< Previous© stock.adobe.com/Pixel-Shot 50 East Midlands Business Link www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk Here’s Frazer’s collection of the weird and wonderful ‘news’ that came his way over the last few weeks. And finally The world of Frazer Fool’s Day fun April Fool’s Day has come and gone once more, and with it a slog of businesses launched their “new products.” While these pranks can sometimes misfire, and cause eye rolls amongst one’s audience, Frazer still managed to have a chuckle this year. From OpenAI’s new ChatGPT voice that is annoyed over your incessant questions, to Ant and Dec’s new venture, Plank & Deck, Frazer’s favourite has to be Yahoo’s ‘touch grass’ keyboard, with 87 hand placed tufts of turf. “Built to bring the great outdoors right to your desk” so you can “take a break from meeting invites, circling back, and the millions of tabs you have open,” Yahoo invited us all to “touch grass like never before” with its Agricultural Interface, to “look productive while really just trying to ground yourself.” In a chronically online world, Frazer would like to request this keyboard for Business Link HQ! Work wastefulness Do you leave lights on, boil a full kettle, or take the lift unnecessarily for a couple of floors at work? Then you may be among the crowd of employees who admit to being more wasteful at work than at home. A new poll shared by Smart Energy GB that has made its way into Frazer’s inbox reveals a third of small business staff are more wasteful at the office than at home, with half admitting to leaving devices on standby, 49% keeping unused equipment plugged in, 48% boiling the kettle with more water than needed, and 38% leaving lights switched on in empty rooms, amongst other energy offences. Although this may make energy waste at work seem commonplace and a ‘norm’, 57% reckon they’d be confident enough to call out a colleague they spotted being wasteful! No laughing matter It turns out being a funny boss is no laughing matter, with research published in the Academy of Management Journal contradicting studies on the positive effects humour from leaders has on employees. The research proposes that superiors attempting to be funny can actually negatively impact job satisfaction! The University of Pennsylvania and London School of Economics and Political Science have uncovered that bosses making frequent use of jokes and puns can cause emotional exhaustion, with such behaviour putting pressure on workers to engage in “surface acting” to fake or exaggerate positive emotions, to meet their bosses’ expectations of getting a laugh. A pun every now and again may well be fine, but Frazer would suggest avoiding becoming the office comedian. © stock.adobe.com/Marina Gordejeva © stock.adobe.com/bneninWhether it’s banner ads, headers, newsletters, podcasts or print campaigns from as little as £60 a month, please contact Angie Cooper T: 01472 310310 • E: a.cooper@blmgroup.co.uk www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.ukTOWER FIELD SERVICES Cat Tech Tower Field Services offers bespoke mechanical services to oil refinery and petrochemical plants all around the world. Our team has vast experience in overseeing and undertaking the installation of all types of Tower internals. 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