While the death sentence, or fatwa, ordered on Rushdie by Iran was among the most high-profile threats, many authors say harassment and calls for violence have become part of the experience of being a writer.
Love Is An Ex-Country author Randa Jarrar said in an email interview this week that she had to learn how to "better aim a gun" and prepare physically in case of attack after a tweet about former first lady Barbara Bush prompted threats.
When Bush died in 2018, Jarrar described her as an "amazing racist" for a comment about the majority-Black communities displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
The Muslim author said she feared for her life when critics posted her home address and phone number online. She and her child began receiving death threats.
Every threat she received mentioned that she is Muslim and warned her to go back to where she came from, Jarrar said. She moved, and hired a company to scrub her private data from the internet.
Queer Chicana writer Myriam Gurba faced threats after she criticised author Jeanine Cummins in 2020 of cultural appropriation in writing the novel American Dirt, which focused on a Mexican woman who escaped a drug cartel to build a new life in the United States as an undocumented immigrant.
Gurba said many people supported her, but she also received threats of violence on her phone and the internet.
"The first death threat that I received stated that the police should execute me for my stupidity,” she said.
At least one upcoming literary festival is tightening security. Organisers of September's National Book Festival, hosted by the Library of Congress in Washington, had already planned to require bag searches.
Now, the festival is working with law enforcement to add extra measures, a spokesperson said.
At the New York Public Library, some writers said they did not fear gathering in public.
"The only time I got anxious was when they told us how much security there was going to be, thinking maybe there have been some threats, but I doubt it,” author Paul Auster said.
“I just realised that startups don’t really offer a lot of family benefits that larger companies do,” said Rachel Bentley, a 31-year-old from Austin, Texas, who recently boomeranged back to Duo. (PHOTO: Shuran Huang/Bloomberg)
By Charlie Wells
(Bloomberg) —Forget return to office. In this economy, many employees are returning to previous employers, breaking taboos about workplace loyalty and bucking assumptions about the so-called Great Resignation.
Their numbers are up. In the US in the first quarter of this year, 4.2% of all new hires for companies that advertised jobs on LinkedIn were boomerangs, compared to 3.3% in 2019, the social-media firm said.
Their reasons for returning are varied. What’s more, their returns are being brandished by firms large and small, who are boasting everywhere from social media to Slack that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.
So-called “boomerang employees” embody the economic ambiguity of the moment. Earlier this month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed the US labour market added 528,000 jobs in July, beating forecasts more than twofold. Yet just the week prior, data showed that the US economy shrank for a second straight quarter, amplifying concerns about a recession.
All the while, employees and employers are locked in a standoff over perks, pay, remote policies and the very meaning of work itself.
Return Perks
“I just realised that startups don’t really offer a lot of family benefits that larger companies do,” said Rachel Bentley, a 31-year-old from Austin, Texas, who recently boomeranged back to Duo, a two-factor authentication company owned by Cisco Systems Inc., after stints at Microsoft Corp. and a smaller startup she joined in 2021.
It was a mix of cultural comfort, pay and concern about the economy that drew Bentley back to Duo, whose employees she stayed in touch with on Slack even after she left the firm. It paid off: Bentley says by returning, she was not only able to rejoin colleagues she loves, but also double her pay.
Others are doing the same, particularly at a moment when career risks — such as joining a startup in a new industry — may begin to lose their appeal. Although the job market is still strong, firms that once seemed like surefire bets in a stay-at-home economy are laying off staff or freezing hiring.
In June, crypto firm Coinbase Global Inc. said it would lay off 18% of its workforce. Robinhood Markets Inc. said this month it would eliminate nearly a quarter of its staff. Even Apple Inc. laid off many of its contract-based recruiters, and firms from Peloton Interactive Inc. to LinkedIn Corp. have also recently shed staff.
That may partly explain the recent growth of boomerang employees.
“The hard reality is that at 30, 40, or even 50, it’s really hard to change careers and maintain the lifestyle you’re used to,” said Adam Kail, founder and chief executive officer of Harrison Gray Search and Consulting in Grand Rapids, Michigan. “I’ve seen people switch careers drastically but in a short period of time realize, ‘I’m not as happy doing something I like more, but with my pay a third of what it was before.’”
