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It’s been a rough week for the tech industry. First, Salesforce announced it would lay off more than 1,000 employees, and now another enterprise software maker has announced even deeper job cuts. Yesterday, Workday, Inc. (Nasdaq: WDAY), maker of cloud-based human resources software, announced that it would lay off 1,750 employees—or roughly 8.5% of its global workforce. These layoffs add to a rough start for the tech industry in 2025, which has seen major tech giants, including Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon, trim their workforces. Here’s what you need to know about Workday’s layoffs. Roughly 8% of Workday’s employees are impacted Workday yesterday announced …

New Jersey filed a lawsuit against Discord on Thursday, alleging that the social platform recklessly exposed children to “harassment, abuse, and sexual exploitation by predators who lurk on the platform.” The move makes it the first state to sue Discord. Founded in 2015, Discord is a platform where its millions of users can communicate in chatrooms and direct messages. It shot up in popularity during the Covid-19 pandemic, when many users were stuck at home and wanted to connect. Children, in particular, make up a “significant portion” of its 200 million global monthly active user base, per the suit. The New Jersey complaint alleges that Discord knew its safety fe…

In today’s fast-paced, tech-driven world, commanding attention during meetings or presentations is an increasingly complex challenge. Attendees are often preoccupied with emails, notifications, or social media, turning valuable discussions into background noise. To overcome the issue, presenters must intentionally foster engagement that goes beyond just delivering information. The importance of engagement Engagement is the bridge between delivering information and fostering collaboration. When people feel actively involved in a conversation or presentation, they are more likely to pay attention, retain information, and contribute meaningfully. Think about meetings …

A video game once synonymous with one of the most disastrous launches in history has not only redeemed itself, but will be getting a proper second act. Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Red announced in an earnings call Wednesday that the company is at work on a follow-up to the futuristic role-playing title, which was released in late 2020 and universally criticized for being unfinished, glitchy and at times unplayable. CD Projekt Red said that the conceptual phase is complete and pre-production has begun on the “next big game set in the Cyberpunk universe,” which it is calling Cyberpunk 2 for now. The company expects the game’s development to take four to five…

When White Lotus first season debuted in 2021 and shot to near-instant acclaim, it was a sleeper hit for HBO. But now, four years later, HBO is well aware of just how enthusiastic White Lotus’s fanbase has become—and, to tap into the show’s highly online viewership, its marketing team has decided to officially don their tin foil hats and fangirl right alongside the rest of us. White Lotus recently debuted its own TikTok page dedicated to stirring up conversation around the show’s third season, which just debuted. It’s the first time that the show itself will have a separate TikTok presence from HBO’s broader account. White Lotus’s marketing team is in a unique position, …

When workers repaved part of Interstate 94 near Minneapolis last fall, it looked like they were pouring ordinary concrete. But instead the highway was the first to use a new, near-zero-emissions material. It’s one of a series of large projects to use material from C-Crete, a Bay Area-based startup. Shortly, the highway was repaved, and the company poured slabs and foundations at San Francisco International Airport. Earlier in the summer, it also poured a floor slab in a super-tall skyscraper under construction in Manhattan, the future headquarters of JPMorgan Chase. Other projects are underway now. [Photo: courtesy C-Crete Technologies] Producing cement, the glue that …

To promote its newest shoes, the Swiss athletic apparel brand On filmed a fictional movie trailer with Zendaya. Zone Dreamers stars the actress as an elf-eared astronaut who wears athleisure, trains in space with her flight crew, and—On hopes—sells some merchandise. It’s all an elaborate ad campaign for On’s new low-profile sneaker, Cloudzone, its one-piece Studio Knit Bodysuit, and other offerings from the company’s Spring/Summer 2025 Movement Lifestyle collection, which Zendaya wears throughout. (Consumers hoping to get their hands on the futuristic space suit Zendaya sports in one scene will be disappointed to learn that it’s not part of the collection. Celebrity styl…

A first-of-its-kind project will use a swarm of small, independent submersibles to monitor, protect and provide data on offshore artificial reefs whose purpose is to attract new marine life in otherwise barren sections of sea, officials said Monday. The small, autonomous underwater vehicles, or AUVs, hailed as the “future of underwater surveillance” will be equipped with sensors and high-definition cameras to give scientists at the Cyprus Marine and Maritime Institute a clear picture on the effectiveness of their intricate artificial reefs designed and built using 3D printing. Made of an environmentally friendly cement mixture, the artificial reefs will be embedde…

