CNBC WEC Member Town Hall: Retention, Growth, Engagement
Host
Sharon Epperson, CNBC Senior Personal Finance Correspondent
Speakers
Erica Keswin, Author, Speaker, Workplace Strategist
CNBC WEC Member Town Hall: Retention, Growth, Engagement
We’ll speak with Erica Keswin, workplace expert and author of ‘Bring Your Human to Work and Rituals Roadmap’ on strategies and ideas to make the most of the current world of work, how to engage and retain your workforce and build for the future.
Key Points
- With HR buzzwords like ‘quiet quitting’ ‘the great resignation’ and ‘loud layoffs’ defining a large part of the 2022 workplace experience, attention is now being paid to the ways to best meet the needs of the employees while keeping them engaged and motivated. The answer? Speaker and best-selling author, Erica Keswin, says empathy and experimentation are key.
- Being able to bring all levels of workers together is important. Especially for companies that have a wide range of employees from “desk to desk-less workers,” emphasizing flexibility for all workers is fundamental.
- With some companies making a minimum number of days in the office required, Keswin said you must find ways to make those in-office days’ worth the commute to avoid resentment from rising.
- Having dedicated people to planning events for employees is becoming an increasingly ‘hot’ job title. Employee experience managers provide a break for HR managers who otherwise wouldn’t have time to plan company-wide employee events.
- The key to keeping virtual meeting retention high and employees engaged is all in the way it’s run. Creating a revolving door of meeting hosts, breaking up the monotony of business updates with interactive quizzes and polls and allowing an open chat feature for colleagues to engage with one another are all ways to make virtual meetings more bearable.
- The metrics by which companies measure performance need an overhaul. The outdated idea of physical presence equating to higher performance no longer works in the post-COVID workplace.
- Approaching employee concerns with a sense of vulnerability is a way to ease tensions in the workplace. Senior leaders opening themselves up and allowing conversations with a relatability factor is necessary to alleviate feelings of stress and burnout.
CNBC WEC Member Town Hall: The Economy, Jobs and Strategies for 2023
Host
Dom Chu, CNBC Senior Markets Correspondent
Speakers
Nela Richardson, ADP Chief Economist
CNBC WEC Member Town Hall: The Economy, Jobs and Strategies for 2023
Sorting through the maze that was 2022 and arming HR executives with insights and strategies for talent, wages, and the economy for 2023 was the topic of the Workforce Executive Council Town Hall.
Key Points
- CNBC senior markets correspondent Dominic Chu kicked things off with the question that was likely on everyone’s mind: Are we in a recession? Richardson’s response: No, we’re no
- A slowdown is coming—and it’s a global one. The key indicator for this is worker productivity. Richardson said 2022 is the first year since 1983 when we’ve seen three straight quarters of year-over-year drops in average productivity per worker. Simply put: All workers are working more and producing less.
- The persistence of labor shortages is impacting wages. Wages went up, but they are plateauing. Wage growth is seen mostly in lower-paying jobs in consumer facing industries.
- More than 3.5 million workers have left the job market. About 60% of those workers are retirees and that’s creating a skills gap. Are enough workers coming into the workforce to replace them? We don’t know.
3rd Annual WEC Summit
Host
Sharon Epperson, CNBC Senior Personal Finance Correspondent
Speakers
Maeve DuVally, Goldman Sachs Consultant & LGBTQ+ Advocate
Rocco Giannetti, Gensler Principal and Managing Director
Keli Goff, 'Left, Right & Center' Contributor
Vivek Murthy, United States Surgeon General
Alison Omens, Chief Strategy Officer, JUST Capital
Dave Price, Weather Anchor, NBC 4 New York & Former HR Leader
Delano Saporu, New Street Advisors Group CEO & Founder
Judy Smith, Smith & Company Founder & CEO
Dave Stephenson, Airbnb Chief Financial Officer and Head of Employee Experience
Michael Steele , Former Lieutenant Governor of Maryland
3rd Annual WEC Summit
CNBC’s 3rd Annual Workforce Executive Council Summit convened WEC members to discuss key program themes, including the loneliness epidemic, the mental health of employees, and creating inclusive, supportive environments where both employees and the business can thrive. For more details on this event visit: https://www.cnbcevents.com/wec-summit/. The WEC Summit is an exclusive event for members; learn more about the WEC and apply for membership at www.cnbccouncils.com/wec.
Key Points
- According to speakers Keli Goff and Michael Steele, it is imperative that companies remain on top of the constantly evolving political environment, particularly with the midterms just a few weeks away. Goff and Steele also however urged companies to stay true to their foundational values to ensure a sense of trust amongst workers.
- While most employees wouldn’t hesitate to call out of work for an important doctor’s appointment, most would not feel comfortable letting their boss know they couldn’t make it to work because they’ve been struggling with their mental health and had to attend therapy. According to U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, this is where the culture can and must start to change.
- Reimagining office spaces to align with the new normal of hybrid work is a pressing issue for most companies across the board. In Rocco Giannetti’s eyes, creating a space to allow employees to not just be able to focus but also socialize, is key, especially for Gen Z workers.
- Just earlier this year, Airbnb implemented its “work from anywhere” policy which allows employees to work and live anywhere they desire. According to CFO Dave Stephenson, being intentional about the design of this new policy has been crucial to ensuring employees can have the best of both worlds in their working experiences.
