Tech:NYC Digest: January 11

Tech:NYC Digest: January 11

January 11, 2022 • Estimated Reading Time: 9 minutes

Tuesday, January 11, 2022

In today’s digest, New York’s latest COVID-19 peak begins to plateau, students plan walkouts over in-person learning, and how “stay interviews” are becoming startups' newest retention tool. 

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By the numbers: 

  • New positive cases statewide: 48,686

    • New positive cases, NYC: 27,908

  • NYC Positivity Rate: 20.1 percent (-0.5 percent)

  • NYC Hospitalizations: 6,443 (+198)

  • Statewide Vaccine Progress: 

    • Percentage of adults (18+) with at least one dose: 95.0 percent 

    • Percentage of total population with at least one dose: 85.5 percent 

Today’s latest: 

  • The number of US patients hospitalized with COVID-19 climbed to more than 145,000, surpassing its previous peak. (CNN) But New York’s latest wave may have finally reached its peak: The seven-day average of people visiting emergency rooms with COVID-like illness has dipped significantly in all five boroughs since the end of December. (Bloomberg)

  • Some city students are preparing to walk out of their classes this week over COVID-19 concerns and in support of remote learning, while teachers’ union officials are pushing the state to implement universal testing protocols for all city students. (New York Post) Hundreds of students walked out today at Brooklyn Tech, one of the city’s specialized high schools. (NY1) 

  • A new study found that T cells, the protective immune cells that fight some common colds, also made people less likely to contract COVID-19. (Bloomberg)

  • The new federal rule requiring private insurers to cover the costs of eight at-home rapid tests per month will go into effect on Saturday. The White House is encouraging insurance providers to work with pharmacy chains so people can get tests without having to apply for reimbursements, but any reimbursements for tests purchased for Saturday will not be covered. (New York Magazine)

  • This year’s federal tax filing season will run from Jan. 24 to April 18, but the IRS has warned staffing shortages and backlogs will impact processing and refund timelines. Learn more here.

In other reading:

  • What’s the Difference Between KN95 and KN94 Masks? (New York Magazine)

  • Rapid tests, Omicron, and you: what works and doesn’t with at-home tests (Vox)

  • Confused about at-home tests? These are the easiest to use (USA Today)

  • The World We Want to Live in After COVID (The New Yorker)

You’ve heard of the exit interview, but what about the stay interview?

With hiring and retention at the top of executives’ priority lists for 2022, more companies are aiming to proactively spot an employee’s dissatisfaction with their job to avoid even getting to an exit interview. (Inc.)

The stay interview is similar, but with one key difference: it’s about what’s keeping people at their jobs.

  • Stay interviews are one-on-one conversations with employees that aim to get ahead of problems that may lead an employee to leave the company. 

  • They’re also meant to be temperature checks on employees’ future career goals, what opportunities might be piquing their interest elsewhere, and how their current company could better offer those opportunities. (Fortune)

Amy Zimmerman, chief people officer of fintech company Relay Payments told Protocol that stay interviews have become her key retention tool. The real “why” of a stay interview, she says, is “engagement, retention, and making sure you're creating a happy space.”

  • Zimmerman recommends a few touchpoints a year, so in addition to a mid-year engagement survey, Relay’s managers also conducted stay interviews paired with annual end-of-year merit conversations.

Stay interviews should include three buckets of conversation, says Zimmerman:

  • Manager feedback: “What should I do to best support you as your manager?” and “How do you like to be recognized?”

  • Opportunities for growth: “If you could change something about your job, what would it be?” and “What talents are not being used in your current role?”

  • Company culture: “What’s your favorite and least favorite reasons for working here?” and “What might tempt you to leave?”

Zimmerman emphasizes it’s about what you do with the interview responses — an action plan for each employee — and not the interviews themselves that get results. “The biggest thing that I would say is only do it if you intend to act on it. You lose an enormous amount of credibility if you do something and you don't follow through.”

In other reading:

  • Surging Covid-19 Puts an End to Projected Return-to-Office Dates (Wall Street Journal)

  • A new era for the American worker (Vox)

  • Your helpfulness at work is hurting your job performance (Fast Company)

  • Chapter, a New York City-based medicare advisory services company, raised $42 million in Series B funding. Addition led the round and was joined by Narya Capital, Susa Ventures, Maverick Ventures, XYZ Venture Capital, Core Innovation Capital, and Health2047 Capital Partners. (Businesswire)

  • IL Makiage, a New York City-based beauty brand, raised $130 million in growth equity funding at a $1.5 billion valuation. Investors included Thomas Tull, Franklin Templeton, Fidelity, and First Light Capital Group. (WWD)

  • Novo, a New York City-based small business banking platform, raised $90 million in Series B funding. Stripes led the round and was joined by Valar Ventures, Crosslink Capital, Rainfall Ventures, and BoxGroup. (TechCrunch)

  • TMV, a New York City-based early-stage investment firm, raised $64 million for its Fund II, focusing on health and pet care, sustainability, the future of work, and financial inclusion. (Forbes)

  • January 12: Virtual: Will 2022 Finally Be the Year for Women Founders and Funders?, with Lux Capital partner Deena Shakir and former CalPERS board member Stacey Olivares. Hosted by Barron’s. Register here.

  • January 12: Virtual: The Future of Work Summit, with Zoom CTO Brendan Ittelson, Salesforce Service Cloud CEO Clara Shih, Moveworks CEO Bhanvin Shah, and others. Hosted by VentureBeat. Register here.

  • January 20: Virtual: How Snap Inc. Is Future Proofing Its Family Benefits for a New World of Work, with Maven SVP of People Karsten Vagner. Hosted by Maven. Register here.

  • January 25: Virtual: The Future of Community, with Flybridge Capital and Community Fund VC general partner Jesse Middleton. Register here.

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