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From One HR Leader to Another: How to Survive the ‘Great Resignation’

August 31, 2021/Hiring and Retention /by Julie Salomone

Just as HR leaders were ready to take a breath and celebrate the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel, Anthony Klotz, a Texas A&M University professor, sat down with Bloomberg BusinessWeek and blew up the remainder of our 2021 recruitment strategy. From that interview, the term “Great Resignation” was born. This is the phenomenon where workers consider a job change as pandemic restrictions ease and employees go back to the office. As a result, 30 percent of the workforce (and that’s likely a conservative estimate) is predicted to leave their current jobs for greater flexibility. In addition to that, more than 75 million Baby Boomers are planning to retire sooner than previously expected. With this in mind, you’re likely wondering how you’ll bring stability to your company. It’s the perfect HR storm.

Significant turnover translates to an incredible workload for HR teams. It’s also costly to businesses and company culture. As HR leaders, what can we do to ensure our companies don’t fall prey to excessive retirement parties and exit interviews?

Take care of your HR team first.

It’s been a tough year for everyone, but HR teams have been hit especially hard with pandemic-related stresses. HR professionals are concerned about their own personal health and well-being in addition to that of employees. They also have the added responsibility of helping employees through COVID-related issues. It can become a lot to bear.

There’s a reason why parents are told to secure their own oxygen masks on a plane before helping children. We can’t be of help to other teams if our HR departments are struggling. The remainder of 2021 is likely going to be a bumpy ride. Taking the time to check in with your team throughout the year shows them that you’re committed to their well-being. It means a lot for a manager to acknowledge that someone’s contributions are meaningful and appreciated. Continue this throughout any hard season. Ensure your team has what they need to perform at their best. And when they don’t, step up to help them in whatever way you can. Getting ahead of HR burnout will be key to your success, and will help your organization avoid the fallout of the “Great Resignation.”

There are no one-size-fits-all solutions.

As pandemic restrictions ease, business leaders must now decide how and where their teams work best. These decisions are vital to keeping your team happy, thriving, and on your payroll.

As of December 2020, 71 percent of employees that could do their jobs remotely were choosing to work from home. More than half of those employees said they would like to continue to work from home post-pandemic. But there’s no one-size-fits-all solution here. It’s all about personalization.

Personalizing the employee experience means understanding the broader culture and sub-cultures within teams to accommodate employees, whenever possible. Consider surveying your team regularly to take a pulse on work preferences. You’ll likely find the needs of your employees will change. Some employees want to remain remote. Others need the structured collaboration that an office provides. And finally, some will want a hybrid work option. You may also have a subset of employees considering retirement, and that group may benefit from a part-time transitional schedule. This would allow your team to fill in gaps while giving your future retirees the chance to ease into retirement life. Give people less of a reason to join the “Great Resignation.” Have an open mind and consider working options you may not have previously allowed.

Work as a leadership team to provide the flexibility needed for employees to be successful, in whatever way is meaningful to them. Embracing agility and allowing your employees to personalize their work experience will set you apart from the competition. A study by KPMG showed companies that invest in the employee experience are four times more profitable than those that don’t. There are now far too many companies that are willing to personalize and offer flexible work solutions. If your business isn’t doing it, your team will find one that is.

Allow your managers the chance to shine.

Too often, we blame work culture when employees leave organizations. But in my experience, people don’t leave companies, they leave managers. Because of this, you must spend a significant amount of time choosing, mentoring, and empowering your managers. These are your front-line leaders who have the most access to and time with your team. Managers are responsible for creating, bridging, and communicating your company’s culture. They are your lifeline to your organization. You must work to cultivate empathetic and understanding managers and give them the power to make decisions for employees that support flexibility and the needs of the business. When they fail to do these things, people leave, contributing to the “Great Resignation.”

Leaders who are focused on supporting and empathizing with their employees can form better connections and understand their needs. The pandemic had a huge impact on workplaces and we’re now seeing employee burnout. Uncertainty, transitioning to new ways of working, and changing expectations all factor into burnout. Proactive, empathetic managers can make all the difference in ensuring that employees want to stay with a company. When assessing leaders, measure emotional intelligence. Look at their ability to listen actively, understand employee needs, and engage in an empathetic way.

We all know the grass is not always greener. But with job openings reaching a new high of 9.2 million across the country, it’s easy to see why employees are eager to update their resumes. By taking care of your employees and empowering your managers, you’ll deal less with the “Great Resignation” and more with the great service anniversaries you’ll be celebrating.

5 Ways to Develop Communication Around Employee Absenteeism

August 30, 2021/HR Strategy /by Jori Hamilton

Businesses want their workers to feel and perform their best. Yet, employee absenteeism remains problematic for many companies across the United States.

Absenteeism occurs when personnel frequently miss work. The issue can happen for personal or medical reasons. Regardless, it can hamper workplace productivity, result in revenue losses, and cause other short- and long-term business problems.

Research indicates that approximately three percent of the U.S. workforce is absent on any given day. An absent employee cannot support a company’s operations. As such, the business, its workforce, and its customers can suffer the consequences of even a single employee’s absence.

Ultimately, there is no surefire solution to cure employee absenteeism. However, HR professionals who can manage absenteeism in the workplace are well-equipped to deal with this problem. Best of all, these professionals can educate workers about absenteeism and ensure that they can minimize its impact.

The Importance of Educating Employees

Communication can dictate a company’s culture, particularly when it comes to employee absenteeism. Why? Because if a business builds and maintains a culture that promotes open and honest communication, it can ensure that its employees know what to do if they need to miss work. At the same time, these employees will not feel anxious or worried about taking time off. Rather, workers can follow the proper protocols to notify appropriate stakeholders and ensure that the business can stay on track until they return.

HR professionals play important roles in teaching employees about absenteeism. With the right approach, these professionals can teach employees about a company’s absenteeism protocols. HR professionals can respond to concerns and questions about these protocols and verify that employees know how to follow them. Plus, they can develop and leverage clear, concise, and accurate communications to keep workers up to date regarding absenteeism.

Tips to Educate Employees About Absenteeism

Here are five tips to help HR professionals teach workers about absenteeism.

1. Collect and Analyze Data

Retrieve weekly time reports and other workplace statistics to understand employee absenteeism. HR professionals can track excused and unexcused worker absenteeism and use an absenteeism formula to assess the issue’s impact on their business. From here, HR professionals can use analytics tools to get the most value out of their absenteeism data. Once HR pros generate insights, they can share them with workers. This allows employees to understand the prevalence of absenteeism across their organization. In addition, it enables HR professionals to set the stage for employees to do their part to correct the problem.

2. Let Employees Provide Feedback

Use questionnaires and surveys to get employees’ perspectives on absenteeism. Employees can then share their feedback on why they miss work and how they feel about their organization’s absenteeism policies. Meanwhile, HR professionals can leverage employee questionnaires and surveys to fine-tune their absenteeism communications. For instance, HR pros may discover many workers are struggling with burnout. This sense of hopelessness with their jobs can lead to absenteeism. In this instance, they can educate employees about burnout and how to guard against it. Or, HR pros may find employees often show up to work even when they are too sick or distracted to be productive. If this occurs, they can teach their workers about presenteeism (where people show up to work even if they’re sick) and the dangers associated with it.

3. Discuss Absenteeism

Host meetings with workers to share details about absenteeism policies at your organization. The meetings enable HR professionals and employees to learn from one another. Initially, HR pros can provide insights into absenteeism and how employees should notify their superiors if they need to miss work. They can explain the differences between excused and unexcused absences and define other employee absenteeism terms and phrases as well. Furthermore, employees can use these meetings to share their thoughts and opinions with HR pros regarding absenteeism. They can also gain insights into how their organization can keep workers happy, healthy, and productive.

4. Be Proactive

Dedicate the time, energy, and resources necessary to educate workers about absenteeism. HR professionals should review any communications regarding absenteeism before they are sent to employees. This allows HR pros to verify that the communications are easy to understand and provide timely and relevant information to workers. HR pros should provide regular updates regarding employee absenteeism, too. This allows workers to stay in the loop about any changes to a company’s absenteeism policies.

5. Keep the Lines of Communication Open

Remain accessible to employees and ensure they can get insights into absenteeism issues at any time. HR professionals can encourage workers to reach out with any concerns or questions regarding their company’s employee absenteeism policies.

The Bottom Line: HR Professionals and Employees Can Work Together to Combat Absenteeism

Together, HR professionals and employees can help organizations remain safe, productive, and efficient. HR pros can communicate absenteeism policies to employees and workers can comply with them. As a result, HR pros and workers can minimize employee absenteeism and increase work satisfaction levels overall.

HR’s New Responsibility: Addressing Social Injustice

August 24, 2021/Company Culture /by Connie Du

The last year and a half has been a reckoning for workplaces; companies addressed the paradigm-shattering COVID-19 crisis, while also addressing issues of social injustice inside and outside the office.

Now that many companies are getting ready to welcome their employees back to the office, more employees are putting pressure on companies for better treatment. Or they’re simply walking away from their jobs in search of companies that share their values.

Human resources departments across the United States have been busy, to say the least!

So, is HR expected to manage payroll, benefits, recruiting… and address social injustice in current events, too?

The answer is yes. Here’s why.

Millennials expect to bring their whole selves to work.

Millennials, who are set to comprise up to 75 percent of the total U.S. workforce by 2025, fundamentally define diversity and inclusion differently than their older counterparts. They don’t believe in the well-intentioned but misguided “colorblindness” approach of yore.

Deloitte’s report, The Radical Transformation of Diversity and Inclusion: The Millennial Influence, “found that in defining diversity, millennials move well beyond the integration of demographic differences. They more commonly cite diversity as the blending of unique perspectives within a team, known as cognitive diversity.”

Millennials strongly believe that their unique perspectives cannot be separated from their success. In other words, they refuse to check their identities at the door because they believe that identities bring value to business outcomes.

And if current events threaten that sense of identity, these employees expect organizations to understand the cognitive load of social injustice.

“Businesses that don’t expand their notions of diversity and inclusion will increasingly lose their millennials and certainly won’t retain Generation Z … who are even less focused on traditional diversity than their older brothers and sisters and are even more engaged in socially collaborative platforms,” according to the Deloitte report.

Mental wellness impacts employee engagement.

When Millennials and Gen-Z bring their whole selves to work, this also includes their mental wellness. Morra Aarons-Mele said it succinctly in Harvard Business Review: “As we recognize neurological and emotional diversity in all of its forms, workplace cultures need to make room for the wide range of emotions we experience.”

Bonusly, an employee engagement software, also found this to be true in their survey of employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. Unsurprisingly, employees are much more stressed about work and at work than in years previous. But as it turns out, Bonusly also found that “highly engaged employees are 3.2 times more likely to be on a team that encourages open discussion of anxiety and stress at work than actively disengaged employees.”

So when incidents like the murder of George Floyd, the Atlanta spa shootings, or the January 6 Capitol riot occur, the best thing you can do for your employees is to acknowledge what’s going on. Let them know that you see and hear their concerns.

Be cognizant that current events impact your employees’ mental wellness. Also, recognize that you, as an HR professional, have the ability to thoughtfully address your team in a way that helps them feel valued and purposeful.

Crafting your employee experience and building purpose

We talk often about making sure employees feel valued as a crucial part of their employee experience. Recognize millennials and Gen Z for their diversity of experiences because that is what they need to feel appreciated. This requires a tailored approach from HR.

Consider this. HR is the department responsible for crafting and supporting the entire employee experience. So that responsibility extends to supporting employees’ well-being in times of social unrest.

Also, this is an opportunity to foster inclusion and a sense of purpose.

“Employees now want more from their employer than a paycheck. They want a sense of pride and fulfillment from their work, a purpose, and importantly a company whose values match their own,” said Jeanne Meister in her Forbes piece.

The subject of continued social injustice can be complex for companies to address. But it’s your responsibility as an HR professional to facilitate those conversations productively.

Do the work to understand your employees’ unique perspectives. Be aware of what can impact their well-being. This creates an inclusive and equitable environment for all workers.

You might have some difficult conversations, but it’ll pay off in time. After all, 83 percent of millennials are actively engaged when they believe the organization fosters an inclusive culture. And world events impact employees greatly. Addressing those issues is the compassionate, empathetic thing to do.

Dealing with a Talent Shortage? Then Liberate Your Talent Strategy

August 23, 2021/Hiring and Retention /by Pooja Maggon

Organizations everywhere are facing a tightening talent shortage. A recent study noted that seven computer- or math-related jobs go unfilled for every unemployed, high-skilled STEM worker in America. Moreover, these jobs represent a disproportionate amount of immigrants, suggesting that the global IT workforce is substantial, skilled, and in high demand. But it’s not just high-skilled work either. Low-skilled, low-wage jobs go unfilled due to high demand and low supply, giving more power to workers.

