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☆ 10 Things in Tech: Shopify's midlife crisis, how to land deals with brands, and Microsoft's former human resources vice president shares advice
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Also, please let me know what you want to see in Insider Today. Startup studios like Fractal think of startup ideas, then hire founders to execute the vision. But multiple Fractal founders say their businesses are on life support. Many of them think it's because of how startup studios structure terms and conditions for investing — they take a massive chunk of ownership. Investors also prefer when startup founders create the ideas themselves.

Persons: I'm, Siu, Chelsea Jia Feng, Melia Russell, Stephanie Palazzolo, Tyler Le, Shopify's, Chris Williams, Lindsay Noah, Vermillion, Jim Vermillion, Diamond Naga Siu, Alistair Barr, Hallam Bullock Organizations: Startup, Investors, Nike, Abercrombie, Amazon, OpenAI, Syracuse Land Bank, Leasing, Galactic, Space Station, Computing, Intel, Microsoft, MIT Locations: Tech, Syracuse , New York, Syracuse, New York, San Francisco, San Diego, Silicon Valley, London

☆ Microsoft's ex-VP of HR says you should leave a company right away if you get put on a PIP: 'Surviving it is like a sign on your back'
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Chris Williams | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

If you find yourself on a PIP, a performance improvement plan, you need to be thinking about your next steps. People are put on a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) because of significant issues meeting the job requirements. Surviving a PIP is much like a sign on your back that warns management that you are a potential poor performer. Regardless of where you travel within the company, there will always be the specter of the PIP in your past. PIP next stepsThat is why I recommend that anyone placed on a PIP immediately begin planning their next step.

Persons: Chris Williams, Williams, you've Organizations: Microsoft, Morning

The unassuming and soft-spoken German never displayed the same flashy traits as his fellow superstars, instead quietly going about his business - overlooked by many but always an integral cog in the City winning machine. Haaland may have scored 52 times this season but Gundogan has always been a constant threat. In a tense title race where City had played catch-up for months, Gundogan scored twice against Leeds United as City maintained their advantage at the top of the Premier League in the home stretch last month. He then repeated his heroics with a brace against Everton as they kept Arsenal at bay to win a fourth league title in five seasons. Gundogan then stunned arch-rivals Manchester United in the FA Cup with another double, scoring his first by volleying home 12 seconds into the game.

Persons: Pep Guardiola, Ilkay, Gundogan, Yaya Toure, Guardiola, Erling Haaland, pip Liverpool, volleying, what's, Rohith Nair, Hugh Lawson Organizations: Manchester City, Germany, Guardiola, City, Leeds United, Premier League, Everton, Arsenal, Manchester United, League, Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Thomson Locations: Barcelona, Istanbul, City, Bengaluru

☆ Tech workers are sick of the grind. Some are on the search for low-stress jobs.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Tech workers on Blind are discussing ways to find "low pressure" jobs. Some tech workers said they'd be willing to take lower pay in exchange for less stress. The golden era of tech is on its way out as tech workers continue to face mass layoffs. Earlier this week, a Meta worker posted on the anonymous job site Blind asking peers if they had any ideas for "low-pressure jobs." Other workers on Blind expressed similar anxieties, and several tech workers said they'd be willing to accept much lower pay to work in a less stressful environment.

☆ Jon Rahm sets new PGA Tour earnings record with four months still to play
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Jack Bantock | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —It’s been quite the year for Jon Rahm – and he’s got the prize money to prove it. A runner-up finish at the Mexico Open on Sunday took the Spaniard’s PGA Tour season earnings to $14,462,840, setting a new Tour record for money earned in a single season. With $49,486,883 in total earnings since joining the PGA Tour in 2016, Rahm looks set to pass the $50 million mark imminently upon his return. The American had finished joint-second, one shot shy, of Rahm at last year’s event, but improved his total by eight shots to end on 24-under and clinch his sixth PGA Tour title. Orlando Ramirez/Getty ImagesGiven his form, Rahm looks well-placed to add to his two majors and 11 PGA Tour titles this year, but the 28-year-old is keeping his feet firmly on the ground.

