In September 2022, the SEC issued more than $1.8 billion in fines across 16 financial companies because employees discussed trades and other sensitive information on their personal devices and apps. Now, one year later, the SEC is investigating the communication channels used by employees from more than a dozen major investment companies.
Software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies create ready-made solutions for digital challenges. Instead of enterprises designing their own tools and applications, SaaS companies offer their products hosted in the cloud. A variety of models in the form of as-a-service have emerged in the past decade. One prominent example is Unified Communications as a Service, commonly referred to as UCaaS.
Before the onset of COVID-19, 60 percent of remote-capable employees worked in the office each day according to a survey by Gallup. When the pandemic ended last year, teams have transitioned to a hybrid environment.
Many of us fantasize about switching off email and chat notifications and retreating to a beach where no communication app can intrude. Fantasies aside, how often does the typical employee actually use their vacation time each year? Turns out, not nearly often enough.
Company culture has a significant impact on organizational success. According to this Workplace Culture Survey, 77 percent of employees believe work culture influences their productivity while 74 percent believe it impacts their ability to serve customers. This means a successful culture can shape everything—from the number of deadlines you hit to your percent of satisfied customers. Ultimately, a happy workplace drives both individual and overall productivity.
If you’ve experienced what Stanford University researchers call Zoom fatigue, rest assured, it’s not just in your imagination. The fact is, some virtual meetings cause exhaustion and contribute to burnout. However, they won’t be phased out anytime soon. So, it’s up to you to understand why this happens and how to mitigate it in order to stay healthy and productive.
The tech industry has been on a bumpy ride ever since the pandemic began more than 3 years ago. 2021 kicked off the Great Resignation, a period where employees across hundreds of industries—not just in technology—took steps to leave their jobs. When that wave turned, a new term was coined, The Great Regret. Next, towards the end of 2022, the job market was hit by The Great Layoff. In a nutshell, it has been wild, both for recruiting teams and for employees.
Virtual meetings have a bad reputation. From video fatigue that plagued remote workers during the pandemic to technology problems that should already have been solved by 2023, it is easy to see why people prefer to meet in person. However, virtual meetings are still very useful when people are far away and online communication is the only sustainable way to do it. Let’s learn together how to make them better!
Time management is one of those key skill sets that teams place a high premium on, but often fall short of maintaining. In this installment of The Productivity Box, we want to introduce you to time-blocking—a technique that will help you and your team reclaim the workday.
Effective communication is crucial for success in any workplace. For the process to be effective, you need good speakers and good listeners. When someone is an ineffective speaker or a bad listener and communication fails, it can lead to misunderstandings, errors, and missed opportunities.
