July 2022 HR Professionals Magazine

Volume 12 : Issue 7

TM

www.HRProfessionalsMagazine.com

Top Educational Programs for HR Professionals

Highlights from SHRM22 in

New Orleans

EEOC Issues Guidance on

AI and ADAAA Considerations

Lars N. Minns,

CHRO, Mercedes-Benz USA, NA

Chair of SHRM-Atlanta Board of Directors

Leveraging

HR Analytics

7th Installment from Johnny C. Taylor, Jr.’s New Book,

Reset

Keeping up with changing laws is a full-time job, and you’ve already got one.

EMPLOYERS AND LAWYERS, WORKING TOGETHER Ogletree Deakins is one of the largest labor and employment law firms representing management in all types of employment-related legal matters. The firm has more than 900 lawyers located in 53 offices across the United States and in Europe, Canada, and Mexico.

www.ogletree.com BIRMINGHAM OFFICE

MEMPHIS OFFICE

420 20th Street North Suite 1900 Birmingham, AL 35203 205.328.1900

International Place, Tower II 6410 Poplar Avenue Suite 300 Memphis, TN 38119 901.767.6160

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Join our monthly webinars to earn SHRM and HRCI recertification credits.

Bringing Human Resources & Management Expertise to You

53%

of women report higher stress than previous years. www.HRProfessionalsMagazine.com Editor Cynthia Y. Thompson, MBA, SHRM-SCP, SPHR Publisher

The Thompson HR Firm, LLC Art Direction

Park Avenue Design Contributing Writers Matthew R. Courtner Amy Dufrane Susan Hanold Murray L. Harber Johnna Leeds Marko J. Mrkonich James A. Paretti, Jr. Caitlin Porter Nilroy Ray Paula Smith Johnny C. Taylor, Jr. R. Randy Vogenberg

Contact HR Professionals Magazine: To submit a letter to the editor, suggest an idea for an article, notify us of a special event, promotion, announcement, new product or service, or obtain information on becoming a contributor, visit our website at www.hrprofessionalsmagazine.com. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts or articles. All manuscripts and photos must be submitted by email to Cynthia@hrprosmagazine.com. Editorial content does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the publisher, nor can the publisher be held responsible for errors.

HR Professionals Magazine is published every month, 12 times a year by the Thompson HR Firm, LLC. Reproduction of any photographs, articles, artwork or copy prepared by the magazine or the contributors is strictly prohibited without prior written permission of the Publisher.

All information is deemed to be reliable, but not guaranteed to be accurate, and subject to change without notice. HR Professionals Magazine, its contributors or advertisers within are not responsible for misinformation, misprints, omissions or typographical errors. ©2022 The Thompson HR Firm, LLC | This publication is pledged to the spirit and letter of Equal Opportunity Law. The following is general educational information only. It is not legal advice. You need to consult with legal counsel regarding all employment law matters. This information is subject to change without notice.

Features

4 note from the editor 5 Profile: Lars A. Minns, CHRO for Mercedes-Benz USA, NA and Chair of SHRM-Atlanta Board of Directors 6 SHRM-Atlanta Announces HR Excellence Awards 10 7th Installment of RESET by Johnny C. Taylor, Jr. – The Power of the People You Overlook

Top Educational Programs for HR Professionals

8 Now is the Time to Get Your Bachelor of Science in Human Resource Management 9 Safehaven Security Group – Active Shooter Training 18 Legal Training for HR Professionals 21 School of Labor & Employment Law Online HR Certificate Program 25 Save 20% on HRCI Courses in 2022 27 Fast Track to a College Degree at Middle Tennessee State University 29 Columbia Southern University Online Degree Program 35 Top Educational Programs for HR Professionals at the University of Memphis 38 Register Today for Online HRCI | PHR |SPHR Certification Prep Class August 15 38 ECU MBA Top Ranked Online or On Campus 44 WGU. Online. Nonprofit.

Surprisingly Affordable

Talent Management and Recruiting

Industry News

12 Talent Strategy – It’s a Whole New Relationship 24 The Positive Disruption of the Great Resignation 34 Leveraging HR Analytics for Data-Driven DecisionMaking 47 Are You Following an Outdated Drug Screen Protocol?

Employee Benefits

22 Is a Lifestyle Spending Account Worth Adding as an Employee Benefit?

23 Transform Your Employee Benefits from an Expense to a Competitive Advantage 36 The Intersection of Technology and Women’s Health: Are You Doing Enough?

Employment Law

19 Register today for Wimberly Lawson Labor & Employment Law Conference in Sevierville, TN November 17-18 20 The Step-by-Step Plan for Staying in Compliance with Your Adverse Action Process 28 Five Tips to Help Employers Return Employees to the Office 30 EEOC Releases Guidance on Artificial Intelligence and ADA Considerations

7 Atlanta-SHRM SOAHR 2022 Conference July 25-27 14 Highlights from SHRM22 in New Orleans June 12-15 16 Highlights from the HR Florida Reception at SHRM22 in New Orleans 17 Save the Date for HR Florida Conference & Expo in Orlando August 28-31 26 Register for the TN SHRM Conference & Exposition in Sevierville September 14-16 32 Highlights from the WTSHRM HR & Employment Law Spring Conference in Jackson May 24 33 Save the Date for the SHRM Georgia Conference in Savannah September 28-30 39 Register Today for the 38th Annual KYSHRM Conference in Louisville August 30-September 1 40 NCSHRM State Conference in WinstonSalem October 12-14 41 Registration is Open for the Arkansas SHRM HR Conference and Expo in Hot Springs October 24-26 42 Save the Date for the 2022 HR Tampa Conference & Expo October 7 August Issue features Profiles of ERISA and Employee Benefits Attorneys plus Retirement Planning and Compliance - And the Latest on Labor and Employment Law Deadline to reserve space July 15

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a note from the editor

We have some top-notch webinars lined up for you in July, most of them pre-approved for HRCI Business credit and SHRM PDCs. Here are some of the presenters we are planning for you: • Tim Keck with Safehaven Security Group on Active Shooter Training – July 7 • Austin Baker, CEO of HRO Partners, on Total Rewards Communication: Strategies that Drive and Engage Your Workforce – July 14

Charles and Cynthia at Hotel Monteleon in New Orleans

• Cynthia Thompson, Editor | Publisher of HR Professionals Magazine on the Basic Steps for Networking in the HR Community – July 21

July 26-27, 2022 | Cobb Galleria Centre | Atlanta during SHRM22.

• Dr. Randy Vogenlberg and Murray Harber on The Intersection of Innovation: Digital Health Therapeutics and Women’s Health – July 28

WE ARE HONORED to feature Lars N. Minns, CHRO for • Business Management Daily will also present several webinars Mercedes-Benz USA, NA, and Chair of SHRM-Atlanta on our on topresource issues HR professionals areat facing today. 2022, Join 700+ HR practitioners, industry experts, and partners SOAHR July cover. You may have heard Lars speak as he is a soughtSHRM-Atlanta’s 32ndand Annual to share best practices, network, develop skills, after presenter and facilitator spends Conference, considerable If you are not currently certified as an HR professional, I invite you to attend time cultivating the right talent business success. We build knowledge, andforhave fun! our upcoming Online HRCI | PHR | SPHR Certification Exam Prep Class are looking forward to covering the SHRM-Atlanta SOAHR beginning August 15. We will meet on Monday and Wednesday evenings Conference July 25-27. It is the largest HR conference in from 6 PM CT to 7 PM CT. According to current statistics, certified HR Georgia! Hope you can join us there for some fabulous professionals earn up to 20% more than non-certified HR professionals! networking with the HR community and fantastic sessions.

• KEYNOTE: Master the Chemistry of Change Our class is guaranteed so that if you do not pass your exam the first time, You can earn up to 11 recertification credits. Please see the you may take the next class at no charge. I will stay with you until you pass! details on Page 7. Stop and see us at the entrance to the Uncover Your Inner Change Enthusiasm® Our class has a 90% pass rate. You can register on our website at www. conference and pick up your copy of our July issue!

Cassandra Worthy hrprofessionalsmagazine.com. The deadline to register is August 8. See details on Page 38.

• Earn up istovery 11 hours of recertification credit with SHRM & HRCI Our July issue special because we feature the top educational programs HR professionals. youtoday’s would like most relevant topic areas including: • Choose fromfor40+ sessionsIfin Watch your email for your invitation to our July complimentary webinar to finish your degree or perhaps obtain a graduate degree, sponsored

by Data Facts on July 21. This of webinar is pre-approved for one DEI, Total Rewards, Talent Acquisition & Retention, HR Department One. you will find many excellent offerings in this issue. Be sure to HRCI business credit and one SHRM PDC. If you are not currently receiving read the article on Page 8 about WGU’s affordable Bachelor • Group discounts available our monthly email invitation, you can subscribe on our website at www. of Science in HR Management degree. You can take all the hrprofessionalsmagazine.com. courses you can manage in a six-month term for only $3720!