These trends lead employers to expand their horizons when it comes to sourcing and securing the talent they need. They’re looking wider and deeper into their talent pools, Whether they’re looking for more diverse hires than traditionally expected or in new pockets around the world, they need the right tools.

In-house talent acquisition teams are still burdened with stringing together hiring programs that create rigid, dizzying experiences for everyone involved.

At best, time to hire is too slow. At worst, valuable company time and costs are sunk into a bad fit. In addition, the more inclusive hiring future will only increase the complexities of finding talent efficiently while providing a great candidate and employer experience.

The problem lies in overly complicated processes and disconnected systems leaving hiring teams with just as much work to do and no time to do it. Leaders need a way to simplify the process. Removing this bloat—and meeting hiring needs with efficiency—will depend on leveraging technology that integrates an entire platform to find, vet, and hire global, qualified talent from a single source.

In short, as the business landscape becomes more flexible, organizations need more capable technology to support the increasing variety and variance in hiring. But how? Here are three ways to revamp your talent strategy to keep up with growth.

Liberate your talent acquisition strategy.

The first thing I recommend to talent leaders is to think bigger, liberating the notion of “this is the way we’ve always done it.” Clearly, the old game isn’t going to work. Granted, that’s easier said than done. But the reality is that workers have increasing leverage, demanding that they have more flexibility regarding where and when they work, and, importantly, whom they work for. Labor market data shows that quit rates are at the highest level since 2000. The talent landscape has changed dramatically, and employers need to rethink their approaches.

So, get creative about your talent strategy. Think outside the box when it comes to where and how you look for talent.

Perhaps you could lower artificial barriers to qualified talent. For instance, some large tech firms have rid their job descriptions of bachelor’s degrees, seeking only the skills required to actually do the work. Or maybe you can search alternative talent marketplaces for vetted job seekers from around the world. For example, you may not have the same tools to qualify talent from other countries. However, there are ways to ensure you’re getting the right person with the right skills for the job no matter where they live.

Liquidate the pipeline.

Too many apps and outdated processes stand in the way of a great candidate experience. This results in a slower time to hire and slower growth. It doesn’t have to be like this. You should be able to find any talent for any job anywhere in the world without having to cobble together half a dozen siloed systems. There should be a flood of talent for your open positions, so you just need to liquidate the pipeline by removing its barriers.

Consider this common situation: You have a talented developer who suddenly quit for another firm and you need to fill that vacancy as fast as possible. Traditionally, you’d post job descriptions to a bunch of job boards only to hope you’ll get someone equally talented. It takes weeks—even months sometimes. Communication takes forever, interviewing goes on even longer, and vetting candidates’ qualifications is a crash course in project management.

Now consider an alternative experience. That talented developer leaves and you search through a database of thousands of already vetted, qualified candidates ready for the picking. They’re from anywhere in the world, for any role you need. Communication is a breeze, and you cut interview time in half because of the pre-qualification standards in place. Plus, you move the candidate through the hiring process in a fraction of the time. No barriers, no silos, everything taken care of.

With a good talent strategy in place, that’s the way it should be.

Lower the floodgates.

Finally, with a wider focus on your talent pool and a more streamlined approach to talent strategy, you’re ready to absorb the rising demand, increase the supply, and propel business growth.

We’ve been witnessing and driving a fundamental shift away from traditional recruiting and staffing. We know that those who go all-in on total talent gain a sustainable advantage over market competitors. Now you’re ready to liberate your workforce.

Hiring for Soft Skills: Benefits and Tips

August 18, 2021/Hiring and Retention /by Jen Rifkin

Today, hiring for soft skills is critical for your organization’s success. By looking beyond a job’s requisite hard skills, such as those needed for cloud computing or customer service, you can attract and retain top talent by focusing on soft skill recruitment.

According to a recent LinkedIn Global Talent Trends survey, 92 percent of hiring and talent professionals stated that it’s “increasingly important” to hire candidates with well-developed soft skills, especially in today’s changing workplace. In the same survey, 89 percent stated that bad hires “typically have poor soft skills.”

Unlike hard skills, however, soft skills are often trickier to assess during the hiring process. It’s hard to tell from a resume what soft skills someone possesses. And traditional interview questions don’t typically focus on these competencies.

In this article, we’ll explore some benefits of hiring for soft skills for organizations. And we will offer tips for switching to a soft skills-focused hiring process.

Benefits of Hiring for Soft Skills

Broaden and diversify your hiring pipeline

Increased workplace productivity, employee retention, and improved customer service experiences aren’t the only benefits of hiring for soft skills. Additionally, hiring for soft skills allows you to broaden and diversify your hiring pipeline since you’re shifting your focus away from credentials.

According to Harvard Business Review, companies with robust talent pipelines focus on “potential, not credentials.” For example, instead of focusing on technical skills, which have a shelf life of a couple of years, soft skills can last a lifetime. Notably, those employers all valued soft skills as much as they did hard ones.

Increase workplace productivity and retention

In a frequently cited study by Harvard University, University of Michigan, and Boston University, researchers found that soft skills training increases productivity and retention by 12 percent, overall netting a 256 percent return on investment. That would make any CFO happy.

Further, as the workplace quickly evolves, upskilling and reskilling are at the top of everyone’s to-do list. Training for soft skills is no different. In a 2019 Consumer Technology Association study, 66 percent of tech industry leaders stated that “professional development programs to hone soft skills” are important or very important to retaining qualified employees over the next five years.

Improve customer satisfaction and experience

Soft skills are also essential when delivering superior customer experiences. After all, most customer service skills are soft skills, such as active listening, communication, and empathy.

And, of course, when customers have better experiences, this leads to increased sales. Forrester recently reported that companies focused on customer experience increased revenue 1.4 times faster while increasing customer lifetime value 1.6 times more than companies without a customer experience focus.

Ease upskilling

Additionally, soft skills are more challenging to teach than hard skills. Why are soft skills harder to learn? For one, they are rooted in personality, unlike hard skills. For example, empathy may be rooted in one’s life experience.

Because soft skills are tied to an employee’s personality, improvement of these skills requires continual learning and self-reflection. It’s just not the same for hard skills like accounting. When you hire for soft skills first, you’ll find it easier to upskill employees. This is because you’ll be focused on easier-to-train hard skills.

Tips for Switching to a Soft Skills Focused Recruiting Process

Focus on your job descriptions

Review your current job descriptions. Do they focus on soft skills such as communication or teamwork? If not, it’s time to step back. Review the competencies needed for the job opening and refine your job ad accordingly. Refocusing your job requirements with soft skills in mind not only helps you find the best candidate but also strengthens your talent pipeline by broadening your pool of qualified applicants.

Structure your interviews

You’ve probably heard the phrase, “hard skills can be trained; soft skills can’t.” Because of this, it’s critical to structure your job interviews in a way to solicit insight into soft skills competencies. However, when refining your interviewing process, be sure to standardize your questions, helping to keep potential bias in check.

Screen for soft skills efficacy

Pre-hire assessment tools allow you to pinpoint soft skills at the top of the funnel. By incorporating these tools into your hiring process, you can hire up to 10 times more accurately. This saves money, time, and, yes, frustration, while creating a better recruitment experience for candidates.

With AI-driven tools such as Cangrade’s pre-hire assessments and job description decoder, you can start narrowing your talent pool quickly, making the right hire the first time. You can learn more about how these tools help you identify the specific soft skills required for success in your organization with this demo.

HR Case Management: The Journey to Employee Acceptance

August 16, 2021/Employee Experience /by Marta Simeonova

Implementing HR case management is paramount for centralizing and standardizing HR support. It provides the opportunity to streamline the HR processes. It also assigns work to its rightful place, scales the HR organization, enhances reporting, and provides the technological foundation for HR transformation. This ultimately leads to a more structured, efficient HR organization, thus immensely improving the employee experience.

Unfortunately, employees often do not see it that way when initially introduced to HR case management. They are used to walking up or sending an email to their local HR representative and may feel they are losing this individual personal touch. Also, others may just dislike change. This can and should be expected.

And while, to a great extent, the adoption of this new model just requires time, having been through two global HR case management implementations, I do believe there are some actions we can take to facilitate it and make it smoother.

Design Around Employee Experience

According to isolved’s research, employee experience is a top priority for 92 percent of HR leaders. So enhancing employee experience is already at the forefront of our minds. And while all the benefits of HR case management described above may take some time to emerge, there are some value-adds that we can bring about even as we design and configure our HR case management system.

Think about some of your employees’ main challenges when reaching out for HR support. Try to address them. For example, the HR-related information on the company intranet may be very outdated and difficult to navigate. So adding an employee knowledge portal to the HR case management solution can be an effective way of attracting employees to the new work model.

The automatic workflows can provide many other value-adds to employees and managers. From eliminating the need for offline approvals to automatic reminders for required actions or checklists, the options are numerous. And may be a bit overwhelming. So try to assess which ones will have the most significant impact and start with them.

Communicate, Communicate, Communicate

As with any other change management activity, communication through implementing an HR case management solution is imperative. Highlight the benefits to the employee experience, but to achieve maximum effect, keep the communication focused. Tailor different messages to different groups in the organization, outlining the specific impact the new technology will have on improving their work lives.

While focusing on all the positives, do not forget to be realistic and address the main areas of potential resistance. These usually revolve around two main themes.

The first one is related to response times. For some employees who have so far had easy and direct access to their local HR representative, utilizing HR case management may appear slow. But my experience shows that if we present clear timelines and set the right expectations, most of our internal clients accept the new turnaround times relatively quickly.

The other types of concerns usually revolve around the quality of the HR service and the expertise of the HR specialists who will provide it in the new operating model. So make sure you build up the reputation of your HR service center team during the implementation process.

And don’t forget to continue communicating even after the initial rollout so you can reinforce your messages and keep the momentum going.

Break Old Habits

The tactics described so far are directed at pulling employees to the new HR case management solution. But we also need to push them a bit towards using it.

And to create new habits, we first need to break the old ones. For example, one of the most persistent habits we have as employees is to send and receive emails. Most of us practically live in our inboxes. So the easiest thing to do is shoot an email to the HR specialist we are used to contacting.

In both HR case management implementations that I was part of, we recognized that this habit would delay our system adoption. So we disabled the functionality to open an HR case via email from the start.

This ensured that the employees would have to go through the HR portal. There, they were more likely to try to find the information themselves. Even if they were not successful, they would then be able to select the specific type of HR case related to their query. And that would facilitate triaging and getting their request resolved faster and more efficiently.

Make Using HR Case Management Unavoidable

A big part of our resistance to change is the fear of the unknown. So one of the most efficient ways to facilitate fast adoption is to create a compelling need for people to use the new tool. Think of a process that the vast majority of the employees will want to participate in and move it to your case management tool.

We did this with our PTO sell-back program recently, making our HR case management system the only channel through which employees could send their requests. It had an amazing impact on our adoption rates which continued to remain high even after the program was over.

Get Everyone On Board

Many HR representatives find it easier to continue with their old way of work. They want to respond to queries directly rather than guiding employees to use case management.

If not addressed quickly, this can significantly delay the new model acceptance. In addition, it can create confusion which will be detrimental to employee experience.

So work with your HR function continuously. Provide them with the tools and resources to gently redirect employees and ensure that they are fluent with the system’s benefits.

Provide Excellent Service

All of the actions described here will help you overcome any resistance to change and guide your employees to your HR case management tool. But there is one more big step you need to take if you want them to turn HR case management into the go-to source for all HR support.

You need to ensure that the service employees receive is outstanding. You can have the greatest technology with all the bells and whistles. But in the end, the positive employee experience will depend on whether the query gets resolved. And for that, you need a well-trained and knowledgeable HR service center team.

Investing enough time and resources in their initial training is imperative. But it’s not enough. Make sure they are the first to know about any policy changes or new HR programs. Provide them with all the resources they need. When you do this, HR case management will be all that you promised your employees it would be.

Create a Culture of Cybersecurity: Teach Employees to ‘Catch a Phish’

August 4, 2021/HR Technology /by Ciara Lakhani

In 2020, 74 percent of U.S. organizations said they succumbed to a phishing attack. As today’s news cycle fills with ransomware headlines and remote connectivity continues, it’s increasingly essential for companies to implement action plans for cybersecurity awareness. Phishing can get both people and businesses into all sorts of deep water.

The word “phishing” is commonly used as an umbrella term for a variety of attacks, though the overarching category that phishing falls into is called social engineering. Social engineers prey on human nature with the intent to manipulate a person to take a specific action. Phishing refers to the most common type of social engineering: fraudulent emails sent to many people.

