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☆ The Quiet Vacationing Trend Is a Sign of America's Broken Work Culture
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-20 | by ( Emily Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Now people are taking full-blown holidays while on the job as part of a trend that's been called "quiet vacationing." It's a stark reminder of how broken American work culture is, just in time for summer. Pretending to work when you're not or acting like you're putting in more hours than you do is not a new phenomenon. If you're quiet vacationing and your boss doesn't know, good for you, I guess. Regardless of how up front (or not) employees are, at the end of the day, American work culture is the bad guy here.

Persons: margarita, munches, they're, Rebecca Zucker, they'd, —, it's, overworkers, Malissa Clark, Clark, downshift, Zucker, We're, we're, aren't, doesn't Organizations: Harris, Workers, University of Georgia, Business Locations: sipping, American

☆ We're cutting our price target on Salesforce after mixed earnings, soft guidance
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-29 | by ( Zev Fima | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

The company's balance of margin expansion with the potential for faster top-line growth should lead to strong earnings growth. Non-GAAP operating margin benefited from the lower cost of revenues, sales and marketing, and general and administrative expenses. Management reduced its revenue growth forecast for the subscription and support business to slightly below 10% over last year. The adjusted operating margin target of 32.5% was reaffirmed and is in line with expectations. For the second quarter, Salesforce estimates revenues of $9.2 to $9.25 billion, below the $9.345 billion estimate.

Persons: Salesforce isn't, Brian Millham, Marc Benioff, we've, Salesforce, That's, Jim Cramer's, Jim Cramer, Jim, David Paul Morris Organizations: Revenue, LSEG, SAP, Microsoft, Nvidia, CRM, Management, buybacks, CNBC, Bloomberg, Getty Locations: San Francisco , California, U.S

☆ Zoom and Salesforce stand to benefit from Microsoft's unbundling of Teams and Office
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-01 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Microsoft's rivals won a reprieve on Monday, when the software giant said it would split up its Teams and Office bundles following scrutiny from European regulators. Analysts at Mizuho Securities wrote in a note on Monday that "while customers believe Zoom is a superior platform vs. Teams" and other vendors, "the bundling of MS Teams to Office 365 has always been enticing for customers to consider Teams." Last year, Microsoft generated almost $53 billion in revenue from Office, including Teams, up about 14% from 2022. Months later, the European Commission disclosed a probe into Microsoft's Teams and Office bundling.

Persons: Microsoft Corporation Satya Nadella, Slack, Satya Nadella, Salesforce, David Schellhase, Slack's, Stewart Butterfield Organizations: Microsoft Corporation, Economic, Salesforce, European Commission, Mizuho Securities, Mizuho, Microsoft, Financial Times, European Union, Microsoft's, CNBC, European Locations: Davos, Switzerland, Europe

☆ Bumble CEO Lidiane Jones poaches top Slack talent to build a new leadership team
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-23 | by ( Ellen Thomas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Read previewNew Bumble CEO Lidiane Jones has hired at least three high-level employees from Slack, where she had been chief executive for about a year until joining the dating app company in January. chief product officer Ali Rayl, chief people officer David Ard, and vice president of global communications Gabrielle Ferree. Rayl, who until recently served as Slack's senior vice president of product, had been at the workplace messaging app for over 11 years. Ard had served as its senior vice president of employee success, while Ferree was its senior communications director. AdvertisementJones, then an executive vice president at Slack parent Salesforce, replaced Butterfield as CEO of Slack in January 2023.

Persons: —, Lidiane Jones, Bumble, Jones, Ali Rayl, David Ard, Gabrielle Ferree, Ard, Ferree, Slack, Jones's, Stewart Butterfield, Slack's, Tamar Yehoshua, Jonathan Prince, Butterfield, Whitney Wolfe Herd, Denise Dresser, Cal Henderson, Fortune, Parker Harris, Salesforce, MuleSoft, Antoine Leblond, Selby Drummond, Ellen Thomas Organizations: Service, Slack, Business, Elliott Management, Sonos, Microsoft Locations: ethomas@insider.com

☆ Employees in Asia are spending the most time looking busy at work, says Slack report
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-14 | by ( Goh Chiew Tong | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Workers in Asia are spending the most time on "performative work" — in other words, focusing on appearing busy more than doing real, productive work. Japan (63%), Singapore (63%) and India (57%) were ranked lowest for percentage of time spent on productive or "real work," Slack said. According to Laney, employees' focus on appearing busy is "likely influenced" by the way leaders are measuring productivity. For example, 44% of Singapore employees — the highest globally — say their productivity has been affected by spending "too much time" in meetings and emails. "There is an opportunity for companies to explore new and different ways of working, such as … adopting asynchronous ways of working rather than meetings, to facilitate more effective collaboration at work," Laney said.

