🍋 Great Resignation Tanking Productivity

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Good Morning! Cities had hoped that public transportation would make a post-Covid comeback. However, this has not been the case and cities are starting to feel the pinch. New York wants more electric vehicles, but a new report found they’re struggling to find tens of thousands of new parking spaces.

Over 100 parties have expressed interest in buying FTX, even despite its legal troubles. Goldman Sachs will lay off 3,200 employees this week. And Rolls Royce is seeing a record demand for luxury sales, even amid high inflation.

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1. Story of the Day: Great Resignation Tanking Productivity

The pandemic may have turned our work lives upside down - literally. According to government data, a whopping 4.5 million workers voluntarily left their jobs in November 2021 alone, the highest recorded in the past 20 years. Although the numbers have decreased recently, they're still higher than before the pandemic hit.

Some economists are starting to hypothesize that the widespread job-hopping is contributing to a productivity slowdown. Just when we thought the pandemic would boost productivity by forcing companies to embrace new tech and work styles, it's actually led to a small dip over the past couple of years.

Economists generally see turnover as a boost for productivity, but for companies, the Great Resignation has been more like a never-ending game of whack-a-mole. Every time they think they've hired the perfect employee, another one quits and they're back to square one with training and onboarding.

Productivity is a key component of a strong economy, especially when prices are rising faster than a hot air balloon. When productivity is high, everyone wins - employers can pay workers more without sacrificing profits or raising prices. But if productivity is low, it's like a game of musical chairs - there are only so many jobs to go around, and if you're not the one sitting in the chair when the music stops, you're outta luck.

Takeaway: Many economists are hoping that the increase in turnover during the pandemic will eventually lead to increased productivity. The pandemic has also prompted companies to reevaluate their practices in order to increase efficiency. It's like trying to fill a leaky bucket by only focusing on recruitment - companies must also make an effort to retain their workers.

2. Markets Rundown

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Stocks lost momentum as investors eye the chances of Fed rate hikes.

Movers & Shakers

• (+) Duck Creek ($DCT) +47% after the company announced it will be taken private.

• (+) Zillow ($ZG) +8% after Bank of America upgraded the company's stock.

• (–) Lululemon ($LULU) -9% after the company expects lower revenue than expected.

Private Dealmaking

• Vista Equity Partners will buy Duck Creek Technologies, a software company for insurers, for $2.6 billion

• AstraZeneca bought CinCor Pharma, a biotech company focused on hypertension, for $1.8 billion

• LionTree bought Transmit Live, a streaming ad tech platform, for $350 million

• Amolyt Pharma, a French endocrine disease treatment startup, raised $138 million

• Superscript, a British insurtech platform for small businesses, raised $54 million

• Manafa, a finance startup for small and medium-sized companies, raised $28 million

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3. Top Reads

• Consumers see inflation and spending cooling off in the year ahead (CNBC)

• Retailers are prematurely sounding the alarm on low earnings (YF)

• Bonds are back, but for how long? (CNN)

• Microsoft’s future with OpenAI (Axios)

• Is the metaverse office just hype? (BBC)

• AI got $1.37 billion of investments last year (NYT)

• Value stocks to lure investors during grim earnings season (BB)

• The legal threat coming for venture capital (Politico)

• What’s ahead for Bed Bath & Beyond ahead of bankruptcy warning (CNBC)

4. Book of the Day: I'm Glad My Mom Died

Jennette McCurdy was six years old when she had her first acting audition. Her mother’s dream was for her only daughter to become a star, and Jennette would do anything to make her mother happy.

So she went along with what Mom called “calorie restriction,” eating little and weighing herself five times a day. She endured extensive at-home makeovers while Mom chided, “Your eyelashes are invisible, okay? You think Dakota Fanning doesn’t tint hers?”

She was even showered by Mom until age sixteen while sharing her diaries, email, and all her income.

Told with refreshing candor and dark humor, I’m Glad My Mom Died is an inspiring story of resilience, independence, and the joy of shampooing your own hair.

“I don’t like knowing people in the context of things. “Oh, that’s the person I work out with. That’s the person I’m in a book club with. That’s the person I did that show with." Because once the context ends, so does the friendship.”

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5. Short Squeez Picks

• 50 New Year’s resolutions and how to achieve each of them

• 12 powerful visuals on life and psychology

• How to spend your time on what matters most

• Be a schedule-builder - not a to-do list maker

• The 5-to-9 habits that could be hurting your 9-to-5 productivity

6. Daily Visual: Avatar Wins the 2022 Box Office Crown

Worldwide box office revenue

Source: Statista

7. Daily Acumen

“If you wait until you're motivated, you’ve already lost.

Surgeons don’t always feel like doing surgery. Teachers don’t always feel like teaching.

Parents don’t always feel like cooking. Firemen don’t always feel like rushing into a burning building.

If you let motivation dictate your actions, inertia conspires to keep you in place.

Action creates progress. Progress creates momentum. Momentum creates motivation.”

Source: Farnam Street

8. Job Board

• Crypto Trading Firm - Cryptocurrency Algorithmic Trader - Remote

• Fireblocks - Sr. Financial Analyst - Boston, MA

• OpenSea - Strategic Finance Analyst - Remote

• U.S. Bank National Association - Wealth Management Advisor - Seattle, WA

• Ethic - Software Engineering Analyst, Trading - New York

• Mattel - VP of Finance - El Segundo, CA

9. Memes of the Day

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