The idea is to cast a wide net with simple bait—fake communication that often impersonates an individual or brand. Phishing works because it taps some of the most basic human traits (curiosity, carelessness, fear of missing out), and scammers know how to use those traits to their advantage. They hook you with an email, text message, phone call, or social media message. Then, they lure you in with a malicious link or attachment and then make the catch–: stolen login credentials or a compromised system.

Many companies attempt to create a culture of cybersecurity and phishing awareness by using scare tactics. These can make employees annoyed at your IT team—or worse, resentful. They may even feel so anxious about phishing that they won’t click on any link or attachment—even important ones. At the end of the day, negative emotions won’t help you build an effective culture of cybersecurity awareness. HR departments should make it their goal to nurture a blame-free, empowering security culture where all employees feel they are contributing to a shared goal.

Create a culture of cybersecurity.

In a well-functioning culture of cybersecurity, employees understand their roles in protecting your company’s data and IT resources. They are active participants in ongoing security conversations. Also, they have the tools they need to maintain good security habits without impeding their work. A blame-free culture doesn’t mean a lack of accountability. Instead of using a punitive model, however, find other ways that motivate employees to follow policies and strong security habits. For example:

Don’t instill fear in employees with threats of termination for repeatedly falling for simulated phishing.
Do implement a buddy system that appoints a peer to be a team or department’s cybersecurity expert.
Don’t require employees to reuse or write down their passwords.
Do provide appropriate resources and tools, such as password managers, so employees can use and manage strong passwords.

A recent Dashlane and Harris Poll survey found that 79 percent of employees take at least some personal responsibility for their company’s overall security. Employees want to be part of the solution, and companies need to show them how they can do that.

Implement a cybersecurity education, training, and awareness program.

Phishing trends sound unsettling—but by educating and training your employees, you will empower them with the knowledge to avoid taking the bait. A successful cybersecurity education, training, and awareness program should answer why security matters to your company. It should communicate to employees why they should care about security. Additionally, it should explain how cybercriminals target and attack businesses and what actions employees can take in the course of their day to enhance security.

Conduct simulated phishing campaigns.

To help employees recognize phishing and risky actions through first-hand experiences, use a “show, don’t tell” approach with simulated phishing tests. Phishers may not always have perfect spelling, but they shine at psychology and human behavior. And they’re meticulous researchers. By conducting regular mock phishing campaigns, you can turn employees from a weak link in company security to points of strength.

In addition to serving as practice for employees, the phishing tests measure how many people open the emails, click on the links and attachments, and complete the final action (such as entering their login credentials). You can use these metrics to track the effectiveness of your program over time and identify areas that need additional education and awareness.

Boost phishing defenses with additional tools and processes.

Education and awareness are empowering, but you still need to provide tools and implement strategies that support and promote secure practices. Train employees on how to identify and report suspected security incidents and threats, including phishing attacks. Consider creating a special email or channel for employees to reach out to.

Specifically, businesses must also train employees to recognize phishing attempts and social engineering. In addition, they need to adopt a password manager and multi-factor authentication to improve digital hygiene and security. Cybersecurity is as much about people as it is about technology. Businesses need to educate their entire workforce and provide them with tools they will actually use. Doing so makes their lives easier, both at work and at home. Some quick tips for catching a phish include:

Check the subject line of an email for a sense of urgency, scare tactics, or an enticing offer.
Ensure the email address matches the sender’s name and/or company.
Before clicking, look out for poor spelling and grammar, or unusual/awkward use of language.
Don’t be fooled by personalization because scammers can also learn your personal details.
Adopt technologies like endpoint security, password managers, and email security.

Many businesses are improving their security technologies and processes to make it harder for phishers to hook their employees. But phishers will continue to find novel, unexpected ways to lure people with social engineering. Your best defense is planning for the unexpected and empowering employees with current knowledge, appropriate tools, and ongoing awareness. Companies can only achieve a culture of cybersecurity if everyone is engaged. Cybersecurity is not something only IT and tech-savvy employees can care about. HR departments need to remember that promoting positive cybersecurity awareness will lead to a culture of security––not scare tactics.

How Payroll and HR Evolved During the Pandemic

August 3, 2021/Pandemic and Post-Pandemic /by Cathy Geerts

What do you think of when someone mentions payroll? Does your mind immediately conjure up an employee asking you for help regarding incorrect calculations and missed deadlines? Or do you imagine payroll as a strategic partner sitting beside HR at the boardroom table offering up valuable insights?

If you think of payroll as nothing more than a routine function, then you’d be forgiven for not being the first. For a long time, payroll hasn’t taken center stage. Regarded as an administrative back-office function, payroll was often forgotten about. And it certainly wasn’t part of the bigger strategic picture. Unless there was an issue with payment or incorrect calculations, payroll carried on as usual. But the recent events of the pandemic transformed payroll’s hierarchy, boosting its importance. Payroll and HR evolved together over the last year. Forward-thinking business leaders need to take note.

Payroll and the Pandemic

In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic first started to disrupt businesses around the globe. The first lockdown began, and as part of the restrictions in the UK, many companies closed their premises. Employees were suddenly furloughed and talent was sent to work from their homes to abide by the local lockdown laws. With that, payroll was thrust into the limelight.

In the beginning, there was panic. Smaller in-house payroll teams didn’t have adequate staff to process payroll if their team members were absent from work due to sickness. In addition, companies relying on legacy technology or on-premises equipment struggled with the switch to remote working. Without this critical business function and the skilled payroll workers delivering it, people didn’t get paid, and businesses came to a halt.

As time went on, new and different challenges arose. Most other business functions had adapted to new ways of working at home, but payroll professionals were constantly battling complex legislation iterations. For example, in the UK, there were weekly changes to policy regarding furlough, statutory sick pay, holiday pay, and salary sacrifice. This became a challenge for even the most knowledgeable payroll professional and HR specialist. Without specialist knowledge or support, businesses were shooting in the dark. So payroll and HR evolved.

The Rise of HR

We talk about payroll’s rise to the top, but we can’t forget about HR. When organizations faced their most challenging time during the pandemic, HR teams led the way. Worried employees were desperate to understand the impact on their livelihoods, and it was HR that provided clarity. Business leaders were requesting workforce data and analytics to help steer their people through unchartered disruption, and it was HR that delivered it.

Payroll and HR are indeed very different functions that come from very different places. Yet when the two parts work together, they can help businesses gain a complete overview of the workforce. For instance, during the pandemic, many organizations needed to know how many of their staff members were absent from work due to sickness from COVID-19. They also needed to calculate if it was financially viable to keep workplaces open, or if they needed to claim employee wages through the UK government’s coronavirus job retention scheme. All answers to such questions can be found within payroll and HR together.

Payroll information touches so many HR elements, whether it’s attracting, on-boarding, developing, rewarding, or retaining talent. As a result, it’s become hard to separate the technology supporting both functions. This hasn’t always been the case, though.

Turning Crisis into Opportunity

Resilient businesses have robust payroll operations at the heart of their HR transformation strategies.

According to The Future of Work survey by SD Worx, ensuring smooth, efficient payroll calculations and payment is, by far, the biggest concern for HR professionals. This topped the list of 19 possible HR priorities in eight of the 11 countries surveyed–including the UK. Less than one in five said they were happy with their current function. And 70 percent are actively trying to set up a more efficient process. This is clearly an area of concern, particularly when you consider that HR will always struggle to perform more strategic functions without the solid foundation that payroll provides.

Often, payroll isn’t the trigger for change but comes about as part of a broader transformation. For example, businesses implementing a new global HR solution may need to change their approach to payroll to comply with local laws and ensure both functions are integrated seamlessly.

Paying people accurately and on time are only the basics of payroll. Savvy organizations arrange their payroll function to be more efficient, strategic, and fluid with other departments. Sharing data through HR, payroll, and finance departments creates one single source of truth to aid business decisions and drive value.

In addition, payroll plays a more significant role in employee experience and brand reputation than you might think. An incorrectly paid employee may air their grievances on social media, providing long-lasting damage to your company’s reputation. Payroll can also impact new talent. Younger generations may prefer to receive dynamic payslips that they can access through an app, rather than paper or PDF payslips. Payroll and HR evolved during the pandemic to become even more aware of these factors.

The Future of Payroll and HR

While nobody can predict what the next five years will bring, we can be sure that payroll and HR evolved during the pandemic. Digitalization will accelerate the need for more real-time data for employers to review. Also, employees will continue to crave the same level of instant access they get with their personal technology, within their work technology.

Employees will demand more flexibility in working hours, work locations, and payroll. For instance, many organizations let employees choose how much of their monthly salary they receive and when. They don’t stick to rigid dates and complete payments.

Expectations of what HR can and should offer are now much higher. However, without strong processes and technology, it will be impossible for HR teams to keep everyone happy. It’s clear that any digital infrastructure that supports HR should build on the payroll function. Payroll remains the common denominator that touches everyone and influences almost everything in HR. With this solid foundation, HR has the strength required to flex to the needs of its workforce. And to enable new ways of working and embracing change.

HR in a Post-Pandemic World: Where Are We Headed?

July 28, 2021/Pandemic and Post-Pandemic /by Drew McLellan

As a human resources professional, you’re no stranger to thinking on your feet and solving complex problems. You never quite know what you’re going to get on a given day in the office. An employee complaint? Someone putting in their two-week notice? News of a budding office romance? These are run-of-the-mill challenges. But no one could have predicted what happened in 2020 and 2021. Or what will happen for HR in a post-pandemic world.

When COVID hit, HR professionals had a lot to figure out, from navigating the shift to remote work to managing furloughs and layoffs. Clients left, offices shut down, and employees struggled with their mental health the longer quarantines dragged on. A lot of unforeseen situations cropped up, and HR rose to the occasion.

In addition to solving the pandemic’s logistical challenges, HR departments answered the call to build more inclusive and diverse workforces as the U.S. became more aware of ongoing racial violence. Quite a few professionals felt like they needed to do more to help their industries and companies focus on representation and accessibility. So, they juggled their day-to-day responsibilities and developed companywide diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

The role of HR is evolving. Today’s professionals are talent managers, counselors, and advisors. As we enter the era of the post-pandemic world, it will be critical for everyone to embrace these changes. Here’s what you can expect to do going forward.

1. Renew your company’s focus on diversity and inclusion.

As the world reopens, HR professionals are renewing their focus on finding diverse talent for their firms. If you’re in this position, take the time to search for candidates with diverse backgrounds. Try posting your job listings on several platforms for a set amount of time to ensure that various applicants can find you. This will help you widen the voices and perspectives at your company. It will also demonstrate to your current employees that this is a priority, which 86 percent of employees strongly value, according to the Citrix Talent Accelerator report.

Another way to improve diversity and inclusion in a post-pandemic world is to consider your internal development and internship programs. How does your company handle promotions? Without an explicit selection or application process, unconscious bias can creep in. Where do you look for interns? For instance, if you’re an agency, you might usually bring on marketing students from a local university. But if you only recruit from that university, you limit your candidate pool to its demographics. Try advertising your internships through organizations that reach BIPOC folks.

2. Create and enforce new work-from-home policies.

When the world shut down in 2020, HR professionals sprung into action to create updated work-from-home policies. In the past, they may have allowed people in specific roles to work from home occasionally or on certain days. Suddenly, they had to find ways to make everyone’s jobs remote.

That alone was an accomplishment, but it also created countless questions about the future of work. People are accustomed to working from home now, and they hope to telecommute a day or two a week after the pandemic is over. According to the same Citrix report discussed above, about 88 percent of workers say complete flexibility in hours and location will be an important consideration in future job searches. As an HR professional, it is your responsibility to decide what’s best for your employees and create policies accordingly.

3. Address mental health concerns.

Mental health was a significant concern during the pandemic—and for a good reason. People were completely isolated from family, friends, and co-workers for months on end. They had to deal with unprecedented obstacles in their work and personal lives, and they had to give up many of their routines and hobbies without warning. This affected many individuals’ mental health in significant ways.

With this in mind, it will be essential to help employees set boundaries for turning off their laptops and taking time away from the office. As an HR professional, the best thing you can do is lead by example. Don’t answer emails after a particular time of day, and communicate your boundaries with employees. While you’re at it, tap into any resources you recommend to your workforce. And if you’re one of the 61 percent of employers that offer mental health benefits, be sure to communicate what’s available to everyone in the company.

The past year or so has been one for the books. HR professionals had to deal with a seemingly endless list of unforeseen challenges, but there was a silver lining. These issues challenged HR departments to revisit their cultures and policies, helping them understand the importance of prioritizing diversity and inclusion, flexibility, and employee mental health. In a post-pandemic world, it will be important to embrace these responsibilities and usher in a new future for HR.

