We know that managing the quickly and ever changing world of the pandemic is a challenge for every company. But would it surprise you to learn that there are far more pressing issues for CEOs as we head into 2022? Issues like supply chain management, digitalization, and outdated corporate models that need a serious refresh. In Episode 15 of Can You Hear Me, we discuss the things that keep many CEOs awake at night, and how they might impact their performance in the year ahead.
Resources:
AlixPartners Annual Private Equity Survey
YPO Global Pulse Report for Chief Executive Officers
Eileen Rochford [00:00:18] Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of the Can't You Hear Me podcast. I'm Eileen Rochford, CEO of the marketing and strategy firm, The Harbinger Group.
Rob Johnson [00:00:28] I'm Rob Johnson, president of Rob Johnson Communications. If you listen to us on a regular basis, we thank you, we try to discuss in great depth some of the most crucial communications issues of the day as they relate to companies and their leaders who are most impacted by them. And today is no different as we tackle non-COVID related CEO concerns for 2022.
Eileen Rochford [00:00:52] Yes, we are committed to helping advise C-suite leaders through the unique business and logistical challenges of the pandemic. But did you know there are a whole list of things that are keeping CEOs awake at night that have nothing to do with the pandemic issues in 2020 that CEOs must solve or grapple with or run the risk of being shown the door? That's what we're talking about today.
Rob Johnson [00:01:14] We know that's a very real thing, and we're going to get to some of those numbers a little bit later in terms of the fear that CEOs have for what their 20 22 might look like and how they might not be around if they don't achieve those goals. But we're going to dove into this list, Eileen. But before we do that, as the CEO of The Harbinger Group, what are some of the things that have you tossing and turning at 2:00 a.m.?
Eileen Rochford [00:01:37] That is a great question. Gosh, I guess on the work side of life, my top concern is people, and that's on two or two different areas, or two different levels depending on how you think about it. One keeping the great folks we have in our team and recruiting new people so we can grow so that we can take on different and new projects. Those things require different skill sets. Always recruiting is key as well. But right now, keeping our people and giving them opportunities to advance, that's huge. As you can imagine, there's a crazy environment right now. It's a highly competitive talent environment. It's here to stay for the foreseeable future and anybody, particularly the leadership level who isn't grappling with that and trying to get ahead of it they're going to have some rude awakenings real soon.
First and foremost, what I'm trying to do to deal with that rather than just worry about it because I like to be a person of action whenever it is, I'm focused on professional development and job satisfaction for the people who work with us on our team and how we can position ourselves to be as attractive as possible to new talent. Remember, I've said this before, but to new listeners, our firm is a small company, so out of the gate it's really hard for us to match the expensive professional development opportunities that are available at big marketing agencies, marketing consultancies. But this year, I'm going to invest in developing management and leadership skills for people. So I recognize that focusing more on helping people who are here understand the house side of leading teams effectively in the long term. That's an investment that's going to pay off big for us and not something where I've put as much investment or effort in the past, to be quite honest.
I've also, though greatly added or increased our budget to cover professional development, skills improvement type stuff for people. For us, that's like the price pricier marketing certifications. Those are portable. They've greatly increased the market value of people who are in marketing. So that's something that I I know that professionals and marketing value very much in being able to get to $3000 in costs or covered by your employer, I think is a pretty big perk while keeping your skills current and advancing them, no doubt. In addition, I'm going to cover the costs of memberships and professional associations. We've never done that before. So for people who are interested in being actively involved in professional associations in our industry, I'm offering that is an option too. And here's here's something a little different, maybe that other people who run organizations like ours, if you have a team of talent that is both core with employees and supplemented by dedicated contractors or freelancers like we do, we have some who have been here 13 years or more who are contractors, I'm also going to offer these benefits to them because we're also seeing that getting additional contractor talent is now also something that's becoming harder to do. So there's that. On the salary front, of course, that's a really hard place for us to win. We're never going to win that. It's a lot like the housing market right now. Compensation costs are just super inflated and we can't win there.
