The gist

50% of employees plan to look for a new job this year, operators discuss the customer data revolution, workplace harassment laws are incomplete, and re-skilling your workforce is the key to success

Top 7

A Deep Dive into Virtual Brands

A reporter investigates virtual brands and the restaurants that house them. Restaurant owners collaborate with ghost kitchen startups to divide their in-store menus into multiple, delivery-only, independently branded menus. Operators make the food and partners like Future Foods manage the virtual storefronts. How does this model account for quality, reputation, and the future of physical restaurants? Vice (15 mins)

Misconceptions about Reskilling Your Team

94% of employees that participated in skills training in 2020 utilized those skills at work. Still, it's important for employers to connect skills development to long-term career growth. 65% of organizations focus on team lead and manager training, while studies show that skills training at every level reduces costs and builds a more agile workforce. HR Dive (4 min)

Filling the Legals Gaps in Workplace Harassment Laws

Since 2017, 19 states have taken legislative action on workplace harassment. Some anti-harassment laws only take into account sex and not race or sexual orientation, further complicating employee claims. Thresholds for what constitutes a hostile work environment are unclear and vary from one court ruling to another. The 19th News (6 min)

2021: The Year of the Employee Exodus

50% of employees plan to look for a new job this year. To avoid turnover think about: gathering and acting on employee feedback, connecting and recognizing employees (especially remote workers), and being transparent about what productivity looks like. Inc (4 min)

Restaurants Have More Customer Data Than Ever Before

From Feb to March 2020, D.C. chain &pizza saw a 360% increase in new customer data - either an email address or a phone number. As mobile, online and third-party orders reach unprecedented heights, chains are rushing to integrate streams of data and build customer profiles. Operators discuss how this data impacts, marketing, inventory, and revenue. Restaurant Business (6 min)

Use Phone Calls for Task Success

Video chat compromises our ability to recognize audio cues. Researchers found that audio cues are crucial to successful collaboration around a task. Video has no additive impact on two people working towards a goal, in fact video reduces equal exchange and hampers productivity. Fast Company (2 min)

The History of the Dining Table

72% of Americans grew up eating at a dining table, only 48% of those Americans still do today. From ancient Greece to the Victorian age, the dining table represented status, entertainment and fashion. Slowly, kitchens and dining areas have merged, urban populations have ballooned and living spaces have shrunk. Vox (10 min)