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  • 🙄 Paycheck Plateau, "Polyworking" Trend, Salary Negotiation Secrets - Jul 8, 2025

🙄 Paycheck Plateau, "Polyworking" Trend, Salary Negotiation Secrets - Jul 8, 2025

Why your salary's not growing, career clarity snapshot worksheet, a look at the "polyworking" trend—plus more work wisdom.

July 08, 2025

Hello, Work Pros. 🌞 Stuck at a paycheck plateau? Wondering how to negotiate smarter or thrive in the polyworking world? This week, we’re helping you reset, skill up, and get clear on your career path


On today’s agenda:

🙄 Paycheck plateau

đŸ§© The polyworking trend

📾 Career clarity snapshot

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

🙄 The Paycheck Plateau: Why Your Salary's Not Growing (and What to Do About It)

Feeling like your paycheck hit the snooze button while everything else—rent, groceries, even your favorite desk snacks—keeps rising? You’re not imagining it.

According to recent BLS data, real wages have barely budged over the past year, and inflation has quietly eaten into any gains. Meanwhile, job security? Shakier than your Wi-Fi on Zoom Fridays.

What’s causing the slowdown?

  • Companies are tightening budgets amid economic uncertainty

  • AI and automation are reshaping roles (yes, again 😅)

  • Many industries are pushing “do more with less” as the new norm

What can smart professionals do?

  • Audit your value: List your wins, metrics, and skills—ammo for your next raise

  • Upskill: AI-proof yourself with in-demand soft skills + digital skills

  • Negotiate smarter: Don’t accept less because “times are tough”

Waiting around for your boss to notice your worth? That’s a full-time job... with no benefits.

TODAY’S TASK
📌 Audit Your Online Presence — Google yourself. Is your LinkedIn headline sharp? Does your portfolio reflect your best work? Spend 15 minutes cleaning up your digital footprint: update a bio, add a recent win, or remove outdated info. First impressions happen online—make sure yours is on point. Online presence tips »

WEEKLY STEAL

💡 The Secrets to Salary Negotiation: 7-Step Guide

This guide created by our experts takes you over everything you need to know about handling salary negotiation and maximizing your chances of the best outcome.

  • Printable and downloadable

  • Read on any device — PDF eBook

  • 28-pages of salary wisdom

Community promo ends Jul 11, midnight

THE WORK PULSE

đŸ€– AI Skills Hiring Priority - The Software Report

  • What’s unfolding: Employers are putting AI literacy front and center in the hiring process, often prioritizing it over traditional experience. A new report emphasizes the growing need for skills in prompt engineering, data analysis, and general AI fluency as automation continues to reshape work across industries.

  • Why it matters: Professionals who don’t upskill in AI risk falling behind. Whether you’re job seeking or advancing internally, AI capabilities are quickly becoming the baseline for competitive roles.

đŸ§© Polyworking: Juggling Multiple Roles - The HR Digest

  • What’s unfolding: The “polyworking” trend—where employees maintain multiple jobs or side roles—is gaining steam. Driven by financial pressures and personal fulfillment, it’s causing HR teams to rethink policies and workforce flexibility to manage engagement, burnout, and trust.

  • Why it matters: For workers, it reflects shifting priorities around freedom and income streams. For employers, recognizing and supporting this trend could be key to retention and employee satisfaction in today’s flexible work economy.

🌿 Workplace Wellbeing Push - IFA Magazine

  • What’s unfolding: In honor of World Wellbeing Week, experts urge companies to implement small but meaningful wellness practices—like gratitude rituals, team check-ins, and clear break boundaries. Almost half of employees report stress and disengagement from lack of support.

  • Why it matters: Investing in wellbeing isn’t a perk—it’s essential for retention and productivity. Leaders and professionals alike need to prioritize mental health to maintain strong, resilient teams in high-pressure environments.

JOB BOARD

🎯 Are you recruiting? Post your vacancies on our job board.

CAREER GROWTH

How to Make Better Career Decisions: Step-by-Step Guide

We spend almost a third of our day working. That means the number of decisions we make regarding our work are aplenty. But problems arise when career decisions involve making tough choices that will affect our future (and possibly other people’s future, too). It’s hard to find help and valuable information on how to make better career decisions, leaving you feeling lost and confused.

RESOURCE ROUNDUP

FOCUS TO-DO
🍅 Pomodoro-Based Task Manager
Combining to-do lists with the Pomodoro technique — stay focused by timing tasks and minimizing distractions.
Try the tool »

WEEKLY GOODY

A Career Clarity Snapshot to Help You Reflect

A simple shift in perspective can transform how you approach everything — from your job search to passion projects. That’s why we’re sharing a one-page Career Clarity Snapshot — a quick, insightful tool to help you reflect on what truly motivates you and how to align your next move with it.

👇 Download your copy and start making career choices with confidence.

Download link available to email subscribers

BREAKROOM

Best career advice worth hearing is to dress for the job you want, not the job you have. Hulk Hogan outfit in store

SMART READS

đŸ„‡ 25 TOP RĂ©sumĂ© Examples for Inspiration

✔ Personal Qualities and Skills Employers Crave

đŸ€” How to Land a Job with No Experience: 10 Tips

FEEDBACK

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📬 Missed last week’s issue ‘Hustle Loop’? Read it »