So I'm focusing on getting creative to make this team and company as attractive as possible on a couple of fronts. We've bolstered our profit sharing. We have higher retirement matches. We're covering the costs of the entire health insurance premium for every employee who is full time for us. We're flexible PTO and more PTO silly things some might think, but important to others exploring things like pet insurance. Everything that you can do as a small business owner to differentiate yourself in the benefits package area, that's going to be really important. More so again, this next area extends to everybody, whether you're full time or part time at our firm.
Rob Johnson [00:06:00] That's quite a perk, by the way. So people will say, Hey, you're part time, you're a contractor, and it's always been like, Hey, it's your job to define your own benefits and now to offer that that's a huge area where I think that that would be very appealing to people that would come work for the Harbinger Group.
Eileen Rochford [00:06:16] So the fun stuff, don't forget the fun stuff amping up things like we've done in the past and adding more. But, like your free lunch Fridays, we do that through Grubhub dollars or other means local and just frequently remembering to send thank you gifts when people do great things and produce awesome results for a client and just saying thank you way more often, bonus half days as a reward for doing great work. Those are the kinds of things that I'm introducing or continuing or strengthening. But the vetting of candidates, that's a big challenge. That's top of mind, me being able to have time to be part of the process of evaluating new people to join our team. Frankly, whether they're contract or full time, it's hard because I do have a lot of demands on my time, but it's important to me to be part of the process, and here's why.
So as a smaller firm, our culture is literally our holy grail. It's the most important thing that makes us different. What makes us better, makes this a particularly pleasant place to work, and I won't allow anything to compromise that. So right now, as we're looking to grow fit is the number one determinant when we're evaluating candidates for that term, followed by skills, of course. But I want to make sure that people kind of are a good fit for this culture. So being part of that process, that means, now, I got like a 10 12 hour workday sometimes so that I can meet folks after hours, but I don't think people should leave that to chance, especially in smaller companies.
Rob Johnson [00:07:48] But the great thing about what you're doing here, Eileen, is it's authentic to you. It's authentic to the Harbinger Group. And it's it's not like, Hey, do what I'm doing. But but a lot of this advice is really good, especially if you're in a position where you're not the biggest shop on the block and you can't offer the most money or this or that or the most professional development. What do you do to get around those issues and some of these things that you're bringing up? Speak exactly to the things that people want and that would make it attractive. Even if you can't say, well, I can't compete with the big folks over there because, whatever. You have to do, what you can do. But these are all tangible and real things that you're focusing on.
Eileen Rochford [00:08:28] Totally, and all these decisions, just again, everyone's the leadership style and priorities differ but for me, I make the majority of my decisions based on the vision for what I want the organization to be and to remain like the enduring characteristics, right? So you've got to put your time in the places where you're going to be able to build that and protect that and the other stuff that might not be have as large of an impact. You can let those go, give them to someone else. Right. But as a leader, if you really want to protect what your company is, you've got to divide your time so that you can make sure that it stays strong. So of course, we're a service business.
Another thing that really worries me is continuing to deliver the highest level of service to every client, new and old. I do often find myself up at night worrying about this new idea or this deadline or the integrity of said project that stuff still goes on to some degree right now in the midst of all this. So it's a really challenging time, right? Trying to time to grow, trying to get new people, trying to preserve, trying to advance. That's a lot. But what I do and I hear this from other leaders, certainly in my own mentor group as well is I lean on our core values, in particular, a few of our values coming into play right now, more so than in times past like collaboration, efficiency, enjoyment, dedication. Because I see right now and certainly over the last two years, increasingly when our team is collaborating effectively and communicating, then efficiency just becomes a natural result. And when we force the prioritization and we're not treating everything equally as urgent, we tend to get more of the truly important things done and we get them done better. But lastly, and this honestly, Rob is the hardest thing. I started an independent communications firm,19 years ago, because work is supposed to be enjoyable and it had become not enjoyable, for a multitude of reasons in the past. And I try to remind myself every day in the folks that we're working with that. Enjoy the journey, right, that's such an overused phrase, but it's true,
Rob Johnson [00:10:56] Though it's authentic to you, like I said.
