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Column: Coronavirus is a global crisis. 'Every country for itself' doesn't work

The United States and other countries are failing to come together just when a cooperative international response is desperately needed.




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Commentary: MOCA should not be furloughing staff during the coronavirus crisis. Here's why

The $2.2 trillion CARES Act was designed for small businesses like MOCA. Using relief funds would help to keep the staff at full employment.




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Column: The COVID-19 crisis shows how dangerous misinformation becomes contagious

Scientists are using the coronavirus to study the contagion of misinformation




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Your local farm in a box: How farmers are coping with the crisis

These are unprecedented times for farmers, accustomed to selling produce to restaurants. Many have shifted to CSA boxes and other methods to cope




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California effort will employ restaurant workers to provide meals for seniors amid coronavirus crisis

The program will provide $66 a day per senior in funding for daily meals. Newsom said the effort will launch immediately, focused on seniors who are at risk for COVID-19 or have limited income.




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California to provide more food benefits for schoolchildren during the coronavirus crisis

Newsom says low-income families will receive $365 per child to buy food to make up for the loss of free and reduced-priced lunches provided by schools.




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Harry Potter and the coronavirus crisis: J.K. Rowling launches a new activity website for kids

"Harry Potter" mastermind J.K. Rowling has launched a new website called "Harry Potter at Home" to help distract families from the coronavirus crisis.




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Letters to the Editor: How L.A.'s hotel industry is stepping up in the COVID-19 crisis

Local hotels have repurposed thousands of rooms for use by medical professionals and homeless people during the coronavirus pandemic.




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Letters to the Editor: I had to make many, many calls about my unemployment benefits. This is a crisis

Countless people have applied for unemployment benefits they cannot get. This can create a crisis worse than the coronavirus outbreak.




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Letters to the Editor: Austin Beutner's LAUSD leadership amid crisis is winning over skeptical teachers

An LAUSD teacher who once campaigned against Austin Beutner gives the superintendent credit for his leadership during the pandemic.




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Letters to the Editor: Don't forget the ongoing HIV/AIDS crisis in COVID-19 death comparisons

We're comparing the number of Americans to have died from COVID-19 to war casualties. Why not consider AIDS?




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Letters to the Editor: Wealth inequality is on display for all to see during the coronavirus crisis

In one article, wealthy private schools get government aid. In another, desperate citizens beg for funds online.




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Sundance Institute launches $1-million fund to support indie film during coronavirus crisis

The Sundance Institute's Keri Putnam speaks about the $1-million relief fund for artists and arts organizations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.




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Oscars eligibility rules are changing in the face of coronavirus crisis. Here's what's new

With movie theaters shut down due to the pandemic, the motion picture academy's board voted Tuesday to temporarily suspend its long-held rule requiring a theatrical release for Oscar consideration




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Amoeba Music puts out desperate call for help to survive coronavirus crisis

"We have weathered many storms. ... But we don't know that we can weather the COVID-19 storm," says a new GoFundMe page for California's beloved Amoeba stores.




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England cricket stars make £500,000 donation to good causes amid coronavirus crisis



The £500,000 donation by England's centrally-contracted players is equivalent to a three month 20 per cent pay cut.




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Moeen Ali warns stars will struggle if cricket returns while coronavirus crisis is ongoing



Moeen Ali has opened up on the return of cricket but has sent a stark warning to his fellow players and the decision-makers on the sport.




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East Africa Food Crisis 2011

Into mid-2011, the world’s worst food crisis is being felt in East Africa, in Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya.

Despite successive failed rains, the crisis has been criticized as avoidable and man-made. This is because the situation had been predicted many months before by an international early warning system. Both the international community and governments in the region have been accused of doing very little in the lead up to this crisis. In addition, high food prices have forced food out of the reach of many people, while local conflicts exacerbate the situation.

As the international organization Oxfam describes: 12 million people are in dire need of food, clean water, and basic sanitation. Loss of life on a massive scale is a very real risk, and the crisis is set to worsen over the coming months, particularly for pastoralist communities.

This page also presents news coverage from Inter Press Service on this crisis.

Read full article: East Africa Food Crisis 2011



  • Conflicts in Africa
  • Food and Agriculture Issues

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PGA Tour: Will player eligibility be affected by the coronavirus crisis?



The PGA Tour has been disrupted by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic - but will player eligibility be affected?




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NatWest issues scam warning - how customers can reduce risk during coronavirus crisis



NATWEST customers are being warned to watch out for potential scams, as fraudsters attempt to take advantage during the coronavirus crisis.




