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The 2022 EY US CEO Survey finds chief executives maintaining growth strategy while pivoting toward ESG and sustainability.

In brief

• Environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting is moving to the center of the CEO’s radar, joining digital strategy and leapfrogging the war for talent.
• Companies see M&A as the answer to longer-term priorities such as accelerating ESG and innovation.

Supply-chain bottlenecks. Geopolitical turmoil. Technological disruption. The “Great Resignation.” Chief executives have had no shortage of exogenous forces demanding their attention as they steer their companies. Even as chief executives are judged by evolving standards, the 2022 edition of the EY US CEO Survey finds these leaders determined to stay ahead of these head winds.

Consider where we were a year ago when we last surveyed US chief executives. In the early waves of the pandemic, corporates went digital under duress, seeking new channels and technologies to reach their customers amid an uncertain 2020 geopolitical picture.

Now, as we approach the two-year mark of the pandemic, businesses have learned to function within a COVID-19-driven ecosystem, and digital has gone from pandemic necessity to business priority. In the wake of rising inflation, 96% of surveyed US CEOs say cost reduction is a key driver of value. And a growing emphasis on ESG measures is likely compelling companies to consider their sustainability plans.

ESG joins digital on the radar

Our survey provides ample evidence that CEOs are not only addressing urgent needs but also making the case for longer-term investment. Much the way they had to get past short-term thinking to make necessary digital investments, ESG is now moving closer to the center of the radar.

A majority of US chief executives (82%) see ESG as a value driver to their business over the next few years, and virtually all have developed a sustainability strategy. US companies are beginning to follow the example set by the EU, where ESG reporting is further along and investors have come to see that improved government and community relations can accrue to the bottom line. US companies are improving — their “green bond” issuance leapt 72% in 2021, according to data provider Refinitiv — but they will need to pick up the pace: globally, green bond issuance more than doubled (up 102%).

Encouragingly, the majority of US CEO respondents (73%) have adopted ESG for strategic reasons — such as competitive advantage and lower cost of capital — rather than pressure from regulators. This is notable, because when we last asked US C‑suites about climate change-related impact (in April 2019), only 43% saw ESG as a critical long-term value driver. Now, several US sectors are citing ESG as one of their top value drivers, among them consumer products (85%), life sciences (85%) and financial services (84%). ESG even crops up in our responses on deal motivations. A quarter of US CEOs cite strengthening their ESG ranking or their sustainable footprint as the top impetus for M&A, above such perennial incentives as growing market share or acquiring technology and talent.

Speaking of which, the perpetual “war for talent” appears to be trumped by sustainability throughout our survey. When asked about critical risks to future growth strategy, the acceleration of climate change impacts was cited twice as much as talent scarcity and cost. A similar picture emerges in terms of capital strategy: planned investment in sustainability polls at roughly double the rate of investment in talent attraction and retention. Contrary to some 2021 media headlines, these survey responses suggest corporate leaders perceive the “Great Resignation” as largely baked into corporate growth expectations, even if the war for talent has not entirely subsided as a market force.

Frothy M&A market expected to continue

As for our prime indicator of dealmaking intention, 60% of US CEOs note that they are actively pursuing M&A in the next 12 months. That’s up considerably from the 47% planning deals a year ago, but a bit lower than the currently torrid M&A market might suggest. We are bullish about the outlook for dealmaking, as we expect costs of capital to remain low, and numerous parts of the economy to remain ripe for digitization. As for our survey respondents, nearly three-quarters expect an increase in competitive bidding in the next 12 months — the bulk of it in the megadeal space, where 80% expect the number of US$10 billion-plus deals to grow.

As always, the bigger the deal, the greater the stakes to get it right, in terms of both valuation and execution. CEOs know this well: of those who canceled a deal in the past year, a large plurality (42%) say it was due to valuation issues. And deals are getting more costly: the average adjusted deal multiple in 2021 is 15.2 times EBIDTA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization), up from 12.4 times in 2020.

CEOs reset risk radar to growth strategy

The very nature of a CEO’s job means balancing near-term imperatives — talent, supply chains, geopolitics — with long-term endeavors such as digital strategy or ESG. The catch is that planning for the long haul demands investment right now, including M&A, which can accelerate growth and take out risk.

This is what CEOs signed up for. When we asked about the contours of their job, they saw themselves as strategic arbiters — determining strategic direction to fuel growth, enhance performance and protect value — far more than as ringmasters managing their executive leadership team. Whether the concern is building a sustainable business or contributing to a more sustainable world, the CEO’s radar is a very wide screen indeed.

• Tradespeople have become some of the most sought after workers in Australia, accounting for 35% of the labour shortage.
• By state, Western Australia is home to the highest number of businesses suffering from the skills shortage. 
• NAB CEO Ross McEwan said border reopenings will be key to offering a solution, while businesses want the government to encourage young people to take up trades.

