working

allow retirees to continue working

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In September 2023, Europe turned in unison to Germany. What was normally one of the most solid economies in the euro zone was sounding the alarm: adding greater life expectancy to a demographic scenario of an inverted pyramid and an inflationary context left a very unpromising outlook for who are going to retire soon. In fact, the system was bringing retirees back to look for work to supplement pensions. Two years later things have not improved, so the government has normalized them. A structural turn. The Government of Friedrich Merz has put a clear and pragmatic proposal on the table: allowing retirees who decide to continue working receive up to 2,000 euros per month tax-free, a measure (the so-called “active pension plan”) designed to tackle the growing labor shortage that grips Europe’s largest economy. The initiative is part of the package of reforms that the Executive has sold as his “autumn of reforms” and, according to the legislative draft in hands of the Financial Timeswill come into force on January 1. The coalition with the Social Democrats is preparing to approve it with the argument of retaining experience and knowledge in companies and increasing the employment rate in a country that faces one of the most severe demographic transitions on the continent. What is offered and what is maintained. The measure exempts taxes up to 2,000 euros per month of additional labor income for retired people, but it does not eliminate contributions: employees and employers will continue to pay social contributions on those salaries, which (according to the Executive) will help strengthen healthcare and pension finances while improving the liquidity of companies with senior experience. The already existing advantages for those who opt for early retirement (the legal age It’s still 67 years oldwith incentives to retire at 63). The change is intended, rather, to offer a tax incentive so that those who can and want to prolong their working life do so. Public cost and projections. The Government itself estimates that the renunciation of collecting taxes for this incentive will cost around 890 million euros per year since its entry into force, a figure that some institutes consider optimistic: the IW Institute calculates a higher annual cost close to 1.4 billion and places the potential universe of beneficiaries at around 340,000 people. Economists such as Holger Schmieding warn, however, that the net impact could turn positive in two or three years if the increase in economic activity and contributions compensates for the initial tax loss, in addition to the possible “psychological effect” of socially valuing the contribution of the elderly. International lessons. The Government looks, among other examplesto Greece: when Athens allowed retirees keep their pension full and were additionally taxed at a reduced rate (10%) for their labor income, retired workers went from 35,000 in 2023 to more than 250,000 in September of the following year, a jump that illustrates the power of tax incentives to mobilize labor supply in older groups. That experience is used in Berlin as a sign that politics can workalthough the scale, work structures and employment cultures differ. Consequences in the labor market. The gesture aims to attack several structural symptoms: Germany today records some of the average working hours shortest in the OECD and marked growth from part-time work (which now reaches 30% of the workforce, more than double what it was at the beginning of the nineties). The policy aims to both increase effective hours and retain human capital that would otherwise escape companies. Keep staff on staff senior can help reduce bottlenecks in sectors with a shortage of qualifications and facilitate the transfer of know-how, but it also poses the challenge of adapting positions, ergonomics and internal policies to an older workforce. Political and economic risks. The main risk it’s double: On the one hand, the measure may penalize young people and employees in early career stages if companies choose to retain positions with cheaper payrolls and more experienced workers. On the other hand, the Executive’s fiscal estimate could fall short if membership is high, putting pressure on public accounts at a time when the cost of social systems is already putting pressure on the budget. Besides, recalled the Times that there is a dimension of equity and public narrative: promoting people to work longer is politically sensitive when there are sectors with precarious employment or stagnant wages. Pragmatism with doubts. Ultimately, the plan to allow 2,000 euros tax free to working retirees is, in essence, a pragmatic and technocratic response to a demographic shock and the lack of skilled labor: seeks to monetize experience, sustain contributions and gain economic muscle without resorting solely to mass immigration or abrupt increases in working hours. Yet, your success will depend the magnitude of the accession, how it is combined with other labor policies (training, conciliation, redistribution of part-time employment) and the honesty of the fiscal projections: if the reception is high, the cost could approach the most pessimistic figures, and if it is moderate, the initiative can become a respectable exercise in institutional adjustment that contributes to lengthening the active life of many and partially mitigating the bill of aging. An unknown scenario that Japan also considers. Image | Pexels, Public Domain In Xataka | A disturbing idea has begun to gain strength in France and Germany: the welfare state is no longer sustainable In Xataka | It is not that Germany is promoting the four-day work day, it is that it is the country that works the fewest hours per year

