Workspace

Where the Spectrum Is Sliced and Diced

A manager’s colorful work area at Pantone reflects the company’s mission: to create color standards that can be used by a range of designers.

Applied Science

When Those Who Know Won’t Share

By PHYLLIS KORKKI

Teamwork may be important in the workplace, but research shows that individual workers find various rationales for keeping knowledge to themselves.

The Workologist

Please, Boss, Give Me Something to Do

By ROB WALKER

A recent college graduate finds herself in a new position with a salary and benefits, but few duties.

Vocations: The Infection Preventionist

On the Lookout for Ebola

Interview by PATRICIA R. OLSEN

A nurse who works in infection prevention describes her hospital’s precautions against the risk of Ebola. The experience, she says, has taught her “to constantly be ready.”

On Work

Drowning in Dishes, but Finding a Home

By DANIAL ADKISON

A job at Pizza Hut offered a sense of family, all because of a caring boss and his simple message: Work hard and do things right, and you will succeed.

Vocations: The Field Team Coordinator

Taking Stock After a Disaster

Interview by PATRICIA R. OLSEN

Michael Pelonero brings personal experience to his job of conducting home inventories after natural disasters. He lost his own home in Hurricane Ike in 2008.

The Workologist

When Your Ex-Boss Haunts Twitter

By ROB WALKER

A reader who followed an ex-supervisor on Twitter and Instagram asks the Workologist how to break those ties.

Shortcuts

The Contrarians on Stress: It Can Be Good for You

By ALINA TUGEND

Studies indicate that stress can be stimulating and healthy, and that boredom can have the same effects as having too much to do.

Corner Office

Penny Herscher of FirstRain: What Parents Can Teach a C.E.O.

By ADAM BRYANT

A chief executive says the skills learned in raising a child are analogous to “nurturing a team and bringing a project to life.”

The Upshot

Looking at Productivity as a State of Mind

By SENDHIL MULLAINATHAN

Policy makers often fret that worker productivity isn’t growing fast enough. And each of us also worries about individual productivity.

Onwork

Pearls of Career Wisdom, Found in the Trash

By MICHAEL CASCIO

Michael Cascio, a media consultant and former television executive, says nothing prepared him better for work and life than a summer job as a janitor.