Construction and mining sector executives want the government to encourage young people to take up trades, as the sectors begin to feel “significant” impacts of Australia’s labour shortage

Labour analysis released by National Australia Bank on Tuesday found that about 40% of all Australian businesses are feeling Australia’s talent squeeze, with larger businesses hit hardest. 

And tradespeople are among the most sought after. According to NAB, tradespeople now account for about 35% of the nation’s total workforce shortage. 

In Tasmania, tradespeople make up 44% of the state’s total labour shortage, followed closely by Western Australia, where they account for 40% of the workforce crunch. 

By state, though, Western Australia was found to have the highest number of businesses, roughly 44% across the state, to identify labour shortages as having a “significant” impact on their businesses over the last three months. 

The western state also leads Australia in forecast labour shortages over the next 12 months, which is expected to sit at about 43. 

After Western Australia, New South Wales and the ACT come in second, with a projected shortage of 39%, tied with Queensland, followed by South Australia and the Northern Territory at 36%, and Tasmania, at 20%. 

Ross McEwan, CEO at NAB, said bringing talent into Australia will be key to addressing the nation’s talent squeeze. 

“Australian businesses are facing significant skilled and unskilled labour shortages. Almost every employer I talk to, from cafés, tourism, agriculture, and manufacturing, is saying ‘we can’t get workers’,” McEwan said.

“Data scientists, digital experts and technology skills are also in high demand right across the economy. At NAB, we’re doing a lot of work to retrain and invest in our workforce and we now have more than 2,000 colleagues who are certified cloud-computing practitioners.

“To get the economy really firing we will need to bring people into Australia and make sure, as a nation, we’re building a skilled workforce for the future.”

Along with reopening borders and welcoming the return of migrants, businesses called on the government to consider a range of other measures to relieve labour pressure. 

By industry, those solutions varied. In the mining sector, the overwhelming majority saw reopening state and international borders as the single most important release valve on the sector’s worker shortage, at 89% and 83% respectively. 

Lifting the cap on migrant intake was also popular, accounting for 61% of responses, while improving working conditions accounted for about 50%, and removing COVID-19 vaccine mandates accounted for 28%. 

In the construction sector, the focus is on increasing traineeship and apprenticeship intake, a sentiment shared by 63% of the sector’s leaders. 

A smaller cohort of businesses suggested “other” solutions to the big four bank. Among them were making it more attractive to move to regional areas, and improving high education and professional succession. 

It was also suggested that the federal government be pushed to relax industry-specific regulations and offer more certainty around COVID-19 restrictions, and reduce the income tax threshold for those on higher salaries. 

Australian unions have denounced the newly signed free trade agreement with the United Kingdom as an “anti-worker” deal, because companies can look overseas for some roles without advertising for local workers first.

Australia will also allow up to 1,000 workers to come from the UK in the first year of a new “skills exchange” trial, with the Morrison government revealing the pledge as both countries signed an FTA.

The agreement, finally released on Friday, confirms Australian wine producers will enjoy the immediate elimination of UK tariffs when the agreement comes into force next year, but Australian beef and lamb exports will be subject to quotas as tariffs are phased out over 10 years.

Both governments have also revealed details of their plans to make it easier for citizens to work in each other’s countries.

Australia and the UK have agreed to allow citizens aged 18 to 35 to remain in each country for up to three years under the working holiday maker and youth mobility schemes - without being required to perform particular types of work during their stay.

Those backpackers will then be allowed to apply for other visas while still in the country - paving the way to stay for longer.

In addition to that deal, the Morrison government has promised to offer up to 1,000 visas to UK citizens in the first year of an “innovation and early careers skills exchange pilot” - rising to 2,000 in the second year.

Visas will be available to UK citizens aged between 21 and 45 years sent to Australia by their employer for a “placement, secondment or intra-corporate transfer” for up to a year.

Visas will also be available to UK citizens - with no age limits - for “highly experienced and skilled citizens” who have proven contributions in areas like research and development, renewable energy, artificial intelligence and medical technology.

The details were spelled out in a letter from the Australian trade minister, Dan Tehan, to his British counterpart, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, dated Thursday. Australia has also invited the UK to access the new Australian agricultural visa.

Installers and servicers of machinery will also be able to enter Australia for up to three months, while executives and businesspeople with “advanced trade, technical or professional skills and experience” can enter for four years.

The agreement says neither country is allowed to “require economic needs tests, including labour market tests, or other procedures of similar effect, as a condition for temporary entry”. These rules apply to both countries.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions said it was “the latest in a long line of Coalition Government trade agreements that waives labour market testing, meaning that businesses don’t have to advertise the position to local workers before they can bring in migrant workers”.

“Whilst the removal of the highly exploitative requirement for UK backpackers to do 88 days specified work is welcome, it is concerning that the government has caved to the Nationals and will introduce the ‘anything goes’ Ag Visa,” the ACTU assistant secretary, Liam O’Brien, said.

“This is just replacing one group exploited workers with another.”

The full text of the FTA was finally released on Friday, six months after Scott Morrison and Boris Johnson trumpeted an in-principle agreement in June.

