In a perfect world performance reviews would be an unbiased, stressless process that accurately assesses the performance and productivity of the work we do in a way that makes both management and employees satisfied.
Small business owners are caught between the proverbial “rock and a hard place” when it comes to crafting workplace policies in a post-pandemic world where employees are demanding flexible work models.
Employers face a conundrum in 2023: escalating labor costs have combined with historically high inflation to eat into already thin profit margins, yet employee engagement is down in the U.S. for the first time in a decade.
People Analytics has emerged as a powerful tool for HR professionals, enabling evidence-based decision-making and strategic workforce management which has led to improved talent acquisition, employee experience, and overall organizational performance.
“Over the last several years, companies have spun up a flurry of activity, establishing or attempting to advance their people analytics strategy,” wrote Eric Lesser and Peter DeBellis for Deloitte last year. “Whether to gain insight into the productivity of a more distributed workforce, understand and address retention challenges, or inform more sophisticated workforce planning, companies have been investing in a range of people analytics solutions and technologies.”
The days of retention bonuses being reserved only for top-tier corporate executives are certainly numbered as 2 in 3 organizations surveyed last year said they offer targeted payments to top talent to stay on the job.
The genesis of “summer hours” or “summer Fridays” is unknown but it was first embraced in New York City during the “Mad Men” era of the 1960s when movers and shakers at ad agencies and publishing houses high-tailed it out of their Manhattan offices early each week to reach their summer homes some three hours away in The Hamptons.
“Beginning in the 1960s, thousands of professionals working at publishing houses and creative agencies deserted the office early on the Fridays between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Some left around midday; others took alternating Fridays completely off. That way, they could beat the weekend traffic to the Hamptons,” wrote Stephanie Buck in 2017.
Employers that want to attract, retain, and motivate top talent must make every effort to create an amazing employee experience.
This employee experience, often called “EX” in HR terms, is the sum of all interactions employees have with your organization, from the recruiting process to the exit interview, and occurs at every touch point along the way from day-to-day mundane interactions to major milestones.
A study released last month shows that pay transparency in job postings has more than doubled during the pandemic, increasing 137 percent between February 2020 and February 2023.
“Heightened employee expectations and new laws requiring disclosure in some parts of the country mean more employers are adding salary information to their job postings,” wrote Kathryn Mayer for the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).
Artificial intelligence (AI) is being hailed in some quarters as the biggest step for change for society since the industrial revolution and the emerging technology certainly could revolutionize the human resources (HR) industry by automating repetitive tasks and improving the efficiency and accuracy of HR processes.
The massive tech worker layoff, which started in 2022 and has extended into 2023, has led to more than 200,000 employees being let go and has many examining its effect on the U.S. job market.
“More than 66,000 workers in U.S.-based tech companies have been laid off in mass job cuts so far in 2023, according to a Crunchbase News tally, and the year is just getting started,” reported Keerthi Vedantam for CrunchBase. “Last year, more than 140,000 jobs were slashed from public and private tech companies as they were forced to confront rising inflation and a tumultuous stock market.”
