Good morning, Peter Vanham here from a sweltering Nimes in Southern France, filling in for Alan.
Call it the vindication of the siesta.
As another round of summer heatwaves hit much of the U.S., southern Europe, and parts of Asia, the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre this week called on businesses to shift their working schedules, and allow affected workers to rest during the hottest hours of the day.
“Extreme heat is rising around the world and our pace of adaption needs to increase as well to meet the rising risk and reduce it,” Julie Arrighi, the director of the center told me over the phone from upstate New York. The two types of workers most at risk, she told me, are those working outdoors, and those working indoors in unventilated areas, covering any sector from tourism to construction.
The warning comes at a historical moment: Last month was the hottest June ever globally, and if this month’s heat wave continues, 2023 may well be the hottest year ever, the Wall Street Journal reported this week. It has business leaders everywhere thinking about how to respond because the warming has consequences for workers. Last year was Europe’s deadliest summer on record with 60,000 people dying from heat-related causes. Back in air-conditioned America, the death toll was much lower, but $68 billion (0.3% of the U.S. GDP) was nevertheless lost in potential income from reduced labor due to extreme heat, according to a study by The Lancet.
To adapt, it’s not all about taking more siestas. Arrighi’s team recommends a series of measures, which include reducing workload or suspending work entirely during the hottest hours of the day, but also providing frequent breaks in cool settings, providing access to water and encouraging hydration, and training employees in warning signs of heat stress as well as basic first aid.
The Red Cross itself went into overdrive these past days, Arrighi told me, counting on volunteers to hand out water and checking in on the most vulnerable people. But long-term, society will need to make a more concerted effort to reduce the effects of extreme heat: more green spaces in cities, different building codes, adapted transport, water and electricity systems. “There’s a need for all sectors in society to react,” she said.
More news below.
Peter Vanhampeter.vanham@fortune.com@petervanham
TOP NEWS
TSMC delay
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company won’t start production at its Arizona facility until 2025 at the earliest. The factory, which originally planned to start operation in late 2024, is a key success story for the Biden administration and its CHIPS and Science Act. Chairman Mark Liu blamed a labor shortage for the delay, suggesting the chipmaker might have to fly in Taiwanese engineers temporarily. The Wall Street Journal
OnlyFans’ new CEO
Creators hope that Keily Blair, the new CEO of streaming site OnlyFans, will bring the platform back to its roots in adult content. As the firm’s chief strategy and operations officer, Blair focused on platform safety, an area valued by those working in adult streaming. Blair’s predecessor Amrapali Gan had promoted the service’s non-adult offerings, perhaps to appease squeamish investors. Fortune
California A.I.
A quarter of all generative A.I. job postings in the last year were in San Francisco and San Jose, according to a report from the Brookings Institution released Thursday. The authors warn that A.I. could reinforce a “winner take most” environment in tech, despite the rise of tech hubs outside of Silicon Valley like Austin and Miami. The New York Times
AROUND THE WATERCOOLER
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Six-figure bosses—not Gen Z—are leading the resistance to the 5-day office week by Orianna Rosa Royle
Florida’s CFO blames wokeness for insurers leaving the state: ‘I do call them the Bud Light of the insurance industry’ by Chris Morris
Elon Musk says Tesla will spend $1 billion to build a ‘Dojo’ A.I. supercomputer—but it wouldn’t be necessary if Nvidia could just supply more chips by Christiaan Hetzner
L’Oréal’s CHRO was used to being away from her kids for business travel. Returning to the office was another story by Stephanie Kramer and Joseph Abrams
This edition was CEO Daily was curated by Nicholas Gordon.
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