5 Feb, 2025, No comments

Reassessing Inclusive Hiring: Access Over Identity in Talent Recruitment

February 4, 2025 | Roy Maurer

Note: This article is the second in a four-part series examining the four core principles behind SHRM’s BEAM Framework: merit as the primary lens, access over identity, continuous calibration, and operationalizing inclusion.

President Donald Trump’s executive orders related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace have jump-started discussions about when inclusion and diversity (I&D) strategies are merely performative versus when they produce tangible results.

SHRM has developed a new framework in response to these developments: Belonging Enhanced by Access Through Merit (BEAM), an alternative I&D methodology that shifts the focus from optics to outcomes. The framework outlines strategic actions HR leaders can take to align I&D initiatives with legal requirements and cultivate equitable opportunities for all.

According to the framework, HR leaders should first evaluate whether opportunities are open to everyone, without regard to sex, race, or any other protected status, before identifying talent based on relevant qualifications including skills, proficiencies, and experience.

SHRM Webcast: Gender & Inclusion: Navigating New DEI Executive Orders

“Adhering to the BEAM Framework allows organizations to keep up with the shifting regulatory landscape while fostering inclusive cultures—ensuring that individuals are recognized for their performance rather than their identity,” said SHRM Chief Data & Analytics Officer Alexander Alonso, Ph.D., SHRM-SCP, during a Jan. 29 webcast.

One of the core principles of BEAM is “Access Over Identity.” SHRM recommends that organizations expand their recruitment pipelines to overlooked, nontraditional talent pools in order to open access, while practicing “blind” identity-neutral recruitment through the hiring process as far as is practicable.

Expanding Recruitment Pipelines

SHRM has long advocated for widening the aperture at the candidate sourcing stage and recruiting from underrepresented and nontraditional groups. In particular, the SHRM Foundation has supported employers in connecting with untapped talent pools, such as veterans, people with disabilities, people impacted by the justice system, and opportunity youth (young adults who are not in school or working).

By actively seeking candidates from various backgrounds and experiences, employers are privy to a richer pool of skills and perspectives.

“Innovation and decision-making are enhanced by diversity of thought, where not everyone in the room thinks the same way,” said Victoria Mattingly, an industrial-organizational psychologist and founder and CEO of Mattingly Solutions, a workplace inclusion consulting firm in Pittsburgh. “But you need to source for [diverse backgrounds] if you want the benefits of diverse teams.”

SHRM Webcast: Diving Deeper into Affirmative Action and Federal Contractor Compliance: Key Insights & Critical Actions

Expanding recruitment pipelines can also provide critical employment access to people who may not normally have it. “Whether it’s intentional or unintentional, some people have been overlooked,” said Brittany Boone, an industrial-organizational psychologist, diversity and inclusion expert, and senior consultant at VallotKarp Consulting in New York City.

Without access or exposure to various work opportunities, a vicious cycle begins, she added, where people assume that not having access means they are not competent.

“That is not true,” Boone said. “Even though someone doesn’t have the access or the opportunity to a certain industry, they may still have the competence to succeed in that industry.”

Repositories for diverse talent already exist, including nonprofits, professional membership organizations, community groups, and university programs. But they can’t help if employers aren’t plugged into them, Mattingly said.

Other ways to source diverse talent include:

Broaden your job posting reach by using a wider variety of job boards and networks. Recruiters can participate in a variety of job fairs, conferences, and networking events specifically designed to connect with underrepresented talent, Boone suggested. “There are organizations or associations that serve every population,” she said. “Different schools have different identity compositions. Tap into those. The key is building relationships with these partners.”
As a recruiter, think of yourself as more like a sales or business development representative when reaching out and building connections. “Take a data-driven approach to figure out where to get started in your local area,” Mattingly said, “and then build a relationship with those groups, the same way you would build any business relationship.”

The return on investment will come, but it can take time. “You can’t wait for the hiring need to arise before you begin establishing these pipelines,” Boone said. “That’s too late. If you’re in a hurry, you will do what has always been done and go back to the same places to recruit from.”

Practicing ‘Blind’ Hiring

One way to achieve identity-neutral practices once access has been provided is to implement “blind” hiring techniques at the earlier stages of the hiring process. That means screening candidate resumes and applications minus identifying personal information to mitigate unconscious bias and instead focusing on assessing candidates based on their skills and abilities.

Removing recruiter bias—both conscious and unconscious—gives candidates a better chance to advance based on their qualifications and experience instead of their identity characteristics.

“Blind hiring has been shown to have a positive effect—if the process is truly blind,” Mattingly said.

Typically, that means identifiers such as names, demographic information, and school affiliation are redacted. Phone screens can be done by telephone instead of video.

“At least early on, there is not any intentional or unintentional discrimination related to visible identifiers,” Mattingly said. “But eventually interactions will not be blind, and that’s where bias training comes in.”

Boone advised putting off the face-to-face interaction for as long as possible, in addition to:

Neutralizing job descriptions from bias by distinguishing the must-have requirements from the nice-to-have criteria.
Ensuring that interview panels are diverse.
Using standardized interview questions and assessments.

Employers could also consider using blind recruiting technology for screening, interviewing, and assessing candidates. However, they must be aware that bias could be baked into those tools.

