There are two notable dates that stand out to corporate finance experts who have been following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and looking for clues as to whether or how KPMG — one of the so-called Big Four audit firms — may have slipped up in failing to flag risks that led to the biggest U.S. bank failure since 2008. READ MORE
With 9,000 New Cuts, Amazon Leads With Most Tech Layoffs
How do you layoff this many workers and your business is not impacted? READ MOORE
5 benefits to rebooting the performance review with a coaching mindset
Performance reviews are due for an upgrade—actually, many experts are calling for a complete overhaul of the process.
Industry observers have forecast the end of the performance review for quite some time, the most famous example perhaps being Samuel Culbert’s 2008 Wall Street Journal article “Get Rid of the Performance Review!.” READ MORE
Six Guidelines For Successful Board-Shareholder Engagement
With shareholder activism on the rise, the need for boards to proactively engage with shareholders has also increased.
Shareholder engagement refers to the process of engaging shareholders, usually those representing the largest blocks of stock, in face-to-face verbal communications. Topics usually include CEO evaluation and succession, executive compensation, board nomination criteria, governance issues, corporate strategy and emerging issues such as oversight of corporate culture, human capital management and the set of issues known as environmental, social and governance. Institutional investors and proxy advisory firms usually publish their priorities in advance of proxy season, which helps boards scope what topics are appropriate for discussion. READ MORE
Silicon Valley Bank had no official chief risk officer ahead of collapse but employed DEI executive
Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) did not have a chief risk officer for the last eight months of 2022 as it barreled toward collapse – even as it employed a chief diversity officer over the same period.
SVB Chief Risk Officer Laura Izurieta entered into an agreement with the bank to shift into a non-executive role in late April 2022 as she transitioned out of the company, according to Forbes. READ MORE
March Madness will cost employers $17B this year as workers slack off
The cost of lost worker productivity for employers due to March Madness will reach an eye-popping amount this year, Challenger, Gray & Christmas estimated.
In the report released Tuesday, the global outplacement firm estimated that employers will see $17.3 billion in costs from lost productivity from workers distracted by college hoops. The figure accounts for employees doing things like brackets and watching games on the clock amid the more than two weeks’ worth of workdays in which the NCAA tournament coincides, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas. READ MORE
WHO KILLED SVB? Timeline of Panic...
On March 10, Silicon Valley Bank, one of the most prominent lenders in the start-up ecosystem, collapsed. Federal regulators stepped in to allay fears and limit risk in the broader financial system.
Here is a timeline of major events related to the bank’s collapse and its aftermath. READ MORE
‘The next AOL?’: Meta’s massive layoffs raise questions about Zuckerberg’s strategy as company morale sinks
“A challenging period.”
That’s how Mark Zuckerberg described in a memo what the near future will be like for Meta employees after he announced the once-impervious social media company will cut another 10,000 jobs in the months ahead. READ MORE
'Mr. Wonderful' torches 'idiot' bankers, says feds' SVB response 'nationalized the banking system'
Canadian-American investor Kevin O'Leary called out the "idiot bank managers" who led Silicon Valley Bank to its demise, further adding that the federal government's response to the collapse unwisely "nationalized" the banking system.
O'Leary, well-known by his "Mr. Wonderful" nickname coined on "Shark Tank" by fellow investor Barbara Corcoran, told "Hannity" that he however doesn't like playing politics, especially in terms of finance. READ MORE
Silicon Valley Bank had more red flags than a CCP meeting
Despite skeins of bank regulations supposed to prevent another financial meltdown, Silicon Valley Bank, the country’s 17th-biggest bank, went down in flames last week. It was the second-biggest bank failure in U.S. history and has prompted a lot of finger-pointing. READ MORE
How to spark a revolution in company culture that’ll boost employee retention
No matter how much the landscape of work changes, an inclusive workplace culture will always be vital. Workplace culture is defined by a combination of things from the values of employees to the ways that leaders shape actions to run the business. Although culture is often intangible, it’s a core tool to empower employees to be productive and inspired. READ MORE
US fighting a remote work ‘tug of war’ as employees look for ‘compromise,’ expert says
With more than 40 million U.S. workers expecting to do their jobs fully remote by 2025, one labor expert warned that a "tug of war" between businesses and employees to make the transition could add extra stress to the market.
"We've got this kind of interesting tug of war that's happening right now between workers and the employers," RedBalloon CEO Andrew Crapuchettes said on "Varney & Co." Friday, "because the employers want people in the office, and workers, we learned through the pandemic that, hey, you can be productive for a little bit when you work at home." READ MORE
Home Depot founder schools Fed, Biden over the 'tragedy' that comes with inflation
Billionaire investor, philanthropist and business leader Ken Langone called out the Federal Reserve under President Biden for not acting on raging inflation that’s hurting average Americans most.
"Let me say this to you about Joe Biden, in my opinion, and I'm going to be very, very direct: he thinks he's the smartest guy in the room," Langone said on "Mornings with Maria" Wednesday. "If that's the case, we're really in trouble, because the American people are a lot smarter than that." READ MORE
Silicon Valley Bank touts Forbes 'best bank' nod days before becoming largest failure since Great Recession
It's a remarkable show of how fickle fortune can be, all captured in a tweet.
"Proud to be on @Forbes' annual ranking of America's Best Banks for the 5th straight year and to have also been named to the publication's inaugural Financial All-Stars list," SVB tweeted Monday. READ MORE
Proximity matters at work. What does that mean for the future of remote work?
Despite corporate America’s efforts to create inclusive work environments, leaders across the globe say proximity bias is likely real, according to a 2023 Future of Working and Learning Report READ MORE
The four-day work week: Is it for real?
No doubt you’ve read many of the stories in the business press about the studies going on in the U.K. and other countries where employers agreed to switch to a four-day work week—and it is going really well. Is there a reason to think this is the wave of the future? READ MORE
A Do-Nothing Day Makes Life Better
“A few years ago, my wife, Angie, and I made a pact,” Jason Heller writes in The Atlantic. “Every Sunday, we swore to each other, we will abstain from work. And we kept our promise: On the second day of each weekend, we start our morning and end our night by bingeing TV in bed. In the middle of the day, we binge TV on the couch, taking breaks exclusively to nap or read.” The anxiety of looming to-do lists sometimes creeps in, but “we fight to stay still,” he writes. READ MORE
‘Bare minimum Mondays’ are more than they appear to be
My relationship with TikTok is analogous to my relationship with church. I tend only to visit when invited by a third party, and while I’m not convinced its effects are ubiquitously positive, I’m glad it offers at least some participants comfort during their darker moments. READ MORE
People are over the 40-hour workweek: ‘We don’t want to waste our time’
Between 2019 and 2022, the number of hours people spent working in the U.S. fell by the equivalent of 33 fewer hours a year per person, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research.
The Covid-19 pandemic didn’t just disrupt where and how we show up to our jobs: It has led people to question when and why they should be working in the first place. READ MORE
US labor market stays resilient; Q4 labor costs revised higher
The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell again last week, pointing to sustained labor market strength and adding to financial market fears that the Federal Reserve could keep hiking interest rates for longer.
Those worries were further heightened by another report from the Labor Department on Thursday showing labor costs grew much faster than previously estimated in the fourth quarter. The labor market remains tight despite rising risks of a recession, contributing to keeping inflation elevated via solid wage gains. READ MORE