News & Events

The pandemic’s effect on the workplace is a bit like having driven off a cliff – no matter how much we want to turn around or go back to the way things were before, it simply isn’t possible, especially when it comes to company culture in a hybrid work environment.

“Some leaders are thinking about what new culture and a new way of working might look like, and how to perpetuate a culture in a primarily hybrid world,” says Bryan Hancock, the global leader of McKinsey’s talent work.

Artificial Intelligence and the future of work is a hot topic, but when it comes to the future of leadership, automation and machines take a backseat to something much less esoteric: “human leadership.”

Gartner HR Research identified human leadership as the next evolution of leadership in a study released in June 2022.

Business leaders and managers aspiring to greatness have no shortage of avenues to learn and grow from books to blogs to TED Talks to podcasts.

Honestly, there is so much content to consume that half the battle is cutting through the clutter to decide where to focus your time.

When it comes to predicting the future, there is nothing like a worldwide pandemic, economic turbulence, and geopolitical turmoil to remind us that forecasting can be an activity with more pitfalls than curtain calls.

Yet business leaders understand that they must keep looking ahead because sailing their companies into uncharted waters blindly, without preparation or a sense of direction, is the surest way to end up wrecked on the rocks.

A year ago the think tank the Conference Board surveyed American businesses and found that companies--  facing the gauntlet of rising inflation and a historically tight labor market – were setting aside 3.9 percent of their 2022 payroll budgets for employee raises.

When the pandemic hit in 2020 the business world turned topsy-turvy overnight.

In the earliest stages of the coronavirus crisis, safety and survival took center stage as businesses navigated through the treacherous waters of lockdowns and economic upheaval.

If “a picture is worth a thousand words” then how much is a trendy workplace catchphrase worth?

Judging from TikTok posts and Google searches, these proliferating pithy slogans – from “The Great Resignation” to “Quiet Quitting” to “The Great Regret” to “Quiet Firing” – are worth millions and millions of words!

There has been a lot of focus this year on employee behavior and the “Quiet Quitting” trend in the labor force, but some are arguing that there is an equally unproductive culture on the other side of the ledger that has been coined “Quiet Firing.”

“Employers that are considering offering abortion-related benefits, such as out-of-state travel to a jurisdiction where abortion laws are more accommodating, should keep in mind compliance and liability considerations, benefits advisors point out,” reported the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) after Roe was overturned. “Employers that operate in multiple states will also need to navigate a patchwork of different rules affecting abortion coverage, depending on where covered employees and dependents live, work and receive health care.”

The Great Resignation may be losing steam, but the number of Americans leaving their jobs, as well as total job openings, remains at historic highs, making the recruitment of Gen Z workers by employers more important than ever.