ICYMI: Facebook's upset employees, Google's task tracker, and magic
4 comms things and one non-comm thing you might have missed
Hello from my temporary home base, the cornfields of Illinois! đ˝
đ For those of you who donât know me, Iâm Shaun Randol. You can email me at editorshaun@gmail.com.
đŁÂ  Staffbase (Germany) has acquired Berlin-based employee survey company teambay (press release).
In case you missed itâŚ
1. Facebookâs Employees Are Upset With How Zuckâs Handling Trump
The Verge used a summerâs worth of leaked internal audio recordings to report on employee dissatisfaction at how Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is handling President Trumpâs activity on Facebook, especially Trumpâs incitement of violence and racist remarks.
Several times during weekly all-hands meetings, Zuckerberg has gently reminded his ~50,000 employees that Facebookâs customers donât necessarily share the political ideologies of the companyâs left-leaning workforce.
âOne of the things that we talk about a little bit less inside the company is that... the community we serve tends to be, on average, ideologically a little bit more conservative than our employee base,â Zuckerberg said. âMaybe âa littleâ is an understatement.â
Throughout the summer Zuckerberg faced increasingly pointed questions about:
the companyâs friendly relationship with President Trump;
the influence of its conservative head of policy, Joel Kaplan; and
the rise of white supremacist organizations on the platform.
After Zuckerberg decided to let stand a controversial Trump post that threatened to shoot protesters, upset employees held the first virtual walkout in the companyâs history. The decision has dogged Zuckerberg ever since.
In its aftermath, Zuckerberg held another virtual meeting with employees, describing a seven-point plan to address their concerns.
Even after an advertiser boycott, a scathing civil rights audit of the companyâs actions, an appearance before Congress for an antitrust hearing, and the steady activity of the Black Lives Matter movement, Facebook hasnât really changed its political stance or tone.
Employees are increasingly frustrated with the lack of action and what they perceive as Zuckerberg kowtowing to conservatives and the Almighty Dollar.
âMost [employees] sought to pull Zuckerberg toward more decisive action, and a more progressive politicsâwhile Facebookâs user base pulled him in the opposite direction. The resulting stalemate seemed to satisfy no one.â
Click here to read the article and to listen to select audio recordings.
đMY THOUGHT: One reason we havenât seen a massive employee revolt or walkout at Facebook is that Zuckerberg is constantly talking with his employees. The weekly all-hands meetings, in which Zuckerberg and others in the C-suite address the 10-most popularly voted questions submitted by employees, keep the conversation going.
đ¸ Paychecks over politics? The fact that Facebook keeps raking it in also ensures steady paychecks and that bonuses are paid. Fat wallets = content employees.
Facebookâs revenue has grown by 42% in five years (Refinitiv).
đANOTHER THOUGHT The politicization of the workforce seems to be increasing. Taking cues from successes theyâve employed as consumers, employees are emboldened to act collectively against their own employers using virtual or physical walkouts, social media shaming, and fomenting in-office political activism.
Will the polarization we Americans experience in the media and in our communities translate to a politically divided workforce, where only liberals are welcome at one company and conservatives at a competitor?
What is the role of internal comms when internal political debate grows and threatens to spill outside the companyâs walls?
đ The Ultimate List of Books for Internal Comms Professionals â 95(!) recommendations by and for IC pros.
2. Top Internal Comms Software Vendors (FeaturedCustomers)
In the FeaturedCustomers Customer Success 2020 rankings of internal comms software, Beekeeper, Poppulo, Reward Gateway, Slack, SocialChorus, and Workplace from Facebook were given the highest âMarket Leaderâ award.
Market Leaders are vendors with a substantial customer base and market share. Market Leaders have the highest ratio of customer reference content, content quality score, and social media presence relative to company size.
3. Google Launches a Work-Tracking Tool Called Tables
Tables aims to make tracking projects more efficient by investing in automation. Instead of simply tracking notes and tasks associated with a project in various documents that have to be manually updated by team members, Tablesâ bots do things like scheduling recurring email reminders when tasks are overdue, messaging a chat room when new form submissions are received, moving tasks to other peopleâs work queues, or updating tasks when statuses are changed.
The app is meant to compete with Airtable.
Tables is available in the U.S. with both free and paid plans.
P.S. As of yesterday, Google Meet is limited to 60 minutes for free plans (story).
â ď¸ Subscribers to Mister Editorial to get access to exclusive content, such as:
Parts one and two on how to host an Ask Me Anything session with leaders
A/B Testing as a Way to Increase EngagementâŚand Inventiveness
A six-part series on how to set up an editorial strategy for your internal comms
4. Why Forcing People to Turn on Their Video Cameras Isnât Inclusive
Writing for Yahoo! Finance UK, Lydia Smith argues that the heavy reliance on video calls for remote staff has made âseparating our professional and personal lives far more difficultâ and âhas also strengthened sexism and classismâand put working parents at a disadvantage.â
Passing judgment and making assumptions on each otherâs work ethic based on home decor, children and pets run amok, the homeâs tidiness (or mess), and how weâre dressed is facilitated by video calls.
Working parentsâespecially mothersâare highly affected by the remote work experience.
35% of women said they had experienced at least one sexist workplace demand since the lockdown was introduced in March (source)
34% of women were asked to wear more make-up or change their hair, while 27% were told they should âdress more sexy or provocatively.â
Mothers are 47% more likely than fathers to have permanently lost their job or quit since the pandemic (source)
Ms. Smith concludes:
If someone doesnât want to turn their camera on during a video call, think carefully about why this might be.
5. What Magic Can Teach Us About Decision Making
Are you in control of your choices? Magic tricks might reveal otherwise, says scientist and illusionist Alice Pailhès. Watch closely as she performs magic tricks that unveil:
how your brain works,
how you can be subtly influenced, and
what that means for free will and your day-to-day life
Pay close attention to her explanation of âframingâ (~5:45).