Persons: Derek Laney, Slack, Laney, they're Organizations: Asia Pacific . Workers, Salesforce, Global, U.S, Derek Laney Technology, Employees Locations: Asia, India, Japan, Singapore, France, Kingdom, Australia, Germany, States, Korea, South Korea

☆ Surf Air Mobility shares slump 75% in NYSE debut
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

July 27 (Reuters) - Electric aviation and regional air travel company Surf Air Mobility (SRFM.N) shares slumped 75% below their reference price in a direct listing on Thursday. Unlike an initial public offering, in a direct listing shares are not sold in advance. The stock price at debut is determined by orders coming into the stock exchange. Surf Air Mobility had earlier this month pushed its listing date from July 11 to the week of July 24. The company had last year confidentially filed for a U.S. direct listing after terminating its $1.42 billion merger with a blank-check firm.

Persons: confidentially, Slack, Jaiveer Singh Shekhawat, Pritam Biswas, Arun Koyyur Organizations: Electric, Surf Air Mobility, New York Stock Exchange, Slack Technologies, Salesforce, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

☆ 3 in 5 workers try to be 'active' online even while not working, a new Slack report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( Kai Xiang Teo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

63% of workers surveyed say they keep their status actively online, even when not working, per Slack. These findings come amid an ongoing debate about hustle culture and performative productivity. Slack's State of Work report was conducted between February and March, surveying 18,149 employers and employees from nine countries. These findings come amid an ongoing debate about hustle culture and performative productivity. This discontent with hustle culture even propelled "quiet quitting" into virality.

Persons: Slack, they're, Insider's Reed Alexander Organizations: Employees, Service, JPMorgan, OECD Locations: Slack, Wall, Silicon, Slack's

☆ Surf Air Mobility expects NYSE debut on July 11
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

June 22 (Reuters) - Electric aviation and regional air travel company Surf Air Mobility said on Thursday it expects the company's shares to start trading on July 11, setting the stage for the first major direct listing in the United States in months. Surf Air's shares are expected to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker "SRFM", it said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Contrary to an initial public offering, shares are not sold in advance in a direct listing. The stock price at debut is determined by orders coming into the stock exchange. Advocates of direct listing argue it is a better way to price new stock rather than an IPO.

Persons: Slack, Niket, Krishna Chandra Organizations: Electric, Surf Air Mobility, New York Stock Exchange, Securities and Exchange Commission, Slack Technologies, Salesforce, Air, Thomson Locations: United States, Bengaluru

☆ Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff says he dreams of the day when AI means the company's messaging system will 'wake up and become intelligent itself'
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Generative AI will have "revolutionary" impacts, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff told investors. Slack is almost going to like wake up and become intelligent itself," Benioff told CNBC. "We are about to enter an unbelievable super cycle for tech, and everyone can see that," Benioff told investors. "You may never need to leave Slack to get a question answered," Benioff told investors. Generative AI can help users by saving time with routine tasks, gathering and summarizing research, and conveying information concisely.

Persons: Marc Benioff, . Slack, Benioff, Salesforce, Slack, they've, Gucci, we've Organizations: CNBC, Morning, Gucci Locations: Slack

☆ Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff says he's neighbors with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and the pair chatted about AI over dinner together
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff says he's neighbors with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and speaks to him regularly. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff says that he's neighbors with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and that the pair spoke about artificial intelligence over dinner together. "My neighbor, Sam Altman, is the CEO of OpenAI," Benioff told investors at the company's earnings call Wednesday. "But I did notice that there was only one application that he was using on his laptop, and that was Slack," Benioff told investors. Speaking about the creation of Slack GPT, Benioff told investors: "You may never need to leave Slack to get a question answered."

Persons: Marc Benioff, Sam Altman, Altman, Benioff, Slack, OpenAI, Elon Musk, Salesforce, Slack GPT, we've Organizations: Elon Locations: OpenAI, San Francisco

☆ Slack's getting an A.I. chatbot that can summarize messages, take notes and more
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Hayden Field | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

The logo for Slack is displayed on a trading post monitor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), June 20, 2019 in New York City. Buzzy chatbot technology is coming to Slack in a new way: Slack GPT, an in-app tool that allows users to shorten and adjust message tone, summarize missed messages in channels, assist with writing, take notes on calls or "huddles," and more. For example, you might ask the chatbot to take note of everything that was said on a Slack group call. Slack GPT can also summarize the dozens of messages you've missed in a specific chat group while you were out of the office. Ali Rayl, Slack's senior vice president of product, told CNBC she estimates that the AI chatbot tools will be rolled out within the next year but declined to give more specifics on the features' rollout timeline.

