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Cal Wilson / January 31, 2023

Since 2021, the economy has been in a fragile situation when it comes to job vacancies. Known as the Great Resignation, waves of employees voluntarily leaving their jobs dominated employer concerns and supply chain issues. In 2023, while many employers have found strategies or adjusted to this challenge, looming threats of new waves of resignations are still a serious concern. 

In this issue of the Pulse, we take a look at the predictions for 2023’s resignations.  

Starting out the year on a low.  

2022 ended out on a rough note in terms of job vacancies. According to CNBC, “almost 4.2 million people voluntarily left their jobs in November, marking the 18th straight month of record-breaking quits in the U.S.” 

While December and January haven’t been as tumultuous, they’ve certainly given cause for concern. A December study by LinkedIn and CensusWide found 61% of workers in the United States are considering leaving their jobs in 2023. 

The news outlet also predicted that more plan on quitting soon – with younger Millennials (26-41) and Generation Z (18-25) workers leading the wave of resignations. That number increases the younger the worker demographic, with the following percentages per generation:  

• 72% of Gen Z’ers (ages 18-25  
• 66% of Millennials (ages 26-41) 
• 55% of Gen X’ers (ages 42-57) 
• 30% of Baby Boomers (ages 58-76) 

Recession worries are not a concern.  

You might expect that during this limbo period where the threat of recession lurks around every corner, workers might be less inclined to throw away a sure thing. However, experts predict that workers will continue to leave jobs at just as high rates as the past two years.  

One Indeed study found that, of workers who “had switched jobs at least twice since the start of the pandemic, 92% said the pandemic made them feel life is too short to stay in a job they weren’t passionate about.” 

Short term economic crisis may not be enough to combat a larger existential crisis that many who lived through COVID-19 are now facing.  

Employers might see a significant financial loss. 

As a company, if you’ve already survived a few waves of the Great Resignation, you know how costly turnover can be. As Forbes explains: 

“Onboarding does not come cheap when you calculate actual training time of the trainer and the trainee, the lost or lessened productivity out of both positions, recruiting and hiring costs, and so on. Some estimates of total costs suggest that for skilled tech workers or middle management positions, those costs could reach 50% of annual income. If a great resignation causes that job to open once, that’s a severe enough hit. Twice? A catastrophe.” 

However, remaining short-staffed isn’t an option, either. Staffing shortages cost businesses by placing undue stress on remaining workers, creating expenses in the following ways 

• Overtime wages 
• Further turnover 
• Poor performance 
• More workplace accidents 
• Lost business opportunities 

Employee retention is now more important than ever.  

With resignations on the forefront of many workers’ minds, businesses need to evaluate what they’re doing to promote employee retention. If you’re an employer reviewing your own situation, you can read our recommendations, here.  

In conclusion… 

With over half the workforce contemplating quitting in 2023, your business can’t afford to be dismissive of another potential wave of the Great Resignation.  

Cal Wilson / January 17, 2023

Whether or not you’ve made a resolution for 2023, you probably have long term or short term career goals you’d like to see accomplished at some point. Maybe it’s a promotion, a new career path, or new opportunities in your existing role; the future is full of possibilities. 

One way you can give yourself a leg up in your career and help reach those goals is to focus on the soft skills that can help you get ahead in any workplace. In this issue of the Pulse, we look at three important soft skills you should consider developing or strengthening in 2023.  

Communication:  

Unless you work in a vacuum, communication skills are going to be a function of your job, to some degree. Excellent communication skills can go a long way in furthering your success. 

 In particular, the following communication skills are undervalued and under-practiced, but can be extremely meaningful in your career: 

• Active listening – that is, listening to understand instead of to reply. 
• Asking questions effectively.  
• Paying attention to nonverbal communication.  

Not only will working on communication help you in business and your career, but it will give you a leg up in all other areas of your life, as well.  

Writing: 

While technically a subset of communication skills, many people who have wonderful verbal communication skills struggle with written communication. However, strong writing goes a long way in conveying professionalism and credibility.  

One of the best ways to improve your writing is to read more and read well. Choose books or articles by individuals with a strong talent for the written word, and take the time to evaluate their use of language. While reading more is certainly an achievable goal for the year, here are some quick tips to help with your day-to-day writing skills: 

• Be concise – don’t waste anyone’s time by being wordy.  
• Always proofread – even the best writers make typos. 
• Read your writing aloud to ensure it sounds proper.   
• Ditch filler words (i.e., just, really, literally).  

You can also practice your writing and bolster your business by writing relationship-building materials such as testimonials, letters of recommendation, and online reviews for other businesses in your network.  

Time management: 

You do not want to be known as the person on your team that struggles with time management. Not only can it appear unprofessional, but others may see it as a liability when considering who to give opportunities and responsibilities. In contrast, strong time management builds trust, increases productivity, and is a genuine asset to include on a resume or list of skills.  