Navigating Your HR Career Across Multiple Industries [Podcast]

June 25, 2021/Career Development, Podcast Recaps /by Meghan M. Biro

The landscape of HR is rapidly changing, especially due to the pandemic. With WFH culture escalating and employee needs constantly shifting, HR professionals need to be ready to adapt to the times at a moment’s notice.

Now more than ever, organizations are turning to HR to create a culture of flexibility and adaptability. They recognize that company culture needs to not just welcome change, but thrive in it. Thus, employers need HR departments with individuals who seek to fully understand the industries they work in and make them shine.

Because of the recognition of HR’s value, especially over the past year, more roles are popping up for HR professionals. Many are seriously considering seizing an HR career, but aren’t sure where to start. Turns out, a key aspect of breaking into the HR profession is a desire to know the industry you want to work in, and a willingness to adapt to whatever challenges that industry presents.

Our Guest: Alex Smith, Chief HR Officer for the City of Memphis

It was a delight to talk to Alex Smith, CHRO to the City of Memphis, on this week’s episode of #WorkTrends. Reporting directly to Mayor Jim Strickland, Alex is known for architecting and updating the city’s labor relations. Also, she’s known for being adept at talent management, training, employee engagement, compensation, managing diversity and safety initiatives, and more. She was named the 2021 Leadership Memphis Changemaker and was a nominee for HRO Today magazine’s CHRO of the Year 2020 Award.

The unique aspect of Alex’s career is that she’s worked across multiple industries–working for organizations like Microsoft, Brightstar, Target, and more. I was dying to know what advice she has for anyone trying to break into an HR career, and what she recommends people do to be successful in HR roles.

“Whether it’s starting off in recruiting, manufacturing, government, or any industry, I think just getting into a function and seeing how HR works is a very important step. And ultimately all of the experience that you gain over the years, it all builds up,” Alex says.

Once you land the job, to truly stand out over the course of your HR career, you have to have an open mind. Be flexible in the face of difficult decisions and shifting employee needs.

“Most of the time, and truly the pandemic has shown this, the issues you face in HR are not black and white. They’re usually very gray,” says Alex. “So having multiple experiences from different industries helps you to have a comprehensive view and approach to solving certain problems for the organizations that you work for.”

If You Want to Work in HR, You Must Seek to Understand

As you grow in your HR career and attain new roles across industries, Alex says it’s vital to show an interest in the ins-and-outs of each industry you pursue. Recognizing that employee needs vary and that HR decisions will fluctuate based on context is crucial to success.

“‘Seek to understand’ is a phrase that I learned really early in my career. And I’ve found it to be true in a number of different circumstances. When you’re transitioning into a new industry, seek to understand the historical perspective of how the industry has evolved. Also, learn why certain rules, policies, and procedures are in place,” Alex says. “Not rushing to judgment, and not rushing to change things, I think is important.”

Basically, seeking to understand will help any HR professional adapt to what’s coming. The changes incited by the pandemic are just one example of how HR roles and responsibilities change. It’s a never-ending process, and it requires flexibility.

“I think the name of the game for every organization in the future is going to be flexibility. For instance, they can be flexible with their work environments, with their working arrangements. With how they think about who’s going to be doing work. Whether it’s full-time, part-time, flexible around work hours,” Alex explains. “The pandemic showed us that people can be very effective working remotely, working from different places, and using different technology.”

I hope you enjoy this episode of #WorkTrends. If you’re thinking about an HR career or want to level up the one you have, consider Alex’s perspective. Are you flexible? Do you seek to understand? Also, how can you make changes to do so? Learn more about this topic by connecting with our guest, Alex Smith, on LinkedIn.

TCO: The Hidden Costs of HR Technology

June 21, 2021/HR Technology /by Emily Gatton

Over the past year, the pandemic forced most organizations to re-evaluate their HR technology to better support their workforce in a new work environment. It’s easy to see how these solutions impact expenses, regardless of whether your organization has grown or downsized and whether you’ve implemented one, two, or more new technologies. But upon further examination, you may find additional costs that you don’t see on a balance sheet. These downstream costs come in the form of voluntary turnover, disengaged employees, and a poor employee experience caused by disjointed systems. All of these add to the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of your HR technology stack.

Don’t get me wrong, these shiny new systems have the best intentions and also hold the potential to streamline processes and improve efficiency. However, they can cause confusion, digital fatigue, and an overall negative employee experience when brought together. This article will examine the cascading costs caused by competing HR technologies and shine some light on the TCO of those platforms, tools, and programs.

Multiple Buyers, Multiple Priorities

HR technologies span a broad spectrum of applications. PwC’s Human Resources Technology Survey estimates the total value of the HR cloud solutions space at a whopping $148 billion. You have solutions for time and labor management, talent development, benefits administration, payroll, HR administration, and the multiple use cases that fall underneath each of these. Filling the needs presented by your organization can result in a slew of point solutions patched together, ostensibly to support the employee experience. But are they actually improving the employee experience?

The problems often start with having multiple buyers working to get these solutions in place. Too often, organizations arm each buyer with a different agenda and different initiatives. Each has a keen eye on their own goals and what technology they are bringing in-house. But with multiple buyers in the mix, the bigger picture is often overlooked. And the bigger picture can be what makes or breaks the employee experience.

What is the bigger picture? It’s the TCO of the whole HR technology stack and how these solutions work together.

Too Many Channels, Not Enough Bandwidth

Throughout the workday, employees change directions more than a weathervane in a tornado. They constantly switch between systems to communicate, track time, view benefits, take a survey, complete a learning module, and—yes—even get some work done. It’s simply exhausting. Also, that only covers a few of the functions within the sprawling HR tech stack. Thinking about it gives you a headache, doesn’t it? Or perhaps, that’s digital fatigue you’re experiencing.

Moreover, we’ve seen (and continue to see) a race to upskill and re-skill, a trend that has created the need for even more learning and development, coaching and mentoring, surveys, and other tools meant to support employees. The increase in the number of people working remotely and forcing interaction with these disjointed technologies from home has exacerbated the situation. Also, while pushing forward with upskilling and re-skilling, only 12 percent of employers plan to reward employees’ skill acquisition. The current rise in voluntary turnover is kind of a no-brainer. People work harder and longer at home. They stretch themselves to learn new skills and take on new roles–for no reward.

The Effects: By the Numbers

We know the competing HR systems and the subsequent chaos they cause result in a poor employee experience. But what exactly does that mean for your organization? And what does that cost? Now we’re getting to the TCO of HR technologies.

Burnout

Experts estimate that the healthcare costs of job-related burnout are between $125 billion and $190 billion. Once employees reach burnout, it’s often difficult to hit the reset button and get them back to their optimal performance engagement. Thus, voluntary turnover is often what lies next.

Voluntary turnover

With the average cost of hiring a new employee at $4,129, and onboarding averaging roughly $986 per new hire, organizations lose $5,000 each time an employee leaves. That doesn’t even account for the costs of the skill sets you’re losing, and the loss of the intrinsic value an individual brings to your organization. You can’t afford to lose your employees to something so preventable as integrating HR solutions.

Disengagement

Disengagement costs companies between $450 billion and $550 billion each year. Yikes! And considering one-third of most employees consider themselves disengaged, organizations must work to boost engagement. Among the several levers you can pull to boost engagement, streamlining your technology is a relatively easy move.

Management tax: Add it to the tab

The struggle of dealing with too many solutions is not one-sided. While employees grapple with multiple systems each day, managers work to pull data from each of those systems, manage vendor relationships, and learn each solution from top to bottom. Managing a sprawling tech stack is a huge distraction and can easily be minimized by combining point solutions to a larger platform.

Streamlining HR technology will make life simpler—and more productive—for managers and employees. Of course, bringing these solutions together can also be more cost-effective for an organization. Which means you don’t need to eliminate existing systems altogether. Just simplify your systems. How? By integrating and combining forces. A lot is riding on this—more than you see when usually assessing TCO.

With this in mind, adopt an integrated approach that combines talent functions to create a more fluid experience for your people. Do it for the employee experience, higher productivity, and a better bottom line. When evaluating the number of technologies in your organization, less is more.

The Future of Work is Already Here: 4 Ways to Find and Keep Top Talent

June 16, 2021/Hiring and Retention /by Mary Cronin

Across all sectors in the second half of 2021, corporate America is bullish on rapid growth. Offices and manufacturing plants are re-opening. Job recruitment is already ahead of pre-pandemic levels. The online job search website Indeed.com reported in early April that the number of available positions posted on its platform was 17.9 percent above its pre-pandemic baseline back in February 2020.

Large firms are not alone in seeking top talent in a resurgent economy. According to The Economist’s April 10, 2021 report on the future of work, 2020 was a record year for new company formation in the United States. In fact, more than 1.5 million new firms launched last year. Many of these startups are ramping up talent recruitment to help meet an expected surge of consumer and business demand. Adding fuel to the current competition for high-demand technical and management talent, a record-breaking $69 billion in venture investment flowed into both newly hatched and more mature startup firms in the first quarter of 2021.

Employer and Employee Expectations Out of Sync

Clearly, office doors are–or will be–wide open. Financial incentives are on the table. But will that be enough to bring top talent back to their former workday routines?

Based on recent workforce surveys and trend analysis, the answer is a resounding “No.” This is especially true for the technical and professional workers who are most in demand. It turns out that executive and investor views of the future of work are out of sync with employee expectations generated during the pandemic.

Microsoft’s 2021 Work Trend Index outlines the findings from a study of more than 30,000 people in 31 countries. The study includes workers of all ages and experts in workforce engagement and recruiting. One of its blunt conclusions:

“Leaders are out of touch with employees and need a wake-up call.”

A striking data point:

“41 percent of the global workforce is likely to consider leaving their current employer within the next year. This number is even higher for Gen Z (54 percent). At the same time, 46 percent are planning to make a major pivot or career transition.”

A Defining Workforce Trend: YOLO

One explanation for such widespread workforce restlessness is the YOLO (You Only Live Once) spirit. In a recent New York Times article, the authors characterized YOLO as “the year’s defining workforce trend.”

With the future of work suddenly upon them, and close to half of their current employees at risk of decamping, corporate HR departments are not just competing with other established firms in finding and keeping top talent. They are up against an unprecedented combination of post-pandemic force fields. There’s the lure of startup unicorns, a deep determination among workers to live life to the fullest, and a growing sense that personal fulfillment is most attainable outside the confines of a traditional office.

How Should Employers Respond?

First, it’s time to acknowledge that hybrid work schedules are no longer innovative. Yes, this includes the flexibility to work from home on a regular basis.

Instead, they are intrinsic to the future of work. Even employees who miss face-to-face discussions with colleagues and other aspects of the physical workplace want remote work options to be available as part of their work-life going forward. Flexibility is no longer a differentiator in attracting talent–except as a strong disincentive to join a company that doesn’t provide that now must-have benefit.

Strategies for Attracting and Retaining Top Talent in 2021

If hybrid work isn’t enough, what is needed to retain and recruit top talent in 2021 successfully? Companies must embrace several innovative and interconnected strategies to create a workforce culture that matches the future-of-work reality. A forward-looking workforce recruitment strategy should start with the following four components:

1. Purpose and positive social impact as a corporate priority

Employees care deeply about the impact that their company has on the environment. They also care about their communities and social issues such as diversity, racial justice, and economic equality. Studies over the past decade report that companies prioritizing corporate social responsibility enjoy an advantage in attracting and retaining top talent of all ages. But high-minded mission statements and CEO declarations no longer suffice. In this age of critical scrutiny, results must measure up to stated social impact goals. Companies must lead with purpose; they must also prepare to follow up with transparency in reporting impact.

2. Opportunities for growth across the entire workforce

Opportunity for personal and professional growth is essential for recruiting and retaining talented workers. Traditional support for professional development needs to transcend the scope of narrow productivity goals. It must encompass learning and applying new skills in contexts that support all stakeholders. The future of work will demand that development and growth opportunities previously reserved for professional levels are available across the workforce.

3. Multi-directional mentoring

The long-standing tradition of workplace mentoring strongly correlates with increases in employee productivity, job satisfaction, and also retention. In addition to benefiting those who receive mentoring at work, studies show that the mentors report increased personal fulfillment and organizational commitment. And yet, today’s mentoring programs are too often limited in scope. They remain stuck in a seniority-based one-to-one framework. Intergenerational, peer-to-peer, and group mentoring programs can be a powerful force in overcoming workplace silos and building a culture of mutual learning and support.

4. Empowered teams

Employers must reinvent the omnipresent project team to function effectively in the world of hybrid work. They must empower team managers and members to redefine roles and balance both group and individual accountability. They must allow experimentation with different modes of collaboration and communication. After all, collaborative, empowered teams will remain an essential foundation for future workforce engagement.