Manager Approval
In contrast to decades past, firms are now happy to take their old employees back. And they aren’t being quiet about it. LinkedIn is filled with posts from companies including Deutsche Bank AG, EY and Deloitte touting returning employees, often with elaborate blog posts, pictures and videos showing happy staff back at their companies.
“On social media, you can very easily click back in and say, ‘Hey, I’d love to talk to someone again about maybe reengaging in employment with the firm,” says Dan Black, EY’s global leader for talent attraction and acquisition.
Social-media posts from boomerangs can help with recruitment in a still-tight labour market by showing the firm is a good place to work, according to Catherine Shea, an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business who co-authored a 2021 study on returning employees.
But Shea and her team found that boomerangs come with a cost. They analysed two groups of employees at a US professional services firm: Workers who had boomeranged and similar workers who had never left. They found that boomerangs were paid more but performed on a similar level as employees who stayed. Still, boomerangs tended to spend more time on long-term projects, which might benefit firms because it indicates they have a deeper level of commitment to the company.
Matthew Wragg, CEO of engineering and tech recruitment firm Gattaca, says he’s hired six boomerang employees in the past three months.
“You’ve got that cultural cognizance,” he says. “They know the culture. They know the operating processes.”
They also tend to change little between their first and second tours of the company, according to a study that John Arnold of the University of Missouri conducted with a team of other researchers. They examined some 30,000 boomerang and traditional employees over eight years. They found that in general, employees who performed well in their first stints also performed well in their second. Those who underperformed at first continued to underperform when they returned.
Staging a Comeback
This is why companies considering bringing back a boomerang candidate need to investigate carefully why he or she left in the first place, says Paul McDonald, a senior executive director at recruiter Robert Half. Red flags might be dissatisfaction with upward mobility, concerns about management, or poor cultural fit. Those issues are unlikely to have changed in the interim. On the other hand, salary, benefits and non-monetary perks are all issues that can be solved, within reason.
Candidates looking to boomerang should carefully consider whether going back to an old employer is the right move, says Mark Royal, a senior director at consultant Korn Ferry. Some may look to jump back too soon without giving their new jobs enough of a try.
Those who do decide to jump back should cast their time away in a positive light, he says.
“You want to be framing it in terms of what you’ve learned in the role you’re now leaving and what you can bring back to your former employer and why that will be valuable for you both,” says Royal.
TOKYO: More large Japanese companies are now raising wages to attract workers and cope with chronic staff shortages, a monthly Reuters poll showed on Thursday (Aug 18), a tentative sign Japan Inc may be slowly addressing pay that has been flat for decades.
Still, the Corporate Survey found that higher wages are not yet the go-to tactic for companies, with digitalisation seen as the most popular among the multiple measures firms say they are using to address the labour crunch.
Japanese companies have typically avoided boosting wages because decades of deflation made it difficult to pass on higher costs to consumers.
That might now be changing, as the double whammy of higher commodities prices and a weaker yen drive up living costs, and highlight the strain on workers. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has also called on companies to hike wages.
"Overall we are facing labour shortages and we are struggling to lure part-timers at stores in particular. We are responding by raising wages but there's a limit," the manager of a wholesaler wrote in the survey, on condition of anonymity.
The poll of 495 big non-financial firms, taken Aug 2 to 12, highlighted what appeared to be a growing willingness by companies to increase wages.
The hiking of wages or starting salaries was picked by 44 per cent of respondents as one of the multiple tactics they were adopting.
That compared to just 25 per cent of companies that said in a 2017 Corporate Survey that they would increase salaries.
A full 59 per cent picked going digital and other measures to save manpower as one of their tactics.
"The tide is changing as labour shortages have prompted more and more companies to raise wages albeit gradually," said Koya Miyamae, a senior economist at SMBC Nikko Securities.
"Now is just the beginning, as the population increasingly ages and dwindles, the momentum to hike wages will gather steam," he said.
A majority of companies, 54 per cent, said they faced a labour crunch with the shortage most pronounced among non-manufacturers, 59 per cent of which said they were squeezed for staffing.
