If you’ve ever walked down the street in Manhattan on a busy workday, you know how dangerous it can be to walk while texting or even walk while others are walking and texting. It’s a problem on city streets everywhere, and now it’s moving into the workplace. GM recently introduced a new HR policy that says it’s no longer acceptable to walk and talk or text. They’re saying it’s a hazard, and not just in the warehouse or on the manufacturing line. They’re talking about the corporate office, too. So no, Brad, you can’t text your way to a meeting anymore. You go, GM. Maybe it will catch on in other workplaces, and dare we say it, in cities, too. If cities can have ordinances about noise and smoking, can’t they ban walking and texting, too? Fast Company
The biggest labor story of the summer began this week, when thousands of prisoners in the U.S. and Canada went on a two-week strike to protest their working conditions, which are, in effect, a form of modern-day slavery. Ironically enough, the legality of involuntary servitude is written into the U.S. Constitution’s 13th Amendment … which abolished slavery, except in cases in which people are convicted of crimes. You go to jail, you’re a slave, working for pennies an hour in poor working conditions with no recourse. You complain, there’s a good chance you’ll end up in solitary. The prison population in the U.S. is upwards of two million people, mostly black and Hispanic. The prison industrial complex is a multi-billion-dollar machine that gets its labor for two hots and a cot. The prisoner rights advocacy group Jailhouse Lawyers Speak thinks there’s something wrong with that and organized the strike. USA Today
Santa Clara firefighters were hindered by Verizon “throttling down” the department’s data connection to 1/200th of its previous speed as responders tried to battle the massive California wildfire last month, and the fire chief has filed a case in federal court because of it. When the department called Verizon to get that speed restored so their people could communicate, coordinate their efforts, and give residents early warning, Verizon helpfully suggested they switch to a new data plan, at double the cost, and said only then would the speed be restored. The chief’s statement is included in a federal lawsuit to restore net neutrality, which was instituted to prevent exactly this kind of thing by putting rules and regulations on internet providers, but it was repealed this year. Verizon says it had nothing to do with net neutrality. It’s a customer support mistake, they said. A training issue. This isn’t the first national disaster Verizon has tried to use to upsell firefighters. In June, a crew fighting the Medocino fire complained of throttling and Verizon tried to sell them a $2-per-month upgrade to restore the service. Apparently that was a training issue, too. LA Times
The development, hundreds of years ago, of ship and cargo insurance was revolutionary. It marked the start of commercial insurance; protection against loss from looting, fire and the perils of the high seas fostered global trade. But in the 21st century the value of companies consists less of solid objects, such as boats and buildings, than of weightless, intangible elements, such as intellectual property (IP), data and reputation. “Today the most valuable assets are more likely to be stored in the cloud than in a warehouse,” says Inga Beale, chief executive of Lloyd’s of London. The Economist
In the recruiting realm, plenty has been written about acquiring top talent and onboarding. Less so about the importance of offboarding (which we think is critical) and even less about how to tell a candidate they didn’t get the job. If you think about it, you reject far more candidates than you hire, and that means there’s a lot of people walking around wondering if it’s them or you. The “candidate experience” is mission critical to your company’s brand in this era of Glassdoor. Indeed.com found 95 percent of job seekers say company reputation is somewhat or extremely important to them, and handling rejection the right way is an important part of that. Best practices? No ghosting, respond to everyone, and make the responses personal as to why the candidate didn’t make the cut. Handled correctly, those candidates could become ambassadors for your brand instead of one-star reviewers on Glassdoor. Indeed.com