Eileen Rochford [00:10:59] Before, I try and find enjoyment in it for not finding enjoyment, then find a way, a quick way to get out of that particular situation, rep the project or whatever and or fix what's wrong in terms of the dynamics of the team, whatever that may be, so that you can get back to enjoying and really liking the work that we do every day because nobody wants to wake up to a job where they're not having a good time and enjoying being with the people that they have to work with.
Rob Johnson [00:11:29] The other important thing you're bringing up here is the way that the job market has changed. Now you're spending all this time worrying about all of these issues that you've just explained, and perhaps some CEOs don't do it at all. Or perhaps some have never really considered it until now. Oh gosh, I have to make the work experience good for everybody? I have to make them want to stay. And given the great resignation and the fact that now employees are sort of setting the agenda about where they want to work, where they want to invest their time and their future, these are all real issues. So you're talking about the issues that keep you awake at night. How do I compete with bigger firms? How do I make the experience enjoyable, not just something that they endure, but something they enjoy so, the fact that you're a CEO and you're talking about? This is terrific, and I hope that more CEOs out there are embracing this or thinking about this. I think given the times that we're in, they probably are, and for those that aren't, you're way behind.
Eileen Rochford [00:12:30] Yeah, that's right. No doubt. It's no longer. I don't think that the whole culture aspect and there's so much baked into, the word culture in an organization, but it's no longer something that leaders can just cede to, like H.R.. Right? It bleeds into everything. So we talked on the last show about that article in The New York Times. No more working for jerks, right? Well, that's just an example, right? So your culture often, particularly in small organizations, is created by the people who are there. So knowing is the leader. Oh, I can't just leave that to H.R. anymore.
I have to be conscious of that myself in my own behaviors. Of course, living it. But also, how my C-suite, my leadership team conducts themselves and communicates. Are they really living the values of the company? Are they fostering environments where the people who are here and the people who would like to bring here are happy and advancing, professionally and all the other things as well as, the the big issues of diversity and inclusion, all the things that have come up in the last year to two years that are that are front and center. So yeah, I think the pivot here or the change, and we're not allowed to use that word anymore. That's on the hated word list.
Rob Johnson [00:13:54] Which word, pivot or change?
Eileen Rochford [00:13:55] Yeah, we're going to we're going to bleep that out when we produce the audio.
Rob Johnson [00:13:59] Well, I'm glad I can't use that anymore because I used it in a speech to a group I was giving a presentation to a couple of days ago. So, thank you for letting me know.
Eileen Rochford [00:14:08] We're going to strip that one from the vocabulary, it's going.
Rob Johnson [00:14:10] If i've ever said it in front of any of you. I apologize. It will never happen again.
Eileen Rochford [00:14:13] Yeah. So the change, I think is just recognizing you can't leave the concerns about fostering satisfaction and advancement among your existing folks and the protection and the thriving of your culture just to others. And just like, well, I'm the CEO, I do these things over here. Now, I think today, as a symbol of the entire organization being front and center, as the primary leader, often being the primary spokesperson and the CEO brand being central to corporate brand, it's intrinsic to it in so many ways, CEOs have to acknowledge and participate in all of that equally, and that means, prioritization in a lot of ways. You can't ignore it.
Rob Johnson [00:15:03] The other thing to do is you brought up so many good issues here, and we're going to get into other issues that other CEOs are concerned about. But one thing that I know you want to talk about a little bit is the fact that as the owner and as a principal in the Harbinger Group, you're not worried about, Oh, if I don't perform well, I'm out of a job. That's not a concern of yours because of where you're sitting.
Eileen Rochford [00:15:22] No, it's not. I don't share that problem at all. That's absolutely true. I share more of the productivity and soundness and growth issues because I'm a principal.