Working remotely for another country is not so simple

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A programmer’s innocent question about the availability of remote positions on a development platform in Spain has sparked an interesting international debate in X about a reality of the Spanish labor market that many were unaware of: those companies who hire in Spaineven if they are remote, must pay taxes in Spain. The problem is that not everyone can bear that additional cost. A complicated labor market A Spanish software developer asked in X to the CEO of Vercela cloud infrastructure platform of Argentine origin, on the availability of vacancies in Spain since, when carrying out the search, they only appeared in Germany and the United Kingdom, when in the past they had hired in Spain. The manager’s response It was simple, but it hid a reality that many companies that want to hire engineers and programmers in Spain face: “Unfortunately, we had to leave Spain; it was incredibly difficult to hire staff and expand our company there. We tried!” The expert analyst of technological employment trends, Gergely Orosz, witness to the conversation, pointed out some of the difficulties that companies that want to hire in other countries find, even if it is a remote work agreement:”(…) explains why ‘remote’ positions are often ‘remote in country X’. When a company employs someone who works remotely in country Y, they must follow the country’s regulations and following those regulations can be costly and time-consuming. Present rigid procedures, mandatory processes with a lot of paperwork, etc. “Most American companies are baffled by these requirements in European countries,” the analyst wrote. You hire in Spain, you pay taxes in Spain Spanish and international legislation, described in article 15 of the Tax Agreement on Income and Wealthdoes not make distinctions between remote or in-person hiring. Therefore, a foreign company that wants to hire someone with tax residence in Spain and who is going to work remotely from the country, must meet exactly the same tax obligations and requirements What if you hire her to go to a physical workplace every day. The problem, to hire someone in Spain, is that the company needs to be registered with Social Security to pay contributions, and have a Tax Identification Number. That is, it is necessary to be a natural or legal person in Spain. This implies that the company should have a tax representative in the country or what is called Permanent establishment. In other words, the foreign company must have a headquarters based in Spain to channel through it hiring in Spanish territory and comply with tax and labor obligations. Tap on the image to go to the original message As entrepreneur and developer David Bonilla points out in a message response thread from the founder of Vercel, there are several options for hiring in Spain, but none of them are easy for companies or workers, especially if they do not have the capacity to open a headquarters (or subsidiary, branch, permanent establishment or any other legal figure of representation) in Spain. The risk of going from worker to “headquarters” Once the headquarters option has been ruled out, the alternatives result in the employee becoming a service company by becoming self-employed or by establishing a limited company and billing its services to the foreign company as a commercial activity, not labor. However, that would mean walking on a knife’s edge for two reasons: the first is that if there is not a very clear definition of the commercial terms and conditions, the relationship can be interpreted as signs of employmentwhich brings us to the figure of the false self-employed. On the other hand, the Tax Agency could consider that these self-employed workers or companies act as a subsidiary of the company to which they invoice, so they must respond not only for their activity, but also for that of the “parent” company. On the other hand, it is also possible to do it by intermediary recruitment platforms as Deel either remote. These companies act as a bridge between the worker and the companies, preventing the contractor from having to assume all the tax procedures. Therefore, in some way, despite working for the company that contracts the service, from an administrative point of view you will really be working for the intermediary that provides the service. The use of these intermediaries (Employer of Record or EOR) increases the labor cost bill by between 10% and 20%, which leaves Spanish employees in a less competitive position with respect to other countries. In general terms, the difficulties that the CEO of Vercel pointed out for its deployment in Spain is that, to hire a single person in Spain and remotely, they need to comply with the same requirements as for hiring 1,000 employees. If the company’s priority is not to be present in the Spanish market, the implementation effort to hire one or more people is not worth it. This implies that it is conditional to hire in Spain, even if it is for work remotely from Spainbecause that company already has infrastructure in the country. This tax and labor policy is much more lax in countries like the US, the United Kingdom or India, which is why it is much more common for large technology companies to hire programmers and remote employees in those markets. In Xataka | Finding a job had always been a good way to escape poverty: in Spain it is no longer true Image | Unsplash (Magnus Andersson, Thammy Kolb)

Europe has been working for three years to isolate itself from Russian gas. Two countries have decided to build a direct gas pipeline to Russia

