The HR Digest October 2020

Editor’s Note

October 2020

It’s been quite a year! The unpredictable developments of past 12 months have made it challenging to keep track of “known knowns” and the “known unknowns.” It has been even harder for Human Resource departments to stay focused and bring hopeful changes into people’s lives.

This issue is full of inspiring stories showcasing ways in which HR can win the day! HR Leaders from some Fortune companies were selected for our cover story this time to share some really insightful opinions on the most challenging aspects of the HR world. Their take on upskilling, pay equality, diversity, and tech-enabled transformation has made the story an enlightening experience.

We feel inspired with the inclusion of Tracy Browne at Semtech talking about remote work culture and Bhushan Sethi at PwC sharing insights on employee wellbeing. Each of these stories speaks to our faith in HR, and I’m excited to share them with you.

Cheers!

As ever, we look forward to your feedback (editor@thehrdigest.com, @TheHRDigest on Twitter, Facebook.com/TheHRDigest).

The Team Editorial

Design

Anna Domanska Editor-in-Chief

Kevin Paul Sr. Graphic Designer

Priyansha Mistry Editor Anna Versai Sub-Editor

Project Management

Diana Coker Sub-Editor

Tony Raval Project Director

Jane Harper Content Writer

Jay Raol Project Director

Marketing

Advertising

Jason Miller Sr. Project Director

Jay Raol Director – Ad Sales

Technology John Hancock Head-Web Department

Finance Control R R Baratiya

Le Manh Coung Sr Software Coordinator

Julia Hunt Magazine Production

Contents October 2020 HR Drift Micro-breaks are actually good for productivity, survey finds./ p.08

Leadership Insights Tracy Browne, Senior Director of Human Resources at Semtech, discusses the role of top leadership in supporting workers from a culture perspective during the pandemic./ p.22

Q&A With Jane “I am unsure of how I should be networking while also maintaining social distancing?”/ p.32

Employee Benefits The post-pandemic pay landscape looks much different as the definition of rewards takes on a new life./ p.38

Cover Story CHROs Changing the Corporate World/ p.54

Legal Hub “Employees should know their options with FCCRA and employers should be prepared,” Chelsea Smith, attorney at Hall Estill./ p.104

HR Tools & Technology VCs see gold rush in HR tech scene./ p.112

Success Story If you want a productive workforce, you must focus on their wellbeing— especially now, says Bhushan Sethi, Global People & Org People Co-leader, PwC./ p.120

Recruitment Point A structured workforce planning strategy can bring consistency into overall operations by putting people first./ p.130

Workplace Culture A Balancing Act: Employee benefits for caregivers in workplaces./ p.140

Training & Development Bold steps towards change for restaurants in COVID-19 crisis./ p.152

HR Events Top picks of conferences and professional events around the world./ p.160

AMERICANS NEED A BREAK! Millions of Americans have lost their jobs in the COVID-19 pandemic, and the remaining American workforce feels more burnt out by the day, according to a national survey released by Monster.

By Staff Report It turns out, working in your PJs, avoiding the commute and answering emails from a hammock is not all it’s cracked up to be. The stress of juggling work and your home life, including children stuck at home because of school and summer camp closures, it’s no wonder Americans are exhausted.

In fact, in a recent Monster survey, 51 percent of respondents admitted to experiencing burnout while working from home during the coronavirus pandemic.

Attempting to multitask has thrown many of us into fight-or-flight mode. When faced with an avalanche of work emails, chat streams, zoom calls, alongside increasingly fluid work-life boundaries, we’re constantly deciding which task to leave and which to tackle, all of which take a massive toll, increasing the level of stress in our bodies.

This puts us into surviving mode rather than thriving mode. As days pass, we find ourselves battling burnout symptoms.

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The impact of prolonged WFH isn’t just a daily stressor. It’s cumulative: an annoyance that builds up over time to the extent that we become too wired to operate properly.

With more and more Americans who WFH feeling burnout, this “new normal” needs a reset. The long-term impact of WFH is draining, not replenishing.

Here’s a few of the most interesting stats:

Burnout worsens over time | Source: Monster poll Not surprisingly, over two-thirds of employees (69%) are experiencing burnout symptoms while working from home during COVID-19, a near 20% increase since May (51%).

Unfortunately, the majority (59%) find themselves taking less time off than they normally would due to COVID-19.

Just under half (42%) of respondents who are still working from home due to COVID-19 are not planning to take time off/vacation time to decompress, a small decrease since early May (52%).

The results are clear: Timely breaks from the monotony can help Americans find a greater sense of clarity and happiness.

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THE RISE OF GLOBOTICS Could the twin trends of globalization and robotics – or globotics – displace workers at the fastest pace in the history of mankind?

By Staff Report Richard Baldwin, professor at the Graduate Institute in Geneva, is convinced that artificial intelligence can perform skilled labor tasks at the highest level. This involves the type of work needed not only in our offices, but even hospitals, schools and courtrooms.

The marriage of sophisticated machine-learning with an increasing reliance among industries that thrive on remote workers, is what Baldwin calls “globotics’: a form of disruption that could in the nearfuture displace white-collar and service workers at the speed of light.