“Systems are only as good as people who build them,” Mattingly said. “Algorithms and tests need to be calibrated to make sure you’re not just elevating the same prototype of talent and missing out on others.”

5 Feb, 2025, No comments

News

Trump Rescinds Affirmative Action by Contractors Based on Race, Gender

January 23, 2025 | Allen Smith, J.D.

President Donald Trump has rescinded the 60-year-old Executive Order 11246 (EO 11246), which required federal contractors to practice affirmative action based on race and gender. The president also issued a separate executive order this week to end diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) programs and preferencing in the federal government.

In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson issued EO 11246, which also required nondiscrimination by federal contractors.

While the affirmative action obligation for EO 11246 will end due to its rescission by the EO Trump issued Jan. 21, contractors’ affirmative action obligations will continue for people with disabilities and veterans, due to the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA) and Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, explained Zev Grumet-Morris, an attorney with Duane Morris in Chicago. Nondiscrimination obligations based on race, gender, and other protected categories will continue as well.

“In September, we advised a comprehensive review of your DE&I programs for legal compliance and a shift toward inclusive practices that benefit all employees,” said SHRM President and Chief Executive Officer Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., SHRM-SCP. “If you haven’t done so already, now is the time to act.”

OFCCP’s Role Now Up in the Air

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) “has lost the majority of its portfolio,” said Guy Brenner, an attorney with Proskauer in Washington, D.C. “While it still exists—for now—its sex- and race-based regulations should no longer be operative.”

In addition, Trump’s EO says the OFCCP is prohibited from:

“Promoting ‘diversity.’ ”
“Holding [f]ederal contractors and subcontractors responsible for taking ‘affirmative action.’ ”
“Allowing or encouraging [f]ederal contractors and subcontractors to engage in workforce balancing based on race, color, sex, sexual preference, religion, or national origin.”

“On the one hand, government contractors will be relieved of the majority of OFCCP compliance burdens, which will be welcome news to most contractors,” Brenner said. On the other hand, the executive order is targeting corporate DE&I efforts, “which could present challenges for companies that wish to continue those initiatives.”

For federal contractors, the nondiscrimination obligations continue through this most recent executive order, as well as EO 13279, which Trump retained, said Craig Leen, an attorney with K&L Gates in Washington, D.C., and director of the OFCCP in Trump’s first term. In addition, various other laws, such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, prohibit discrimination.

“OFCCP has not been focusing enough on disability and veterans, with very low enforcement recovery numbers in these areas,” Leen said. He added that Trump’s executive order “is an opportunity for the OFCCP to finally do much more to support people with disabilities and veterans, while also continuing to strictly enforce nondiscrimination on all protected grounds.”

The new order says nothing about contractors’ affirmative action obligations under Section 503 and VEVRAA, Leen noted.

“Historically, OFCCP has been predominantly concerned with race- and gender-based discrimination under EO 11246—particularly for hiring and compensation practices—so it is possible they pivot to focus more on discrimination practices against individuals with disabilities and protected veterans and VEVRAA,” Grumet-Morris said. “At the same time, however, the executive order prohibits OFCCP from promoting diversity, or holding federal contractors and subcontractors responsible for taking affirmative action, arguably covering OFCCP’s authority to enforce Section 503 or VEVRAA in any meaningful way.”

Rescission’s Impact

EO 11246 required federal contractors and subcontractors with at least 50 employees and a federal contract or subcontract of at least $50,000 to annually develop affirmative action programs, perform annual audits of the organization’s placement and pay practices, and assess their outreach and recruitment programs for underrepresented members of their workforce, Grumet-Morris explained. The OFCCP has long been tasked with enforcing EO 11246 through regular compliance audits that can result in financial penalties for noncompliant contractors, and even debarment from contracting with the federal government. “President Trump’s new executive order would strip OFCCP of that authority,” Grumet-Morris said.

“The executive order provides for the complete rescission of EO 11246, including all affirmative action obligations encompassed within it,” he said. “This means that a contractor’s or a subcontractor’s obligation to annually develop and maintain affirmative action plans with respect to race and gender, along with the other requirements mandated by EO 11246—such as self-audits of an organization’s placement and pay practices, and certain outreach recruitment obligations—are eliminated, as is the OFCCP’s authority to audit contractors’ and subcontractors’ compliance with EO 11246.”

Trump’s reference to “affirmative action” may be interpreted to refer to “preferences,” according to David Goldstein, an attorney with Littler in Minneapolis, who said affirmative action “is one of those terms that means different things to different people.”

Employers that remain concerned about inclusion and diversity “will need to think very carefully about what these concepts really mean—and should mean—and how to achieve them in a way that is constructive, effective, and safe from attack,” he said.

Trump’s executive order provides a grace period, allowing federal contractors to comply with the existing OFCCP regulations for the next 90 days, noted Joshua Roffman, an attorney with Roffman Horvitz in McLean, Va. Most affirmative action plans are effectively nondiscrimination and equal employment opportunity plans, he said.

“I have been advising clients for my entire career that the law prohibits making employment decisions based on gender or race/ethnicity,” he said.

