The 5 Problems that Keep CEOs Up at Night

The 5 Problems that Keep CEOs Up at Night

Originally published by Industry Week 

 Ten years ago, we surveyed manufacturing CEOs to determine what kept them up at night. Coming on the heels of the Great Recession, concerns about another economic downturn were naturally top of mind. Worries about supply chain challenges—in the aftermath of the first significant global supply chain disruption and the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami of March 2011—were second. 

We informally surveyed CEOs again this October to gauge their current pain points. Following is a snapshot of top-ranked concerns facing U.S. manufacturing leaders toward the end of 2021.

  1. Talent recruitment and retention. No surprise here—unless you were expecting No. 1 to be supply chain disruptions. What was once a concern is now a crisis. Not only were there almost 900,000 job openings in manufacturing in the latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report, or about 9% of all private openings, but more than 300,000 manufacturing employees quit their jobs each month this summer. The Great Resignation is altering the global work landscape. On top of the struggle to attract younger workers—those with STEM skills and a general interest in mechanical and technical careers—manufacturers now have to deal with changing generational perceptions of work overall. Millennials and Gen Z are predicted to make up 30% of total employment by 2030.   

     

  2. Global supply chain disruptions. Hiccups in the production and distribution of materials, components and products have become the norm with the rise of global value chains. But today’s crisis, of course, is no hiccup: Jammed ports and supply bottlenecks have been the rule rather than the exception for a year. IHS Markit says that suppliers’ delivery times in the United States and the EU have hit record lengths due to surging demand. Consumer spending on durable goods is up more than 20% in the past year, and widespread supply constraints, including component and labor shortages, exacerbate the issue. In fact, shipping prices from China are up 400% since last year, and wait times for ocean freight up 45%. While some analysts believe that as COVID recedes, capacity constraints and labor shortages will also diminish, IHS Markit says the crunch could last for another 12 months—if not longer.
  3. Commodity and raw material prices. At the heart of much of today’s supply challenge is the shortage of commodities and raw materials, which have driven producer prices up dramatically. It’s hard for manufacturers to plan for growth in the face of unrelenting price spikes. The Federal Reserve’s Global Price Index for All Commodities stands at 167, the highest level in seven years. Moreover, Bloomberg’s index on raw-material spot prices is at a 10-year high. Oil prices are at their highest level since 2014, while according to the Fed, iron and steel prices are at their highest levels ever on the producer price index. Like so many other challenges, this one is not expected to resolve itself any time soon.
  4. Cyber threats. There is one dramatic difference between our CEO survey of 2011 and 2021: rapidly rising concern over cyber-attacks, especially regarding ransomware and malware, that can lead to equipment sabotage and system shutdowns. The Internet of Things has proven to be a dual-edged sword: Networking with the outside world means exposing yourself to the outside world. According to Statista Research and Analysis, there are 10 billion interconnected devices in the world today, which will climb to more than 25 billion by 2030. At least 4 billion are in use across all industries as well as government. This means unless manufacturers turn the clock back to 1990—restricting their employees’ access to email and cell phones and canceling plans to create smart factories and supply chains—their systems are at risk.
  5. General economic and global volatility. Economies across the globe are slowing considerably as the impact of the continuing pandemic (which wave is it now?) continues to plague businesses and consumers worldwide. On top of supply chain disruptions and labor shortages, there’s the specter of inflation. The federal government’s Consumer Price Index for All Urban consumers (CPI-U) is up 5.4% year over year, and according to the United Nations, global food prices are up 33% in the last 12 months. Adjusted for inflation and annualized, food prices around the world are at their highest level since 1960.

And yet … according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, after declining 5% in 2020, corporate profits were up 5% in the first quarter and more than 10% in the second quarter of 2021. Not too shabby considering the growing list of business concerns.   

Stephen Gold is president and CEO, Manufacturers Alliance

Engage for Success Radio: Employee Engagement at PivotCX

Engage for Success Radio: Employee Engagement at PivotCX

PivotCX learned a huge lesson about business when COVID-19 hit and they lost 85% of their business in March 2020. What was the surviving 15%? It corresponded to clients using the software to engage job applicants with a live person, right after they applied. Consequently, they pivoted. They rebuilt their business on the proposition that every job applicant should get to talk to a live human, every time, within minutes of applying. 

Mike and his team spent most of 2020 building new software, and a new way to recruit that puts candidate engagement front and center. They built it by working closely with the interns doing live chat for the customers that stayed on board, and by listening carefully to their customers. 

In short the Pivot worked.

The new software launched in January  2021, and PivotCX grew 183% that year. 

So far this year, fueled by the great resignation, in January and February, they’ve already beat 2021.