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The European energy map is changing at a speed that few would have imagined just three years ago. The old gas pipelines that linked Siberia to the industrial heart of the EU have been sidelined, while new routes and alliances reconfigure the power table around gas. The old continent proclaims its purpose of isolating Moscow, but in the center of the continent it is drawn an exception that alters the planned script and that may change the balance of forces in the coming winters. A map in transformation. Yes, the European gas map has changed radically in a few years, to the point that this winter of 2025 is the first in decades in which Russian gas ceases to be decisive throughout the European Union. After the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the energy crisis that broke out between 2021 and 2023, Brussels urged urgently diversification of supplies, relying on imports liquefied natural gas (LNG), especially from the United States and Qatar, and in the fortress of norway as a stable partner. The great gas pipelines that for half a century linked the Siberian fields with the European industrial heart have been underutilizeddamaged or reduced to a secondary role, as energy security moves towards the global balance of the LNG market and towards the vulnerability of infrastructures increasingly exposed to cyber attacks and hybrid incidents. On this new board, each molecule counts, but not all of them weigh the same: there are some that define true European autonomy more than others. The two exceptions. Despite the EU’s declared desire to eliminate purchases from Moscow, two countries have kept the valve open: Hungary and Slovakia. In August 2025, according to the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air, both added imports of Russian crude oil and gas by more than 690 million of euros, that is, the majority of the European total. In fact, they continue to receive oil through the gigantic Druzhba pipeline, which crosses Ukraine and Belarus from Russian fields to Central Europe, and have used temporary exception granted by Brussels to landlocked countries to justify their dependence. The contrast is evident: while countries like France, the Netherlands and Belgium have limited themselves to importing residual Russian LNG, Budapest and Bratislava continue buying crude oil and gas straight from Moscow, keeping alive the energy artery that the rest of Europe has tried to close. Hungary and Slovakia are investing in gas infrastructure and creating a gas block in the heart of Europe aimed at protecting against any risks USA, Brussels and pressure. The intransigence of Viktor Orbán and Robert Fico has not gone unnoticed. At the UN, Trump accused Europe of “financing the war against itself” and pointed out with their own name to the Central European partners that do business with the Kremlin. Brussels, for its part, debate sanctions growing: the nineteenth package included a ban on Russian LNG starting in 2026 and restrictions on giants such as Rosneft or Gazprom Neft, although it avoided imposing immediate vetoes on crude oil and gas by gas pipeline, fearing a head-on crash with Budapest and Bratislava. However, the Commission is already preparing specific tariffs against imports that are still They arrive through Druzhbaand requires all Member States to submit disconnection plans before 2027the year in which the final cut is expected. The discourse of dependency. Hungary insists that its economy would fall 4% immediately if they were closed russian flowsand both Orbán and Fico speak of “economic suicide” and “ideological impositions” from Brussels. However, experts and analysts dismantle many of these arguments: geography is no excuse in an integrated European market where other equally landlocked countries, such as Austria or the Czech Republic, have reduced drastically reduce its Russian imports. Alternative infrastructures there are. The Adria pipeline, which connects to the Adriatic in Croatia, could supply enough crude oil to Hungary and Slovakia, although the reliability of its capacity tests is disputed. The Croatian oil company JANAF itself assures which can supply both refineries (Százhalombatta in Hungary and Slovnaft in Bratislava) with up to 12.9 million tons per year. In gas, the interconnections with neighboring countries and the expected abundance of LNG after 2026 suggest that the cutoff of Russian flows would be more political than technical. Politics, benefits and a shadow. Budapest’s stubbornness also has an internal political and economic dimension. The MOL company, close to the Orbán Government and owner of the Slovak refinery, has reaped huge benefits thanks to the price difference between Russian Urals crude oil and Brent, which has allowed extraordinary income for both the company and the state budget itself through taxes. In parallel, the speech of the Hungarian Executive associates the continuity of supply russian with stability of its star program of subsidies on household energy bills, despite the fact that the prices that Budapest pays for Russian gas follow the same international references as for the rest of Europe. In Slovakia, Fico also protects contracts with Gazprom valid until 2034, although the national company SPP itself has flexible agreements with large Western companies that would allow demand to be met without Moscow. The new axis of the Black Sea. Be that as it may, the most revealing element of the new energy map is that Hungary and Slovakia not only resist cutting the Russian gas pipelines inherited from the Cold War, but are betting on new connections. The route that arrives through the TurkStream and enters from Türkiye towards central Europe through the Black Sea consolidates a direct link with Moscow at the same time that Brussels seeks to isolate it. Paradoxically, the two Central European countries are becoming the main russian corridor towards the heart of the EU, a role that openly contradicts the energy autonomy strategy and reinforces the structural dependence on a partner considered hostile. Europe contradicts itself. The dilemma is obvious. The European Union proclaims its purpose to end with Russian imports in just two years, but at the same time tolerates exceptions that feed … Read more