Rob Johnson [00:15:37] They're so important. So last episode we referenced this statistic, and as we kind of pivot, oh pivot? I can't say it! As we change our focus of the show here of the episode we want to bring it back up again because there are a lot of CEOs who are concerned about losing their jobs, and we quoted AlixPartners, they conducted a survey of 3000 CEOs. 72 percent of them were worried about losing their jobs in 2020, to which Simon fruitfully of AlixPartners. As we mentioned before, I will mention it again called eyepoppingly high. That's a great quote.
This is this is huge when you consider that by contrast, just 52 percent of CEOs had this same concern in 2020. So imagine the rules changing on you in 2020, this pandemic kind of started it, but of course, we're talking about other issues today. But 52 percent were worried about losing their jobs two years ago. In the past year, now 72 percent of CEOs are worried about losing their jobs. So I wanted to bring that back up because I know we talked about it in the context of COVID related issues in our last episode, episode 14. But now we're talking about non-COVID related issues. So now there's all these other concerns that CEOs have that have nothing to do with the pandemic.
Eileen Rochford [00:16:56] Yeah. And I wonder, this is pure conjecture, but when I when I think about what those folks have endured at that top of the organization post for two years, I just wonder how much of that is a reflection of their own fatigue, mental and physical. You're just thinking, I don't know how long I can keep this up if this is how it's going to be?
Rob Johnson [00:17:21] And and the challenges just keep getting piled on, right?
Eileen Rochford [00:17:26] Exactly. So who knows that could be underneath it all in that in the survey findings in some way. But what does that mean? Beef up your leadership team, make sure that it's not you at the helm at all times. Try and decentralize as much as possible. Sadly, I'm still seeing even some really successful, small to midsize businesses where the the top leader is insisting on having their fingers in everything or their hands in primary areas of running the organization. That should absolutely be ceded to other executives who are highly skilled. That's just got to stop. The number one thing that I think will result in the dissolution or the downward spiral of some of these smaller to mid-sized companies is if the CEO doesn't understand that beefing up the leadership team and enhancing culture should be top of mind right now. When I say beefing up, I don't mean adding people. I mean enhancing their professional development and in the area of leading teams effectively becoming more agile, but also becoming more adept at the the how not just the the what I saw that referenced in the New York Times article about no more working for jerks.
This should be the year of the how so that people who re who lead companies are the divisions of companies, large teams within companies, if they don't have the skills to do that, that's interpersonal stuff. That's communication skills. That's a whole other level or layer and type of training and development opportunities that leadership teams need to be introducing for themselves and for those who run. As I said, the divisions and technical skills, that's what everybody's been emphasizing for the past five years. And increasingly more and more people have those at a higher level. Highly credentialed workforce is what we're looking at right now. What they don't have is the interpersonal team leadership management skills that foster happy cultures, thriving cultures and productivity. So those are things that totally need to be kept top of mind.
Rob Johnson [00:20:03] Yeah. And to your point, when you were talking about the things that kept you awake at night, the things that you wanted to address at your own firm with Harbinger Group, these are things that you're bringing up, so you're not saying, Hey, we're going to have more managers, we're going to have more. We're just going to do, we're going to be more mindful of it, and we're going to really be thoughtful about how we go about doing that sort of thing. So I think that's a terrific point.
Eileen Rochford [00:20:23] Yeah, 'cause there's a lot for it, for everybody to do this year. And there's no doubt per that same report that you cited Rob. The top issues of concern are the supply chain, labor market and digitalization. In addition, 94 percent say their corporate models need to be overhauled within three years. Overhauled.
Rob Johnson [00:20:47] Hmm.
