H-1B season starting soon:  On January 27, 2023, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that the registration period for Fiscal Year 2024 will open at noon on March 1, 2023, and will close at noon on March 17, 2023, both Eastern Time. During this 17-day period, employers, directly or through their representatives, can submit registrations for prospective employees using the USCIS online H-1B registration system.  The H-1B registration system requires employers to first create an account on the myUSCIS portal. New accounts, for first-time companies, can start being created at noon on February 21. The process also requires payment of a $10 H-1B registration fee per each prospective employee. At the end of the registration period on March 17, if USCIS has received enough registrations to meet the cap, it will randomly make selections and send notifications to the corresponding myUSCIS account holders by March 31. Selected registrations will then have a 90-day period to file their H-1B petitions with USCIS for a visa start date of October 1.  Congress has set aside 65,000 visas for beneficiaries with a bachelor’s degree and an additional 20,000 for those who earned U.S. master’s degrees.  Source:  Littler 1/30/23

Have you thought of returnships?  In recent years, returnships have emerged as one way to bring caregivers — especially women who take time off to care for children — back into the workforce. PepsiCo’s program specifically targets women with at least five years of work experience who have taken at least two years off for caregiving. While 1 in 5 women left the workforce during the pandemic, according to a study released in 2021 by Metlife in partnership with Rainmakers CSI, nearly two-thirds of those who left planned to return. Returnships give those women a chance to return to work and give employers an opportunity to fill talent gaps with skilled workers.  However, returnships should be equal opportunity.    Source:  HR Dive 1/17/23

Are your managers looking for a new job?  In its most recent Pulse of Talent report, based on a survey of nearly 9,000 workers globally, the HR tech firm Ceridian found that some 9 in 10 middle managers have experienced burnout over the past year, while one-third say they don’t feel fulfilled in their jobs and three-quarters are either looking for a new role or are open to new opportunities.  Ceridian reported that more than two-thirds of middle managers say they feel stuck in their roles, with 25% saying they don’t see a career path with their current employer while another 30% are unsure of their future at their workplace. Feeling stuck is taking a toll. Seven in 10 middle managers said it’s making them less productive, with one-third indicating that they’ve withdrawn from discussions and social interactions at work and 31% saying they’ve taken to doing the bare minimum. Middle managers are “breaking under the strain, burning out trying to keep employees on board while meeting sometimes unreasonable expectations from their senior stakeholders,” added Geoff Webb, vp of solution strategy at the people management platform iSolved, which also put the spotlight on the issue of workplace burnout in its recent study.  Source:  Worklife 1/17/23

Even C-suite wants to quit: According to a recent report from software company UKG, 40% of C-suite leaders say the stress from their job is so intense, they'll likely quit within the next 12 months. 33% "don't want to work at all anymore," and nearly half said they would not recommend their company or profession to any young person they care about. That feedback is not only causing managers to step down but discouraging employees who previously wanted to step up. At a time when mass-layoff headlines are dominating the news, workplace stress can be impossible to avoid. Managers may not only be ill-equipped to handle the emotional baggage of having to let go of good people but are then left struggling to make ends meet with remaining talent. UKG's research shows that current people leaders have considered  taking a demotion or pay cut to avoid the stress.  38% of leaders said they wouldn't wish their job on their worst enemy, according to UKG.  To help your leaders manage through these times, employers need to step up on training for this generally overlooked group and mental health support.  Source: EBN 1/19/23

When DEI violates EEO law:  In Lutz v. Liquidity Services, Inc., No. PWG-21-1229 (United States District Court, D. Maryland, Southern Division, 12/12/22), a vice president of human resources is suing his former employer. According to the VP, the CEO/chairman of the board said to him, “Mike, I want you to retire. I have a diversity problem. I need to improve the diversity profile of the company. And I need to promote Novelette [Murray] into your job.” (Fyi, Novelette is an African-American woman, and the company’s leadership at that time was all white men). The VP’s retirement was announced with kudos for his accomplishments, but then (oddly) he was terminated “without cause,” although the company is now stating that it was for performance issues.  The case was allowed to continue to trial.  Lesson learned? Taking negative employment actions against a non-minority employee in order to create opportunities for minority employees is still a violation of discrimination laws, even if done in the name of diversity.  Source: Shawe Rosenthal LLP 1/13/23

CEOs value CHROs but may not be providing the resources to be successful:  New research from Accenture of 1,140 global CEOs and heads of human resources concludes that while talent plays a vital role in unlocking a company’s growth, reinvention, innovation, and productivity, most leaders feel their companies have been ill-equipped to shift to the new realities of work. While nearly 90% of the CEOs surveyed agreed that CHROs play a key role in ensuring an organization’s profitable growth, less than half indicated they are creating the conditions for CHROs to do so. Accessing top talent was among the most urgent priorities for CEOs surveyed, with 38% identifying it as a main area of focus; the same percentage said that using artificial intelligence and data to enhance performance was of chief concern, compared to the 34% who said they were focused on enhancing the company’s digital core. These priorities may be a reflection of fast-changing digital trends, and leaders’ realization that they need strong systems and talent to meet the constant barrage of change, versus pivoting an entire company’s strategy to meet the latest tool or platform.  Source:  Charter 1/17/23