Millennials are breaking free from their desk jobs and working remotely in places like Mexico — leaving a path of destruction in their wake - Reporters Post24

Welcome to this weekly roundup of stories from Insider’s Business co-Editor in Chief Matt Turner. Subscribe here to get this newsletter in your inbox every Sunday.

What we’re going over today:

“Digital nomads” are destroying tropical paradises.
3G’s merger of Kraft and Heinz is killing morale and choking innovation.
Amazon’s Prime Air drone-delivery team is in upheaval.
Black women in money management on finding their voice on Wall Street.

An oblivious relaxed woman on her laptop sitting on top of residential and business buildings in a tropical environment with blue-footed boobies, pollution, and gang violence around her.

What’s trending this morning:

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For influencers, Instagram can pay dividends. One lifestyle influencer has already booked over $700,000 in brand deals so far in 2021 — and she’s only getting started.

It’s a remote worker invasion

Dubbing themselves “digital nomads,” expats are moving to some of the world’s most remote places, where they can live and work in paradise. But many don’t stick around long enough to reckon with the long-term effects of their lifestyle:

Many places, desperate to revive their COVID-ravaged economies, have gone to extraordinary lengths to welcome the nomads. Countries from Barbados and Aruba to Estonia and Georgia are offering special work visas that permit foreigners to stay for as long as six months, often with an option to renew. Tulum, according to Lonely Planet, is the “hotspot for digital nomads.”

But as more and more foreigners settle in for a year-round Burning Man, Tulum is starting to look more like the next Fyre Fest. The troubles already plaguing the town — shoddy electricity, a crappy sewer system, polluted waters — are exacerbated by the flocks of Bluetoothed boobies.

Unlike the hordes of tourists who come and go for a few days, nomads create a permanent strain on local infrastructure. They enjoy all the benefits of life in the tropics, but they don’t pay taxes.

Read more about the impact of digital nomads:

Invasion of the remote workers! How ‘digital nomads’ are ruining tropical paradises

Kraft Heinz’s merger is causing burnout and choking innovation

Kraft Heinz; Skye Gould/Insider

Under the private-equity firm 3G Capital and Berkshire Hathaway, Kraft Heinz was supposed to be a powerhouse in the food world — but so far, it hasn’t gone as planned:

Current and former employees said 3G-approved executives and a maniacal focus on cutting costs have hobbled the two historic brands. Many are leaving and fear for the company’s future, especially as a sales boost from eating at home fades post-pandemic.

While other food companies, such as General Mills and Kellogg, risk a similar slowdown as society opens up, Kraft Heinz is in a more dire place, analysts said.

Insiders said that 3G’s cost-cutting has left the company unable to introduce new products, such as plant-based meat. They also said the deep cuts have caused morale to plummet and turnover to soar.

Here’s what else employees said about the merger:

3G’s merger of Kraft and Heinz is killing morale, causing burnout, and choking innovation, some employees say. Now, the company could get left behind as the economy reopens.

One of Amazon’s loftiest projects is in crisis

Jeff Wilke, CEO of Amazon's consumer business, announces the company's Prime Air drone at its re:MARS conference in Las Vegas on June 5, 2019.

The goal is to deliver packages to customers’ doorsteps using fully electric drones. The problem is that Amazon’s Prime Air team is seeing internal conflict, high turnover, and launch delays that threaten the project’s success:

The tensions came to a head at an all-hands meeting in March, where Prime Air’s leadership answered questions that employees submitted and voted on. Questions zeroed in on these contentious issues, including those between longtime employees and new hires, who the former accuse of moving too slowly. They also brought up the division’s high turnover rate, which was 20% in 2020.

The question that received the most upvotes pointed to a cultural clash between the new executives and existing company structure, according to a transcript of the meeting obtained by Insider.

“One peer remarked that in the last year all four of the individuals in his leadership chain have been replaced by Boeing expats,” the inquiry said, referring to the multiple executives who joined Amazon from Boeing in the past year. “What are we doing to preserve Amazon’s unique culture and principles within Prime Air while building out our org with established industry leaders?”

More on Amazon Prime Air’s barriers to success:

Amazon’s Prime Air drone-delivery team is in upheaval as launch delays, ‘expat’ execs, and a 20% turnover rate roil one of Amazon’s loftiest projects

Black women discuss finding their voice on Wall Street

From left: Kim Lew, president and CEO of the Columbia Investment Management Company, Dekia Scott, CIO of Southern Company, Tina Byles Williams, CEO CIO and Founder of Xponance, and Michaela Edwards, partner and portfolio manager at Capricorn Investment Group with magenta circles and a faded white grid behind them on a purple background

We spoke with eight Black women in high-powered asset-management roles, who talked openly about microaggressions, mentors, and diversity on Wall Street:

“It’s a male-dominated industry and what some would call a good ol’ boys’ club,” said Dekia Scott, the chief investment officer of the Atlanta-based energy company Southern Company, when asked whether the industry understands why it has a diversity and equity problem.

“With evolution and more women going into the investment field, those numbers have begun to change. But the whys of how we got here, I think everyone knows it.

“Are we prepared to change it? I think it depends on who you talk to. I view this issue as turning a 757 aircraft in slow-course fashion versus just hooking a right in a Dodge minivan. It’s a tremendously large industry. It’s not going to make huge strides in a year or two or three. But we should make meaningful change.”