Tag: News

• A jury awarded sisters $18 million in damages from an insurance company after their home was flooded.
• The sisters sued American Reliable after being offered just $5,000 for repairs.
• According to their attorney, the house was unliveable, with the heating system destroyed.

The home of two California sisters was badly flooded during a February 2019 rainstorm but when they filed a claim with their insurance company, American Reliable, they were offered just $5,000 for repairs.

Last month, a jury awarded the pair $18 million, after they took the company to court.

According to San Bernardino's The Sun newspaper, Jennifer Garnier and Angela Toft were awarded $6 million for pain and suffering and $12 million in punitive damages in a verdict reached by a San Bernardino County Jury on April 18, following a six-week trial.

The lawsuit said that the sisters' home in Pinon Hills was damaged during a large rainstorm on February 15, 2019, rendering it unliveable, as detailed in various news reports.

In a statement posted on Instagram, their attorney, Michael Hernandez of HHJ Trial Attorneys, said the damages caused electrical faults and destroyed the heating system.

The Los Angeles Times, citing Hernandez, reported that the sisters estimated they needed more than $100,000 to fix the damage.

However, the Times reported that an insurance adjuster offered just $5,000 for their claim.

According to court documents reviewed by the Times, the plaintiffs argued that American Reliable delayed their home inspection.

The Times also reported that American Reliable admitted to an oversight in October 2023 and offered the sisters $140,000.

However, Garnier and Toft decided to proceed with the trial, which ultimately resulted in a jury finding in their favor.

"We argued that when you knowingly put a family in an uninhabitable home, you can't come back later and say you are not responsible for the consequences," Hernandez said in the Instagram post.

According to the Times, the company claimed to Garnier and Toft that it only learned about the full extent of the home's damage while deliberating evidence for the trial.

The Times reported that Garnier and Toft were awarded $3 million each for emotional damages, $2 million in punitive damages from American Reliable, and $10 million in punitive damages from Global Indemnity, American Reliable's parent company.

Global Indemnity, American Reliable, and Hernandez did not immediately respond to Business Insider's requests for comment.

Last year, Business Insider reported that insurance companies are finding new ways to make money, often at their clients' expense.

The feature, written by Jathan Sadowski, a senior research fellow at Monash University, highlighted how algorithmic systems are being crafted to optimize insurance companies' profits, leveraging AI's opacity to give them plausible deniability.

• Saudi Arabia needs foreign businesses to help it realize its Neom megacity project.
• But it's facing a backlash over its human rights record. 
• The BBC reported that Saudi officials were given a license to use lethal force to clear land. 

The images of the planned Saudi desert megacity of Neom depict a futuristic utopia.

It is billed as a paradise for foreign investors as well as the people who will live there.

But underneath the image is a far darker reality, say campaigners, which could threaten the foreign cash and expertise Saudi Arabia needs to realize its ambitions.

Last week, some of the darkness burst to the fore.

Malcolm Aw, the founder of a UK solar desalination company, told Business Insider he withdrew from a contract with Neom over concerns about the brutal treatment feared to have been meted out by Saudi officials to local people.

Though his decision took place in 2022, it was given new urgency by a whistleblower giving more detail on how Saudi officials may have acted.

The BBC, citing ex-Saudi intelligence officer Col Rabih Alenezi, said Saudi forces had clearance to kill people to clear land to build the city.

The UN human-rights agency last year found that a man was indeed killed after resisting an order to vacate his home. Three others have been sentenced to death under broad anti-terror laws.

"I think for investors looking at it, there are still just too many unknown variables," Torbjorn Soltvedt, principal analyst at risk consultancy Maplecroft, recently told The Telegraph, and said foreign investors were not buying into Saudi Arabia's plans.

Added to this are concerns the Saudis could use Chinese face recognition surveillance tech to monitor Neom and its residents.

The controversy is looming over a visit to Saudi Arabia this week by a UK trade delegation hoping to forge new ties, and British officials are doing their best to deflect questions about the BBC report.

Amnesty International said businesses ought to be wary of doing deals in Saudi Arabia and called for UK officials to push for an independent investigation into the Neom land clearances.