One of the most sensitive issues for the UK side was Australia’s push for much greater market access for agricultural exporters.

Tehan – who signed the agreement in a virtual ceremony in Adelaide – said Australian exporters would “benefit from immediate elimination of tariffs on over 99% of Australian goods exports to the UK, valued at around $9.2bn, when the agreement enters into force”.

He said it was “the most comprehensive and ambitious free trade agreement that Australia has concluded, other than with New Zealand”.

Tehan hoped the deal would take effect next year.

But the UK will not eliminate tariffs on Australian beef and lamb immediately: instead those exports will be duty-free only below set quotas in the first 10 years.

The tariff-free quota for Australian beef will begin at 35,000 tonnes in the first year, expanding to 110,000 tonnes by the 10th year. The annual sheep meat quota will increase from 25,000 tonnes to 75,000 tonnes over the same period.

A similar phase-in arrangement applies for Australian dairy (five years) and sugar (eight years).

The Australian agriculture minister, David Littleproud, said these up-front quotas were “commercially significant” and would therefore “provide immediate benefits for our farming communities”.

The Australian wine sector - which has been hit hard by tariffs imposed by China - will gain from an immediate elimination of UK duties, which the Australian government estimates will save the sector about $43m a year.

Australian grape and wine producers welcomed the deal.

“The agreement eliminates tariffs on wine on entry into force, levelling the playing field for Australia’s wine exports with our major competitors from Continental Europe,” Tony Battaglene, the chief executive of Australian Grape & Wine, said.

Australian wheat and barley exports will see UK tariffs phased out over four years, amid efforts to diversify markets amid trade actions taken by Beijing.

In the meantime, the UK will offer Australian wheat exporters a duty-free quota of 80,000 tonnes per year and barley exporters a duty-free quota of 7,000 tonnes per year.

The Australian Labor party’s trade spokesperson, Madeleine King, said the government had “failed to consult adequately with the business community, union movement or civil society” on the impact of the proposed FTA.

The Australian government says there is no investor-state dispute mechanism in the agreement, “reflecting the confidence we share in each other’s legal systems”.

Such mechanisms have been controversial in past FTAs, amid fears that major companies could sue Australia over policy changes in the public interest.

Australia is estimated to have spent about $24m successfully defending itself in tobacco giant Philip Morris’ challenge to plain packaging laws under a Hong Kong investment treaty.

The environment chapter commits both the UK and Australia to “address climate change” including under the Paris agreement.

But in line with previous reports that Australia had persuaded the UK to water down climate language, the agreement does not include a specific commitment to the temperature goals in the Paris agreement.

“The Parties emphasise that efforts to address climate change require collective and urgent action, and acknowledge the role of global trade and investment in these efforts,” the agreement says.

The UK is Australia’s eighth largest two-way trading partner worth almost $27bn in 2018.

Additional reporting by AAP.

• LinkedIn’s end of year survey found the majority of Australians looking for new positions hoped to change industries.
• The findings support previous research that shows the easing of lockdown restrictions led to an uptick in attrition.
• 26% of Australian workers changed jobs in October compared with the same month in 2019.

Amid fears Australia would succumb to the ‘Great Resignation’ that has seen workers leaving the US workforce in droves, employment figures instead show the country experienced a reshuffle instead, according to LinkedIn.

LinkedIn’s annual Workforce Confidence Index showed that among those open to changing jobs, nearly six out of 10 are considering a change in industry.

The results echo similar data released by LinkedIn in November that showed employees are transitioning to new jobs at the fastest pace since the start of the pandemic, with 26% of Australian workers changing jobs in October compared with the same month in 2019.

The surge in job changes follows markedly low levels of employee turnover during the pandemic. Over the past two years, Australia experienced the lowest employee turnover since the ABS began tracking labour mobility.

LinkedIn’s figures also suggested job seekers could have the upper hand in negotiations, with the number of applications per job down 63% compared to the same period last year.

The end of year survey showed women were slightly more likely than men to be considering a career change, at 60% and 56% respectively.

Two-thirds of the respondents say they are not considering switching industries because they enjoy the nature of the work they do, with 37% of women citing a desire to find more flexible work hours as the reason behind the change.

Overall, better alignment with interests or values is the most common reason for considering a change, with 46% of respondents citing this as the reason behind their desire to move on.

Adam Gregory, APAC Talent & Learning Solution Senior Director at LinkedIn, said much of the workforce change was driven by transformation in the job market, which had seen a surge in demand in some sectors.

“Over the past six years, the job market has evolved at a rapid rate, meaning acquiring new skills in the workplace is more important than ever before,” Gregory said.

“The pandemic continues to have an ongoing impact on the way we work and we’re seeing the changes in the skillset required by Australians being driven by the need to adopt new operating models,” he said.

A major story of the past year has been a skills shortage driven in large part by the loss of talent due to almost two years of closed international borders.

