Ghosts In The Machine & Retirees In The Workforce
5 in 5 - Brave & Heart HeartBeat #132 ❤️
This week we’re talking Black Friday, Mark Zuckerburgs failures (always a pleasure) and the latest in recruitment and the wandering eyes of employees worried about layoffs and an uncertain future.
Can we care about Black Friday’s effect on the environment when we don’t have enough money to spend in the first place? Should Mark Zuckerberg retire? Is Elon Musk an easy target?
Let’s get into it.
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#1 - Black Friday Bluer Than Ever
While the forecast for a £22 billion spend in the UK over the Black Friday period is forecast, once you take inflation into account that’s actually less items in baskets than usual. A blue Black Friday might put some extra pressure on retailers hoping for a boost, and add to the annual game of chicken where we try and hold out for the best deals before Christmas. Hot tip – buy everything on the 26th…
Apparently factors other than the general cost of living crisis turning down the Black Friday excitement are the fact that the UK are playing in the World Cup that day, distracting some from putting huge tellys in their online shopping baskets. In addition, we apparently bought all the electronics we could possibly need during lockdown, making tech deals less interesting.
The intriguing thing is that this year we all seem to be making a bit less of a fuss over the environmental cost of Black Friday. While some retailers are continuing a trend of switching Black Friday on its head, there’s definitely a hell of a lot less buzz around the devilish nature of consumerism.
Can we simply not afford to have as many morals about consumerism when we’ve got less money at the end of the month? Food for thought…
#2 - “Ghosts In The Machine” Forced Meta Layoffs
While we touched a bit on the fact that MetaMark’s obsession with the Metaverse led to his overhiring frenzy which is now turning into a layoff frenzy, this article from Wired goes into detail about the extent to which he overstretched.
Do you remember Libra, their crypto idea? Lasso, their TikTok copy? The Shops project which was meant to turn Instagram and Facebook into e-commerce, not to mention their podcasts, Facebook portal, and a Meta smartwatch. Us neither, because they all failed.
Mark has been trying out a lot of stuff, and while none of it stuck, the headcount he brought in to build them all did.
While comparing him to Musk we all gave Mark a round of applause for being so honest about the mistakes he made as a boss, apparently the story that he overhired during the pandemic is only part of the story. Insiders say that the excess personnel has been building up over five to ten years, even before his Metaverse obsession.
Mark had big plans of taking over every aspect of our lives, and hired accordingly, according to a (slightly judgey, if we do say so) former employee, these distractions from Meta’s core business - i.e. Facebook and advertising - are harming the company, and are what makes these layoffs so serious.
Now what? Some are saying that Mark should just chill out and retire and let Meta carry on business as usual, much like Bezos. We doubt that’s going to happen though, and do we really want a purposeless Mark floating around in the world? Imagine the damage he could do with his little robot mind. *Shudder*
#3 - The Anti-Musk Recruitment Movement
The new trend in Tech recruitment? Bashing Elon Musk.
While almost four thousand employees have been laid off, many more are following of their own accord, and some tech companies are trying to pick up on experienced engineering staff by appealing to their open wounds.
Example, LinkedIn post by Katie Burke, chief people officer at US software company HubSpot, condemning Musk over reports he had fired a group of employees that had criticized him on Slack got over 35,000 positive reactions.
She said: “As a leader, getting criticized is part of your job…. Great leaders recognize debate and disagreement makes you better and is part of the process.” Ending with “If you want a place where you can disagree (in a kind, clear manner of course) with people, HubSpot is hiring.”
A pretty easy way to market your employer brand as basically “not terrible”.
If you’re a tech company looking for a Musk leadership diss to pull out on LinkedIn we recommend stealing the arguments from this Guardian article, which notes that by firing experienced employees Musk wasn’t simply getting rid of salaries to pay, but the minds and the know-how to run the company he acquired. Thank us later!
#4 - Race For The Retired
Remember the milestone McKinsey report on how to attract different kinds of workers, and the importance of recognising the five different employee profiles?
Well Halfords certainly took note, as they’re launching a big recruitment drive for… drumroll… retirees.
They’ve said they’re hoping to attract retirees back into the workforce due to the tight nature of the current UK labour market. They also want to increase the amount of women in technical positions, but that’s just good sense.
The UK labour shortage is definitely here, with the unemployment rate at its lowest level since 1974, many people numbers leaving the workforce through early retirement and long-term sickness, and the impact of lower migration levels after Britain left the EU to boot.
If we look back over our McKinsey notes, this work persona, named the “Relaxers” have finished their traditional careers and may not need the money, they will want more than the traditional value proposition to be enticed back into the workforce—including the promise of meaningful work. Let’s hope they’re taking McKinsey’s advice.
#5 - Career Cushioning
Nowadays you have to be keeping one eye on social media to keep up with the latest work trends, but don’t worry, we’ve got you.
Following quiet quitting, the next one to look out for is Career Cushioning. And yes, it has to be alliteration every time.
Career cushioning is defined by LinkedIn career expert Catherine Fisher as “taking actions to keep your options open and cushioning for whatever comes next in the economy and job market… like an insurance policy to set yourself up for success.”
Her advice comes in the context of tech layoffs and economists still predicting a recession, but differs from the old school advice of working extra hard to ensure that you’re indispensable to your workplace when layoffs do arrive, in that she wants you to expect the worst and low-key start looking for a new job before you need it.
The concrete advice varied from staying connected to your potential network to ensuring your skills are well presented on LinkedIn, to literally applying for other jobs even if you’re happy where you are.
On the side of employers, talent retention looks like it’s about to heat up!
Brave & Heart over and out.
Bonus
Dowsing & Reynolds Choose Charity Over Black Friday Sales
Interior design company Dowsing & Reynolds made a splash on LinkedIn this week with their Black Friday charity work, pledging 100% of their Black Friday sales to the NEA, National Energy Action charity.
Rather than spending money on a Black Friday campaign, and losing money with discounted sales prices, they’re putting their money where their mouth is with their donations, and asking others to do the same.
When a good deed leads to good publicity, everyone’s a winner
To find out more on how you can step up your hiring game without necessarily bashing Elon Musk on LinkedIn (although we recommend it anyway) or how we can help you with digital solutions to your business challenges, check out our case studies.