Eileen Rochford [00:20:48] When all this is going on, oh my God. That's crazy. COVID 19 missing from the top 10 concerns for 22, with just three percent saying it was a worry funny. So this probably is a product of feeling like, all right, I got this in hand. These curveballs have been thrown at us in a couple of waves now. We know what that means. We made adaptations and we're doing OK when it comes to the COVID stuff. But the lingering repercussions of the COVID there. That's why do you think supply chain and labor market, that's
Rob Johnson [00:21:20] issues they're totally there. Totally related digitalization may not be as related to that, but think about too about your corporate model that's also related to it because for sure, you are having to change the way you do business for the reasons you've already stated about how the labor market is changing, the expectations of people who are coming to work for you, people that you want to retain, you don't want to lose them to competitors. These are all issues. And so the corporate models need to change. The supply chain needs to be tended to the labor. You need to make sure that you're not only able to attract but retain top talent. Those are kind of related to it, but these are all very real concerns. And, the supply chain, it's weakened, it's fraying at the edges. And now we're seeing once again that it's starting to creep up and it's and it's impacting what the is being able to buy, what they want to buy. And it's and it's impacting that sort of thing which impacts the economy. If consumers can't get what they want, they don't spend the money that they were planning on spending because they can't get what they want it to. That's impacting the economy in a huge way. So you can't understate that.
Eileen Rochford [00:22:38] No doubt. One thing I'll just note when I see that 94 percent say their corporate models need to be overhauled within three years, overhauling of corporate models doesn't happen in a vacuum, and it's implemented by people, and it's implemented largely through effective communications. The creation of the plan is one thing. And that's, absolutely that's done by advisors, leadership team, again, highly credentialed folks. But the implementation of the change that gets done by everybody. So if that's something that they say they need within the next three years, then they definitely need to be investing in communications, enhancing their communications, cross teams, their ability to collaborate and their ability to understand each other and incorporate change effectively. That's all professional development stuff that needs to be tackled sooner rather than later. Russell take a heck of a lot longer, and there are those corporate models to take hold and the changes that they want.
Rob Johnson [00:23:47] And without sounding like a commercial, that's where people like us come in because you're talking about communicating your messages internally and externally and you say, Gosh, if I'm going, if I'm going to sell this different corporate model, which is a shock to the system. If you're working for whatever corporation is changing their model, then you need somebody to help you message that. I always love when somebody will say, Well, I've got a marketing department, I've got a comms team or whatever. I'm like, Yeah, and they're barely keeping their head above water, dealing with your day to day issues. That's why you really need to consider getting other people who can, who can look at it from up close, but can also step back a little bit and say, what's going to be the best way to communicate this? Because if you don't get internal, buy in on something like this. When you go to the marketplace, when you go to external to your stakeholders, you have no chance.
Eileen Rochford [00:24:36] So much time and money will be wasted in the entire process will be inordinately protracted as a result. No doubt. Yeah. Thinking about that upfront is is key, and I think that the best leaders know that it's worth doing it. It's worth a reminder. And for those who, may have less experience in the top posts and in smaller organizations, it's a great reminder, keep that keep that at the front end as you're starting this out and know that that's not that's the last thing you do, then yeah, it's going to be a failure in fortunes.
Rob Johnson [00:25:11] You cannot you cannot ignore what's right in front of you and that's right in front of you. And so while these figures for 2022 seem genuine for the C-suite, according to research done by Challenger Gray Christmas, which is based out of Chicago here, those fears are not illustrated in the high level employment data, with just one point one percent rise in CEO departures in the U.S., whether they were fired, retired or change jobs through November from the same period of last year. So that's very interesting. Everybody's worried about losing their jobs, but few have left or lost their jobs. However, there was a 17 percent rise in CEO departures and tech firms. Thirty nine tech 6oz CEOs left in October and November, which is one hundred and sixty two departures in that sector, just that sector through November. So I think what's interesting here as we introduce some different numbers, some different data from Challenger Gray Christmas, which is, initially we said that the AlixPartners research, which was 72 percent of CEOs, were worried about losing their jobs, yet few have lost their jobs. But right now in the tech sector, there seems to be more volatility there than there are in other sectors.
Eileen Rochford [00:26:23] That's a lot of volatility. I mean, I'm I'm kind of taking that in for a second and realizing those numbers are quite high in the tech sector in particular. And, tech was one of the places where we we leaned so hard and and them and those companies over the past two years. That's a reflection of probably just an enduring, stressful period and all that comes out of that, right? And I don't know how many of those departures were voluntary and how many were assisted, if you will.
