As a marketing professional, I am highly aware that presentation is everything. In my opinion, there are several marketing hacks that the health care industry could adopt to increase plan participation and to better position certain programs in a more…
How-Tos Archives
Evaluations Still Have a Place If You Do Them Right
Employee performance reviews are undergoing an evolution from annual evaluation to something else. It seems there are almost as many different schools of thought about the most effective way of grading an individual’s performance as articles written on the subject….
How to Hire for Soft Skills
In April, LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner went on CNBC and discussed new skills gap data LinkedIn published on the current state of the job market. In the interview, Weiner detailed the most in-demand skills for today’s workforce. Unsurprisingly, digital skills…
A Plan for Building an Agile HR Function
The HR function has habitually been criticized for being sluggish and pedantic in terms of its role within an organization. Frustrations abound among disgruntled/dissatisfied employees who see the HR function as the enforcer of leadership mandates while being unable, incapable…
Don’t Be a Clueless CEO
“Please, I need separate checks for our meal.” That caused me to look up from my menu because I had never heard that before. Our normal routine is that he pays for one lunch/dinner and the next time it is…
How to Convince the C-Suite to Make Learning a Priority
For most organizations, every dollar or minute spent on the company’s dime is constantly under evaluation and fierce scrutiny. Although reskilling employees and providing career development often take a back seat to business priorities more directly tied to revenue, workplace…
Here’s What You Need to Attract and Keep Your Young Talent
Are you having trouble recruiting and retaining young talent? Recruitment has been an ongoing concern for human resources for a number of years, particularly with regards to the younger generation. It has recently come to light that more and more…
A ‘Green Card’ Crash Course for HR Pros
Sponsoring an employee to become a “lawful permanent resident” of the United States – i.e., to become a green card holder – can be a valuable recruiting and retention tool. Many foreign national workers crave the stability that comes with having…
5 Ways to Make It Safe for Others to Speak Up
The reality of hierarchical social systems is that people hold deeply ingrained, taken-for-granted beliefs that it’s dangerous to speak up or disagree with those in power… It’s up to leaders to foster the climate of psychological safety required to overcome…
What HR Must Do In Case of Bankruptcy
Probably the worst thing that could happen at work, even worse than your bagels being stolen from the communal fridge, is the news that your employer has become bankrupt. As an HR professional, not only do you have to come…
Six Ways Executives Shaped the Culture of Their Organization
This article is excerpted from Tom’s recent book, The Stress-Reduction Pyramid: A Guide to Managing the Greatest Threat to Employee Health and Productivity. Part 1, Entitled Do You Have a Culture of Stress? Here’s How to Find Out published Thursday.)…
How to Create a Company Where People Stay
Employee retention is an ongoing challenge for many organizations. Across industries, there are talent shortages at almost every job level, and employers face an increasingly competitive job market. Though candidates and current employees have many career options, there are steps you…
Help Your Employees to Have a ‘Line of Sight’ to Goals
Incentives remain one of the most powerful, and yet also one of the most misapplied, management tools out there. While research has shown that group incentives can deliver significant return on investment (CARS research showed a median plan ROI of 134%…
Here’s How to Get Employees to Make Better Benefits Choices
Human resources, at its core, exists to support the organization as a whole by helping employees perform at their highest level. This support is provided through a wide range of activities: recruiting talent, helping employees make the right benefits decisions,…
How to Work With a Micromanaging Boss
If you haven’t worked for a micromanager, you’ve heard about them. Employees buzz about these bosses over lunch, complain about them around the water cooler, and chew them up at the dinner table with their family. At the worst situations,…
Keep Your Rock Stars Without Busting the Budget
Here’s a thought bubble: Say you have a “rock star” employee, highly satisfied with his/her job, who came in young and hungry, growing into a superstar over several years with incremental raises, and one day gets woke to the fact they’re…
How to Make Life Easier for Working Parents
The working parent’s employee experience is difficult, to say the least. According to Bright Horizons’ 2016 Modern Family Index, more than one in three new parents think they’re treated worse than their co-workers. Understandably, this can hurt employee well-being and…
To Build a Better Business, Hire Ramen Eaters
To build a corporate culture that’s as energized and agile as a startup, hire ramen eaters. “I meet these ramen eaters everyday,” says Amy Neale, VP, senior business leader with Mastercard. “These people are tough, ready to hustle and eager…
How to Avoid the 5 Biggest Mistakes Companies Make Hiring Interns
Internship programs are a great asset for organizations. Not only do they give students an opportunity to gain valuable experience in an industry they’re interested in, but they also give companies the chance to give potential future employees a low-risk trial run….
What Do You Do When You Have Too Many Hypotheses?
The most useful analytics begin with a clear question that is relevant to the business. For example, does it pay to continue to recruit at small universities or should we stick with the big ones? This gives the analytics team…