You have been a long-time advocate of employee empowerment and engagement. The trouble with such an approach is that management and their workers are often sidetracked by their basic priorities. This prevents people from working on special projects that they can do from planning to actual achievement of tangible results, with almost zero intervention from management. Please give me your advice. -- Matt Yellow Submarine.

THE Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) has signed an initial agreement with Canada’s Yukon government for skilled workers to be deployed to the western Canadian territory.

SEOUL -- Song Min-su, a Japanese major in his final year at Hannam University, south of Seoul, has watched in dismay as a spat between South Korea and Japan over wartime forced labor has spiraled into a damaging political and economic row.

NEW YORK -- WeWork owner of The We Company took some steps on Wednesday to burnish its appeal to investors ahead of its initial public offering by adding a woman, Frances Frei, to its all-male board and announcing that its CEO would return a $5.9 million payment for use of the trademarked word “We.”

DUBAI/RIYADH -- The head of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund was made head of an executive committee overseeing plans to float shares in Saudi Aramco before he was named new chairman of the state oil giant this week, five sources familiar with the matter said.

It’s easy to say for some people managers that employees must not bring their personal difficulties inside the office. However, we can’t avoid the fact that whatever happens, no matter how strong our policy against bringing up those issues with their family, their medical condition, money matters, among others, somehow it could adversely affect the quality and productivity of their work. So, how do you manage this common workplace issue? -- White Flower.

THE Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) said it inspected 34,000 establishments during the first half, ahead of the pace to meet its 2019 inspection target of 55,000.

TECH START-UP Salarium said it launched the latest edition of its software that will ease the payroll preparation process, this time targeting larger companies.

I’ve been a manager for a major company for five years. I’m happy with my pay and perks package and the working environment until a recent reorganization resulting in the promotion of a colleague as our boss and department vice-president. On his fifth month on the job, he showed an unusual management style that many of his direct reports abhor. For one, he takes credit for our exceptional work and does not bother to commend people who contributed a lot to make it happen. Is this the right time now to leave this company? -- Just Asking

THE PROFESSIONAL Regulation Commission (PRC) is increasing the number of programs that can be accredited under the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Law in order to facilitate compliance by professionals.

SEATTLE -- Boeing Co. said on Tuesday it plans to add extra staff and hire “a few hundred” temporary employees at an airport in Washington state where it is storing many grounded 737 MAX jetliners, a key step in its best-case plan for resuming deliveries to airline customers in October.

SAO PAUL -- Health care giant Philips was warned of suspicious sales of its medical equipment to the Brazilian government, and failed to halt them, nearly a decade before an alleged bribery racket was exposed in the company’s Brazil operations last year, Reuters has learned.