Some of Australia’s biggest tech companies, along with a raft of startups, told Business Insider Australia this year they had struggled to fill specialist roles.

Along with several specialist training programs run by Amazon and Adobe, the government this year launched the Tech Council of Australia (TCA), the peak body founded in August to influence tech policy and grow the sector to a value of $250 billion by 2030.

Gregory said LinkedIn’s survey findings were reflective of the ways digital transformation, along with changes propelled by the pandemic, had altered the employment landscape.

“To prepare for the future, Australians should continue to upskill where necessary,” he said.

LinkedIn data shows that skills for the same occupation have changed by about 25% from 2015 to 2021.

The pandemic made HR an organisation’s most important asset, says this HR expert. So what’s next for the people function?

Earlier this year, I wrote an article for HRM about the Critical HR skills that all leaders and managers should have. To my surprise, I was inundated with feedback from all over the world, from HR and business leaders alike, sharing the view that HR skills are now a must-have for the modern-day leader.

Many people would argue that the HR function has become an organisation’s most important asset, and although I may be biased, I completely subscribe to this view and believe the best is yet to come.

For a long time, we have been working for ‘a seat at the table’ and the pandemic has secured us the seat and the table, all in one.

We know that HR is about people – who, over the years, have been referred to as an organisation’s most important asset. We also know that HR is equally about the business. Savvy business owners and leaders who embraced a people-first approach early in the pandemic are no doubt seeing the benefits now.  

For many people working in HR, during the pandemic it may have felt like we were going in circles, but I believe that HR has made progress that we may not have even realised yet. It’s an exciting time to be a HR professional, as we start thinking about the future of work and what this means for us in HR.

The evolution of HR competencies 

So what does the future of HR look like? 

In my article from earlier this year, I explored the key HR competencies of the strategic positioner, paradox navigator and credible activist, which were established by the amazing HR thought leader Dave Ulrich. 

The research in this area continues to evolve and it’s pointing to what we are starting to better understand, that great HR is less about defined ‘roles’ and more about generating ‘action’ within an organisation to deliver value.  

Ulrich’s latest research is now describing key HR competencies as: accelerates business, advances human capability, mobilises information, fosters collaboration and simplifies complexity. From these competency shifts, we can see that HR is less about the ‘roles’ we hold and more about our ‘actions’ that generate value.

HR is now more about the ‘whole’ and less about the ‘parts’. What this means is that you must have all the ‘parts’ of HR working together to deliver value. For example, you can’t have a great recruitment process that isn’t supported by a great approach to learning and development or workplace relations.  

This shift in the research demonstrates the progress HR is making. It confirms that we certainly aren’t going in circles.

Why is ‘integration’ so important?     

Integration is going to be a key focus for HR in the near future, particularly as we look at reconnecting people and organisations in the post-pandemic workplace.

Brene Brown, in her recent Dare to Lead podcast in conversation with actress America Ferrera, spoke about the importance of ‘integration’ in the context of leadership, explaining that leaders must bring all the parts of themselves to their roles to be effective. The same methodology applies to HR.

I believe that ‘HR cannot be what it’s meant to be, without all the parts of who it is’.  These parts, as defined by David Ulrich’s research, must work together in an integrated way to deliver value. If there is one thing HR practitioners have learnt as they pivoted and adapted to the pandemic, it’s a strong sense of purpose and identity in the roles we hold. How we connect the parts of HR to an integrated whole is going to be what defines high-performing HR teams in the future.

Five considerations as we move into 2022

As we prepare for the year ahead, here are some suggestions that could assist with your planning.

1. Is your HR function delivering value in an integrated manner? This will be a key focus next year and beyond. The structure of your HR function is critical, as you seek to deliver value to your organisation. Here are some questions to help you shape thinking:

• How are the parts of your HR team working together as a whole to deliver value?
• Does your culture support an integrated approach to HR?
• What action does HR generate within your organisation – or is it more about roles? If it’s the latter, what would it take to shift to action?   

2. The pandemic will continue to dominate the HR agenda – experimentation will be key.

Lynda Gratton, who is another exceptional HR thought leader, continues to encourage the adoption of ‘experimentation’ in her most recent article, Why It’s so Hard to Recruit and Keep Employees Right Now, published in MIT Sloan Management Review.  

This article emphasises the focus on employee health and wellbeing, and keeping abreast of the workplace experiments others are adopting in order to remain competitive in order to offset the impacts of the Great Resignation.

Whether it be transitioning workforces to hybrid working arrangements, rapidly responding to new strains of the virus or implementing strategies to support the wellbeing of people at work, we know HR is going to be kept busy. Burnout and fatigue are a high-risk factor for those working in the HR profession. So it will be important for HR professionals to practice healthy self-care behaviours.  

(You can read HRM’s guide on self-care at work here).

3. Take the time to reflect on the role HR has played during the pandemic. We all tend to be quick to move to the next thing, sometimes failing to reflect on what has just passed us by.