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Financial crisis warning: Britain facing worst recession for 300 years - markets on alert



THE British economy is set to plummet into its worst recession for 300 years because of the coronavirus crisis, the Bank of England warned yesterday.




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Dog thrown over bridge to die - Romania crisis as pets abandoned during lockdown



A DOG was thrown over a bridge into a river to drown in Romania during the coronavirus lockdown, an animal charity has revealed.




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Wales star George North details fears over becoming a father during coronavirus crisis



EXCLUSIVE: Wales rugby star George North is about to become a father during the coronavirus.




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Top 12 dreamy infinity pool holidays to recoup from coronavirus crisis



INFINITY pools can offer a dreamy escape from the current situation with seamless views over dazzling skylines, land and sea.




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Tour de France could end up being a throwback to its dark days due to coronavirus crisis



NEIL SQUIRES COLUMN: Daily Express' Chief Sports Writer expresses his concerns about the coronavirus pandemic's affect on the Cycling Anti-Doping Foundation testing programme.




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Phil Taylor opens up on personal impact of coronavirus crisis ahead of Mikuru Suzuki clash



Phil Taylor will take on women's darts superstar Mikuru Suzuki in a special virtual darts match on Thursday evening.




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Testing is key to getting Britain through this COVID-19 crisis, says LEO McKINSTRY



A WEEK into Winston Churchill's prime ministership in May 1940, the war was going disastrously. As Western Europe buckled in the face of the German onslaught, the Nazi regime looked invincible. Yet even in this dark hour, Churchill bristled with defiance. "I think I see my way through," he told his son Randolph.




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Charity boost as £16million fund launched over coronavirus crisis



CHARITIES working to deliver food to the homeless and others in urgent need of support during the coronavirus emergency were last night promised a £16million boost from the Government.




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The coronavirus crisis is not the Tories' finest hour, says FREDERICK FORSYTH



THERE is a steadily growing groundswell of opinion in this country that refuses to diminish or be silenced. I hope I may claim to have been a pioneer.




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Experts warn of increasing car use, loss of transit routes post-crisis

Mobility data released by Apple suggests enormous declines in personal transportation since COVID-19 began its spread in Canada, but experts warn that post-pandemic there could be an increase of car use and a loss of transit routes.




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Leeds SECOND in Championship and promoted as final table predicted amid coronavirus crisis



Leeds United's promotion hopes have been thrown into chaos after the coronavirus caused the EFL to suspend all leagues, but the final Championship table has been predicted by a supercomputer. Will Marcelo Bielsa's side finally return to the Premier League, and who will be relegated?




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The first mistake was to underestimate the coronavirus crisis, says FREDERICK FORSYTH



THERE is a fact of life that permits no rebuttal.




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The coronavirus crisis is not the Tories' finest hour, says FREDERICK FORSYTH



THERE is a steadily growing groundswell of opinion in this country that refuses to diminish or be silenced. I hope I may claim to have been a pioneer.




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'People are really suffering': Black and Latino communities help their own amid coronavirus crisis

Black and Latino community leaders are stepping in to help their own through the coronavirus crisis.

      




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Indianapolis convention business looking to emerge from bleak coronavirus crisis

Conventions, conferences and trade shows cling to calendar spots with cautious optimism after the coronavirus pandemic caused tourism to nosedive.

       




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Letters: Be kind to those still working during the coronavirus crisis

I want to publicly thank all the other workers who continue to make life tolerable for those of us who are stuck at home, a letter to the editor says.

      




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Letters: Americans straddle line between hope and wishful thinking during COVID-19 crisis

The worst part of the COVID-19 outbreak for the vast majority of healthy Americans is the uncertainty of the situation, a letter to the editor says.

       




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Letters: Consider paying service providers during coronavirus crisis

Many of these hard-working people do not qualify for unemployment benefits because they are considered independent contractors, a letter says.

       




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Letters: Essential workers deserve respect — even after coronavirus crisis ends

I see people praising restaurant workers, grocery clerks, and truck drivers and I think this is long overdue.

       




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Tully: The solution to Indy's pothole crisis

Indianapolis has a pothole problem that is both dangerous and embarrassing. Here's a way out of this infrastructure mess.

      




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Indianapolis announces $10 million fund for small-business loans during coronavirus crisis

The city of Indianapolis and the Indy Chamber announced a $10 million rapid response loan fund for small businesses during the coronavirus pandemic.

      




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U.S. Attorney: Law enforcement works to protect Hoosiers during coronavirus crisis

The primary way all citizens can support law enforcement is to follow the recommendations of state and local government leaders, Josh Minkler writes.