His new “party” are working 92 hours

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In Silicon Valley, the new generation of young entrepreneurs has left behind the parties at which alcohol rivers ran. The example that follows is that of the big names of Silicon Valley, such as Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Sam Altman or Bryan Johnsonwhich prioritize their business projects ahead of their own social life. The phenomenon is not isolated, and more and more young entrepreneurs share the same mentality: “Why go to a bar if I can be creating a company?” Summarizes Emily Yuan, a young founder of Silicon Valley, In an interview for The Wall Street Journal. The data does not lie: alcohol consumption Among the youth of generation Z It is being reduced and, in the scope of Silicon Valley startup incubators, the norm is increasingly and not exception. Silicon Valley’s new habits. The daily routine of those who aspire to success in Silicon Valley is marked by working hours that exceed the usual. According to what was published by The Wall Street JournalMarty Kausas, 28 years old and founder of the startup Pyloncommented in a LinkedIn publication that chained several weeks in a row of 92 hours of work and that canceled his vacation because the stress of work prevented him from taking A few days to rest. However, in Another publicationthe young entrepreneur ruled out that in his company a “culture of 996” was applied for his employees, in reference to the new Asia export trendin which you work from nine in the morning to nine in the afternoon and six days per week. What is fun? The main paradigm change that shows this group of very young technological entrepreneurs is to define What is fun. In his case, and as Marty Kausas and Emily Yuan detailed, what they consider fun is not to spend some time with friends drinking some beers. “Our motivation to start a company was fun and adventure. But what is fun for us is quite different from what is fun for others.” That concept, together with the messages against alcohol that are giving some influential figures of Silicon Valley, such as Sam Altman, which has manifested himself totally contrary to alcohol consumptionor Mark Zuckerberg that, Unlike your cowsjust drink beer on few special occasions and what is necessary To take the photo. In general, for “Tecnobros“From Silicon Valley alcohol and parties no longer enter the concept of fun. Sobriety in the tech era. Generation Z, globally, is reducing alcohol consumption worldwide. The data They point out that there was a drop in alcohol consumption of 4.5% per year since 2011, and has been stabilized since then. According to him last report of health the average consumption of each adult in Europe went from 12 liters per year in 2000 to 9.5 liters in 2019, and if we focus on wine, the only alcoholic beverage that drinks Jeff Bezos In special celebrationsthe Data point to that its average consumption per adult has fallen from 14.2 liters in 1990 to 10 liters in 2017. In the “new garitos” there is talk of financing This decrease in alcohol consumption has been associated with a cultural change in the social activities of these new entrepreneurs. The meetings between colleagues, formerly animated by toast and drinks, are now meetings in Saunas, motivational talks or gym routines in search of professional connections. Miranda Nover, co -founder of a fitness startup called Fort, said In an interview for Business Insider That the image of ascetic existence is very important for young entrepreneurs. “You are trying to transmit: we do this six days a week in the office, we work until 9 pm, we do not drink, we do not party, we do not do any of that.” The businessmen of the future are “Healthy”. Unlike what happened with the previous generations of Millionaire Founders, such as Henry Ford or Aristotle Onassis, in which alcohol ran to all its parties. Now, alcohol consumption has ceased to be the central axis and a closer philosophy has been adopted to the Millionaire’s postulates Bryan Johnsonto focus all the energy on productivity. In San Francisco’s artificial intelligence events, alcohol is absent. According to Michelle Fang, 26 years old and event organizer for these Precotes founders of Silicon Valley, among the reasons why at the parties of the Entrepreneurs quarry is not only for a Change in the concept of leisure And health: “Many events related to AI do not serve alcohol, not only because it is out of fashion among the San Francisco public. Many founders are not enough to drink.” In Xataka | Alcohol is no longer cool: the “arrogance curious” movement is turning the abstemious into a trend Image | Unspash (Nguyễn hiệp)

There are more robots working in Chinese factories than in the rest of the world together. Beijing’s strategy is already a blow of global authority

