu regime to retain power. Thus, in the last presidential elections,…
Quick Hits On December 4, 2024, the Maine Department of Labor released final regulations for the state’s paid family and medical leave program. Employers must start payroll withholdings for the state’s paid family and medical leave program on January 1, 2025. Employers can apply for a private plan substitution after April 1, 2025, and must submit payroll contributions until a private plan substitution is approved. Payroll deductions for Maine’s paid…
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Today’s business leaders recognize transformation as the courageous choice required to deliver an ambitious business agenda. As we reported earlier this year, companies pursue transformation to reset the business, venture into areas of greater ambition, deliver bold growth, enable operating-model change, build new and competitive capabilities, and evolve their culture in ways that can set them apart from competitors.What is transformation? We define it as a process that begins with…
Topics Column Our expert columnists offer opinion and analysis on important issues facing modern businesses and managers. More in this series subscribe-icon Subscribe Share Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images Just a few months ago, many people thought the battles over the value of the hybrid work model — and, on the flip side, return-to-office (RTO) mandates — were finally dying down. Two-thirds of U.S. companies had settled into a…
Quick Hits Starting in 2025, the SECURE 2.0 Act allows participants ages sixty to sixty-three to make “super-catch-up contributions” of up to $10,000 or 150 percent of the regular catch-up limit. Employers may need to amend their retirement plans by the end of 2024 to accommodate the new super-catch-up contributions or clarify their implementation. The introduction of super-catch-up contributions will require significant updates to payroll and recordkeeping systems to track…
This commentary originally appeared in the Hartford Courant. The return of President Trump portends sweeping changes across many areas of economic policy, and those impacts will be felt by virtually every business sector and every region of the state. In fact, even beyond Trump’s broad economic pledges of tax cuts, deregulation, and tariffs, and beyond the President-elect promises to repeal his own cap on state and local tax deductions (SALT);…
From bustling urban centers to small towns across the United States, the economic power and business potential of Latino communities is immense. Today, 19 percent of the US population identifies as Latino or Hispanic. According to the US Census Bureau, Latinos are expected to comprise approximately 28 percent of the total US population by 2060. Latino small-business owners also skew younger, which means there is great promise for long-term value…
The air around us contains a powerful solution for making agriculture more sustainable. Researchers at Stanford University and King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Saudi Arabia have developed a prototype device that can produce ammonia – a key fertilizer ingredient – using wind energy to draw air through a mesh. The approach they developed, if perfected, might eliminate the need for a century-old method that produces ammonia by…
What caused the fall of the Assad government? The fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government and the opposition’s rise to power were the result of many years of internal and external contradictions that had intertwined into a complex knot, leading to devastating consequences for Syria. These events cannot be called sudden or unexpected. They were the logical outcome of deep-seated processes that had been tearing the country apart for years and…
January 02, 2024 Harness your own creativity, learn to leverage ChatGPT, and have some fun are three of the suggestions from our faculty to help you make your new year healthier, more rewarding, and more prosperous. January 19, 2024 The door plug that plunged from an Alaska Airlines aircraft in flight earlier this month was there to seal off an unused emergency exit. Amy Fraher, a Yale SOM lecturer and…
Investment Management Division Report On Nov. 5, 2024, the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) published OSC Staff Notice 81-736 (the Staff Notice), summarizing the activities and regulatory focus of the OSC’s Investment Management Division (IM Division), formerly known as the Investment Funds and Structured Products Branch, for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024. This bulletin highlights certain key insights from the Staff Notice, including: New artificial intelligence (AI) and cryptocurrency…
Why do we resist trusting AI recommendations? How can we improve the pricing and approval process for new health technologies? In what ways does board risk oversight impact environmental and social performance? What effect do career transitions and frictions have on performance? And how do past negative experiences with creativity influence how creative we are? These are just some of the pressing and pertinent questions INSEAD professors have been exploring in…
16 December 2024By Stefan Gebauer, Thomas McGregor and Sebastiaan PoolThough overall inflation has come down a lot, domestic inflation remains stubbornly high. This is typical for monetary policy tightening cycles. To understand why, The ECB Blog looks at how monetary policy is transmitted to wages, profits and productivity.In response to surging inflation, the ECB decisively raised interest rates and tightened its policy stance. Inflation in the euro area has since…