But… growth creates new challenges, and employee engagement at PivotCX has become crucial. Now their team shifted to growth mode. This means that the company leaders challenge employees to “give their job away” every few weeks as they scale up. Making sure every team member knows what is going on, feels valued, and important is crucial. 

Mike is a serial entrepreneur and software developer with deep experience in HR Tech. He heads up product operations and product development for PivotCX. 

Host: Jo Dodds

Webinar: Reactivating Passive Candidates

Webinar: Reactivating Passive Candidates

Overview

Many employers are experiencing a labor shortage. The previously inexhaustible pools of active candidates have been drying up. Now is the time for many of them to tap into their reserves to reactivate passive candidates.

Mike and Ric will talk about tapping into employers’ hidden market of previous applicants and reactivating passive candidates. Life happens and  the timing might not have been right when they first applied, but right now could be the right time! Refresh your talent pipeline and spark new interest in your previous applicants to fill your current openings.

Our Moderators

Mike Seidle is a serial entrepreneur and software developer with deep experience in HR Tech. Mike heads up product operations and product development for PivotCX. He brings over 30 years of experience in marketing, software development, product and user experience design, and a proven track record of leading technology-driven teams.

Ric Basso has over 30 years of professional sales management experience, 13 of which have been in the HR Tech space as one of the first 50 employees at Monster.com. As Vice President of Business Development, Ric is a passionate sales and partnerships leader with the personal mission of bringing people together to advance their lives.

 

Spotlight Interview: Alex Murphy, CEO of Jobsync

Spotlight Interview: Alex Murphy, CEO of Jobsync

Overview

In this podcast episode, Mike interviews JobSync’s CEO, Alex Murphy as they delve into a few of Alex’s recruiting secrets to improve hiring success.  

Together they talk about the mission of Jobsync to get recruiters out of email and excel docs and get their applications directly into their ATS. Native Apply integration combines the best of the native apply experience on job boards together with the recruiters’ work process in the ATS database, creating a consistent and seamless recruiting process.

Alex Murphy is the CEO and Co-Founder of JobSync. Alex has been an entrepreneur in the recruiting space for the last twenty years having founded or co-founded multiple businesses including Job.com, WorkHarmony, A3 Staffing, Epic59, and oPub Media. In addition to founding companies, Alex previously worked with Beyond, now Nexxt, as their SVP of Business Development and Candidate Acquisition, growing the business to over 60 million users. Alex currently and has previously advised a number of businesses and organizations including TAtech, Jobiqo, FounderCorps, and CaddieNow.

If he weren’t working, Alex would spend as much time as possible skiing through the trees on the steepest mountains he can find.

 JobSync empowers Talent Acquisition professionals to get more quality candidates from their existing sourcing solutions by emulating the ATS application process directly on job sites, creating a seamless direct apply experience for the applicant, doubling their candidate volume.

To learn more about how JobSync can help improve the efficiency of your Talent Acquisition team visit www.jobsync.io/#contactus.

Podcast: Creating Valuable Solutions in Tech

Podcast: Creating Valuable Solutions in Tech

This podcast interview focuses what product innovation and creating valuable solutions should be really all about and how complacency can kick-in silently and give you a slap in the face. The guest is Mike Seidle, Co-founder and CTO at PivotCX.

During this interview, you will learn four things:

    1. The importance to start paying attention to the early signals from customers that you are on the wrong track instead of listening to your own stories.
    2. How shifting focus from selling “cost savings” to “giving your customers a position of advantage in the eyes of their customers” can be the difference from having no traction to winning 8 out 10 deals.
    3. Why we often think we are smarter than everybody else – and why that doesn’t help at all.
    4. How small ideas can mean the difference between having 10 users and 10000 – and how to find them. 

Links in this episode:

LinkedIn: @IndyMike (Mike Seidle) 

The Tech Entrepreneur Podcast: https://play.acast.com/s/valueinspiration 

Featured Image background by Dominika Roseclay

Podcast: Mike Seidle on the Rosey On Recruitment and Career Podcast

Podcast: Mike Seidle on the Rosey On Recruitment and Career Podcast

Join Mike Seidle on Rosey on Recruitment and Career Podcast. Dive into technology supporting communication in the recruitment process. Rosey and Mike also touch on transformative moments when the right people are in the right roles. We examine how Mike’s advice for his 18 year old self is what all Entrepreneurs need in their business. We talk about COVID lessons and being brand agile, listening to your current and prospective market for success. And lastly we talk about how not to negotiate an offer (it’s worth the listen right to the end!) 🙌

Links in this episode:

LinkedIn: @IndyMike (Mike Seidle) 

Rosey’s links: https://linktr.ee/roseyhercareer 

Featured Image background by Dominika Roseclay