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Close your eyes for a moment and imagine The country with more robots in its factories. The logical thing would be to think of Japan, and not a few would also include the United States in the quiniela. However, the most recent figures point out another destination and do it clearly: China, where robotics has ceased to be an experiment to become the daily pulse of production. It should be specified from the start: we do not talk about showcase humanoids, but of industrial welding robots, manipulation and assembly, which are transforming how it is already manufactured what speed. The last report From the International Robotics Federation offers the clearest photograph of this phenomenon. In 2024 alone, Chinese factories installed about 300,000 industrial robots, a figure higher than the rest of the combined world. In parallel, the total park exceeded two million active units, well above any competitor. In contrast, the United States added 34,000 new robots in its production and Japan lines around 44,000, confirming the magnitude of the Chinese jump. China not only competes, already dominates China’s hegemony in industrial robotics has not appeared out of nowhere. Since 2017, its factories have installed Between 145,000 and 295,000 annual robotswith a especially strong jump from 2021. Pandemia barely slowed that progression, and in 2024 the figure was again located around 300,000 units. In contrast, the United States, Japan, South Korea and Germany not only started from much more modest volumes, but also registered declines in the last statistics. The next step in the Chinese strategy was not only to install robots, but to manufacture them on a large scale. For the first time, Chinese suppliers sold more than foreigners in their own market: 57% of the 2024 facilities were of local origin. On a global scale, Japan remains the main manufacturing country (around 38% of the world supply, according to IFR). This turn reduces dependence, although it does not equals full technological autonomy Chinese industrial policy has been decisive to accelerate the transition to automation. The initiative Made in China 2025 marked the first great milestone in 2015, with the aim of REducate dependence of imports in key sectors. Six years later, in 2021, the country adopted a specific plan to multiply the deployment of industrial robots. This planning added loans at low interest from state banks and support for technological purchases abroad. The result has been a fertile terrain for the expansion of Chinese robotics. When talking about robotics, the most common image is that of humanoids as Optimus either Figure. However, the figures that place China in the lead correspond only to industrial robots: mechanical arms that weld, assemble or move materials in the production line. The report leaves humanoids out, still in an experimental phase and with very small sales. Even so, the state impulse has generated an ecosystem of humanoid -centered startups, such as UNITREEalthough its weight in the industry remains marginal. The figures that place China in the lead correspond only to industrial robots. The integration of artificial intelligence into the factory is not exclusive to China: Japan, South Korea, Germany or the United States also apply with vision systemsautomated failures and quality control algorithms. What distinguishes Beijing is the scale with which this practice has spread, until it becomes a usual component of its industrial strategy. In many plants, the AI ​​monitors real -time machines, anticipates breakdowns and adjusts processes. This broader and more coordinated deployment has multiplied the impact of automation. The technological jump also depends on the people who make it possible. China has a large number of specialized technicians, from programmers to industrial electricians, capable of installing and maintaining robots in complex environments. Even so, the demand exceeds the supply and salaries of the installers have shot, already around $ 60,000. This talent gap reflects a global bottleneck: automation does not advance with capital and machines, it needs professionals who integrate it into the factory. Chinese leadership in industrial robotics still has clear borders. Although the country already manufactures a third of world robots, it continues to depend on foreign supplies for some key components. High precision sensors and advanced semiconductorsfor example, they are still domain from Japan and Germany, with decades of technological advantage. This deficit limits China’s ability to assemble higher range robots, especially humanoids. Even with a thriving ecosystem, technological autonomy is not yet complete and marks one of Beijing’s pending challenges. Although China continues to depend on foreign suppliers, the weight of its market already conditions global dynamics. By producing and installing more robots than anyone, it achieves economies of scale that reduce automation projects and pressing international prices. Its volume also gives it the capacity to influence technical standards and equipment interoperability. In the supply chain, the center of gravity moves to Asia, forcing other countries to adapt to an ecosystem in which China marks the rhythm, even without still controlling all technology. The map of industrial robotics is no longer understood without China in the center. In the next two years, the attention will be to verify whether to reduce its dependence on key components and if it maintains the rhythm of 300,000 new annual facilities. Beijing does not hide that he wants to extend this model to emerging sectors such as humanoids and reinforce their weight in global chains. For the rest of the world, the question is not whether China will continue to lead in volumebut how to respond to a strategy that combines scale, industrial policy and technological ambition. Images | Simon Kadula | Arthur Wang In Xataka | Qualcomm believes that the 6G will be the final network for AI and has already set it: the reality is that 5G is still in diapers

The Mercadona Crusade against Home Kitchen is working. The question is what nutritional cost we are accepting it