Frustration is a common emotion. It’s a close cousin to anger, because both deal with your reaction to an obstacle that is preventing you from achieving your goals. Where they differ is that anger is (usually) directed outward at an external obstacle. The energy and rage that anger generates may be useful for trying to influence that external obstacle physically. Frustration is often directed at an internal or systemic obstacle that you can’t do much about. You may be frustrated because you don’t have the capability or time to do something, or may feel like some aspect of your company (or society) prevents you from accomplishing a goal. But frustration is often unprodu…

Kentucky Fried Chicken is being uprooted from its ancestral home state in a shake-up announced Tuesday by its parent company that will relocate the chain’s U.S. corporate office to Texas. The food chain now known as KFC—launched by Colonel Harland Sanders and his secret blend of 11 herbs and spices—will be based in Plano, Texas, and about 100 KFC corporate employees will be relocated in the next six months, said Yum Brands, which owns KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut. The relocation of KFC’s corporate office from Louisville brought a quick response from political leaders in Kentucky. “I am disappointed by this decision and believe the company’s founder would be, too,” Gov.…

The Fast Company Impact Council is an invitation-only membership community of leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual dues for access to peer learning, thought leadership opportunities, events and more. For Generation Z, real estate is more than just settling down—it’s about staying connected, empowered, and mobile. Born between the mid-1990s and early 2010s, they are the first fully digital generation, raised on smartphones, cloud-based everything, and on-demand convenience. Gen Z’s influence on the housing market is rooted in their expectations. They bring a consumer mindset to renting …

Resilience is no longer just about grit or recovering from setbacks. It’s about anticipating change, staying agile in uncertainty, and continuously evolving. The most future-ready organizations build resilience not just at the leadership level, but across their entire workforce—equipping employees with the skills, mindsets, and support systems they need to turn disruption into momentum.  People today expect more—learning, development, well-being, and strong leadership—to help them navigate the future of work. Companies that invest in these areas don’t just retain top talent; they build workforces that are unstoppable. Here are four powerful strategies to embed r…

Management at the Bay Area transportation startup Glydways wants you to be clear about what the company is not: It may plan to move people in futuristic autonomous pods, but it’s not hyperloop-grade vaporware. And its funding by big-name Silicon Valley investors does not make it a ride for the 1%. “Public transit for everyone, everywhere,” says founder Mark Seeger. But Glydways is starting smaller than that. Its first green-lit project (after a temporary test track now under construction next to an abandoned mall in Richmond, Calif.) and others under consideration by local governments will have Glydways’s four-seat electric vehicles plying short on-demand routes between …

The financial services industry is facing an era of unparalleled fragmentation. Consumers are no longer limited to a single bank or financial provider in an increasingly nomadic digital environment. Instead, consumers can move seamlessly between services and products across multiple platforms. This creates a highly competitive marketplace while still maintaining some degree of segmentation. As fintech disruptors and traditional financial institutions compete for consumers, creating brand differentiation and customer loyalty has become one of the hardest and most critical aspects of growing a business. Adding to this challenge, banks and financial service providers face …

In the short time since Graza’s 2022 launch, the wunderkind olive oil slinger has become a standout in a crowded market with its dynamic duo of extra-virgin olive oils: Sizzle for cooking and Drizzle for finishing—cleverly packaged in matte-green squeeze bottles. On Tuesday, Graza introduced its third product to the lineup, the high-heat cooking oil Frizzle. It’s being sold online as well as in select Whole Foods locations nationwide in squeeze bottles and a company-first nonaerosol spray bottle. Made from the remaining pressed olives from Graza’s flagship oils, Frizzle is extracted and refined without the use of chemicals or solvents. The natural refinement proc…

Consumers are urged to check their kitchens and pantries after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) posted a notice that warned about health risks associated with select chowder soups. A recall has been issued for the select chowder soup products due to fears they have the potential to be contaminated with Clostridium botulinum. The bacterium can cause a potentially deadly form of food poisoning known as Botulism. Here’s what you need to know about the recall. What’s happened? The FDA has posted a notice of a voluntary recall being conducted by the SeaBear Company of Anacortes, Washington. SeaBear initiated the recall after the company became concerned t…