The future of work is already here. And to find and keep top talent during what is already an ultra-competitive job market, companies must be ready. As they chart their course for the months ahead, companies must remember that YOLO also applies to them–and they may only have one shot at getting this right.

Image by Andrea Piacquadio

The Languishing Issue: Help Employees Move from Stuck to Strong [Podcast]

June 11, 2021/Employee Well-Being, Podcast Recaps /by Meghan M. Biro

Ever get that blah feeling? That surge of listlessness you can’t explain? The thing that keeps you in bed watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer until 8:13 am when you have a work Zoom meeting at 8:15? Well, that blah feeling is called languishing, and it’s what some are calling the dominant feeling of 2021.

Languishing is a newly discovered mental health state that encompasses a sensation characterized by apathy, dissatisfaction, and loss of interest in most things. And it can dramatically affect your success at work.

With 85 percent of employees reporting that they’d take a $5,000 pay cut to feel happier at work, and with so many employees leaving companies at a rapid rate–employers and employees both need to take languishing seriously.

Our Guest: Maya Garza, VP of Solution Consulting and Behavioral Science at BetterUp

On this week’s episode of #WorkTrends I was excited to talk to Maya Garza, vice president of solution consulting and behavioral science at BetterUp, about the languishing phenomenon. Maya leads the team of behavioral scientists who serve as executive advisors to our partners. With over 15 years of experience working with Fortune 500 organizations to implement human-capital solutions, she’s an expert at maximizing human potential.

I asked Maya what she thinks the most overlooked employee issue is to date. Unequivocally, she said, it’s mental health and well-being. And that is due in part to a widespread misunderstanding of mental health issues.

This lack of understanding can hurt the company, Maya explained, because BetterUp research shows that 55 percent of employees are languishing.

“Those who are languishing experience heightened stress and physical and mental exhaustion,” Maya said. “Employees at work might feel overwhelmed, down on themselves, or uninspired … They might even put off what used to be a challenging or an exciting task. That turns into a snowball effect that then leads to stress and burnout and lack of innovation.”

How can everyone deal with the experience of languishing?

The first step to managing the experience is to admit that you’re languishing.

“Simply asking yourself where you are mentally is actually a helpful diagnostic tool. And next you might want to think about, well, gosh, how do I get myself out of that?”

Maya suggests celebrating small wins and reminding yourself what you’re grateful for. Research shows that these practices help improve mental health. Of course, Maya says, it will take more than individual employee actions to help with organization-wide mental health issues.

“Moving yourself from stuck or languishing to truly flourishing is really hard to do. You don’t solve it by one walk or one talk with yourself. You really do need systemic intervention. And I think this is where HR can really be that thought partner for managers and for leaders,” Maya says.

“What it really comes down to is: Is the leadership at your organization being intentional? Are they really deeply thinking about aligning their words and their actions? So remember, we are humans first, we are employees second … Change is accelerated from the bottom up and we need to invest in the potential for every employee to really be at their best.”

I hope you enjoy this episode of #WorkTrends sponsored by BetterUp. I think we could all benefit from imagining what our teams can do if they’re feeling their best, and how we can make that so. You can learn more about this topic by connecting with our guest, Maya Garza, on LinkedIn.

Image by Gerd Altmann

4 Ways HR Can Help Accelerate Digital Transformations

June 10, 2021/HR Technology /by Lori Eaton

Companies worldwide are launching rapid digital transformation strategies. Their goal: To keep pace with the increase in customer demand for seamless delivery of products, services, and experiences. So in many circles, the question becomes: How can HR help accelerate digital transformations?

To meet these lofty goals and expectations, departments within these organizations need the right technology and the right people. Otherwise, they might miss the opportunity to discover new ways of doing business and innovating through increased digitization. This means human resource departments have a significant role to play in digital transformation.

HR leaders must work alongside IT leaders to accelerate digital transformations and coalesce around priorities. For leaders to succeed in digital transformation, they must be on the same page while removing the barriers of a top-down, hierarchical approach. Leaders must work together to best reallocate resources and spread work and management of work across teams.

Plenty of well-intentioned companies nail the details of digital transformation. Details such as knowing what makes a good user story, understanding the difference between product and project, and finding opportunities to automate deployments whenever possible. The challenges arise with people, culture, and scale. That’s where HR can play an important role.

As many leaders have already learned, digital transformation affects everyone in an organization. Because they are so focused on the daunting task in front of them, this can be difficult for transformational leaders to think about. Proactively communicating with existing teams about how digital transformations will positively affect them and why it’s best for the organization, though, helps everyone.

Because in the end, digital transformation is as much a cultural transformation as it is a business and technology transformation.

Look No Further

The ongoing pandemic hasn’t slowed digital transformation. Despite layoffs and deep budget cuts at countless companies, a large majority (70 percent) of CIOs say their budgets and staffing numbers underwent reductions of less than 10 percent in the aftermath of COVID-19. The top priority of budgets in 2021? Digital transformation, of course. In fact, 77.3 percent of CIOs ranked this endeavor as the most pressing concern this year (ahead of cybersecurity).

So why should HR departments step in as a source for solutions to these problems? Well, the momentum from IT departments toward digital transformation is significant for HR. The reason is simple: Technology alone cannot make for a successful digital transformation. It’s a total team effort in which HR has a big role to play.

Yes, IT can take care of the technology side of the digital transformation equation. However, HR has a shared responsibility. Attracting, retaining, and reskilling the human actors who understand how to both derive value from technology and innovate new ways of doing business digitally is another piece of the puzzle. Without the right talent, even the biggest transformation budget won’t succeed. Teams need the right human resources in place.

Easier for Everyone

Here are a few tips for HR leaders who aspire to work in tandem with IT to accelerate digital transformation to achieve the ultimate goal of building products that customers want to buy and increase revenue.

1. Talk it out

Communicate with IT openly about the culture change and plan to distribute the emotional load. And start those conversations early. Hold discussions about how the culture might change and how some employees might not love the process of digital transformation. HR, technology, and product teams can also share the responsibilities to make sure digital talent and older business lines work well together.

2. Embrace change

Gain a solid understanding from IT on how roles will change as a result of accelerating digital transformation. As the stewards of human abilities within an organization, HR needs to know what qualities to look for in the next generation of talent. This talent pool will have new skills every year or so, making skills secondary to learning ability and work ethic. As an HR leader, you can help find the next generation of digital talent. Start by changing job descriptions to reflect digital values, such as adaptive learning and grit, rather than hard credentials.

3. Promote retention

In many organizations, HR controls (or has a lot of say in) promotion decisions. Digital transformations are a serious uphill battle for product and technology leaders everywhere. And one of the biggest momentum killers is top digital talent leaving an organization. This is especially disheartening when they leave because they feel transformational work is not rewarded or appreciated by the culture. Work with technology and product teams to rework incentives. Ensure the company rewards digital talent. And keep your focus on retaining the talent required to ensure enough forward progress.

4. Prioritize education

Develop new training programs with IT that promote collaboration, prototyping, and decision-making alongside technical skills. You can also help by preparing digital talent in cross-functional environments. As you do, know that maximizing teamwork will likely achieve better results than maximizing individual performance. Companies can expect to see more success in their digital transformations by training UI/UX designers, product owners, scrum masters, and engineers together. That way, students can practice the handoffs and negotiation skills required in a digital world.

It bears repeating: Accelerating digital transformation requires a cultural shift just as much as it does a technology or business shift. When IT and HR work together, they can create a more stable environment that makes digital transformation easier for everyone.

Image by Olivier Le Moal

Talent Acquisition Requires Better Candidate AND Recruiter Experience

May 14, 2021/HR Technology, Podcast Recaps /by Meghan M. Biro

As we start to put the crushing impact of the pandemic behind us, businesses — and the talent acquisition function of HR in particular — continue to face a dilemma.

On the one hand, the hiring process must be efficient. On the other hand, it’s difficult to make hiring personal — more human — when so many potential candidates apply for every job. Any lack of efficiency means your business is trailing the competition. But a lack of personal touch may drive away candidates. Winning the war for talent depends largely on striking a balance in this all-too-gray area.

This episode of #WorkTrends will help. Today, we discuss HR technology designed to help businesses like yours find that happy medium.

Our Guest: Alex Murphy, CEO of JobSync

With me today is Alex Murphy, an entrepreneur, investor, and advisor to start-ups and other companies in the Talent Acquisition Technology (TAtech) industry. He is currently the CEO and co-founder of a 2021 TalentCulture HR Tech Award winner, JobSync. At JobSync, Alex and his team create a simple, seamless, and secure hiring experience for employers and candidates.

I started my conversation with Alex by asking why many of the tools available to HR today fail to meet the needs of candidates and recruiters. Alex described the root cause of the issue perfectly:

“Companies and buyers try to make the decisions that make their teams more efficient. But adding more standalone systems actually makes their teams less efficient. When a company gets to be hundreds and thousands of people, there are often 50, 80, 100 different data points unique to that company.” Alex added that far too often, vendors don’t design those systems to work together. And, despite the best of intentions, it sometimes brings the hiring process to a halt.

“There isn’t enough understanding around how to get that data to come together and to create that interoperability — that connectivity — we all need.”

Next Level Talent Acquisition: Improving Candidate and Recruiter Experience

Alex went on to say that without that connection, it is difficult at best to serve candidates and recruiters well. As a result, recruiters become Excel jockeys, and the expectations of candidates are left unmet. There must be a better way, right?

“That’s why we exist. We create these prebuilt connections between the various systems to be able to enable that data flow. It’s important… it’s imperative… it’s a requirement that the company has a company-first and client-first point of view.”

I couldn’t agree more. When it comes to recruiter efficiency and candidate experience, any discussion of talent acquisition must include “and” — not “or” — statements.

So you can learn more about the importance of an HR Tech stack that treats candidates and recruiters well, I encourage you to listen in to this week’s episode of #WorkTrends.

And be sure to connect with Alex on LinkedIn and Twitter!

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The Resilient Workforce: How Psychometric Testing Predicts Adaptability

May 11, 2021/HR Technology /by Shawn Miller

When building a resilient workforce, adaptability isn’t a nice-to-have quality in employees; it’s an essential component of a workforce capable of accepting and overcoming unexpected challenges. Resilient companies have long shown a higher likelihood of surviving and even thriving through crises — a theme that the pandemic has underscored. Success is related to how quickly and effectively workforces pivot to address change.

Human resources leaders who recognize the power of building a resilient workforce need to seek out adaptable employees. But how can they tell whether a job applicant possesses a high degree of adaptability?

Résumés might give an inkling of potential resilience and under-pressure responses. However, they don’t tell the whole story of how someone will react and adapt in the face of the unexpected and unprecedented. That’s where the power of psychometric testing can come into play for employee recruitment strategies.

Building a Resilient Workforce: Leverage Psychometric Testing

Psychometric testing isn’t a new concept, to be sure. Many businesses have used psychometric assessments for recruitment and selection for decades. In fact, these types of tests — sometimes referred to as personality tests — gained popularity more than a half-century ago with the creation of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.

Today, many other psychometric test vehicles are available on the marketplace in addition to Myers-Briggs. Many of them share a general purpose: Identify a person’s key strengths and weaknesses. Once identified, those aptitudes, skills, and abilities can form a picture of what the person will be like in everyday life. And, most important to those involved in corporate human capital, how they will be while at work.

The problem, of course, is that psychometric personality tests can be simultaneously accurate and flawed. Why? They’re usually a good measurement of the test taker’s self-perception. But without deeper interpretation, they may not fully indicate how others perceive the test taker. Case in point: It’s possible for someone to self-assess as a leader. But it is also possible not to be seen as a leader by colleagues.

This doesn’t mean that HR leaders should do away with psychometric tools for recruitment. What it does mean is that the tools require thoughtful planning and implementation. When handled correctly, they help a company build a team of vibrant, versatile performers who can adapt to changing needs.

3 Strategies of Psychometric Testing

If you’re not convinced you’re getting the most out of the psychometric testing you’re doing right now, apply the following strategies. These steps can help you improve the results of psychometric tests and avoid common pitfalls:

1. Look for proof points

Valid and effective psychometric tests will likely be backed by historical research. Look for third-party and proprietary studies from the organization that created the test or outside case studies from companies that have used it. Without data and proof points, it’s difficult to predict whether a test will produce accurate and valuable results for your organization.

As you’re researching options, also be wary of any tests that seem to oversimplify results. Personalities are complex and multidimensional. A test that simply places users into predetermined categories with little additional context in the report likely won’t give you the insights you need to determine true adaptability.

2. Make the test a collaborative effort

Far too many companies adopt a “set it and forget it” mentality when it comes to psychometric tests. They ask candidates or workers to undergo assessments. They then receive a compilation of the outcomes and allow everything to continue as usual. The best testing methodologies, however, go a step further. They incorporate trained interpreters to work with test-takers.

