WEC Member Forum
Host
Sharon Epperson CNBC Senior Personal Finance Correspondent, Tyler Mathisen Co-anchor of "Power Lunch" & Events Strategy Vice President, Andrew Ross Sorkin Co-anchor of “Squawk Box”
Speakers
Ken Feinberg, Kenneth R. Feinberg Law Offices
Tsedal Neeley, Harvard Business School, Naylor
Mary-Frances Winters, The Winters Group, Founder & CEO
WEC Member Forum
A discussion on mediating the workplace's most polarizing issues at the moment, including balancing hybrid work, encouraging diversity and inclusion in the C-suite, and political division.
Key Points
- There is robust evidence that the most productive workers can work from anywhere rather than just work from home. They are typically more satisfied and appreciate their autonomy.
- Hyperproductivity and micromanagers negatively affect an individual's productivity.
- Create a "brave space" to be vulnerable with coworkers and become more educated on topics such as race, gender, sexuality, and many other factors
- There will be equality once we can no longer predict workplace outcomes based on someone's identity.
- Executives must maintain full transparency with workers and allow them to have some degree of influence in a decision that affects them.
WEC Member Town Hall
Host
Jen Geller, CNBC Senior Councils Editor
Speakers
WEC Member Town Hall
Open discussion on the issues most important to council members.
Key Points
- Everyone is working harder and smarter than ever before, making burnout a major concern for most organizations.
- Workforce restructuring, working with those who remain, and integrating new employees in the virtual space are also challenging for organizations.
- Guidance on mandating vaccines is a concern for employers considering HIPAA laws, state laws, return statuses, many other factors.
- A consideration employers can make is to provide documentation to essential employees that helps them receive their vaccine smoothly. This includes incentives such as donations.
Facts, Vax and Masks
Host
Sharon Epperson, Senior Personal Finance Correspondent, CNBC
Speakers
Josh Michaud, The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation Associate Director for Global Health Policy
Dr. Guarav Suri, San Franciso State University Assistant Professor of Psychology
Facts, Vax and Masks
How to create an atmosphere of trust, transparency and safety for the next phase of the pandemic.
Key Points
- Every state is facing the challenge of identifying vaccination plans. Each state will prioritize differently.
- The challenges the workforce is facing in setting policies around vaccines are meeting the demand. Until there is a supply there are slim chances for organizations to place mandates.
- According to Josh Michaud, "getting the workforce psychologically ready or providing the information that they need to be assured that these vaccines are safe and effective, and it might be a good idea to get these vaccines may be an important role to play here."
- Increase in confidence, increase in vaccination.
1st Annual WEC Member Summit
Speakers
Jewel, Singer-Songwriter
Erika H. James, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania Dean
Dan Schulman, PayPal President and CEO
Louise Pentland, PayPal Chief Business Affairs & Legal Officer and WEC Member
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, Former FDA Commissioner & CNBC Contributor
1st Annual WEC Member Summit
The headlines on how global and national events impact how we work now and going forward.
Key Points
- "It is important for every leader to create an environment and a culture where people are actually comfortable talking about difference," says Erika H. James, Dean of The Wharton School, when asked how companies can get diversity, equity and inclusion right.
- Every remote work model won't compute for some industries or job functions that can’t operate in a permanent, asynchronous, radically transparent environment, but there are ways to meet the obstacle of adjusting to it.
- Gottlieb lists establishing a lab, routinely testing employees, quick turnaround on testing, including symptomatic screening and contact tracing as elements of effective testing practices. This model helps notify community spread.
- Communicating to employees how operations would work in an emergency and the need and execution for safety practices became a best practice for companies like Quest Diagnostics.
The Role of CHROs on Boards
Host
Seema Mody, CNBC Global Markets Reports & Host, “Trading Nation.”
Speakers
Tami Erwin, Verizon Business Group EVP & CEO
Gaby Toledano, Keystone COO
Kathy Waller, The Coca-Cola Company Former CFO & Board Member of Delta Airlines & Beyond Meat
Cali Williams Yost, Flex+Strategy Group CEO & Founder
Dan Kaplan, Korn Ferry Senior Client Partner
The Role of CHROs on Boards
An interactive, inspiring, and tactical session on the role of HR leaders on corporate boards, and the path to get there. Covering: Interacting with your company’s board; pitching and advocating for key issues critical to your workforce, including diversity and inclusion solutions; and expectations for CHROs seeking outside board placement opportunities. In partnership with Korn Ferry.
Key Points
- Your peer network will be important to your ongoing career progression.
- When joining a board, look for one with diverse members who can add new insight into ways of thinking.
- "The opportunities that I've missed may have been less about somebody not giving me the shot and more about me declaring my intent and desire to have the role," said Tami Erwin, EVP & CEO, Verizon Business Group.
- It's important to know your audience. "Not everyone is where you are at," said Gaby Toledano, COO, Keystone, now Chief Talent Officer at ServiceNow. "You want to know who you are working with; you want to understand that very well and do your homework."
#WhatsWorking: Back to School 2020
Host
Jen Geller, Senior Editior, CNBC Councils
#WhatsWorking: Back to School 2020
Employee schedules and accommodation have never been more challenging as the country's back to school plans vary from town to town and district to district. In this WEC exclusive member-driven event, peers discussed how they smartly navigated these challenges, issues that have come up, and help problem-solve your biggest concerns now.
Key Points
- Many organizations aren't onsite but have found it beneficial to host panels or open forums with parents virtually. This provides the opportunity to identify ways to support families not only in different areas but, with children at different education levels.
- Innovative ways to connect such as homework clubs, employee home classrooms where employees can tutor their peers' children, and Slack channels act as support groups for parents looking for best practices for teaching their child at home.
- Internal flexibility, such as pushing meetings back five minutes so parents can have an extra moment to set their kids up for each call and allowing kids to sit in on meetings, provides parents with the cultural support to balance their work and newfound at-home life.
Reopening, Risks, & Resilience
Host
Meg Tirrell, CNBC’s Senior Health and Science Reporter and Sharon Epperson, CNBC Senior Personal Finance Correspondent
Speakers
Amy Edmondson, PhD, Harvard Business School Novartis Professor of Leadership & Management
Dr. Tom Frieden Resolve to Save Lives President and CEO & Former Director of the CDC
Dr. Michael Osterholm, Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy Director
Reopening, Risks, & Resilience
The "need to knows" to best support your workforces in the next phase of the pandemic.
Key Points
- Workforce leadership is more important than ever. Keeping workforces safe and supported while also focusing on results is a challenge top of mind for many leaders.
- Frieden advises employers to remember, "You're not an island. You're a part of the community where you're placed. The single most important thing you can do to protect your employees is to make sure your community is doing a good job at Covid control."
- "You need to look at the immediacy of right now, but you also need to look at the longshot," said Osterholm. "We now need to understand what we are going to do."
- Transparency is about being clear and honest, but it's important to make sure employees are still hopeful.
- Edmondson says the best way to communicate leadership's views is to do so frequently, communicate that you are providing a safe channel for feedback, and listen always.