We are showcasing many Southeastern colleges and universities with an array of online degree programs that If you're an HR professional who is in transition or who would like to make a change, are bound to meet your needs. Check out these excellent cynthia@hrprosmagazine.com programs and find the one thatconsidering suits your needs. cythomps@twitter HR as a profession, or new to the Atlanta HR job market, SHIFT is FOR YOU!

SOAHR 2022 Highlights:

Monday, July 25, 2022

Save $30 off Two-Day Registration with code HRPRO22 Insert footer for the SHRM-Atlanta SOAHR Conference from Page 6 (Save $30 off . . .)

Register now at SOAHR.net

Discounted rates available now. SHRM-Atlanta members enjoy lowest prices!

QUESTIONS? soahr@shrmatlanta.org 4

www.HRProfessionalsMagazine.com

www.SOAHR.net

Lars N. on the cover

MINNS

Lars N. Minns, CHRO, Mercedes-Benz USA, NA Chair of SHRM-Atlanta Board of Directors Lars earned a bachelor’s degree

Lars N. Minns is currently the Chief HR Officer for Mercedes-Benz, North America with

in business management

responsibility for the US and Canada serving the organization since March 2015. He currently

from Hampton University in Hampton, VA.

leads the organization in designing, implementing, and executing HR strategies that directly align with the company’s strategic objectives for the Sales, Marketing, and Distribution of cars, vans and parts in the United States and Canada. Under his leadership, the organization is undergoing one of the largest transformations in the automotive industry in its pursuit to be the most desired

A native of Nassau, Bahamas, he and his wife, Moya reside in Sandy Springs, GA with their three children.

electric luxury brand in North America.

Prior to joining Mercedes-Benz, he served as the Sr. Mgr. of Talent Acquisition for The Home Depot’s At Home Services commonly referred to as the “Do it For Me” business. He led his team in executing talent acquisition strategies for the company’s fastest growing business segment.

Lars spent 10 years with The Home Depot and served in roles of increasing responsibility. Most notably serving as the Sr. Mgr. of Talent Management for Operations, Services, Finance, and IT. He led all facets of Talent Management and supported those business areas in several large-scale transformational efforts aimed at increasing overall operational efficiencies.

Prior to The Home Depot, Lars held various roles in IT consulting sales and recruiting during the .com and Y2K eras.

He is the current Chair for the Society of HR Management’s Atlanta chapter, a member of Leadership Atlanta’s Class of 2022, and a Board of Trustee for Mount Vernon Presbyterian School.

Lars is a sought after presenter and facilitator and spends considerable time communicating the importance of cultivating the right talent for business success. 

www.HRProfessionalsMagazine.com

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SHRM-Atlanta Announces 2022 HR Excellence Awards The fourth annual SHRM-Atlanta HR Excellence Awards honored Human Resource leaders and teams who elevate the role of HR through dedication and outstanding performance.

HR professionals are more important than ever in these uncertain times, join us in congratulating the recipients for all their hard work!

CEO, SHRM-Atlanta Jason Cline 6

www.HRProfessionalsMagazine.com

Board Chair, SHRM-Atlanta Lars Minns

July 26-27, 2022 | Cobb Galleria Centre | Atlanta Join 700+ HR practitioners, industry experts, and resource partners at SOAHR 2022, SHRM-Atlanta’s 32nd Annual Conference, to share best practices, network, develop skills, build knowledge, and have fun!

SOAHR 2022 Highlights:

• KEYNOTE: Master the Chemistry of Change Uncover Your Inner Change Enthusiasm® Cassandra Worthy • Earn up to 11 hours of recertification credit with SHRM & HRCI • Choose from 40+ sessions in today’s most relevant topic areas including: DEI, Total Rewards, Talent Acquisition & Retention, HR Department of One. • Group discounts available

If you're an HR professional who is in transition or who would like to make a change, considering HR as a profession, or new to the Atlanta HR job market, SHIFT is FOR YOU! Monday, July 25, 2022

Save $30 off Two-Day Registration with code HRPRO22

Register now at SOAHR.net

Discounted rates available now. SHRM-Atlanta members enjoy lowest prices!

QUESTIONS? soahr@shrmatlanta.org

www.SOAHR.net www.SHRMAtlanta.org

Now is the Time to Get Your Bachelor of Science in Human Resource Management!

Take all the courses you can manage in a six-month term for only $3720!

No matter what sector, a good HR department is an essential element of a thriving workplace. HR professionals, in many ways, exist to help others succeed, and help the organization succeed in turn. But the skills required to serve in one of these critical HR roles are specific, and they take time, effort, and money to acquire. To move ahead in your career as a problem-solving, hard-working, organization-shaping HR professional, you need credentials!

And while the world of HR is constantly evolving, and new best practices or even new laws emerge (requiring people in HR to welcome change and adapt), there’s a baseline of qualification that will set someone up for future success in the field: a bachelor’s degree in human resources.

Going back to school as a working professional can seem daunting, though, and for good reason. Most of the time, college is expensive and timeconsuming, frequently with difficult course schedules and half-a-dozen (or more) entry-level classes before you get to the real meat of the program. For working adults who are already in their chosen field (or adjacent to the field they’d like to enter), that kind of costly, rigid structure is often prohibitive, regardless of how much a degree might help them advance in their career.

That’s where WGU can help. Right now, WGU offers a Bachelor of Science in Human Resource Management. For those with a bachelor’s degree who are looking to take the next step, we also offer a Master of Science in Management and Leadership (MSML), and a Master of Business Administration (MBA).

So, let’s look closer at those two most common obstacles—time and cost— and the ways in which WGU is uniquely designed to address them.

1. “I don’t have time to go back to school – I have a job!”

A lot of brick-and-mortar schools cannot accommodate the work lives of older potential students, and a lot of online schools are for-profit (and therefore high-cost) or unaccredited. WGU, on the other hand, holds regional accreditation (the gold standard for university accreditation), as well as ACBSP accreditation for our business programs, while being a nonprofit, 100% online and flexible. WGU works wherever you are. You can do your coursework at night after working at your full-time job, while having your coffee before work in the morning, on weekends, while you're traveling the world or on vacation—it's entirely up to you. There are no set lecture times or in-person tests. You drive your educational experience.

Additionally, with WGU’s competency-based education model, you earn credit for a course when you demonstrate mastery of the material. It is common for our students to finish assessments early and move immediately onto the next course, especially when they’ve already been working in or near the relevant field. This shortens the overall amount of time it takes most students to complete a degree.

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2.“I can’t go back to school – it’s too expensive!”

Cost is obviously a—if not the—major factor when deciding whether and where to go back to school. WGU takes this extremely seriously, and we do everything in our power to make sure our students graduate as quickly as possible, with as little debt as possible (preferably none).

We keep our costs low: about $3,720 per six-month term. The exciting thing about WGU, too, is that the tuition pays for an unlimited number of courses in any term. So, as mentioned before, students can complete assessments as soon as they are ready, rather than waiting until a set date in the term to complete a course. If you test out of a course early and move onto the next one within the same term, that’s still covered by that term’s tuition. As such, you can fit as many courses as you can manage into a six-month term, all for that single flat rate. WGU isn’t interested in requiring a bunch of lengthy prerequisites that jam up your progress and fatten our pockets. We want to see you succeed, and fast.

It’s also worth noting that many of our students receive some kind of partial scholarship even though our tuition is low, so it’s always worth applying for those. You might just get one!

If you enroll at WGU, you’ll also be brought through our Responsible Borrowing Imitative. All students who apply for financial aid receive a personalized Financial Aid Plan, which recommends that students borrow only their “unmet direct costs”—tuition and fees minus any grants or scholarships. The personalized plan includes information about cost of attending WGU as well as links to financial aid tools and resources.

Since 2013, the average borrowing per year per student (of those who borrow) has decreased by more than 30%. And the average student loan debt of WGU graduates in 2019 (among those who borrowed) was less than half the national average.

WGU’s model works for HR professionals. In fact, B.S. Human Resource Management graduates report an average salary increase of $14,637 after completing their WGU degree. And on average, WGU graduates see an income increase of nearly $30,000 within four years of graduation.

If you’re ready to take the next step, WGU is ready to help.

To learn more, visit wgu.edu/HR.

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The Power of the People You Overlook: The Hidden Value of Tapping Nontraditional Talent Pools DO GOOD AND DO GOOD

THE TABLE STAKES OF PERFORMANCE

LEADERSHIP LESSONS

When you discuss recruiting with HR professionals, 48 percent of them will tell you their biggest problem is finding a deep enough pool of talent to make good choices about hiring. When you ask managers what is their biggest frustration with HR? They can’t source talent as effectively as they would like. So there’s complete convergence.

