White-collar journeys: rights, benefits, pay and side income

• Your rights at work and on the way out

  Non-disparagement clauses, NDAs, noncompetes, return-to-office rules and severance terms decide what you can say, where you can go next and what you keep. The stories below follow how employers use them, and how employees push back.

• Benefits that matter

  Retirement match, health coverage, leave, flexibility and learning budgets are part of what a job pays. They change quietly, and they decide what a raise or a move is really worth. The stories below follow both the improvements and the cuts.

• Pay and cost of living

  A raise only helps if it beats what things cost. The numbers below are the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest, for all private-sector workers and all urban consumers, and the stories follow what employers are paying and what workers are doing about it.

• Side hustles and second incomes

  Consulting, fractional work, teaching, freelance projects and small businesses give a salaried professional a second source of income and a way to test a next move. The stories below follow what is working, and what employers allow.

More: all news, topics and the layoff tracker.