What Does It Mean to Have a Company Vesting Schedule?

If you have a workplace benefits package, some of your perks may come with a "vesting schedule" or "vesting period." It's critical to understand how vesting works and consider it before deciding to leave your job.  

This post will explain different types of vesting and answer frequently asked questions, so you get the most from your benefits at work.

What does it mean to be vested with a company?

Vesting is a legal term that means you have the right to something, such as a payment or benefit. It's typically used in retirement plan language to set a timeline for when a participating employee earns the right to keep employer matching, profit-sharing contributions, or other benefits.

Vesting is an employee retention tool that companies use to keep top talent from leaving. It can be helpful in industries where worker turnover is high or skills are in high demand. By offering you a financial incentive to stay employed longer, you may be less likely to job hop.

Leaving a company before you've worked long enough to be vested comes with negative consequences, such as forfeiting employer-provided stock incentives or contributions to your retirement plan.

So, being vested means you officially get to keep certain employee benefits if you leave your job. Leaving a company before you've worked long enough to be vested comes with negative consequences, such as forfeiting employer-provided stock incentives or contributions to your retirement plan. 

How long a vesting period lasts varies from company to company. However, a typical vesting schedule is from three to five years. Being fully vested means that you get to keep 100% of the benefits, and being partially vesting means you get a percentage of them based on a predetermined schedule. 

Note that you're always 100% vested in your contributions to a retirement plan, no matter when you leave a company. According to federal law, the Employee...

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Vegetables are useless against heart disease? Please.

A curious listener, who may or may not have been my scientist sister (Hi, Pam!) recently forwarded a headline that caught her attention:

"Eating vegetables does not protect against cardiovascular disease, finds large-scale study."

"I thought your readers might come across this and would want to hear your take," she wrote. "At least, I do!"

Just for context, this story was not on some clickbait site but on the blog of Frontiers, a respected science technology platform and publisher. And the headline does faithfully reflect the conclusion of the authors, who found that higher vegetable consumption was not associated with a reduced risk of heart disease or overall mortality. This analysis was done on dietary and health records collected as part of the "UK Biobank" study, which involves almost 400,000 people.  So, these findings are correlations only; they do not prove cause and effect. However, the more expensive and difficult research needed to prove cause and effect often starts with this type of observational finding.

Interestingly, the authors looked at the effects of cooked and raw vegetables independently. Is one form more protective than the other? They found that cooked vegetable consumption was not associated at all with CVD or mortality, but people who ate more raw vegetables were somewhat less likely to develop heart disease or die.

Are raw vegetables better for you?

Proponents of a raw diet might be tempted to seize on this as evidence that cooking destroys the healthful properties of foods and that raw foods are more nourishing. I don't agree with this view. For one thing, raw vegetables can lose up to half of their original nutritional value simply by sitting on your counter for two days—or in your refrigerator for two weeks. Although cooking does involve some nutrient losses, a vegetable that's cooked the day it's harvested could end up retaining more nutrients than a raw vegetable that's been sitting around.

Furthermore, cooking actually makes some nutrients more absorbable. For example, the lycopene in cooked tomatoes is up to 4 times more bioavailable than that of fresh tomatoes.

Nutrients are also lost when foods are dehydrated, frozen, soaked, or juiced. So, when it comes to nutrient losses, unless you can arrange to eat every meal in the field where it was grown, it’s all sort of relative. And even though nutrients are lost, don’t worry—there are still plenty left!

In my view, the biggest nutritional advantage of a raw food diet isn’t the enzymes or the extra nutrients you glean by not cooking your vegetables. Rather, it’s the fact that a raw food diet...

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Why You Need to Build a Strong Upper Back

If we were to ask a thousand random listeners which parts of their body are their favorite and least favorite for strength training, what do you think the answers would be? My guess is that most people would choose the chest as their favorite and legs as their least favorite. 

Legs are definitely my least favorite for strength training and the word “loathe” doesn’t even fully capture how I feel about leg days at the gym. Heavy squats and lunges are no fun and just knowing that I have a leg day coming up brings on a bit of anxiety for me. 

Of course, skipping leg days is not an option because the leg muscles are the largest in the body, and working them has a slew of benefits such as boosting your levels of testosterone and human growth hormone which can help all of your muscles develop. So the best I can do is grit my teeth through leg days and take it like medicine. 

In contrast, chest workouts seem to be a favorite for most people and it makes sense. Chest exercises are relatively simple and you can really feel the “pump” of the muscles as they become engorged with blood after each set. 

