#6Things: Black Blogs Matter, Buffet Takes On Healthcare, Women Lose to Robots

It’s February which means it’s time for Black Blogs Matter. So officially, there are #7things. Here are some titles to check out if you haven’t participated in Black Blogs Matter before:

We Can No Longer Afford Silence by Janine Truitt

Black Blogs STILL Matter because Black Lives Matter by Sarah Morgan

If you want to get involved via a blog post or even on social media by microblogging, read Are You Up for the #BlackBlogsMatter Challenge?

#Healthcare, #BlackBlogsMatter and more all featured this in this week's #6Things! Share on X

I don’t know which way is up anymore via George Larocque

Amazon, JPMorgan and hometown hero Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway are all banding together to create an entity to provide healthcare for their employees. Depending on your viewpoint, this could be awesome, because healthcare for all is being systematically destroyed and many low to mid income people will be priced out of preventative care, putting an undue burden on the taxpayer OR it could totally suck, because when and if employers abandon ethical practices, their worker population (and these are three VERY large companies) are entirely dependent on that care and are effectively forced to work at a job they’d rather leave due to healthcare benefits.

Key corporations are banding together to provide better #healthcare. Learn more from @glarocque: Share on X

And due to the pre-existing condition reversal, they’ll be stuck for life. Blergh. I am so very much hoping for the former. I hope our Omaha boy can help keep it to its original vision:

The new, not-for-profit venture will initially focus on technology for “simplified, high-quality and transparent healthcare” for their more than 500,000 U.S. employees, the companies said. They did not elaborate on their strategy, but said they are searching for a chief executive officer.

Healthcare industry experts say the new entity could eventually negotiate directly with drugmakers, doctors and hospitals and use their vast databases to get a better handle on the costs of those services.

That could undercut the industry’s “middlemen,” from health insurers to pharmacies and benefits managers.

“The ballooning costs of healthcare act as a hungry tapeworm on the American economy,” said Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Buffett. “Our group does not come to this problem with answers. But we also do not accept it as inevitable.”

U.S. healthcare spending has been increasing annually faster than inflation, and in 2017 accounted for 18 percent of the economy. Corporations sponsor health benefits for more than 160 million Americans. (Reuters)

Why don’t you just go flip burgers?

Seriously, why don’t you? Because Glen Cathey shared this link from USAToday that shows managers of In-N-Out’s restaurants make a whopping $160k a year.

In-N-Out Vice President of Operations Denny Warnick told the Sun that quality service requires quality employees with quality pay — a vision of the company’s founders, Harry and Esther Snyder.

“Paying their associates well was just one way to help maintain that focus, and those beliefs remain firmly in place with us today,” Warnick told the Sun.

Incredible. BRB, gonna go work there now. (USAToday)

Managers at In-N-Out are making the big bucks! @GlenCathey has the details in #6Things: Share on X

Havrilla is back in a BIG way!

For those who are a bit newer to the scene, you may not have had the opp to read some of Chris Havrilla’s writing because she’s taken a bit of a hiatus from blogging (to busy killing it I guess). But hallelujah, she’s back! Why Design Thinking is Desperately Needed in HR is a breath of fresh air that points not to a single technology silver bullet but a process that can greatly benefit how people transform their workplaces. Recommended read! (LinkedIn)

I’m gonna talk to some cheese about this

Joel Cheesman noticed that Gap is shutting down its loyalty texting program in favor of old school email. Will this text backlash hit recruiting text providers next? That 97% open rate may decrease more quickly with SMS being used for everything from discount jeans to RESIST.

In a rare two-part showing in #6Things, Joel Cheesman also compiled a straight-up kickass post with the Top 10 (employment-related) Super Bowl commercials of ALL TIME (echo echo echo). Choose your favorite. (ERE)

@Gap is shutting down its texting program. Find out why from @joelcheesman: Share on X

Just a reminder that your life’s work is a cliche

Take this quiz to see which corporate line of jargon you are. Sure, it’s an ad for Corporate, some new show on some new channel, but it’s fun. I got:

“We need bleeding-edge tech to make our core competencies more scalable!”

(Buzzfeed)

Women get the short end of the stick

I know, your jaw is on the floor because women NEVER have this issue but here’s the scoop:

Automation will hurt female workers more than male ones. This isn’t some podunk study either, it’s source is the World Economic Forum. Check the graph from the article Victorio Milian shared:

BONUS LINKS!!!!

When LinkedIn loses we all win, because we’re essentially parasites probably. (Matt Charney)

Robin Schooling shows us that while formulas are simple, the ultimate variable is people.

Mary Ellen Slayter shares this article on design discourse

GDPR FTW? UNLEASH hosts this dive into new EU regulations by Shane Gray

Shannon Smedstad gives us the skinny on American Vacation Nation

20 tools to replace Rapportive via Jonathan Kidder plus a bonus tip for new sourcers! Bonus Tip: Put an personal email address into the Facebook search bar. If the email has a registered user connected to that email it will sync with that users ID profile.

This is a good article about managing those older than you. H/T Chris Fields