Until that can happen — which may be never — "business enterprises should consider not undertaking" Saudi projects, Dana Ahmed, Amnesty International's Middle East researcher, told Politico.

Concerns over Saudi Arabia's human rights record are nothing new. Back in 2018, Saudi ruler Mohammed bin Salman faced international uproar over the murder of dissident Jamal al-Khashoggi, which US intelligence agencies concluded that he ordered (the Saudis deny this).

Saudi Arabia has sought to improve its image under the Crown Prince's rule, granting women more freedoms, opening up the kingdom to international tourists, and engaging in a so-called "sportswashing" campaign to improve its image through involvement in international competitions.

But Saudi Arabia's brutal treatment of dissidents remains a sticking point, and periodically flare up into something that could get in the way of the dealmaking both the Saudis and their counterparts promote.

"Human rights violations reduce the appetite for foreign investment and association with the Kingdom," analysts for The Atlantic Council wrote in 2020, and little has changed since.

Neom did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

• Marc Benioff is the chief executive of cloud-based software company Salesforce.
• Benioff worked at Oracle for 13 years before leaving the company to work on Salesforce full time.
• Benioff has a net worth of $10.1 billion, Bloomberg estimates.

Marc Benioff has seen his company, Salesforce, through many ups and downs throughout its 25 years.

The cloud software giant's market cap has swelled to over $250 billion in 2024 and even briefly crossed the $300 billion mark. But it hasn't been immune to the struggles facing the tech industry in recent years. Salesforce announced in January that it would be cutting 700 more jobs after slashing thousands in 2023.

Benioff has outlasted multiple co-CEOs at Salesforce — including one who reportedly tried to go for the top job. He and his wife Lynne are known for donating millions to charity.

Here's how Benioff, whose estimated net worth now stands at $10.1 billion, worked his way onto the national stage.

Marc Russell Benioff, 59, was born in San Francisco on September 25th, 1964, the son of Joelle and Russell Benioff.

Benioff is something of an anomaly among Silicon Valley CEOs — he was actually born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. He graduated from Burlingame High School in 1982, Bloomberg reported.

His father, Russell Benioff, owned a local department store in San Francisco. "I learned my work ethic from him," Benioff once said, according to SFGate.

Early on, Benioff was interested in tech and being an entrepreneur.

Benioff got his first job at a jewelry store to save for his first computer. He was eventually fired for cleaning the floors with the wrong soap. While in high school, Benioff sold his software — "How To Juggle" for the TRS-80 Model 1 computer — to a computer magazine for $75.

At age 15, Benioff founded Liberty Software, a one-man company making games for the Atari 800 computer. Titles included "King Arthur's Heir," "The Nightmare," "Escape from Vulcan's Isle," and "Crypt of the Undead," Entrepreneur reported.

By age 16, Benioff was pulling in $1,500 a month — enough that he was able to pay for his own tuition at the University of Southern California.

While at USC, Benioff took a summer internship with Apple.

He worked as a programmer in the Macintosh division under cofounder Steve Jobs. "That summer, I discovered it was possible for an entrepreneur to encourage revolutionary ideas," Benioff would later write in his book "Behind the Cloud: The Untold Story of How Salesforce.com Went from Idea to Billion-dollar Company — and Revolutionized an Industry."

Jobs became one of Benioff's mentors. "There would be no Salesforce.com without Steve Jobs," Benioff said in 2013, according to Entrepreneur.

Benioff graduated with a B.S. in Business Administration in 1986.

USC named him an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters in 2014. He now sits on the University's Board of Trustees.

Benioff planned to stay in programming for the rest of his career, but a USC professor suggested he might have a mind for business. So he took a customer support role at high-flying database company Oracle right out of college, according to his "Behind the Cloud" book.

Benioff rapidly rose up the ranks at Oracle after starting in 1986.

At age 23, Benioff was named Oracle's "Rookie of the Year."

By age 26, he was named a vice president — the youngest person to attain the role in the company's history, according to his bio on Salesforce.

While at Oracle, Benioff caught the attention of its founder Larry Ellison. The two became very close, with Ellison mentoring the younger Benioff.

"They sailed to the Mediterranean on Ellison's yacht, visited Japan during cherry blossom season, spent Thanksgiving together, and even double-dated," according to Fortune.

