The Slack generation can’t communicate with the email generation
Company – Why more platforms are dividing the workplace – “Workplace miscommunication and conflict are on the rise, as work becomes more decentralized and multigenerational. Should you leave important information in a voicemail to a colleague? Should you pick up a phone call from your boss after hours?
How do you determine what rises to the occasion of a face-to-face, and what information can be shared in an email? Cameras on or off? Answers to these questions can vary significantly based on industry, age, seniority, workplace culture and personal preference, and the lack of widely accepted norms is creating new workplace challenges.
According to a recent study conducted by online language learning marketplace Preply, nearly one in 10 workers have been disciplined in a voice message, while two in five have deleted work-related voicemails before listening to them in full. Furthermore, while 86% prefer communicating via email, nearly 90% say that mode of communication is most likely to cause misunderstandings.
“The shift to remote working has impacted our dependence on text-based communication—like direct messages, emails, chats—rather than speaking in-person,” explains Sylvia Johnson, Preply’s head of methodology. “While these methods are very fast and convenient, they do lack those nonverbal cues.”…
Communities are in Revolt, But the Chains’ Predatory Tactics Also Demand Federal Action. Dollar General, Dollar Tree, and Family Dollar are targeting vulnerable communities, opening stores at a breakneck pace in urban and rural areas alike. It’s tempting to assume that these chains simply fill a need in cash-strapped places.
But the evidence suggests that dollar stores are not merely byproducts of economic distress; they are a cause of it. Through predatory tactics, the dollar chains are killing off grocery stores and other local businesses, leaving communities with fewer jobs, diminished access to basic goods, and dimmer prospects for overall well-being. As these losses mount, dollar stores are facing a rising tide of grassroots opposition.
Over the last couple of years, scores of cities and towns have blocked the chains from opening new stores. Local action alone is not enough, however. Federal policymakers also need to address the ways in which misguided policies, particularly those governing antitrust and finance, are fueling the destructive proliferation of dollar stores…
- Download the Report – This new report is accompanied by two companion publications: 17 Problems: How Chain Dollar Stores Harm Communities, a comprehensive accounting of these stores’ economic and social impact; and Stop Dollar Store Proliferation in Your Community: A Strategy Guide, a step-by-step toolkit for local advocates, officials, and organizers.”
When Media Outlets Shutter, Why Are the Websites Wiped, Too?
Slate: “On Thursday morning, a rumor started to circulate among media workers. Vice senior editor Janus Rose disclosed that staffers were in possession of an anonymous tip that management planned to shutter Vice—and delete the entire website. Employees had noticed the company disabled a Google feature that allowed them to download their emails.
“Fun times in the media death spiral!!!” Rose wrote on X. “Will update once I know whether or not we’re all fired.” Another Vice staffer, who spoke to me on the condition of anonymity, said that the brand’s journalists spent the day downloading their articles as PDFs and saving links on public archive websites like the Wayback Machine. By the day’s end, the company’s management announced that Vice’s website would cease publishing typical news stories and that it would soon lay off hundreds of people. The plan was to pivot away from real journalism and toward a “studio model” involving, uh, um, social media? “As part of this shift, we will no longer publish content on vice.com, instead putting more emphasis on our social channels as we accelerate our discussions with partners to take our content to where it will be viewed most broadly,” CEO Bruce Dixon wrote in an email to staff. In a separate memo on Friday, obtained by Semafor, staff were told:
“Our website will remain. We are however making an intentional decision for it to show up in a different way.” (Vice did not respond to Slate for a request for comment). But the idea that Vice may be deleted was not an irrational worry. News websites have been disappeared before: The contents of the website Gawker were deleted after it was successfully sued by Hulk Hogan and its former parent company went bankrupt. (Fortunately, the Freedom of the Press Foundation and the Internet Archive were able to preserve the archive.)
Gawker was revived, and then went kaput again; Gawker.com is currently devoid of articles. In January, the not-quite-a-year-old website the Messenger vanished similarly when its owner, billionaire Jimmy Finkelstein, closed up shop and shut down the website with little notice. Go to the site now, and all you’ll see is a white screen with the name of the brand, and a general email address. (Earlier this month, Finkelstein told Axios he gave ex-employees passwords to log back into the website and try to rescue old stories, and that he’s “considering” making the content public again.)
And, as of Friday morning, the DCist has been shut down—traffic at this time redirects to WAMU, the public radio station that had overseen it. The site has, effectively, disappeared. “To facilitate transitions for impacted staff, WAMU has made the DCist archive available through a password-protected site through March 31, 2024,” a statement from WAMU shared with Slate said…”
