From employee turnover to the future of finance, here’s what mattered to CFOs this week

Here’s what happened this week:

“CFOs are bullish about the future,” Kathryn Kaminsky, vice chair and U.S. trust solutions co-leader at PwC, said. The firm’s new report found about 31% of CFOs surveyed believe hybrid work is not a challenge to revenue growth compared to 20% of all executives. To offer flexibility, (33%) of executives will have a mixed-model workforce. Meeting the needs of employees is at the forefront as 88% of executives surveyed said their company is experiencing higher turnover than normal. And 65% of employees surveyed said they were seeking a new job in August. “Far and away the most of all respondent groups, CFOs say their company is going to emphasize leadership and culture (63%) and company purpose and values (61%) to differentiate from competitors,” according to the report. 

For working mothers in leadership positions or who have C-suite goals, childcare issues can be a hurdle to advancement if a company is not flexible. My colleague Maria Aspan discusses the effects of more than 2 million women leaving the paid labor force during the pandemic and the state of childcare in her latest piece, Is ‘Big Day Care’ the solution to America’s childcare woes—or is it risky to mix profits and toddlers? In attempts to rectify the crisis, will only a small group of big businesses dominate the market? “Call them Big Day Care, or perhaps more accurately, Big Childcare: KinderCare, Learning Care Group, and Bright Horizons are the largest players in the $47.2 billion childcare market, which is dominated by center-based care,” Maria writes. 

I sat down with David Cutbill, a principal with Deloitte & Touche LLP, and Mike Danitz, principal, finance and enterprise performance at Deloitte, to discuss the firm’s new report Finance 2025: revisited. It’s a follow-up to Deloitte’s 2018 report that made eight predictions on the state of finance by 2025. One of the predictions we discussed is operating models—by 2025, finance will gain access to global talent pools and make greater use of freelancers and gig workers. “Geographic boundaries have kind of been removed, and now everybody’s competing for the same talent,” Cutbill told me. Cutbill and Danitz also offered their predictions on the future of the CFO role.

Hybrid work is seemingly here to stay. But what about hybrid meetings within a hybrid workforce? “Mixed-mode meetings” is the term of preference for the authors of a report published in MIT Sloan Management Review on August 25. When Does It Make Sense to Have Mixed-Mode Meetings?, written by IMD Business School professors Robert Hooijberg and Michael Watkins, explores the drawbacks of meetings where some participants meet in person, and others participate virtually. In a guide for leaders, the professors noted that mixed-mode meetings should be avoided—unless the team already has a foundation of trust and connection. That points to why employee engagement and team building have become even more significant during the pandemic. 

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Thanks for reading! See you on Monday.

Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com

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Big deal

The housing market had a historic run in 2020, and mortgage rates are currently averaging even lower than last year. Freddie Mac released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey on August 26. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 2.87%, compared to a year ago at this time, when it averaged 2.91%. Meanwhile, 15-year FRM averaged 2.17% compared to an average of 2.46% this time last year; and five-year treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 2.42%, compared to 2.91% at the same time in 2020. “The tug-of-war between the economic recovery and rising COVID-19 cases has left mortgage rates moving sideways over the last few weeks,” Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, said in a statement. “Overall, rates continue to be low, with a window of opportunity for those who did not refinance under three percent."

Courtesy of FreddieMac

Going deeper

Here are a few Fortune reads for the weekend:

No McDonald’s milkshakes, no chicken, no gas: Why the U.K.’s supply-chain woes are so acute by Sophie Mellor

As Bitcoin soars to near $50,000, Elon Musk’s profit jumps by 250% by Shawn Tully 

Hollywood stars vs. CEOs: Who’s getting the better deal on pay? by Geoff Colvin 

Silicon Valley’s Long-Term Stock Exchange finally lists its first companies: Twilio and Asana by Declan Harty 

Leaderboard

Some notable moves from this past week:

Aaron Abramovitz was named EVP, treasurer, and CFO at Georgia Power, a Southern Company subsidiary, effective Sept. 1, 2021. Abramovitz is currently VP of business operations for Vogtle 3 & 4 at Southern Nuclear. He was previously director of investor relations at Southern Company. Abramovitz began his career at Southern Company Services in 2002.

Linda Bridges was promoted to EVP and CFO at NGL Energy Partners LP, effective September 30, 2021. Bridges joined the partnership in June 2016 as VP of finance and treasurer. She was promoted to SVP of finance and treasurer in April 2018. Bridges previously worked in the commercial division at Bank of Oklahoma.

Virginie Costa was named Global CFO at Wella Company, a beauty enterprise with brands including Wella Professionals, Clairol, and OPI. Costa brings more than 25 years of financial management experience. Most recently, she served as CFO at Godiva. Costa is a former chief financial and operations officer at Burberry Americas, and CFO and COO at Hermes in France and the Americas.

Navdeep Gupta was named EVP and CFO at Dick's Sporting Goods, effective October 1, 2021. Gupta joined Dick's in November 2017 as SVP, finance and chief accounting officer. He succeeds Lee Belitsky, who will remain with the company as an EVP overseeing areas including supply chain, real estate, and construction.

Linda S. Huber was named CFO at FactSet, a global provider of integrated financial information. She will join the company in early October 2021. Huber most recently served as CFO at MSCI Inc. Prior to her role at MSCI, she served as EVP and CFO of Moody’s Corporation, and EVP and CFO at U.S. Trust Company. Huber brings to FactSet more than 30 years of experience in the financial services industry.

Russ Porter was named SVP of strategy, technology, and analytics and CFO at IMA (Institute of Management Accountants). Porter brings to IMA almost 30 years of experience in financial leadership roles at IBM, including VP of finance for global business services. At IMA, Porter succeeds Doreen Remmen, who served in the role for more than 12 years.

Dan Tucker was named EVP and CFO at Southern Company, effective Sept. 1, 2021. Tucker succeeds Andrew W. Evans who has announced his plans to retire. Tucker is currently EVP, CFO and treasurer at Georgia Power. He began his career with Southern Company in 1998 serving in various positions at the company and its subsidiaries.

 

Overheard

“What we’re seeing is businesses and consumers are learning to adapt and go on with their lives, and they’re realizing that this is not going to be neat and clean or a straight line. It’s going to go in fits and starts, and they’re getting adjusted to that reality.”

—Dallas Federal Reserve President Robert Kaplan on the Delta variant not broadly having much impact on the economy, as told to CNBC.