Also: Productivity tracking, Apple RTO, and 3AC's implosion.
Good morning.
With the battle for talent still going strong—and apparently impervious to the recession threat—Ellen McGirt and I sat down this week with Chris Hyams, CEO of job listing aggregator Indeed.com, for our podcast Leadership Next. Here’s what he had to say about the worker shortage:
“Technical recession and 3.5% unemployment tend to not go together historically. But it’s almost become boring to say we are in uncharted territory…There are two open positions for every worker out there that is potentially looking for a job…There are actually more open positions plus filled positions than there are workers in the workforce. And that’s relatively new territory.”
On the change in worker attitudes since the pandemic:
“People spent a whole lot of time while stuck at home thinking about what was most important to them, and being a part of an organization that is going to be there and care for them when things are difficult. This was a trend that was already happening. But I think we got about 10 years of contemplation crammed into two years, and people now are looking for something very different on all sides of the economy.”
On how he got into technology:
“My first job right out of college, I worked in an adolescent psychiatric hospital on the chemical dependency unit with young addicts and alcoholics. I taught special education in public high school in rural Vermont for two years. I then played music professionally for three years. I tried to become a rock star and failed. And then I found myself in an undergraduate program in computer science. The experience of doing all this human and creative work helped me approach technology from a more human perspective.”
You can listen to the entire podcast on Apple or Spotify.
Also this morning, Hello Alice, a platform for small businesses, announced a new partnership with Mastercard and First National Bank of Omaha to offer small businesses that don’t have ready access to credit help in building creditworthiness quickly. Mastercard’s Linda Kirkpatrick called it an example of “doing well by doing good…We are going after a $40 billion opportunity that we see as commercially viable.” Hello Alice co-founder Elizabeth Gore said 840,000 small businesses now are on her platform, and 90% of them identify as minority. Its first partner for the new credit program will be the NAACP. More information here.
News below.
Alan Murray
@alansmurray
alan.murray@fortune.com
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Keeping tabs
Worker monitoring is commonplace in blue-collar jobs, but this New York Times interactive investigation reveals how employers of highly-skilled, highly-educated workers also are using productivity tracking to keep tabs on their staff. For example, Rev. Margo Richardson, a hospice chaplain, earned "productivity points" for tasks like visiting a dying patient and performing a funeral. Employees subjected to the practice dislike the digital micromanaging and argue that tracking doesn't capture all the work they do. New York Times
RTO, again
Apple is again trying to get workers to return to the office. Starting next month, employees will be required to spend at least three days—Tuesdays, Thursdays, and a third day TBD by individual teams—in the office. The Cupertino, Calif.-based tech giant has tried since June 2021 to refill its headquarters with employees, but COVID flare-ups interfered with plans, leaving in place a two-day-per-week policy. Bloomberg
3AC's 'genius' founders
New York Magazine has a deep dive into the implosion of crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital and the two (now missing) founders behind it. Some of the most prominent leaders in the crypto space blame the firm's missteps for 80% of market contagion. “They weren’t the only people who blew out, but they did it way bigger than anyone else did. And they had way more trust from the ecosystem prior to that," says FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. New York Magazine
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2022 Connectivity and Mobile Trends Consumers are using connected devices to enhance their daily lives and well-being, while fine-tuning the balance between their virtual and physical worlds. Deloitte explores how organizations can respond to these trends, deliver great experiences, and gain a competitive advantage. Read the report
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