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Flight delays and disruptions at U.S. airports have persisted for a fourth consecutive day due to staffing issues stemming from the government shutdown, which began on October 1. Air traffic controllers are expected to work without pay during the shutdown. As federal employees begin to feel the financial impact of the shutdown, many are calling out of work. And as the shutdown continues, many airports are struggling with growing staffing issues. Here’s what you need to knowespecially if you’re flying soon. Over 16,000 flights have been delayed since Monday According to FlightAware, which tracks flight delays, disruptions, and cancellations, as of late Thursday morning, more than 16,000 flights flying into, within, or out of the U.S. have been delayed since Monday, October 6. On Monday, October 6,154 flights were delayed and 84 were canceled. On Tuesday, October 7, 3,849 flights were delayed and 70 were canceled. On Wednesday, October 8, 4,608 flights were delayed and 60 were canceled. As of 11:50 a.m. ET today, 1,698 flights flying into, within, or out of the U.S. have been delayed, and 55 flights were canceled. Temporary ground delays have been issued to slow air traffic The FAA has issued temporary ground delays at several airports this week. Some of the impacted airports include Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD), Nashville International Airport (BNA), and Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA). On Monday, the FAA issued a temporary ground stop at Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR). Reports indicate that the airport was unstaffed for several hours. An October 9 FAA operational plan notes the following airports may experience possible ground delays today: Fort LauderdaleHollywood International Airport (FLL) LaGuardia Airport (LGA) Miami International Airport (MIA) Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) Orlando International Airport (MCO) Whats causing continued flight delays? Federal employees working at airports, including air traffic controllers and TSA agents, are considered essential workers. That means they must keep working without pay during the government shutdown. Airports are experiencing staffing issues as more employees call out sick. Flight disruptions are expected to continue throughout the shutdown. Heres what to do if youre flying soon The impact of flight delays may be more noticeable this weekend. There will likely be an increase in air travel as Monday is Indigenous Peoples’ Day, and some people may have off work and choose to travel during the long weekend. If you have a flight scheduled in the coming days, you may face disruptions. Remember to be kind to airport and airline employees. They have no control over flight delays and cancellations. It’s good practice to check your flight status before heading to the airport; you can check the status of your flight on your airline’s website or mobile app. Travelers can also check the FAA’s National Airspace System Status website for information regarding widespread delays at specific airports. FlightAware also publishes its MiseryMap, which uses recent data to compare flight delays and cancellations vs. on-time flights at major airports nationwide. If your flight is canceled or if a flight delay causes you to miss a connection, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines have policies that state they’ll rebook you on the next available flight. Fast Company reached out to American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines for comment on the flight delays. We’ll update this story if we receive replies.
Category:
E-Commerce
There are many reasons why someone may have a second job or some kind of side gig when theyre working for you. They may have financial needs that are greater than what you can pay. They may have expertise that enables them to consult or engage with other businesses. They may have a passion project or startup that theyre nurturing while they work for you. Whatever it is that is driving your employees, their other line of work can affect their performance for you. It is valuable to understand what your team members are doing and the impact it is having on their responsibilities for you. Some workplaces (like mine) require explicit declarations of conflicts of interest that include any outside employment. Even if that is not a requirement, you may want to encourage members of your team to keep you apprised of their other commitments (including their work with nonprofits that might burnish the image of your organization). Ultimately, it is important to know three things about any outside employment of your team members: the drawbacks, the synergies, and the potential for an exit. The real and perceived drawbacks When you find out that someone working for you has another job as well, that can be disconcerting. It may even feel like a betrayal. It is important to separate the actual drawbacks of this arrangement from your feelings. Clearly, one problem with an employee who has a second job is that they may not be spending enough time on the primary work you need them to do. If your organization has a formal policy around the number of hours an employee is working, then you need to ensure that they are actually putting in the time. This can be particularly difficult to do when your workforce is remote. But, if you have concerns about the hours and effort, then have a conversation with your employee and and develop a system for accountability. Another significant problem is the potential for conflicts of interest. For one thing, your employee may be taking information or client engagement and siphoning it off to their other venture. For another, they may want to bias their work in directions that benefit their other venture. It is important to create clear documentation of the way your team is making decisions and to require that employees be transparent about their other jobs to ensure that decisions are not being made in ways that benefit the secondary engagement of your employees. That said, you also dont want to penalize your employees from doing other work. You dont know their personal situation, and an extra income may be crucial for their survival. In addition, the modern workforce gives employees no reason to believe that the organization will be looking out for them if times get difficult. So, employees should not be punished for looking out for themselves. Be sympathetic to your employees’ needs and ambitions rather than taking it as a person affront. The synergies A less obvious aspect of secondary employment is that it may benefit