During the next 120 days, the administration will study these issues and make recommendations for more changes, said Lynn Clements, senior director, people insights at Berkshire Associates in Columbia, Md., a division of Resolution Economics.

“Federal contractors must still comply with the affirmative action regulations for individuals with disabilities and protected veterans, file EEO-1 and VETS-4212 reports, and comply with all existing state affirmative action and EEO reporting requirements,” she explained. Local requirements in the affirmative action and EEO space must be followed as well.

“Now is the time to be on top of nondiscrimination efforts to ensure compliance with federal mandates, laws, and actions that are ever-changing,” said Joanna Colosimo, SHRM-SCP, vice president, workforce analytics and compliance strategy, and principal consultant with DCI Consulting Group in Washington, D.C.

For more on companies rethinking their approach to I&D, see this video below from Alex Alonso, Ph.D., SHRM’s chief data & analytics officer.

28 Jun, 2024, No comments

Finding the ‘Sweet Spot’ for HR, AI, and Human Abilities

Four panelists discuss how AI is already transforming the workplace.

June 25, 2024 | Roy Maurer

Janet Gipson and Svenja Gudell speak on the main stage as part of a panel of four

Janet Gipson (left) and Svenja Gudell speak onstage during the general session at SHRM24 on June 25.

AI is just beginning to impact every workplace, presenting new challenges for HR as job duties change, new skills emerge, and guiding principles become necessary to navigate inevitable disruption.

The question isn’t whether to integrate AI tools in the workplace, but how, said Jessica Jensen, chief marketing officer at Indeed, as she opened the Main Stage general session on June 25 at the SHRM Annual Conference & Expo 2024 (SHRM24) in Chicago.

Jessica Jensen

“We are in the midst of exponential innovation,” she said. “Building a better future of work will require strategically—and responsibly—combining the power of AI with the human judgment, empathy, and expertise of the professionals who use it.”

Jensen said she understands people’s hesitancy about and fear of powerful new AI tools. But not adopting AI is not an option. “So what is the sweet spot between embracing it, de-risking it, and making progress toward a better world of work?” she asked.

In particular, generative AI (GenAI) will create massive disruption, altering the work of billions of people around the world. But some occupations and industries are expected to be more significantly affected. For example, research from Indeed shows that GenAI will have the potential to do 88% of the tasks in HR.

“When you hear that, you are either elated, or utterly terrified,” Jensen said. But she expressed a more optimistic view—that AI will not replace human workers but will instead augment the tactical tasks people do, leaving them more time to engage with other people and build workplace cultures.

“Those human aspects will remain at the core of HR for a long time,” she said.

Jensen added that some types of jobs will be negatively impacted by AI, and some jobs will change, “but we don’t believe entire industries will disappear. Instead, over time, we believe more jobs will be created.”

Svenja Gudell, Indeed’s chief economist, presented data on how GenAI is affecting the labor market—so far, it’s largely business as usual. While there has been tremendous growth in mentions of GenAI in job postings over the last couple of years, it’s still rare, at only 0.15% of all job postings.

“I think this will increase in the future, but we are still in the infancy of GenAI impacting the labor market,” she said.

But in the future, Gudell said, virtually every job is expected to be affected by GenAI. One-fifth (20%) of jobs will likely experience a significant impact, meaning a lot of a role’s skills could be readily done by the technology.

Janet Gipson, head of talent acquisition at Yale University, shared that her team has been using AI to help screen applicants and write job postings.

“We’re able to allow recruiters and hiring managers to focus more on the experience and selection of prime candidates,” she said. “Hiring managers are jazzed to use GenAI for creating job postings, saving them a lot of time.”

Gipson acknowledged that the finding that GenAI could take on the majority of HR professionals’ work is astonishing, but also exciting.

“We’re in the process of implementing more of these types of tools at Yale,” she said. “There’s a need, though, for leaders to make sure we’re managing our teams through all this change. There’s fear, there’s excitement, there’s a need for people to learn how to use these tools. It will be very important to manage reskilling and practice empathy.”

Lafawn Davis

All four panelists agreed that there is a huge potential for increased productivity, but there is also a need for responsibility.

“Responsible AI means you are designing, evaluating, and deploying AI systems fairly, safely, and in a trustworthy way,” said LaFawn Davis, chief people and sustainability officer at Indeed.

“Technology is a reflection of its creators. The more perspectives, the more feedback we give in training AI, the better it will be and the more we can mitigate bias in the workplace. We want to make sure everything we build is fair and equitable, and that is everyone’s responsibility.”

27 Apr, 2024, No comments

Legal Challenge of Overtime Rule Is Likely

April 26, 2024 | Allen Smith, J.D.

With the likelihood of lawsuits challenging the Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) new overtime rule, some HR professionals are wondering whether they should wait until just before the effective dates to comply. Don’t wait, experts say, but have a plan B, in case the rule is blocked by the courts.

“We fully expect legal challenges,” said J. Hagood Tighe, co-chair of Fisher Phillips’ wage and hour practice and an attorney in Columbia, S.C. However, he added, “employers should not sit back and wait to see what litigation may bring. They should be planning now for the new salary thresholds.”