The interpreter can go over the data and co-create results with the test taker. They’ll talk through the data and may even relate results to the individual’s past experiences. Often, this process produces profound self-discoveries. At this point, the interpreter and test taker can use the data to help the employee set goals, such as improving resilience and innovative thinking.

3. Go beyond initial data

Generally, hiring teams should not use psychometric tests as a pass-fail assessment for job candidates or current employees. They are excellent tools to integrate as one element of a comprehensive interview, selection, and training process, but they’re not meant to stand alone. Think of the tests in terms of the insights they can offer to give you a jumping-off point for diving deeper. For example, if a test shows that working under pressure may be a top skill for a candidate, ask the candidate to describe a time they have experienced such a situation and how they adapted to overcome it.

Psychometric Testing: The Goal is Awareness

Remember that the goal is awareness — you want to get the fullest picture of a candidate’s strengths and weaknesses so that you know what to leverage and where to compensate. So when building resiliency in a workforce, use these tests to identify potential areas for training and development.

For example, If a candidate shows a high aptitude for communication — a great fit for a specific role. But the test also shows their ability to be flexible could use some work. You can then focus on developing the skill of adaptability in their first few months on the job to make them a great asset within for building a resilient workforce.

Working with a team of adaptable employees means you don’t have to worry as much about people digging into their comfort zones and resisting change. Use thoughtful psychometric testing as part of your employee recruitment strategies, onboarding, and continuous improvement processes. The tests can help you create a workforce that’s eager, ambitious, and flexible — even in the face of the unknown.

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How Your Approach to Employee Well-being Impacts Business [Podcast]

May 7, 2021/Employee Well-Being, Podcast Recaps /by Meghan M. Biro

Thus far into the COVID-19 crisis, mental health and well-being have dropped a staggering 33 percent. As a result, many employees are no longer content with basic health benefits as a perk. Instead, now more than ever, they think of wellness as a critical element of their overall compensation package. As many employers are learning: The pandemic didn’t just revolutionize remote work. It is also driving a pivot in how organizations approach employee well-being.

So in this week’s episode of #WorkTrends, we’re discussing how an organization’s post-pandemic approach to employee well-being impacts so much more than just performance. Let’s get started!

Our Guest: David Osborne, CEO of Virgin Pulse

David Osborne, the CEO of Virgin Pulse — the world’s largest digital health and well-being company — joins us on this week’s podcast. Given his company’s focus on bringing employee well-being into the DNA of corporate culture, David is uniquely qualified to help us take on this timely topic.

I started this episode by asking David the difference between “basic health benefits” and a more human approach to employee well-being. David framed our entire conversation with his response:

“Well-being prioritizes the whole person. It takes everything into account. Physical activity, nutrition, sleep, financial wellness, mental health, and more.”

David quickly added that today’s best employers realize that “wellness” is a much different approach than just offering healthcare benefits — and provide a human-focused level of care to their people.

Employee Well-being: The Right Approach

“People are going to come out of the pandemic relatively broken. A lack of activity, gaining weight, mental health, the financial impact, depression, anxiety, substance abuse, etc. So well-being should be the number one area employers focus on right now. As more people get the vaccination and the world opens up, employers must meet employees where they are. They must recognize that life and work are not going to go back to just the status quo.”

“We’re not going to flick a switch and be perfectly fine all over again. We must be prepared.”

David and I went on to talk about how the approach employers take to wellness — starting right now — can make or break their businesses. Grab a cup of caffeination or a healthy drink of water, and listen to the entire episode!

We thank Virgin Pulse for sponsoring this week’s episode of #WorkTrends, and we thank David for joining us! Be sure to connect with David on LinkedIn and follow Virgin Pulse on Twitter.

And, as always, thank you for being a member of the TalentCulture community!

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After the COVID-19 Crisis: The Inevitable Evolution of HR [#WorkTrends]

April 30, 2021/HR Strategy, Podcast Recaps /by Meghan M. Biro

Few global events have dramatically transformed the world of work as the COVID-19 crisis. Perhaps the most critical issue to the modern workforce, its impact will be felt for some time. Along the way, the pandemic placed our HR teams in the middle of enormous change. And today, HR departments lie at the heart of the transformation. Indeed, we’re watching and living the evolution of HR — in real-time.

While keeping dispersed teams motivated and engaged, how will HR teams keep up with the change still happening in workplaces every day? How will HR work with leadership to drive oh-so-needed successful business transformations? What will we change first… and how will we make it last?

Let’s discuss…

Our Guest: Lisa Dodman, Chief People Officer at Unit4

On #WorkTrends this week, the Chief People Officer at Unit4, Lisa Dodman, joined us to talk about the change happening in workplaces across the world — and what HR departments can do to lead and enable successful business transformations. Recently, Unit 4 underwent a transformation of its own, renaming its “Human Resources” department “People Success.” All because, as Lisa said, “…we are in business for people. People Success is about putting your people first.” So who better to talk to about the inevitable evolution of HR?

I asked Lisa about the most significant challenge her People Success team has faced since the pandemic began. Lisa told us, “During a pandemic, you must have a ‘people first’ value, front-and-center. We created a focus on safety and wellbeing. We safeguarded jobs while we created practical engagement solutions. And we helped our managers recognize and help employees who may be struggling.”

“Crisis does create opportunity — and we were out there, for our people and their families.”

Evolution of HR: Building a Better Normal

Lisa and I talked about Unit4s award-winning work — and further about their own transformation, including programs like “Freedom of Choice” (including limitless vacation days), “Fit4u,” and “Unit4 Kids.“ I then asked Lisa what HR can do now to build, in her words, a “better normal.” As we wonder how the post-pandemic workplace will take shape, Lisa’s answer made so much sense.

“First, we must put wellbeing at the top of the agenda, where it is needed. Then, post-pandemic, as people return to a better normal, HR must be able to move at speed. The work environment is still rapidly changing; this is not an easy journey.”

“Our role as People Success, or Human Resources, is important: We must help people on that journey.”

Unit4 is living their “people first” value. And I couldn’t be any more impressed.

Is your company, as it looks ahead to a post-pandemic workplace and the evolution of HR, ready to put people first? If not, perhaps you should connect with Lisa on LinkedIn — and start a conversation of your own.

We thank Unit4 for sponsoring this episode of #WorkTrends!

How to Discuss Hot-Button Social Issues in the Workplace

April 20, 2021/Company Culture /by Sofia Hernandez

Only a generation ago, many employers skirted hot-button social issues. Their reasoning? Keep matters related to touchy subjects like politics and widespread social justice concerns at home. (Or at least the parking garage.)

While this tactic may have kept offices quieter then, workers now tend to be far more vocal. Thanks to real-time access to social media and global news while in the office, they freely share their thoughts on all topics, including the toughest ones of all. Discrimination. Race. Equality. Ageism. It’s all fair game. And each can lead to a conversation that starts simmering below the surface, affecting a company’s cultural fabric.

As an HR leader, you want to help your company deal successfully with difficult conversations. You also want to foster an environment where employees can talk about challenging topics with frankness and compassion. But where do you start? How do you encourage healthy dialogue that doesn’t cause some team members to shut down—or get heated up?

The answer is to take a multi-pronged approach, leaning into techniques that have worked for other people in your position.

Use Data to Support Future Programming

As leaders, if you want to know how your workers feel about racial and social injustice (R&SI), go to the source. Pathways at Work, a mental and behavioral health services provider, surveyed their employees. They found that 96% were at least moderately concerned about R&SI issues.

How concerned is your workforce? Knowing this valuable information can help a company move forward with developing a comprehensive program designed to alleviate employees’ mental stress regarding R&SI, producing positive, measurable results.

One of the keys to your success is using your HR team’s data-driven process. Instead of working on a gut instinct, collect statistical evidence before proceeding. This objective process can help create the right solutions to meet your goals of a less stressed workforce.

You can’t assume to know how your employees feel about any hot-button matter. That’s why you must go to them and gauge their collective mindset. Otherwise, you might forge ahead with training or talks that aren’t relevant to your coworkers or have a false sense of urgency.

Thoughtfully Bring in Outside Assistance

Many people have set themselves up as consultants for companies that want to tackle complex topics. Before hiring anyone to lead dialogues or give lectures, get familiar with their abilities and techniques. Remember: Some teachers connect best with middle schoolers and others with college students. Consultants are no different. The consultant perfect for the company down the street won’t necessarily work for yours. Plus, some consultants have thin resumes.

If you decide you want an objective third party to lead tough conversations, do some digging. Ideally, you want to find consultants with a wealth of knowledge in the field, as well as mediation skills. Remember: The consultant will talk about serious issues that could lead to heated debates, outbursts, or emotional breakdowns. Although debate can be productive, your consultant needs to understand how to handle participants’ reactions.

A capable consultant will provide a proposal before moving forward. That proposal will give you a more robust understanding of the consultant’s capabilities, expertise, expected timelines, and objectives. You should also check out references, just as you would for a new hire. In fact, you can use your natural recruitment acumen and aspects of your in-house hiring process to pick the right outsider to help your insiders feel supported and respected.

Develop Policies and Statements Around Hot-Button Social Issues

During the summer of 2020, protests broke out across America in support of social justice for people of color. Some brands said nothing in response. Others, including large corporations like McDonald’s, made their positions undeniably clear. They stood out among other businesses that showed support; however, their response did not hold to a specific call to action. According to a letter from CEO Chris Kempczinski, the company would hold town hall meetings to hear from employees. Although including staff in suggestions for inclusion is a step in the right direction, did they really enough for such a big corporation? From one of the world’s largest employers, and one of the biggest hot-button social issues of our generation, is that a big enough call to action?

Your role in opening your office to hot-button issues can’t be a “one and done” project. In other words, you have to be willing to make changes depending on the outcomes. For instance, what if you discover through workshops that a high percentage of team members feel unsafe? You must accept the obligation to take action and reduce the tension in your teams.

Of course, you’ll need support from your organization’s upper levels of leadership to establish updated protocols that stick. Without executive support, hot-button policies tend to become “in name only” documents – employees can perceive them as shallow and unenforceable. Work hard to find champions at the top of the corporate ladder. That way, you’ll have a better chance of forming a work culture that’s beneficial for all, not just a few.

Dealing with complex social issues can be tough for any group. Exhibit patience as you navigate your workers toward a place where everyone feels appreciated. Fixing broken systems and outdated behaviors doesn’t happen within a few weeks – or even months. But in time and with attention, you’ll shape a work team unafraid to look hot-button topics in the eye.

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6 Trends Hammering Today’s Workplace (And How Employee Surveys Help)

March 24, 2021/HR Strategy /by Rob Catalano

Today’s workplace trends continue to cause a dramatic shift for organizations, employees, customers, and suppliers. Paraphrasing the cliché, “The only real known is that change is a constant.” That’s why constant awareness of what’s going on — and adjusting appropriately — is critical.

We may not be certain of what lies ahead, but we know that six workplace trends mark the early 2020s. And we know we’d better be all over them now in preparation for what’s to come.

Agility

Three-quarters of 2,500 surveyed business leaders rank agility as a top-three priority.

Employees have their ears to the ground through their own networks, contacts with customers, experiences with processes, procedures, and management. What are they seeing and hearing? What gaps in expectations exist? Where are the opportunities for improvement?

Being able to spot patterns and shifts quickly gives leaders the agility to change tack better than less nimble competitors. And a workforce invited to share insights regularly augments the ability to act with agility.

Enabling Remote Work

Remote work stats are as trendy these days as witty memes. Studies indicate 52% of global employees work remotely once a week, and 68% do so at least once per month. Work from Home (WFM) models are relatively new. There’s the physical environment — ensuring people have the tools and resources. And there’s the mental side — specifically, providing support and resources that can help with stress, anxiety, and isolation.

We often get caught up in ensuring everyone has access to the ‘same’ or ‘equal’ opportunities. However, diverse employee populations have different experiences and different needs. While the glass ceiling impedes women and members of minorities, ‘virtual’ walls have now been added into the mix, threatening the progress of current and aspiring employees.

Are remote workers being enabled in a way that works for them — and you? The only way to know is to ask.

Prioritizing Mental Health in the Workplace

Remote workers exposed to the stress of isolation, and on-site employees faced with potential virus exposure, are projected to trigger behavioral health conditions of pandemic proportions. Exhausted, anxious, and often sleep-deprived, many people show up at work — virtually or in-person — despite mental or physical ailments. For many organizations, the result is immense productivity losses and increasing risks.

Today, employers are facing a potential mental health crisis. They need a window into employees’ hearts and minds, especially those absent from the physical work world. At the same time, it’s vital to recognize specific employee populations need more support in dealing with their personal life circumstances than others. For instance, anxiety and depression figures reported in December 2020 are higher for Latinx (46.3%) and Black respondents (48%) than the overall 42.4%average.

