It’s one of your biggest challenges: how to keep your employees happy--and productive. The solution has less to do with creating specific policies--many companies are eliminating them--than with creating workplace philosophies. For our second annual Best Workplaces survey, Inc. asked thousands of employees about the places they work. (Inc.)

Travel for business is often a necessity. Sometimes it’s a pleasant necessity, sometimes it’s an unpleasant necessity. Either way, it keeps life interesting. Just to keep things from getting too interesting on the road, check out these top ten mobile apps for business travel. (Business.com)

You’ve never quite figured out the best way to organize your to-do list–join the club. Perhaps you’ve got dozens of pages of to-dos stored away in the Notes app on your phone, and dozens more spread out across Slack and Trello. Or maybe you’ve tried a bunch to-do list apps and haven’t been able to commit to one. Fear not: There’s no right way to do to-do lists. ()

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The nation's best jobs boast salaries that average $100,000 and up, offer generous company benefits, and promise to have recruiting suitors fighting for your hand. But they are highly technical roles carrying job descriptions like DevOps engineer and analytics manager that demand an alphabet soup of computer skills as well as incessant on-the-job learning. (USA TODAY)

Job satisfaction is every worker's goal, but sadly it eludes most working Americans. A Gallup study of worker engagement in the U.S. found 70% are not engaged at work. But leaving a job, even one you hate, is risky. It's usually better to find a way to salvage your current situation before calling it quits—it's easier to find a job when you already have one. But if the situation can't be resolved, try to put a plan in place for new employment before you pull the plug. (Fortune)

Have you ever heard about someone "cutting the line" to land their dream job? They’re the people getting the perfect position without ever submitting a resume, or negotiating a sweet signing bonus plus five weeks vacation, or getting hired for a role the company created just for them. How do they do it? Are they just naturally golden? Or do they know something you don’t? (The Muse)

When it comes to the topic of diversity, organizations are applauded or reprimanded for their efforts. However, there is little backstory or information for companies to establish a baseline for what a diverse workplace and work teams look like. Instead, diversity is positioned as a warm and fuzzy activity that is morally just instead of looking to compliance for direction and guidance on what to do. (Forbes)

Fitting in a new role can be a great experience but for many it can come with anxiety and worry. There will be opportunities for you to flex your organization muscles, demonstrate your ability to lead and create the connections necessary for your success. But there can be pitfalls, especially if you're not part of majority group in the office. Recently, Ed Yong at The Atlantic reported on a study of a group of female engineering students. Some were given male mentors, some female mentors, and others no mentors. (Inc.)

Is political gridlock actually a good thing for Britain? That's the argument made by some analysts after an election projection showed that Prime Minister Theresa May is in danger of losing her majority in parliament. The pound -- which is highly sensitive to negative Brexit news -- slumped below $1.28 after the release of the YouGov projection. But the currency quickly rebounded. (CNN Money)

Russia’s deal with OPEC has bolstered state coffers by putting a floor under crude prices, but it’s also had one unintended consequence: depressing output in the nation’s West Siberian oil heartlands. With the Kremlin offering lower tax rates for new projects in the Caspian and East Siberia, Rosneft PJSC, Lukoil PJSC and other producers have looked elsewhere for the cuts that will allow Russia to comply with 300,000 barrels-a-day of production curbs. That means the Soviet-era fields of West Siberia. (Bloomberg)

Small business loans often come with a slew of additional fees. While they may vary based on the lender, the following are common ones you might encounter. Financing is a crucial part of any successful business, providing much-needed capital for important investments like renovations, upgrades, expansions, and inventory. But it’s not without their downsides. Many business loans come with obscure or hidden fees, which you may not know about until it’s too late to turn back. (Business.com)

Join us in Philadelphia this September for the nation's premier diversity career, education and networking event. Register now for the 2017 Annual Conference and Expo, presented by NBMBAA and Prospanica, and take advantage of early pricing discounts and best hotel locations.

Forget the boarding pass. JetBlue will just scan your face. The airline will test facial-recognition check-in next month for flights from Boston to Aruba, the latest attempt by the industry to streamline boarding. Passengers will step up to a camera, and the kiosk will compare the facial scan to passport photos in the U.S. customs database to confirm the match. (You still have to bring your passport.) A screen above the camera will let passengers know when they're cleared to board. (CNN Money)

At one point, nongovernmental organizations and charity groups were the only options for alleviating societal ills, but in today’s increasingly interconnected world, we’re facing more complex issues that require more innovative and sustainable solutions. This has led to the rapid upsurge of social entrepreneurship; now, socially conscious entrepreneurs tackle local and global social challenges while generating profits. (Entrepreneur)

L. Michelle Smith, Director, Public Relations, AT&T Global Marketing Organization, recently served as a guest speaker at the "Culture and Code" luncheon during the Black Enterprise Entrepreneur’s Summit. Smith shared her thoughts on the "Culture and Code" luncheon and why entrepreneurs must understand the ‘fail fast’ theory. (Rolling Out)

Black Enterprise magazine has created the BE 100s, the magazine’s annual ranking of the nation’s top 100 Black-owned businesses. This year World Wide Technology has made to the top of the list. The company found in 1990, has grown into a global firm with more than $7 billion in revenue and 3,000 employees. The other leaders included Radio One, whose 55 radio stations fan out among 16 national markets and Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Productions. Unfortunately, the detailed analysis reveals that these pioneering companies are the exception to a far more alarming trend. During the last 30 years, many Black-owned independent businesses and financial institutions have collapsed. (Black Matters US)

President Trump’s immigration crackdown is already crimping economic growth as undocumented workers fearful of deportation stay home and reduce their spending, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas said Wednesday. (USA TODAY)

The U.S. economy is behaving mysteriously. Usually wage growth accelerates when the job market is tight: Employers have to pay more to attract and retain workers. But even though the unemployment rate hit a decade low of 4.4 percent in April, average hourly earnings of all private non-farm workers grew just 2.5 percent over the past year—compared with an annual rate of more than 4 percent the last time the jobless rate was this low. (Bloomberg)

Are you getting ready to take out a mortgage? Before you commit to a loan you'll pay for the next three decades or so, make sure you know exactly what you're getting into. Homeowners who don't understand their mortgages could get into big financial trouble, but you can make certain you're not one of them by confirming you know the answers to these six key questions. (USA TODAY)