Some steps to improve your time management skills include: 

• Setting realistic, clear goals.  
• Creating a routine that revolves around the times of day you are most productive. 
• Giving yourself buffer time between tasks in your schedule.  
• Prioritizing a healthy sleep schedule.  
• Practicing saying ‘no’ to extra tasks/favors that you do not have time for.  

These are a few of many possible strategies to improve your time management. For more about managing work tasks effectively, read our suggestions, here.  

In conclusion… 

Make your New Year’s resolution for 2023 to improve important soft skills that will make an impact in your career. Our suggestions are communication, writing, and time management skills – however, there are a lot of other important soft skills that go into workplace success.  

Cal Wilson / January 3, 2023

Is your business impacted by 2023’s Top Strategic Technology Trends?  In this video by Gartner, Jason Wong, Distinguished VP Analyst, discusses how these trends will allow you to align your technology innovation with the future strategic objectives of your enterprise. 

Cal Wilson / December 13, 2022

At Schooley Mitchell, we’ve always worked hard to ensure giving and gratitude are a part of our workplace culture. Not only do these values go hand-in-hand with what we do, but they make for a supportive workplace environment, where everyone is enthusiastic about helping one another.  

Recently, thanks to the generosity of one of our incredible franchisees, we were once again reminded of how powerful empathy and giving can be when practiced as a team.  

In this article, we explore a wonderful experience from the perspective of the staff at Schooley Mitchell Head Office.  

A generous Thanksgiving gift.  

One of our cherished Schooley Mitchell franchisees is David Dow of Bloomington-Normal, Illinois. Not only is David a genuine pleasure to work with, but the work he does with nonprofits in his professional and personal life is truly inspiring. In fact, we recently asked David to present on his experience with nonprofits at our annual Schooley Mitchell Conference; in true David fashion, he took the assignment and blew us all away with a thoughtful talk on the importance of empathy in our work.  

Needless to say, David’s personal commitment to his values is a big source of motivation for us here at Head Office. Part of this is because, every Thanksgiving, David has made the incredibly generous gift of donating in our name to a nonprofit he knows and trusts. 

This year, David gave both a donation and an incredible experience when he introduced us to Kiva. Founded in San Francisco in 2005, Kiva is an international nonprofit that “uses crowdfunded microloans as a force for good, creating a space where people can have one-to-one impact, and together, expand financial access for all.” 

David made a donation of $25 to every department at Schooley Mitchell Head Office, with the directive that each team do a bit of research into the different loans available on Kiva and choose a loan to give the donation to.

Teamwork and the Kiva process.  

Kiva has over four million borrowers across 79 countries worldwide. As you can imagine, there are countless loans to deserving recipients available, all asking for money for important local efforts. For example, one that stood out was a young man in Ghana, looking to raise money to provide his community with an accessible Wi-Fi hotspot, which would help many business and educational pursuits.  

The challenge for the teams at Schooley Mitchell Head Office was not to find a loan they wished to give their donation to, but rather to narrow the options down to just one. This meant each team had to sit down, discuss options, values, and try to find a solution that had meaning for them. 

Our Head Office team often feels like a big family; especially within our departments, our staff tend to be very close. However, doing an exercise like the one David’s donation afforded us, allowed us to become closer in a new way. Learning your coworkers’ values, which parts of the world they’re connected to, and what causes motivate them, are all part of the core of who everyone is but are not always a part of our day-to-day in the workplace.  

Each department also got to learn a little bit about the other teams on staff when we shared who we chose amongst ourselves and with David. Here are a few examples: 

• Client Relations & File Prep – Susan, a single mother from Kenya, and a crop and dairy farmer of over seven years. Susan “will be using the loan to purchase farm inputs such as fertilizer and agrochemicals for growing onions and the rest to pay school fees for her children.” 
• Waste – Carine from Kigali, Rwanda, is a 20-year-old student pursuing project and risk management and entrepreneurship at Kepler College. Carine’s loan will help her purchase a laptop for school, and aid in her goal of running “her own business to contribute to the country’s economy by paying taxes.” 
• Telecom – Sunday is a refugee living in Yumbe, Uganda, and a father of six. With his loan, Yumbe plans to start a roosting place to sell chicken and eggs to “pay school fees and offer his family a better life.” 
• Communication & Marketing – Gisele is a businesswoman living in the Lake Kivu region of Congo (DRC). She operates a pharmaceutical business which helps supply health centers around her region with crucial supplies.   
• Franchise Development – Jean Marie is a businessman from Rwanda who has recently invested in a franchise location. His loan will allow Jean Marie to equip his franchise with a storefront build-out, staff training, and more. His business will “ensure access to basic human necessities, with water as an anchor product.” 
• Programming – Farzona is a young businesswoman from Tajikistan working in cattle breeding. Her success and expertise so far have been very promising, and a loan will allow her to expand her business with more cattle.  