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In the last eight months, Mercadona has won seven more tenths in market share and already reaches 27.3%. It is a real barbarity that reaffirms it in the lead and moves it away from its closest competition: Carrefour. But the most striking is not that. The most striking thing is that, According to the dataeverything is because The crusade against the future of the kitchen at home Juan Roig is paying off. We knew that the world has been quitting for decades, what we didn’t know is that this was going to go so fast. What we do not know, in fact, is what consequences all this has in the medium term. Are we putting the foxes to monitor the chicken coop? A future, but now. Because, although Media Spain threw himself on Roig when he assured “in the middle of the 21st century there will be no kitchens”, the truth is that right now more than eight million Spaniards resort to the prepared dishes of the supermarket. In fact, Statistics tell us data That, in the last decades, home cuisine had been in clear decline. Millennials “ate 30% more often in restaurants than any other generation; when they cooked, they spent less time (one hour less than the X generation) and, when they bought, they opted more by prepared meals, pasta and sweets than the rest.” They are USAs, but We can find similar trends in all western countries. There was a small change with pandemic, but things They seem to be returning to their channel. 17 kilos per head. That is The amount of prepared dishes they consumedon average, the Spaniards in 2024. 6.6% more compared to the previous year. And in these data we do not take into account that The tendency not only “translates In a greater offer of prepared dishes, but also in a simplification of fresh products, destined to reduce the time we dedicate to the kitchen. “ The reasons are clear and understandable: According to Kantar consultancy“comfort, lack of time and the increasingly elaborate and healthy proposals by supermarkets” are the factors behind this change. But this is true? I refer, specifically, to “healthy proposals.” And not with respect to traditional precooked dishes, which that (a priori) is evident. But, with respect to the general diet of consumers. That is: this movement is improving our diet or not? The question is pertinent. Above all, because we have the problem of ultra -processed. It is increasingly evident (Ylgreat studies confirm this) that there is a “positive correlation between the consumption of these foods and A list of up to 32 health problems ranging from cardiovascular mortality to depression. “ We talk about an increase of about 50% in the risk of death related to cardiovascular problems, a similar increase in the risk of anxiety and “common” mental health problems, and a 12% increase in the probability of developing type 2 diabetes. Even more The data show An increase of 21% in the risk of death for any cause and one between 40 and 66% of the risk of death by heart attack. The invasion of the defendants. In 2010, ultraprocessed food represented 31.7% of the Spanish diet and 80.4% of all added sugars. That is, the weight of the processed food in our diet tripled between 1990 and 2010 (from 11% to 31.7%). In parallel, the weight of added sugars has gone from 8.4% of our daily energy intake at 13%. It is a serious problem and becoming aware of it has made, as we said, the products are healthier than before. But the emergence of these pre -cooked dishes much more attractive, convenient and accessible raises doubts. Are we facing a new phase of that trend? Will our diet worse? Answers are missing. It is soon to see how all this is affecting (and will affect) the food of citizens. Do not forget that, as we often repeat, not all processed foods They suppose a health risk. But what the historical experience tells us is that we cannot leave everything in the hands of the companies in the sector: without an ambitious regulation and a committed public opinion, the situation can become against us. It is, it seems, the ideal moment to use this boom in favor of public health. Then it will be much more difficult. Image | JJ Melero In Xataka | Juan Roig believes that cooking at home has no future. There are eight million Spaniards who are already giving the right

“It’s not about reducing staff. It’s about working together”

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Microsoft has announced from a statement in your blog An important update in its flexible work policy, which will require employees return to the office At least three days a week. The statement is signed by Amy Coleman, Executive Vice President and Microsoft Human Resources Director and it ensures that the main reason for this change is not the Encourage resignationsbut optimize your organization. “It is important to note that this update is not about reducing staff. It is about working together to meet the needs of our clients,” says the writing. A progressive return. The change announced in the Microsoft statement will be gradually implemented. The first to apply will be the employees of the Seattle headquarters who live less than 80 kilometers from this office. These employees will begin to go to the office three days a week from the end of February 2026. Already without citing a specific date, the return to the office will expand to the rest of the offices in the United States, to finally apply to the other international headquarters of the company. A change of model. Microsoft champted the adoption of Flexible Work Model giving example of the versatility of the remote work tools they produced. In fact, until only a few months ago, while many technology companies began to implement their policies back to the office, Microsoft maintained their commitment to flexibility and teleworking ensuring that their employees could continue working from their homes whenever Productivity was not affected. From the address, it is underlined that the teams that They work face to face “They are more motivated, more empowered and reach better results” when working together. Flexibility does not disappear, but the face -to -face time becomes “intentionally and shocking”, being a fundamental part of Microsoft’s new work culture. Exceptions for some positions. In its statement, Coleman points out that, those employees who prove “unusually long or complex” displacements, for example, if it implies the use of various means of transport “, will be exempt from going to the offices and can continue to telework or with a less restrictive model. Similarly, those positions in the Sales, Accounts Management, Consulting and Marketing departments will also be exempt from this new policy because “they require flexibility to meet with customers or partners.” Such and as they highlight in The VergeThe letter also indicates that some employees could exceed those three days in the office with 100% face -to -face models. “Each company will do what best suits its team, which means that some groups will deviate from our general expectations,” said Coleman. Pandemia changed everything, AI returns it to its place. The Covid-19 pandemia sent the employees of the great technological ones To their homes. Now, the career to get hegemony In the Race for AI and the urgency to make profitable millionaire investments That Satya Nadella’s company is doing in it. With this turn to a more face -to -face labor model, Microsoft aligns with other technological giants such as Google, Amazon and Meta, who have already adopted similar schemes demanding their employees go to the office Between three and five days a week. In Xataka | Serguéi Brin asks for changes in the working day to improve AI: 12 hours a day and five days a week in the office Image | Unspash (Salah Darwish, Israel Andrade)

We thought that Sunday’s anxiety in the afternoon was a laziness problem. Actually, it’s about working balance