- Maeve DuVally knows firsthand just how important it is to be one's true self at work. Following coming out as transgender at Goldman Sachs in 2019, DuVally was assigned a relationship manager as she went through her transition which was a gamechanger in putting her at ease during this time. DuVally is now urging other HR executives to take similar initiatives to ensure support across the board.
- Working in HR often comes with countless feelings of “I could have done that better.” By taking different HR crises over the years and adding a twist on them in a thought provoking interactive session, HR executives can better prepare for any potential issue that may be thrown their way in the future.
- Founder and CEO of Smith & Company, Judy Smith knows a few things when it comes to crisis management. The real life Olivia Pope urged leaders to keep in mind the importance of listening to stakeholders, preparing for backlash, accepting not always having the full truth among other important concepts when dealing with a crisis at work.
CNBC WEC Private Dinner in San Francisco
Host
Deirdre Bosa, CNBC “Techcheck” Co-Anchor
Speakers
Andy Dunn, Bonobos CEO and Author,"Burn Rate"
Jennifer Oliva, UC Hastings Law Professor
CNBC WEC Private Dinner in San Francisco
Members of the Workforce Executive Council, CNBC Journalists, and special guest Andy Dunn, Bonobos CEO and Author,"Burn Rate" convened in San Francisco for the CNBC WEC Private Dinner. For more information on the next event and to see if you qualify to attend visit https://www.cnbccouncils.com/wec.
CNBC WEC Member Town Hall: The Role of HR in a Time of Employee Activism and Political Divide
Speakers
Tunde Oyeneyin, Peloton Instructor and Motivational Speaker
Megan Reitz, Hult International Business School Professor of Leadership and Dialogue
CNBC WEC Member Town Hall: The Role of HR in a Time of Employee Activism and Political Divide
How human resources leaders navigate through the often choppy waters of employee activism and stark political divide was the topic of the Workforce Executive Council Exclusive Member Town Hall: The Role of HR in a Time of Employee Activism and Political Divide. Our speakers—Peloton instructor and author Tunde Oyeneyin and leadership professor Megan Reitz—joined us to discuss how companies define their voice, the ways in which leaders can foster better discussions of tough topics, and why silence is itself an answer.
Key Points
- It is impossible to ignore the power of social platforms in today’s day and age. With countless platforms to choose from, political activism has been more prominent than ever amongst employees across the board.
- Having a plan in terms of addressing a variety of issues is key. A plan however, is not enough. Workplaces must continue to speak out against injustices and inequality and back their statements with actions in collaboration with their employees.
- Companies must continue to place an emphasis on policy rather than solely politics. Implementing policies based on employees’ actual wants and needs is far more effective in creating a workplace that benefits both sides of the isle regardless of viewpoints rather than a non-effective “one size fits all” model.
Social Media Matters
Host
Deirdre Bosa, CNBC “Techcheck” Co-Anchor
Speakers
Sree Sreenivasan, Visting Professor of Digital Innovation at Stony Brook University, CEO & Co-Founder of Digimentors
Social Media Matters
Social media is arguably the quickest tool to make or break a company. Combatting online trolls, establishing a strong presence online, creating a unique social media strategy are all critical components to consider for the world of HR and social media teams. These few tips and tricks were among the numerous offered at CNBC’s Workforce Executive Council’s Town Hall.
Key Points
- “What’s common sense in real life is common sense on social media,” Sree Sreenivasan, a professor of Digital Innovation and CEO/Co-Founder of Digimentors said of how companies should go about implementing social media strategies. If you wouldn’t do it in person, don’t do it online.
- Negative comments are inevitable in the digital world. Instead of focusing on combating these comments completely, social teams should be connected to HR on reputable online platforms in order to gain an in depth understanding of their policies and how they deal with these matters.
Peak Performance: Rethinking performance reviews in a hybrid world
Host
Meg Tirrell, CNBC Senior Health & Science Reporter, Dominic Chu, CNBC Senior Markets Correspondent
Speakers
Dr. Vin Gupta, Amazon Sr. Principal Scientist & Chief Medical Officer, COVID-19 Response
Bryan Hancock, McKinsey & Company Partner
Peak Performance: Rethinking performance reviews in a hybrid world
As the year draws to a close, companies are facing fresh challenges in the form of the omicron variant, the risk it poses, and confusion over what fully vaccinated really means. At the same time, questions remain about the best ways to deliver fair and equitable performance reviews as employees continue to split their time between being in the office and working remotely. We tackled both these important topics at the last WEC Town Hall of 2021.
Key Points
- Given what is known—and not known—about omicron, Dr. Vin Gupta, a critical care pulmonologist, affiliate faculty member and scientific health advisor at the University of Washington, says the psychological wellbeing of employees would be better served with more time and certainty about the risks posed by this latest variant.
- While changing return dates only makes CHROs’ jobs even more complex, the bigger issue that companies will soon need to address is the definition of fully vaccinated. Companies should prepare now to re-evaluate their definition of fully vaccinated to better reflect what we’re learning about omicron and communicate that clearly to their employees.
- Bryan Hancock, a partner with McKinsey & Co., said the challenge of fair performance reviews pre-dated Covid, but the pandemic amplified the need to get this right.
- It will require a new way of doing things but fairness and equity in performance reviews can be achieved when there is a premium placed on transparency and consistent and open communication between managers and employees.