The overtime rule raises the standard salary-threshold levels in two phases. Workers who do not earn at least $43,888 a year ($844 a week) as of July 1, 2024, would have to be paid any earned overtime, even if they’re classified as a manager or professional. The salary-level threshold rises to $58,656 a year ($1,128 a week) as of Jan. 1, 2025. There are automatic increases to the salary threshold every three years.

[Related Resource: SHRM Annual Conference & Expo 2024 concurrent session “Wage and Hour Compliance: A DOL Update and Ways to Avoid Common FLSA Overtime Liability Landmines”]

Possible Bases of Challenges

Keith Kopplin, an attorney with Ogletree Deakins in Milwaukee, said legal challenges likely will assert that the new rule places greater importance on the salary amount paid to the worker than it does on the duties performed.

“That was the primary argument in the litigation that ultimately resulted in the DOL’s proposed increase in 2016 being enjoined,” he said. “The DOL’s authority to automatically update the threshold every three years, without a separate notice of proposed rulemaking, will also likely face legal challenge.”

The update to the salary-level threshold effective Jan. 1, 2025, of $1,128 per week represents the 35th percentile of weekly earnings of full-time salaried workers in the lowest-wage Census region—currently the South—based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2016, the DOL under the Obama administration had tried to set the standard minimum salary level for the white-collar exemptions at the 40th percentile, explained Natalie Bare, an attorney with Duane Morris in Philadelphia.

By comparison, the Trump administration set the standard minimum salary at the 20th percentile, which resulted in the current salary level test of $684 per week ($35,568 a year) and is the methodology for the first update to $844 effective July 1, she said. The 20th percentile was also used to set the 2004 rule of $455 per week.

With regard to the salary threshold update to $1,128, “while the DOL is not using the exact methodology that resulted in invalidation of the 2016 proposal, at the 35th percentile, they are not that far from the invalidated 40th percentile. And they are nowhere near the previously adopted 20th percentile,” Bare said.

In addition, because the Trump administration recently raised the salary-level threshold that was finalized in 2019 and took effect Jan. 1, 2020, the Biden administration’s increase doesn’t seem as compelling, according to Brett Coburn, an attorney with Alston & Bird in Atlanta.

“Such a significant increase really highlights the flipflopping that occurs between administrations from different parties, which can often rankle judges evaluating these kinds of challenges,” Coburn said.

By setting up an interim threshold based on the methodology used for prior successful threshold increases but then a different and more aggressive methodology for the Jan. 1, 2025, threshold, the DOL “is in some sense conceding” that the Jan. 1, 2025, threshold and its methodology “are subject to attack on the same basis that the court used to strike down the 2016 rule,” he said.

Might Supreme Court Hear a Challenge?

The 2016 rule did not make it to the Supreme Court because the case was never fully ruled on by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the then-new Trump administration ultimately did not pursue the DOL’s appeal. Instead, it issued its overtime rule, Coburn said.

A challenge to the new rule, if there is one, “might very well make it all the way to the Supreme Court,” he said. The makeup of the Supreme Court now has a solid conservative majority, Coburn noted.

“Beyond the shift in the makeup of the Supreme Court, the conservative justices have indicated a willingness to heavily scrutinize administrative rulemaking,” he said.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s dissent in Helix Energy Solutions v. Hewitt signaled his interest in questioning whether there is any basis for a salary requirement under the Fair Labor Standards Act, Coburn said.

5 Mar, 2024, No comments

Employee Financial Stress Peaks

Employers try to ease workers’ rising financial concerns with new benefits.

March 4, 2024 | Theresa Agovino

Leaders at Reid Health knew they needed to act when they noticed a spike in workers seeking loans against their retirement accounts. The increased demand started during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many employees were left without paychecks after the Richmond, Ind.-based health care system was forced to suspend or limit certain hospital services.

In 2020, Reid gave employees access to Kashable, a business that offers short-term loans to those who have difficulty getting other types of financing. The loans can carry lower interest rates than other forms of debt. About 18 months ago, Reid added the DailyPay app that gives employees access to their earnings before payday, as well as the SmartDollar program from personal finance guru Dave Ramsey’s company to teach individuals about budgeting and saving.

“Finances are a big stressor for employees,” says Karen Martin, Reid’s benefits manager. “We believe that if employees are financially sound, they’re going to be more productive at work. They’re going to be happier, and retention is going to be better.”

Workers’ financial stress is growing and becoming a significant problem for their employers. Only 42 percent of U.S. employees rate their financial health as good or excellent, a 10-year low, according to a study released last year by Bank of America.

Why should employers care? Nearly 45 percent of U.S. employees who are struggling with their finances say their concerns distracted them while they’re at work, a 2023 PwC survey found. Of that group, only 54 percent feel there is a promising future for them at their employer, compared to 69 percent of employees who feel financially secure. Financially insecure employees are also twice as likely to seek new employment.

Finances are a big stressor for employees. We believe that if employees are financially sound, they’re going to be more productive at work. They’re going to be happier, and retention is going to be better.”
Karen Martin

High inflation and interest rates, along with lackluster raises, are the main drivers of financial stress, experts say. Nearly 60 percent of employees said their salaries weren’t keeping up with the pace of inflation last year, according to PwC. That’s up from 41 percent in 2021. Additionally, many younger employees are burdened by large amounts of student loan debt. Roughly one-third (34 percent) of those ages 18-29 report having student debt, as do 22 percent of those ages 30-44, according to the Education Data Initiative, a nonprofit.