       




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Letters: Essential workers deserve respect — even after coronavirus crisis ends

I see people praising restaurant workers, grocery clerks, and truck drivers and I think this is long overdue.

       




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Coronavirus: Yemen medics braced for 'unspeakable' crisis

"You can see the fear in their faces," says medic as health workers in Yemen brace for Covid surge.




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Coronavirus: Immigration detention centres in crisis

There are Covid-19 outbreaks in supply-strapped detention centres across the US.




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Chinese American cartoonist finds satire in coronavirus crisis — with a perspective from both cultures

Chen Weng was born in Wuhan and lives in Seattle. Both connections inspire her "Messycow Comics" strips about panic and hoarding.




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We’d like to see the artwork you’re creating during the coronavirus crisis

Submit your visual art here. We'll publish some of the submissions.




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COVID-19 has ravaged ride-hailing companies, but an industry watcher says the crisis could make Uber stronger (UBER)

  • While ride-hailing has suffered from the impact of COVID-19, Uber is in a good position to survive the crisis, three analysts who cover the company told Business Insider.
  • Uber is in no danger of running of out money anytime soon, said Mark Mahaney, a managing director at RBC Capital Markets.
  • And a series of cost-cutting moves should make the company profitable by next year, said Dan Ives, a managing director of equity research at Wedbush Securities.
  • Uber's food-delivery service, Uber Eats, gives the company an advantage over ride-hailing competitors, since it allows homebound consumers to keep using its app, said Tom White, a senior research analyst at DA Davidson.
  • Are you a current or former Uber employee? Do you have an opinion about what it's like to work there? Contact this reporter at mmatousek@businessinsider.com. You can also reach out on Signal at 646-768-4712 or email this reporter's encrypted address at mmatousek@protonmail.com.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The ride-hailing industry has taken a major hit from COVID-19 as potential customers remain confined to their homes, but Uber is in a good position to survive the crisis, three analysts who cover the company said.

"Their business model will be intact on the other side of this," said Dan Ives, a managing director of equity research at Wedbush Securities.

A strong cash reserve will help. After ending the first quarter with $9 billion in cash and short-term investments, Uber has the resources to survive a scenario in which the prevalence of COVID-19 and its effect on consumer behavior last for the next two years, said Mark Mahaney, a managing director at RBC Capital Markets.

On Thursday, Uber disclosed its first-quarter financial results, reporting an adjusted loss of $2.9 billion on revenue of $3.5 billion during the first three months of this year. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said on a call with analysts that the ride-hailing company would cut $1 billion in fixed costs. The company has recently removed its food-delivery service — Uber Eats — from eight unprofitable markets, folded its electric bike and scooter business into Lime (Uber recently led a $170 million investment round in the company), and announced it will lay off about 14% of its workforce.

Those moves should help Uber become profitable in 2021 (the company predicted in February that it would turn a profit by the end of this year), Ives said. Uber's management, which had struggled in the wake of the company's 2019 IPO, has performed well in the current crisis by being transparent with investors and quickly moving to reduce expenses, Ives said. Investors signaled their approval of the company's strategy by sending shares up as much as 8% in after-hours trading on Thursday.

Uber Eats was one of the highlights of the company's first-quarter results, said Tom White, a senior research analyst at DA Davidson, as gross bookings grew 52% from the first quarter of 2019 to $4.7 billion. Eats gives Uber an advantage over ride-hailing competitors that don't have a similar service, as it allows the company to keep homebound consumers using its app, White said. Even after the toll of COVID-19 begins to subside, demand for online food delivery could see continued growth, he added.

But there are still challenges ahead for Uber. The company said rides fell by as much as 80% in April, and Ives projects that 30% of the customers for gig-economy companies like Uber, Airbnb, and Lyft won't use a ride-hailing service until there's a vaccine for COVID-19. Yet the pandemic could leave Uber better off in the long run, White said.

"I saw and heard enough [during Uber's first-quarter earnings call] that makes it harder and harder for me to think that these guys don't emerge from this pandemic probably in a stronger competitive position and a healthier and leaner operating position," he said.

Are you a current or former Uber employee? Do you have an opinion about what it's like to work there? Contact this reporter at mmatousek@businessinsider.com. You can also reach out on Signal at 646-768-4712 or email this reporter's encrypted address at mmatousek@protonmail.com.