The pandemic has made HR an organisation’s most important asset. I’m repeating this point as I know many HR practitioners have been so focused on their people and organisations during the pandemic that they may not have taken the time to look back on the great work they’ve done.

HR professionals have done incredible work in extremely challenging circumstances, and often on top of their ‘normal’ workloads. It is important you know that this work hasn’t gone unnoticed. 

Reflection is useful for all HR professionals to consider what worked well and what didn’t go to plan. This is how we learn and grow.      

This process will assist HR professionals better understand the magnitude of the shift that has taken place for the HR function during the pandemic. It will provide us with the space to appreciate what these changes mean for HR, for the organisations we work in, and, most importantly, what it means for our future careers in HR.     

4. Consider the symbiotic relationships HR has and why it’s important. 

One of the obvious and most important symbiotic relationships is between managers and HR professionals.

We know that managers are more eager to engage with HR as they adapt to the new challenges of leading people. This relationship must not be underestimated and presents an opportunity for HR to create people-focused champions within their organisations, who, in many ways, become an extension of the HR function.

5. Celebrate the progress HR has made.

It has been a challenging couple of years for HR. It’s clear that we’ve been able to be effective, and we must embrace our position of influence and importance within our organisations by celebrating what has been achieved and building on it for the future.

The pandemic may have been the catalyst for making HR an organisation’s most important asset, but we won’t disappear when the virus does. We’ve worked hard to get where we are today and this is something to be proud of – and is most certainly worthy of celebration!

While “The Great Resignation” may seem like a passing phenomenon, it’s more complex and potentially serious than you may think. It’s quickly morphing into The Great Revolt. 

October has seen the launch of worker strikes across a range of industries because the current labor shortage has tipped the balance of power to employees. The Washington Post reported that low-wage workers are revolting against years of poor pay and stressful conditions. 

Many of the strikers are essential workers who feel betrayed after working long hours in dangerous conditions to keep the economy and their organizations afloat during the pandemic. Now they’re watching the executives and shareholders reap the benefits. The strike at John Deere is a perfect example. 

Those who aren’t striking are resigning in record numbers—quitting has hit the highest level in two decades. Nearly 12% of workers have quit since April and 95% of workers are currently considering changing jobs. The biggest group is mid-level employees, ages 30 to 45. 

Who is leaving? It comes as no surprise that healthcare workers are leaving in droves. They’re physically and emotionally exhausted. The quit rate in the hotel/restaurant industry was 6.8%, over double the average rate across all industries. Even white collar workers, who were able to work from home, are resigning. 

Tech workers bore the burden of enabling work to continue through the lockdowns by pivoting their entire workforce to online tools for communication and collaboration. Futurist Amy Webb says, “2020 saw a decade of digital transformation in the span of a few months.” 

Women have also resigned in record numbers, many to handle childcare and school closures. In September alone 309,000 women left the workforce compared to 182,000 men. 

In her article for Inc., Jessica Stillman states, “Workers aren't just looking for higher pay, more time off, or more days at home…They’re actually questioning the whole meaning of the daily grind. Why do we put so much of ourselves into our careers? And are we getting a fair deal from our employers in return for all this stress and heartache? Holding on to employees [is] about showing them their work has meaning and that the company actually cares about them as human beings.”

Here are five strategies executives need to take action on now.

1. Create a better workplace

Nearly half of executives say they’re seeing elevated turnover, but many are not realizing they need to make critical changes.

At a minimum, you need to offer a living wage, physically safe work environments, and a workplace where people feel they are treated with fairness and respect. Wages and salaries are going up as organizations compete for employees. Many now offer $15-20/hour along with other perks like free college tuition and childcare. White collar workers are landing new jobs with at least a 10% salary increase along with better opportunities for development and advancement. If you want to keep your current talent or hire new people, you have to offer competitive packages. 

Another vital action is to train your managers. Consider these recent findings:

• 84% of U.S. workers say poorly trained managers create a lot of unnecessary stress

• 57% say they have quit a job because of a bad boss

• 50% of employees feel their own performance would improve if their boss received the right kind of manager training

When given the right training, managers not only improve, they can become the secret sauce that turns a good organization into a great one. A Gallup study shows that good managers increase the productivity and engagement of their teams as well as attract new top performers. Investing in manager training pays for itself tenfold.

2. Actively address burnout

Burnout is the number one reason employees cite for leaving their current jobs. Burnout is actually a diagnosable state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion brought on by long-term stress. A recent study found that 89% of employees are burned out.

In their book Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle, Drs. Emily and Amelia Nagoski identify three main components of burnout: emotional exhaustion, lack of accomplishment, and depletion of empathy.

No matter how hard people work, they feel like they’re spinning their wheels and they just don’t have the capacity to feel compassion for others or themselves.  

Burnout creeps up slowly making us too tired to care or take positive action. Psychologist Christine Hohlbaum, states “Sadly, most people don’t even notice its gradual grip over their lives until it’s too late. By then, external intervention is necessary to move burnout patients toward positive change.” This is why burnout is also called “the erosion of the soul.” 