 

After 13 years with Oracle, Benioff started itching for something new.

With Ellison's permission, Benioff took a sabbatical to travel the world. He spent part of that time studying meditation in Hawaii.

Benioff came up with the idea for Salesforce while swimming with dolphins. He soon started working on the company with a few other Oracle veterans, Entrepreneur reported.

Salesforce was a revolutionary idea in 1999.

The big idea behind Salesforce was that while most companies — including Oracle — sold enterprise software that companies had to install on their own servers, Salesforce could let people access business software from a web browser. For the late nineties, this was revolutionary, Benioff wrote in "Behind the Cloud."

At first, Ellison was supportive of Benioff.

Ellison even gave Salesforce $2 million in funding from his own pocket to get it started and sat on its board of directors.

But things turned sour between Ellison and Benioff.

Benioff found out that Oracle was working on a direct competitor to Salesforce, the Mercury News reported in 2000. Benioff tried to force his mentor to quit the company's board. Instead, Ellison forced Benioff to fire him — meaning Ellison kept his shares in Salesforce. 

It kicked off an epic rivalry, with the two taking shots at each other in the press. Note the Salesforce jet shooting down the Oracle biplane in this early Salesforce ad from 2001.

The dot-com bust of the early 2000s was a difficult time for Salesforce, but the company rebounded.

"Suddenly everything around us was falling apart," Benioff's cofounder Parker Harris said, according to the Australian Financial Review. However, several clients remained, and Salesforce survived and kept growing, becoming one of the earliest and biggest companies in the modern cloud computing market.

 

And in June 2004, Salesforce held its IPO, raising $110 million at $11 per share.

That year, the company had about 767 employees.

Benioff personally donated $250 million to the University of California, San Francisco in 2010 to found UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals.

In 206, Benioff fought against proposed bills in Indiana and Georgia that would allow discrimination against gay people. He rallied other business leaders to the cause, with a positive result, according to Time.

Benioff is also a big believer in corporate philanthropy.

Under his leadership, Salesforce invented the "1-1-1" model, where the company gives 1% of employee time as volunteer hours, 1% of its profits, and 1% of its resources to charitable causes.

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee declared March 7 "Global 1/1/1 Day" in honor of Salesforce's 15th birthday in 2014. Benioff keeps a copy of the proclamation in his office, Forbes reported.

Benioff's philanthropic efforts focus on children's health, the environment, public education, and homelessness, according to his biography on Salesforce's website.

In 2016, Benioff and his wife launched the Benioff Ocean Initiative at the University of California, Santa Barbara to study marine life.

Benioff also serves on the World Economic Forum's Board of Trustees. He credits former Secretary of State Colin Powell and the Hindu guru Mata Amritanandamayi — whom he met on a trip through India — with encouraging him to put Salesforce's resources to work helping others.

And while he may not have the globetrotting playboy reputation that his mentor Ellison has, Benioff has lots of friends in the celebrity and political worlds.

Benioff has earned a reputation as one of Silicon Valley's most boisterous CEOs. He rarely appears in public without his custom cloud sneakers.

Over the years, Benioff has spent some of his billions on "Star Wars" desk trinkets, according to Forbes, and an extensive tech-themed shoe collection. 

The Benioffs have several homes, including acres of Hawaiian land.

Over the past few years, Benioff has bought up land in an agricultural and largely native Hawaiian town called Waimea. He lives in a beachside mansion nearby. Since 2000, Benioff has bought at least 38 parcels of land in Hawaii through various LLCs and a nonprofit, NPR reported in 2024.

"This is a place that everybody loves to be. It's a magical place. It's a place that people come and transform and change, evolve. They experience God. They experience nature. They experience themselves," Benioff said about Hawaii, according to NPR.

Salesforce has swelled to a company worth more than $250 million, and its annual Dreamforce conference has ballooned to take over much of San Francisco every autumn.

It's described as a global four-day event hosting official sessions and unofficial meetings between key players in the tech industry. Dreamforce also has a reputation for being big on social events, with acts like Metallica and Foo Fighters headlining its afterparties

The company opened Salesforce Tower, its new headquarters — and the tallest building in San Francisco — in 2018.