BLG senior counsel, Rambod Behboodi, was invited to appear before the House of Commons Standing Committee on International Trade on Dec. 9, 2024, to share his thoughts on the potential trade impact of Canada’s leadership in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The following is his presentation, with French sections translated into English. Good morning, Madame Chair and members of the Committee. It’s an honour to appear before you to discuss trade…
Quick Hits The Connecticut Appellate Court ruled that phrases like “recent college graduates” in job postings are not inherently age-discriminatory under Connecticut law, providing clarity for employers while underscoring the value of careful drafting to avoid litigation risks. The court rejected the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities’ argument that the phrase “recent college graduates” served as a proxy for age discrimination, as there was no factual basis to…
The legislation to implement Canada’s new system of Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) has been registered with the Privy Counsel and has published. The system will come into effect on January 1, 2025. Canada is required to implement PTA in 2025 to offset administrative delay in granting patents under the terms of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA). Draft amendments to Canada’s Patent Rules were published earlier in the year. The final legislation…
The holiday shopping season has arrived, and we are already seeing some fascinating shifts in consumer behavior and spending habits. From Thanksgiving weekend to Cyber Monday and beyond, the landscape of retail continues to evolve, blending in-store and online experiences with new trends in consumer preferences. 2024 Holiday Shopping Trends A Mixed Bag of Numbers for Thanksgiving Weekend The National Retail Federation (NRF) and Prosper Insights & Analytics reported that…
By: Andrea Davis The U.S. Department of State announced a significant update to the Exchange Visitor Skills List, effective as of December 9, 2024. This action is in response to an Executive Order issued last year, in which the Biden Administration gave instructions to “consider initiating a rulemaking to establish new criteria to designate countries and skills on the Department of State’s Exchange Visitor Skills List as it relates to…
Quick Hits The January 2025 Visa Bulletin shows no change from last month’s bulletin for employment-based categories for dates for filing. Final action dates show slight advancement for EB-2 and EB-3 for some countries/categories. USCIS will honor dates for filing for I-485 adjustment of status applications filed in January 2025. USCIS has announced that it will accept Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, from foreign nationals…
On July 17, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) launched the new MyCIPO Patents online portal for filing, tracking, and managing patents files, as part of their modernization effort and alignment with the World Intellectual Property Office’s ST.27 standard for the Exchange of Patent Legal Status Data. Significant problems began immediately. Initial issues that appear to have been resolved included: the Canadian Patents Database (CPD) being inaccessible for approximately six…
We’ve moved into winter and that means many bands and artists are taking a breather after summer and fall tours. Some seemed to go on for eras. For me, that means waiting a few months to catch some favorite acts. But I’ve got plenty of music to digest in the meantime. To my surprise, several of the new bands I’ve discovered do not have federal trademark registrations. No — I won’t be naming names. Okay,…
Quick Hits On December 9, 2024, the State Department updated the J-1 Exchange Visitor Skills List, revising the countries subject to the two-year foreign residence requirement. J-1 visa holders from China, India, and other countries may see a significant reduction in restrictions depending on the changes in their respective skills lists. The change, which took effect immediately, is retroactive, potentially allowing J-1 visa holders who were previously subject to the…
In this episode of McKinsey on Building Products, McKinsey partner Rikki Singh speaks with Paul Yacoubian, co-founder and CEO of Copy.ai. They explore how an AI-native company such as Copy.ai leverages product-led growth (PLG), the pivotal role of analytics in the company’s customer outreach strategy, and how start-ups can scale effectively without overexpanding. An edited version of their conversation follows. Background of Copy.ai Rikki Singh: Tell me a bit about…
In just the past few years, a series of unprecedented and fast-moving threats have disrupted organizations. How companies, particularly financial institutions, respond to these complex risks has profound implications. The COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on credit models, and social media has played a leading role in accelerating bank runs to real time. The latter exposed a systemic risk that has required banks to rethink their liquidity and interest rate models.…
