🎧 The buck stops hear

While Instagram might have us thinking everyone is boating in Lake Como this summer, that’s actually far from the truth.

Instead of splish-splashing with George Clooney, most employees are getting their R&R from watching Netflix on their second monitor — at best.

Per The Washington Post, American workers are taking fewer vacation days than ever before.

And the numbers back it up: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the percentage of the workforce taking vacation in a given week has fallen from 3.3% in 1980 to 1.7% today.

What’s driving vacay’s vanishing act?

• Some workers fear for their job security and don’t want to appear expendable.
• Others don’t bother with vacation days knowing the always-on nature of technology will keep them mentally engaged in their work anyway.
• Vacation time is often bucketed into PTO along with sick and personal days, making many employees nervous to use it should they need it in an emergency.

All that means days left on the table: BLS data shows that more than 90% of full-time, private-industry employees have access to paid vacation time, and that the average number of vacation days offered by employers has gone up.

This all explains the newest corporate buzzword…

… Workation. (We don’t like the sound of it either.)

Coined to describe the act of working from a vacation spot, workations have become increasingly popular as more companies roll out “work from anywhere” perks.

And businesses are finding other creative ways to make sure their employees kick up their feet, from partially reimbursing vacations to instating annual PTO minimums.

So go ahead, log off. But, unfortunately for all of us, there’s no talk yet of banning the “circling back” after you return.

Podcasts are more popular than ever. Among listeners, anyway.

For many creators and production companies, it sure doesn’t feel that way: The money that sustains their shows has slowed to a halt.

What’s going on?

The last decade or so has been a golden age for podcasting, as shows like Serial popularized the medium and took it mainstream.

Today, 64% of Americans say they’re podcast listeners.

(BTW: 0% of respondents say they listen to the podcast of their favorite daily newsletter, but that’s only because they weren’t asked.)

This listening boom saw media companies pour lots of money into audio; Spotify notably invested $1B+ in podcast acquisitions and celebrity deals.

But this year, those investments have scaled back — hard.

• In March, layoffs at NPR led to the cancellation of four popular podcasts.
• In June, Spotify laid off 200 employees from its podcast division, shuttering some of its major shows.
• This month, SiriusXM will officially shut down its once-popular podcast player, Stitcher.

Where did things go wrong?

Put simply: advertisers are no longer footing the bill.

The monetization model for most podcasts took power away from their listeners.

• With shows distributed for free, fans haven’t been the ones exchanging money to keep their favorite shows going — that’d be corporations and advertisers.

Now, that market is in a state of correction.

With a recession looming over the past year, advertising budgets have been among the first to go for companies looking to curb spending.

The podcast industry has watched that happen in real time this year.

The silver lining here: podcasting isn’t going anywhere — it just needs a more sustainable business model.

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