Salesforce had gotten so big that in 2012, the company abandoned plans to move into a new San Francisco campus because it said it had already outgrown it. It had 9,800 employees globally that year.

Marc Benioff is distantly related to David Benioff of "Game of Thrones" fame.

The pair share a great-grandfather, but they never met until 2015 when "Game of Thrones" premiered. David is the co-creator of the hit HBO adaption of the fantasy book series written by George R. R. Martin.

 

Over the last five years, Salesforce has appointed, and lost, two co-CEOs.

Salesforce announced in 2020 that Benioff's co-CEO, Keith Block, stepped down after a year and a half. Block did not give a reason for the transition at the time but said he was excited for the future.

In 2021, Bret Taylor — who had been with the company since 2016 — was appointed to the role. Taylor announced his resignation in 2022 after a reported showdown for the sole CEO position.

In 2018, Benioff and his wife announced that they intended to purchase Time Magazine for $190 million.

When the acquisition went through, insiders at the company expressed their excitement for the future. Time was reportedly able to go on a hiring spree after being purchased by the Benioffs.

 

Salesforce acquired Slack in 2021.

The acquisition of the messaging platform cost about $27.7 billion. After just over a year as CEO, Lidiane Jones left Slack for the top job at dating app Bumble. In November 2023, Salesforce exec Denise Dresser was named the CEO of Slack.

Salesforce wasn't immune to the job cuts that plagued the tech industry in 2023 and 2024.

Salesforce kicked off 2024 by cutting about 1% of its global workforce after laying off roughly 7,000 in 2023. Benioff blamed the cuts on over-hiring during the pandemic.

He's neighbors with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

Slack began integrating ChatGPT — the generative AI chatbot made by OpenAI — in 2023. 

During a June earnings call, Benioff said that he and Sam Altman are neighbors who've had dinner at least once to discuss artificial intelligence.

He and his wife donated $150 million to Hawaii hospitals in March 2024.

In a press release, the couple expressed their intentions to give back to the local community through experts who "deeply understand" local needs.

"We feel fortunate to have been part of the Hawaii community for many decades and to be able to support our ohana in this way. Nothing is more important than the health of our community and access to care for all who need it."

The Benioffs donated $50 million to Hilo Medical Center and $100 million to Hawaii Pacific Health in March, according to Spectrum News.

Benioff's total compensation for fiscal 2024 was $39.6 million.

Still, he has previously said he should pay more taxes.

"Well get an economy that works for everyone when 1) create educational system that works for everyone & 2) Affordable Higher education & 3) strengthen our local K-12 public schools 4) We must focus online reskilling that brings everyone along & 5) higher ind & Crp taxes to pay for it," Benioff tweeted in June 2019.

• Tesla installer Envirospark says it is still in the dark over Elon Musk's Supercharger plans. 
• CEO Aaron Luque told BI he hasn't heard from Tesla about the status of their incomplete projects.
• The EV industry is reeling from Musk's decision to lay off Tesla's entire Supercharger team. 

Elon Musk's recent firing of Tesla's entire Supercharger team seems to be causing chaos at some of its suppliers.

Aaron Luque, CEO of Tesla charger installer Envirospark, told Business Insider that the company still hasn't heard from Tesla after Musk gutted the company's Supercharger division, with dozens of potential charging sites now stuck in limbo.

"There's no one remaining from the team that we worked with," said Luque. "In terms of formal communication from Tesla, we haven't received anything."

Envirospark, which has built EV charging sites for Tesla for over a decade, told BI that it has 26 projects with the company contracted or under construction.

The status of these sites remains unclear, Luque said, with some of the property owners getting in touch with Envirospark to try and get information after being unable to reach anyone at Tesla.

"We are kind of in a holding pattern," said Luque. "Everything was being quarterbacked by Tesla … we've lost that direction. So we have to wait until we get any further guidance on what the next steps are."

Luque said that the company, which just raised $50 million in investment, has done between 2,500 to 3,000 installations for Tesla over the past 10 years in the US and Canada.

Elon Musk's decision to lay off Tesla's entire Supercharger team, reportedly around 500 employees, shocked the EV industry.

Musk has since said that Tesla remains committed to its highly successful Supercharger network, posting on X on Friday that the automaker would spend over $500 million on the network this year.