How do we know who needs what support? And whether it’s effective?

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI)

Employees have become more outspoken about the discriminatory treatment they’ve observed or experienced in the workplace. Creating a safe environment for people to speak up and feel like they belong is a hot topic among executive leaders.

Employees are your compass when navigating matters of DEI. Their insights point a way forward and help keep your organization informed and on track. But change has never been as fast and as furious — nor as forcefully dominant — as it is today. And employee sentiment is far from immune to this tide of transformation.

Reaching an intended DEI destination depends on continuously checking coordinates — the voice of employees — and making adjustments as the winds change.

Frequent Surveys

Frequently monitoring the pulse of employees is helping more leaders make the right kinds of decisions across issues like agility, mental health, DEI, and more. Here at WorkTango, more than half of the organizations we support that weren’t already offering pulse surveys or using the active listening model have started to shift how they collect input from employees. Those companies now see higher participation than ever, with many receiving upward of 85% to 90% response rates. Why? When surveys are contextually relevant to an employee’s experience, they want to give feedback.

The themes associated with frequent pulsing can be around anything – whatever’s important in the moment. It’s an ongoing process to gather and understand sentiments around all the moving parts of your organization.

The bottom line: Pulsing is a diagnostics tool that gives leaders something they can focus on—and ignites a shift from measurement to action.

Heightened Accountability

Regularly checking in to get employee feedback gives leaders a quick snapshot of whether the actions they’ve taken are working. We then inextricably link accountability with these quantitative and qualitative insights.

With more frequent measurement, leaders tend to listen more. They take steps, actively review progress, make tweaks, and cycle through the process — fine-tuning as they go. The data collected and shared puts the onus on functional leaders and hiring managers. Because seeing their survey score — how they’re trending and their own personal management results (and knowing that data is public to the executive team) — creates built-in accountability.

The thread that links these six trends?

Actively listening to the voice of employees and using scientifically validated data to guide meaningful actions.

Centralized Survey Structures in Today’s Workplace

A centralized survey tool helps your organization measure and adapt to the needs of your human capital throughout the employee lifecycle. Whether your approach is to gather employee engagement insights annually or to run more frequent pulse surveys, a single survey platform is where the real power of data can be found.

Plus, whether giving feedback or for reporting, it’s easier for employees to use and get comfortable with one platform. So when choosing a survey tool, look for a single platform that eliminates the need for multiple vendors and the time involved to learn and support various platforms.

We’ve been going through more disruptive shifts in the last 15 months than we have in the past 15 years. To paraphrase Charles Darwin this time: “It’s not the strongest or most intelligent that survive, but the ones most responsive to change.”

For organizations, that responsiveness comes from listening to employees frequently and attentively. Using a centralized survey platform to obtain real-time insights into workplace issues that matter now — or point to potential trends and taking pre-emptive action to keep a step ahead — helps make active listening a critical element of your company culture.

Want to know more about WorkTango? Listen to our own Cyndy Trivella’s thoughts on this 2021 TalentCulture HR Tech Award winner:

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Digital Fatigue: How to Make Technology Work for You, Not Against You

March 17, 2021/HR Technology /by Jeff Gelinas

What is digital fatigue? And how does it impact your business and the people who work there?

Think of how many times you interact with technology each day, whether that interaction was intentional or not. Technology is ingrained in our lives, both personally and professionally. But you don’t need me to tell you that. You also don’t need me to point out that despite the simplicity and positivity it brings to our lives, it also brings stressors and pain.

One of those stressors and pains is digital fatigue.

Just as many of us are experiencing pandemic fatigue, digital fatigue is very real. For many, the multiple systems we all interact with during a day’s work only exacerbate the situation.

Surrounded by Screens

In the past decade, technology has transformed our personal and professional lives in many dramatic ways. The apps and technologies we have access to have generally made our lives much more comfortable and productive. This includes but is not limited to how we communicate, and consume and process information, and how we innovate. Technology has also transformed how to learn new skills, buy and sell, work — and stay healthy.

But not all that glitters is gold. Or, in this case, not all that pings is good.

In our work environments alone, we have surrounded ourselves with screens that continuously push a stream of messages that demand our focus and attention. Emails, social networking, communication apps, kanban boards, video conferencing tools — the list goes on and on. Just thinking of one workday and the multiple mediums you interact with is enough to make your head spin. Not to mention what you use across the entire employee life cycle from pre-hire to retirement.

Even when we step away from the large screens, we carry one or more small screens with us in our pockets or purses. When not at work, we are already conditioned to constantly interact digitally. This proclivity for accessing our new technology sidekicks has resulted in many of us suffering from a malady called digital fatigue syndrome.

Digital Fatigue

So what is digital fatigue?

If you are like me, you are already checking WebMD to see if your symptoms line up with this condition. While a fairly new term, the label gives us a very clear indication of what digital fatigue is.

Vogue recently quoted a holistic wellness practitioner as saying: “If you find yourself with sore, strained eyes, more headaches than usual, and you’re suffering from poor posture or increased neck and shoulder pain, chances are you might be suffering from digital fatigue.”

Let’s face it, we don’t need this list of symptoms to tell us when too much time spent in front of a screen is making us tired. That’s it, folks; we are just tired of spending so much time in front of our screens. Beyond making us physically tired, it’s taking a toll on our well-being.

Thankfully, Vogue also added a little more science to the definition when it said, “Sleep deprivation is a key factor in digital fatigue, since an excess of screen time (and a lack of much else) can suppress the ‘sleep’ hormone melatonin, disrupting our circadian rhythms (or sleep patterns), and reducing REM sleep. All of this adds up to make us much less alert come morning. Much of it is to do with the blue (or high energy visible) light that is emitted by screens — from phone to laptop to television — which affects how our cells react, inhibiting how much melatonin they produce.”

The Pandemic’s Impact on Digital Fatigue

The pandemic has not helped. In the past year, we have all spent more time than we are used to on our technology devices and digitally communicating with the world. According to a Salesforce article, 42% of the U.S. labor force continues to work from home full time, we have heavily increased our reliance on our devices to keep us working, connected, and entertained. In fact, the average time spent with digital media is moving toward 7.5 hours per day.

Believe it or not, even millennials — the digital-natives and technology-trailblazing multi-taskers that they are — are burned out! In a recent HBR article, one of these self-identified millennials says, “My generation — the millennial generation — have proven to be great candidates for this terrible phenomenon (burnout). The pandemic isn’t helping. Without clear boundaries between the office and our homes, more work is always available, and only a hand’s reach away.”

Tidying Up Your Tech Stack

So you might be asking, what is the solution? We cannot simply eliminate screens or technology from our lives, so are we all doomed?

While we cannot remove this “necessary evil” from our lives, we can streamline it.

Combining technology into fewer platforms and channels for your employees will make their lives much easier. It will also make technology less of a disruption and focus blocker — and more of an aid (as it is intended to be).

Take inventory of the different platforms you are using. Is there any overlap? Any ability to combine forces or bring things under “one roof,” so to speak? Chances are, there are some areas where you can consolidate. For example, perhaps you can provide your employees:

A one-stop shop where they can take surveys to provide their managers with feedback
Recognize their peers (or get a much-deserved shoutout themselves)
Access learning tools along with values and culture reminders

This consolidation would boost engagement and minimize confusion, and you guessed it — digital fatigue.

The good news is, many HR technology solutions can help you with this consolidation effort. The bad news is, many HR technology solutions can help you with this consolidation effort. In other words, you may need to spend some time comparing and contrasting options to find the best fit, but at least you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.

Keep It Simple

Ironically, this brings us back to where we started — technology. Too much of it can lead to burnout, but just the right amount can make our lives a lot easier.

The bottom line is that HR leaders must minimize the distraction of too many technologies. It is costing your organization and is increasing the rate of burnout. As we are all well aware, screens are here to stay, so let’s streamline and simplify.

Consider these wise words from the German-British statistician Ernst F. Schumacher:

“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius — and a lot of courage — to move in the opposite direction.”

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2021 HR Best Practices: What Business Needs Most from HR This Year

March 16, 2021/HR Strategy /by Amy Laiker

In January 2021, Tiger Recruitment hosted a webinar for HR professionals looking for guidance on 2021 HR best practices. Tiger’s Managing Director, Rebecca Siciliano, was joined by four expert speakers:

Mark Stelzner from IA
Robert Hicks from Reward Gateway
Marcus Thornley from Play Consulting
Saskia Donald, an HR professional with over 20 years experience

Together, they shared some critical insights to help human resources specialists in 2021. Over the course of the hour, the expert panel covered everything from rewards and benefits, to building remote business cultures.

Below, we highlight their 2021 HR best practices…

Take Stock

As a first priority, HR should take stock of each individuals’ circumstances. Whether through surveys or other data collection tools, the aim is to learn what the team is experiencing. Suppose a business expects to someday return to the office. In that case, HR should find out how this might work for individual workers’ changed circumstances. For example, would they prefer to come into the office every day or on an ad-hoc basis?

It’s likely the office won’t play the same role it once did for many businesses. So it’s a good idea for HR to broach this topic with leaders and begin to work out where the office will fit in future business plans.

Go Back to Basics

Start by looking at three key elements: communication, recognition, and rewards. These basic culture elements likely evolved in response to the first lockdown in March 2020, and perhaps we haven’t examined them since.

If this is the case, analyze what is and isn’t working. Use snap polls/surveys of employees and conversations with management, for example. Then develop a solution that better fits the way the business is planning to operate, post-pandemic. If the company is likely to move towards a hybrid-working model, ask:

How will communication work between employees working from home and those in the office?

If the business continues working remotely by default, ask:

How will employee recognition and rewards change to reflect that?

According to our experts, businesses should also get back to the basics of looking to their workers’ unique skills and expertise to unlock hidden talent. Mark asked the question: “Have we really created a space in this moment to ask everyone about the skills that they have?” Perhaps it’s identifying someone who has fantastic sales skills and can present a seminar on creating leads, for example. Or maybe it is an individual with great project management who can organize a task force to tackle an internal issue. In either case, HR can facilitate these sessions to help management teams better manage the challenges they’re facing.

Be Honest When Dealing with Uncertainty

In 2020, HR was relied upon to know the answers to a number of unprecedented questions, even when they may have been uncertain themselves. In looking at 2021 HR best practices, however, the experts believe HR should own their uncertainty! During the webinar, Robert said that he believes that “leaders [who] embrace [vulnerability] by saying ‘I don’t know, I’ll get back to you,’ [are] so empowering.” This transparency will contribute to a positive learning environment (as HR can work with the team to find the answer together). It will also better alleviate feelings of unease or doubt from employees.

Digital Platforms are Key to Remotely Building Business Cultures

While an effective digital platform is essential to rebuilding a remote business culture, HR needs to ensure it is inclusive, non-hierarchical, and places workers front and center. This is important as employees need to feel invested in the technology to truly harness its potential as a culture tool.

By taking the culture of the business online, an opportunity to rebuild in a much more inclusive way presents itself. For example, taking away the office and using an online platform will mean everyone has an equal opportunity to contact and be visible to managers and their teams.

HR tech is key to solving many challenges moving forward, but, the data needs to be interpreted through a human lens, and issues of accessibility also should be taken into account.

HR Needs to Facilitate Communication While Working Remotely

Internal communication must be consistent, timely, and easily accessible. If HR is unsure whether their current methods are effective, liaise with staff directly for feedback.

While video meeting software has become absolutely integral to business operations as we work remotely, as Marcus put it: “[It] isn’t the only way to communicate.” While video meetings are largely scheduled, they don’t allow much scope or flexibility for those working more ad-hoc hours. Instead, consider adopting methods of unscheduled or asynchronous communication that will work for the business. This will allow employees to continue ‘water cooler’ style conversations with colleagues.

Benefits in a Post-flexible Working Era

Many of us see flexible work as an expectation rather than a benefit, so businesses should look to other options when attracting and retaining talent. According to the experts, the most popular benefits in 2021 will center around wellbeing, learning and development, and remote working. Offering a competitive benefits package is essential to attracting top talent, as candidates may be hesitant to leave their current role if they’re concerned about job security or loyal to their current employer.

The Biggest of 2021 HR Best Practices: Look After Our Wellbeing

In our webinar, Saskia explained: “HR must put on their own life mask before helping others.” This is the perfect encapsulation of the feeling of extreme stress HR professionals have faced over the past 12 months as they’ve helped their teams through perplexing times. As 2021 is likely to be another challenging year, they may need time to rest and recover. If you’re working in HR, check on your team members and give one another space to share anxieties and decompress. If the business doesn’t provide HR these opportunities, they can’t help those around them – and may ultimately suffer from burnout.