Why give a bonus for a normal part of the job? There are leaders who fall into the trap of incentivizing what should be table stakes performance. As it is, executives get paid to do the basics, to do the work.

Incentives should be reserved for extraordinary performance, the extra.

More importantly, in its current form, intersectionality is the state of the art but falls woefully short of achieving prioritized identity factors. Focus on stackable diversity, where the core is true identity, and distal factors are relevant but not as important as core factors.

It’s about growing that talent pool to include untapped resources, increasing the pipeline, and closing the skills gap. We have to unlock the talent and tap the potential by valuing workers who have been overlooked, marginalized, and discarded. Morally, it’s a move in line with diversity and inclusion (D&I). Morally, we can all have a warm feeling about it. But business-wise, it’s a cold, hard necessity.

INCLUSION ISN'T A TWITTER POST There is a resistance out there from the evangelists of the status quo. Why disrupt the norms? Why go outside comfort zones?

Why fix what works at least well enough?

They don’t see the business benefit of opening doors to others. I was once challenged in my career on this.

A friend of mine who works for a manufacturer in the agricultural business space told me the following: “Johnny, I get your argument. But it’s a specious one when I’m hiring from a sales department standpoint. Do you know who buys tractors?

It’s not some Black guy. It’s not even some Latino guy. It’s a white, midwestern farmer. If I rely on just market dynamics, it’s hard to argue for a sales force that shifts representativeness of the consumer base.”

The problem with being closed-minded like that is what you’re hanging your hat on. It’s a narrow case to make. But when you look at the most successful companies on the planet—like Apple, for one—they don’t have any Black products, right? Apple doesn’t build an iPhone for Black people.

The guy wasn’t suggesting there were Black tractors; he was making the case that the decision maker was not likely Black and therefore he was hiring the person who would relate more to the buyer, not unlike making the case for Avon hiring a predominately female workforce.

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If you really believe that hiring marginalized groups and nontraditional workers makes your company better— and this is what you should be doing— you don’t incentivize a regular day at the office.

LEADERSHIP LESSONS To win the future of work, you must look past traditional talent pools—truly inclusive organizations leverage differences for both growth and innovation. The problem is that finding a model for great inclusion is almost impossible.

People ask me all the time, “Who is getting diversity and inclusion right?” I am confident that no one is getting it right.

There are those who get it relatively right.

That means some are simply trying harder than others, with programs ranging from truly inclusive leadership development to social efforts for seeding relevant fields.

Others engaging in relative rightness include those investing in their communities or innovation programs for diverse populations. As leaders, the lesson is clear, and not in relative terms, either.

We should do three things: invent, invest, and implement those programs best suited to our culture and communities. If the imperative is inclusion for females in STEM, then focus on those programs and do not feel negligent or guilty for honing in on one area.

“Stackable diversity” is an alternate view of intersectionality, where a person’s identity is defined by stacking identity characteristics from least important to most important.

(The most important play a vital role in defining the individual’s view of themselves.)

This represents a cleaner view of how humans manage (cognitively speaking) their identity and perceptions of inclusion.

Here are some key questions you should consider making part of your Reset repertoire: • What does “inclusive” really mean for me and my organization?

• Should I fear people becoming hawkish about our values? Will they make the culture exclusive rather than inclusive?

• Can we live with trying as opposed to always succeeding?

• What are my organization’s imperatives for achieving inclusion?

• Do we have a metric like SHRM’s Empathy Index to assess inclusiveness?

Adapted from Chapter 6 of Reset: A Leader’s Guide to Work in an Age of Upheaval (PublicAffairs), by Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., President and CEO of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)

SHRM’s Johnny C. Taylor, Jr. Introduces His New Book RESET Available Now

THE POWER OF THE PEOPLE YOU OVERLOOK Reset is also a clarion call for leaders to finally acknowledge long-undisputed facts such as how having 50 percent or more women on your team increases innovation, or how hiring disabled workers increases both morale and retention rates, or how not all workers want to be permanent employees. The contemporary mindset isn’t just about being ready for change; it’s also about being fed up with the lack of change and having the determination to do something about it.

It’s about growing that talent pool to include untapped resources, increasing the pipeline, and closing the skills gap. We have to unlock the talent and tap the potential by valuing workers who have been overlooked, marginalized, and discarded. Morally, it’s a move in line with diversity and inclusion (D&I). Morally, we can all have a warm feeling about it. But business-wise, it’s a cold, hard necessity.

I like to say, Do good and do good. Because the upside is enormous: society gains, businesses thrive. We’ve talked a lot about valuing Black and Brown workers, about the obstacles to equal pay that women face as they rise in the ranks, about racial and gender diversity. Now, let’s also think about a few nontraditional, increasingly diverse groups that can help bridge our skills gap.

• Older Workers (The Silver Tsunami): We all get older and many of us recognize how the biggest workplace bias that exists is discrimination against individuals because of their age. Ageism never gets old.

• Workers with Disabilities (Able and Willing): While there will be an unemployment reckoning for everyone in our post-pandemic workplace, ultimately you’ll face the shrinking talent pool and you’ll need to find highly skilled, motivated workers who will be an asset to your business. We have to embrace that fact and search out workers with disabilities to help grow our bottom lines.

• Veterans (Warriors around the World) We know that employers who successfully attract and hire veterans in their workplaces find that those with military backgrounds often not only outperform other employees, but also stay with the organization longer than the median length of employment.

• Formerly Incarcerated (Second-Chance Payoff): There is nothing to fear in providing second chances to skilled workers who have paid their dues and earned a position that pays. This isn’t charity. It’s good business.

The hidden value of tapping nontraditional talent pools can put your business over the top.

www.HRProfessionalsMagazine.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., SHRM-SCP, is President and Chief Executive Officer of SHRM, the Society for Human Resource Management. With over 300,000 members in 165 countries, SHRM is the largest HR professional association in the world, impacting the lives of 115 million workers every day.

As a global leader on the future of employment, culture and leadership, Mr. Taylor is a sought-after voice on all matters affecting work, workers and the workplace. He is frequently asked to testify before Congress on critical workforce issues and authors the weekly USA Today column, "Ask HR." Mr. Taylor's career spans over 20 years as a lawyer, human resources executive and CEO in both the not-for-profit and for-profit space. He has held senior and chief executive roles at IAC/Interactive Corp, Viacom's Paramount Pictures, Blockbuster Entertainment Group, the McGuireWoods law firm, and Compass Group USA. Most recently, Mr. Taylor was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.

He was appointed chairman of the President's Advisory Board on Historically Black Colleges and Universities and served as a member of the White House American Workforce Policy Advisory Board during the Trump Administration. He is a Trustee of the University of Miami, Governor of the American Red Cross, and member of the corporate boards of Guild Education and iCIMS. He is licensed to practice law in Florida, Illinois and Washington, D.C. ABOUT SHRM SHRM, the Society for Human Resource Management, creates better workplaces where employers and employees thrive together. As the voice of all things work, workers and the workplace, SHRM is the foremost expert, convener and thought leader on issues impacting today's evolving workplaces. With 300,000+ HR and business executive members in 165 countries, SHRM impacts the lives of more than 115 million workers and families globally. Learn more at SHRM.org and on Twitter @SHRM.

www.HRProfessionalsMagazine.com

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LISTENING

TALENT STRATEGY –

It’s a Whole New Relationship

By SUSAN HANOLD

As employers look to recruit and retain new talent, there are multiple trends driving the talent shortage, from slower population growth and a smaller labor pool to higher turnover. The changing priorities and needs of employees — and the strains on talent in the labor market — continually influence the dynamic between employers and employees.

Employers find themselves pouring over scores of resumes, making connections, even being ghosted, and continually looking for ways to establish a long-term, successful partnership. Here are some tips to help you navigate in this new world:

BE CLEAR ON WHAT YOU WANT AND WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR In the employee/employer relationship, both sides need to clearly state their intentions and be prepared to act quickly.

Candidates may lose interest or move on to other opportunities if they are kept waiting. Employers need to fill openings and may pursue other candidates more willing to accept an offer.

Ghosting is the practice of ending a personal relationship with someone by suddenly and without explanation withdrawing from all communication. With so much activity in the recruiting and hiring arena, candidates ghosting employers and employers ghosting candidates has become a real issue.

There is an opportunity to improve the relationship with touch points and communication. Having an Employee Value Proposition (EVP) that is authentic, represents the company values and that each recruiter and hiring manager can align with and articulate can be a differentiator. Providing an authentic representation of yourself may provide returns over the longer term.

The onus is on the candidate too in this scenario. They should be asking questions to determine if there’s a natural fit for them in the organization. One CHRO told me she has started to see this shift. She recently had a candidate ask her for HR turnover metrics as if the candidate was interviewing her! This is a positive development and can decrease mismatches on both sides of the relationship.

