Evolver Offsite - June 3, 2021
Dismantling the Glass Ceiling, The World Is Running Out (Of Everything!), The Most Valuable Company’s Planned Return, and Twitter's Content Moderation Tiers
Welcome to Offsite, Evolver’s quick round-up of work worthy stories from this week.
We took Monday off to celebrate the Memorial Day holiday, and we hope you got some rest and reflection in! That said, a few good pieces in this short work week. Let’s get to it:
📰 Read
Shattering the glass ceiling isn’t enough. It’s time to redesign the workplace from the ground up (Fast Company)
Time: 4 minutes
Context: Can we use the pandemic to reimagine and eliminate the inequities of the workplace? That’s precisely what one CEO posits: It’s not enough to see women in positions of power—they argue that it’s time to break down the structures that keep women out of those positions in the first place. We tend to agree that it’s worth challenging workplace conventions, as quite a few of the traditions of work are built on antiquated expectations and practices.
How the World Ran Out of Everything (NY Times)
Time: 4 minutes
Context: Is lean and mean the best approach in business? The global supply chain—across almost every industry—faced so many difficulties during the COVID-19 crisis. Of particular note is how many companies chose to deplete their inventories to run lean, primarily to boost their stock prices. So-called “Just In Time” manufacturing, championed by Toyota, is a system of having parts arrive at factories near the same time and rate that they are utilized, limiting storage and stockpiling. It’s also this practice that has meant there’s almost no cushion in the event of a supply chain disruption—and we’re all living the consequences right now.
Apple asks staff to return to office three days a week starting in early September (The Verge)
Time: 2 minutes
Context: How is the world’s most valuable company handling the return to work? From the looks of it, conservatively (especially for a tech company). While other organizations embrace remote work, Apple seems somewhat tentative to the option, requiring most employees to come in as they believe it will help facilitate connections. As a tech giant, we expect that Apple will influence other companies’ remote work policies moving forward.
☕️ Coffee Break
Twitter May Start Labeling Your Tweets Based on How Wrong You Are (Gizmodo)
Time: 2 minutes
Context: Misinformation on social media is a problem. From incorrect info about vaccinations to fake reports of celebrity deaths, a few misleading tweets can quickly spiral into a much larger (and, in some cases, harmful) phenomenon with real consequences offline. With that, Twitter is looking at implementing a tiered system of labeling tweets that may contain misinformation. Whether or not it’s the correct approach is up for debate, but it’s interesting to see how one company approaches the problematic issue of appropriate content moderation.
Thoughts? Let us know at evolverteam@protonmail.com.
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