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☆ Return to work mandates are ridiculous, unnecessary and, in some instances, even cruel
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-04 | by ( Julie Bort | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

So I can say from experience that today's corporate return-to-office mandates are ridiculous, unnecessary and, in some instances, even cruel. For one, CEOs and CFOs are looking at big expenditures on corporate offices that remain either empty or are vastly oversized. The best run companies are focusing more on the thing they can best measure from afar: the work employees actually do. Not only do you do the work, you also eat there, work out there, and do your hobbies on campus. An office work environment will naturally evolve back to being a social hub over time, without draconian mandates that lack data and research to support them.

Persons: Andy Jassy, Mike Blake, Zoom, Robert Johnson, doesn't, Aki Ito, Mark Zuckerberg, there's Organizations: Morning, Amazon, REUTERS, Business, Stanford, Yahoo, AP Locations: San Jose , California, New York, India, China, Santa Monica, Calif

☆ Companies are increasingly making counteroffers to staff who have been offered new jobs — often because they can't be bothered to find replacements — UK survey finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-15 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Around 40% of UK employers have given counteroffers to staff looking to job hop in the past year, a survey found. Employers are hoping to retain staff for their knowledge, and skills, and to avoid replacing them. Almost half of employers say counteroffers are effective in retaining employees for at least 12 months. Some 40% say they do this by exceeding pay offers given by other employers, while 38% said they match the offers of other employers. Half of employers are planning to use counteroffers in the next year to retain staff for their company knowledge and technical skills, the CIPD's survey found.

Persons: they've, Gallagher, Yoko Spirig, counteroffers, Insider's Aki Ito, Michelle Reisdorf, Robert Half, Ito Organizations: Employers, Service, Privacy, Workers, Chartered Institute, Personnel, Google, Ford, Spotify, JPMorgan Locations: Wall, Silicon

☆ Employees Are Secretly Using ChatGPT to Get Ahead at Work
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-01 | by ( Aki Ito | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

And he's kept right on using Bing to do his job even after his company issued a policy barring the staff from using AI. Those secretly using AI on the job — experts call it "shadow IT" — appear to be legion. Luke doesn't know whether his employer is OK with him using ChatGPT, since it hasn't issued an official policy, and he's not about to ask. Even when employers block access to AI tools at work, employees are pulling up apps like ChatGPT on their personal devices. By failing to create clear guidance on AI, companies are effectively empowering the covert users at the expense of everyone else.

Persons: Blake doesn't, Blake, Bing, hasn't, he's, ChatGPT, Blake —, Bard, Fishbowl, Ethan Mollick, they've, Gartner, Eser Rizaoglu, Alex Alonso, We're, Roberto, I'm, Roberto hasn't, Luke, —, Luke doesn't, He's, Jaap Arriens, they're, GPT, Wharton, Roberto aren't, they'll, Aki Ito Organizations: Wharton School, Gartner, Employers, Employees, Bing Locations: America

☆ How the Work-From-Home Revolution Supercharged Women's Careers
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( Aki Ito | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Today, 77.8% of women between the ages of 25 and 54 are in the labor force, surpassing the previous peak in 2000. "The most obvious explanation is that remote work expanded possibilities for this group that would not have been there otherwise," Terrazas says. "In those core family-raising, childbearing years, prior generations of women may have felt it necessary to leave the labor force. Remote work allowed many of them to stay in the labor force." So: What could keep remote work from becoming, in the words of the legal scholar Joan Williams, a "feminized ghetto"?

Persons: shutdowns, Aaron Terrazas, Terrazas, COVID, they're, Marianne Bertrand, Joan Williams, Rose Khattar, Aki Ito Organizations: New York Times, University of Chicago, Center for American Locations: United States, France, Germany

☆ A Wharton professor says a new $20 ChatGPT tool can code and make graphs 'in seconds'. These tasks took him weeks to master during his doctorate.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( Kai Xiang Teo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

ChatGPT's new Code Interpreter tool was released to paying customers on 7 July. A Wharton professor said: 'Things that took me weeks to master in my Ph.D. were completed in seconds' by the tool. Even without Code Interpreter, ChatGPT already had some code-writing abilities. ChatGPT-creator OpenAI released Code Interpreter to Plus subscribers on July 7. Even without Code Interpreter, ChatGPT already had some code-writing abilities.

Persons: Wharton, ChatGPT, Ethan Mollick, Mollick, OpenAI, Insider's Aki Ito, Sarah Silverman —, Sam Altman, Peter Tennant Organizations: University of Leeds, Turing

☆ Your employer may be quiet quitting on you
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( Aki Ito | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Some bemoaned it as quiet quitting; others celebrated it as a much-needed correction to the toxic demands of hustle culture. But employees, it turns out, aren't the only ones distancing themselves from the office: Employers are quiet quitting on the whole idea of traditional full-time employment. If workers are going to be remote, the thinking seems to go, why not get the cheapest remote workers available? That ruled out contractors, because contractors work remotely. And that could be a huge problem for everyone, given America's insistence on tying basic benefits to full-time employment.