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In a relationship, listening to each other’s unique needs and responding accordingly are important. The same can be applied in the work environment. If we are focused on higher-than-average compensation, but our employee wants to work remotely, we have not aligned with what matters to them. Remote work is becoming a makeor-break factor for many job hunters.

Speaking of compensation…

There is significant chatter in the marketplace that employees who are staying are missing out on significant sign-on bonuses.

Though, I also had a CHRO tell me that pay is an enticer, but culture is the retainer.

This tells me that compensation remains a priority, and we need to get it right.

While compensation is important, culture is equally so, or even more so, in terms of retention. There are three areas to consider in your compensation strategy: benchmarking, salary structure and pay transparency.

Companies can help attract and win more applicants with competitive compensation by utilizing reliable benchmarks that are based on a combination of geography and industry. Having a salary structure with job grades will provide the foundation to make sure all employees are paid equitably.

Pay transparency is increasing with social media sites sharing salaries and laws.

Many jurisdictions like NYC, Colorado, Maryland, Washington State, California, Nevada, Connecticut, and Rhode Island are requiring a level of pay transparency.

From a federal and state standpoint, most states have pay equity laws (only AL, MS and NC do not). While compensation may not always be the priority, you still need to make sure your compensation philosophy effectively attracts and keeps top talent.

CONNECTING ON A DEEPER LEVEL While the “newness” of a new position or experience will wear off over time, employers need to find ways to keep talent connected. Recent studies show engagement is at an all-time low which means in some cases, employees are showing up but demonstrating little productivity. So how do you keep the experience exciting and fulfilling? As in any healthy relationship, employees want to know that their partner is taking time to get to know them and provide them the attention they desire. Employees want their leaders to ask questions to build connection: • Do you know what I’m working on?

• Do you know what my issues are?

There is a need for leaders to listen to the changing needs of their people and implement practices that encourage two-way communication. Below are a few tips a leader can put into practice to make a difference: • Leverage pulse surveys to gather feedback • Hold open listening forums • Be inclusive of all types of workers • Be agile – if you fail, fail fast and move on Employees desire recognition for good work, while still being challenged to continually grow.

KEEP YOUR OPTIONS OPEN The talent shortage has forced many employers to consider bringing back employees who have previously worked for the company, often referred to as alumni or boomerangs.

It’s not uncommon now for companies to post boomerang videos on social media showcasing the return of former employees. One CHRO explained this concept: creating boomerang videos for new hire onboarding sessions shows that employees are often happy to return and share their stories. Companies can enhance their employee value proposition (EVP) by sharing the “why” externally, to highlight the draw the company has on past workers.

A friend who recently retired told me she was contacted by her former company to see if she would be interested in coming back to work for them. She became part of an alumni network that allowed her to stay connected on news in the market and attend educational sessions. She returned to the company on a part-time basis in a different role to see how it goes. Keeping in touch with current and past employees encourages alumni to reimagine their career and retirement transition.

Like any healthy relationship, the one shared by an employer with its people, should be a partnership with equal responsibility, supported by good communication and the foundational building block of trust. Both parties must connect, engage, and act on a consistent and sustained basis, or the relationship suffers. When a strong connection is made, fewer issues surface and the likelihood that you are not a match decrease.

Dr. Susan Hanold

VP, Strategic Advisory Services susan.hanold@adp.com

www.HRProfessionalsMagazine.com

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1 SHRM CEO and President, Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., welcomes attendees to SHRM22 in New Orleans. 2 Karith Foster, Speaker & Founder of Inversity™ was the opening emcee for SHRM22. 3 The Preservation Hall Jazz Band from New Orleans performed at the opening of SHRM22. 4 Melissa Anderson, SHRM-CP, SVP, Chief Human Resources Officer for Albemarle Corporation and Chair of the Board for SHRM delivered the opening keynote address. 5 Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., CEO and President of SHRM and Emily Dickens, Chief of Staff, Head of Government Affairs and Corporate Secretary for SHRM attended the opening session at SHRM22.

6 Carnival stilt walkers at SHRM22. 7 Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., SHRM CEO and President, signed his new book, RESET, at SHRM22. 8 Alex Alonso, Chief Knowledge Officer for SHRM, discussed topics from his new book, “Talking Taboo: Making the Most of Polarizing Discussions at Work.”

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9 The SHRM Foundation Reception at SHRM22. 10 The SHRM Foundation Staff. 11 Some of the SHRM leaders from the Southeast attending SHRM22.

12 Some of the SHRM leaders from SHRM Georgia. 13 Some of the SHRM leaders from South Carolina SHRM. 14 The WGU booth at the SHRM22 Expo. 15 Louisville SHRM members at Friends of the SHRM Foundation Reception (L-R) Annetta Hunter, LSHRM President-Elect; Patricia Williams, KYSHRM President-Elect; Laura Wood, LSHRM 2022 President; Amanda Huddleston; KYSHRM Chair. 16 DailyPay at the SHRM22 Expo 17 (L-R) Billy Sims and Murray Harber at the Employer-health Business Solutions booth at the SHRM22 Expo. 18 The Southern Columbia University Booth at the SHRM33 Expo. 19 The PassionHR Consulting, Inc. team at the SHRM22 Expo. 20 The ADP booth at SHRM22 Expo.

20 www.HRProfessionalsMagazine.com

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Highlights from the HR Florida Reception at

SHRM22 in New Orleans

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The Step-by-Step Plan for Staying in Compliance with Your Adverse Action Process

By JOHNNA LEEDS

HR

Professionals must walk a tightrope when hiring. They must screen out unqualified or dangerous job candidates, while ensuring their screening processes are fair, relevant, and don’t discriminate.

Creating and maintaining a successful background screening process is crucial.

Unfortunately, employers frequently make mistakes. These include not screening for criminal history outside the state the client resides, not searching AKA’s, and failing to verify a candidate’s claims of employment and education closely enough.

However, none of these are the biggest mistake employers can make, which is mishandling job seekers they don’t hire.

What Does the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) Say About It? The FCRA considers background checks for employment purposes as a “consumer report”. It mandates that employers comply with the requirements if they use background checks in their hiring decisions.

What Is a Consumer Report?

A consumer report is "any written, oral, or other communication of any information by a consumer reporting agency bearing on a consumer's credit worthiness, credit standing, credit capacity, character, general reputation, personal characteristics, or mode of living which is used or expected to be used or collected in whole or in part to serve as a factor in establishing the consumer's eligibility" for credit, insurance, or employment purposes.” The FCRA extends to criminal records, civil lawsuits, reference checks, and other information obtained by a consumer reporting agency to screen an applicant’s background.

The FCRA has civil and statutory penalties for those who don’t comply with their requirements.

What Does Adverse Action Mean?

Adverse action means that you, as an employer, choose not to hire a person.

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Why Is It Considered One of the Costliest Mistakes?

Failing to follow the FCRA’s rules regarding not hiring job candidates is one of the easiest ways to get your company sued for big bucks.

Amazon, Wells Fargo, Petco, Avis, and Dollar General are a few of the many companies that have been hit with multi-million-dollar lawsuits regarding the way they handled candidates they didn’t hire.

Avoid the negative effects such litigation would have on both your company’s bottom line AND reputation by practicing Adverse Action compliance.

While we aren’t employment attorneys, here is a list of the best practices employers can use to build a compliant process for handling candidates they decide not to hire.

Steps for a Compliant Adverse Action Process: 1) Designate Hiring Guidelines in Advance Consistency is key to maintaining a compliant background screening process. HR should designate the types of screening used for specific positions and the information that would cause your company to take adverse action against a job seeker. Document this procedure and make sure everyone involved in the hiring process adheres to it.

However, making decisions using the information on a background report isn’t a set-itand-forget-it process. Be sure to…

2) …Use Individualized Assessments Individualized assessments are required or strongly suggested by state and local regulations and the EEOC. When you use a job candidate’s background information to make a hiring decision, you need to consider the specific circumstances surrounding the offense. The EEOC guidance deems these circumstances as important factors to consider: • The nature and gravity of the offense.

• The time that has passed since the offense, conduct, and/or completion of the sentence.

• The nature of the job held or sought.

Factor the recency, severity, and relevancy of the offense into the hiring decision. For example, a criminal conviction that happened a year ago may keep you from hiring a candidate, while the same conviction that happened 15 years ago may not affect your decision.

The Pre-Adverse Action Letter needs to include the name and contact information of the background screening provider that compiled the report.

Also include: • a “Summary of Your Right Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act”.

• a statement notifying the candidate they are entitled to a copy of their background check at no charge.

• a statement that the background screening provider did not decide to take adverse action.

4) The Applicant May Dispute the Information The applicant has the right to contact the background screening provider and dispute the information on their background check.

The provider will investigate the disputed items and, upon completion, send an updated copy to the applicant and the employer.

