The Great Resignation: The C-Suite Impact
Significant changes to recent employment rates have forced employers to re-evaluate their approach to staff retention and the factors that influence longevity and strength in a workforce. The Great Resignation, in which millions of people are leaving their jobs in search of better lifestyles, has caused upheaval in almost every industry, creating large gaps in talent and production, while impacting budgets and company morale.
“At Amrop, we have noted significant trends in our partner countries – the ripple effect of what the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports as 47.8-million Americans resigning from their work last year. Our position as a global leadership advisory and executive search firm allows us to analyse and anticipate these challenges in other territories, assisting our worldwide network with strategies to tackle The Great Resignation” says Annika Farin, Amrop Partnership Chair.
"Over the last 10+ years Brazil has lived through a boom in the Fintech industry. Before that, more than 40% of the immense country’s adult population didn’t even have a bank account. This was changed by the rise of digital banking, led by what is today the largest Brazilian digital bank, which launched its operation about 10 years ago, rapidly disrupted the status quo, and made online banking highly accessible to the population.
The massive impact on the Brazilian economy, with the rise of the new banked population, also started a revolution in Fintech – within the whole banking and financial ecosystem. A lot of new companies appeared, which serviced both B2C and B2B sectors, dealing with banking as a service, credits, payments and offering digital and more accessible solutions to small businesses.
The growth of the sector lasted until about last year, when the global crisis impacted the situation to an extent, where many of the so far highly successful Fintechs companies started facing a more difficult situation. Their business models, which were largely cash-burn, had been backed by venture capital and private equity money. That model became unsustainable when the liquidity shortage became a new reality. Companies accustomed with three-digit growth, especially in their headcount, had to hunker down.
Amrop INNITI has been with these companies through the different stages in their development. First, they required leaders who could grow the company double or even triple digits per year and keep up the pace – it was all about the execution and expansion.
Throughout the following stage structural development was crucial – they required executives who could lead the growth but, at the same time, structure the organization’s next steps and lead it towards a more mature stage. At this stage lots of executives were brought in from more mature companies, and they were able to successfully transition to these scale-ups (between blood, sweat and tears, obviously – as some would say).
Now, in the period of crisis, however, the companies are retaining and hiring adaptive and empathetic leaders. The organizations are still facing an extremely competitive environment, but now they also need to be cash-efficient, so they need executives who can make the company more efficient and keep it growing with less resources. Adaptive leaders are usually able to ask the right questions and solve problems without previously defined answers. Empathetic ones are better in understanding their clients, thus prioritizing better.
At this stage it is less about specific knowledge, and more about transferable competencies. A new look towards leadership hiring and development for many of them.
It has been exciting for Amrop INNITI to partner with their clients in facilitating this transition very closely and to have witnessed such different levels of organizational maturity over a relatively short period of time."
To find out more please contact Paulo Aziz Nader or the Amrop Digital Practice members in your country!
“The programme cultivates long-term loyalty and delivery, enhancing the retention proposition and attracting the executive to remain in the company,” explains Andrew Woodburn, Managing Partner at Amrop Woodburn Mann, who sits on the Global Board of the Amrop Partnership. “In most cases, the individual is not informed that they are undergoing retention counselling, since this knowledge could create an awkward dynamic between them and their employer. Rather, they are awarded an executive development opportunity. Together with the employer, we design a programme to overcome some of the challenges triggering the employee to become a flight risk.”
Woodburn advises businesses to look beyond solely addressing the employee’s needs. “In many cases, culture and retention stem from the leadership style trickling down from above. Therefore, systemically, the culture and leadership of the organisation need to be attended to from the top down. This is a long-term programme and can take many years to execute within an organisation, requiring a dedicated culture commitment and buy-in from the business.”
He recommends a diverse facilitation mandate when creating such a programme. “It should include attitude, current organisational environment, any personal issues, education and training, leadership, remuneration, role scope and future expectations. This broad palette should bring to the surface the critical issues that need to be addressed by the retention programme, to generate a workable solution for both the employee and the employer.”
“At Amrop, we encourage businesses to make retention plans part of their mandate to attract, develop and retain talent. Our aim when working with corporations is to hold on to enterprise knowledge by retaining long-term, highly valuable employees, particularly in the executive category. An executive’s experience, qualifications, networks, insight, company understanding and ability to contribute beyond KPIs are highly prized commodities – and these C-suites should be a strong focus in a business’s retention strategy” – Annika Farin
To ensure good retention planning, Amrop recommends an agile approach that considers the individual and their overall well-being. Companies that can offer flexibility to their employees and understand their needs and values are more likely to maintain a stable and competitive workforce. Offering attractive benefits, being committed to long-term career prospects, facilitating training, and investing in ongoing learning will instil greater loyalty, retaining talented and motivated executives who are committed to the organisation's success.
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