The truth is that the only real cure for burnout is to rest, not start another job. This is why hiring managers are seeing an increase in ghosting, both by applicants as well as up to 25% of new hires who fail to show for their first day. 

Savvy leaders are investing in services to help their people reduce stress and burnout, such as paid time off, office closures, wellness programs like mindfulness, and expanded mental health and therapy services. Today’s workers are looking for leaders who genuinely care about and invest in their wellbeing. 

3. Change how you define and measure work

Much of how we define work dates back to the industrial revolution. While the lockdowns pushed many organizations to pivot to remote work and online collaboration, it’s time we take a deeper look at these old notions.

Measure work in outcomes, not hours. Unless you provide your service in hours, pivot to measuring outcomes or results. This allows for more flexibility in work schedules as well as clarifies how performance is evaluated. People want to be measured for their contributions and implementing this kind of system also reduces bias and the effects of discrimination. 

Implement job sharing and rotations. With people wanting more work/life balance, job sharing is a great solution that offers many benefits. Job rotation is another great way to meet the needs of your employees while upleveling their skills and providing professional development opportunities. 

Ditch the meetings, or at least one-third of them. Meetings take up far too much of our time with very little to show for that time spent. During the pandemic meeting time increased to record levels. A 2021 study on the Hybrid Workplace found that 77% of workers have experienced “zoom fatigue” and a Harvard study found that 65% of workers said that meetings keep them from completing their own work. 

Take a fresh look at using new online and asynchronous tools for communication and collaboration. Bringing people together should be saved for when it truly facilitates trust building or decision making. And definitely set a few times during the week when meetings cannot be scheduled and firmly hold that line. 

4. Recognize and reward your loyal talent 

As the competition for talent grows, companies are investing in programs like signing bonuses, higher salaries, and better benefits. But don’t forget to recognize your loyal employees who have stayed with you. They worked hard over the pandemic, pivoting with every unexpected change. Have you thanked them yet? 

People hunger to have their contributions seen and valued, so now is the time to show them some appreciation. Offer financial rewards like bonuses, extra paid time off, or a “staying/loyalty” bonus. And don’t underestimate the power of a handwritten note from their manager or leader stating how much they matter. 

For your top talent, whom losing will create challenges for your organization, give them extra attention. Many companies are offering sabbaticals, so that they can recover from burnout. It’s far better to lose them for a couple months than to lose them forever. 

Bottom line, people want to work for places where they are truly valued and cared for. Make sure you are sending those signals frequently and consistently. 

5. Dial up your talent team

All of the above shifts in hiring and workplace culture rely on your HR team. They’re likely burned out and in need of rest and appreciation too. You may also need to hire more recruiters to handle the increased turnover predicted in the coming months. Look at your onboarding practices and ensure your managers know how to set their new hires up for success.

Also invest in a great learning and development team. Did you know that “opportunities to learn and grow'' are consistently one of the top qualities candidates look for in an employer? In fact, 87% of millennials rate "professional or career growth and development opportunities'' as a top factor when job hunting. Your organization should be offering a robust range of learning opportunities including Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion initiatives, wellness, and manager training. Invest in cutting edge programs and use best practices to drive real behavior change.

Making it through The Great Resignation and keeping it from becoming The Great Revolt requires you to authentically rethink work and build a better workplace that will attract great talent now and well into the future. It needs to be safe, flexible, inclusive, and meaningful. 

Organizational psychologist Anthony Klotz, who coined the term The Great Resignation, says this: “One hopefully silver lining of this horrible pandemic would be if the world of work transitioned to a more healthy, sustainable place for employee well-being.”

Company directors are increasingly upbeat that 2022 will be a strong year for them and their businesses, with the biggest threats coming from a shortage of workers, cyberattacks and climate change.

As signs grow of inflation pressures through the business sector, a survey of company directors shows most are confident of better profits, investment and job opportunities and ready to throw off the problems caused by two years of coronavirus disruption.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg will on Thursday release the mid-year budget update, with forecasts for the state of the economy expected to be upgraded for the remainder of 2021-22. Some of that will be driven by higher profits and strong employment growth feeding into the economy, which is also being supported by record-low interest rates.

The survey for the Australian Institute of Company Directors of more than 1600 business leaders found two-thirds were confident about the nation’s 12-month economic outlook. A similar number expected their operations would be in a strong position in a year.

Eight of every 10 company directors surveyed in Western Australia were optimistic about the coming year while 30 per cent of Queensland operators were concerned about the next 12 months.

While confident about the coming year, business leaders believe skills shortages will be one of their largest challenges, with 55 per cent citing it as a key issue. Almost two-thirds said they had already struggled to get skilled staff.

Another major issue was around cybersecurity, with only 53 per cent of directors saying their boards had enough insights into online threats to their operations.

Over both the short and long term, directors said climate change remained the biggest standalone risk. Almost half said it should be the federal government’s main focus for the next three years, while 59 per cent said it should be the government’s priority over the next 10 to 20 years.