Here’s a little secret about me—I like chest days because there's something cathartic about pushing a bunch of weight off my chest. If you don’t know what I mean, try thinking of something a little upsetting, like your toddler dropping your brand new smartphone in the toilet, while performing chest exercises and you might notice that frustration goes away more quickly.  

Based on my experience as a fitness professional, I know that upper back muscles don’t stand out as a favorite for most people at the gym. But they’re a key muscle group that deserves your attention. Keep listening to find out how to build a strong upper back and why it’s important, and stay tuned for a future episode when I talk about the lower back muscles.

Why building a strong upper back is important 

In our society, exercises for muscles on the front of our torso, such as our chest and abs, tend to be over-emphasized, while muscles on the back of our torso, such as our upper and lower back, are not emphasized enough....

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How to Productively Show Off What You've Learned

If you’re anything like me, you’re a sucker for development—personal, professional… if it nourishes my mind I’m all in. 

 

But also, if you’re anything like me, you may have a tendency to overconsume and under-execute. I keep a journal of running bits and bites I pick up as I listen, read, take online courses, talk to mentors, etc. I’m a wealth of knowledge and information. Which may fill a journal, but won’t move me forward. 

 

Learning can be addictive. It feels productive, but sometimes it’s the very thing holding us back. We think “I couldn’t possibly do X or apply for Y job until I learn more.” It’s a game your mind is playing with you. You know plenty. Now go do.

 

My solution? I proactively schedule days, hours, moments, or interactions in which I intentionally take action on an insight or idea I’ve added to my collection.

 

There are so many ways to do this. Today I’ll share a few I love, that work whether you work independently as I do or if you’re part of a team or organization. These are all ways to put your learning to good use, benefitting your personal brand while also delivering value to clients and/or your organization.

1. Host a lunch and learn

One super simple way to action your insight is to host a lunch-and-learn (or a free webinar or topical discussion—call it what you will). 

 

In my world, I spent a few months in 2021 really diving into all the research around the Great Resignation. As a leadership consultant, I had dozens of clients who were concerned not just about retaining their top talent, but keeping them engaged, committed, and well both physically and emotionally. 

 

I went into student mode. I was listening to podcasts, reading research, and talking to colleagues whose expertise was growing alongside mine. And after a few months, I felt pretty knowledgeable on all things talent retention and engagement.

 

So I hosted an open conversation, inviting about 25 Human Resources professionals from a variety of industries to come together for a discussion on the topic. I summarized for them what I had learned and shared how I was applying these lessons in client organizations. Then, I opened the floor for a collaborative discussion, inviting questions from attendees, personal experiences, and other ideas worth sharing.

 

This strategy served to position me not just as a subject matter expert, but also as a generous connector and an educator—all while delivering value to all who attended.

 

So your turn. What have you learned in recent months? Maybe you’ve brushed up on a technical program or have explored new...

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How To Tell Your Kids You’re Getting Divorced

Even if you’ve never said anything to your kids about your relationship troubles, they can feel the tension and know something’s going on. It’s very distressing to kids when they can sense things changing but don’t understand exactly what or why.

Due to what can be an understandably distressing time for separating partners, sometimes you can’t or don’t spend enough time attending to the effects of this stressful disruption on your children. Or maybe you’re so worried about the negative impact on your children that you avoid the topic out of fear. Either way, your child might be left inadequately informed about the break up of their family unit.

Whether you’re at a loss for what you might tell them or you’re trying to protect their innocence, it’s important to remember that without clear explanations your child is left on their own to grapple with their confusion, anger, sadness, and uncertainty about their future. But, if they are well-informed and feel safe coming to you for clarity or comfort with any and all of their questions and feelings, your children can ultimately come through the separation or divorce with resiliency. 

Remain calm, and speak openly and supportively to the kids to reassure them that you can work as a team.

When should we tell the kids we’re splitting?

It depends on your child’s age, of course, but a good rule of thumb is to wait until A) a change in their life is imminent and B) you have as many answers for them as possible so that you’re prepared for the many questions your children will have.

Children under 8 might have more difficulty conceptualizing their life far in the future. For younger children, hold off until you have most of the particulars nailed down and someone is planning on moving out of the family home or into a different bedroom very soon. The younger the child, the more you want to avoid creating an overly prolonged period of time where the child must anticipate and perhaps worry about a change they can’t quite visualize. For older children, you’ll want to give more lead time, particularly if a change of their school or neighborhood is involved in the transition.

You also don’t want your children to find out about your separation from someone other than you, so if you’re beginning to tell your community, tell your kids as well. Ideally, tell your children first, then alert your close community, giving them similar information that you’ve given your kids.

How do we tell them?

