More and more CFOs are abandoning back-to-back video conferencing to curb employee burnout

Employee burnout is real and can be exacerbated by inefficient work processes. And as talent hiring and retention remains a top concern for CFOs, some are working to lower their team members’ stress levels — by also limiting daily video meetings.

This week, Gina Mastantuono, CFO of software company ServiceNow, shared a LinkedIn post with her thoughts on brainwave activity research, which found that consecutive video conferencing increased stress levels. “Those of us who work in a hybrid model feel it,” writes Mastantuono. “So I changed it and set some new guidelines for our ServiceNow finance staff.”

“Our Zoom meetings are no longer 30 or 60 minutes,” she writes. “Most of our finance meetings are now 20 to 25 minutes long with a five-minute buffer to stretch and take a mental break before the next meeting begins,” writes Mastantuono. “We’ve been there for the last few months and we see a clear difference.”

“We also introduced Friday WIN (What’s Important Now) time,” she explains. “Every Friday from 1pm to 5pm (local time) everyone in finance blocks their calendars and is discouraged from video conferencing. The purpose is an intentional focus. It gives us space to catch up on reading, writing and whatever else is important to doing your job in a healthy manner without constant interruption.” Mastantuono added, “Listening to your employees’ feedback is pure gold.”

Last time I spoke to Xihao Hu, CFO of TD Bank in the US, he shared best practices in data storytelling. This time, Hu shared his thoughts on making meetings less stressful. “I’ve read several articles and stories lately about companies encouraging employees to cancel all meetings or reduce their meetings throughout the day,” he told me. “It definitely piqued my interest and influenced the way I think.” As a company, TD has encouraged its employees to hold 20-25 minute meetings instead of 30-minute blocks of time, and “we practice well-being by taking screen breaks or walking meetings perform,” says Hu.

In terms of employee engagement, TD’s Training Days, which include a full day of workshops and panel discussions, “offer employees the flexibility to immerse themselves in a variety of interesting topics that map to their career development or areas of interest,” says Hu. “We lock calendars well in advance to avoid meeting conflicts on ‘training days,'” he says.

Hu also told me what he personally does to combat burnout. “As a leader, it’s important that I practice what I preach because everyone needs support from leadership when it comes to finding that work-life balance,” he explains. “I block ‘me’ times on the calendar when I enjoy spending time with my parents or watching football. I also share how I spend my time through open, honest, and frequent communication with my entire team. It starts at the top and creates a positive ripple effect that will hopefully help eliminate meeting fatigue.”

I asked Alka Tandan, CFO of technology company Gainsight, for her thoughts on video conferencing. “We are very aware that our remote-first workplace can easily lead to virtual meeting fatigue,” Tandan told me. Gainsight takes advantage of the “fast meetings” setting in Google Calendar, which “limits meetings to 25 or 50 minutes and helps us avoid back-to-back calls whenever possible,” she says. Tandan encourages department heads to designate certain days of the week as “focus days” when internal department meetings are not desirable, she says. “It gives us the time and energy to focus on getting work done and forces us to question whether a meeting is really necessary to achieve our goals,” she explains. “We still meet externally with other departments, vendors or customers.”

“Gainsight has strict rules for weekend emails,” she says. “We ask employees to avoid work email on Saturdays so everyone can take some well-deserved time off.” And in addition to regular unlimited PTOs, weekends and holidays, employees get an extra day off each month called “Recharge Days.” .

Cretaceous time and meeting management to a whole other post CFOs need to become experts at balancing.

Try to unplug and have a nice weekend.

Sheryl Estrada
[email protected]

Big thing

The US Bank’s 2022 CFO Insights Report measures finance leaders’ priorities in uncertain times. In relation to inflation risks, the top practices are identifying opportunities to reduce costs (57%), assessing the credit risk of major customers (35%), assessing working capital practices (32%) and pricing (32%) . According to the report, however, the CFOs surveyed see talent shortages as the biggest risk, even more so than high inflation. Some of the ways finance leaders are looking to reduce costs include investing in technology, exiting low-margin/low-growth businesses, and outsourcing certain business functions. The results are based on a survey of 750 senior finance executives who work at US companies in various sectors.

go deeper

Here are a few reading samples from the weekend:

A crypto security CEO did business with Sam Bankman-Fried and sent a team to the Bahamas. He was shocked by the lack of interest in security controls and FTX’s great ideas: “Maybe We Buy Goldman Sachs” by Shawn Tully

3 reasons the big tech layoffs don’t mean a recession is around the corner, says Prathana Prakash’s Goldman

Introducing the Chief Remote Officer: Corporate America’s response to a hybrid worker that’s here to stay by Trey Williams

Early birds for victory. That’s why exercising before noon is key to your health by L’Oreal Thompson Payton

leaderboard

Here’s a list of some notable moves this week:

Donald R Kimble, CFO and Chief Administrative Officer at KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY), will retire on May 1, 2023. He will be succeeded by Clark HI Khayat, currently Chief Strategy Officer. Khayat joined KeyCorp in 2012 where he led corporate strategy and then served as Group Head of Commercial Payments. He established Key’s corporate payments and fintech partnership strategies. Khayat led the company’s strategy to build scale through a series of investments in capabilities such as digital and analytics, as well as through successful niche acquisitions including Laurel Road, Cain Brothers and Pacific Crest.

Nancy Walsch has been appointed CFO at Katapult Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: KPLT), an omnichannel point-of-sale payments platform, effective December 12. Former CFO Karissa Cupito is transitioning to a senior advisory role to support the transition through Q1 2023. Walsh was most recently the EVP and CFO of LL Flooring Holdings, Inc., a retailer of hardwood floors and hardwood flooring accessories. Prior to joining LL Flooring Holdings, Walsh was EVP and CFO of Pier 1 Imports, Inc. She also held senior finance and risk management positions at The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc., Tapestry, Inc., Viacom and Timberland.

John Klinger has been promoted to EVP and CFO at The TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE: TJX), an off-price apparel and home furnishings retailer, effective January 29, 2023. Klinger joined TJX in 2000 as a business analytics manager at Marmaxx. He held various finance positions at HomeGoods and Marmaxx before being promoted to VP, Division CFO of AJWright. Thereafter, Klinger held the positions of VP of Corporate Finance and SVP, Divisional CFO, TJX Europe. He later became EVP and Corporate Controller.

Andrew Murphy has been promoted to CFO of Duos Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Duos Technologies Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: DUOT), effective November 15. Since 2020, Murphy has served as VP of Finance at Duos. Prior to joining Duos, Murphy held increasingly senior finance positions at APR Energy. Prior to APR, Murphy worked in corporate and public accounting with a focus on tax and corporate services.

overheard

“Our annual planning process extends into the new year, which means there will be further role cuts as leaders make further adjustments. These decisions will be communicated to affected employees and organizations in early 2023.”

—Amazon CEO Andy Jassy wrote in a memo to workers Thursday that the company will continue to lay off workers in the coming year, CNBC reported.