Even today, the most routine-oriented tasks, such as compiling lists and scanning databases, can be accomplished with a single tap by AI software. In fact, according to a Gartner report, by 2022, 20% of workers engaged in non-routine tasks will find themselves replaced

by AI. Globotics will be more or less similar to the gig economy that has replaced all of the functions of a normal employee in any part of the world for remote workers who can do the same job for a fraction of the cost.

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According to a Gartner report, by 2022, 20%of workers engaged in non-routine tasks will find themselves replaced by AI.

While AI-driven white-collar robots are efficient at repetitive tasks, they eventually fail at empathy, creativity, and even making ethical choices, believes Baldwin. Similarly, remote gig workers are at a disadvantage, too: while they can do administrative tasks, they fail to do work that requires them to be in the same room as other humans.

What does this mean for office workers? Now is the time to hone our skills in areas where remote workers and AI cannot.

According to Baldwin, the key to staying relevant will be to avoid competing with AI and remote workers. Instead, we must focus on specialized in-person jobs and skills. Now is the time for humans to realize that we can thrive even in the age of robotics.

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FINDING WORK-LIFE BALANCE: PERIODIC IN-OFFICE CHECK-INS

By Staff Report Flexible or remote work options are no longer extra perks that innovative and startup companies offer; it has become the norm in these Corona times and maybe the acceptable mode even after the crisis. The forced adoption of work-from-home option has shown both its pros and cons more starkly then any amount of studies over the years could have done.

The upside for work-from-home is that companies have discovered the employees are more productive and engaged. A Stanford University study for Ctrip that employed more than 2000 people proved that work-from-home employees tend to put in a true fullshift compared to employees who trudge to work from far off places, take time to settle down and focus on work. The employer saved on expensive real estate space too.

The downsides have become very apparent in these times. For employees it is the overzealous managers keeping tabs on your time spent tethered to the computer, the isolation, and the fudging of work and leisure time. Psychologically, the guilt factor of taking

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It seems having some in-the-office days to break the monotony for the workers will take care of the administrative hiccups, provide opportunities to meet in person and promote better cordiality and work relationship among workers. breaks away from work seems to have increased, say experts.

There are higher number of burnouts being reported as people are working more and not taking enough time to relax.

So what is the happy middle path here?

It seems having some in-the-office days to break the monotony for the workers and keeping the management happy of seeing a full office on some days, might work. It will take care of the administrative hiccups, provide opportunities to meet in person and promote better cordiality and work relationship among workers.

The out-of-city workers could be flown in periodically too. The logistics will not be easy as a perk of remote work is savings on real estate for companies, but temporary work spaces or smaller premises might be the answer.

What is needed is finding the right balance for a new norm.

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MICRO-BREAKS ARE ACTUALLY GOOD FOR PRODUCTIVITY

By Staff Report Work distractions are nothing new. In earlier times it was known as procrastination and an understandable human failing, not in all, but a majority of working human beings.

Nowadays, along with water and coffee break, people take a smartphone break. Is it distracting and takes away from your concentration on you work? There is no consensus on this.

But it is found that taking micro-breaks for people who have shorter attention spans, works. It kind of reboots the brain to get back to the task with slightly more enthusiasm. (Maybe it is the reward system of the brain kicking in which says that if you get this done, you can check your Instagram/Facebook/YouTube status again!!!).

Micro-breaks can work as mandatory time-off one requires from being hunched over a task for too long or sitting in one place and getting cramps. A 2017 study found that surgeons who took a 2-minute break every half an hour between their tasks, improved their performance in surgery. It has been found people employed

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in repetitive tasks such as assembly work, are advised mandatory breaks to avoid accidents and improve performance.

A good way to promote such breaks is to set an alarm in your smart device or place the water cooler or coffee machine slightly away from the place of work.

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OUR FUTURE WITH AUTOMATION Once automation takes over will life be full of luxuries or we will be faced with new dilemmas?

By Staff Report People have been worried about machines taking over jobs and lives for a long time. Mechanization has been taking place progressively through the ages with machines replacing humans in a lot of tasks.

So are we automating ourselves out of jobs?

John Maynard Keynes warned in 1930 “about the new scourge of technological unemployment”, which he termed as “unemployment due to our discovery of means of economizing the use of labor outrunning the pace at which we can find new uses for labor.” In short, out jobbing ourselves.

Some researchers argue that innovative technologies could create more wealth, increase productivity and diverse jobs in the end by eliminating unpleasant rote work.

A recent McKinsey study estimated that as many as half of current jobs could be automated, and predicted 400 million jobs worldwide

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will be automated into nothingness by 2030. According to another study done in the United States, almost half of our jobs will be lost to automation.

Economists say that automation has the potential to increase the existing societal inequalities as mostly lower-skilled jobs will be automated putting scores of the lower middle class and blue-collar people out of work.

The other outcome would be that highly skilled jobs will be controlled by a very few selected people leading to a sharper divide in capital ownership. These highly skilled and wealthy people might form an autocracy that will control all important decisions concerning governance.

Also, the advent of Artificial Intelligence and big data and informational technology has thrown up another problem where a huge amount of data is generated about every aspect of our choices. There are concerns that whoever controls this data will control the way things happen. A truly Big Brother Orwellian future is predicted with higher automation.

There are other concerns about the breach of privacy; biases that creep in just the way the data is collected where one feature, class, race, etc. will find more representation based on the biases of the inputer of data; ethics; and transparency depending on the company’s policies.

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So how might we deal with this version of the future?

