The CQ: The Great Resignation Is Everywhere
This week, Beyoncé encourages workers to quit toxic jobs while a shocking number of execs consider their own exits.
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Buzzing at the Forerunner Office…
How to Avoid a ‘Great Resignation’ Fate
By Annie Wickman, Head of Talent & People
@anniewickman
Beyoncé lit social media on fire this week when she released her latest single, “Break My Soul,” with lyrics like, “And I just quit my job / I’m gonna find new drive…Work by nine / Then off past five / And they work my nerves / That’s why I cannot sleep at night.” Economist Nick Bunker told CNBC that it’s hard to ignore just how much The Great Resignation has now “seeped into the cultural zeitgeist.”
The movement is not just a TikTok trend either. Last year, 47 million people left their jobs by choice—the most on record, according to the U.S. Labor Department. This isn't just affecting lower-wage employees either. According to a new Deloitte survey, 70% of C-suite executives said they were seriously considering leaving their current jobs for work that better supported their overall well-being. Another 57% of employees said they were contemplating quitting their jobs, too. The bottom line? Everyone is feeling burnout—and the Deloitte survey found a lot of C-level executives wanted to make changes within their organization, but hadn’t pushed for any yet; 91% of C-suite bosses perceived themselves as caring, but only 56% of employees felt this support from their managers.
As leaders, how can we help to foster cultures where people feel valued, recognized, and energized?
Check in. Try blocking an hour on your calendar every week or month to call three or four employees—direct reports or folks throughout your organization. Call them impromptu, without an agenda to check in—ask how they’re doing and if there’s any way you or the organization could better support them.
Nudge. Deploy a tool like Humu to drive positive behavior change and build better habits throughout your organization with automated nudges.
Rest. Encourage employees to take a vacation if they need one; it’s better to have them take time off than walk away. Make sure you model good behavior by taking time away yourself.
Fix (before it’s too late). Get ahead of The Great Resignation by scheduling “stay interviews” with your top talent; an exit interview can help you change your policies moving forward, but it won’t help you retain a key player. A stay interview can. Ask your employees why they’re sticking around and why they appreciate your company, as well as why they might ever consider leaving. Track any trends you see during these check-ins, so you know where you need to change as an org to retain employees.
On the flip side, if you’re an employee contemplating a new job, consider the burden of doing so—onboarding, learning the ropes, getting comfortable with the team—and decide if it’s truly worth it. It may be better to seek change within your current role. Make a list of your tasks at your current job, and choose one that you feel is causing you an inordinate amount of stress. Ask your boss if just that one can be taken off your plate. It is easier to manage your stress when you break down overwhelming feelings one by one, and then take action on them. It’s empowering to control your own destiny—and most bosses do care, if Deloitte’s survey is any indicator. Speak up, and they’re likely to listen.
This Week’s Top Consumer Insights
By Jenna Birch, Head of Content & Communications
@jennabirch
This week, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in a 6-3 decision poised to change abortion access for women in roughly half of the country. Companies like Airbnb, Netflix, Tesla, Yelp, Starbucks, Patagonia, DoorDash, and JPMorgan Chase have committed to paying travel expenses for women seeking abortions in states affected by the ruling.
Will there be a full-blown recession in 2023? That’s the #1 question on everyone’s mind, and major banks are updating their forecasts to try and answer it. Bank of America places the recession risk at 40%, while Goldman Sachs estimates a 30% chance.
Consumers are rapidly reducing spend in sectors like furniture and home, electronics and appliances, and health and personal care. Following Revlon’s bankruptcy filing last week, this could put other retailers at risk of a similar fate, including Serta Simmons (mattresses), Anastasia Beverly Hills (beauty), and Men’s Warehouse (clothing), according to a Fitch Ratings’ analysis.
The U.S. may be a little safer after recent mass shootings in Uvalde, Buffalo, and Oxford. Congress moves to enact stronger gun safety measures with new legislation, focusing on stronger background checks for 18- to 21-year-olds and those with a history of domestic violence.
It’s critical to support (and retain) workers right now, and employers are adapting to that economic environment. As gas prices rise to more than $5 per gallon around the country, employers begin to offer their employees perks—gift cards, stipends, pay bumps—to offset the damage at the pump.
In another tough blow for the ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ space, consumers report difficulty with returns. It is increasingly complicated when a customer tries to make a partial return before having been charged for all installments.
Will shoppers choose to spend on Prime Day this year? And if so… with whom? Amazon’s ‘Prime Day’ event runs from July 12 to 13, Target’s competing ‘Deal Days’ event spans the same timeframe, and Walmart is expected to announce a competitive sale for next month, as well.
Despite a massive investment into the medium over the past several years, Spotify’s podcast business only accounted for 7% of listening hours in Q1, according to a company announcement, and just 2% of revenue in all of 2021.
Instacart is leveling up its subscription service offering to better compete in a crowded home-delivery space. Instacart+ will now replace Instacart Express, giving customers access to free delivery on orders over $35, shared family carts, and a 5% credit on some pick-ups, among other special features.
Retailers are betting on consumer interest in web3, despite a recent downturn in the crypto market. This week, Alo Yoga announced that customers can pay for purchases in crypto, while American Eagle launched an NFT apparel shop.
Weekly Wisdom
“In that time period after 2000, there was a lack of capital available to companies, so they had to hunker down and get value from their users. Today, we’re in an environment where there is still so much money available to web3 businesses, and if you look at where most of the money is coming from, it’s not customers. It’s coming from investors. One of the interesting trends to watch is whether or not the founders of these businesses start to focus on what end users want from a utility perspective vs. what drives dollars into the business.”
—Brian O’Malley, Managing Partner at Forerunner, on why companies—especially those building in web3—need to focus energy on what serves their consumers in order to build lasting businesses.
Forerunner Highlights
Brian spoke about what consumers actually want—beyond buzzwords like the “metaverse”—and what trends interest consumer inveators, alongside fellow VCs from Renegade Partners, Lerer Hippeau, and NEA at this year’s Collision Conference in Toronto.
Portfolio Highlights
Away launches For All Routes (F.A.R), a new line of colorful outdoor gear including duffel bags, convertible backpacks, messenger bags, and more. Sign up to learn more here.
Eclipse partners with Smashburger to launch plant-based milkshakes. Get one of six flavors—Vanilla, Chocolate, Strawberry, Tangerine Dream, Peanut Butter, or Oreo—at any Smashburger location nationally to kick off summer.
Faire has given away more than $60 million in inventory credits to help SMBs get their businesses off the ground. Forbes talks to CFO Lauren Cooks Levitan more about the company’s “Open With Faire” program.
Curology (#8) and Chime (#13) land spots on Fortune’s Best Workplaces in the Bay Area list.
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