SEE ALSO: Elon Musk's theater of the absurd is a sign of the times for tech

Join the conversation about this story »

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These 19 enterprise tech companies are still hiring during the coronavirus crisis — including AWS, Slack, Box, and Okta

  • Business Insider surveyed enterprise technology companies to determine who's still hiring amid the coronavirus pandemic.
  • Companies like Amazon Web Services, Slack, Okta, Box, and Zoom are actively hiring, while others like Microsoft, Google, and SAP have slowed hiring to prioritize recruiting in key areas.
  • Below is a list of 19 enterprise tech companies that are hiring, and the types of roles they are trying to fill.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

As companies across industries slow or stop hiring amid the public health and economic crisis caused by the coronavirus, Business Insider surveyed enterprise technology companies to find out who is still hiring, and the types of roles they're trying to fill.

The results include companies actively hiring — such as Amazon Web Services, Slack, Okta, Box, and Zoom — while others like Microsoft, Google, and SAP have slowed hiring to prioritize recruiting in key areas.

Responses come directly from companies, but be aware that hiring alone may not paint a complete picture of what's going on at each one. VMware, for example, told Business Insider that it's hiring, particularly in a few key areas related to its cloud business — but also told employees in an internal memo that it was freezing all salaries.

Oracle, Nvidia, and Palo Alto Networks declined to comment on whether they are still hiring. Workday, Adobe, IBM, Cisco, Stripe, Qualcomm and HP did not reply to requests for more information.

Here are 19 enterprise companies still hiring in some form amid the pandemic, and what they're looking for:

Amazon Web Services is actively hiring, with no hiring freezes in place, the company says. Amazon at large has more than 20,000 job postings in US corporate roles.

 

 

 



Slack is "actively hiring," in a range of positions including engineers, data scientists, designers and customer experience experts, a spokesperson told Business Insider.

The company has moved to a virtual hiring process – all interviews are conducted over video and onboarding happens remotely.

Slack has 213 open positions listed on its website at the time of this writing.



Box is "currently hiring," a spokesperson said, across roles in engineering, sales, marketing, customer success, finance, compliance, business operations, product and product design.

Box's website listed 76 open jobs at the time of this writing.

In additional to moving interviews online, the company has introduced new practices like virtual coffee chats with candidates and videos from employees to learn more about Box's culture. For new hires, the company has switched start dates to once per month and started a buddy system to help with onboarding.

 



Zoom is hiring across the US and internationally for positions including in sales, engineering, legal, and security.

"We did have an extremely ambitious hiring goal already for this year," Lynne Oldham, Zoom's chief people officer, recently told Business Insider. "So where we're seeing additional need is around the places that we touch the customer."

The company had 81 open positions listed on its website as of this writing.



DocuSign "has moved forward with its hiring as previously planned," a spokesperson said, and is hiring in roles across customer services, sales and business development, engineering and IT, marketing, finance, legal, and workplace teams.

The company is also continuing its internship program virtually and plans to bring on more than 100 interns this summer.

DocuSign had 338 positions listed on its careers website as of this writing.



Dell-owned VMware is still hiring, a spokesperson said, and has "hundreds of open roles across R&D, IT, sales, customer services and support, marketing, finance, HR, legal, and business administration."

But the company is also freezing salaries and suspending retirement matching, according to a memo obtained by Business Insider. A spokesperson confirmed that "there have been a number of cost management changes impacting the VMware workforce."

VMware interviews take place virtually.



Microsoft has frozen hiring for some roles, citing uncertainty related to the coronavirus crisis.

"We continue to seek industry-leading talent in a range of disciplines as we continue to invest in certain strategic areas," a Microsoft spokesperson told Business Insider last month. "However, in light of the uncertainties presented by COVID-19, we are temporarily pausing recruitment for other roles."

Microsoft declined to provide more information about for which positions it's still hiring, and which roles are seeing a pause in hiring.

Microsoft's subsidiaries include LinkedIn and GitHub.



German software giant SAP is still hiring in essential areas, but has pledged to reduce hiring and discretionary spending as "precautionary measures" during the pandemic.

The company "will continue to hire carefully selected people into roles that will rapidly contribute to our competitive edge,"a spokesperson said, which it said include in "essential areas" such as innovation, and research and development. 

SAP said its candidate selection has remained the same, but the interviews are conducted virtually. New hires are onboarded virtually and sent SAP-issued equipment to their private addresses so they don't have to go to the office.



Google is slowing down hiring for the remainder of the year, CEO Sundar Pichai told the company in an email seen by Business insider.

Pichai said the company is enacting a hiring freeze on all but a select few "strategic areas" for the remainder of 2020. He wrote in the email that the company needed to "carefully prioritize" recruiting employees to serve its "greatest user and business needs."