One answer is ensuring a universal basic income for everyone irrespective of their economic status.

To avoid concentration of power in some hands, a new collective ownership of capital assets based on labor and intellectual input will have to be worked out.

There’s also the question of what we would do without jobs once automation takes over. “Human beings tend not to do so well when they have nothing but time on their hands,” says Jeff Noonan, a professor of philosophy at Canada’s University of Windsor. But leisure studies expert Benjamin Hunnicut from the University of Lowa suggests work has become “an end in itself” and says we should embrace shorter hours.

Another thinking is that historically whenever greater mechanization has taken over jobs, mankind has learned new skills or upskilled himself to find suitable employment and be absorbed in the new environment.

The key is finding a balance in the new world. Finding greater leisure and a rewarding job. Striking that balance could be a major challenge in a more automated world.A new social contract, education, opportunities for training, and upskilling can mitigate the disruption caused by automation.

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The Four C’s to Helping Employees Embrace Change at Work during COVID By: Tracy Browne Senior Director of Human Resources, Semtech

Since March, the pandemic has impacted many aspects of our lives - especially our working lives. 42 percent of the U.S. workforce is now working from home as a result of social distancing measures to proactively help reduce the spread of the virus. This percentage accounts for two-thirds of today’s workers who are contributing to our economy.

In addition to this drastic shift in how and where the majority of us work, other challenges have risen that otherwise would have been nonexistent pre-COVID.

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With the world on lockdown, organizations everywhere have had to rethink how they operate. But in the midst of the crisis, some have discovered something unexpected: productivity has gone up, not down.

A crisis like a global pandemic naturally triggers extreme anxiety and stress, but it also unleashes tremendous energy and motivation. If leaders keep threat levels low, they can harness that sense of urgency to achieve work results that would normally seem impossible.

But a crisis also presents a more consequential opportunity—for organizations to redefine who they are. Here are three ways organizations can use this momentum to transform their culture for the long term.

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Employees are now balancing virtual work with caring for family members, supporting children with virtual learning environments, and managing household duties.

Additionally, employees are surrounded by heavy news cycles that seem to never end and faced with technology adoption hurdles that play a greater role in how we communicate and interact with one another.

The new intricacies of what the “work day” means has elevated the importance of HR teams to the overall health and wellness of business. They are the glue that keeps culture, leadership and employees together. The current health pandemic has heightened HR departments’ purpose, requiring them to re-think how their organization needs to communicate; how to provide appropriate levels of support to workers; the state of culture and workers’ sense of belonging; and, how to safely re-integrate employees as offices re-open. This responsibility is taken to another level when you bring “global” into the mix, ensuring company decisions and employee initiatives across different geographical locations align with regional needs.

As you and your company move from phase to phase – or, embrace the new normal and work-from-home culture indefinitely – consider prioritizing the four C’s as part of your HR operations tactics. Each aspect can be applied in regards to where you are right now as a company and how you’re approaching the current state of the pandemic.

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Compassion First and foremost, employees’ health and well-being must be your number one priority. How they feel translates to their contributions and success to any organization.

Employers need to take the time to recognize and understand what employees are seeing, feeling and experiencing in their own individual work environments while working from their dining room table, home office or kitchen counter. Employers need to be mindful that everyone may have a different and unique set of challenges that they are dealing with. While leaders and companies need to have great analytical and decisionmaking skills, they also need to demonstrate vulnerability and empathy during crises. This is new territory for everyone and it is important to recognize that the world events have turned

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Employees are craving purpose, stability, transparency and authenticity from their leaders during these times.

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routines, practices and norms upside down. Employees are craving purpose, stability, transparency and authenticity from their leaders during these times.

Compassion can be shown in so many different ways and can be as simple as taking the time during the start of a meeting to ask how everyone is doing or how they are feeling. This can also be shown by acknowledging hardships that have a direct impact on an employee, such as a sick family member or even a co-worker.

Recognizing that everyone’s situation is unique, as a leader you need to create opportunities to have open dialogue and really listen to what your employees are saying. These conversations should allow them to share their thoughts, feelings, worries and perceptions freely, knowing that you are there to listen and support them.

Communication Transparent communication is paramount in any situation - but especially during a crisis. If you’re trying to transition employees to a virtual work environment, introduce new tools for greater efficiencies or re-integrate employees back at their physical office, employees need to understand how decisions are made, the rationale for the change, what the process will look like for them and when the change will be put into effect. Transparency is key to helping employees realize that the change or direction was taken with thought and care, and answers the “why now.” For example, if a new local or state social distancing guideline has been put in place and why that alters a company’s plan or procedure.

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Given the varying degrees of change the pandemic has created, the frequency of communication may need to be increased and come from all levels in the organization so that employees feel connected and updated regularly. Utilizing technology to have leaders on video conference calls to share business updates on a regular basis ensures that employees understand the operational aspects of the business, while also creating a more personal face-to-face interaction over video in place of an in-person meeting.

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Creating a central hub online can also ensure employees have access to all of the most important and relevant information that’s been communicated. At Semtech, we have created a dedicated page on our intranet site that houses all communication messages issued at a regional level, latest pandemic guidelines, as well as helpful resources for employees and leaders. We also provide regular updates on the status of COVID around the world, how it may be affecting business, and tips and information on how to cope with the current climate.