The Tesla CEO also posted shortly after the layoffs that Tesla still planned to grow the network, just at a slower pace with more focus on expanding existing locations.

However, his comments have done little to quell the concerns of installers after what Luque described as a "whirlwind" few weeks.

Andres Pinter, the co-CEO of Bullet EV Charging Solutions, who previously called the layoffs a "sharp kick in the pants," told BI over email that Tesla got in touch around a week after the news of layoffs was released.

He said Tesla reassured the company that the carmaker would move forward with in-process Supercharger sites and was planning to build new ones, without providing specifics.

"It sounds like an existing Tesla team from a different department has been inserted to manage the charging division," said Pinter.

He said it was unclear whether this management move was temporary or permanent, adding that Bullet EV was now "back in the Tesla business but has a serious case of whiplash."

'Our phone has been ringing off the hook'

The sudden chaos surrounding Tesla's charging operations has sparked the interest of competitors, who previously stood little chance of competing with Tesla's extensive public charging network.

BP said it is eager to snap up Tesla Supercharging sites for its own charging network following the layoffs, per Bloomberg, and is "actively seeking" to hire talent to enable it to grow.

"I think it's absolutely going to be a challenge for Tesla," said Luque, adding that Musk's layoffs have sparked a talent war for ex-Tesla Supercharging staff.

Envirospark is among those now aggressively hiring former Tesla employees, with Luque describing the situation as the "single greatest talent acquisition opportunity we've ever seen."

His comments were echoed by Pinter, who described Musk's reorganization of Tesla as a "blessing in disguise" for Bullet EV Charging.

"We have already hired several members of the former Tesla charging team and are diversifying our customer base to focus more on fleet and auto dealership charging," Pinter said.

"My company is also keeping an eye out for other contractors who may be willing to sell their businesses in light of Tesla's unexpected move. Our phone has been ringing off the hook since last week," he added.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment made outside normal working hours.

• The CEO of Europe's biggest airline called Boeing's delivery delays "extremely annoying."
• The planemaker has slowed production to focus on safety in the wake of the Alaska Airlines blowout.
• Boeing is facing a difficult dilemma: whether to prioritize speed or safety.

The CEO of Lufthansa has become the second airline boss in recent days to voice his frustration with Boeing over delivery delays.

In an interview with Swiss newspaper Neue Zuercher Zeitung published Saturday, Carsten Spohr was asked about the planemaker's delivery delays.

"This is extremely annoying and costs us a lot, a lot of money," he said.

By revenue, Lufthansa is Europe's biggest airline, and the fourth-biggest in the world.

Spohr's comments were published just days after the CEO of Emirates also expressed concerns about Boeing.

In an interview with CNBC, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum told Boeing to "get your act together."

"I think they have to put a lot of pressure in order to make sure that they deliver to the customer whatever they promised," he added.

Boeing has been struggling since the Alaska Airlines blowout in January, working to slow down production to avoid quality-control errors but causing delays to aircraft deliveries as a result.

After announcing his resignation, Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun said the company needed to slow down production in order to focus on safety.

Following Al Maktoum's comments, the president of Boeing Global, Brendan Nelson, told Sky Arabia: "We've slowed down the rate of production to make sure that we can bring strength and quality to our supply chains, to stabilize those supply chains and to fortify our production system."

Other customers like Ryanair and United Airlines have already voiced their annoyance at the delays, to the extent that United is replacing its plans for the Boeing 737 Max 10 with some Airbus A321neos.

But Spohr is hopeful that Boeing will be able to recover and get the business back on track.

"I am sure that Boeing will get the problems under control," he told Neue Zuercher Zeitung. "The industry needs two strong providers. Everyone has an interest in Boeing being able to build great aircraft more reliably again soon."

Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, sent outside US working hours.

• US law firm Quinn Emanuel has upped pay for junior lawyers to $225,500. 
• The 18% increase comes amid fears of a talent war between London's top legal firms. 
• Legal pay has been increasing, but keeping pace with the deep pockets of US-based rivals is challenging for UK firms.

Quinn Emanuel, one of the largest global litigation firms, just made a major play to attract young talent in London.