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Every weekend, millions of people experience a sensation that is increasing as Sunday is coming and the first day of the work week is approaching. According to A study Prepared by LinkedIn, this phenomenon, known as “Sunday anxiety“or” Sunday syndrome “, affects up to 80% of the workers surveyed, being more intense in the employees of generation Z with 94% incidence. In fact, this phenomenon is so studied that they have even managed to start time: the first symptoms tend to appear From 15:58 on Sunday, According to a survey which was carried out in 2020. The usual thing is to attribute this anguish Sunday to laziness or to the desire to stretch leisure time to the maximum at the expense of neglecting labor obligations. However, its origin is a bit deeper and is related to the abrupt step of leisure to duty. Factors behind Sunday anxiety According to published by The countryanticipated anxiety by the arrival of Monday is manifested with varied symptoms: from stomach discomfort and difficulty sleeping to melancholy and fear, depending on each person. According to psychologist Marisol Delgado, a specialist in psychotherapy by the European Federation of Psychologists Associations (EFPA), “Sunday afternoon is one of the few moments in which many professionals can stop reflecting on their life and wander after five or six frantic days.” Sunday’s anguish not only depends on personal emotions, but it is influenced by multiple factors structural and cultural. One of the most prominent is Labor exhaustionthe overload of tasks and the poor management of them throughout the week. In short, the job anxiety It does not have its origin in the laziness of returning to work instead of continuing to enjoy leisure time, but of the anxiety produced by the Labor overload and the lack of free time until next weekend. In other words, of a Bad balance between personal and work life. As Delgado explained, “people who suffer from this disorder are usually those who focus on the negative of things, those who do not know how to manage their free time, those with a clear avoidance strategy In complicated situations or those that have little tolerance to frustration and do not accept that things end, that the weekend ends. “ The feeling of guilt for not having fulfilled all the weekend plans, or for Not having enjoyed free time As expected, it helps to increase the feeling of discomfort and frustration before the work week starts again. The tendency to compare with others Through social networks It adds to anguish, especially when it is perceived that the weekend itself It has been less satisfactory than that of othersincreasing that feeling of discomfort. Strategies for a bad Sunday Although Sunday anxiety may seem difficult to handle, there are effective resources to reduce its impact both at the moment and in the long term. Among the most recommended is the create a relaxing routine For Sunday night and avoid leaving tedious or home tasks for that day. Try to advance them to Friday or Saturday morning to release your agenda for the rest of the weekend. Similarly, minimize Monday’s negative connotations planning an activity that is fun for Monday: a film session or is with a friend. In short, schedule an activity that makes you wishing that Monday arrives To do it. Another strategy consists of Organize and plan the weeksince having clarity about the objectives and tasks facilitates stress management and helps to reduce intrusive thoughts. When the discomfort persists, it is recommended Search for professional supportcommunicate the needs to the work environment to prevent Those first symptoms of lack of balance between working life and leisure time can derive in mental health problems. In Xataka | If you have wondered how much free time you need to be happy, science has an answer Image | Unspash (Hannah Popowski, Annie Spratt)

This is how scientists are working to find all who remain

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While the axolotl becomes a global icon, a star in laboratories around the world, an exotic pet and Even a character in Minecrafthis only natural home on the planet is about to disappear. The last time an exhaustive census was made, in 2014, scientists They could only find 36 copies in the Xochimilco channelssouth of Mexico City. A decade later, the search has begun again and is a counterreloj race to save this amphibian. The question is if any. In 1998, Xochimilco’s waters They housed 6,000 of these creatures per square kilometer. By 2008 this figure had collapsed to 100. Now, the question asked by the Ecological Restoration Laboratory of the UNAM is If one is still alive in this environment. A search between networks and DNA. Each sunrise, while a magic fog rises from the canals, Basilio Rodríguez, a former fisherman in the area, throws his stroke into the water. He does not look for fish to eat, as their ancestors did, but to the axolot, an animal that he himself remembers as a delicacy: “smooth, soft, juicy, very rich.” But today, the networks go up again and again with the same disappointing capture: tents and tilapias, two invasive species that are, in part, guilty of this story. But traditional fishing is not the only strategy they are following. Great hope is deposited In an innovative technique such as environmental DNA analysis. To carry it out, scientists collect water samples to look for the genetic traces that the axolotes leaves in its path. And it is one of the opportunities they have in their front by not having found any axolotes. An amphibian with regenerative capacity. Ajolote is an extraordinary animal. He is famous for his neotany, that is, the ability to remain in a larval state throughout his life. This eternal youth, linked to their stem cells, gives it a superpower that fascinates science: Regeneration. If you lose a leg, a piece of brain or heart, you are able to regenerate it completely in a matter of hours. A fragile species that goes to the abyss. There are different factors that influence the disappearance of this species. The first of these are the invading species that have invaded their ecosystem. The tents have devoured axolote eggs, while the tilapias are eaten to the young and compete for the food. No less important is the destruction of your home, since Xochimilco’s water has been drastically deteriorated by urbanization, pesticides of agriculture and pollution. Noise and tourism is also something that can be lethal for these amphibians. Being night animals that love silence, the presence of humans in their natural habitat making floating parties makes their ‘happy’ place become an impossible place for them. Famous in the world and absent at home. While its wild population disappears, the axolotes is living an explosion of global popularity. Its regenerative capacity is key in research on aging and cancer. His adorable appearance has made him In a merchandising product: T -shirts, keychains and stuffed animals. But experts warn. Having thousands of Ajolotes in captivity, many of them albinos and modified for research, will not save the species. The key is to restore its habitat, a titanic task that would cost about 30 million euros, according to researcher Luis Zambrano. The rescue plan is already preparing. Given the impossibility of cleaning everything Xochimilco at once, the UNAM team has launched an ingenious plan B: Create Ajolot shelters. The idea is to collaborate with the Chinamperos, the local farmers who cultivate in the artificial islands. The project consists of restoring the chinampas and surrounding them with moats and filters that prevent the passage of tilapia. In these small aquatic coffers, you could introduce seats raised in captivity with a genetic as pure and similar as possible to wild ancestors. They already look for money to carry it out. To finance this new project, the UNAM launched the campaign “Adopt an Axolotl”. In this way, for about 30 euros, anyone could adopt virtually one of the 140 copies that live in the center, give it name and help finance the creation of these shelters. Something that gave them an income of four million pesos. There are many animals in dangers of extinction. In addition to the ajolotes, in Spain this is a problem that is also present, as in the case of the Canary Islands, which is considered as the community with more species in this situation. Those responsible They can be other animalsbut Also humansas in Brazil. Images | Mattias Banguese In Xataka | During World War II, Australia sent an ornitorrinco to Churchill. Died on the trip and 82 years later we know why

