How Companies Can Navigate Hyperpolarization in an Election Year | C-Suite Insights 6.26.24
US Consumer Confidence Weakens Slightly in June
The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index? dipped in June to 100.4 (1985=100), down from 101.3 in May.
The Present Situation Index rose 0.7 pts to 141.5 (1985=100), while the Expectations Index fell 1.9 points to 73.0—its fifth straight month below 80, the threshold that often signals recession ahead.
Mixed signals persist: The decline in confidence between May and June was centered on consumers aged 35-54. By contrast, those under 35 and 55 or older saw confidence improve this month.
For the second straight month, consumers were a bit less pessimistic about future labor market conditions. However, confidence in future income and business conditions weakened, further weighing down the overall Expectations Index.
The TCB take: Confidence pulled back in June but remained within the same narrow range that’s held throughout the past two years, as strength in current labor market views continued to outweigh concerns about the future.
But if a material cooling in jobs emerges, confidence could weaken more substantially as 2024 progresses.
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How Can Companies Navigate Hyperpolarization?
Despite the 2020 elections occurring against a backdrop of social, health, and economic crises, corporate America is bracing for the 2024 election cycle to occur in a more challenging landscape. Indeed, nearly 60% of corporate executives say today’s political environment is more difficult to navigate compared to 2020s.
What’s fueling this challenging environment? The top factors are polarization among policymakers (according to 71% of survey respondents) and the electorate (60%). Employees are also a major challenge, with 48% pointing to increased employee demands on social and political matters as a key pressure point.
The TCB take: In today’s highly polarized environment that’s rife with misinformation, companies need to serve as trusted sources of information—especially for employees.
Organizations can consider efforts that go beyond encouraging employees to vote. A more comprehensive initiative can include educating them about the democratic process, the implications of the company’s public policy decisions, and the impact of employees’ own participation in the political process.
Sponsored by Steptoe LLP
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Number of the Week: 41%
41% of senior HR executives say their companies have yet to begin preparing for the EU's Pay Transparency Directive.
The TCB take: All businesses with more than 100 employees in the EU will be required to disclose information about pay levels, and report on their gender pay gap from 2026.
CHROs need to ensure their boards are aware of the risks of non-compliance and low-quality compliance.
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Mandating On-Site Work May Drive Your Employees Away
Despite a few high-profile organizations doubling down on return-to-office mandates, our previous research shows that far more CEOs are focused on maintaining hybrid work than on bringing workers back to the office full time. Whereas hybrid work can have many benefits, mandating on-site work can do more harm than good.
The upside of hybrid: HR leaders in organizations with hybrid work models report many advantages, including improved work-life balance, job satisfaction, recruitment, and retention.
The clear link between retention and flexibility: Only 15% of HR leaders at organizations that allow employees to choose where they work reported it was difficult to retain workers.
That’s compared to 45% of HR leaders who expressed difficulty retaining workers at organizations where on-site work is mandated. Even when on-site work is strongly encouraged, HR leaders experience a similar level of difficulty (44%) retaining workers.
The TCB take: Workers value flexibility. To address ongoing difficulties retaining workers, allow them some choice and adaptability over their work location and schedule whenever feasible.
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Businesses Will Need to Be Thoughtful About AI Adoption
The Committee for Economic Development (CED), the public policy center of The Conference Board, recently hosted its Biannual Trustee Policy Summit.
The Summit brought together speakers to discuss both challenges and opportunities on some of the most consequential issues facing the nation, including the rapid development of AI.
Addressing the challenge of AI: AI presents the dual threats of job loss and lowering job quality. While large-scale displacement has not yet been observed, the public and private sectors are exploring ways to address potential job losses.
Insights on business adoption of AI include:
The TCB take: AI will likely shift tasks and change work duties, so government and employers need to consider how to introduce AI in a workplace and retrain workers to maximize its impact.
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How Brands and Culture Shape Each Other—and Marketers Can Leverage Their Intersection
Our recent Cultural Brand Strategy webcast revealed the enduring power of brands that find a way to leverage the intersection between their ideology and the evolving culture of society.
Cultural IQ is critical for all marketing and comms teams: Experts Dr. Anastasia Kārkli?a Gabriel and Dr. Marcus Collins shared a passionate and compelling argument drawn from their years of experience as both brand-builders and scholars. They discussed how businesses as varied as 耐克 , Liquid Death , REI , and “PataGucci” (AKA Patagonia ) used their cultural intelligence to differentiate their products and drive profitable growth over time.
Cracking the code: The best marketers have teams that are experts in understanding the “cultural code” by which consumers interpret the signals that communicate behaviors and beliefs—whether they come from boy bands, trending influencers, or brands.
The TCB take: Cultural fluency is critical. Understanding and leveraging cultural trends is essential for brands to stay relevant and impactful because “brands are vessels of meaning” with a clear ideology or belief that goes beyond their product's functional benefits.
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Quotable: China's New Operating Environment
“There's no question that these are extraordinary times for multinationals in China. The combined effect of market, economic, regulatory, and geopolitical factors are leading to the emergence of what I call a new competitive reality, putting business resilience to the test like never before."
— Alfredo Montufar-Helu , Head of the China Center, joined C-Suite Perspectives to discuss The Conference Board Measure of CEO Confidence? for China.
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