Rob Johnson [00:27:04] Yes, that's right. The other thing to consider, though, two in the tech sector is, our market's been pretty good, but any any swings, recently, any volatility and in the overall market has been driven lately, it seems, by the tech sector. So to the point of more turnover there than in other places, that's certainly a concern because you're right, they have been driving so much of what we're doing in terms of the economy.
Eileen Rochford [00:27:35] I'm going to say my own personal curiosity about how many CEOs are secretly considering. Do I really need to keep this job gets out and go run my lumber firm because it's going to be way more relaxing?
Rob Johnson [00:27:49] And chances are, if you're working for a tech firm or something like that, you probably have a pretty good exit package so you can go run that llama farm. Llama farms have gone up. 96. I'm getting the best.
Eileen Rochford [00:28:03] Oh, my God. Speaking of which, I saw something really funny, actually not funny, I thought awesome. A person who runs a very reputable and then rather large and successful marketing agency just posted that they've added to their resume a part time job of being a ski instructor in Boulder, Colorado. Oh my gosh, the CEO. I love that.
Rob Johnson [00:28:27] That's terrific. Everybody sitting there going great idea.
Eileen Rochford [00:28:33] Good for them. Like, Hey, how do you find the time? Dude, that's awesome.
Rob Johnson [00:28:37] Really. And you run the company?
Eileen Rochford [00:28:39] Yeah, I love it. Maybe it's a weekend job. What do we know?
Rob Johnson [00:28:42] Certainly a weekend job.
Eileen Rochford [00:28:43] Maybe that person, their children are gone and they've got a lot of extra time and they just love to ski. I just like that they're taking the initiative and bringing that mental health to themselves, it's pretty cool, right? Doing something you love always makes you feel about it, right? Sure thing. Well, this next bit of data is from a YPO Global Pulse survey, and it shows while many CEOs are bullish about economic growth, 80 percent are saying it would start strong in 2022. The global labor shortage may disrupt hiring intentions. So think about the confidence these business leaders have in a growing economy, and yet hiring may not reflect that confidence. And meanwhile, inflation is among the key concerns of CEOs for 2022, as it is for consumers, frankly. And more than 75 percent of the CEOs responding said inflation may impact their businesses, and there are signs that price hikes will be necessary, which is always bad news for us. The consumers and the aforementioned supply chain issues are concerning in this type of survey to most. Business leaders are split between expecting this problem to be fixed by the end of 2022. 38 percent said that or early 2023. Thirty nine percent said that. I'd like to know why they think it's going away at all, because everything that I read indicates it's going to be here for a while.
Rob Johnson [00:30:03] I don't think any real tangible improvements have been made are in place right now that are going to address this where you would say, Oh gosh, OK, by may we got this. I mean, I think they're still trying to. First of all, private sector is going to have to solve this issue. But the government is now weighing in. We're going to help solve the supply chain issue. But the private sector, given what they've done for years, given that it's there, it's their product and they're trying to get it in the hands of consumers. There's no more important people that should be solving that problem than the companies themselves. And I haven't seen anything yet that indicates, we got this, we're heading in the right direction. In fact, it feels like or we may be heading in the wrong direction a little bit in materials.
Eileen Rochford [00:30:49] Procurement is is a huge piece of this, no doubt about it. But think about the people side of this. So. The numbers of vacancies of truck drivers, for example, right now, how hard hit that industry has been. So regardless if you're able to produce the product because you can get your hands on the materials that you need and the people that you need in your manufacturing facility to create it, that's one thing. But getting it to customers that last mile? Yeah, that there doesn't seem to be anything in terms of large scale resolution, being introduced to address the truck driver aspect and the delivery and the FedEx UPS. All of those, large scale get it to the place that needs to be. Companies, the number of vacancies there are at an all time high as well. So gosh, it feels like we need some major major. It's not just recruitment, but it's also the training for safety and getting them to be able to drive, those types of vehicles without causing issues. It's not going to happen overnight. That's a that's a longer term thing. When you think about it, right?
