This feature of our blog is where our in-house readers share tips, anecdotes, and thoughts about things that come up in their daily practice. You can find the first part of this series here, and the third part will be coming soon. This particular batch of thoughts is about the thing that is freaking you out the most right now at work (feel free to ping me and share your thoughts, which will be posted anonymously or with attribution—whichever you desire):
- “I wouldn’t say I cry myself to sleep every night. But more often than I would tell my wife. It’s so busy that I don’t have time to interview people to hire them. And it’s been like this for years.” – Snow White Doe
- “Climate Disclosure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” – Bashful Doe
- “The possibility of final rules being adopted by the SEC regarding climate-related disclosures. Is addressing climate change important to society? Absolutely. As an experienced securities lawyer, am I professionally prepared to lead that charge? Absolutely not.” – Grumpy Doe
- “How bad and how long the coming recession will be…” – Sleepy Doe
- “I am freaking out about the volume of work I have to do and manage just to prepare for all of these new SEC rules. Even the simple ones like rules on stock repurchases and 10b5-1 plans. Who has time to coordinate and file a form every day? Because we are buying shares almost every day. And we have to formalize our procedures for entering into 10b5-1 plans and clearing insiders to trade which are tightly controlled processes, but not currently written up as a procedure.
Also revamp our insider trading policy as currently it applies only to a fairly narrow leadership group and the two sentences in our business conduct guidelines applicable to everyone else may not be perceived as adequate. And don’t get me started on internal controls for ESG data and the climate change rule. This information is coming from departments and people that in large part haven’t been subject to internal controls or audit processes. It’s a lot.” – Queen Doe
- “Hiring—the need is great, job market is tight, and our group is not supporting fully remote employees; makes for a very discouraging search process.” – Sneezy Doe
- “Staffing shortages and turnover and a resurgence of COVID cases while HR spins it as ‘the new normal.’” – Dopey Doe
- “The lack of human connection is taking its toll. Sometimes I feel like I can’t remember what ‘normal’ was like.” – Doc Doe