Persons: Nicholas Bloom, Slack, they're, —, Gen Zers, It's, Bloom, they'll, Jessica Schultz, she's, Schultz, They're, it's, Liz Wilke, Aki Ito Organizations: Atlanta Fed, Stanford University, McKinsey Locations: American

CNN —Sierra Leone’s President Maada Bio has taken an early lead in the country’s presidential election, provisional results showed. The election is considered a two-horse race between President Bio, 59, of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) and 72-year-old former cabinet minister Samura Kamara, who leads the opposition All People’s Congress (APC) party. Bio has so far polled more than a million votes and currently leads Kamara with over 200,000 votes, according to ECSL. Earlier, Bio’s SLPP party said it was “greatly anticipating a landslide victory” following an internal review of its performance in the elections. Hundreds of supporters of the opposition party, APC, hold up signs calling for the Chief electoral Commissioner, Mohamed Konneh, to step down after allegations of electoral fraud.

Persons: Maada, Samura Kamara, Kamara, ECSL, Bio’s, Mohamed Konneh, John Wessels, Yvonne Aki, Sawyerr, “ Organizations: CNN, Sierra, Sierra Leone, Sierra Leone People’s Party, People’s Congress, Getty, APC Party Locations: Freetown

☆ I’ve lived in Paris for 12 years—here are 15 questions French people ask to make small talk more interesting
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( Ajiri Aki | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

But adapting to a different way of life in France has changed me in infinite ways, especially when it comes to relationships and meaningful conversations . In 2011, I moved to Paris as a career-obsessed New Yorker who was never satisfied. So how do French people start and maintain the meaningful conversations that they are so famous for? They don't ask questions about work, which can seem invasive or unimportant. The Parisians I know use these open-ended questions to charm everyone they meet:Questions to start the conversation1.

Persons: there's Organizations: Yorker Locations: France, Paris

Pig prices soared in Europe last year as output was cut by farms squeezed by high grain and energy costs. The EU pork industry has been buffeted in the past decade by a Russian trade embargo, the westward spread of African swine fever and the COVID-19 pandemic. "We're continuing to add costs to the overall pork production chain," Justin Sherrard, global strategist for animal protein at Rabobank, said. That may mean EU pork exports, whose share of production more than doubled to 21% between 2000 and 2020, have peaked. But an inflationary economy may make consumers less ready to accept rising pork prices and deepen a shift towards chicken as a cheaper, more convenient option.

Persons: Carole Joliff, Joliff, Jean, Paul Simier, AKI, We're, Justin Sherrard, slaughterhouses, Klaus Kaiser, FICT, Rabobank's Sherrard, jamon serrano, prosciutto, Tim Koch, Gus Trompiz, Forrest Crellin, Michael Hogan, Johannes Birkebaek, Emma Pinedo, Toby Sterling, David Evans Organizations: European Union, Commission, Rabobank, BLE, Danish Crown, AMI, Thomson Locations: PARIS, Brittany, Europe, Russian, Hungarian, China, Japan, Denmark, Netherlands, Danish, France, Brazil, United States, Germany, EU, Paris, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Madrid, Amsterdam

☆ Office workers everywhere are about to face their own Uber moment
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Matt Turner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

In other words, the lessons learned from months or years of experience are baked into an AI tool. The rise of AI tools could help millions of new software developersMicrosoft CEO Satya Nadella for example recently told Time that AI tools could lower the barriers to entry for software developers. This doesn't mean the great software developers won't remain great software developers but the ability for more people to enter the field will increase. That's good news for many wannabe software developers, but it's also bad news for many existing ones. "But for the most part, people in these jobs will just face more competition, similar to taxi drivers as Uber proliferated."

Persons: Uber, —, you'll, Carl Benedikt Frey, Erik Brynjolfsson, Lindsey R, Raymond, Danielle Li, Satya Nadella, it's, Aki Ito, Frey Organizations: Service, Transport, Oxford Martin School, Fortune Locations: London

☆ It's becoming clear that AI is going to whack the mediocre middle of office workers
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Matt Turner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

More specifically, AI could disproportionately impact the middle class of white-collar workers — the folks who are mid-career, mid-ability, mid-level, and yes, in some cases, mediocre. In other words, the lessons learned from months or years of experience are baked into an AI tool. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella for example recently told Time that the same could be true for software developers. This doesn't mean the great software developers won't remain great software developers but the ability for more people to enter the field will increase. That's good news for many wannabe software developers, but it's also bad news for many existing software developers.