You’re going to want to help them understand that you’ll be separating or divorcing, that this is in no way their fault, that reconciliation is impossible, and that you love them and that that fact is never going to change.

They need to know what comes next and what will happen to them in all this. How will this separation affect their lives? You also want to let them know that they can ask you anything and...

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12 Nouns That Are Always Plural

If you’re deep in the world of fashion influencers on Instagram, or have ever caught an episode of a fashion reality show, then you might have heard phrases like "My go-to evening look is a smoky eye and a red lip," or "This outfit could be completed with a tailored pant." If you have never done those things, then bear with me anyway. You get the idea: sometimes there is an assumption of an implied plural when singular versions of words are used. You’d have to be pretty avant-garde to put lipstick on only one lip or eye make-up on only one eye. 

While you’d be more likely to refer to eyes, lips, and trousers outside of fashion terminology, we’re all familiar with what one eye looks like. But what is a singular pant or, for British listeners, trouser? They don’t exist. 

"Pants," when referring to the clothing you’d pop on your legs, is an example of a "plurale tantum." That’s Latin for "plural only." In other words, a noun that is used only in plural form. If you’re a native English speaker, you might not even have noticed you’re using them. But here are a whole load of examples that you’ve almost certainly said – and how they ended up as "pluralia tantum."

1. Scissors

The first known uses of the word "scissors" are actually singular – spelled in a variety of ways, including starting with "cy." That was in the 15^th century, and the plural version quickly overtook the former in popularity. While you’d still hear "scissor" as a verb, or to form a compound noun like "scissor kick," you’re unlikely to come across a single scissor. The same is true of many other two-bladed tools – like "pliers," "forceps," "shears," "tweezers" and "tongs."

2. Glasses

When we’re talking about eyewear, the word "glasses" is like "spectacles," "goggles," or "binoculars": today, you’ll only hear them used as plurals. Even those who favor talking about a "red lip" don’t seem to have adopted a "tortoiseshell glass" as of yet. Things get a bit more complex if you pop "a pair of" in front of the words. The "a" suggests you should treat "a pair of glasses" as singular, but research shows that you’re equally likely to come across "a pair of glasses are" as "a pair of glasses is."

3. Jeans

Moving on to bottoms, lots of the names for two-legged garments are pluralia tantum. We have "overalls," "leggings," "shorts," "pants," "tights," and "trousers...

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3 Functions of Emotions

As a psychologist, I receive lots of questions about emotions and how to deal with them. Today, I thought I’d take the opportunity to educate you on the 3 main functions of emotions. There are many times when it appears emotions arise in us only to derail our mood and day, but that’s not necessarily the case. Even the worst emotions can be tools that we can use in our everyday lives as long as you understand what they're trying to tell you.

There are some emotions that are enjoyable to experience and others that feel awful. At times, that leads us to think of some emotions as “good” and others as “bad.” Let’s take that train of thought and see how it can play out if applied in a different scenario. I was re-watching Spike Lee’s film Crooklyn the other week. It’s about a family living in Brooklyn in the '70s. One of the children, Nate, has a broken arm, and his mother insists that he eats the black-eyed peas she made him for dinner because they are full of calcium. This child hates these peas! Well, in walks Dad with cake for everyone and the family is overjoyed—but poor Nate can’t have any cake until he eats those peas.

If you were to ask Nate which was good or which was bad, he would tell you that cake is good and peas are bad. His rationale—and I think most of us would agree—would be that he prefers the taste of cake. However, as his mother pointed out, the black-eyed peas are good because they have nutrients that are necessary for healing. They both serve a function and have a place in our lives. So let's start breaking down some of the functions of emotions and see where they fit.

Emotions motivate us

One function of emotions is that they get us revved up and ready to go. There is nothing that can motivate a behavior faster than emotions. I’ve seen people work harder than they ever had in their lives or give up faster than I can blink all based on their emotional experiences. Emotions get us prepared for action.

In fact, some of our action urges are hardwired in our biology. For instance, the action urge associated with anger is to attack. The action of attack will look different depending on the person. It could be displayed as yelling, hitting, gossiping, intentionally sabotaging someone, or self-harm, to give some examples.

The reason I use the word urge is that you don’t have to act on it. I could have the urge to urinate while walking down 5th Ave in Manhattan, but I wouldn’t wet my pants in the street. I would problem solve the situation which would lead me to find the nearest restroom. While running to the restroom, I could have the urge to yell at people for walking too slowly, but I would try to resist that urge and focus on something else, which allows the anger to dissipate. In some ways, emotions are like the nitrous button in your suped-up Fast and Furious-style...

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