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- The 4-day workweek is much more achievable — and profitable — than you might think
- EU Officials Told to Remove TikTok From Official Devices Due to Security Concerns
- 81% of consumers embraced influencer marketing in the past year, study finds
- Netflix cuts prices for subscribers in more than 30 countries
- Hackers Ran Amok Inside GoDaddy for Nearly 3 Years
THE 4-DAY WORKWEEK IS MUCH MORE ACHIEVABLE — AND PROFITABLE — THAN YOU MIGHT THINK
The world may be one step closer to embracing a shorter workweek, as the results of a UK-based study — the largest trial of the sort to date, featuring 61 companies and approximately 2,900 workers — highlight the overwhelmingly positive benefits of reduced work hours. The resounding conclusion: Shorter workweeks are better for employees and their employers.
Some of the pilot’s key findings include reduced employee burnout, decreased levels of anxiety and fatigue, and a majority of participating employees finding that balancing work, family, and social obligations became much easier — all contributing to a 35 percent increase in productivity overall. The results also documented an impact on gender parity in household divisions of labor among participants, as men reported a 27 percent increase in time dedicated to childcare — more than double the 13 percent increase reported by women participants.
Another important detail for companies to consider is that none of the participating employers reported losing revenue. On average, participants witnessed a 1.4 percent increase, over the trial period, as well as a 35 percent revenue increase when compared to a similar period from previous years. Only a few companies found the need to hire more workers to fill in gaps under this model, and most saw a decrease in attrition among employees, with staff departures reduced by 57 percent over the trial period.
The vast majority of participating companies (92 percent) have since committed to continuing the shortened hours, and 18 of the 61 participating companies have already made the permanent change to their standard schedules.
EU OFFICIALS TOLD TO REMOVE TIKTOK FROM OFFICIAL DEVICES DUE TO SECURITY CONCERNS
More bad news for TikTok, with EU IT officials calling for Government employees to remove the app from their devices, citing security concerns.
As reported by Euractiv:
“The EU executive’s IT service has asked all Commission employees to uninstall TikTok from their corporate devices, as well as the personal devices using corporate apps, citing data protection concerns.”
It’s the first big move against TikTok in Europe, and follows similar warnings and actions taken in US states, where many regional governments have banned the app on official devices.
TikTok is also under investigation by the White House which could lead to a possible nationwide ban, with the FBI and the FCC both recommending the app be removed from US app stores due to concerns that the company could be sharing information on US citizens with the Chinese Government.
TikTok has repeatedly denied that it has, or will share information with the CCP, but an investigation late last year did uncover staff from TikTok’s parent company ByteDance using TikTok information to track contacts of US journalists.
81% OF CONSUMERS EMBRACED INFLUENCER MARKETING IN THE PAST YEAR, STUDY FINDS
As consumer interest in authentic content endures, influencer marketing maintains its status as a powerful advertising tool. According to Matter findings, 69% of consumers trust influencers, friends and family over information coming directly from a brand. Accordingly, Insider Intelligence forecasts that advertisers spend on influencers will top $6 billion in 2023.
As the sector matures, consumers are increasingly looking to influencers as an educational resource, the study detailed. Those surveyed indicated preferences for certain types of content, with how-to content like recipes and tutorials being most preferred (42%), followed by stories with digestible bits of information (35%) and photo or image-based posts with information in the caption (33%).
Consumers also continue to seek out influencers who spark a sense of familiarity, a desire mirrored beyond Matter’s findings, which included the responses of over 1,000 U.S. consumers. Sixty-one percent of those surveyed find relatable personalities most appealing, followed by expert personalities (43%), just-for-fun personalities (32%) and aspirational personalities (28%). Perhaps as a result, preference for celebrity influencers is at a mere 11%, down from 17-22% who said the same in Matter’s 2020 report.
NETFLIX CUTS PRICES FOR SUBSCRIBERS IN MORE THAN 30 COUNTRIES
Prices have been cut in parts of Asia, Europe, Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East.
It comes as the rising cost of living sees households tightening their belts and Netflix faces increased competition from rival services.
“Members have never had more choices when it comes to entertainment,” a company spokesperson told the BBC.
Countries in which subscription charges have been lowered include Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Croatia, Venezuela, Kenya and Iran.
The cuts apply to certain price plans, with subscription charges falling by half in some cases.
The company did not name the UK or the US as countries where it had cut its prices.
“We’re always exploring ways to improve our members’ experience. We can confirm that we are updating the pricing of our plans in certain countries,” a Netflix spokesperson said.
(Via BBC)
HACKERS RAN AMOK INSIDE GODADDY FOR NEARLY 3 YEARS
GoDaddy revealed in a statement on Thursday it had discovered that hackers inside its systems had installed malware on its network and stolen parts of its code. The company says it became aware of the intrusion in December 2022 when customers—the company hasn’t said how many—began reporting that their websites were being mysteriously redirected to other domains. GoDaddy says it’s investigating the breach and working with law enforcement, who have told the company that the hackers’ “apparent goal is to infect websites and servers with malware for phishing campaigns, malware distribution, and other malicious activities.”
It gets worse: GoDaddy revealed in an SEC filing that it believes the hackers are the same group that it found inside the company’s networks in March 2020, and which had stolen the login credentials of 28,000 customers and some of GoDaddy’s staff. Then in November 2021, the hackers used a stolen password to compromise 1.2 million customers’ WordPress instances, getting access to email addresses, usernames, passwords, and, in some cases, their websites’ SSL private keys. “Based on our investigation, we believe these incidents are part of a multiyear campaign by a sophisticated threat actor group,” the filing reads.
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