The firm is increasing base annual salaries for young lawyers to $225,500 (£180,000), according to a statement published on Friday.

The raise marks an 18% jump from the previous base salary of around $190,000 (£150,000) offered by the firm, Law.com reported.

According to the statement, salaries will also increase "substantially" as seniority increases.

Quinn Emanuel, which has boasted of being voted the "#1 Most Feared Law Firm in the World," specializes in representing businesses in corporate disputes. It has numerous high-profile clients, including Google, FIFA, Elon Musk, and FTX.

The salary increase for newly qualified solicitors is to "reward our outstanding lawyers," explained Alex Gerbi, the firm's co-managing partner in London.

It also reflects "the firm's commitment to continuing to attract the very best new talent," said Gerbi, hinting at the intensifying battle for talent brewing in London's legal industry.

Last week, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, one of five highly prestigious, corporate-focused UK law firms known as the Magic Circle, also pushed up starting salaries.

The London-based firm announced it would increase base pay for newly qualified lawyers by 20% to around $190,000 (£150,000), close to Quinn Emmanuel's salary offering before the latest hike.

The moves will likely pressure other top law firms in London, including Magic Circle members Slaughter and May, Linklaters, A&O Shearman, and Clifford Chance.

Last year, most of the firms also hiked salaries by similar levels to remain competitive with each other; however, it's a challenge for the UK-based enterprises to keep pace with the deep pockets of their US counterparts.

In 2023, Quinn Emanuel reported a 26% jump in annual revenue to more than $2 billion, according to Legal Business.

But the firm has also faced a turbulent few years. In 2022, a shake-up in leadership became the talk of legal circles when two comanaging partners were installed to serve alongside founder John Quinn — the first time in the firm's 37 years that he has shared power over the litigation giant.

"I have a growing recognition that this enterprise is huge and that I'm missing things," Quinn previously told Business Insider.

Quinn Emanuel did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI.

• Ukraine's air defenses shot down 30% of Russian missiles last month, per The Wall Street Journal.
• That's down from 46% over the last 6 months, and 73% in the 6 months before that, the Journal reported.
• Russia is exploiting gaps in Ukraine's defenses before Western supplies reach the front lines.

Ukraine's air defenses shot down just 30% of Russian missiles last month, compared to 46% over the last six months, according to The Wall Street Journal, highlighting a worrying trend for Ukraine.

Its success rate was as high as 73% in the six months before that, the Journal reported.

The outlet drew its analysis from daily data shared by the Ukrainian Air Force Command, it said.

Ukraine has struggled to intercept Russia's missile and drone attacks as it runs dangerously low on air defense systems and ammunition.

According to the data cited by the Journal, Ukraine has shot down just 10% of Russian ballistic missiles and has failed to intercept any S-300 and S-400 missiles fired by Russia into Ukraine this year.

At the same time, Russia has ramped up its drone and missile attacks by around 45% over the last six months, the Journal reported, citing the data.

It has almost doubled the number of Shahed drones it has deployed, tripled the number of ballistic missiles, and doubled the number of hypersonic Kinzhal and Zircon missiles it has fired, compared to the preceding six months, per the outlet.

Despite some gaps in the data, and Ukraine using it for propaganda purposes, an unnamed spokesperson for the Armed Forces of Ukraine and an unnamed independent defense analyst told the Journal that the statistics gave an overall accurate picture.

It is a picture that will be of concern to Ukraine and its allies.

Ukraine is waiting on significant resources from the US after Republicans in Congress finally agreed to a $61 billion military aid package.

Before the vote in Congress, the Pentagon said it could rush vital air defense weapons and artillery shells to Ukraine within days of the military aid bill clearing the Senate and receiving President Joe Biden's signature.

But according to a recent assessment by The Institute for the Study of War, Russia is exploiting Ukraine's weakened air defense systems before further supplies make it to the front lines.

And Russia's large-scale bombardments have the potential to overwhelm Ukrainian defenses while also depleting ammunition supplies, making it sometimes impossible for air defense systems to reload fast enough, an unnamed UAF spokesperson told the Journal.

An unnamed European military intelligence official told the Journal that the next two months or so will be key in determining whether Russian forces can be stopped before Western air defense systems reach the front lines.