Three weeks into her new role as VP of operations, “Maria” got an 11:47 p.m. Slack from her COO: “Where are we on the Q3 supply chain numbers?” She had sent him those numbers that morning. She sent them again. By 6 a.m., Maria’s boss had changed the entire project scope based on a board conversation she didn’t know had happened. By noon, he’d cc’d the CEO on a complaint about “delays”—delays caused by his own shifting priorities. Maria didn’t push back: She absorbed the burden. She reframed his abrupt messages before forwarding them to her team. She stayed late recalculating projections to match his latest mandate. She deflected her team’s frustration with carefu…

If the thought of being hunted by something that can see your every move makes your skin crawl, you might want to steer clear of Eyes Never Wake. This viral horror game takes immersion to the next level, using your webcam to let a lurking monster track your movements in real time. To survive, players must physically move to avoid detection—ducking under desks, leaning out of sight, and staying perfectly still as the creature stalks the room. The game doesn’t stop at just watching. It listens, too. The game listens, too. With your mic always on, the AI-driven entity reacts to sound, forcing players to stay silent to avoid being found. “Every corner you turn is a ch…

The Fast Company Impact Council is an invitation-only membership community of leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual dues for access to peer learning, thought leadership opportunities, events and more. The famous computer scientist Bill Joy once said, “No matter who you are, most of the smartest people work for someone else.” If you want to build something on the bleeding edge, you must have an open ecosystem that can pull in as many ideas as possible, skills and talents that exist beyond the four walls of your office building. This is the ethos of open source, the idea that the world is open …

CAVA hopes to expand its physical footprint after a year of financial success, CEO Brett Schulman announced in the company’s fourth quarter earnings call Tuesday. Over the 2024 fiscal year—CAVA’s first full calendar year as a public company—the Mediterranean fast-casual restaurant chain saw a revenue growth of 28.3% and delivered four straight quarters of free cash flow. And after opening 58 new restaurants this past year, the company anticipates new market openings in Detroit, South Florida, Pittsburgh, and Indianapolis. “We’re very excited to continue to grow those markets and build upon the presence we have in existing regions,” Schulman tells Fast Company. …

Giving money away has never been so easy—thanks to AI. Daffy, a platform that facilitates charitable giving, is rolling out a suite of new AI-powered tools that’s making it easier than ever to donate to charity. So easy, in fact, that a Daffy user can feel like a billionaire making a quick donation to their chosen charity without having to fill out forms, mail checks, or any of the other tedium that can slow the giving process down—simply hit a button, or make a verbal command, and make a donation. Specifically, Daffy’s new tools include a Quick Donate feature, which converts free text or voice commands into an immediate donation. Daffy will need some direction (u…

All Swedish schools and pre-schools will have to make plans to keep unauthorised people off their premises, the government said on Wednesday, as the country tries to come to terms with the worst school shooting in its history last week. Ten people were shot dead at the Campus Risbergska school in Orebro, before the suspected perpetrator – identified by a Reuters source and Swedish media as Rickard Andersson, a 35-year-old Swedish recluse – turned a weapon on himself. The attack has raised questions about whether security at Sweden’s schools needs to be improved. Unlike in many other countries, schools are generally seen as semi-public spaces and rarely have any co…

Nvidia forecast first-quarter revenue above market estimates on Wednesday, expecting robust demand for its leading AI chips to persist as businesses spend heavily to expand generative artificial intelligence infrastructure. Its shares rose about 1% in choppy extended trading, after closing up 3.7% in regular trading. Nvidia is the biggest beneficiary of a rally in AI-linked stocks, with its shares up more than 400% over the last two years. The company expects revenue of $43 billion, plus or minus 2% for the first quarter, compared with analysts’ average estimate of $41.78 billion according to data compiled by LSEG. Demand has grown unabated for Nvidia’s advanc…

Cybercrime is a serious threat to the global economy, destroying livelihoods, sowing distrust, and undermining growth. One forecast has it costing more than $15 trillion annually by the end of the decade. If so, only the GDPs of the U.S. and China are bigger. There’s cause for hope, though. As cyberthreats evolve, innovation is meeting the challenge. New solutions are leveraging AI, real-time threat intelligence, collaborative networks, and advanced authentication technologies. A GROWING PROBLEM Consider the figures. Malicious bots may now account for a third of internet traffic. AI-generated phishing attacks have multiplied tenfold in just a year, and a quarter of cryp…