Workplace productivity is directly related to company profitability. Employers are seeking more and more ways to cut waste – including wasteful activities that eat into productivity. Many companies would immediately agree that playing video games, spending excessive time on social media and streaming videos are blatant violations of workplace acceptable use policies.

Employees know that too much work and not enough play leads to exhaustion and burnout. The World Health Organization now officially recognizes ‘occupational burnout” as a cause of mental and physical health problems in the workplace.

Level Setting on Tech Companies Let’s start by defining what a technology company is. Think hardware, software, and technology service companies who are creating a form of technology that others can purchase and utilize. Some of the biggest and most popular players in this space that may come to mind include Facebook, Microsoft, IBM and Google. These companies provide pure technology to their consumers for a price. Though common, the sector is not limited to these types of companies either.

2019 Has been an interesting year for Ransomware thus far. After plaguing countless victims with dreaded ransom notes and bringing some pretty large corporations to their knees, the attack method built a strong reputation for inflicting cyber terror on consumers and businesses. As cyber criminals noticed increasing success from this method, the trends shifted towards more targeted enterprise attacks with the potential for more lucrative payouts.

Ransomware has been a hot topic within the cyber security industry for quite some time now. It’s an often-lucrative cyber-attack method with an attractive return on investment. The motivation behind Ransomware attacks tends to be primarily financial, as cyber criminals can’t resist such easy opportunities to achieve their malicious goals. Ransomware is effective given that almost every individual or organization owns or has access to digital assets which are valuable to them.

Despite a small decline in the total volume of ransomware attacks, assailants are increasingly leveraging the attack method as a targeted way to extort enterprises. This shift toward more selective targets is a typical trend within the Cyber Security industry. For example, at one point, mass phishing emails were all the rage. Attackers would send generic messages to hundreds or thousands of users, hoping that one naïve person would click on a link and help the attacker further their agenda.

“We have your precious data! Pay us or lose it forever!” This is a message no organization or individual ever wants to see. Nevertheless, given trends over time in cyber security, ransomware remains a concern for many organizations. Here is a look at interesting examples of successful ransomware attacks and some lessons we can learn from each.

Since the first documented ransomware attack occurred in the late 80s, the attack method has increasingly become a threat to organizations and individual consumers. One cybercriminal may lock up a family’s computer and hold their precious photo memories hostage with the threat of deleting them. Another may cripple a business by locking up their primary revenue generating application database, costing the company millions of dollars in lost sales by the minute.

The author G.K. Chesterton noted that “there is a lot of difference between listening and hearing.” Of the four communication skills – listening, speaking, reading and writing – we learn listening first, but as time goes on many of us seem to lose interest in truly listening to what others have to say. Leaders would do well to work on listening to inspire workers and increase productivity.

If you suspect that your employees are wasting time on the job and they are not performing up to expectations, it might be time to transform the culture of your organization. A company with a toxic culture runs the risk that employees will remain disengaged and productivity will decline even further. As a leader, you have the perfect opportunity to make improvements by building a culture of support and respect and strengthening teamwork.