In order to communicate efficiently, whether via a portal or a live video conference, employees need the right tools. Consider investing in platforms that not only allow for casual chatter during the day - as opposed to relying on email for simple questions - but offer an easy video call function to quickly sync up with a team member face-toface, like Zoom or MS Teams.

Culture Much of what is communicated to employees is a direct reflection of a company’s values and what contributes to “culture.”

While company updates and the status of customer relationships is vital to keeping the business running, information on how an employee should integrate work into their life is vital in fostering the human element of the job. What’s the expectation around “working hours” and when should work get done? When are boundaries appropriate to create work/life balance, and when should work take precedence?

What are you doing during your free time to recharge and take time for yourself? We offer a number of tips around work/life

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balance and the integration of the workday in today’s work-fromhome environment - especially for employees with young children that are dealing with changing school schedules and remote lesson plans.

We also provide staycation ideas in the age of COVID to encourage employees to take their vacation time, even if it doesn’t involve traveling.

Another aspect that defines a culture is collaboration. Working in a physical office allowed for regular in-person employee chats and discussions preCOVID. With the shift to a virtual working environment, there isn’t the same opportunity for connecting with co-workers in a casual setting, reducing the natural collaboration and brainstorming that would occur.

Replicating in-person experiences can help re-instill the importance of this time, such as re-creating virtual onboarding lunches with new employees, morning coffee/tea breaks as a team and virtual happy hours.

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With the shift to a virtual working environment, there isn’t the same opportunity for connecting with co-workers in a casual setting, reducing the natural collaboration and brainstorming that would occur.

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Contact Tracing While this category may not be relevant to all organizations, whether they’ve decided to close physical locations and remain fully remote, the concept of keeping employees feeling safe can be applied regardless. During times of uncertainties, articulating what safety means to your organization, making resources available and committing to proactive communication lets teams know they are valued and their health and wellness is a priority.

For companies that are exploring office re-openings, providing technology solutions to ensure a safe return to work can help put employees at ease knowing that the focus is on keeping them and their families safe. There are many technology solutions available including contact tracing solutions to capture people’s movements indoors, tracking the number of people in one location and measuring the air quality. However, with any form of monitoring, there are always privacy concerns that need to be addressed. The wearable sensors we are piloting at our headquarters keeps the focus on device-todevice contact so that we immediately know who may be at risk in the event of a confirmed diagnosis to ensure real-time communication and support. The sensors only track movement within the building premises, alleviating any concerns that an employee’s movement is tracked once they leave the office.

While the pandemic has certainly created a tidal wave of change around how we do our jobs, HR teams that embrace the shift and respond quickly with compassion will be able to handle any other crises that come their way. Staying flexible, communicating effectively and working side-by-side with your employees will ensure success.

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Q&A with Jane 32

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The brutal and straightforward answers to HR-related queries and concerns.

Send in your queries with the subject line ‘Ask JANE HARPER’ at info@thehrdigest.com

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How to network during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Dear Jane, Networking in the pre-pandemic world was something that I looked forward to every single day. However, due to lockdown, this process seems to be a big-time challenge and I am unsure of how I’ll continue getting freelancing gigs as 90% of the jobs are a result of me networking with someone at an industry event or conference. In the post-COVID world, you can no longer meet people, let alone show goodwill using the usual ways, like offering a meal together, coffee or a drink. It has become almost impossible to network with industry peers (Considering the fact that all the venues are strictly closed and social distancing being practiced). Further, keeping a note of number of months passed practicing this new normal, it is obvious that people have attuned themselves to this new life and set up their own ways to network. But I am unsure of how I should be doing it while also maintaining social distancing? And what according to you should be my approach which makes me sound genuine and not a ruthless/ heartless prick?

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Networking with your colleagues and acquaintances regardless of the medium should be done on a regular basis. Impressing them with your work, knowledge and etiquette could be the best way of networking. The impact that your work creates for you is better than any other step that you could follow in order for your colleagues to notice you or create a network.

Around the globe, people are staying at home to slow the spread of COVID. When people are self-isolating, there is significantly all the more need to be social, yet from a remote place. People are relying on technology to assist them with everything from meetings and conferences to meals with loved ones. You can also use technology to meet new people and build a solid network.

People often associate networking with casual banter, elevator pitches, and piles of business cards. Although, the way to successful networking is to build genuine connections, and above all, provide value. You could find out about an employment opportunity, get vocation counsel, find a coach, meet a future business partner and vice versa.

At this moment, people are working remotely, managing corporations, and dealing with their loved ones and their own physical and emotional wellness. Rethink networking by leading with how you can offer value to others as they explore this new normal.

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Share your skills Learn from the sudden influx of virtual learning opportunities and share your skills. Health specialists are taking to social media to share free or at-home workouts. Educators are having virtual classes via online media for guardians who are balancing work and homeschool. Financial planners are sharing money advice for entrepreneurs and individuals via YouTube. Accountants are assisting people online on tax relief programs and new filing deadlines. Techies are teaching people how to use Slack, FaceTime, and different tools for staying connected in their personal and professional lives.

The basic goal is to make genuine connections by using your expertise to create value in people’s lives.

Find virtual networking opportunities Industry conferences, college career services departments, and alumni groups are hosting online networking events so people can connect safely. Here, you may get an opportunity to talk to like-minded people in Slack teams, Facebook Groups, or LinkedIn groups. Learn new skills, join conversations, and most importantly, provide value.