5) Re-evaluate the Information and Decide Once you receive a copy of the updated report (if the applicant disputes information), review the report, and make a final decision.

It’s important to note that employers are NOT required to hold a position open until the dispute is settled.

6) Take Final Adverse Action If you move forward with your decision not to hire the candidate because of the information in the background report, send a “Final Adverse Action” notice. There must be ample time (5 business days or more) between the Pre-Adverse Action and Final Adverse Action notices. This window gives the candidate a chance to dispute the adverse information.

Employers must prioritize staying in compliance with the way they handle applicants they don’t hire due to background information. The FCRA can levy fines of up to $1000 per violation. The candidates can also sue and win millions of dollars in damages. The stakes are too high to chance a haphazard, inconsistent adverse action process.

Avoid the mistake of being out of compliance with your company’s adverse action processes. By proactively understanding the requirements, you can implement a fair, consistent procedure that minimizes the chances of getting fined or dealing with expensive lawsuits.

3) Notify the applicant If you’re considering taking adverse action (not hiring) on an applicant because of information in their background check, you must notify them in writing. This document is called the “Pre-Adverse Action Letter”.

Johnna Leeds

Senior VP of Compliance Data Facts, Inc. www.datafacts.com

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Is a Lifestyle Spending Account Worth Adding as an Employee Benefit?

By PAULA SMITH

When it comes to attracting and retaining employees, benefits have always played a vital role. In this very competitive environment, employers are looking beyond standard medical, dental and vision benefits to perks such as Lifestyle Benefit Accounts (LSAs).

An LSA is an employer-funded, taxable benefit designed to promote employee wellness, happiness and productivity. They’re designed to address physical, financial and emotional wellness needs.

LSA Program Options Employers have several options when customizing their LSA, such as: • Which plan types to offer (physical, financial, emotional) • How much to contribute • When contributions will be available for use

Common Eligible Expenses: PHYSICAL WELLNESS

FINANCIAL WELLNESS

EMOTIONAL WELLNESS

Athletic equipment and accessories

Student loan reimbursement

Mediation classes

Exercise/fitness equipment

Home purchase expenses

Non-medical counseling Services: marital, parental, etc.

Gym, health club, spa and fitness studio membership

Financial advisor and planning services

Retreats: leadership, spiritual

Sport lessons: golf, swimming, tennis, dance, etc.

Financial seminars and classes

Pet care: walkers, day care, grooming

Workout apps, fitness trackers

Estate planning costs

Camping: tent, site rental fees, sleeping bags, etc.

Weight loss programs, nutrition counseling, food supplements

Identity theft services

Personal development classes: art, cooking, sewing, etc.

Entry fees for races and sports leagues

Pet insurance premiums

Annual park pass

Fitness classes: yoga, Pilates, cycling, etc.

Hunting and fishing licenses

Passes: ski, snowboard, golf, tennis, etc.

A Lifestyle Spending Account allows employees to make purchases and receive a reimbursement from their LSA. The employer determines which expenses are eligible and the funds are considered as taxable income to the employee. An LSA should not be used for IRS Section 213(d) health expenses.

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• Eligible employees • Eligible expenses • How funds will be handled at the end of the plan year (rollover or runout) • How funds will be handled for terminated employees (runout period)

Benefit to Employers and Employees A valuable addition to a standard benefit program, LSAs let employees choose activities that suit their lifestyle, with more control over how they use the benefit. For example, remote employees could buy exercise equipment for home or sign up for a nearby fitness class.

For employers, the LSA is a highly flexible offering that increases employee engagement and improves the overall benefits plan. It can differentiate the employer, making it more attractive to both current and prospective employees.

For more information on Lifestyle Spending Accounts, please contact your Employee Benefits advisor.

Paula Smith, SHRM-CP, PHR, FCS, CFC

Vice President, New Business Specialist McGriff Paula.smith@mcgriff.com

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The Positive Disruption of the Great Resignation

By AMY SCHABACKER DUFRANE

Paralyzed by uncertainty created by our first global pandemic in recent memory, employers and employees hunkered down and made the best of things. Endless hours on zoom, dining rooms doing double duty as desks and virtual learning became the norm. As the world became more comfortable with a path back to a new normal, something happened that no one predicted: employees left their employers, resigning for new opportunities or no opportunity at all.

A recent Wall Street Journal podcast illuminated some of the motivators for this tsunami of voluntary terminations. During the pandemic, people had more time to ponder what they really wanted from their careers and what was missing from their current gig. But it wasn’t only about moments of reflection. With prices inching upwards, economic indicators drove many workers to reconsider whether their wages could keep up with inflation. Hourly workers found they could command $20+ per hour, in stark comparison to rates less than half previously.

Not being dependent on a traditional 9-to-5 office job was put under the microscope too, leading some workers to redefine work/life integration.

HR professionals have been caught in the midst of these unanticipated dynamics. Helping to support hybrid and, sometimes, entirely remote workforces during the pandemic, now HR is working furiously behind the scenes to ensure their talent acquisition teams and hiring managers can fill open roles quickly. Questions abound though: no doubt the great resignation has been disruptive on many levels but has anyone in the organization examined what the fundamental issues were in the first place?

VALUES ALIGNMENT: Culture is never built in a day or even a year. And it’s never the result of pithy sayings posted on the lunchbreak wall. It’s the collective result of living and breathing your values, day in and day out in an authentic, transparent manner than is obvious to the workforce. It’s creating safe workplaces that support inclusion and belonging.

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Purposeful alignment between culture and this sense of belonging impact the employer brand as well as employee retention. Postpandemic, people are expecting a lot from their employers. This is especially apparent in millennial and GenZ workers – who comprise the largest part of the workforce – as they prefer to work for companies that are socially aware and committed to positive change. They want to know they are making a difference, not just punching a timeclock.

On a personal note, the pandemic gave us a front-row seat into each other’s lives. Children, pets and other family members suddenly appeared on camera during calls and parents split shifts to cover childcare, education and chores. Those employers who fail to heed the important lessons from these private moments will fail miserably in the new world of work. For example, dictating 100% return to the office or attempting to roll back to 2019 management styles are surefire ways of losing great employees. Remember that respecting the individual’s contributions to the workplace – and corresponding boundaries - means meeting them where they are and how they can be most productive.

CAREER ADVANCEMENT: In a job seeker’s market, the employee holds the power. And, with more learning options and more consumer-grade tools at their fingertips, employees are able to own their own career paths. With heightened awareness of their options, employees walk when circumstances no longer suit them. It doesn’t mean they didn’t like their job or even their employer; with apparent opportunities, qualified talent can be attracted elsewhere.

Advancement isn’t always a rocket ship to the top. Many employees are intrigued by lateral mobility such as the chance with work on a different team or project, or even another location. Increasingly popular are “work from anywhere” models that enable employees to experience another city, state or even country while remaining fully committed to their employer. Enabling employees to gain additional expertise and experience builds loyalty and fills gaps. Intelligent career paths supported by mentors and learning opportunities can retain an employee “for life” by providing positive change that energizes and invigorates.

MONEY TALKS: Assumptions have been made that those resigning their jobs for other opportunities didn’t care about pay and benefits. It’s been revealed that nothing was further from the truth. Yes, most want to work for a company that cares and provides career development opportunities – that was clearly evidenced by McKinsey’s recent research. Compensation is still a big part of why we work, and the research uncovered that inadequate total comp is a top reason why workers leave and might leave again.

Was there a silver lining to the pandemic’s disruption? While the Great Resignation might feel like the sky is falling, it has served to illuminate gaps and challenges in our workplaces. The grass isn’t always greener for employers or their employees and the great resignation is a culmination of much needed change. These changes are strong signals that the future of work isn’t what we originally projected. Watch my column for additional thoughts on what this means for HR.

Let’s go back to the example of the hourly worker who can command $20/hour. As the economy rebooted post-COVID and people started traveling and eating out again, it was painfully obvious that a record high number of restaurant and hospitality workers had quit. Many of these workers weren’t making a livable wage in the first place and they weren’t inclined to resume business as usual. Sign-on bonuses and wage increases across quick-serve restaurants and hotels have become commonplace, with the waiter/waitress role reported to have a 63.7% compensation increase.

There is linkage between switching jobs and making more money. After all, a recent Gallup survey also found that better pay was the top reason people considered accepting new job offers. Plus, pay transparency is on the rise and certain states require that employers disclose wage scales or salary ranges during the hiring process. That might make changing jobs more attractive; conversely, it leaves steadfast employees wondering what’s in it for them. That’s why HR and business leaders need to make sure they are rewarding retention with the same rigor as recruiting.

Amy Schabacker Dufrane, Ed.D., SPHR, CAE, is CEO of HRCI, the world’s premier credentialing and learning organization for the human resources profession. Before joining HRCI, she spent more than 25 years in HR leadership and teaching roles. She is a member of the Economic Club, serves on the Wall Street Journal CEO Council, is a member of the CEO Roundtable, and is chair of the Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind board.