the organization or your team members performance. Some industries recognize this explicitly. For example, I have been a faculty member for over three decades. Universities often encourage their faculty to consult or do work for other companies. Often, faculty can work up to one day a week for an outside entity. At times, faculty members have split appointments in which they have named roles at companies as well as faculty roles at the university. These arrangements allow knowledge and expertise developed at the university to benefit the broader community, bring prestige to the university, and can feed back positively on a faculty members research. These outside engagements also create opportunities for students and solidify connections between the university and prospective employers of graduates. Similarly, your employees are developing additional skills in their secondary work. These skills may help them to bring new perspectives to the work they are doing for you. You are prone to think of the ways that employees are siphoning time and ideas from their primary employment to second jobs. Dont forget that the flow of knowledge and skills can go in the other direction as well. Is the second job an off-ramp? Another reason to track the other jobs and side-gigs of employees is that they may reflect a passion project of the employee that they are hoping will become a full-time source of income and fulfillment. Knowing your team members goals can help you to plan for the future. You want to hold onto your productive employees, but the more advance warning you can get of an employees departure, the more that you can do good succession planning. Indeed, if you suspect that one of your supervisees is working to create an alternative career path, engage them in conversation. Support their efforts in exchange for getting a longer runway to find their replacement. Having a few months before a key employee departs enables you to hire someone new and let your new team member get trained by the old one. In addition, your employees side gigs are often in the same neighborhood as the business youre in. Treating your employees well gives you the best possible relationship to the new firm they join or create. You never know when that positive relationship can be turned into a mutually beneficial collaboration in the future. Give your support without expectation of a return, but recognize that your good deeds may very well pay off down the line.
Category:
E-Commerce
Around 70,000 Discord users may have had images of their government IDs stolen, according to an update from the company. Last week, the popular chat platform notified users that the third-party vendor the platform uses for customer service was hacked, affecting Discord users who had interacted with the apps customer support or trust and safety teams. Discord initially announced last week that an unauthorized group gained access to a small number of government ID images. That includes images of sensitive documents like drivers licenses, passports, and potentially even selfies of people holding those documentsa common way to verify identity for online accounts. On Wednesday, the company updated its blog post, estimating the number of affected users to be 70,000. While that is a small sliver of the chat apps 200 million monthly users, its still a large swath of people who now have very good reason to be worried about identity theft. Beyond government ID images, the hackers may have gained access to Discord users names, usernames, emails, contact information, the last four digits of credit cards linked to accounts, IP addresses, and messages with customer service agents. Discord emphasized that full credit card numbers and CCV codes were not compromised, nor were passwords or messages on Discord that werent with its third-party customer support provider. As soon as we became aware of this attack, we took immediate steps to address the situation, Discord said in a newly updated blog post. This included revoking the customer support providers access to our ticketing system, launching an internal investigation, engaging a leading computer forensics firm to support our investigation and remediation efforts, and engaging law enforcement. The hacking group stole the documents explicitly in an effort to extort a financial ransom, Discord disclosed in its blog post. Age verification comes with its own risks Discord emphasizes that this wasnt a breach of its own systems and servers, but rather one that succeeded in compromising an external vendor the company uses. That distinction is important: Discord hosts a massive trove of chat logs and private conversations for its hundreds of millions of monthly active users. This hack is still very bad news, particularly given the nature of the images that were stolenthe very images people rely on to establish the legitimacy of accounts around the web. Still, Discord users should know that server logs and private chats werent part of this hack. Discord says that it is in the process of contacting users affected by the ID document breach with an email from noreply@discord.com. Discord did not name the vendor in its public statements, but signs and initial reports seem to point to Zendesk, which handles customer support for the platform. In a statement to Fast Company, Zendesk said that its investigation indicates this incident did not arise from a vulnerability within Zendesk’s platform and that its own systems were not compromised. Discord also uses the age verification provider k-ID for automated facial age estimation and identity document verification, though the company states that neither company permanently stores ID documents or the video selfies users upload to verify their age. The hack is the latest example of the risks companies take when they collect sensitive personal data from users. As age verification laws spread, companies like Discord are increasingly requiring users to upload their passports and drivers licenses to prove that they are adults. In July, Discord announced that it would make changes to comply with the U.K.s newly enacted Online Safety Act. That law requires platforms to shield young people from pornography and content promoting self-harm, eating disorders, or suicide through the implementation of age gates. While the Online Safety Act and similar U.S. state-specific age verification laws may have noble goals, they have faced pushback from critics concerned over their efficacy, privacy implications, and the broader risk of letting governments decide what people are allowed to see online.
Category:
E-Commerce
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