Schedule virtual meetings If you connect with someone at an in-person networking

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event and you think you could help one another, you’d send a follow-up email to get together for coffee in the upcoming weeks. If you connect with someone at an online networking event or in a group, you do the same and send an email.

Reach out It is always humanly to keep a check on your peers’ mental health or at least try to be a helping hand whenever possible.

Due to the lockdown imposed upon us, taking a break and going on a vacation is not advisable. In this phase, where stepping out of our houses can be a threat, maintaining sanity can be a challenge. Try connecting with your peers over any social media platforms in order to get their updates. Approach them and ask about their well-being and if they need any help. If needed, counsel them and try to show an optimistic way out. Virtual games are a trend during the lockdown phase. Connecting with them over any game once in a while could be the best approach possible. These approaches could give a sense of positivity to your co-worker which is the most needed trait in this stressful time.

Got something to ask? Send your questions to info@thehrdigest.com.

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The post-pandemic pay landscape looks much different as the definition of rewards takes on a new life.

By: Diana Coker

Most organizations don’t have a playbook to pull through the ongoing public health crisis. A pandemic of this scale has not emerged in many countries in well over 100 years (i.e. Spanish flu). And the lessons from most recent events in the last 20 years like the relatively mild swine flu (H1N1) in 2009, the dot-com bubble of 2001, and the 2008-09 Great Recession, are nowhere near suitable to withstand the social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Buzzwords such as “agile,” “resilience,” and “flexibility” have become almost banal to describe the grim reality of our daily lives and the decisions we must take, as the full effects of the coronavirus pandemic now unfold.

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D

uring this time of disruption, governments, societies, and organizations around the world are navigating with great caution, care, and agility. Lockdowns and virus-testing have only begun ramping up in many parts of the world, so the full magnitude of the economic impact is yet unknown. Management gurus are seeking to provide clarity, stability and direction to their employees and customers.

It is quite likely that as the situation unfolds, we might see employers continue to rapidly evolve. Six weeks from now, and another six months from then, things will be quite different in the corporate sector.

At this moment, most organizations are focused on helping their customers and employees with immediate safety and se-

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curity needs, recognizing the immediate short-term financial impact on their end goals.

These key areas include: Manage operations with minimal loss and disruption to daily business flow.

Establishing an incident management plan to ensure a safe working environment for their customers and employees.

Initiating measures to help support employees’ physical and emotional well-being, whether at work or at home.

Providing guidance on social distancing practices, and employee information updates.

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REVISING REWARDS AND MOBILITY This is a part of the emerging new normal. Before COVID-19, many organizations could effortlessly retain and reward their people. Unfortunately, the coronavirus, leaving one with no time to prepare, has thrown many organizations into a predicament, where they must decide whether to sink or swim, in terms of making through the economic shock/uncertainty.

Many organizations aren’t in a position to retain their people, let alone stimulate feelings of financial security and solidarity with bonuses and rewards.

When it comes to internal communication, many organizations are primarily focused on direct and frequent communications from leadership urging their people to be calm about how they deal with the after-

math. Communication about wage, benefits policies, and sick leave are still a focus, as is support in FMLA, and general family wellbeing. It cannot be dismissed that employment and wage still remain dominant concerns of both employees and employers.

According to a recent survey in USA Today, Americans are far more worried about their finances than their health amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

This suggests that there are far greater concerns with employers’ financial viability during the pandemic, especially if it is prolonged over 2021 and beyond. CareerBuilder notes that 80% of American workers live paycheck to paycheck, and 60% of the world’s work-

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ing population have less than $1,000 in savings. Household income and savings are ultra-low in most global markets.

Outside the US, particularly in European countries which are known to

80% of American workers live paycheck to paycheck.

have the best workers’ right, the concerns revolve around irregular payments and the large populations of the gig workers.

In Nordic countries, there is a great focus on sick leave policies. Organizations are now taking charge regarding benefits continuity for their employees, in addition to the aid made by federal, state, and local agencies.

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In order to accomplish this, organizations are further clarifying their employment, benefits and compensation policies. This includes:

Providing daily wage workers compensation for hours not worked due to the impact of this virus.

tance Program or EAP to help employees deal with coronavirus-related stress and mental health issues.

Renewed paid sick leave policies so that infected and quarantined employees, as well as those who stay at home to care for sick family members, will receive sick pay.

Updating disability benefits if they contract the virus.

Reviewing work from home policies.

A strong Employee Assis-

Designing incentive compensation structure as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many of these changes are being directed against proposed government support, such as cash handouts to workers below a certain income threshold and/or extended healthcare insurance coverage.

In worst-hit parts of the world (especially Italy and China) many announcements have focused on compensation reduction for senior executives (especially in the hospitality, automobile and airline industries).

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The move is aimed at leading by example, motivating employees and ensuring business viability in the short-term.

According to a recent survey in USA Today, Americans are far more worried about their finances than their health amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

Below the C-suite, some industries have undergone massive furloughs and permanent layoffs. While some businesses are actively investing in supplemental payments for workers as a priority. JPMorgan is one such company which is paying its front line workers $1,000, but not more than 10% of their salary in certain parts of the world.

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A SUSTAINABLE RESET: K

We recommend organizations a few mid-term to long-term performance a time of econom

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Review the organization’s performance and reward strategy. Create a team of leaders across the organization to develop the benefits framework while also keeping in mind the cost of labor.