AICD managing director Angus Armour said the fallout from COVID-19 was always going to be long-lasting and unpredictable.

He said issues such as shortages of skilled workers had been exacerbated by the virus outbreak.

“There are many factors at play that will need a whole-of-government approach to tackle Australia’s skills shortage. Our closed borders saw a lack of migration and backpacker workers but there are other issues at play, such as considering our education and training priorities,” he said.

The closely watched National Australia Bank survey of business conditions, released on Tuesday, also showed corporate Australia looking forward to the coming year.

While confidence ebbed slightly in November, the survey showed a lift in profitability, trading and employment through the month. There had been a surge in confidence in October as NSW and Victoria ended their lockdowns.

Businesses in Queensland and South Australia reported the largest improvements in conditions, while they lifted slightly in Victoria and were steady in NSW.

The retail and transport sectors, most affected by lockdowns, showed strong increases in conditions but there was a fall in construction.

NAB chief economist Alan Oster said forward indicators such as capital spending were lifting, which pointed to a good year ahead.

“Notwithstanding the possibility of new disruptions related to the Omicron variant, the economy is well-placed to carry this momentum forward over coming months and into 2022,” he said.

But there are continuing signs that inflation pressures are embedding themselves, with labour costs the leading issue.

Mr Oster said across all measures, there were continuing signs of price pressures, which pointed to a quarterly rate well above 1 per cent.

• Business conditions rose 2 points to +12 index points in November, driven by a rise in the employment index.
• NAB chief economist Alan Oster said the labour market tightening that comes as a result could soon translate to wages growth.
• Meanwhile, business confidence actually fell, but economists say the drop is only an overcorrection for the massive spike recorded through October. 

Australian businesses are making the most of improved trading conditions heading into the new year by going on hiring sprees and acting on expansion plans, as the worst of a wave of Delta lockdowns is put behind them. 

According to the results of NAB’s latest business survey, trading conditions rose 2 points to +12 index points in November, driven by a rise in the employment index as businesses made moves to rehire staff they had laid off through the worst of recent lockdowns. 

“Conditions improved noticeably in the retail and transport sectors, which were heavily impacted by the lockdowns, but deteriorated in construction,” said Alan Oster, chief economist at NAB. 

“There is still scope for things to improve further in coming months, particularly in recreation and personal services which was still in negative territory in November despite many restrictions easing in the month,” he said. 

While trading conditions improved, business confidence actually fell 8 points to +12 index points in November, down on the +20 point reading tallied in October.

However, economists say the fall could be chalked up as an overcorrection for the spike recorded after lockdown restrictions were lifted on the east coast last month, considering both New South Wales and Victoria continue to see healthy levels of confidence across the board.

“Confidence remains high across states and industries, albeit it has come back to earth a little after the optimism associated with the end of lockdowns,” Oster said. 

“Forward indicators are also very strong with a rise in capital expenditure a welcome sign that businesses are beginning to look towards a period of expansion,” he said. 

“These results align with the strong rebound in activity that we believe is now underway, as well as a positive outlook for the coming months with vaccination rates now very high.”

Andrew Hanlan, a senior economist at Westpac, shared the sentiment. He said the October reading should be taken with a pinch of salt, kind of like a “relief bounce”, pumped by businesses cheering the end of lockdowns.  

As a result of the nationwide hiring spree reported across most industries, wage bills have naturally come in at high levels, contributing to a sustained period of elevated inflation. Oster, however, thinks it mightn’t be long before the market starts to see wages growth. 

“With employment rising rapidly, businesses’ total wage bills have increased,” Oster said.

“As the employment recovery continues and the labour market tightens further, these gains should eventually translate into growth in underlying wages, but how quickly that occurs remains to be seen,” he said.

“Overall, these results indicate a strong recovery is underway. Notwithstanding the possibility of new disruptions related to the Omicron variant, the economy is well placed to carry this momentum forward over coming months and into 2022.”

Ahead of Thursday’s labour figures, economists across the big four banks expect the numbers will show the economy added about 200,000 jobs through November, as businesses rushed to fill their ranks. 

The broad-base consensus across the board is that the unemployment rate should fall from 5.2% to 5%, as the Morrison government unveils what is expected to be a healthy mid-year budget update. 

According to reports, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the Coalition’s budget priorities would be to boost job creation while encouraging stronger wage growth as the unemployment rate continues to fall, heading into the second half of the 2021-22 financial year. 

Estimates tabled by Deloitte Access Economics indicate that the Morrison government has managed to get its budget $103 billion in the black, thanks to a major rebound in activity and tax revenue through the thick of the pandemic this year.

• Job listings on SEEK hit new record highs in November, and sit 50% higher than in November 2020.
• Hospitality and tourism job listings led the way as coronavirus lockdowns faded away.
• Applications per listing have fallen too, said SEEK managing director Kendra Banks.