☆ Amazon employees on performance-improvement plans have a little-known Slack channel. Leaked messages reveal anguish, despair, but also community.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Rebecca Knight | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

There's a word-of-mouth Slack channel used by Amazon employees on its performance-improvement plan. Most employees post anonymously; one former worker likened it to a virtual support group. The Slack channel, #focus-and-pivot-info, is not highly publicized, according to interviews with eight current and former Amazon employees, five of whom are or were members of the channel. Most employees post anonymously, making their comments difficult to verify or investigate further. On Slack, a sense of community — but also stressThe Slack channel does not appear to be public knowledge within the company.

☆ Slack messages are all about the emojis — here are the 10 emojis that Slack employees use the most themselves
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Lakshmi Varanasi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Slack employees have created so many custom emojis that the company's own library has over 50,000. Still, Slack employees often gravitate towards the same emojis. "We love emojis," Slack's senior director of product management, Olivia Grace, told Insider. While Slack's standard library offers 1,850 emojis, the platform also allows users to upload pictures to create custom emojis. Still, Slack employees gravitate towards a small handful of these emojis over and over again.

☆ Shopify is 'flattening' its org structure to incentivize more employees to become individual contributors
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Shopify is making changes to its managerial structure that will likely result in fewer middle managers, "flattening" its organizational structure. Starting in mid-March, employees will choose to become either a full-time manager or a "crafter," as Shopify calls individual contributors. Silas added that Shopify expects to have fewer managers overall, referring to the change as a "flattening" of the organization. Shopify also removed all employee meetings that were scheduled for Wednesdays and limited large team events to specific hours on Thursdays. If you're a Shopify employee with a story to share, contact this reporter at mstone@insider.com or on the encrypted messaging app Signal at (646) 889-2143 using a nonwork phone.

☆ Elon Musk-led Twitter has been sued by at least six companies for failing to pay bills
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Lora Kolodny | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Elon Musk's Twitter was sued again in California this week for alleged failure to pay a vendor. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO led a $44 billion buyout of Twitter, which closed around October 27, 2022. According to a Platformer report on Thursday, Twitter suddenly cut off employees' access to Slack this week after failing to pay a bill. In the newest complaint, filed in California Superior Court in San Francisco, Writer says that Twitter failed to pay a bill for the relatively humble amount of $113,856. This week, he wrote on Twitter, "Say what you want about me, but I acquired the world's largest non-profit for $44B lol."

☆ Atlantic Equities downgrades Salesforce, warns executive departures and slowed growth could hurt software stock
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Alex Harring | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Salesforce has been hit with a series of challenges that could push its share price down further, according to Atlantic Equities. Sazel lowered his price target by $60 to $140, which presents a 6.4% downside from Thursday's close. "We are downgrading Salesforce to Neutral on execution concerns, the broad C-suite management exodus and a risk of slower-than-expected revenue growth," he said in a note to clients Friday. Sazel said a lack of cost efficiency in sales and marketing could disrupt revenue growth. That means slowing revenue growth, with its current revenue performance obligation "deteriorating" from 21% to 11% over the past three quarters, the analyst noted.

☆ 23 of the best business apps for entrepreneurs that help with organization, connectivity, and mindfulness
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Alexandra York | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Digital tools such as apps have become a crucial part of running a business, founders told Insider. Many of these apps are free and help with tasks like organizing project timelines or meditation. Many of these apps are free or low-cost and help entrepreneurs with tasks like organizing project timelines, connecting with customers, and finding time for themselves. TikTok"I love TikTok for both life and business," Daphne Chen, the founder of the sexual-healthcare company TBD Health, said. CalmDiego Osorio, the founder of the tequila brand Lobos 1707, prefers the Calm meditation app for 20-minute meditations and stress management.