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Design a multi-pronged strategy to reduce labor costs versus relying on the more traditional approaches such as layoffs, hiring freezes, delaying bonuses, reduced hours and furloughs.

Headcount reductions are naturally a default strategy, but there are considerable downsides to this, especially in rebounding the business later.

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KEY STAGES OF ACTION

and reward considerations to manage workforce engagement during this mic uncertainty.

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Review the financial impact of cost reduction strategies versus the employee relations risk.

This involves: A review of litigation risk, impact to employee engagement, productivity, and involvement of cross-functional team (Legal, HR, Compliance) to determine the cost factor of the risks involved in cost reduction opportunities.

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Implement the strategy with empathy and care. A well thoughtout communications plan needs to be put in place to adapt as needs evolve.

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EXECUTIVE PAY As we’ve seen before, not every company is badly hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many organizations are opting for a playing a waiting game before taking significant action in executive compensation. While organizations that face a survival threat (e.g. airline and

hospitality sectors) are making immediate changes including implementing drastic cuts to Chief Executive Office and senior executive pay. The following practices are likely to unfold in the coming months given these uncertain times.

REMUNERATION AND COMPENSATION COMMITTEES Organizations need to re-calibrate and design an immediate plan of action. Short-term decisions include temporary pay adjustments and suspension of incentives and bonuses that are projected to be unachievable.

Such measures are limited to situations where the economic shock on the business is high. In almost any other situation it is

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imperative to monitor and abstain from taking any immediate moves. Furthermore, we suggest giving the center stage of exception management. For instance: Are COVID-19 metrics impacts adjusted by the revised plan? How will the management respond to any exceptions in results?

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2020 & BEYOND If plans have already been implemented or disclosed the Compensation Planning Committee can still make significant changes. In order to manage by exceptions, the Committee needs to consider replacing the short-term incentive structure

with a stub plan, especially if the incentives are unachievable or misaligned. The Compensation Planning Committee should set up timely checks and be ready to make corrections to potential trends for the coming year.

WHEN IT COMES TO SHORT-TERM INCENTIVES… We suggest: Establishing “adjusted” financial objectives that reduce the impact of the ongoing crisis.

(e.g., semi-annual, quarterly) in industries hardest-hit, could help improve “line of sight” to performance goals.

The Compensation Committee can always adjust rewards later if they are inconsistent with overall outcomes.

Widening incentive plan payout curves (the shape/ slope of threshold to target, or target to maximum), particularly below target levels, to manage the uncertainty of incentive plan metrics results.

Considering shorter incentive plan measurement periods

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WHEN IT COMES TO LONG-TERM INCENTIVES‌ We suggest: Assess how to set rewards in a depressed stock market.

Introduce measures such as a longer average stock price for setting grant levels (2-6 month averages) or simply using last year’s share awards levels, reducing or excluding the link to delivering a defined compensation value.

Rely on complex processes such as using discounts to market, or setting share/ dilution limits. Although, it should be noted that these generally return similar results and are more challenging and more difficult to communicate to participants.

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MONITOR IMPACT As mentioned, the Compensation Committee needs to monitor the current situation closely. There are a few ways to do this most efficiently: Immediate Committee notification of peer group changes.

Realizable pay analysis.

Monte Carlo simulations on goal attainment.

Equity usage analysis.

Organizations might consider doing each of these at least quarterly and this can provide a view as to how well your plan is working and whether you need any inyear or following-year changes.

Proxy advisors may not support all of the changes described above, but they respond better when companies provide well-constructed arguments.

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SALES COMPENSATION There is no doubt that COVID-19 will impact sales for many months, perhaps even in 2021 or longer. However, not all sectors will be impacted by the ongoing crisis. Most organizations are now implementing measures to help protect their employees and secure the bottom line.

There are a range of options to manage sales compensation amid slow growth. Organizations facing higher risks may consider layoffs and furloughs of salesforce to reduce costs as sales opportunity dwindles.

This strategy, however, proves to be counterproductive during natural disasters and short-

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term crisis.

As growth picks up, it becomes more challenging for companies to the pent-up demand for their products, which can result in longer slowdown for them.

A more holistic approach is to review your sales compensation strategies. In the past, companies have seen better results in incentivizing their salesforce to keep working hard. Enacting a short-term increase to the cost of sales via sales compensation design components and policies will likely pay dividends over time. It will also be viewed as a morale booster and an investment in your people.

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So what should company leaders consider? Organizations must remain mindful of the needs of the sales teams by following these rules: Set up an incentive compensation review team to manage decisions and review cases on a regular basis.

Identify key growth areas or channels.

Redefine acceptable performance levels.

Identify and determine compensation policies best suited for the salesforce.

Provide spot incentives and rewards for star employees.

Offer a stay bonus if there is an imminent threat of sales reps leaving.

It is important to ensure all measures have a clear-cut timeline and performance expectations associated with them. Organization need to manage their overall cost of sales in order to thrive during these unprecedented times until they return to normalcy.

These are challenging times, with no end of the crisis in sight. For organizations, there is one decision roadmap to follow: focus on employee wellbeing, make the necessary changes, and invest in the future.