Amy holds a doctorate from The George Washington University, an MBA and MA from Marymount University, and a BS from Hood College.

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Five Tips to Help Employers Return Employees to the Office

By MATTHEW R. COURTNER

The

COVID-19 PANDEMIC has changed our lives—both personally and professionally.

No doubt about it. For example, I cannot remember ever using Zoom in my legal career before March 2020, but now it is

a weekly occurrence. Just last month, I participated in depositions via Zoom where lawyers located in Tennessee, Georgia, and Illinois deposed expert witnesses who were located in California and Florida without expending the time and incurring the expense of traveling to a central location.

For many employees, a significant change caused by the COVID-19 pandemic was working from home in lieu of working in an office on the employer’s premise. The extent of this change varies from one employer to the next. Some employers provided remote work short-term and have already returned employees to the office.

Other employers are still letting employees working from home today. And some employers, such as Twitter, have announced that their employees can work from home permanently.

As our country attempts to return closer to “normal” now that we are more than two years into the pandemic, some employers are grappling with whether to require their employees to return to the office, and if so, how best to return those employees to the office. For example, Apple initially announced that its employees would return to the office three days a week, but employees opposed such a plan. Apple delayed that plan in May 2022, citing COVID-19 concerns. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has also commented on the struggle to get employees back to the office, stating, “I have been unsuccessful, despite everything I’ve tried to do, to get our people back to work. I’ve plead with them. I said I’ll get on my knees. I’ll do push-ups. Whatever you want. Come back.” See Https://www.businessinsider.com/starbucksceo-howard-schultz-begs-workers-return-office-2022-6?utm_ source=facebook&utm_medium=news_tab. On the other hand, some employers are moving forward with returning employees to the office.

For example, Telsa CEO Elon Musk has recently called for all Tesla employees to return to the office “for a minimum” of forty hours each week, or otherwise quit. See https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/01/tech/ elon-musk-tesla-ends-work-from-home/index.html.

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For employers who attempt to return employees back to work, here are five tips to help employers successfully implement a return to work plan.

1. Provide sufficient notice before implementing the plan. You should not announce your plan with a quick implementation schedule. Providing sufficient notice will help employees plan for having to work in the office. For example, some employees will likely have to make plans for childcare that they have not needed while working from home. The amount of time needed for each employee will vary. As such, the employer should provide at least several weeks’ notice before beginning to implement the plan.

2. Consider implementing your return to work plan progressively. You can implement your plan for all employees to return five days a week, but that will be a big change for employees who have grown accustomed to working from home. As such, employers could start with having employees return to work two to three days a week and then transition to five days a week over several months. Alternatively, some employers may decide to implement a return to work progressively by job categories. For example, an employer may prefer to return a couple of job categories and then return the remaining categories in a couple of months.

3. Keep appropriate COVID-19 safety protocols in place. If employees have been working remotely, you may not have fully developed a COVID-19 policy. As such, you need to determine necessary COVID-19 safety protocols for a return to work and then inform employees of those protocols. Such a plan may help ease concerns that some employees have about returning to work, and it will help employees to be prepared to abide by the policy beginning the first day back at work.

4. Be prepared for accommodation requests. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations for an employee’s disability, unless the accommodation imposes an undue burden. Whether an employer can provide a

reasonable accommodation must be determined based on the specific facts and circumstances of each request. Consequently, the ADA requires employers to engage in an interactive process with its employee “to identify the precise limitations resulting from the disability and potential reasonable accommodations that could overcome those limitations.” Melange v. City of Ctr. Line, 482 Fed. App’x 81, 84-85 (6th Cir. 2012).

Under the ADA, working remotely may be a reasonable accommodation. See e.g., Mosby-Meachem v. Memphis Light, Gas & Water Div., 883 F.3d 595, 605-06 (6th Cir. 2018). As the Sixth Circuit has acknowledged, “The ADA encourages—indeed requires—employers to make reasonable accommodations for its employees, including allowing telecommuting under the proper circumstances.” EEOC v. Ford Motor Co., 782 F.3d 753, 764 (6th Cir. 2015). Whether remote work is a reasonable accommodation will depend upon the essential functions of the employee’s job. Even if remote work is not a reasonable accommodation, employers must consider whether another reasonable accommodation is available, such as a leave of absence, a staggered work schedule to avoid interaction with a large group of people, or an isolated working area. Consequently, when requiring employees to return to the office, employers must consider its obligations under the ADA when appropriate, or otherwise the employer will risk a discrimination claim under the ADA.

5.

Train managers and supervisors before implementing the return to work plan. Many employees will have questions and concerns about the return to work plan. As such, employers should develop a clear plan for responding to these anticipated questions and concerns and then train its managers and supervisors on the plan for responding to the expected questions and concerns of the returning employees. Employers should also train its managers and supervisors on the employer’s ADA accommodation policy to ensure that the employer follows the ADA and applies the ADA consistently.

With an emerging generation of younger workers and the COVID-19 modifications to work schedules, it may be that we are creating a new “normal” where remote work will have a larger presence in the workplace than ever before. However, as employers continue to determine the right balance of in-person work at the office versus remote work, the above considerations will help employers return employees to work as smoothly as possible.

Matthew R. Courtner, Attorney Rainey Kizer Reviere & Bell PLC mcourtner@raineykizer.com www.raineykizer.com

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EEOC Releases Guidance on ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE and ADA CONSIDERATIONS

By JAMES A. PARETTI, JR., NILOY RAY, and MARKO J. MRKONICH

On May 12, 2022, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued a “Technical Assistance” (TA) document addressing compliance with ADA requirements and agency policy when using AI and other software to hire and assess employees. As the accompanying press release notes, this guidance is meant to be educational, “so that people with disabilities know their rights and employers can take action to avoid discrimination.” Key take-aways regarding the use of such tools in hiring or assessing employees include: · ACCESSIBILITY: Employers should account for the fact that on-line/ interactive tools may not be easily accessed or used by those with visual, auditory or other impairment. · ACCOMMODATION: Barring undue hardship, employers should provide alternatives to the use or application of these tools if an individual’s disability renders the use of the tool more difficult or the accuracy of the tool’s assessment less reliable. · ACCOMMODATION, II: Beyond providing reasonable accommodations in accessing/using these tools, employers should ensure that the tools assess an individual in the context of any reasonable accommodation they are likely to be given when performing their job. · A DA VS. TITLE VII: The EEOC stresses that disability bias requires different design and testing criteria than does Title VII discrimination, such as access considerations and the potential for disability-related inquiries or medical examinations. · P ROMISING PRACTICES: Noting that employers are responsible for ADA-violating outcomes even when a software tool is created or used by a third-party vendor or agent, the Commission provides examples of “Promising Practices” that employers can engage in to demonstrate goodfaith efforts to meet ADA requirements.

Throughout, the TA document uses various illustrative examples of the tools the EEOC aims to regulate. These range from résumé scanners and virtual assistants/ chatbots to video-interviewing software and software that tests an individual’s personality, aptitude, skills, and “perceived ‘cultural fit.’” Employers using these tools in their recruiting, hiring, and review of applicants and employees (which, by some estimates, is up to 83% of employers) should take careful note of the EEOC’s position as to where these tools may run afoul of the ADA. The TA document focuses on three themes, specifically, how the use of algorithmic decision-making may violate the ADA with respect to: (1) reasonable accommodation for applicants and employees; (2) where AI decision-making tools may “screen out” individuals with disabilities; and (3) where an AI-based tool may violate ADA restrictions on disability-related inquiries.

Reasonable Accommodation. Foremost, the EEOC stresses that where an employer uses AI or other algorithmic decision-making software, it is required to provide reasonable accommodation to employees whose disability may make it difficult to be assessed by the tool, or may cause a lower result than it would for a non-disabled employee. The EEOC takes the position that where a disability might make a test more difficult to take or reduce the accuracy of an assessment, an employer must provide an alternative testing format or a more accurate assessment of the individual’s skills, unless doing so would entail “undue hardship” (defined as “significant difficulty or expense,” and generally a very high bar for an employer to meet 30

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under the ADA). By way of example, the EEOC offers that an employer that uses a test requiring use of a keyboard or trackpad to measure employee knowledge may need to provide an accessible version of the test to an employee with limited manual dexterity (or, where it is not possible to provide an accessible version of the test, to provide an alternative testing format). Similarly, in its discussion of “screening out” applicants, the agency cites tools that measure speech patterns or facial recognition, and the potential negative effect these may have on individuals with certain disabilities. The guidance also makes clear that where an employer uses a third party to administer and score pre-employment tests, the failure of the vendor to provide a reasonable accommodation required by the ADA would likely result in an employer being liable, even if the employer was unaware that the applicant reported the need for an accommodation to the vendor.

