Inside: Email v. Slack, a Cringe-Worthy CEO Note, Office Fiction
Insider Comms for internal comms
Happy day!
🎧 It was my pleasure to be a guest on Sam Bleazard's podcast, Comms From the Shed. His questions on employee comms, my career, and office politics really got me talking! (What a patient man.)
🚪 Insider Comms: scroll down to access:
An eye-popping Slack message from Revolut’s CEO to employees threatening their job security
The grievance letter employees at Apple sent to their bosses about the company’s return-to-office policy
The memo Goldman Sachs sent telling employees masks are mandatory at its Europe HQ
1. Email Isn’t Working
And yet Slack’s name says it all
Regular readers know that I’m a fanboy of Cal Newport, whose Deep Work actually changed my life (personally and professionally). It’s the book I have gifted and recommended the most to others.
Newport is out with a new book that I can’t wait to get my hands on: A World Without Email: Reimagining Work in an Age of Communication Overload (gasp! says the newsletter freak and email geek). Newport’s essential argument is that in the office email is killing productivity and meaningful work.
Modern knowledge workers communicate constantly. Their days are defined by a relentless barrage of incoming messages and back-and-forth digital conversations—a state of constant, anxious chatter in which nobody can disconnect, and so nobody has the cognitive bandwidth to perform substantive work.
Slack is not the answer. In debating Slack v. email v. other ways of working, Ezra Klein argues:
…it’s completely clear to me that Slack makes organizations less effective. It’s very well built to help workers slack off, right? To help me slack off. I enjoy slacking off on Slack. I mean, it’s literally right there in the name. It’s called Slack.
Newport agrees.
Email is dead. Email is essential. After the Oxford Comma, it’s the most heated debate in internal comms circles. What is to be done?
I don’t know the answer, but sticking with the status quo may mean that your internal comms team will succumb to the innovator’s dilemma. Read more about that here.
Check out Klein’s interview with Newport about how Slack and Gmail are making workers miserable. See if you/your team can come to any conclusion on the most effective way to cut down the communications noise in your office. I promise it’s worth your time.
2. A Clever Repurpose of Internal Channels
LogMeIn suggests an alternative way to use internal comms channels (above) that provides a three-dimensional view of what employees do when they’re not glued to their desks.
Status update: taking a nap
Read more on HR News.
3. New Additions to the Mister Editorial Bookshop
45 book recommendations have been added to the Mister Editorial Bookshop, including a new section dedicated to office and workplace fiction.
The fiction section (37 books and counting) isn’t limited to classics like Bartleby, the Scrivener; it includes contemporary picks (e.g., Severance by Ling Ma) and at least a dozen sci-fi and fantasy novels.
New additions to the bookshop include:
An Effort to Understand: Hearing One Another (and Ourselves) in a Nation Cracked in Half by David Murray
Influential Internal Communication: Streamline Your Corporate Communication to Drive Efficiency and Engagement by Jenni Field
Did That Just Happen?! Beyond ‘Diversity’—Creating Sustainable and Inclusive Organizations by Stephanie Pinder-Amaker and Lauren Wadsworth
The Very Nice Box (fiction) by Eve Gleichman and Laura Blackett
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4. Industry News
At Revolut, the UK unicorn, applicants were asked to work for free and turnover is waaaaaay above average. It sounds awful. (Wired)
🚪 Above: Revolut’s CEO Slack message to all employees letting them know that if they underperform they’ll be fired immediately.
Bananatag is collecting anonymous data on how much money internal comms professionals earn—and how experience, location, industry, and other demographics may influence those earnings. Participate in their survey.
Ragan’s 2021 Video, Visual & Virtual Awards are open for entry.
The Institute of Internal Communication and Solent University are accepting applications for the Masters in Internal Communications Management program (UK).
Apple is delaying its return-to-office plan by a month (NYT)
🚪 Here’s the internal letter employees sent to Apple leadership airing their grievances on the return-to-office strategy (Recode)
🚪 Read the memo Goldman Sachs sent telling employees masks are mandatory at its Europe HQ (Business Insider)
Hamburg-based social intranet and employee communications platform COYO has acquired people analytics provider Jubiwee (Tech.eu)
5. Not Useful, But Interesting(?)
The appearances of “internal communications” (blue), “employee communications” (red), and “executive communications” (green) in books over the past 100 years.
You’re caught up! Have a nice day 🌞.
Connect with me on LinkedIn and Twitter | Mister Editorial archive | editorshaun@gmail.com
Disclaimer: Besides running Mister Editorial, I work in employee comms at Splunk. The views in this newsletter are my own.