Originally posted on Fortune.com By Sheryl Estrada.
Enhancing a talent pipeline through internships is particularly important given the current war for talent. Charles Schwab conducted its Schwab Intern Academy virtually for the first time in 2020. “Last year, of the 400 students who joined us, we made offers to 78% of them, and coincidentally, 78% of those offers were accepted,” Rob Mundell, senior vice president of talent solutions at Charles Schwab, said. Andie Teresi, a former-intern-turned-employee, shared her perspective on how the firm will again “transcend the elements of its in-person culture to a virtual setting.”
Corporate board diversity remains at the forefront of the conversation. In December, Nasdaq proposed a board diversity rule, which is being considered by the SEC. At Workday and Fortune’s recent virtual CFO Collaborative event, Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman said the primary portion of the proposal provides transparency around the composition of the board from a diversity perspective. “The second portion of the proposal is goals that we’ve set for the companies listed on Nasdaq to try to reach within the next four years—to have at least one woman and one underrepresented minority or LGBTQ member on the board,” Friedman said.
Fortune and NewtonX, a B2B market research company, worked together to conduct our first-ever CFO survey to find out what CFOs really think about returning to the office. Many actually prefer that employees do not return to a fully in-person work environment post-COVID. Only 25% prefer a full-time in-office arrangement. The majority of CFOs surveyed prefer hybrid work arrangements for reasons such as it reduced their personal work-related expenses, and it’s easier to maintain work/life balance and personal autonomy.
And speaking of hybrid workforces, our CFO survey echoes what Accenture found in a new research report. About 83% of respondents in a global survey of more than 9,000 workers said a hybrid model—sometimes remote, sometimes onsite—would be optimal. Regardless of physical location, enhancing resources to make sure a workforce is healthy and productive, “will produce bottom-line benefits,” according to Accenture. The report notes that 63% of high-revenue growth companies use hybrid, “productivity anywhere,” workforce models.
Eager for more learning? Join VP of Strategic Insights and Analytics, Patiwat Panurach, as he unpacks the learnings of 75 CFOs from the latest NewtonX Current research report, conducted in collaboration with Fortune.
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