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Ex-TikTok moderators sue over 'emotional distress' from disturbing videos
The women saw videos of murder, bestiality and other distressing images.
Pinterest will no longer force former employees to keep quiet about discrimination cases
Pinterest settled a lawsuit filed by a shareholder, which accused the company of enabling a culture of discrimination.
Microsoft Teams meetings are coming to Meta's Workplace
You can access Workplace content within the Teams app too.
Slack adds a gender pronoun option to profiles
Slack has officially launched a dedicated field for gender pronouns, so you can display them on your profile.
Google's Threadit is a short-form video platform for work
Google's Area 120 experimental lab has released a new workplace video app called Threadit to get you sharing short clips with colleagues.
Zoom calls are coming to Amazon, Google and Facebook smart displays
Zoom has just announced that its Zoom for Home video conferencing platform will soon be available on Amazon’s Echo Shows, Google’s smart displays plus Facebook’s line of Portal devices.
Facebook Portal adds Zoom support and other work-from-home features
The most significant announcement: all Portal devices will now support the Zoom video conferencing platform. All four video chat platforms will be available on Portal Mini, Portal and Portal+ in September, with Portal TV support coming later on.
Facebook creates Workplace Rooms for professional video calls
Facebook adds video calls to Workplace with Workplace Rooms.
Tesla reportedly omitted 'hundreds' of injuries from government reports
Over the past several years, Tesla has reportedly omitted "hundreds" of employee injury reports from the annual summaries it sent to California's Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) agency, according to Bloomberg. In a blog post published last month, Tesla said Cal/OSHA found the company's record-keeping was 99 percent accurate.
NLRB tells Google to remind workers they can speak freely (updated)
Google has agreed to a proposed settlement with the National Labor Relations Board to remind employees they can freely discuss workplace issues, which follows a directive from the company ordering Googlers to "avoid controversies that are disruptive to the workplace." The NLRB was responding to formal complaints claiming Google punishes people who speak out on those matters and political issues, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Google employees still face retaliation for reporting workplace issues
It's been nearly a year since 20,000 Google employees held a walkout to protest the company's handling of sexual harassment and misconduct. While Google promised to make changes, employees have since charged the company with having a "retaliation culture." Today, Recode reports that a dozen current and former Google employees are still afraid to report workplace issues.
Google's internal community guidelines discourage political discussions
Today, Google released a new set of community guidelines that bans political discussions inside the company and reminds Googlers that they are responsible for their words and will be held accountable for them. The policy change appears to be an attempt to avoid the controversies that have sprung up amongst employees, but it could be seen as a way to curb employee outcry over Google's policies.
Facebook's Workplace redesign looks nothing like Slack
For the longest time, Facebook and its various technological tendrils, including WhatsApp and Instagram, have been a popular time killer at work. They're the sites and apps you flip to on your lunch break or when you can't stand looking at another Excel spreadsheet. Facebook, predictably, isn't content with filling these gaps in productivity. For the last few years, it's been pushing a version of Facebook called Workplace, which helps employees chat, collaborate and generally get stuff done.
Amazon and Tesla listed among the most dangerous US workplaces (updated)
Amazon and Tesla are usually proud of appearing on lists, but not this time around. The advocacy group National Council for Occupational Safety and Health has placed both companies on a "Dirty Dozen" list of the most dangerous places to work in the US based on their factory and warehouse conditions. In both cases, they reached the list due to reported higher-than-average injury rates, unnecessary risks and an unwillingness to address workers' concerns.
Facebook opens its Workplace Chat desktop app to everyone
Facebook brought its Slack-competing service out of private beta last year and rebranded it as simply 'Workplace.' Its messaging side offering, Workplace Chat, had browser and mobile components -- and today, it's bringing its desktop app out of beta so all users can converse in text or over video, send files and share screens though their computer.
Slack screen sharing will let your coworkers control your computer
Virtual-office app Slack is adding one of its most requested features: screen sharing. And more than just simply letting a coworker look at what's on your display, you can grant control so that they can add a few lines of code, or values to a cell in a spread sheet. Everyone will have their own cursor for typing and clicking around, which almost makes it sound like Slack is turning your screen into a Google Doc. All thanks to the magic of the internet. Not into relinquishing full control of your machine? Your call participants can still interact, but they'll be limited to drawing on things. Still, that's pretty cool.
Facebook's Workplace chat app brings screen sharing to the desktop
It seems like everyone wants to take on Slack these days when it comes to virtual office systems. The latest is Facebook, which, according to TechCrunch has quietly added screen sharing and released a desktop client to its Workplace chat app. The program is available for both Mac and PC, and this could signal that similar moves are en route to consumers. That could take a bit, though. As of now, the desktop client is in beta. The screen sharing feature allows for sharing your entire desktop, or just one specific app. Because, seriously, do you really want anyone at work to know you're playing with Facebook's Gameroom desktop app on the clock?
The makers of HipChat are launching their Slack competitor, Stride
The Slack competitor space is a little crowded these days. There's Facebook's Workplace, Microsoft's Teams, Google Hangouts and Doist's Twist. Now, Atlassian, the maker of HipChat, is introducing another option -- Stride.
UploadVR sued for ‘rampant’ sexism, general awfulness
UploadVR is the workplace that has everything, at least if you enjoy walking around an office with condom wrappers on the floor. That's just one of many charges being leveled against it by its former director of digital and social media in a recent lawsuit. She alleges that the company was a hotbed of "rampant" sexism and that its co-founders created a toxic working environment for women.
Facebook takes on Slack with a free version of Workplace
Facebook's not-so-subtle bid to take on Slack and Microsoft Teams just got particularly serious. The social network has announced a free version of Workplace that will let virtually any group chat and collaborate online when it arrives later in 2017. You won't get administrative tools or integrations with other services (such as Google's G Suite or Box's cloud storage), but you won't have to pay a cent if you just need the basics. And if you do need those features, Facebook is promising to undercut at least Slack's prices.
