Rock Star employees make a huge positive impact and help to increase the valuation of the business. That’s why finding a Rock Star is the goal of every hiring manager. But is that really a good strategy? Should organizations be focused on the…
Human Resources
Your Merit Pay Program Has a Fatal Flaw
It’s likely that your pay-for-performance program has a fatal flaw built into it; an inadvertent side effect of the design that, if ignored by management will almost certainly guarantee failure. But no one wants to talk about it. Instead, what…
New Tip-Sharing Rules for Tipped Employees
On March 27, 2018, President Donald Trump signed into law Congress’s $1.3 trillion, 2,232-page omnibus budget bill, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018. Notably, on page 2,025, Congress amended the Fair Labor Standards Act by addressing rules affecting tipped employees and…
Make Workforce Planning Real by Dumping Position Management
Given that people costs make up the largest chunk of the operating expenses for a typical organization, getting the workforce plan right is fundamental to good corporate fiscal health. Yet most finance departments still develop budgets for people the same…
Is Your Data Digging Turning Up Fake News?
I was reading a description of different advanced analytics methods and I felt there was something quite wrong. I had hard time putting my finger on it. Technically the descriptions were accurate, but at a more subtle level there was…
Stop Trying to Solve Today’s Problems With What Worked Yesterday
Here’s a fun, and enlightening DisruptHR video that at first glance seems to have nothing to do with HR. But stick with it and you’ll see why “Stop Blaming Millennials for the Death of Retail” is worth your five minutes….
Top Companies Are Making Life Easier for New Parents With Unique Programs
Mentor moms, nanny allowances and milk delivery are just a few ways that these top companies have found to make life easier for parents returning to work after the arrival of a child. In an era when it’s becoming the norm…
Can Culture Be as Simple as Just 19 Words?
It’s well understood that culture can make or break a workplace. Understanding what “culture” means, however, is a whole other matter. As a working concept, culture can’t be easily defined or measured. Merriam-Webster offers six different definitions (and even named…
‘Immigration Adjacent’ Perks Are Important For Foreign Workers
Every year, we survey U.S. employers about the status of their employment-based immigration programs. This year, the Immigration Trends report revealed that more than half of employers plan to increase their foreign national headcount and that 7% consider international recruitment…
An Insurance Primer For Small Businesses That Want to Stay Competitive
For many small businesses, the struggle to compete with larger companies for talent is an uphill battle — particularly when it comes to benefit offerings. While you know recruiting and retention is important, you may not be sure if the…
Now, Being a Great Place to Work Means Great For Each Employee
Last month I attended the Great Place to Work Institute’s annual conference, and once again I was struck by how things have changed. Great Place to Work Institute (aka GPTW) is the organization responsible for Fortune’s annual “100 Best Companies to Work For”…
5 Ways to Make New Hires Wish They Turned You Down
When it comes to the employee lifecycle, no period of time is more important than those first few days and months in a new job. Both the employee and the organization want to start off on the right foot, making…
Egg Freezing: Who Benefits Most?
A few years ago Apple and Facebook introduced an employee benefit that made headlines — egg freezing. Just so everyone understands what it is — the scientific name is Oocyte Cryopreservation. It allows women to freeze and store their eggs until…
Today’s Learning is Nothing Like Tomorrow’s Is Going to Be
Organizations are investing in talent development now more than ever. According to LinkedIn’s 2017 Workplace Learning Report, talent is the top priority for 69% of learning and development (L&D) professionals. And despite the rise of new learning technologies, 78% of L&D…
Your Workforce Tools Are More Strategic Than You Might Think
This is not a typical article about attracting talented job candidates or retention — while a rich topic, it has become a little tired. There are volumes of research on employee retention – some focus on affirmative strategies; others on…
Your Teams Need ‘Boxing Rings’ and ‘Campfires’
Senior leaders were asked to estimate how much “wasted time” had cost their companies. Their average answer was nearly $15.5 million! It seems that our abundance of unproductive meetings, dysfunctional workplace dynamics, bungled opportunities and mishandled people problems are cumulatively…
Can You Put a Dollar Value On Your Workforce?
Note: This article is part of an occasional series dedicated to exploring the contribution of human capital assets (people!) to the valuation of a business. Welcome to The New ROI: Return on Individuals. Here’s a story about a real company. This company provided doughnuts for…
5 Reasons Why Working Too Many Hours Is a Bad Idea
24-year-old copywriter Mita Diran’s last Tweet, several hours before she lapsed into a coma and died. One thing most millennials figure out faster than workers of older generations is that work/life balance isn’t just important, it’s crucial. While exceptions like Miss…
Appeals Court Says Prior Salary Doesn’t Justify Pay Differences
Just in time for Equal Pay Day, a federal appeals court today ruled today that an employee’s salary history alone is insufficient to justify pay differences between male and female employees. “Reliance on past wages simply perpetuates the past pervasive…
With Workers Coming In From the Sidelines, Hiring Could Get a Little Easier
If there’s one thing you can count on in a conversation with talent acquisition leaders, it’s hearing how hard it is to hire people. Last week, at the spring ERE Recruiting Conference, anytime two people would get together, the talent…