"We have not been able to do anything" to secure workers, said another manager at a wholesaler.
Companies also called for a better working environment, including year-round hiring and delaying retirement to encourage the elderly to work until their later years.
Malaysian singer Eison Ai, the husband of Taiwanese actress Hitomi Wang, fell to his death at around 10am today (Aug 17).
According to Taiwanese media, the 40-year-old fell from a building near Exit 3 of Taiwan's Luzhou MRT station. He was pronounced dead on the scene and was not transported to the hospital, Taiwan police stated.
It was also reported that preliminary investigations suggest Eison is suspected to have fallen from the balcony at the rear of a kitchen on the seventh floor.
He was allegedly in a bad mood last night and went to said building to visit his 35-year-old wife. However, the latter left for Yilan for work this morning. He reportedly locked himself in the room before he ultimately fell from the balcony.
A spokesperson from his agency Phoenix Talent Company stated: "We are very shocked to receive such news. Eison was akin to family and it's hard to accept the fact that he has died.
"At present, we are doing all we can to prepare for his funeral and sincerely ask everyone to give Hitomi space and time to herself as we continue processing and understanding the incident with the help of the police."
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Hitomi has yet to comment on his death, Taiwanese media reported.
Eison last appeared on a livestream two days ago on his Facebook account, where he sang for his audience. The video has since been removed from the account.
He was the champion of the second season of the singing competition Taiwan's Super Idol held between 2008 and 2009.
He also wrote on a separate Facebook post, which has also been removed: "Love is the most difficult subject in the world, but also the easiest. Love her and you will have eternity!"
SINGAPORE: Bubble tea lovers in Southeast Asia spend US$3.66 billion a year on the beverage and similar “new tea” drinks, with Singapore having the highest spending power despite its smallest population among the region's six key markets.
This was found in a study which provides analyses and insights into the business dynamics behind bubble tea.
Jointly conducted by venture outfit Momentum Works and digital payments solution firm qlub, the report also found that the average price of bubble tea in Singapore is double that of other countries in the region.
"(This makes) it a great entry point for premium brands,” Momentum Works said in a news release on Tuesday (Aug 16), adding that there are currently more than 60 active brands of bubble tea chains.
The largest market in the region is Indonesia, with an estimated US$1.6 billion annual turnover. Thailand came in second, with US$749 million through more than 31,000 bubble tea stores and other retail channels.
Vietnam is ranked third with US$362 million, with Singapore fourth at US$342 million.
Taiwanese and homegrown brands have “long dominated” the Southeast Asian bubble tea market, the study found.
“In addition, recently many Chinese brands have entered the region,” it added. “The bubble tea market in China is estimated to have an annual turnover of US$20 billion, saturating and hyper competitive.”
Chinese brands that have made their way into Southeast Asia include Mixue, Chagee and HEYTEA, all of which have outlets in Singapore.
HIGH MARGINS, LOW DIFFERENTIATION MARKET
However, the study found that despite the high margins, few bubble tea stores are profitable.
“The bubble tea industry has a good product gross margin of 60 per cent to 70 per cent,” the release said. “Yet, few players have managed continuous profitability at a large scale.”
It cited Nayuki, the first “new tea” brand to go public, whose market cap plunged by more than 70 per cent since it listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange.
“There is also an industry saying that nine out of 10 bubble tea stores lose money,” it added.
The study also highlighted that pricing is not the only factor that affects customers’ purchasing decisions.
“Customers also decide based on the product selection at stores, as well as the ease of access which means the number of stores a brand has,” it said.
Brands are also providing more health-conscious options to cater to customers, through customisable sugar levels and “healthier" alternatives like brewed fresh fruit tea.
“While consumers in Singapore are more health conscious, it’s not the same across other markets”, it added.
Last week, it was announced that Singapore will soon require food and beverage outlets to include nutrition labels on their menus to indicate drinks that contain higher levels of sugar and saturated fat. This includes bubble tea outlets.
Advertising prohibitions will also apply to such drinks. These measures are part of efforts to help consumers to make more informed, healthier choices, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said.