“Screening Out.” The bulk of the EEOC’s guidance focuses on the use of AI or other algorithmic tools that act to “screen out” individuals with disabilities, where such tool causes an individual to receive a lower score or assessment and the individual loses a job opportunity as a result. The guidance provides several examples, including a chatbot that screens out applicants with gaps in their employment history, the use of which may violate the ADA if the employment gap was due to a disability or the need to undergo treatment (EEOC appears to ignore the fact that many if not most gaps in employment history are unlikely to be occasioned by a disability). Perhaps a more common scenario is the example of video software that analyzes speech patterns, which may screen out individuals with speech impediments.

The guidance also explains that the typical steps an employer using AI may take to ensure its use is non-discriminatory (such as testing a tool for disparate impact on the basis of race or sex, and modifying the tool to eliminate any such impact), may be insufficient to eliminate discrimination on the basis of disability, insofar as “[e]ach disability is unique,” and the fact that some individuals with disabilities may fare well on the test does not mean that a particular individual with a disability may not be unlawfully screened out.

The guidance also raises the concern that an algorithm may screen out an individual with a disability who can perform the essential functions of the job with reasonable accommodation because the algorithm is programmed to predict whether applicants under “typical working conditions” can do the job, and does not account for the possibility that an individual might be entitled to an accommodation such that they are not performing under “typical” working conditions. By way of example, it offers an individual with PTSD, who might be rated poorly on a test that measures the ability to ignore workplace distractions without regard to the fact that such an individual may be entitled to an accommodation that would mitigate the effect of their disability (such as a quiet workstation or permission to use noise-cancelling headphones).

Disability-Related Inquiries. Finally, the TA notes that the use of AI tools may violate the ADA where software poses “disability-related inquiries,” meaning questions that are likely to elicit information about a disability (directly or indirectly).

While it is unlikely that most screening tools will include such questions, the EEOC warns that some seemingly innocuous

questions may still run afoul of the ADA’s pre-offer limitation on medical inquiries, or act to “screen out” applicants or employees unlawfully. The guidance notes that a personality test is not making a “disability-related inquiry” simply because it asks whether an individual is “described by friends as being generally optimistic,” even if being described in such a way may be related to a mental health diagnosis. What the EEOC giveth with one hand, however, it appears to take away with the other: as the agency explains, even if a question about “optimism” does not violate the ADA itself, if an individual with major depressive disorder answers negatively and loses an employment opportunity because of that answer, this may be an unlawful “screening out” if the negative answer is a result of the individual’s mental health diagnosis.

Practical Application The EEOC provides guidance and “promising practices” to employers seeking to use algorithmic tools, whether developed on their own, or provided by way of a third-party vendor, to minimize the risk of violating the ADA. These include examining: · If the tool requires applicants or employees to engage a user interface, is the interface accessible to persons with disabilities?

The EEOC’s guidance appears to raise more questions than it answers, in an area of law that is changing rapidly and already poses compliance challenges for employers. Indeed, in many instances, it suggests that the ADA’s requirements with respect to accommodation and prohibition on unlawful screening may render the use of AI tools vastly more complicated and legally fraught.

As the EEOC continues its AI initiative, we expect that the agency will provide further guidance to employers as to its view of how artificial intelligence and algorithmic decision-making interact with federal civil rights laws. Moreover, as the composition of the Commission is likely to shift from a Republican majority to a Democratic majority no later than the end of the year, we expect the agency to ramp up its efforts to regulate in this space.

· Are materials presented in alternative formats? · Has the algorithm been assessed to determine whether it disadvantages individuals with disabilities? · Does the tool clearly indicate that reasonable accommodation, including alternative formats, are available to persons with disabilities? · Are there clear instructions for requesting accommodation?

James A. Paretti, Jr., Shareholder jparetti@littler.com

Niloy Ray, Shareholder

nray@littler.com

· Does the tool explain to applicants and employees what metrics the tool measures, how they are measured, and whether any disability might lower an assessment, such that a user with a disability would know to ask for a reasonable accommodation?

Marko J. Mrkonich, Shareholder mmrkonich@litter.com

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programPast hasPresident been approved 6 recertification hours through and SHRM. 1 Dr. This John Carbonell, of WTSHRM,for welcomes attendees. 2 credit The 2022 WTSHRM BoardHRCI of Directors (L-R) Jennifer Howell, Conference Chair; Loni Mantooth, Treasurer; Rhonda Livingston, President; Anna Higgs, Certification Chair; and John Carbonell, Past President 3 Rainey Kizer attorneys (L-R) Rob Binkley, Geoffrey Lindley, Meredith J. Maroney, Taylor Flake Lawson, James V. Thompson, and Matthew Courtner 4 Rhonda Livingston, 2022 WTSHRM President 5 (L-R) Matthew Courtner and John Burleson presented “Deep-Sea Gear: Employee Discipline” 6 Meredith J. Maroney and Rob Binkley discussed “Watching for Fins: Legal Update” 7 Geoffrey Lindley and Taylor Flake Lawson spoke on “Beyond the Reef: Conducting Internal Investigations” 8 Dr. John Carbonell presents Amy West, former President of WTSHRM, with a farewell gift. 9 Attendees at the WTSHRM Spring Conference 10-12 Exhibitors at the WTSHRM Spring Conference 32

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Leveraging HR Analytics for Data-Driven Decision-Making

By CAITLIN PORTER Now more than ever, HR professionals are called upon to inform and support the strategic direction of businesses. The HR function is well-suited to this role. HR professionals consult with and support every aspect of the business, gaining insight into priorities, challenges, and opportunities. Moreover, HR professionals must stay abreast of legal and labor market dynamics.

Thus, HR professionals glean information from a variety of sources, both within and outside of the organization, that enable them to identify pressing business challenges and recommend solutions. Although this situation offers abundant opportunity, it also represents a particularly challenging task: To critically evaluate information from a variety of sources and make decisions or recommendations based upon the best evidence available.

This evidence comes from a variety of sources, one of which is organizational data. Although HR professionals regularly calculate HR metrics based upon organizational data, compared to other business functions (i.e., finance, marketing, sales), HR has been relatively “late to the game” when it comes to leveraging data to inform business practices. However, HR is beginning to rely more heavily on HR analytics to create legitimacy, provide evidence to support recommendations, and illustrate the impact of HR on stakeholders.

In their 2017 article, Marler and Boudreau characterize HR analytics as an “HR practice enabled by information technology that uses descriptive, visual, and statistical analyses of data related to HR processes, human capital, organizational performance, and external economic benchmarks to establish business impact and enable data-driven decision-making.” In other words, HR Analytics involves using information technology (e.g., HR Information Systems) to collect, manage, and analyze data from sources outside the business and/or across business functions to support people-related decisions.

Yet, how should HR professionals go about leveraging HR analytics?

Below is an overview of the process by which practitioners can approach the gathering and analysis of information to arrive at potential business solutions.

1) Observe and Question The first step to leveraging HR analytics is defining the problem that needs a solution. For instance, a pressing concern for many organizations during the “Great Resignation” is employee retention. Not only can employee turnover cost the organization up to 200% of the leaver’s salary, but it also creates disruptions for remaining employees and customers.

Alternatively, business leaders may be curious about the effectiveness of HR programs and practices, such as whether an internal awards program improves retention of high performers, or whether a tuition reimbursement program facilitates employee career advancement.

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2) Gather Evidence Once the “problem” has been identified, the next step is to gather relevant evidence.

Because the problem or question you are facing is probably not wholly new or unique to your organization, you can gain insight from four sources.

First, to better understand the problem and its impact on the business, it is valuable to understand the concerns and values of relevant stakeholders, whether they be managers, employees, customers, vendors, or members of your community. These stakeholders can better define and contextualize the problem and give insight into potential reasons the problem exists as well as solutions.

Second, you can look to the scientific literature for theory and prior research to help you better understand your issue. Universities, consultancies, and non-profits employ organizational researchers who investigate organizations, HR practices, and employees. They often disseminate their research through white papers, blog posts, and other publications.

Third, you may turn to professionals with experience dealing with similar issues within your organization or professional network.

Such professionals may have specialized knowledge about relevant employment law, ethical codes of conduct, the culture of the organization, or professional experiences that provide insights into what is appropriate and most likely to succeed within the legal, organizational, or industrial context.

Finally, you may turn to organizational data, such as interviews with stakeholders or HR metrics, to gain insight into what has been happening within the organization.

Before or while you gather this initial evidence, it may be useful to build your HR analytics team. You may turn to those with specialized knowledge within your organization, university professors, or management consultants, depending upon the nature of the problem and your bandwidth and budget.

3) Develop a Hypothesis Based on your initial research, you may identify one or more explanations for the problem or question, which are the basis of your hypothesis. A hypothesis is a statement of your educated guess that serves to guide your investigation.

