Welcome back to Insider Weekly! I’m Matt Turner, editor in chief of business at Insider.
Maybe the future of work isn’t all that complicated.
That’s the message at the heart of Rebecca Knight and Shana Lebowitz’s latest story encouraging managers to stop catastrophizing.
Yes, we’re two years into a pandemic, and much still seems to be up in the air. This latest Omicron wave has emphasized the state of uncertainty we’ve been living through. Much has been written about the challenges of retention, of mentorship, and of evolving a company’s culture when many of us are communicating via video calls.
But as Rebecca and Shana report, to build a successful hybrid workplace, you need trust, boundaries, flexibility — and not much else. Read on for a Q&A with them both.
Also in this week’s newsletter:
- Google Cloud just changed how it compensates salespeople for working with partners.
- An Airbnb “superhost” making $4,000 a month in passive income shares how to get started.
- A woman says she cofounded the $800 million fintech Petal — and is inching toward a trial.
Let me know what you think of all our stories at mturner@insider.com.
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How to make hybrid work … actually work
Alyssa Powell/Insider
Rebecca Knight and Shana Lebowitz share how employees are feeling about hybrid work — and what companies should do to make the model viable.
Why are knowledge workers so interested in a hybrid-work format?
Shana: In many cases, a hybrid model allows employees to be more productive and effective at their jobs. That’s because they can choose the work environment that makes sense for the type of tasks they’re doing. For example, they might opt to stay home on days when they’re doing focused work and want to minimize distractions. But on days when they have a bunch of internal meetings, they might choose to come into the office to capitalize on opportunities for team bonding.
Why are so many companies really struggling when it comes to executing a viable hybrid model?
Shana: Many employers are approaching hybrid work as a free-for-all, giving people full discretion over where, when, and how they work. The problem here is that employees who come into the office regularly may benefit from “face time” with their managers and may therefore have an advantage over groups like caregivers and disabled workers, who are more likely to work from home. So the hybrid model winds up threatening inclusion, as opposed to increasing employee autonomy.
What’s the most interesting piece of advice for managers that you heard when working on this piece?
Rebecca: The managers who are having the most success with hybrid, based on our reporting, are the ones who exhibit trust — full stop. They trust their employees’ intentions, trust them to get their jobs done, and trust that they’re committed to their organizations.
What should employees expect next in the world of hybrid work?
Rebecca: Expect messiness. Lots of companies are still trying to figure out how to make hybrid work work. There are going to be some false starts. Be willing to experiment and be patient. But don’t be bashful about stating your preferences, too. Workers have more leverage today. Use it.
Read the full analysis here: Managers, stop catastrophizing. To build a successful hybrid workplace, you need trust, boundaries, flexibility — and not much else.
Google Cloud changed how salespeople are compensated
Google Cloud is walking back a key part of its sales-compensation structure, which used to compensate salespeople equally for selling its own products and those from partners.
Now, the company has introduced a 30% cap on how much selling a partner’s product via the company’s marketplace will count toward a salesperson’s quota.
Here’s what insiders told us about the changes.
How to start an Airbnb
Genesis Hinckley
Genesis Hinckley, a policy product specialist at Google, runs an Airbnb with her husband in Colorado. Between cleaning and answering messages, they put in about 10 hours of work a month — and bring home about $4,000 a month, or $35,000 a year, in passive income.
Hinckley shared her advice for starting an Airbnb, from choosing the right property to “Airbnb-ifying” the home.
An entrepreneur says she cofounded Petal
Cassandra Shih
The entrepreneur Cassandra Shih said she cofounded Petal, an $800 million fintech backed by Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures. Shih said she had written evidence to prove her case — including an email in which one cofounder called her “this chick I banged a few months ago who came up with the idea.”
If the company had been split 50-50, as she claims it should have been, her claim could amount to hundreds of millions of dollars.
Inside her lawsuit against Petal.
More of this week’s top reads:
- It’s possible to start with only $5,000 and end up owning 207 cash-flowing properties — just look at Matthew Tortoriello’s portfolio.
- Wall Street banks are gearing up for a massive bonus season. Here’s when each of the big players will tell employees how much they made.
- Amazon’s slow vesting period has pushed staffers out of the company. Now, the giant is changing its stock-distribution policies.
- According to leaked documents, the ghost-kitchen startup Reef is closing down about one-third of its kitchens.
- Thousands of dollars in tips in a night? This is what it’s like to work as a Las Vegas bottle girl.
- Cannabis startups are drawing the attention of investment firms — and their money. Here are the top 14 putting millions into the sector.
Event invite: Join us on January 25 at 12 p.m. ET for “Multi-Cloud Powers the Future of IT,” sponsored by Dell Technologies, to learn how innovative businesses are leveraging multicloud technology. Register here.
Compiled with help from Jordan Parker Erb and Phil Rosen.
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