Mike McBride on Tech, eDiscovery and Mental Health - Issue #28
Workplace Culture
Commentary: Culture still comes first in the age of remote work — fortune.com Corporate culture matters significantly more than the ability to work remotely–feeling appreciated for your work matters 10 to 20x as much.
Linked: The Great Resignation generation: Gen Z wants to job hop — www.mikemcbrideonline.com This is something that many of us older folks don't get, but we should be thinking about much more. I think many of us who work in the technology, legal, or eDiscovery sectors can lose sight of how demanding careers in these industries are. We are quick to scoff at the idea that we should maybe figure out how to make them a little less demanding, or at least more friendly for diverse candidates who can't simply work all night, or be on call 24 hours a day for our clients because that's just the way it's done in our industry. We tend to think that because all of the jobs in the industry are like that, we don't have to worry about competitors offering something else to our employees. We are not considering how many people we drive out of the industry completely, especially young people. There is a staffing shortage in these industries, and the companies struggling to find enough talent are not losing out to some other mysterious company in the industry who can pick and choose, we're all in the same boat because the boat is leaking people every single day. People are making the choice to do something else because what we offer isn't cutting it.
How Remote Organizations Can Instill Thriving Workplace Cultures — www.td.org FlexJobs, a fully virtual business since 2007, knows what it takes to maintain company culture for a remote workforce.
Linked: Majority of tech workers want a four-day workweek — www.mikemcbrideonline.com It's not so much that everyone wants a four-day work week, we just want something other than what we have now, and ultimately, I think most of us would much rather work around the rest of our lives as opposed to living the rest of our lives around work.
Linked: LinkedIn Wants to Normalize Career Breaks With New Feature — www.mikemcbrideonline.com Of course, the real question is will hiring managers also shift their perspectives and hiring practices? All the LinkedIn details for a gap in the world won't change the culture if hiring managers immediately toss any resumes with one before even trying to understand why it's there. Hopefully, that is coming. There are a whole lot of really talented folks who've been forced to take a gap in their employment in the last couple of years. Good organizations have the opportunity to scoop them up while all those bad managers are turning up their noses at "employment gaps".
eDiscovery and LegalTech
3 Ways to Make the Most of eDiscovery Education and Training Resources — aceds.org It can be challenging to keep up with the fast-changing law, practice and technology of eDiscovery. The good news is there are many...
Planning for Later in eDiscovery — www.mikemcbrideonline.com During a recent ILTA webinar on coordination between outside counsel and a legal department on eDiscovery, I noted that a couple of the final points that
Do You Have to Archive Slack Data for Regulatory Compliance? For organizations required to archive their communications to comply with the laws, and regulations that govern their industry, Slack is the next frontier.
Security
Linked: 5 Ransomware Predictions for 2022 — www.mikemcbrideonline.com It makes sense, for the reasons Jim points out. Your ability to collect ransom payments is diminished if the organization has backups they can simply rebuild with. So, if you can find a way to lock not just the live data, but also the backups, you stand to make more money. What I wonder is if this will cause organizations to look at that old-school offline backup option? Keep a copy of your data physically away from your network, locked in a drawer or closet, etc. But, is that even feasible any longer?
Insider Threats Are More Than Just Malicious Employees — www.darkreading.com Humans are unpredictable and may make mistakes that could result in a security incident.
Mental Health
How tech companies can promote women’s mental health — wearetechwomen.com The pandemic’s widespread impact on the mental health of workers has been well documented, with a survey from the UCL finding that depression and anxiety symptoms increased sharply over the Christmas period.
What Employers Need to Know About Suicide Prevention — hbr.org Research on common predictors, effective interventions, and strategies to support employees if a colleague dies by suicide.
We’re Killing Ourselves with Work - Nautilus | Science Connected — nautil.us Evolution favors less work and more leisure.