An example hypothesis related to employee turnover is: If employees have more workplace friends, then they are less likely to voluntarily leave.

4) Design Research Study and Collect Data Your research question will inform your study design (experimental versus observational) and whether you collect qualitative data (nonnumeric text, such as interviews or open-ended questions) or quantitative data (numeric).

At this stage, it is valuable to have the right team in place, as several competencies are needed to conduct high-quality research, including knowledge of the business, research design, and measurement. You may have

organizational psychologists on staff, or you may reach out to university professors or management consultants, who can provide direction.

As you plan your study, you need to determine whether your organization has already collected some relevant data. Indeed, most organizations track employee data using an HRIS and Key Performance Indicators in Enterprise Resource Software. Thus, one task may be to identify existing data sources, and who can help you access them, to determine if and which data is appropriate for your purposes.

Often, HR Analytics involves linking different data sources. For instance, a staff organizational psychologist may develop an employee engagement survey; and the responses to the engagement survey may be linked with turnover reasons stored in the HRIS. Throughout this process, it is important to acquire, manipulate, and store data in a way that enables subsequent analysis and maintains data privacy and security.

5) Analyze Data and Interpret Results Once data have been collected and managed, the next step is to conduct data analysis to test your hypothesis. Again, having the right team in place is essential. Staff organizational psychologists often have the expertise to determine the analytic approach for examining the hypothesis and to conduct advanced statistical analyses, but you may also have statisticians and/or data scientists on staff. Moreover, university professors and consultants also hold expertise in this area.

In addition, a member of the team needs to be knowledgeable enough about statistics and data analysis to communicate with the data analyst and knowledgeable enough about the business to communicate with managers. This person is valuable for translating the questions of managers to data analysts, and the challenges, limitations, and findings of the data analysis to managers, which creates clear lines of communication between the HR analytics team and stakeholders.

6) Communicate Results Finally, a member of the research team needs to communicate the results to the relevant stakeholders. To do so effectively, it is better to “tell a story with the results”. It is not necessary to report every finding; rather, it is better to identify the key findings, those that directly address the original research question or problem.

In addition, this is an opportunity for HR professionals to leverage their business acumen, consulting, and HR knowledge competencies.

Rather than simply reporting relevant findings, HR professionals can make recommendations and advocate for directing resources towards supporting our stakeholders and fulfilling strategic goals. In this way, HR Analytics is a means to elevate HRM to a more strategic role.

Caitlin Porter, PhD

caitlin.porter@memphis.edu Assistant Professor Department of Management University of Memphis

TOP

Educational Programs for

Professionals University of Memphis The Department of Management in the Fogelman College of Business and Economics at the University of Memphis offers AACSB-accredited training in human resource (HR) management and organizational behavior. The following faculty have an expertise in these areas: Drs. Kurt Kraiger, Kristen Jones, Alex Lindsey, Caitlin Porter, Jessica Kirk, Carol Danehower, Laura Alderson, Kelly Mollica, and Kathy Tuberville.

The Department offers an undergraduate major in Human Resource Management, an undergraduate concentration in HR management, and individual undergraduate courses on HR topics such as human resource management, HR analytics, compensation & performance appraisal, managing diversity, staffing organizations, and employee training & development. The University of Memphis offers MBA courses on topics such as leadership and strategic human capital management. They also offer a doctoral research seminar on human resource management. In addition, the department has a student chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). Finally, the department is well-represented in the Center for Workplace Diversity and Inclusion. For more information, please contact Dr. Kurt Kraiger, Chair of the Department of Management (kurt.kraiger@memphis.edu; http://www. memphis.edu/management).

Fogelman College Department of Management

Kurt Kraiger, Ph.D. Professor of Human Resource Management and Chair of the Fogelman College Department of Management

Kristen P. Jones, Ph.D., Associate Professor

Alex P. Lindsey, Ph.D., Assistant Professor

Caitlin Porter, Ph.D., Assistant Professor

Jessica Kirk, Ph.D., Assistant Professor

Carol Danehower, Ph.D., Associate Professor

Laura Alderson, Ed.D., Instructor of Management

Kelly Mollica, Ph.D., Instructor of Management

Kathy Tuberville, Ed.D., Instructor of Management

Undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, and doctoral courses offered. Topics include HR management, staffing organizations, employee training & development, compensation & performance appraisal, and employee relations. Undergraduate Major in Human Resource Management starting in Fall 2022.

Dr. Kurt Kraiger, Management Department Chair, at kurt.kraiger@memphis.edu.

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The Intersection of Technology and Women’s Health: Are You Doing Enough?

By MURRAY L. HARBER and F. RANDY VOGENBERG

Human Resource (HR) professionals across the country are working on many issues as we come out of the pandemic such as staffing, return to work, diversity-equity-inclusion, employee benefits, amongst the usual HR duties. Rapidly emerging are the specific issues of behavioral and mental health benefits, metabolic health, and gender specific concerns for both women and men.

not a general help-line or referral program that you may have through a vendor but cloud based clinical treatment tool on-demand cleared

by FDA in the U.S. Such tools have been available elsewhere for years.

Meanwhile, innovative technology in healthcare is rapidly advancing the solutions for many health-related concerns such as access to virtual care, medication adherence, and digital therapeutic treatments for specific conditions. This intersection is an opportunity for employer HR leaders to optimize their benefits to address the new and growing concerns with effective technological solutions to maximize engagement while lowering overall care costs. So, are you as a HR professional taking a strategic approach to embrace such new technology within your organization and health plan to make available these effective solutions for gender specific areas?

thrive at workplace and take leadership roles, it is time

Women@Work 2022: A Global Outlook by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd. reflects a growing concern with women across the globe reporting high levels of burn-out and limited career advancement opportunities in 2021 as reasons for leaving their current employers. The report showed that 53% of the women report higher stress than previous years, 46% report being burned-out, 44% feel that the employer offer adequate support for mental health, and 42% are worried about career advancement. Other issues stated are that women who have flexibility are more concerned with their mental health and career advancement as they might be left out of meetings. Employers need to address these issues and provide more supports as to retain current performers and attract new talent.

Advances in technology have made it easier to reach most people and provide the needed resources they need at scale. Digital approaches in general are gaining acceptance and traction due to easy access and convenient engagement. Examples include virtual care (navigation or referrals), and a new category of self-accessed treatments called Digital Therapeutics (DTx). Based on our national work with employers, all are clearly stressed around delivering better benefits for employees.

However, actions taken need the capital spent more judiciously to meet market pressures along with their fiduciary responsibilities. DTx uniquely expands access while providing a well-studied treatment tool that can be used personally or as an aid with traditional clinical care.

That flexibility meets the employee need due to stigma barriers while supporting a positive plan benefit offered by the employer, which is appropriate, cost efficient and convenient.

Imagine being a person who has mild to moderate depression who cannot get a counseling appointment for 3-5 weeks and/or cannot get an appointment with a psychiatrist for 3-6 months. Both are common occurrences these days, and HR professionals should consider the impact on the person – additional stress, the fear of the unknown, and the questioning of having to wait for a solution. DTx gives the patient 24/7/365 access to a real-time solution that engages them at that point and time giving them an actionable engagement opportunity. This is 36

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“ Working women continue to burn the candle at both ends, reporting increased stress. If we want more women to to prioritize mental health for women at workplace by providing solutions for women’s health, such as support during maternity leave and for working mothers, are needed. Digital health solutions provide scalable affordable solutions to accomplish this goal.”

Shailja Dixit, MD, CEO, CurioDTx Let’s consider post-partum depression (PPD) where one out of seven women will be diagnosed with the condition. What if you could identify those women in the health plan who are at risk for PPD and minimize and/or avoid getting PPD. No matter if it is the employee or the spouse on the health plan, it could reduce the onset of the condition, reduce the costs, and most importantly support the woman in their motherhood journey.

One resource, Employer-Provider Interface Council (EPIC), is launching its Women’s Health Initiative with a webinar on July 28th, 2022 (see adjacent page). Our panel of experts will inform about and share DTx solutions for employers to utilize to support women. Check out EPIC’s webpage, www.epicouncil.org, to learn more and about other initiatives. Also, follow and interact with EPIC on linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/company/employer-provider-interfacecouncil/). Lastly, if you are interested in being involved or know other good quality resources for women’s health, please reach out to us at info@epicouncil.org.

As we enter the second half of 2022, we know HR professionals are determining return to work and employee benefits strategy for 2023.

While doing so, expand your vision and add more specific resources for both women and men. The age of personalization is here, its being embraced by employees, and encouraging more proven gender specific resources can go a long way in retaining and attracting top talent while being beneficial to all concerned.

Murray L. Harber

Chief Performance Officer, Employer-Provider Interface Council

F. Randy Vogenberg, PhD,

Chief Transformation Officer, Employer-Provider Interface Council, Greenville, SC

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