CEO Insights for What's Ahead | April 5, 2023

HR Leaders Are Confident About Hiring and Retaining Workers, Despite Recession Worries

HR leaders are optimistic about hiring and retaining workers over the next few months. And that confidence comes despite expectations of a recession in 2023 and news of layoffs.

That’s according to The Conference Board CHRO Confidence Index for the first quarter of 2023.?

What Chief Human Resource Officers (CHROs) are saying:?

• 76 percent expect hiring to remain unchanged or increase within the next six months.
• 45 percent expect employee retention to increase.
• 45 percent report that employee engagement has increased in the last six months.

The downside: 19 percent of CHROs are still expecting more workers to leave, signaling that the Great Resignation isn’t quite over.?

The path forward: To attract and keep workers, CHROs say they are prioritizing the strengthening of culture and the development of the workforce this year.?

What we’re saying: “CHROs are acutely aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the workforce, and the challenges of finding and retaining talent,” said Rebecca Ray, Executive Vice President of Human Capital at The Conference Board. “Indeed, CHROs know the greater time and effort that is now necessary to successfully hire someone. They are also concerned that critical talent, if not developed internally, may be difficult to find in the current labor market.”?

Read the results ??

Are you an HR Leader? Take our Q2 CHRO Confidence survey ?

Truck Electrification Faces a Steep Road Ahead?

A transition to a low-carbon economy will require personal and freight transportation to be largely electrified within the next three decades. But, as an analysis by The Conference Board points out, the road to broad adoption of electric trucks is full of challenges.?

A big carbon footprint: In the US, medium and heavy trucks account for four percent of all vehicles. However, they account for nearly 25 percent of the transportation sector’s greenhouse gas emissions.?

The challenges of electrification: With current technology, the electrification of long-distance trucks seems nearly impossible. Batteries don’t provide adequate range for distances routinely exceeding 250 miles. High-capacity charging stations serving major transportation routes do not exist. That makes much of the national freight distribution network infeasible to be served by electric trucks.?

• Another prohibitive factor is the price tag of these vehicles, which can be up to 50 percent greater than a comparable fossil-fuel vehicle.

A possible alternative: Green hydrogen might be a better option than electricity for trucks. Considering hydrogen’s greater density, it’s plausible that some of the barriers for freight electrification might be overcome if hydrogen could be operationalized on a wider scale.?

Read the analysis ??

Explore our new guide to the futures taking shape today—in urban economies, power grids, supply chains, environmental protections, and more ??

How CEOs and Boards Can Enhance Digital Trust?

Last week, the inaugural Digital Trust Summit at Brown University brought together approximately 60 CEOs, board directors, and other business leaders.?

Why hold the summit: Without trust, innovation cannot thrive. Every company is a digital company, and those with more trust have better performance in terms of income, employee productivity, and customer loyalty. It’s critical, therefore, that CEOs and boards proactively engage with the opportunities posed by emerging technologies and digital trust.?

Participating from The Conference Board: Lori Esposito Murray, President of the Committee for Economic Development, the public policy center of The Conference Board (CED), and Paul Washington, Executive Director of our ESG Center. The Conference Board co-sponsored the event.?

Insights for executives: Attendees came away with actionable steps to help their companies establish themselves as trusted leaders in the digital world. Highlights include:?

• Appreciate trust with data is at the core of your business success.
• Incorporate national security into enterprise risk assessment.
• Establish trust principles; embed them throughout the organization.
• Hold transparent discussions and relentlessly test so that AI reflects our ideals, not our current imperfections.
• Prioritize technological understanding. Boards must have access to people with the bandwidth and sophistication to advise on technological opportunities and risks.

Read the takeaways ??

How to Help Your Board’s Leaders Thrive?

The Conference Board recently held a set of convenings with 240 directors and executives from 130 companies to discuss the challenges facing boards today.

Three key points that emerged from those discussions:?

• Companies are seeking to deliver superior performance amid economic uncertainty, geopolitical volatility, and labor and supply chain shortages, while facing growing expectations and scrutiny from various stakeholders.
• Boards—and board leaders, in particular—need to serve as effective strategic partners with management in charting the company’s course.
• Ongoing board education that provides trusted, practical insights is critical to building board fluency and helping directors fulfill their roles at a time of accelerating change.

The path forward: The Conference Board has launched its Corporate Director Council program, offering an entirely new level of experience for directors in leadership positions on US public company boards. Each Council will meet throughout the year under the Chatham House Rule.?

• Members will also have access to the unmatched global resources of The Conference Board to inform their discussions and the opportunity to participate in other programs from the organization.
• Each Council is limited to no more than 30 members, to ensure the ability to have full participation, candid discussions, and develop trusted relationships among directors.

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Immersive CX: The Future of Customer Experience?

Business leaders are expecting Customer Experience (CX) to be the most critical factor for both current business results, and being able to survive and thrive amidst changing macro headwinds.?

The future of CX: On March 23rd, experts from Zendesk and Customer Care leaders at Lush joined experts from The Conference Board to discuss the future of Customer Experience and key trends shaping the CX landscape. These trends came from Zendesk’s annual thought leadership report, involving survey data from 3,700 consumers and 4,800 business leaders.?

Introducing Marvin: Lush has always had a very tactile customer experience for consumers who visit their stores. With the introduction of Marvin, their AI robot, they have transferred 40 percent of repetitive tasks to him for follow up, while freeing up time for their global CX teams to focus on personalized, more in-depth discussions about Lush and its products.?

Watch the webcast ??

QUOTABLE: Understanding Gen Z?

“Gen Zers have very high expectations for the workplace and for where they want to work. And they'll seek new opportunities. They don't think it's a stigma to job hop. So they want their employers to provide growth and development. And they're skeptical of organizations that have statements of values and missions without any action behind them.”?

— Robin Erickson PhD , Vice President of Human Capital at The Conference Board. She joined the CEO Perspectives podcast to discuss the motivations of #GenZ workers.?

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