Job ads on employment portal SEEK hit new record highs in November, with industry-wide tussles for talent and a smaller pool of potential workers driving the number of job listings 50% higher than the same time last year.

In its new annual review, released Thursday, SEEK said job listings are now nearly 52% higher than in November 2019, one of the last full months before the pandemic rocked Australia’s labour market.

Job ad listings in November also overcome the standard pre-Christmas slump, increasing 1.1% from October levels.

Hospitality and tourism job listings led the year-long charge to November 2021, SEEK noted, with those listings rising more than 76% over the year.

That spike reflects the return of customer-facing roles and through stop-start coronavirus restrictions, with SEEK noting that gyms, fitness studios, and sports centres are doing particularly well now the harshest lockdown measures have eased.

But job applications per listing continue to tumble, SEEK said, reflecting the surge in total listings, ongoing gaps in the workforce caused by Australia’s closed border policy, and lingering concerns about job security among some workers.

“With such phenomenal demand for talent, the number of applications per job ad were no match and we saw a continued decline in applications from May to November,” said SEEK managing director Kendra Banks.

With the labour market skewed in favour of talented jobseekers, the data indicates there’s no immediate end in sight for the 'Great Resignation’ — the pandemic-era trend of knowledge workers shuffling into new gigs with higher pay, better perks, and fewer factors contributing to burnout.

Almost one in three Australian workers are considering a job change in the next six months, Banks said, suggesting the trend could carry on into a lockdown-light 2022.

Curiously, Banks also said the Great Resignation is “yet to be seen in Australia’, perhaps indicating local industry upheaval has not matched that seen in markets like the United States.

In any case, the figures will be warmly welcomed by entities like the Reserve Bank of Australia, which hopes widespread wage growth will help the economy stand on its own feet — allowing the central bank to tweak its ultra-lax monetary conditions and lift record-low interest rates.

• MGM Resorts is letting applicants try a job in VR before they accept the role.
• The casino and hotel company hopes it will reduce employee attrition.
• MGM Resorts is rolling out headsets from VR-company Strivr at employment centers from January.

MGM Resorts is giving job applicants the chance to try out roles using virtual reality in the hope it will reduce employee attrition.

By using a VR headset, the company — whose portfolio includes world-famous casinos such as the Bellagio and MGM Grand in Las Vegas — hopes that job seekers will be able to see whether the role is what they expected.

“It can be very difficult just to verbally explain the types of positions or show a video,” Laura Lee, MGM Resorts’ chief HR officer, told Insider. With the VR experience, applicants can “throw a headset on and really experience the job,” she added.

Amid a nationwide labor shortage, employers are having to work harder to attract and retain new hires. Many companies have recruited staff only to see them hand in their notice a short while later, after the job didn’t match their expectations. In the hospitality industry, record numbers of workers have quit their jobs.

Lee said that the company is using the immersive technology to help reduce turnover. She said it would be rolling out the headsets for customer-service roles at its employment centers, and potentially at career fairs, from January, as well as using them for training.

Lee said that, in the past, MGM Resorts had used day-in-the-life videos and chats with current employees to give applicants an insight into roles, but nothing like this.

Some hospitality staff have complained that customers have gotten ruder during the pandemic. To prepare potential joiners for such scenarios, Lee said MGM Resorts’ VR module would include “difficult guest interactions.” 

Lee said she “absolutely” expected that some candidates, after trying out a role using VR, would decide it wasn’t right for them.

Sometimes candidates accept jobs without realizing how difficult they may be, she said. She added that, had MGM Resorts used the technology at recent casino openings, it “might’ve resolved some turnover we experienced when people accepted positions and then realized it wasn’t quite what they thought it would be.”

Lee said the VR would be especially useful with MGM Resorts’ upcoming expansion into Japan. The country currently doesn’t have any casinos – MGM Resorts’ $US9 ($AU13) billion casino in Osaka is due to be the first — meaning potential employees may be unfamiliar with what those types of jobs entail.

The VR would be optional for job seekers to try out, Lee added, and wouldn’t be used for office-based roles. The company would use the technology for front-of-house roles, like operating casino games and checking guests into hotels.

MGM Resorts developed the package with VR-firm Strivr, which also works with Walmart, Bank of America, Verizon, and FedEx.

As well as providing job previews and training, some companies are using Strivr to assess workers’ abilities. Walmart, for example, used Strivr VR headsets to see whether employees should be promoted to middle-management positions.

Strivr CEO Derek Belch said the data gathered from using VR “can be very powerful for both the employee, as part of their candidacy for a role, as well as for the employer to make better data-driven decisions.”

MGM’s staffing levels are recovering

MGM Resorts said in its 2020 annual report that it had frozen hiring, furloughed staff, cancelled merit pay increases, and undertaken “headcount reductions” to minimize cash outflows during the first wave of COVID-19 lockdowns.

Lee said that MGM Resorts was experiencing understaffing in some areas, but that the majority of employees it had laid off during the pandemic had returned. At its third-quarter earnings call, the company’s CFO said labor availability had been improving each month.