A Persistent Problem

Even though inflation has fallen and wages for many workers have started to outpace it, many employees continue to find it difficult to make ends meet. Total U.S. household debt in the fourth quarter of last year rose by $212 billion, or 1.2 percent from the third quarter, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Balances now stand at S17.5 trillion. Meanwhile, delinquencies have started to rise on all types of loans except for student loans, the bank said.

“Inflation is slowing, but it’s not like we can just turn it off and all the prices will decrease and credit card interest rates are going to be cut in half,” says Anthony Abbatiello, workforce transformation leader and partner at PwC U.S. “We are going to be grappling with this for some time.”

Employers are taking action. More than half of employers (54 percent) offer financial wellness tools, according to a 2023 survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute. What’s more, roughly 30 percent of employers said they were planning to implement such tools, up from 25 percent in 2022. And almost 40 percent of company officials ranked employees’ financial health as a high concern, an increase from 29 percent in 2022. Employers are adding benefits such as financial counseling, student loan repayment plans and emergency savings options. Provisions from the SECURE Act 2.0, which President Joe Biden signed into law in 2022, are designed to increase retirement savings. They also make it easier for employers to contribute to student loan repayment and emergency savings accounts.

But some people aren’t impressed by employers’ efforts. “It’s just a gimmick,” says Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank in Washington, D.C. “I think most people just need a raise.”

Gould says that many low-income employees don’t need advice on budgeting because they’ve learned to do it out of necessity. “I’m impressed they can put food on the table,” she says. “They probably know how to budget better than people who make more money.”

And while earnings have begun to outpace inflation, Gould says that low-wage workers are still behind due to years of being underpaid.

Targeted Solutions

Business leaders counter that they spend significant time and money to analyze their pay and benefits structures to ensure they’re competitive within their industry and areas of operation. Experts say that employers can delve into data, such as how many employees may be taking early withdrawals from retirement accounts or are having their wages garnished, to determine what types of financial tools to offer employees. Research has shown that even some employees who earn $100,000 or more annually are having a tough time paying the bills.

“With a rich set of information, you can make decisions on what benefits and services to provide and also build trust with employees by showing you are looking at how best to support them,” says Mark Smrecek, senior director, financial well-being market leader at WTW in Chicago.

I think most people just need a raise.”
Elise Gould

Smrecek says employers are especially interested in finding ways to give employees access to low-interest loans and helping them build emergency savings. That’s an acute need: Only 32 percent of Americans could cover a $500 emergency out of their savings, according to a 2022 study by the Federal Reserve. Personal finance education is also critical, Smrecek says, because teaching employees about managing money means they either won’t get into trouble or will avoid repeating past mistakes.

Experts say it’s critical for employers to ensure their workers know what financial tools are available to them. That may sound obvious, though some employers concede that the amount of information they give employees can be overwhelming. Therefore, targeted campaigns are key.

For example, the Bank of America study found that women are more financially stressed than men. That’s especially problematic because women tend to live longer than men. Experts say that sharing information about financial wellness benefits through employee resource groups for women could help emphasize the importance of money management. Similarly, employers may want to provide LGBTQ+ employee resource groups with information about the costs associated with surrogacy or adoption, so members know what to expect if they want to start families.

Clear Communication

At UPS, communication was key for increasing participation in a savings plan offered for nonunion employees, says B.J. Dorfman, director of global retirement strategy and U.S. benefits at the Atlanta-based company. For years, UPS had a plan that allowed post-tax money to be automatically deducted from employees’ paychecks, though few people took advantage of it and those who did tended to be high-income workers.

That started changing after UPS agreed to participate in the BlackRock Emergency Savings Initiative. In 2019, the social impact team at BlackRock began working with three nonprofits, including Boston-based Commonwealth, to develop programs that would encourage workers to set money aside for unexpected expenses. Around the same time, Dorman says UPS learned through a study with credit bureau Equifax that a significant number of its employees were carrying high levels of credit card debt and missing payments.

CPR-240151_EDIT_2-24-ATW-Financial-Stress_Info_560x820-1.jpg

Atlanta-based UPS took several steps to increase participation in the savings plan. It created a new landing page with details about the option, started webinars about financial planning and sent direct mail pieces. The company was careful to avoid sending information about the program when it knew employees would be receiving materials from the company about other matters. In the first year, participation in the program increased 39 percent to 4,155 individuals and brought in an additional $10 million in savings by employees.

In 2021, UPS doubled to 10 percent the amount employees could have deducted from their pay to put in the savings plan. Last year, it began matching 50 percent of employees’ contributions up to 6 percent—the same match offered on its traditional and Roth 401(k) retirement plans.

“We want to give them flexibility with their investment options,” Dorfman says. “We wanted to remove barriers that may have prevented them from additional savings.”

Flexible Options

Savings accounts administered through employers are important, especially for low-income workers, because traditional banks often impose minimum balances and fees that prevent or deter individuals from setting money aside, says Nick Maynard, senior vice president at Commonwealth, which aims to help vulnerable people build financial security.