Persons: —, Erik Brynjolfsson, Lindsey R, Raymond, Danielle Li, Satya Nadella, it's, Aki Ito, Carl Benedikt Frey, Uber, Frey, Mark Muro, Jacob Zinkula, Richard Baldwin, Aaron Mok Organizations: Service, Fortune, Microsoft, Oxford Martin School, London, BT Group, Workers, Brookings Institution, Geneva Graduate Institute Locations: London, British, Switzerland

☆ I left the U.S. for Paris 12 years ago—6 things French people do differently than Americans to live long, happy lives
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Ajiri Aki | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

She says her lifestyle has been enriched by the French principle of joie de vivre, or the "joy of living." But it wasn't until I moved to Paris from New York in 2011 that I noticed the driving force behind the way French people live. As a Nigerian raised in Austin, Texas, I always thought the best things in life were reserved for the ultra-wealthy. Here's what French people do differently than Americans to cultivate joie de vivre:1. So, if you want to find joy like French people, engaging in the arts is a good place to start.

Persons: Ajiri Aki, Madame de la, It's, we'll, Jessica Antola, Naomi Campbell, I've Organizations: Madame de la Maison, UNESCO, Heritage, Humanity, Research Locations: New York City, Paris, France, New York, Austin , Texas, joie

☆ ‘Anatomy of a Fall’ wins Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-27 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The 76th Cannes Film Festival - The Palme d'Or Award - Cannes, France, May 16, 2023. A Chopard representative displays the Palme d'Or, the highest prize awarded to competing films, during an interview on the day of the opening ceremony of the festival. Justine Triet's "Anatomy of a Fall" won the Palme d'Or at the 76th Cannes Film Festival in a ceremony Saturday that handed the festival's prestigious top prize to a twisty French Alps courtroom drama. "Anatomy of a Fall," which stars Sandra Hüller as a writer trying to prove her innocence in her husband's death, is only the third film directed by a woman to win the Palme d'Or. Quentin Tarantino, who won Cannes' top award for "Pulp Fiction," attended the ceremony to present a tribute to filmmaker Roger Corman.

☆ 'Anatomy of a Fall' border collie fetches Cannes Palm Dog in fiercest contest yet
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( Mindy Burrows | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] The 76th Cannes Film Festival - The Palm Dog Awards - Cannes, France, May 26, 2023. Stan, a Border Collie, receives the Palm Dog award on-behalf of the dog named Snoop of the film "Anatomie d'une chute" (Anatomy of a Fall). Messi played Snoop, a role which the jury said required a range of skills and emotions from its doggie actor, making the border collie a worthy winner of the main Palm Dog prize. "It's probably the greatest award ever, so we are truly, truly overwhelmed," said Jussi Vatanen, who stars alongside Alma Poysti in the tragicomedy about a budding romance. The Palm Dog awards have honoured the top dogs on screen since 2001, with categories added this year including Mutt Moment and Highly Commended Canine.

☆ An organic baby formula company says it'll speed up your online order if you add a tip. It's the latest example of tipping gone overboard that's driving some customers crazy.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-24 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A baby formula company says it can will deliver orders faster to customers who tip, per the WSJ. The company told Insider that the tips all go to its warehouse workers. Baby formula company Organic Life Start is slashing fulfillment times from 24 hours to 12 hours for customers who tip when they check out, according to The Wall Street Journal. A company representative framed tipping as an opportunity for customers to acknowledge the personal touch and labor that goes into fulfilling an order in a statement to Insider. The phenomenon can be at least partly attributed to rising inflation and costs that companies are looking to pass onto customers, Insider previously reported.

☆ Finland's Kaurismaki back in Cannes competition after over a decade
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] The 76th Cannes Film Festival - Screening of the film "Kuolleet lehdet" (Fallen Leaves - Les feuilles mortes) in competition - Red Carpet Arrivals - Cannes, France, May 22, 2023. Director Aki... Read moreCANNES, May 22 (Reuters) - Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki is back in competition for the Cannes Film Festival's top prize after more than a decade with his 20th film, "Fallen Leaves," which premiered on Monday. Under a sweltering afternoon sun, Kaurismaki, 66, was joined on the red carpet by his lead actors Alma Poysti and Jussi Vatanen. Written and directed by Kaurismaki, "Fallen Leaves" is his first feature in six years. "Fallen Leaves" is Kaurismaki's fifth competition title at Cannes.

☆ An outsider's take on finding success on Wall Street
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

At first glance, Kristofer Baxter doesn't seem like an ideal candidate for offering tips about succeeding on Wall Street. His outside perspective offers a unique look at what it takes to find success on the Street. Too often, people explaining how they found success on Wall Street, or anywhere, amounts to them bragging about how hard they worked. Read more on key lessons from a top engineer at Citadel about finding success. The famous VC firm is going to launch a fund of funds for backing other VCs focused on finding early-stage startups.