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CHROs CHANGING THE CORPORATE WORLD By: Priyansha Mistry

HR Leaders had a difficult job prior to the pandemic. The current crisis has brought to focus two of the biggest challenges in front of human resource departments at the world’s leading organizations.

One is the need to juggle a wide array of everyday concerns. The other is the extraordinary pace of “digital transformation,” which has exacerbated the pressure on organizations to adapt. It is easy to understand why so many organizations rely heavily on a CHRO’s extensive knowledge of people-management practices. In

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today’s challenging times, vision and resilience can be two very important virtues. These qualities are evident in the men and women who’ve achieved a spot in The HR Digest’s list of CHROs Changing the Corporate World. Their success is a result of an unwavering leadership acumen in the face of ever-increasing challenges. We say this this confidence, based on our interviews with HR Leaders from companies such as 3M, CISCO, HP, Walmart, Walgreens, and many more.

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THOMPSON LUDGATE KEOGH FENLON MORRIS BAGLEY KATSOUDAS

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LEADERSHIP IN RAPIDLY CHANGING ENVIRONMENT Donna Morris,

Executive Vice President, Chief People Officer, Walmart Inc. ntegrity, passion, and teamwork – these are the values that Walmart looks for in its employees and fosters through its talent management.

Donna Morris, Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer at Walmart, discusses the world’s largest retailer’s priorities when selecting future leadership pipeline, and why companies who hire a diverse talent do better than others.

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Q. You have been critical in pushing for progress in diversity & inclusion (D&I) in the workforce. What spurred your interest and passion for the topic?

Ultimately our roles as people leaders require a focus on creating environments which

are inclusive, and implementing programs and processes that focus on equity and build diverse and sustainable organizations.

I have long been passionate about the role the Chief People Officer or Chief HR Officer plays in creating the environment for everyone. I am passionate about taking advantage of Walmart’s

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immense opportunity to make a significant impact – both for more than 2 million associates around the world and the communities we serve – in creating equity and ensuring all are heard, included and empowered.

Walmart has long embraced diversity, equity and inclusion as principles that are at the core to our values. Now, we’re taking a multi-dimensional approach to strengthen our company and serve our stakeholders.

We’re encouraging an ongoing and open dialogue – between our associates, customers, suppliers and communities – so we can reach the best of what we can be, together. We see it as our responsibility to not only help people save money but to truly live a better life.

Q.

At Adobe, you drove workforce-friendly initiatives, including the introduction

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of expanded family leave, gender pay parity, and opportunity parity. This is an extraordinary achievement, but for many companies, this is still a novel idea. Has your advocacy helped inspire other companies to grow and develop this stream of employee health and wellbeing initiatives?

While I certainly hope the people initiatives at Adobe and here at Walmart inspire other companies, each business needs to determine the strategy to attract and grow employees. At Walmart, people are at the core of our business.

As a team, we are focused on driving innovative programs and solutions that attract and grow our associates, and it’s fantastic when it inspires other companies to support their workforce in similar ways.

I joined Walmart because I was inspired by the potential to

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provide an exceptional associate experience to over 2 million individuals across the globe, and well-being was clearly an aspect. But, COVID-19 has underscored the fragility of wellbeing, and the critical role HR plays in supporting the emotional, financial and physical well-being of our associates.

One specific area where we hope to inspire other companies is diversity and inclusion. We want Walmart’s actions to inspire other companies to be a part of meaningful change for their employees and the communities they support as well.

We have increased our transparency on our progress specific to representation biannually, and have strengthened our people practices with a focus on hiring and developing associates with a focus on more inclusive processes. We’ve also created shared value networks focused on influencing financial, healthcare, education and

I JOINED WALMART BECAUSE I WAS INSPIRED

BY THE POTENTIAL TO PROVIDE AN EXCEPTIONAL ASSOCIATE EXPERIENCE TO OVER 2 MILLION INDIVIDUALS ACROSS THE GLOBE, AND WELL-BEING WAS CLEARLY AN ASPECT. criminal justice systems, both inside our walls and externally.

And our Center for Racial Equity will support Black philanthropic leaders and organizations to serve our Black and African American communities, promote equity and address structural racism that persists in America.

As we’re more and more involved in this important movement, I look forward to learning of the practices of other companies,

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small and large, to amplify the focus on racial equity.

Q. How has the COVID-19 crisis impacted Walmart’s business priorities and people priorities?

COVID-19 accelerated our business priority to be an omnichannel business, expediting our focus on customer pickup, delivery and overall demand of customers in this uncertain time.

As a People team, we have focused on the well-being of our associates, including implementing new benefits and programs, such as the COVID-19 Emergency Leave Policy, implementing a 24hour hiring process to support the demand for associates in our stores, clubs and facilities, and supporting our campus office associates as they moved to remote work.

We have actively focused on communication to associates and 60

leaders throughout this period of change, ensuring they are informed of resources to support their well-being.

As I reflect on this period, I am incredibly proud of all that has been accomplished with the focus first and foremost on supporting our associates, and enabling the business to meet the needs of our customers and communities.

Q. Do you think that post-

pandemic workforce trends like remote working become common trends? What other workforce trends do you think are here to stay?

I do believe new ways of working and living have emerged during this period and will remain in a post-pandemic world. I expect there will be increased focus on well-being, flexibility will be more common, remote work will prevail in varying capacities, and how individuals look to integrate work and life could be altered. Specific

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to remote work, our Global Tech team will use a primarily virtual work environment post-pandemic, and they will innovate on practices, schedules and technology that will inform our ability to maintain connection, productivity, speed and innovation.