“Emergency savings are not widely available,” Maynard says. “But they’re actually a high-quality benefit that people want.”

Student debt repayment is also a highly desirable benefit, particularly for young people. This year, Kimley-Horn, an engineering, planning and design consultancy with headquarters in North Carolina, began offering a benefit that allows eligible employees to direct up to 4 percent of their compensation into repaying their student loans while still qualifying for the company’s 401(k) matching contribution. Previously, employee contributions would have needed to be deposited into a 401(k) account to get the match.

Kimberly Plessinger, benefits manager at Raleigh, N.C.-based Kimley-Horn, says many employees expressed an interest in student debt repayment in informal surveys, which wasn’t too surprising because the company’s average employee age is about 35. Plessinger says allowing employees to earmark money toward student loan repayment instead of retirement gives them the ability to choose what’s best for them at various stages of their life.

“For us, it boils down to flexibility,” Plessinger says. “I think it is going to be a phenomenal recruiting and retention tool.”

Theresa Agovino is the workplace editor for SHRM.

Explore Further

Employee Financial Wellness Drops to New Low
Although inflation has recently abated, employees’ financial wellness is still suffering. Recent research goes even further, indicating that financial wellness is at an all-time low.

Leveraging SECURE 2.0 into Greater Financial Wellness
At first glance, the SECURE Act 2.0 has something for everyone. For employers interested in helping employees improve their financial well-being, these provisions can be a compelling starting point for establishing a new financial wellness program or enhancing an existing one.

On-Demand Pay Broadens Workers’ Financial Well-Being
New payment systems are disrupting traditional weekly, biweekly and monthly payment schedules.

As Open Enrollment for 2024 Neared, Employees Voiced Cost Concerns
Ahead of open enrollment last year, employees were preparing for a rise in their benefits costs in 2024, with more worrying about having to pay more.

UK: How Can Employers Help Staff Experiencing Financial Difficulties?
There are some simple things employers can do to reduce the financial burden on employees and ease the stress associated with financial concerns.

AI Adoption in HR Is Growing

17 Feb, 2024, No comments

NEWS

February 16, 2024 | Roy Maurer

Only about 1 in 4 employers use artificial intelligence to support HR-related activities, but the majority of those organizations began doing so over the past year, according to new research from SHRM.

Nearly half of the surveyed HR professionals say that using AI to support HR has become somewhat or much more of a priority in the last 12 months. The study also found that AI has been adopted most readily at the largest organizations (5,000 or more employees) and among the technology, finance and information industries.

The survey was conducted in January among 2,366 HR respondents representing organizations of all sizes in a wide variety of industries across the U.S.

Most HR professionals are optimistic about the potential for AI, according to the research. Just over 60 percent are optimistic about the potential for the effective use of AI at their organization, and 56 percent are optimistic about the potential for AI to improve collaboration. Yet there are still some (24 percent) who are concerned that AI will lead to job displacement.

That concern aligns with research recently published by SHRM that forecast increased productivity and job role transformation in the coming years, with layoffs and hiring slowdowns being the cost of that surge as employers adjust to a new reality.

“It won’t be a zero-sum game,” said Jeanne Meister, a global HR consultant and thought leader on the future of work. “Some occupations will shrink, some will grow, and others will evolve with new roles, reskilling and job redesign. For example, AI will significantly improve auditing, which will lead to a decline in the size of accounting teams. Certain tasks in recruiting and HR service centers will be automated, but the largest amount of change will be in the evolution of roles.”

When asked why their organization is not using AI technology to support HR, respondents gave three main reasons: a lack of knowledge about how AI tools could help, a lack of resources to properly audit AI algorithms, and the fear that AI would remove the “human touch.”

How HR Uses AI

Among the organizations that have adopted AI for HR purposes, talent acquisition is the top area for its use (64 percent), followed by learning and development (43 percent) and performance management (25 percent).

“Recruiting was the first to adopt AI,” Meister said. “It was a logical place to begin, because AI can impact drafting job descriptions, creating interview questions and predicting attrition. But other areas of HR can be vastly improved by AI—especially performance management.”

Among HR professionals who use AI for recruiting, 65 percent are using it to help generate job descriptions and 42 percent are using it to customize job postings, while about 33 percent are using AI to review or screen applicant resumes, to communicate with applicants during the interview process or to automate candidate searches.

Recruiters said AI saves them time and/or increases their efficiency, improves their ability to identify top candidates and reduces their recruitment costs.

Among organizations that use AI to support learning and development activities, 49 percent are using AI to recommend or create personalized opportunities for their employees, with another 45 percent using it to help track employees’ learning progress. Nineteen percent are using AI to upskill or reskill their workforce. Many respondents mentioned that AI is a great tool for helping them build out new training content and programs.

Among organizations that use AI to support performance management, many are using it to help facilitate performance conversations and next steps, including 57 percent who are using AI to assist managers in providing more comprehensive or actionable feedback to their employees and 46 percent who are using AI to facilitate employee goal setting.

“Performance management is a very interesting use case for AI,” Meister said. AI will not only increase efficiency by reducing the labor-intensive parts of the process, but more importantly improve the performance review itself by helping to remove subjectivity in the evaluation, she said.