By: Erin Dougherty Foley, Sara Eber Fowler, Taylor Iaculla, Ridhima Bhalla, and Hannah Sosenko Seyfarth Synopsis: On January 1, 2025, employers in Illinois must be poised to comply with the looming changes to a host of existing and newly enacted employment laws. The changes reflect the state’s ongoing expansion of workers’ rights and addressing issues of employment discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and freedom of speech. Illinois Human Rights Act Amendments Period…
Transit agencies in the United States are at an inflection point. Ridership—along with revenue generated from fares—remains, on average, significantly below prepandemic levels. Costs continue to rise as agencies (which manage state and local public-transit systems, including buses, subways, light rail, commuter rail, trolleys, and ferries) pay more to expand services and adopt innovations that are demanded by riders. Aging infrastructure is creating growing maintenance backlogs. Meanwhile, federal subsidies, which…
Euro-Atlantic utopia The post-Soviet space is currently experiencing the largest transformations since the collapse of the USSR. They include not only the armed confrontation in Ukraine, the struggle to create an alternative financial and logistical architecture, and the growing activity of extra-regional players. There is also a third dimension, a psychological one. We are not talking about an ideology centred on utopia, the Greek term for “a place that does…
Throwing Away the Contract In Favor of an Environment of Enduring Bargaining: Biden Board Expectedly Reinstates Waiver Analysis for Mid-Term Unilateral Changes | Management Writes: Practical Labor Law Updates Skip to content
Mixed-use real estate developments and neighborhoods, where office, retail, and residential property coexist, were growing in popularity well before the COVID-19 pandemic. McKinsey’s research on how the pandemic affected demand for commercial real estate underscores how these areas contribute to resilience, better quality of life, and financial success. Cities with these dynamic spaces saw fewer people fleeing to the suburbs, greater office attendance, and stronger in-store retail than did cities where…
Future-proof your business Strategic Workforce Planning (SWP) helps businesses align their workforce capabilities with future goals. By assessing skills, forecasting needs, and fostering adaptability, organisations build resilience against market uncertainties. Q5 supports clients with tailored SWP strategies, combining workforce modelling and organisational health expertise. A client example highlights enhanced talent retention and readiness. Reading time: 5 minutes Rapid technological advancements, shifting market dynamics, and global uncertainty are now commonplace influences…
Eight years ago, Battery kicked off a research project into what we termed “blue-collar software”. We used the term to describe technology for workers in the field—on a crowded construction site, or on a factory or retail-shop floor—and not those sitting behind a cushy office desk. This software, we wrote in a slide deck at the time summarizing our thesis, was often delivered via mobile devices and focused on automating…
The used-car market has faced unprecedented upheaval in recent years. From 2014 to 2024, prices increased by an average of 3 percent per year. The beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, followed by the supply shock, sent used-car prices soaring, rising by about 50 percent between second quarter 2020 and third quarter 2022. But since late 2022, used-car prices have dropped by 20 percent in several European countries, and there’s significant…
Suddenly we spotted a luminous white, purple-spotted flower dangling above our heads. We suspected immediately that it was new to science. It’s so exciting that beautiful species like this are still there waiting to be described.Dr Chris Thorogood, Oxford Botanic Garden and Arboretum and Department of BiologyThe group made the discovery during an expedition to the remote Barangay Balbalasang rainforest on the island of Luzon in 2022. This almost impenetrable…
Led by researchers from the University of Oxford’s Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science and the University of Iceland, the review explores how genetic variations can explain differences in reproductive health and longevity.The study provides the most comprehensive review of male and female genetic discoveries of reproductive traits to date, and provides new insights into how our DNA affects when we have children, the timing of menopause, and even how that…
Tips to get your team future-fit for 2025 Chris Parsons, Q5’s founding partner, highlights the importance of becoming ‘future fit’ for 2025. By setting a clear direction, simplifying processes, embracing technology, and fostering a culture of optimism, leaders can drive efficiency and performance. The actions taken now will shape next year’s success—start planning for a thriving 2025 today. Reading Time: 3 minutes Being ‘future fit’ for 2025 should be on…
Quick Hits On November 21, 2024, OFCCP released “A Guide to Combatting Harassment in the Construction Industry,” providing information and resources for federal construction contractors and subcontractors. OFCCP’s guide is prepared in a Q&A chart format detailing the agency’s responsibilities, generally, and discussing harassment examples, obligations related to combatting harassment in the construction industry, worker rights, and best practices for maintaining harassment-free workplaces. OFCCP’s guide follows similar guidance from the…