Business

Friday Buzz: The Dangers of Workplace FOMO

FOMO isn't limited to TV shows or video games; it's also common in the workplace. That's not a good thing. Also: How one DC-area vehicle-rental company has taken advantage of the Pokémon Go buzz.

The fear of missing out, or FOMO, is great for marketers who are trying to get people to buy a product.

But in the workplace, it might be a big problem that frays employees’ nerves and leaves everyone just a little more stressed. At CMSWire, harmon.ie VP of Product Strategy David Lavenda breaks down why this is such a bad phenomenon for workers—because of the major differences between FOMO on the job and FOMO targeted at consumers.

“Workplace FOMO is a form of digital Russian Roulette, where the object is to toggle between email, documents and business apps, hoping not to find an exploding bombshell,” Lavenda explains. “Unlike consumer FOMO, at work we are not seeking a dopamine rush, but rather hoping to avoid a heart-pounding email or order cancellation notification that will disturb our peace of mind.”

Lavenda blames the issue on a variety of factors, including the increase of notifications, the rise of smartphones, and an inability to disconnect.

“Paradoxically, the only thing worse than the endless stream of notifications is the absence of notifications. This is the truly noxious nature of workplace FOMO: it produces an anxiety when the phone buzzes and an even greater anxiety when it stops buzzing,” he adds.

While the issue will worsen before it improves, according to Lavenda, he says that eventually new tools will help solve it. Check out his full post to get a feel for the issue.

Don’t Drive And Pokémon. Rent a Bus

The buzz around Pokémon Go is hard to ignore, and some businesses are trying clever strategies to take advantage of that shift.

For one, the vehicle-rental firm Reston Limousine, which services the Washington, DC, area, has launched a “Pokébus,” a van or minibus for hire that allows people to ride around the area, hunting creatures from the comfort of a vehicle. The approach, reports Bizwomen, has earned the company a bunch of extra notice and a new base of customers.

“It just solidified our reputation of being on the forefront of innovative marketing ideas in the D.C. area,” Marketing Manager Therese Howe explained.

Hey, it beats driving.

Other Links of Note

Don’t get confused about where journalists stand when covering your organization. At Kivi’s Nonprofit Communications Blog, Media Relations Pro Peter Panepento breaks down what PR folks should know about journalistic ethics.

The coding school startup General Assembly, whose business model is one that associations should keep an eye on, announced it was laying off 50 of its 750 employees this week. Inc. has the scoop on the why and how of the situation.

“Email is critical to our overall interaction with fans. We’re focused on identifying what’s important to specific fans at specific times and frequencies and manage our campaigns accordingly.” — Tim Clark, the managing director of NASCAR’s digital platform, on email marketing’s importance to the organization.

(iStock/Thinkstock)

Ernie Smith

By Ernie Smith

Ernie Smith is a former senior editor for Associations Now. MORE

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