☆ 10 Things in Tech: Amazon Slack, industry extinction, and top EVs
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Community: Inside Amazon's little-known Slack channel. And that's playing out inside an internal slack channel called #focus-and-pivot-info for employees put on performance improvement plans — also known as PIPs. Go behind-the-scenes of Amazon's little-known Slack channel here. Right as tech companies shrink their headcounts, AI is gaining popularity in the workplace, writes Insider's editor in chief for business, Matt Turner. Thousands of anonymous tech employees fretted over the future of tech compensation.

☆ 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.

☆ McIlroy takes $3 mln hit for skipping second designated event
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

That total represents 25% of the $12 million bonus he was awarded for finishing second behind Tiger Woods on last year's PIP list which rewards the golfers who have the biggest positive impact on the PGA Tour. Golfers can skip one designated event and still collect their full bonus but McIlroy has now missed two of them, which the PGA Tour created to get the top players competing against each other more often amid a threat posed by LIV Golf. To miss a second designated event without penalty, players need an excused absence, like an injury, or risk losing part of their PIP payout from the previous year. World number three McIlroy announced his decision to withdraw from the RBC Heritage at Hilton Head Island in South Carolina on the heels of his missed cut at the Masters, which was his sixth PGA Tour start in nine weeks. Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto Editing by Christian RadnedgeOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

While Xiaomi remained focused on selling mobile phones under 10,000 rupees ($120), Indian consumers were willing to pay up for better looking models with richer features. According to Counterpoint, the market share of the sub-$120 phones in India fell to 26% in 2022 from 41% two years ago. And premium phones - priced above 30,000 ($360) - saw their share double to 11% in the same period. Xiaomi and Samsung both count India as a key growth market, with smartphones their top selling electronic device. And premium phones accounted for only 0%-1% of Xiaomi's total India phone shipments in the last two years, when Samsung's higher-end phones more than doubled their share to 13%, Counterpoint data showed.

☆ Disasters lower outlook for New Zealand interest rate rise
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( Lucy Craymer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Then on Feb. 12 to 15 a cyclone hit the North Island, which includes Auckland. When Cyclone Gabrielle hit, picking had just begun on pip-fruit farms, whose production is worth about NZ$1 billion a year. That would normally be a reason for a central bank to lift interest rates further, but some economists expect the RBNZ to look past the sudden rise as being temporary. Still, Kiwibank chief economist Jarrod Kerr said the central bank should pause hikes until the effect of the cyclone can be understood. After the Christchurch earthquake, the central bank cut its policy rate due to concerns about the economy.

☆ George Soros called Donald Trump a 'pitiful figure' who is hemorrhaging support and whose 'narcissism has turned into a disease'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Joshua Zitser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Billionaire George Soros slammed Donald Trump during a speech on Thursday. He called Trump a "pitiful figure" who is driven by narcissism and is losing GOP support. Soros expects Ron DeSantis to beat him in 2024, but said Trump could run as a third-party candidate. In turn, Trump has proliferated conspiracy theories about him. The billionaire has become a bogeyman for the right, with bizarre conspiracy theories accusing him of secretly controlling the global economy.

☆ Salesforce engineers are about to be hit with new performance metrics, while some salespeople are being pressured to quit
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Ellen Thomas | Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Some Salesforce employees have been offered a "Prompt Exit Package" instead of a layoff, with less severance. Employees say the company is ratcheting up performance expectations as activist investors invade. "The company is pushing hard for productivity tracking and metrics on all facets," one employee told Insider. Salesforce cut a few hundred salespeople in November, a person familiar with the matter told Insider, and the company told Insider the cuts were made for "accountability," implying that performance was a consideration. In some cases, the company has presented employees with PEP offers in the same week it has executed mass layoffs, employees told Insider.

