Liza Jansen

The book Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future tells the story of how Musk became one of the world’s most audacious and celebrated entrepreneurs. Sheryl Sandberg shares her reflections on rising up the ranks at Facebook in Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead. And PayPal founder Peter Thiel has set out his lessons on how to build a better future in Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future.

In the UK, large companies are increasingly losing their allure to jobs offering a less conventional work environment.

Stephan van den Brink, a freelance art director, just exchanged his desk at an old school building for a desk at WeWork Amsterdam. It’s the newest location of US coworking space provider WeWork, where young professionals sprawl out on beanbag chairs, sipping micro-roasted coffee or lemon- and orange-flavored water. Why did Van den Brink move offices? “It’s so clean, all the equipment is in good state and monthly fees are all-in[clusive],” the hoody-wearing, stubble-flecked designer says.

They’re impeccably hip, located in buzzing, central locations a stone’s throw from a (fair trade) coffeeshop. And they attract interesting, often high-profile people: Etsy founder Chris Maguire, Brainpicker’s Maria Popova, and Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes have been spotted at one in New York.

UBUD, Bali—A monkey scrabbles around a lawn overlooking a lemongreen rice paddy. Fifteen people wearing flipflops, baggy trousers and tanktops are plopping down on some beanbags in the grass.

A year has gone by since the Rana Plaza factory collapsed, but the site remains a rubbish tip. Clothing labels still swirl around, remnants of burned trousers remain clamped between concrete blocks, and hooded sweaters lie covered in sand. Ordinary Bangladeshi’s stroll over the debris, digging for usable steel on a terrain that still has an unpleasant smell. “The death,” says a bystander. A memorial sign for the 1,133 victims of the disaster cannot be found, unless you count the pile of bones and a skull carefully laid out on the ground at the entrance.

The European Central Bank is currently conducting its much feared stress tests of Europe’s banks. While these tests will assess the health of the banks’ risky assets, the amount of capital they hold and the quality of their balance sheets, the stress test is needed on another facet of the banks as well: the employees.

After three years of working at Ernst & Young in London as a management consultant, Dominic Jackman felt unfulfilled and decided it was time for a change. In 2009, he asked his boss for a sabbatical but was told “no.” In the past three months, six of his colleagues had also asked for sabbaticals and they were given priority.

América Móvil, Carlos Slim’s telecommunications company, reported lower than expected profits on Friday amid growing speculation about its investment strategy for Europe. Two weeks ago it pulled out of an acquisition of KPN that would have positioned the giant to expand in Europe.

The UK is set to build its first new nuclear power plant in more than a generation thanks to a deal with France’s EDF Energy and two Chinese nuclear giants. This is the latest multi-billion dollar deal the UK has sealed with China in a matter of months.

Investment banking’s brutal hours are more than questionable office culture—they’re deadly.