At Schooley Mitchell, our whole mission is helping businesses and business owners. Being able to expand this mission in a new way, across the globe, has been very meaningful for us.  

Generosity inspires generosity.  

Often, one generous and kind action can cause a chain reaction of kindness. That’s exactly what happened when David made his generous gift and tasked us with researching the individuals asking for loans through Kiva. Many staff members decided to contribute what they could, raising the initial gift to their department from David, and thereby increasing what their team could give to their chosen recipient.  

During a busy time of the year, when wallets are tight, members of staff, management, and senior leadership all came together to give. 

In total, with David’s gift and Schooley Mitchell’s contributions, we raised over $2,100 for various loans across the world. The best part is, when these loans are repaid, we get to re-give that same money again and again through Kiva, helping more incredible entrepreneurs across the world grow their businesses and help their regions thrive.  

In conclusion…  

Giving and gratitude have long been a part of the company culture at Schooley Mitchell, but that doesn’t mean we don’t love the occasional push to take more initiative. That’s just what our wonderful franchisee, David Dow, did by giving us an incredibly thoughtful Thanksgiving gift.  

For any team looking for a new way to get to know each other, work together, and refresh your attitude towards gratitude and giving, Kiva was a truly profound experience.  

Cal Wilson / November 29, 2022

For business owners, the 2020s might feel like an obstacle course with no end in sight. Recently, business owners across North America have reported some significant stressors impacting their outlook heading into 2023.  

In this issue of the Pulse, we look at these stressors and the impact they can have on business leadership.  

What is stressing out business leaders? 

According to the World Economic Forum’s Executive Opinion Survey 2022, North American business leaders are experiencing quite the array of concerns. The survey asked more than 12,000 business leaders to select “which five risks are the most likely to pose the biggest threat to your country in the next two years?” from a list of 35 global risks. 

It found that in the United States, the top concerns were: 

1. Debt crises 
2. Rapid and/or sustained inflation 
3. Geo-economic confrontation 
4. Failure of climate-change adaption 
5. Interstate conflict tied with employment and livelihood crises  

In Canada, the results were: 

1. Cost of living crisis 
2. Debt crises 
3. Rapid and/or sustained inflation 
4. Failure of climate-change adaption 
5. Asset bubble burst 

Business owners aren’t confident moving forward. 

Across both countries, these factors have reduced business owners’ confidence. In 2022, 29% of small businesses have worried about having to close. They’ve also reported taking the following steps to keep their businesses running: 

• 46% are working more hours than before the pandemic. 
• 33% are performing duties that were typically handled by someone else.  
• 29% have cut their own salaries. 
• 35% have had to raise their prices. 

For the time being, only 44% of business owners expect better conditions in the next six months.  

What is the impact of this stress on your team? 

At all levels of employment, employees are struggling with these same stressful conditions.  

One study from Deloitte Canada found that stress-related burnout led to 50% of managers contemplating leaving their roles since the beginning of the pandemic. Likewise, 70% reported stress impacting their ability to make decisions.  

Another study from global employee engagement firm, Reward Gateway, found that 72% of HR leaders “agree that stress resulting from cost-of-living increases is negatively impacting the work of their employees.” 

Global economic insecurity creates a baseline of unease that effects both leaders and the entire staff of your business. It’s important to check in with yourself and your team to make sure you aren’t ignoring its presence.  

Understand your feelings about money. 

For many of us, money has a stressful underlying connotation. Much of our economy-related stress is fueled by how we feel about money.  

Investigate the way money makes you feel; perhaps its anxious, avoidant, or irritated. Understanding this foundational emotion can help you rewire those associations in the future, and help you feel more calm and self-assured, even in challenging times.  

Label your feelings. 

It’s easy to push through the stress and fear that you might be feeling right now by throwing yourself into your work. Unfortunately, this is only likely to lead to more burnout and decreased quality of work.  

Michele Tugade, a professor of psychological science at Vassar College, says it’s important to acknowledge and label your economic-related anxieties.  

“It’s crucial to understand the root of your emotions by asking yourself questions like ‘how does this feel in my body?’ and ‘what is this emotion telling me about the situation?’” she says. “For example, identify where the anxiety is bubbling up in your body – your stomach? Your chest? Also, think about what made the anxiety come up – was it a news report about tech layoffs? Was it browsing the aisles at the shops?” 

If you can think about the root of your economic anxiety, rather than allow your brain to spiral about it, you can problem solve from a better mental headspace.  

In conclusion… 

With what has seemed like a constant stream of economic crises in the past few years, it’s only normal that many business owners, leaders, and employees are dealing with considerable stress. This can have serious impacts on a business’ operations, as well as business owners’ collective outlook moving forward. It’s important to address this stress and focus on the wellbeing of you and your team.