The layoff tidal wave is growing.  The downsizing of Q4 continues into the new year as companies slash staff.  This is the last thing employers and employees want to see happen. It means financial uncertainty for all parties involved. The reality is that sometimes these measures must be taken.  Let’s define the differences, the pros, and cons.

A survey conducted by Human Resource Executive (HRE) in late 2022 revealed that the top five things keeping HR up at night includes hiring and retention, stress, culture, technology, and learning and development.

In ASE’s most recent survey of employer holiday practices, 68% of respondents reported they will be hosting an in-person holiday event this year. For many employers and their employees this may be the first company social event held in years so let’s review employer safety and liability concerns.

Gartner surveyed more than 800 HR leaders across 60 countries and all major industries to identify their priorities and challenges for 2023. The largest share of respondents put “leader and manager effectiveness” on their list, but many HR leaders also prioritize organizational design and change management, employee experience, recruiting, and the future of work

Holiday parties are making a comeback! According to ASE’s 2023 Holiday Schedule and Practices Survey, after two years of COVID-related interruptions, 68% of organizations plan to hold an in-person 2022 holiday party compared to last year’s 42%.

Year in and year out, buzzwords seem to take on a life of their own.  They do have benefits – buzzwords or corporate jargon often unify employees as a team.  Some employers even publish a list for employees to look up and understand when acronyms and buzzwords are widely used.  

Many organizations have had to adjust their return to office plans due to employees revolting. Rather than compete with the home office, try embracing it by creating an office that builds off of what your employees love about working from home.

According to a new survey by SHRM, one in five U.S. workers (20%) have experienced poor treatment in the workplace by coworkers or peers due to their political views. What happened to keeping political views private in the workplace? The 2020 election along with the pandemic has thrown civility out the window.

As part of the annual Global Culture Report, each year O.C. Tanner measures changes in the six core elements of workplace culture that together determine employee decisions to join, engage with, and remain at any place of work. They call them Talent Magnets because of their power to attract and connect people to their teams and organizations. The six Talent Magnets that drive corporate culture are:

American workers are reassessing the approach they want to take with their work life and careers, their loyalty to their organization, and what they expect from their employer. While financial reward is still a top priority, they are thinking more holistically about their experience at work and the benefits that they prioritize according to KPMG’s American Worker Survey.

As the pandemic has put immense pressure on government employees to deliver public services, new research finds that teleworking has improved team performance. 46% of government employees who telework—both fully remote and hybrid employees—say their team’s performance improved during the past two years. Only 35% of in-person government workers say their team’s performance has improved during the period, according to new research from Eagle Hill Consulting.

Workers are responding to all the buzz about quiet quitting by talking about how organizations are quiet firing.  Is quiet quitting a response to quiet firing?

Having fun at work is proven to increase engagement and results in healthier and happier employees. It’s where most of us spend a majority of our day, so why not make it fun!

There is no doubt about the importance of a strong HR team to an organization.  The role of HR in the future of work will be to usher in the organization’s new initiatives that include employer branding, agility, and innovation. Hierarchy will flatten out and managers will coach teams that can make fast decisions.  Utilization of data and continuous learning will drive innovation.

With the great resignation, the labor pricing dilemma for many manufacturing organizations, and the rise of less skilled labor (can anyone find an electrical engineer these days?), the move to automation seems inevitable.  For example, with the rise of artificial intelligence, anyone could be a programmer with the AI predicting the next line.  For DEI professionals it becomes a way to create diversity in the programming ranks.  According to a recent study, 47% of U.S. jobs are...

Have you heard about the latest workplace trend?  It’s called quiet quitting.  It’s when an employee makes a decision to no longer go above and beyond, and instead, do the bare minimum as entailed in their job description. 

MRA, one of ASE’s sister associations located in Wisconsin and Illinois, released the results of their latest Hot Topic Survey on Remote Work and Inflation.  The survey revealed that remote work has become one of the most valued benefits companies can offer.

California’s progressiveness has been a possible lead to new workplace trends.  Now AB 2932, which is moving through the state legislature, would change the definition of a workweek from 40 hours to 32 hours for companies with more than 500 employees.  However, a full workday would remain at 8 hours. Under California law working more than 32 hours would then lead to overtime pay.  This law would impact about 2,600 businesses and more than 3.6 million employees.

Researchers from Microsoft studying workplace trends have revealed an interesting trend.  A trend that will hit close to home for anyone accustomed to logging in after hours.  An analysis of keystrokes from a sample of Microsoft employees showed that there was a third peak of work activity starting around 9:00 o’clock in the evening. Their research suggests that the traditional 9-to-5 workday is fading, and more workers may be redesigning their day to meet the demands of work...

Many leaders feel it’s easier to trust people we see more frequently. As such, the remote/hybrid work model is certain to escalate the trust problem between managers and their staff unless managers proactively work to increase trust.  Equip your managers with these reminders on how to develop a basic understanding of trust, illustrate trust, learn how to coach others, and identify barriers to accountability on their team.

After working from home so long, it appears that many have forgotten office etiquette.  For example, the heating of fish in the microwave, eating tuna fish at the desk, or not showering before coming to the office.  For people with olfactory sensory issues, returning to the office could be a nightmare.  Then there are those who forget their decibel levels. They can be heard everywhere.

Limbo is a game where the most limber, or flexible player wins. Sound familiar? Survey after survey is revealing that employees today are seeking more flexibility in their jobs and are willing to change employers to get that flexibility.

Two years into the pandemic, businesses large and small continue to struggle to find employees and keep the ones they have. Now, many employers are seeking new ways to retain and attract talent by identifying what matters most to their employees.

We have all heard of The Great Resignation and now The Great Regret, but have you given thought to what those movements are really saying about our workforce?  Workers' values and expectations of their employers have changed. Period.  Whether they are still planning on leaving your organization or may boomerang back, workers are ultimately prioritizing what is important to them rather than accepting inflexible cultures.

Employers of all types are facing unprecedented employee retention challenges.  With the recently released Employee Turnover Survey, we now have some concrete data to show just how significant these challenges were in 2021.