The resilience of exceptional HR professionals will play a key role in helping businesses in 2021. From tailoring employee benefits to supporting on with strategic, people-led decisions, one thing’s for sure…

Human resources professionals have never been more crucial to business success.

Image by GaudiLab

How to Create an Inclusive Culture for Foreign Workers

March 10, 2021/DEI Diversity Equity Inclusion /by Jori Hamilton

Businesses don’t tend to thrive in an echo chamber. In fact, precedent shows you need the contribution of multiple perspectives to inform processes, build a richer cultural environment, and inspire innovation. An inclusive culture combined with a diverse workforce — with representation at all levels, from entry to executive — is essential to success.

One of the ways to enable this is through an international workforce. Thankfully, we are living at a time where global contribution is more practical than ever. Whether you are participating in temporary placement drives, permanently hiring refugees, or operating a remote workforce from across the planet, there are tools and processes in place to help. However, one of the most important elements you need to ensure that you, your employees, and your customers enjoy the most positive experiences, is a robust culture of inclusion.

There are certainly ethical imperatives to enabling a generally more inclusive culture in your business. However, we’re going to focus specifically on how you should proceed from foreign workers’ perspectives. What policies and procedures should you include? What are some of the common challenges, and how can these be addressed?

Provide Support

Empathy is a crucial element when it comes to running any successful business. It is particularly vital when creating an inclusive culture for foreign workers.

You must take the time necessary to understand not just how they can be an asset to your business, but also the challenges that your international employees can face. As such, one of the elements you should make a cultural priority in your company is a robust support system — one that specifically targets foreign workers’ needs.

The legislative minefield that often accompanies the immigration system is one of the common issues foreign workers face. This process can be very complex, particularly in the U.S. So you should have protocols in place to provide assistance even before you have selected your candidate. To start, your human resources (HR) department should know what types of visas are most appropriate for the positions for which you’re hiring. For example, H1B visas are for specialist jobs, H2B for non-agricultural temporary workers, and L-1 if your employee transfers from a foreign branch of your global business. Where appropriate, discuss the process for visa sponsorship with the candidate and your procedures for guiding them through the process should they need assistance.

It may be that your foreign employees need access to additional resources. For instance, consider their need for linguistic assistance; a Pew Research study found that 47% of immigrants are proficient in English. Though merely being around native speakers all the time can help with the acquisition of the language, it can be wise to provide them with information on, and even subsidize, English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) courses.

Encourage Connections

Creating an inclusive culture is not simply about focusing on what can be done to help your workforce’s foreign employees. It also requires attention to creating a positive environment for everybody involved, and empowering all workers to build supportive relationships together. Indeed, this lies at the heart of what it means to foster a truly diverse and inclusive workplace. One tip: Ensure workers from all backgrounds gain a genuine sense of belonging. Start by taking opportunities to celebrate the differences each contributes to the overall culture of your business.

Facilitating socialization is also a significant step here. Of course, it is essential that workers — foreign and domestic — recognize one another’s professional skills. But they should also learn to appreciate one another as humans. By organizing social events, you create the opportunity to gather your employees in a setting that is not affected by the pressure and expectations of the workplace. When workers can relax and have fun together, aspects of their personalities, their interests, and their diverse cultures will come to the fore in a way that is missing in the working environment. This level of familiarity allows employees to understand one another a little better. Over time, it forges stronger bonds of friendship that aid inclusivity.

Connection = Caring About What Matters Most

Building connections should also extend to understanding the issues and cultural practices important to your foreign workers. Whether they are physically in your U.S.-based office, or you are engaging freelancers around the world, get input from workers about what matters most to them:

What holidays do they celebrate?
What activities do they undertake in their spare time?
Which charitable or social causes do they support?

Make time to share in these, to discuss them. Celebrate their holidays and their variations on those already observed within the company. Consider including all staff involved in activism or fundraising for the issues your foreign workers feel are critical to them. Perhaps just as important, ask how you can help bring their customs and traditions into the workplace as their employer.

Utilize Tools

One of the advantages of living in a technological age? Businesses have access to many tools especially useful for ensuring that foreign workers don’t feel excluded. As part of your broader cultural inclusion planning, investigate how your company can implement these tools and technologies. Your goal: To support and integrate all employees.

Communications platforms are most important here, particularly when your workers are operating remotely from across the planet. Don’t just rely on a single contact method that native speakers may feel less confident in engaging with one-on-one. Ensure you have collaborative tools in place that provide opportunities for audio, video calls, and text-based chat. Slack and Microsoft Teams are among the most popular examples and integrate well with most project management processes.

It’s also worth providing access to translation and language learning software. After all, there may be times when language barriers lead to misunderstandings. When left unresolved, these simmering workplace conflicts can lead workers to feel distanced. Lingvist and Duolingo are relatively accessible language learning apps and are popular in helping gain linguistic confidence and fluency in a relatively short period. From a translation perspective, Linguee and MemoQ are both software platforms that allow documents and text to be converted into most languages while also using the context of phrases to enhance accuracy.

Bottom line: Want to build a culture of inclusion for foreign workers? Make even a small attempt to speak their language. And help ensure they speak yours.

Create Your Inclusive Culture

There are distinct business advantages to engaging foreign workers as part of your workforce, not to mention the ethical imperative to improve diversity. However, it’s vital to ensure that you make concerted efforts to encourage a culture of inclusion. Gain an understanding of what areas of support are most needed. Then enable deeper connections between staff members, and explore relevant tech tools.

Only then you can start to provide the best possible workplace for international and domestic workers alike.

Image by Victoriasky1

Changing Skill Sets for Changing Times: 5 Focus Areas for 2021

March 1, 2021/Employee Experience, Hiring and Retention /by Devin Partida

What skill sets are employers looking for most in 2021? How can they partner with employees to develop these sought-after skills?

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic – alongside countless social justice movements – shaped the world in a new way. Now, employers must reevaluate their businesses and see what new skills match the world’s ever-changing landscape.

For employers in 2021, what follows are five of the most in-demand skill sets for our changing times. By enabling growth in these areas, employers across all industries will help their employees and prospective teammates thrive in our post-pandemic workplace.

Skill Set 1: Remote Teamwork

The most obvious change to come from the pandemic is the new work-from-home dynamic. According to Pew Research Center, 71% of employees were working remotely as of December 2020. Given this new landscape, employees need resources — primarily, they need technology to connect and work together.

Businesses should focus on hiring talented individuals who know remote working systems well. In addition, helping current employees further adapt by getting them the resources they need will instantly improve work efficiency. Critically, all workers must have communication channels available, like Slack or Google Meet.

A lack of teamwork causes a communication breakdown and disrupts the company’s goals. But the solution is to provide the right technology and assistance.

Skill Set 2: Time Management

With remote work, limited office capacities, and social distancing, many employers changed their schedules to accommodate health and safety concerns and physical space. Now, many in the workplace may start and end work at different times. These alterations force a focus on time management.

New and existing employees should demonstrate that they can independently manage their time, schedules, and projects. Employers and HR managers should emphasize helping talent learn to meet deadlines efficiently while assisting fellow employees stay on track, further developing time management across their teams.

Of course, employers should continue being flexible with remote work teams. Allowing employees to choose their own hours lets them build their work schedules around home commitments. They can then work when they’re at their most productive, distraction-free – which is the best possible form of time management.

Skill Set 3: Soft Skills

A people-first approach helps a company stand out in the crowd. So employers may not consider soft skills “soft” for much longer.

As social justice movements and awareness grow, soft skills add the human factor businesses need. These skills include adaptability, emotional intelligence, creativity, collaboration, active listening, and knowing how to help other employees thrive.

Soft skills also lead to solutions that put public safety first. For instance, curbside pickup and delivery have been a creative solution for shopping. Employers want workers who can come up with service and people-focused ideas like these.

Businesses also need to recognize and reward employees who can slip in and out of new roles depending on what the company needs. The pandemic has put pressure on companies of all sizes — and they all need employees trained to be adaptable to these changes.

Skill Set 4: Social Media Marketing

Social media has been around a long time; however, 2020 brought a new way to use these digital bullhorns. Specifically, platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok help influence and reach the 3.6 billion people who used social media in 2020.

Instagram recently added a shopping tab, which companies of all kinds can use. Facebook Marketplace continues to have a significant impact on shopping habits. Combined with the growth of TikTok’s influence, employees will want to know how to curate a business page and list the company’s products or services in an engaging way. So smart employers are looking for new employees with these talents and will cross-train existing employees to further leverage e-commerce channels.

Moreover, social media is where social justice movements, new trends, and pop culture moments happen. If employees stay current, they can add meaningful or relatable approaches to the brand’s social media pages.

Skill Set 5: Cybersecurity

As the pandemic hit the United States, people wanted information about employment, finances, and staying safe. With countless people and businesses turning to the internet for resources, cybercrime shot up drastically. Still, as people try to get vaccines, phishing scams run rampant. The FBI reported between 3,000 to 4,000 cybersecurity complaints daily last summer.

If a business faces a breach, scam, hack, or malware attack, it could lose sensitive data, like employee or client Social Security numbers and bank accounts. To prevent this catastrophic loss of data and trust, businesses must focus on hiring cybersecurity professionals and upskilling entire IT teams. Simultaneously, managers are helping current employees learn the ins and outs of cybersecurity.

Still, the best employers know cybersecurity is an industry of its own, and specialization often requires years of training. Now more than ever, it’s in every company’s best interests to focus on retaining cybersecurity talent or securing reliable outside services.

Skill Sets 2021: A New Employee Landscape

The unemployment rate is still coming down from April 2020’s record high. On the positive side, there’s plenty of new, eager talent looking to make a difference. And existing employees are showing genuine interest in providing the reskilling and upskilling to update in-demand skill sets. By focusing on these five areas of skills development, your company can revolutionize your workforce and create lasting talent pipelines – even in changing times.

Phot by Constantin Stanciu

[#WorkTrends] Courageous Recruiting in the Age of Googlization

February 5, 2021/Hiring and Retention, Podcast Recaps /by Meghan M. Biro

Hiring is so very different today. The technology we so depend on is also our biggest challenge. To solve that challenge, we can’t hide behind “what we’ve always done.” We need more courageous recruiting!

The onset of the 2020 pandemic has escalated the need for all companies, regardless of size, to use technology to hire, onboard, and retain. But how do we leverage tomorrow’s reality when today’s technology, and hiring in general, are based on 1990s models?

Our Guest: Ira Wolfe, Author and HR Influencer

Ira Wolfe has been at the leading edge of pre-hire and leadership assessments, recruitment marketing, and workforce trends for 25 years. Thinkers360 ranks Ira as the number 1 Global Thought Leader and Influencer in the Future of Work category, and for a good reason: He is the author of six books, including Recruiting in the Age of Googlization.

Of course, I had to start this episode of #WorkTrends by talking about how much recruiting has changed, and our now complete reliance on technology to hire and onboard — and how we’ll never go back to our “old” normal. Ira agreed: “Resilience was the buzzword of 2020. And the reality is, resilience is just bouncing back.” After pointing out that some aspects of “back” weren’t so great, Ira added: “We don’t want to bounce back! We want to help people grow stronger. As we think about going back to the workplace, we want to give people hope, confidence, and courage.”

Ira went on to say this applies to every aspect of our work right now, including how we use technology to hire:

“I’m suggesting we do things differently… we need to look at it differently. Instead of looking at how to find talent, we need to look at how we find the right talent.”

Key to Courageous Recruiting: Deliberately Improving Process

Ira and I went on to talk about many aspects of recruiting, gender and pay equity, the candidate experience, and HR technology — and there was a recurring theme: The need to improve the technology we all use to hire.

“Today, younger generations don’t just apply — they Googlize. They use technology to investigate; they find out what’s the company like, what opportunities are there, then what types of jobs are available. Then they may talk to people on LinkedIn and look at Glassdoor, Indeed, or Fairygodboss. Next, they look at what it’s like to work at that company; then, finally, they consider if it’s worth even applying. After they finally make a commitment, they can’t even navigate the employer’s career pages!”

In other words: The job seeker has completely changed the way they find work. But employers haven’t changed how they find the right talent.

“We must improve the way we hire people. We must rid the process of frustration, confusion, distraction, and disappointment. Employers must have the courage to care about people — and their experience.”

Ira is so right. Thankfully, we will never go back to the way it was. But as we move forward, we also must take a hard look at making the recruiting process better — and to that, perhaps we need to be more courageous.

I hope you enjoy this episode of the #WorkTrends podcast — and then I hope you find a way to fill your employees full of hope, confidence, and courage.

Find Ira on LinkedIn and learn more about his work at Success Performance Solutions.

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