Rob Johnson [00:32:13] Yet a place like Amazon is thriving. The thing that really distresses me and I'm not anti-Amazon by any stretch because when I need something, I go get it. But I try to shop local. I try to go in the store, I try to get something. I was trying to get some little piece of technical equipment yesterday, so it wasn't a major purchase, right? And I go in the store and I'm like, looking for something specific. And they're like, Yeah, we don't have those. They had other things. They didn't have what I was looking for. They're like, Yeah, you just might want to order that online. So I have somebody that's a brick and mortar, and I know and this place also has online presence as well. But they were telling me, Yeah, we don't have it, don't have to get it online. And so you know where I went first? I went to Amazon and you know when I'm getting the thing I need? I'm getting it tomorrow.
The thing is a place like that is thriving. I'm not saying that there aren't supply chain issues, they don't have any because certainly every place does. They seem just better equipped to get it to you when you need it than almost immediate gratification. And yet I am well aware of the fact that I need to shop local. I need to support businesses. I need to keep them in business. But yet when I go there and either their shelves are bare or they have very little of what I'm looking for. I know, so I know I can go to Amazon and I can get it in no time flat. And so that's that's a concern. I don't want Amazon to be the only company that comes out of this, healthy, you want other companies to be able to do it as well, which is why the supply chain thing is real and it's not going away. And the 77 percent that said this will be solved in late and by the end of 2022 or 2023. I hope you're right, but I haven't seen any evidence yet.
Eileen Rochford [00:34:06] Let's hope they know something we don't.
Rob Johnson [00:34:08] That's right, let's hope that that's the case. And here's one that you may have heard before something that we've talked about before. Idling workers mental health will be a significant factor, with 35 percent of CEOs reporting that some type of mental health investment or strategy for employees will have to be in place. Six percent saying they don't have one now, but plan to add one. So 35 percent have one or they're working on 16 percent say they're planning on it. So that's half saying they have a plan or they acknowledge it's a big enough issue that they should have a plan. And Eileen, I know that as a boss, this is something that is squarely on your radar and near and dear to your heart because you do keep talking about the people issue and the the the burden of having the longer this lasts, this new reality of ours. How does it weigh on your workers? And and so I know you have a few opinions about that.
Eileen Rochford [00:35:04] Oh, for sure. I also am conflicted when I think about it, as a business owner. There's there's only so much you can do in terms of being responsible for the well-being of the people you employ. That's reality. And honestly, that's just true in any relationship, really. There's only so much you can do for any one individual. You can you can be empathetic. You can. You can be. Supportive in terms of offering resources and accompanying whether it's a friend or a coworker to get, the help that they may need to to feel better and particularly health care and treatment that might be needed. You can only do so much, right? So we're continuing to do that. It's part of the benefits that we offer having in ERP and all of that for larger companies.
It's important to have, but I think the difference now is making sure people are aware of the depth of those benefits and how to access them and why these should and then giving the time where they can, either work that into their workday because honestly, right now it is so hard to get appointments with psychologists and psychiatrists. And the vast majority, at least in this market, aren't even taking new clients. So it's challenging. Like if you know somebody who works for you needs that help, then let them do their appointment during a workday because it's the difference between them getting the care and not getting the care right.
Rob Johnson [00:36:48] It's so important and you can't ignore it. You can't.