SHRM PODCAST - Meeting the Demand for Employees

20 Nov, 2023, No comments

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/katie-ballantyne-on-meeting-the-demand-for-employee/id1704713712?i=1000627503933

November HR News

20 Nov, 2023, 1 comment

How HR Can Transform the Most Important Page on the Company’s Website
A compelling culture page shines a spotlight on your organization's mission and is a celebration of the people who breathe life into it. Here are the seven key elements to telling your story.

By Roy Abdo November 9, 2023

The culture page on your website is the pinnacle of branding. It is where the heart and soul of your organization lives. By reflecting your values and culture, you can convert your company from a static entity into a brand with a vibrant personality and a unique story to share.

A compelling culture page includes your company's mission and principles and a celebration of the people who breathe life into it—all the while leveraging the power of storytelling to resonate and connect with audiences. It can be a powerful recruitment tool, showcasing the working environment, highlighting key leadership and fostering potential candidates' trust in your brand and its values.

Why a Great Culture Page Matters

Creating a compelling culture page allows you to:

Establish trust in your brand. Your employees are your first customers—and you need to win them over. By showing that your organization aligns with their values and beliefs, you can create a sense of belonging and boost job satisfaction. Over the long term, this establishes employee loyalty and improves average tenure. When your culture page reveals a workforce with lengthy tenures, it sends a powerful message about the company's positive culture and work environment, strengthening its reputation and brand trustworthiness.

Your culture page should also introduce the leaders and key figures in your company, along with their credentials and backgrounds. When employees and potential candidates see the experienced and capable people guiding the strategic direction, they view the organization as more credible and authentic.

Attract the right talent. Your organization must identify who is a cultural fit. As you showcase your company culture and the type of people who thrive in the organization, you can attract applicants with a stronger cultural fit. A culture page ultimately filters out candidates who do not align culturally, which allows you to reduce turnover and hiring costs.

According to SHRM, the average cost per hire is around $4,700, and the average time to hire around 44 days. Identifying who is a cultural fit helps you avoid pouring resources, budget and time into interviewing, hiring and onboarding candidates who will not fit your organization.

Build a strong brand identity and personality. In every company, it is important to identify core values, principles and, ultimately, personality. Your company's culture page plays a major role in transcribing that personality into a compelling narrative, one that highlights the people and stories that make up the brand.

In today's competitive market, having a clearly articulated company culture and story will differentiate your organization, attracting customers who resonate with your values. According to a study by Label Insight, 94 percent of consumers are more inclined to remain loyal to a brand that wholeheartedly embraces transparency.

Set applicant expectations. Your company's internal process is a black box to the outside world. Companies need to show the hiring process before someone applies. Follow industry standards and employ the terminology commonly used for the specific job or field. Do not assume there is a common source of knowledge for positions, titles or hiring timelines. Explain the role and its responsibilities clearly, allowing applicants to know exactly what is expected of them.

By properly including all necessary information, you ensure a positive candidate experience, which, according to a Talent Board survey, makes candidates 38 percent more likely to accept a position and 41 percent more likely to recommend your company.

Common Culture Page Mistakes

It's easy to make costly errors when crafting a culture page on your site. Here are a few to watch out for:

Focusing exclusively on perks. Showcasing splashy perks like ping-pong tables, free snacks and casual dress codes is not a sufficient way to convey your culture. While these are elements, culture goes deeper.

Being static and unchanging. Do not treat the culture page as a static document. Rather, it should reflect an evolving culture. Company cultures change over time, and it is important to keep the culture page up-to-date.

Neglecting remote or hybrid work culture. Many companies have remote or hybrid teams. Ignoring this aspect of your culture can make it seem out of touch with the current work environment.

Overemphasizing diversity and inclusion statements. While it is crucial to highlight diversity and inclusion efforts, merely having a statement or posting stock photos of employees from diverse backgrounds comes off as insincere. To demonstrate real commitment, mention concrete strategies, actions and results.

Being too broad. Doing so comes off as less authentic. To create a genuine connection with audiences, avoid the temptation to keep things vague. Instead, incorporate specific experiences and insights from current employees. You can answer any negative views about the company, but not directly. We all know the horrifying Glassdoor stories, so consider this page a way to communicate your point of view.

7 Elements That Highlight Your Culture

Here are elements to include on your site that build a compelling story about your organization's culture. Remember, you don't have to limit this to one single "Company Culture" webpage. Your culture is multifaceted, and compressing it into one page may cause oversimplification. Feel free to dedicate separate pages to the different aspects of your organization.

1. Culture and Principles

Define the "why." Interview executives, team members and stakeholders, asking them to explain the purpose and mission of the company. Including this on your culture page helps visitors understand why your organization exists, what problems it aims to solve and what it hopes to achieve.
Identify who is a good fit. Describe the characteristics, traits and qualities you value in employees. Explain what it means to be a good cultural fit for your organization, in terms of both skills and behaviors.

2. Business Philosophy

Explain how the work is done. Provide insights into your work environment, processes and methodologies. Explain how projects are managed, how decisions are made and how collaboration happens. Consider including materials and equipment provided and used on the job.
Dive into diversity. Share your efforts, programs and results related to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace.