☆ 10 Things in Tech: Amazon Web Services salaries, Elon Musk returns to Tesla, and a ‘secret’ ChatGPT prompt library
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

I'm Diamond Naga Siu, and I don't dream of labor (I do occasionally have dreams about writing the newsletter). And hiring managers told my colleague Aki Ito that it's currently incredibly difficult to find and hire enough qualified people. The country that wins the competition over the batteries of the future will not only control the electric vehicle market. Lopez gives us a front-seat look at the landscape of the critical EV battery market. A leaked email revealed that Musk now wants to approve all new hires — including contractors — at Tesla.

☆ Cannes director open to letting green activists onto red carpet
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

CANNES, May 15 (Reuters) - Cannes Film Festival director Thierry Fremaux said on Monday he was open to letting climate demonstrators onto the red carpet, as the showbiz extravaganza prepared to launch amid bursts of activism on both sides of the Atlantic. But the confluence of at least three major protest movements has put unusual pressure on the organisers. "It's not impossible that we will welcome them at the top of the steps to express themselves," he added. It was too early to tell what effect the writer's strike would have on the festival, he said, but the right to strike had to be respected. Reporting by Miranda Murray and Mindy Burrows; Editing by Andrew HeavensOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ The Baby Boomer Retirement Surge Will Spark a Forever Labor Shortage
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Aki Ito | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

We're entering what is shaping up to be the Forever Labor Shortage. So what does the Forever Labor Shortage mean for workers in the years ahead? But perhaps the biggest change prompted by the labor shortage won't be how employers hire — it will be who they hire. In the Forever Labor Shortage, all labor is going to be in demand. That means the Forever Labor Shortage will be more an ongoing battle than an enduring peace.

☆ When is Cannes Film Festival 2023 and what can we expect?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/6] The 75th Cannes Film Festival - The Palme d'Or Award - Cannes, France, May 17, 2022. Below are some facts about the Cannes Film Festival and this year's contenders. WHAT IS THE CANNES FILM FESTIVAL AND WHY IS IT CELEBRATED? Cannes is the world's biggest film festival, first conceived in 1939 as an alternative to the then-fascist-influenced Venice Film Festival. Other awards include the Grand Prix, jury prize, best director, best actor, best actress, best screenplay and best short film.

☆ 10 Things in Tech: The end of coding as we know it, why the 4-day workweek works, and wild Kittyhawk designs
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Hallam Bullock | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

But all of you had something insightful to share (there was even the odd pet picture, too!) Now, this week I wanted to share some of our top stories from our Discourse team. Tech companies have rushed to embrace generative AI, recognizing its ability to turbocharge programming, Insider's Aki Ito writes. And for better or worse, this effectively marks the end of coding as we know it. A growing body of evidence suggests a shorter workweek prevents employee burnout, fosters a healthier workplace, and boosts company productivity.

☆ Tech giants aren't just cutting thousands of jobs — they're making them extinct
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Matt Turner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

That has far-reaching implications for tech workers and those seeking to work in the industry. By some estimates, more than 250,000 tech workers have been laid off since the start of 2022. Site-reliability engineers manage the operations of Google's systems and keep them running, while software engineers work on developing Google's infrastructure and products. This trend has significant implications for tech workers and those hoping to work in the industry. As Insider's Ito has reported, tech workers and software engineers have often been thought of as impervious to the march of automation.

☆ AI Technology Like ChatGPT Will Reshape Software Coding Jobs Forever
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Aki Ito | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

Their conclusion: 19% of workers hold jobs in which at least half their tasks could be completed by AI. Researchers at Microsoft and its subsidiary GitHub recently divided software developers into two groups — one with access to an AI coding assistant, and another without. Amazon has built its own AI coding assistant, CodeWhisperer, and is encouraging its engineers to use it. Another argument from the optimists: Even as AI takes over the bulk of coding, human coders will find new ways to make themselves useful by focusing on what AI can't do. So maybe, long term, human coders will survive in some new, as-yet-to-be-determined role.

☆ 10 Things in Tech: Charlie Bell speaks, Amazon RTO, and the lucrative side of teaching ChatGPT
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Amazon needs to watch out for Charlie Bell. A founder of Amazon Web Services and the firm's "best person in the room," Bell shook the industry last September when he joined Microsoft. Bell will be overseeing a new cybersecurity division at Microsoft — but insiders at both Amazon and Microsoft wonder if he'll go more directly up against his former employer. My colleague Ashley Stewart examines the growing threat of Microsoft now that Bell is free from his noncompete purgatory. Look into the future here for Bell — and Microsoft — without Amazon's restrictions.

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