• Sarah Franklin, CEO of HR software platform Lattice, is letting workers stay fully flexible.
• "The data is pretty clear that mandates don't increase productivity," Franklin told Fortune.
• While some tech companies are mandating workers back to the office, Franklin believes the future of work is hybrid.

While some Big Tech giants are dragging workers back to the office, Sarah Franklin, the CEO of HR software platform Lattice, is letting her employees stay fully flexible.

Lattice provides software for companies to track and reward employee performance amid the changing landscape of remote work — and its CEO is practicing what it preaches.

"The data is pretty clear that mandates don't increase productivity," Franklin told Fortune, "the focus for us at Lattice is carrot, not stick."

She continued: "We've seen firsthand data showing a dramatic dip, across the board, with regard to employee engagement. I deeply believe that many of the stick tactics of these mandates strip people of their sense of being an adult, at a job, wanting to do the work."

Franklin became CEO of the company after cofounder Jack Altman — the brother of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman — stepped down at the end of 2023. The company raised $175 million in 2022 and was valued at $3 billion.

Prior to joining Lattice, Franklin spent 15 years at Salesforce, serving as President and CMO, where she worked directly under CEO Marc Benioff.

Benioff is a fan of remote work when it comes to his own working life: "I'm a remote worker. I've always been a remote worker my whole life, " he previously told MSNBC.

He added, "I don't work well in an office. It just doesn't work with my personality." 

But his stance has flip-flopped when it comes to Salesforce employees.

Leaked company messages last year showed that non-remote employees were expected to be in the office three days a week, and those in customer-facing roles had to come four days a week.

Franklin has been more steadfast in her encouragement of hybrid work. She told Fortune that she believes that hybrid workplaces are the future.

And she's not the only one bucking the strict RTO trend.

The CEO of tech giant Globant, Martin Migoya, is letting his 30,000 employees stay fully remote. The company is opting for a carrot-over-stick approach, too, enticing workers back with office upgrades that include more lounge areas and private rooms for remote calls.

CEOs can't seem to agree on whether remote work disrupts productivity.

Many companies have cited productivity concerns as the reason for bringing in strict RTO measures. However, some research has shown that RTO mandates don't necessarily encourage more productivity, and the companies that adopt these policies aren't necessarily more profitable.

• Sweetgreen introduced caramelized garlic steak, which is now the most expensive protein on its menu.
• Its CEO said the steak should boost its dinner sales and expand its customer base.
• "There's a lot of fast-casual customers that won't go somewhere unless there is a meat option," he said.

Sweetgreen just added steak to its menu for the first time, which it says could attract new protein-hungry customers and boost its evening sales.

The salad chain, which has over 225 locations, added caramelized garlic steak on Tuesday. It features in three new set entrées and can also be added to custom dishes.

Axios reported that it's the first red meat Sweetgreen has sold. The only other meat it currently sells is chicken. It also sells salmon.

Sweetgreen says the steak is seasoned with a garlic spice blend and roasted to get a "deep caramelized char on the outside and a juicy center on the inside," before being finished with olive oil and herbs. It's "reminiscent of classic steakhouse flavors," Sweetgreen said in a press release.

At a Sweetgreen in Manhattan, the three new entrées featuring the steak cost between $16.15 and $17.15.

And it's the chain's priciest protein yet.

It costs $6.45 to add the steak to another set entrée or to a custom bowl at the Manhattan location. In comparison, Sweetgreen charges $2.75 to add roasted tofu, $3.75 to add blackened or roasted chicken, and $6.15 to add miso glazed salmon.

Cofounder and CEO Jonathan Neman told investors on Thursday that during its test of the steak in Boston in February, it became a "dinnertime favorite" and was included in nearly one in five dinner orders. Customers returned to order it, and the test exceeded Sweetgreen's expectations, he said.

"Incorporating steak into our menu provides customers with something they've been seeking for years," Neman said. "A lot of the surveys, consumer insights that we had is there's a lot of fast-casual customers that won't go somewhere unless there is a meat option."

Neman said that Sweetgreen introduced steak to boost its dinner sales and expand its customer base. The chain generates most of its revenue from its lunchtime trade, with dinner orders accounting for about 35% of its business. It revamped its protein plates range in the fall to help drive evening sales.