☆ Workers at Facebook, Snap fear second round of layoffs is on the way
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Recent comments by CEOs at Meta and Snap have workers bracing for yet another round of cuts. For tech workers who in 2022 saw tens of thousands of colleagues lose their jobs amid a wave of layoffs, this year has brought little besides déjà vu. Fear is spreading among many tech employees that even more layoffs will happen in the coming weeks. Performance reviews are more severe. Snap is another company where employees are starting to suspect another round of layoffs is being considered, if not already on the way.

☆ Sun Cable project: Billionaires' feud over Australia-Singapore cable escalates
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Hilary Whiteman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

The proposed Sun Cable project would see a subsea cable stretch from Darwin to Singapore. A statement from Cannon-Brookes’ private investment arm, Grok Ventures, suggested all investors except Forrest’s investment arm Squadron Energy remain committed to the cable. Tim Buckley, director of Climate Energy Finance, says the export of green hydrogen (hydrogen generated from renewable energy) is at least a decade away. “The market for green hydrogen exports has sort of deflated quite dramatically when people realize there’ll be a decade or two before you can actually ship green hydrogen anywhere overseas,” he said. For example, Xlinks plans to run a cable almost as long and powerful from Morocco to the United Kingdom.

☆ Accusations of a bro culture cloud Tiger Global's fundraising efforts after a $10 million settlement
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-14 | by ( Rebecca Ungarino | Dakin Campbell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Investors have learned of a $10 million settlement Tiger Global made to a former female employee. Investors don't really need another reason to shy away from Tiger Global Management after a year of terrible performance. The employee who settled with Tiger alleged that Tiger fostered a type of bro culture, led by men who prevented women executives from getting equal opportunities inside the firm. "Prioritizing these values in our day-to-day interactions inside and outside of Tiger Global has been the glue that has underpinned our success for the past 21 years. We remain committed to driving continuous improvement across Tiger Global as we look towards the future."

☆ REVIEW Soccer-Whatever the ending, Qatar World Cup duly delivered
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-17 | by ( Martyn Herman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Both scenarios would be an appropriate final act to the first World Cup staged in an Arab country. But for a month the so-called beautiful game did, in the words of FIFA president Gianni Infantino, spread some joy. The marquee names of Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Neymar and Cristiano Ronaldo delivered storylines. In five second-half minutes Saleh Al-Shehri and Salem Al-Dawsari wrote themselves into Saudi sporting folklore by scoring the goals to overturn a Messi penalty and seal the biggest statistical shock in World Cup history. Messi, channelling his inner-Maradona, inspired Argentina to beat Croatia and few would begrudge the diminutive number 10's record-breaking 26th World Cup appearance ending with him holding aloft the gleaming trophy.

☆ Staff say 'stay away from Twitter 2.0' in Blind reviews due to its 'toxic' culture under Elon Musk
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Twitter employees are warning potential recruits to "stay away" from the company in Blind reviews. One Blind user told people to "wake up and stay away from Twitter 2.0" in their review on December 3. A self-described people manager said Twitter was once an "amazing company" with a "welcoming culture" in their review posted December 6. About 1,400 Twitter employees signed up to Blind after Musk bought Twitter on October 27, Blind's co-founder told Insider. A total of 180 reviews of Twitter have been posted by employees on Blind since Musk took over.

☆ I was fired from Shopify after the big layoff. I felt disposable and overworked, and I'm much happier now that I'm gone.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Jenna Gyimesi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Osuji says he now works in construction because he couldn't find other support work. When you're working an entry-level position as I did, you feel disposable. [Editor's note: A Shopify representative told Insider in a statement that the company's turnover in Shopify Support is "lower than typical contact centers," though they did not disclose the rate.] I work in construction nowSince Shopify, I've been working in construction doing physical labor because I couldn't get other support work. But even though construction work is physically dangerous, my mental health is better: It's way less stressful than working at Shopify.

☆ 3 signs your boss is 'quiet firing' you — and the 2 steps you should take immediately
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Eileen Smith | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

She says there are three signs you're being quiet fired, including your boss asking less of you. Here are three signs you're being quiet fired:Your boss, who used to ask you to do work over again or tell you how you could do things better, isn't asking anymore. Anticipate what's coming up on your boss' schedule and ask if you can take on a specific task. My belief that my work would speak for itself, or my boss would do that for me, was sorely mistaken. If you don't have the skills to accomplish something in your PIP, ask for training.

