Our weekly roundup of workplace news from around the web.

- In holiday weekend news, “[o]ut-of-office messages started out as simple, straightforward communications used to inform people that you were on vacation or taking the day off,” writes Joe Queenan, for WSJ. “But with the passage of time, these messages have gotten increasingly cute, snarky, patronizing and sometimes downright rude.” He’s got a few ideas for how to respond.
- 99u has details on the science behind taking breaks at work: “Just as you need to refuel your car and recharge the batteries in your cell phone, it’s important to give yourself the chance to recoup your energy levels throughout the workday. In fact, the more demanding your day, and the less time you feel like you have to take any breaks, the more crucial it is that you make sure you do take regular breaks to prevent yourself from becoming exhausted.”
- Metropolis with scoop on designing your workplace for the distributed economy, that is, business that’s “unconstrained by a building, free to expand and evolve, to shrink and transition.”