Eileen Rochford [00:36:51] Yeah, yeah. And also just recognizing the toll that these two years have had, where there are places that you can give people grace and you can, give them, a respite from it, do do where you can. And I'm not saying again, there's the balance between running a company, getting the product that you need to get out the door, whether it's a service or the creation of a herd, good, you have to keep the end result. The purpose of your business in mind at all times, but find the ways where you can extend that grace and support and help people kind of get back to their best selves, as soon as they can. And also just say, and this is still hard for me to do, it's very hard for me making the time to do it yourself, right? The simplest things add up. So if it's starting your day half an hour earlier so that you can do a yoga class or whatever exercises your your preference, do it make the time to do so because you're going to be a better coworker when you do that. And that's how I see it as a small business, there's only so much that we can do. But I try to make up for anything that, our folks might be able to find another company by being extra understanding
Rob Johnson [00:38:17] Yeah, and finding that other outlet is a great point and the training that I do with various companies, I always mention that in the training, whether it's, yoga or meditation or, whatever the case may be, the things that you do outside of what you do, you have value to you that make you mentally prepared, ready to go right to be your best. And you can't understate that you really can.
Eileen Rochford [00:38:40] No and also want to encourage folks to remember, you may not have kids, whether they're young or any at all in your household right now, and you may not personally be dealing with elder care issues with your parents or other really close family members. Those things may not be affecting you, but they're affecting nearly everyone, in one way or another. So really true if if you if they need time to talk to a therapist for one hour during a workweek, or they need to take a 30 minute, 45 minute break, twice a week to attend a yoga class that's only offered at a certain time and it happens to be during the workday. So what right? Let them do it. Just do it because they want them to refresh everything in just particularly folks who are dealing with homeschooling or the stops and starts of, for example, the Chicago public school system that's been challenging for so many, people here. It's it's hard and it's the accumulation of that.
The overall effect over time, you got to just find the places where you can give them. The tiny bit of help and everything will be better if you do. So finally, there's the survey of CEOs from chief executives January CEO Confidence Index poll, which showed more bullish outlooks outlooks as on average their confidence level was at a seven out of 10. Again, penny minimizing COVID the worst this year, said Andrew Lai, the CEO of Sugar Bowl Bakery. Now it's the beginning of the end for COVID. Andrew Weatherman, president at Inter-group, a real estate company, believes supply shocks and inflation are one offs and will stabilize by the fourth quarter.
Rob Johnson [00:40:37] I hope they're both right. I hope both of those gentlemen are correct.
Eileen Rochford [00:40:43] Me too. Yeah, that's pretty fresh data. So let's hope that again, they know something that we don't.
Rob Johnson [00:40:50] Yes, they are opinions, but they're also very well-placed individuals. But as you might imagine, everyone is not as confident. Also from chief executives, Paul. This from Eric Blumenthal, who's the president of Focused Forward, which is a professional services firm, believes conditions will remain unchanged and adds the COVID 19. Widespread resignations, rising oil prices and computer hacking are all on my list of concerns. We brought that up at one in one of our previous episodes. So while some COVID related issues do creep in here, most are focused on other issues that could dampen the economy.
Eileen Rochford [00:41:24] There's a lot of hate of us and much to do at the leadership level. There's no doubt about it. Yeah, I agree. Buddy is setting their plans in 2022, working their plans hard and incorporating the need for great, frequent, authentic communications and taking care of themselves and their employees.
Rob Johnson [00:41:46] While a lot of people are already doing this, Eileen, if you haven't done it yet, probably chances are that you've thought about it. Now is the time to really squarely focus on that because you can't kick that can down the road anymore, and it has to happen now. You have to get your communications in place. You have to make sure that you're attending to these issues that we're bringing up and probably issues that are worrying you if you're a leader in a leadership position.
Eileen Rochford [00:42:12] It's also a very invigorating time, isn't it being part of such significant and meaningful change? Love it and progress. Yeah, yeah. 2022's got a different feel for it, and I hope that we we head into into the right direction. Now that's going to do it for another episode of the Can You Hear Me podcast, and we thank all of you for listening today. I'm Eileen Rochford, CEO of The Harbinger Group,
Rob Johnson [00:42:37] I'm Rob Johnson, president of Rob Johnson Communications. Join us again next time for another edition of Can You Hear Me? And remember, you can listen to this wherever you get your podcasts, Apple, Google Podcasts, Spotify and much more. Thanks for listening.