Tech review: Comforts of home can be bad for your career

A new survey found 67% of supervisors said remote workers are... — A new survey found 67% of supervisors said remote workers are "more easily replaceable" than onsite employees. Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto/shironosov

By Peter KingSpecial to NewsdayAugust 19, 2021

For many employees, working from home is comfortable. There’s no commute or dress code, they can set up a workspace to their liking and there’s no boss physically hovering over them. But don’t get too comfortable. The Society for Human Resource Management found that 67% of supervisors said remote workers are "more easily replaceable" than on-site employees. Additionally, 72% of supervisors would prefer all their employees be in-office, and 42% said they sometimes forgot about remote workers when handing out assignments. As for employees working remotely, most said they are more productive than in the office, but 59% worried that permanently working from home would "diminish networking opportunities."

Fast lane to fast food

Taco Bell plans to open a restaurant with a two-story, four-lane design it says will deliver a "revolutionary pickup experience" for customers. The design, planned initially for a restaurant in Brooklyn Park, Minn., dedicates three of the four lanes to "skip-the-line service" for customers who order with the Taco Bell app. Taco Bell says food will be delivered "in a contactless manner via a proprietary lift system."

Winging it with TikTok

TikTok, the most downloaded nongaming app in July, is flying high. And in August it’s flying even higher. American Airlines is offering 30 minutes of free Wi-Fi to watch TikTok videos on many of its flights. (To use American’s inflight Wi-Fi to access anything else still costs $10 per session.) American says it’s a "promotional offering." Whether it becomes permanent depends on customer demand.

Times adds newsletter paywall

The New York Times is putting 18 newsletters behind a paywall in an effort to boost subscribers. The subscriber-only emails will be a mix of new and existing newsletters written by Times journalists and contributors in its news and opinion sections. Company executives say email, a relatively primitive method of digital distribution, has proved to be especially effective at attracting and retaining paying customers.