☆ Salesforce Customers Not Swayed by Slack, Analysts Say
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Angus Loten | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

Salesforce reported about $402 million in Slack subscription and support revenue in the fiscal third quarter ending Oct. 31. Meanwhile, on Wednesday Salesforce said it would lay off 10% of its workforce as customers take a more cautious approach to spending. “The Slack acquisition by Salesforce has not changed the trajectory of Salesforce up or down,” said Tim Crawford, CIO strategic adviser at Los Angeles-based enterprise IT advisory firm AVOA. “That’s really the struggle for customers, to maintain the pace with a company like Salesforce,” he said. Forrester’s Ms. Herbert said the recent departures of Mr. Taylor and the Slack executives might signal that Salesforce is shifting the focus back to its core products.

☆ Salesforce managers were blindsided by news of layoffs, insiders say
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Ellen Thomas | Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Some senior managers learned of the cuts at the same time as rank-and-file staffers. Some Salesforce managers, even those with senior titles, were blindsided by the company's layoff plans when they commenced on Wednesday, according to internal Slack messages viewed by Insider. Slack messages viewed by Insider were sent by managers ranging from senior manager to vice president level. Salesforce laid off around 1,000 employees this week in an initial round of job cuts, insiders say. Insider reported in December that some Salesforce managers were being asked to identify their bottom 10% of performers.

☆ Following Bret Taylor's departure, more top executives are leaving Salesforce
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Jordan Parker Erb | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Quick question: Have you gone "goblin mode" yet this year? I've got more on goblin mode below, but first, let's talk about Salesforce, which is seeing more executive departures this week. The news of Butterfield's departure comes just days after Salesforce announced co-CEO Bret Taylor is also leaving the company — though Butterfield told staff the moves were unrelated. Oxford Languages, the publisher of Oxford English Dictionary, named "goblin mode" the 2022 Word of the Year — beating out semifinalist "metaverse." A look at what "goblin mode" means.

☆ Salesforce is losing the key execs behind some of its biggest and most expensive bets at a critical moment
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield is also departing, along with some other product-focused execs. The departing execs championed Salesforce's product strategyThe departures of Taylor, Butterfield, and Nelson come as Salesforce's strategy comes under the microscope on Wall Street. With Slack and Tableau, Salesforce already had a lot to prove. Salesforce has already said that Lidiane Jones, an executive VP, will take over for Butterfield as Slack CEO. What it does mean, however, is that Salesforce, Slack, and Tableau are all losing the biggest champions of the integrated product strategy right as the company faces hard questions.

☆ Salesforce drops 6% after Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield becomes 3rd high-profile management departure in less than a week
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Matthew Fox | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Salesforce fell 6% on Monday after Insider reported that executive Steward Butterfield is departing the company. Butterfield's exit from Slack marks the third high-profile executive departure in less than a week. Butterfield is the co-founder and current CEO of the popular workplace messaging platform Slack, which Salesforce acquired for about $28 billion in 2021. The imminent departure of Butterfield is concerning to Salesforce investors because it marks the third high-profile executive departure in less than a week. Butterfield said in an internal Slack message viewed by Insider that his departure has nothing to do with the departure of Bret.

☆ Read the memo Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield wrote to staff announcing his departure from Salesforce
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Ellen Thomas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield announced Monday that he's leaving Salesforce, Slack's corporate owner. The news comes days after Salesforce announced its CEO Bret Taylor is also stepping down. Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield announced Monday morning that he is leaving Salesforce in January, according to an announcement Butterfield posted to a company Slack channel that was viewed by Insider. Slack will have a new CEO: Lidiane Jones. He's going to keep the bar high, and then keep pushing it higher.

☆ Is the economy improving? Days before the midterms, no one has a good answer
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Allison Morrow | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

By aggressively hiking interest rates, the Fed has sought to introduce some slack into a tight labor market. Inflation remains high, but now it’s also far more expensive to take out loans or pay off credit cards. Wages are up, but not enough to take the sting off high prices of necessities like food, fuel and shelter. Economists will get fresh insight into the state of inflation next week with the October CPI reading on Thursday. But if there’s good news in that report, it will have come two days too late to sway voters one way or another.

☆ How to better your employee experience to avoid a staff of quiet quitters
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Sponsor Post | Created Slack With Insider Studios | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

A September 2022 poll by Gallup found that "quiet quitters make up at least 50% of the US workforce." For some employers, the concept of quiet quitting might stoke fears of disengaged workers doing the bare minimum. Lead with empathyConsidering how employees' time should be prioritized will help you decide how your team needs to work together. Eliminate meeting fatigueMeeting fatigue is real, and at Slack, we believe there are better ways to communicate than back-to-back meetings. To streamline tasks and free up time for the work that's actually part of your job description, teams turn to Slack workflows.

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