Month: August 2025

• Five tech executives share how they made career pivots and the advice they would give to others.
• Axiom’s CEO advised leveraging transferrable skills while others recommended leaning into discomfort.
• Some executives also advised collecting information before making a change.

Making a career pivot can be intimidating since it usually requires stepping into unfamiliar territory.

Despite the challenge, career transitions are top of mind for many Americans. A Glassdoor community survey from earlier this year found that 50% of professionals were planning to pivot in 2025, and 32% were considering it.

We spoke to five executives at tech companies, including Google and Salesforce. All of them made at least one pivot on the way to becoming a tech leader, and some have made multiple career changes over the years.

Here’s how they transformed their careers, and the advice they would give to others:

Ghent (24brussels) – A violent incident involving a bus driver on the Ghent–Blaarmeersen route has prompted urgent discussions among city officials, transport unions, and De Lijn. Following the attack, union representative Steven Steyaert is advocating for the installation of secure driver cabins, increased inspector presence, and more rigorous ticket checks at Gent-Sint-Pieters, reports 24brussels.

On August 12, 2025, a case of aggression occurred on a bus heading to the De Blaarmeersen recreation area in Ghent, leading to immediate talks between the unions and the city. These discussions aim to examine the situation and consider necessary safety improvements to protect drivers.

On August 13, 2025, De Lijn will also participate in talks to implement swift measures addressing safety concerns. The discussions will prioritize a new safety plan, reflecting ongoing apprehensions from bus drivers regarding violent confrontations.

What safety measures will protect the bus drivers in Ghent?

Steyaert highlighted that numerous safety proposals have previously been put forward, yet none have been fully realized across the bus network. A significant request is the installation of secure driver cabins that effectively separate operators from passengers, a feature that many buses currently lack.

The unions are advocating for the deployment of additional inspectors along the Blaarmeersen route to maintain order and respond promptly to incidents. Today’s meeting is expected to outline a timeline for the implementation of these measures and assess the possibility of temporary solutions until permanent ones are established.

Moreover, union representatives urge for more rigorous ticket inspections at Gent-Sint-Pieters station, indicating that fare evasion often sparks conflicts. They maintain that enforcing checks at the station could mitigate incidents related to unpaid fares.

De Lijn has confirmed its involvement in these discussions. Notably, the driver who faced the assault was employed by a subcontractor, emphasizing the necessity to keep subcontractors updated on any forthcoming security measures.

On the day of the attack, a female bus driver was assaulted by a group of young people, who spat at her and physically attacked her. Over recent years, unions have raised alarms about escalating violence against public transport workers, primarily linked to fare disputes and mask compliance issues during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2022, a bus driver in Ghent was struck in the face when requesting a valid ticket from a traveler. In a similar incident in Antwerp that year, a driver was injured while attempting to remove an aggressive passenger. These events prompted temporary increases in police checks and ticket inspections.

Taylor Swift helped Zoe Kravitz seek refuge after the devastating wildfires across California caused irreversible damage to dozens of properties across Hollywood

• Employers have a new workplace issue to worry about: quiet cracking.
• In this job market, workers are “struggling in silence,” says Frank Giampietro, EY’s Chief Wellbeing Officer.
• Quiet cracking can resemble and lead to burnout. Here are the warning signs to watch for.

If quiet quitting was the poster child of workplace issues over the past few years, it’s not anymore.

Now, a new problem employers have to watch out for is “quiet cracking,” says Frank Giampietro, EY Americas Chief Wellbeing Officer.

What is quiet cracking?

Quiet cracking is when workers “show up, they do their job, but they struggle in silence while they do it,” as Giampietro put it in a recent interview with Business Insider.

“What we’ve seen in the market more recently is that a lot of folks are actually staying with their current employers, but they’re not actually thriving at work,” he said.

This owes to the current job market, which has many workers avoiding leaving their jobs, even if they’re unhappy in their roles, because of economic uncertainty. Hiring is down, and job-switching is now worse for wage growth than sticking it out.

“A lot of folks actually feel stuck where they are, and it’s not necessarily that they’re making a choice around continuing to be there, but it’s that they don’t have other choices available to them that are better,” Giampietro said.

The result is high employee disengagement and dissatisfaction, which can erode morale, hurt productivity, and contribute to burnout.

Global employee engagement fell from 23% to 21% last year, according to an April Gallup report. The report estimated that this cost the global economy approximately $438 billion in lost productivity. This is only the second time it’s fallen in the last 12 years, the other being in 2020.

Promotions are harder to come by as companies overhaul their performance reviews, enforce return-to-office policies, and carry out mass layoffs. Coupled with economic uncertainty and a shift to a hardcore working culture in many industries, workers are understandably scared to switch jobs now, assuming they can find open roles of interest in the first place.

In other words, there’s “a large group of people who are saying that they’re stressed most of the time and many of whom are probably either suffering burnout or close to it,” Giampietro says.

Warning signs

Giampietro says the signs of quiet cracking can look similar to indicators of burnout, though not necessarily as extreme.

There can be physical manifestations, like an employee being sick, fatigued, or complaining of headaches more often than usual. Performance-related signs can be less obvious.

“You might have a strong performer who’s not delivering in the same way that you’re used to seeing them deliver,” said Giampietro. Or maybe a colleague who’s usually upbeat and optimistic is noticeably much less so.

It boils down to “looking for changes in what you would see as a typical behavior pattern for the folks on your team,” he said.

If you notice such changes, don’t automatically assume it’s a performance problem, said Giampietro. Instead, he suggested checking in with the employee to see how you can address the issue.

It can be as simple as, “Hey, I’ve noticed a change in your behavior. Can we talk about it? I just want to make sure you’re OK,” Giampietro said.

It’s a tough time for employees, as the push for corporate wellbeing investments that surged during the pandemic has since slowed with the shifting tides of businesses’ priorities. This means many workers are receiving less support at the same time that they’re struggling more at work.

“There was a lot of focus and attention on wellbeing coming out of the pandemic, especially with high turnover in most organizations, but as turnover has stabilized, there’s been a focus on cost,” Giampietro said. “Wellbeing may not be getting the attention it deserves in most organizations.”