This Barcelona bus has been working with a fuel that we all produce: our excrements

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A bus of line V3 has been circulating through the streets of Barcelona that has been operating exclusively with a renewable fuel generated from what we least imagine: human waste. And best of all, the experiment has been considered a success. A project that has managed to evolve. This project was baptized as’Nimbus‘, and is the result of a collaboration agreement between The local water management company VeoliaMetropolitan Transport of Barcelona (TMB) and the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). Together they have turned the concept of circular economy into something very tangible: transform the sludge of wastewater into biomethane for public transport. Five years later, and with good results in the hand, the project is ready to move on to the next level and start with large -scale production thanks to European funds. The ultimate goal is to make the production of this fuel based on the solid waste of the city to end in the deposits of the buses themselves in the future that is not very distant. This creates this fuel. The heart of this innovation It is found in the purification of Baix Llobregatone of the largest in Europe. Every day, this plant processes about 400,000 cubic meters of wastewater. While 95% of the water is regenerated for agricultural or urban uses, the remaining solid waste, known as sludge, usually end as dry material for agriculture. The Nimbus project has given it a new purpose. Using an innovative process, researchers have managed to transform four cubic meters of mud per hour into high purity biomethane. This gas is pure enough to be used in vehicles with natural gas engines without any modification. The secret is to refine the initial biogas. Initially, gas contains 65% methane and 35% carbon dioxide. Instead of separating gases, Veolia’s team Combine carbon dioxide with hydrogen that is obtained in renewable sources. In this way, almost all the biomás becomes biomethane, making the resulting fuel emit so much carbon dioxide. A fuel responsible with the environment. The figures that result from this first phase have shown that this biomethane works very well. It emits 80% less carbon dioxide than traditional natural gas and complies with strict regulations of EU euro VI emissionsalthough it produces nitrogen oxide to very small amounts. An alternative to electric buses. Right now, Barcelona’s periphery routes need a bus that has a high passenger capacity and greater autonomy. This is something that electric buses cannot offer today, but biomethane, maintaining the reduction in the emission of carbon dioxide. The future: more buses and production at an industrial scale. After five years of success, the Nimbus experiment gave way to a new phase: the project Sempre-Bio. The objective is now climbing production, going from generating biomethane for a bus line to do it for two. For this they have a budget of more than eleven million dollars, with financing from the European Union. As detailed in the project, with this budget they will “reduce the investment and exploitation costs of biomethane production plants and expand the biomethane production potential through new routes of waste valorization.” Many projects to find the ideal fuel. Synthetic fuel It is one of the great research results for finding an alternative to natural oil. One of the examples is The e-diéselwhich is based on “water and air” for conventional engines, or even Toyota He already works with hydrogen to turn it into an alternative To keep the combustion engine. But the reality is that right now combustion cars are in danger of extinction. Electric cars They don’t stop growingand the Chinese market Not stop driving this sector on other continents Like Europe. Images | Wang Xiong In Xataka | Aid of the Moves III 2025 Plan to buy an electric car: money to receive, since when you can ask for and how to request it

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