Dell Technologies is not "hiring broadly," but subsidiary companies like VMware and Secureworks still are, a Dell spokesperson told Business Insider.

Dell Technologies is still continuing its early-in-career programs and summer internships, although they've become remote. 

"We are constantly evolving our hiring strategy based on business needs," the spokesperson said.



Okta is still actively hiring, Okta's chief people officer Kristina Johnson confirmed to Business Insider.

"We're continuously evaluating what we need as a business during this time, listening to customers, and tailoring our hiring plans to meet those needs," Johnson said. "Okta is in a unique position during this uncertain time in that we had the right infrastructure in place from the get-go to make remote work and remote on-boarding fairly routine."

Okta's main hiring focus areas are in customer service, engineering, and sales, Johnson said. 



Dropbox has temporarily halted its recruiting efforts to figure out the process for onboarding people remotely.

"What we actually ended up doing was we took a pause to just take stock of our onboarding and our approach to onboarding because we wanted to make sure that we weren't bringing people on and that they actually weren't effectively able to onboard," Dropbox COO Olivia Nottebohm told Business Insider.

It's still hiring but has slowed down, only hiring for targeted roles, meaning it's up to managers to hire for key, business critical roles.

"We're trying to just be prudent and nd not get ahead of ourselves given the macro environment that we're in, but we are moving forward to hiring targeted roles," Nottebohm said.

While Dropbox plans to honor pending offers and ongoing interview processes, interviews for new applicants have been put on hold. The college internship program will also take place in the summer remotely.

"Fully remote recruiting and onboarding into a new company comes with unique challenges — bringing new hires into Dropbox takes a great deal of collaboration between many teams, including hiring managers, learning and development, IT, benefits, and recruiting," a Dropbox spokesperson told Business Insider.  

"In order to ensure we're onboarding new hires effectively and managing the strain on these teams during the shelter-in-place orders in effect across the globe, we've paused recruiting efforts temporarily," the spokesperson added.  



In April, ServiceNow promised not to lay off any of its 11,000 employees and also said it plans to keep hiring worldwide this year.

"With this new no layoffs pledge for its 11,000-plus global workforce, ServiceNow continues to take a leading role in how technology companies are responding to this health crisis by helping its own employees and customers get through these challenging and uncertain times," Shane Driggers, vice president of Global Talent Acquisition at ServiceNow, said in a statement to Business Insider.

The company expects to create and fill more than 1,000 new jobs in the US and more worldwide by the end of the year, Driggers says.

"We are leaning into hiring for engineering and sales roles as well as other functions across the business," Driggers said.



Splunk is still hiring for a number of positions across the organization, a spokesperson told Business Insider. Open roles include positions in engineering, sales, finance, accounting, and information technology.



Square is still hiring and focusing on roles like software engineering, data science, product design, sales, marketing, operations, and finance, a spokesperson told Business Insider.

"We are continuing to hire in the US and internationally, focusing on roles that we believe will be the most important to our customers and our business in the coming months," a Square spokesperson said. 

Currently, Square has over 100 open roles. 



Twilio is still hiring across the board and not slowing down, a company spokesperson told Business Insider. There are still open roles in engineering, services, sales, product, and more.



Intel has slowed down external hiring, a spokesperson said. "We have slowed external hiring, but we currently have approximately 1000 open positions that we are actively hiring for."

 

 



Atlassian is still hiring across the board, a spokesperson confirmed. This past March was its strongest month of hiring in its history, the company said, as it brought on about 200 new hires. At the end of March, Atlassian had 4,457 employees.



Zendesk is still hiring roles that are "key to our business," but "deprioritizing" the ones that are not as critical.

Zendesk is still hiring roles that are "key to our business," but "deprioritizing" the ones that are not as critical, a Zendesk spokesperson said.

"In response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, Zendesk has been focused on helping our employees, customers, and community at large navigate their immediate needs and plan for the future in this new world," the spokesperson told Business Insider.

The spokesperson said that Zendesk is continuously looking at how to manage its operations to become more efficient and productive, while minimizing disruption to customers. 

"This is standard for all businesses that are looking at their immediate and long-term strategies in order to position themselves for growth," the spokesperson said. "We believe in the strength of our business and our employees, and the resiliency of our customer base, and are in a good position to weather this crisis and emerge as a better, stronger company."






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The Saudi-Iran crisis could end Trump’s lucky streak on the economy

The attack on Saudi oil facilities comes as the U.S. economy has been showing signs of fragility.