Twitter’s U.S. Ad Sales Plunge 59% as Woes Continue

Elon Musk recently said Twitter’s advertising business was on the upswing. “Almost all advertisers have come back,” he asserted, adding that the social media company could soon become profitable.

But Twitter’s U.S. advertising revenue for the five weeks from April 1 to the first week of May was $88 million, down 59 percent from a year earlier, according to an internal presentation obtained by The New York Times. The company has regularly fallen short of its U.S. weekly sales projections, sometimes by as much as 30 percent, the document said. READ MORE

Elon Musk opens up about significant job cuts at Twitter

Twitter CEO Elon Musk discussed the significant cuts at Twitter saying that "there were a lot of people that didn't seem to have a lot of value" at the social media company before he took over sharing that he believes that other Silicon Valley companies can do the same. 

"There were a lot of people that didn't seem to have a lot of value," Musk said at the Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council Summit in London, England, speaking virtually. "I think that's true at many Silicon Valley companies." READ MORE

CEOs give fair warning to Chicago over bad for business policies

Two CEOs who have operated their businesses in Chicago for years have raised concerns about a growing number of employers leaving the Windy City over high taxes and crime – and cautioned the exodus will continue.

"I didn't say I would. I didn't threaten I would. I just said if they pass ill-conceived proposals," CME Group Chairman and CEO Terry Duffy said of leaving the city on "Mornings with Maria" Tuesday.  READ MORE

6 Ways To Transform Performance Management To Deliver What Employees Actually Need

Performance management has room to improve. According to Gartner research, 52% of chief human resource officers (CHROs) believe they are not rewarding the right behavior in employees, and only 32% of HR business partners believe performance management delivers what employees need to perform.

Because of this, in the last five years, 74% of organizations have significantly changed their performance management processes. “Companies are implementing a variety of new practices, from linking pay to project performance to eliminating performance reviews entirely,” says Benjamin Loring, Research Director at Gartner. “The real unlock, however, is making performance management useful to both managers and employees with this six-part roadmap.” READ MORE

Performance Appraisal Bombshells: Delivering Bad News

The first rule of performance reviews is that employees should never be surprised by what is said. Assuming that managers are speaking with their reports in real time throughout the year, providing transparent communication and soliciting feedback, the information discussed during a review should be a summary of past conversations.

But that doesn't always happen. Sometimes, a manager will need to introduce information that may be new to the employee, especially if the manager has been accepting performance flaws in the past but is now ready to address shortcomings. How the manager introduces and, more importantly, explains new negative feedback is critical to gaining employee buy-in and understanding, even if the employee is caught off guard. READ MORE

The Top 8 Challenges of Prospecting and How to Conquer Them

From identifying potential customers, to finding quality leads and maintaining a healthy pipeline, sales prospecting is vital to the success of your business. When done right, it can help you close more deals and increase revenue.

That’s not to say it’s without its challenges, however. Successful prospecting requires time management skills, a proactive mindset and the ability to communicate effectively. In this article, we’ll dive deep into eight of the top challenges of prospecting that salespeople face and discuss strategies you can use to overcome them. READ MORE

The Forever Labor Shortage

Ever since the pandemic, American companies big and small have been scrambling to find enough workers to stay fully staffed. They've been forced to offer big salaries and generous perks, while employees were free to shop around for better offers or simply walk off the job to join the Great Resignation. But now, layoffs are up and job openings are down. The economy is slowing, and the Federal Reserve is hiking interest rates at the fastest pace in decades. By any objective measure, the balance of power in the job market should be tipping back to employers. READ MORE

US weekly jobless claims fall; labor market defying recession fears

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, with applications in Massachusetts decreasing sharply, suggesting the labor market remains tight.

The steep decline in weekly jobless claims reported by the Labor Department on Thursday reversed the surge in the prior week, which had boosted them to the highest level since Oct. 30, 2021. That increase was largely blamed on an unusual jump in applications for unemployment insurance in Massachusetts. READ MORE

What price would you pay to work from home?

Would you get a mullet to work from home? I wouldn’t. But I would doth speak in Shakespearean prose to work from mine estate with mine felines (as long as I didn’t have to worry about proper usage).

As an outlet covering human resources and workforce issues, our team’s inboxes fill with news about the return to work, employees’ feelings about it and how those decisions affect engagement and productivity. But one email a few weeks ago was a party in the front and business in the back — and worth sharing.  READ MORE

AI could replace 80% of jobs 'in next few years'

Artificial intelligence could replace 80 percent of human jobs in the coming years -- but that's a good thing, says US-Brazilian researcher Ben Goertzel, a leading AI guru.

Mathematician, cognitive scientist and famed robot-creator Goertzel, 56, is founder and chief executive of SingularityNET, a research group he launched to create "Artificial General Intelligence," or AGI -- artificial intelligence with human cognitive abilities. READ MORE

Is Your Company as Strategically Aligned as You Think It Is?

Picture this: You’re the CEO of a midsize company, and you just returned from an expensive, multi-day strategy retreat with your entire management team. You spent hours discussing the ins and outs of your strategy, and it left you and your employees feeling more aligned than ever. But are you actually on the same page?

Our new study suggests that you might not be — and that this sort of strategic misalignment is both more common and more harmful than you might think. READ MORE

What are the biggest names in tech doing on AI?

Artificial intelligence (AI) has advanced at a rapid pace recently and several of the biggest names in the tech sector have launched new tools to help customers and client leverage the technology in a variety of ways.

AI-powered chatbots, cloud services and tools for web developers are among the tools that are quickly becoming staple offerings of tech companies. Major U.S. tech firms – including Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft – have each rolled out AI initiatives or have some in the works, although Apple has been notably quiet in announcing any big AI moves to date.  READ MORE

Why students should consider trade jobs over college degree

Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat seeking re-election in a state that has trended red in recent elections, urged young residents in the Buckeye State to take up trade jobs and insisted they "don't need a college degree" after previously signaling support for loan debt forgiveness.

"I make a plea to every young Ohioan I meet — consider a career in the building trades. Apprenticeship programs, good pay & benefits, and you don’t need a college degree," Brown wrote in a Saturday tweet, which was accompanied by a video message from the senator. READ MORE