Why Slacking Off at Work Can be a Good Thing

Communication. It's such a vast term that has undergone so many changes in the past few decades. Before the era of the Internet, communication involved playing phone tag all day, sending (gasp!) mail, and hosting clients (double gasp!) in person. Now, with the convenience of email, we can organize our daily communications through our inboxes. But think about how we communicate outside of work. We're talking texting. According to TextRequest, in June of 2014, there were over 561 billion text messages sent around the world. And we guarantee a good percentage of those were sent out during business hours. So how about combining the communication pastime we all love within the office environment? Enter, Slack.

What is it?

Slack is a messaging app that boasts "team communication for the 21st century." With the ability to organize team conversations in labeled "channels," you can speak freely to your teammates without bothering those that prefer the quiet. Public channels are ways for all of your team to chime in, and private channels can be created between smaller groups to brainstorm individual projects. You can also send direct messages to people, just like texting, so you can ask anything to anyone you need.

But Slack is much more than just a way for you to annoy your coworkers all day with requests work-related and not. It's also a way to share files including images, PDFs, documents and spreadsheets, which you can then star or comment on. It's also compatible with Box, Google Drive, and Dropbox, so you can search directly for the documents you seek.

Why use it?

If you're one of the people that likes seeing their inbox full of thousands of messages a day, Slack may not be for you. But for the rest of us, Slack is a great way to get important messages out promptly (with desktop notifications) that free up our inboxes from unnecessary fluff. It also builds camaraderie! The #random channel allows you to get your fill of after-hours banter when you need a pick-me-up or a funny meme to get you motivated. Off your desktop, the Slack app keeps you updated on the run!

The best part

Slack is totally free for teams of all sizes for as long as you want! That makes it a risk-free system to integrate into your workplace. If you're interested in more cool features and controls, of course there is a paid standard and plus plan, which can give you group voice and video calls, more storage, and user provisioning and deprovisioning.

Slack has been known to increase productivity by providing workers with the chance to communicate faster and more efficiently.

Want to learn more about Slack? Click here!

PayPath
Follow Us on

Artificial Intelligence

Photo by Andrea De Santis on Unsplash

Looking for a job? In addition to encountering those annoying never-ending job interviews you may find yourself face-to-face with an artificial intelligence bot.

Companies worldwide increasingly use artificial intelligence tools and analytics in employment decision-making – from parsing through resumes and screening candidates to automated assessments and digital interviews. But recent studies claim that AI does more harm than good.

Keep readingShow less

Jobs don't have to be miserable!

Photo by Helena Lopes (Unsplash)

Though the wave of tech layoffs and the threat of a recession has overshadowed yesteryear's news of the great recession, everywhere you look, employees are asking for more — and getting it. Although this time of uncertainty could have given employers back the power, it's still in the hands of the workforce.

From Gen-Z's boundary setting and penchant for quiet quitting when they're being under-recognized, to labor unions and even the WGA writer's strike, we're in an era where workers can make demands about how they work — and where they work. And for many people, they want to work from home.

Keep readingShow less

Southwest Companion Pass

There’s all this talk about solo travel. And for good reason — no wasting precious time waiting for others to get their act together, take the plans out of the group chat and actually buy the tickets. Going solo, you can be spontaneous. You can plan your trips according to your precise tastes. You can hop on any flight and fly awayyyyyy.

Keep readingShow less