☆ Amazon recently instructed managers to identify low performers to push out: 'Stack rank your team members asap.'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Katherine Long | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The messages were between managers from numerous divisions, including Amazon Web Services, Pricing, and Compliance. "Unregretted attrition" includes employees Amazon considers low-performing who are pressured out via notorious performance-management programs. Amazon employees have long railed against the company's performance-management process. Amazon sets a 6% target for unregretted attrition, Insider has previously reported. Amazon instructs managers not to tell their employees if they are on Focus, generating complaints that the process is opaque.

☆ How Much Car Insurance Do I Need?
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-13 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: +11 min

We’ll guide you through how to decide what car insurance works for you––making sure you get the coverage you need without breaking the bank. Required coverage amounts vary by state, but often match the minimum liability insurance coverage requirements. At the same time, if you have collision insurance (more on this below) and a low deductible on your health insurance plan, this insurance could be largely redundant—and you may well be safe with your state’s minimum. How much collision insurance coverage do I need? Also just like collision insurance, the coverage limit for comprehensive insurance is typically the cash value of your car.

☆ ‘Quiet layoffs’ are growing across Big Tech, benefiting the image and bottom line of major companies while hurting workers
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Kali Hays | Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Tech companies of all sizes are facing the brunt of a volatile economy, impacting their stability. Tech companies are having a tumultuous time. "There is nothing that prohibits an employer from doing mass PIPs or letting people go," Rella said. Using workers' performance, and setting new standards for them to be judged on, like what is happening inside Facebook, is workers bearing the brunt of mismanagement. Yet, mass PIPs are ultimately an improper usage of a management tool that should be prefaced with feedback and coaching, said Cooney of Bambee.

☆ Amazon, Meta, and other big tech firms have entered the 'Great Hesitation' — cutting hiring and other costs in fear of an economic downturn
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-16 | by ( Rob Price | Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Leaders at large-cap tech companies are in an anxious waiting game, battening down the hatches as they prepare for the storm to hit. Some tech firms will be hurt moreAmong the biggest players in the tech industry, the impacts of a crash will not be felt evenly. "I look at these large tech companies, and over the last couple of years, obviously money's been free, everything got bloated, and all these tech companies — excluding Apple — have effectively doubled their head count over a three-year period, right? Beyond head count, tech companies are cutting back on extras, imperiling their famously lavish meal options. The largest tech companies are also signaling their anxiety by trimming budgets for their more experimental businesses and research projects.

☆ K-pop pioneers BTS back South Korea's 2023 Asian Cup bid
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Oct 13 (Reuters) - K-pop group BTS have added a bit of 'Dynamite' to South Korea's bid to host the 2023 Asian Cup with a new video backing the country's campaign to stage a first major soccer tournament since they shared the 2002 World Cup with Japan. "Millions of people cheering in the streets astounded the world during the 2002 World Cup in South Korea," band member Jimin said in the video, recalling the response to South Korea reaching the semi-finals of the World Cup on home soil. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Registerloading"Those special moments will be witnessed again in June and July of next year if South Korea is chosen as the host of the 2023 Asian Cup," his BTS band mate J-Hope added. South Korea won the inaugural Asian Cup in 1956 and retained the trophy as hosts four years later. China was set to stage the 24-team Asian Cup in June and July next year but relinquished its hosting rights in May as it pursued a zero-COVID policy.

Earlier this summer, Snap executives told managers they should put at least 10% of their teams on performance improvement plans. In a few weeks, Snap employees have gone from feeling relatively stable to joking that they now work at "Snapazon," a reference to the sometimes grueling, metric-heavy approach of Amazon. Snap is chopping the Snap Pixy mini drone, its accelerator program, Snap Originals, Snap Minis and its Games vertical. Other Snap workers expressed similar doubts about the company's acquisition strategy. AR likely will not be a major success story, despite Snap's leadership in the area.

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