3. Leadership

Introduce key leaders. Include profiles, photos and a brief background on each leader. This helps visitors get to know the people steering the company.
Include messages or letters from top leadership. Add a personalized touch from leaders such as the CEO or the chief diversity officer.

4. Hiring Process

Outline the steps. Explain the process a candidate will go through when applying. This helps manage expectations, providing clarity and transparency.
Add links to open positions. Include direct links to your current job openings, making it easy for interested candidates to explore and apply for relevant positions.

5. Work Environment

Include rewards and recognition. This can include details about compensation, benefits and any unique perks or recognition programs.
Highlight employee development. Explain how leadership encourages employees to develop, upskill and share their feedback.

6. Frequently Asked Questions

Anticipate common questions. Answer potential questions job seekers or visitors might have about your company's culture and practices, and provide answers in a dedicated FAQ section.
Remove objections. Address any concerns or objections that potential candidates may have. This could include issues related to work/life balance, company values or growth opportunities.

7. Social Media Links

Provide direct links to your company's social media profiles. This allows visitors to explore your culture through real-time updates, employee stories and engagement with the company's online community.

Viewpoint: Workplace Violence—Hope for the Best, Plan for the Worst

8 Oct, 2023, 1 comment

One of the more intimidating safety-related responsibilities that may fall to HR managers is preparing for and dealing with issues of workplace violence.

Active-shooter incidents grab the headlines. Just this January, seven current or former co-workers were killed by a mushroom farm worker in Half Moon Bay, Calif. The past two years have also seen the deaths of six employees at a Walmart in Chesapeake, Va.; nine at the Valley Transportation Authority in San Jose, Calif.; and eight at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis, all at the hands of current or former employees.

Those incidents, however, account for only a portion of all workplace violence. There are also acts of terrorism, sexual assaults, civil disturbances, bullying, stalking and many more. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) reports approximately 2 million Americans are victims of workplace violence each year, including around 1,000 homicides.

While the chances of an incident occurring at a given place and a given time remain relatively low, emergency action planning is not an odds game. It's not about the likelihood; it's about the potential devastation.

"We hope for the best, but we plan for the worst in emergency management," 911 Consulting President Bo Mitchell said. "We don't plan for small tornadoes. We plan for big tornadoes. Because if we plan for big tornadoes, we're going be able to take care of the small tornadoes."

Altogether, the DOJ reports workplace violence is 18 times more likely to occur than a fire. While most organizations know they are required to have a fire plan, Mitchell perceives negligence when it comes to workplace violence. A qualified court expert in some of the nation's largest states, he most often sees decisions citing employers' "failure to plan" and "failure to train" for such instances. Often, this happens because companies fall victim to thinking it won't happen to them.

There are resources available to help. The Board of Certified Safety Professionals offers certifications to help build strong safety cultures and battle these challenges. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and the Federal Emergency Management Agency all offer resources of their own.

[SHRM Resource Hub Page: Workplace Violence]

However, Mitchell and Steve Webb, president of safety training company Safe Secure Systems, stress more is needed to ensure all employees are prepared for potential incidents. The legal system is holding employers to a higher standard—comprehensive written plans and thorough, annual employee trainings.

"The courts are no longer agreeing that a little video of workplace violence suffices as training for employers," Webb said. "There's court case after court case saying it's not enough. You need to have simulation. You need to have true thought teams. To understand that this is a complex issue."

For companies without large, dedicated safety departments, this responsibility may seem daunting. It is then beneficial or even necessary to seek out knowledgeable and impartial third-party training.

About one-third of clients now utilizing Mitchell's training and emergency action plan services are HR managers. They have assessed their organizations' level of preparedness and recognized the need for more.

Webb devotes a significant portion of his training to behavioral threat assessment, teaching clients to recognize warning signs like unresolved grievances, paranoid behaviors, excessive temper, intimidation, verbal threats, suicidal ideation and many more. While these signs don't necessarily mean an employee will act violently, Webb says they are worth closer examination. Recognizing warning signs could help prevent an incident from ever occurring.

"There are actually indicators that we have found in almost all of these shootings taking place," Webb said. "I want people to look for the signs. Quit just thinking about the active shooter and think about 'What do somebody's eyes look like when they are distraught?' "

As we approach Mental Health Awareness Month in May, it is important to remember that well-rounded violence prevention programs include a plan and resources to support the mental health of employees. That plan is a key piece of an overall leadership culture that views employees holistically as human beings and treats them kindly even in difficult situations such as discipline or termination. Organizational attention to workers' emotional needs can help to curb instances of violence.

At the end of the day, organizations have ethical, legal and financial reasons for taking workplace violence seriously. Ethical because protecting employees is the right thing to do. Legal because courts are holding employers responsible for preparation. And financial because the monetary ramifications of court rulings often cause companies to go out of business. HR managers can play a significant role in preparing their employees and protecting their companies.

"Every employer in the United States of America has a duty of care—a legal term—to keep everybody on their premises safe and secure," Mitchell said. "And that duty of care is affirmative, their lawyers will tell them, meaning it's not something that is supposed to be on the to-do list for next quarter. It's supposed to be today."

8 Oct, 2023, No comments