Chicago Booth Group Photo
On April 9-10, 2014 I was invited to attend the Chicago Booth CFO Forum. It was an amazing experience to have the opportunity to meet and dive deeply into issues with Booth CFOs from companies like Sony, 3M, Walt Disney, Honeywell, Starwood Resorts, John Deere, Zebra Technologies, Harley Davidson, Netflix, Allstate, Motorola and Twitter. Interestingly, but not surprisingly, this year’s Forum dedicated portions of two panel discussions to the topic of finding and keeping talented team members.
In the session entitled Value Creation in Private Companies, I was fortunate to participate on the panel as we explored key drivers of success for different types of private organizations. Discussion quickly moved to the accelerating “War for Talent”. All participants agreed that employees are a (if not THE) critical value driver of success for any organization, whether building innovative products, delighting customers, or communicating with stakeholders. From railroad companies to consulting companies to hedge funds to tech firms to non-profits, all organizations are acutely focused on new and unique ways to attract and retain top talent.
In Sourcing the Next Generation of Finance Talent, discussion focused on what Millennials, workers born between 1980 and 1995, are looking for in an employer. This session started with research provided by experts from SpencerStuart and Chicago Booth followed by applicable stories presented by the CFOs of 3M and Careerbuilder. Evident throughout was that organizations are changing how they think about work. Notably, the Millennial generation (which will make up 75% of the global workforce by 2025) have different expectations than that of either the Baby Boomers — who tend to focus on cash compensation and company loyalty , or Generation X — who tend to focus on independence and unimpeded work opportunity.
John Evarts at Chicago Booth CFO Forum | Source
What were my key takeaways from these two sessions?
1. Best in class companies create a culture of transparency and social responsibility.
2. Today’s highly sought-after employees do not necessarily require elevated cash compensation. They do, however, seek meaningful and challenging work, flexible work arrangements, strong collaboration, and executive level exposure and influence.
3. The definition of “workplace” must continue to broaden. More people are working from home and full-time team members are working remotely with part-time and contract team members. As these conditions and relationships evolve, so to must facilities and technologies evolve in order to maintain a strong culture while affording the flexibility required of an increasingly virtual environment.
I am excited that our efforts to attract and retain top talent have resulted in strong alignment with these key takeaways. In my subsequent blog posts, I’ll focus on how Mediafly continues to work on initiatives that meet the evolving needs of our current and future Flyers.
Ready to join a growing team of collaborative and energetic individuals? Check out Mediafly’s Careers page HERE and become a future Flyer.
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