But it's unclear how the steak fits into Sweetgreen's sustainability goals, The New York Times reported. Sweetgreen says that it plans to become carbon neutral by 2027, and beef has a massive carbon footprint.

Sweetgreen says that the cows used for the steak are grass-fed and pasture-raised. A spokesperson for the chain told The Times that the steak is mostly sourced from farms in Australia and New Zealand that are "rooted in regenerative farming principles."

• Lexis Czumak-Abreu started doing engineering jobs on the side while studying pre-med in college.
• She told Business Insider she enjoyed the problem-solving and physical elements of the job.
• Czumak-Abreu ultimately abandoned plans to be a surgeon. and now works as an electrician full-time.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Lexis Czumak-Abreu, a 27-year-old electrician in New York state. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I became interested in medicine because my mom is a physician's assistant. I went to pre-med school, intending to become a surgeon. But now I work as an electrician.

It's extremely rewarding. At the end of a job, you can turn the electricity on and see the whole system work right in front of you.

I grew up around electricians. Several of my male family members, including my dad, are electricians. I did an apprenticeship with an electrician company in 2015 and kept up electrician jobs on the side when I needed money for my family.

I'd work between 20 and 25 hours a week as an electrician. It was second nature to me.

I wanted to become a surgeon but changed my mind

In pre-med school, I chose to specialize in phlebotomy to get my foot in the door. But I had to work in a hospital drawing people's blood all day. I absolutely hated it.

I thought: "I'm not a people person. I'm not meant to be here."

While at college, I got several personal trainer certifications and worked as a trainer on the side. But again, it didn't work for me. I'm good at speaking to people, but I'm quite antisocial. I like to work alone.

I kept up some electrical work on the side, too. I finished my degree with an associate's in pre-med in 2019, but I decided not to continue in medicine.

I became a full-time electrician instead of continuing in medicine

I could no longer work as a personal trainer under the COVID-19 restrictions. Electricians were considered essential workers. I couldn't just stay unemployed. I started working as an electrician full-time.

I'd go on jobs solo, including running my own jobs, or with another person. Once the pandemic was over, I realized I wanted to keep doing it.

No 2 days are the same

I work a 40-hour workweek. My shifts are normal 9-to-5 working hours, but sometimes our hours change. We get told in advance, though.

Unlike in an office job where you go to the same building every day, I work somewhere different every day. I experience different things and see different people every day.

When a job is finished, I feel a sense of accomplishment and closure. I can finish the job and move on to another one. It doesn't feel like one long job forever.

There are challenges and dangers

I've gotten small electrical shocks, but that comes with the job. I've had an electric shock from an outlet before. That woke me up.

Early in my career, I got a shock when I accidentally put my hand on a panel. Someone else had to pull me off the panel. I was slightly shaken after that, but it made me much more cautious.

I've never been seriously injured. When working with more dangerous equipment, you wear more protective equipment.

It's physically demanding

The more experienced you get, the higher the voltage you can work with because you need to be experienced to work with deadly voltage. I mainly do commercial jobs now, such as pole lighting or utility generators for towns or businesses, though sometimes I still do residential work in people's homes.

I prefer commercial work, but it can be tricky to troubleshoot and solve a problem when it's something I've never learned before. Moving heavy copper wire and big pipes can be labor-intensive, physical work.

I have to train in the gym to keep up with the men in the industry. Handling heavy equipment that is double my body weight can be more taxing on my body than theirs. There are days when I come home exhausted, but it's better than a repetitive office job.

I've experienced sexism

I mostly work on my own.

Sometimes, when running jobs, I feel like people aren't taking me seriously. I haven't had many negative comments, but sometimes, I can tell from people's body language that they're uncomfortable.

The worst was an older lady who asked my company if a male colleague could replace me. It used to upset me, but I don't take that stuff too seriously anymore. I know some people in the world just aren't used to that.

Once they see my work, there's no issue. Most people in the area of upstate New York I work in know me now anyway.

I'm glad I became an electrician

I'm glad I gave myself the opportunity to try other career paths to figure out they don't work for me.

I'm happy where I am and excited to move into working with even higher voltage in the future.