I believe many organizations will return to a campus office because people will want to reconnect in a physical location post-pandemic.

COVID-19 ACCELERATED WALMART’S BUSINESS PRIORITY TO BE AN OMNICHANNEL BUSINESS, EXPEDITING ITS FOCUS ON CUSTOMER PICKUP, DELIVERY AND OVERALL DEMAND OF CUSTOMERS IN THIS UNCERTAIN TIME.

For our campus office associates at Walmart, they have valued the flexibility and support of remote work during this period, but many feel the loss of connection with other associates and look forward to being together again. How the office is used, the protocol for use, the frequency of use, etc. will adapt based on functions and business requirements.

Finally, digital adoption has accelerated during this time, and it will be essential to continue to invest in employee development to prepare the workforce for a new economic reality and evolving consumer habits of the future – across industries.

Q.

In building a reliable pipeline of leadership talent, how do learning programs help deliver on your objectives?

Walmart has long been committed to the growth and development of our associates to support our customers and enable long-term business success. It is exciting

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what the team has established, including the ability for our U.S.based associates to earn debtfree college degrees, training store and supply chain associates through Academies and awardwinning leadership development programs, such as DARE (Developing Accelerated Retail Experience) in Walmart Canada.

We look for individuals who align to our values and purpose, demonstrate the skills and capabilities for the position and are focused on serving. We want associates to not just consider the position for which they are being hired, but the opportunity to grow and develop a career with Walmart.

We have an active talent development program and focus on building leaders from within, highlighted by 75% of our store management starting in hourly associate positions.

It is my strong belief that associates who are provided with the opportunity for ongoing growth, create strong connections to others within the organization and are supported with feedback are more likely to remain with us.

We firmly believe our associates are our competitive advantage, and providing opportunities for continued growth, development and training is key to best serve our customers.

Q. When you set out to recruit

new talent, what do you look for? How do you retain star performers to Walmart?

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Doug McMillon, our CEO, started his Walmart career unloading trucks and now leads the Fortune One retailer. Last year at the Walmart Shareholders’ Meeting, Doug promoted Shabnam Ighani to store manager, who started her Walmart career after immigrating from Iran and learned English from co-workers who cared for her.

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We have exceptional examples of associates like Doug and Shabnam, who have had the opportunity grow, develop exceptionally broad experiences and meet literally thousands of people – all while working for one company. I believe Walmart has a very unique opportunity to truly create lasting career opportunities for our associates.

Q. What’s the key lesson you want HR Leaders to take away from your work?

I believe now could be “the moment” for the HR/people function. COVID-19, focus on diversity, equity and inclusion and broad uncertainty has created the necessity to focus on people.

The best equipped in an organization for this focus is the HR/people function. It will require change, as the ways we have worked have been altered. A key lesson is that you need to be open to “disrupt or be disrupted.”

I believe in the continual need to evaluate what should start, stop or continue and be comfortable with making changes focused on enabling the success of the business and people.

DONNA MORRIS EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, CHIEF PEOPLE OFFICER, WALMART INC. Donna Morris is executive vice president and chief people officer for Walmart Inc. A member of the executive committee, Donna is responsible for attracting, retaining and developing talent for one of the world’s largest private employers.

Photo: Walmart Inc.

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A CHAMPION FOR CONSCIOUS CULTURE Francine Katsoudas,

Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer, Cisco

n these challenging times, Francine Katsoudas, Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer of CISCO, is making a herculean effort to build on the advantages of a values-driven corporate culture. In a conversation with The HR Digest, she explains why a conscious culture plays a dominant role in motivating employees at the world’s leading information technology and networking company.

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Q. How do you develop talent and prepare your business for the future when your organization spans over 100+ countries and more than 70,000 people?

At the company level, we connect our people to where the business is going. We’ve honed our ability

to predict and plan for technology shifts and are now working to adapt employee skills and capabilities in response to these shifts.

At the individual level, we help every employee understand their strengths and the environment in which they thrive. We see a direct

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v

dependency between individual performance and how that individual feels about the company’s mission, if they feel seen by their leader, and if they are challenged to grow. We invest deeply in development, building on foundational skills with on the job learning such as dynamic projects, stretch assignments, and next generation learning experiences.

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Q. How are you going to shake things up next?

We shake things up by asking good questions. We have a team called the “Department of Good Questions” whose mission is to seek out and understand the bright and dark spots at Cisco.

At the executive level, many of us have a really special opportunity to serve as a country sponsor. This connects us to the needs of our customers and our people around the globe. Getting proximate to our teams and leaders, their needs and strengths makes us better as a leadership team.

We asked, “How can we proactively identify problems – and fix them – before they become formal complaints?” The answer made us realize that we needed to reimagine Employee Relations, moving traditional case management and investigations into a deep, proactive view of our organizations so we can pinpoint cracks in the system before they break our people.

We believe that magic happens when our business strategy intersects with our people strategy against the backdrop of our purpose; to power an inclusive future for all.

We asked, “Are we operating in a way that serves our people and our business?” Quickly we knew that it was time to create new communities to serve groups based on common needs, build solutions

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WE HAVE A TEAM CALLED THE “DEPARTMENT OF GOOD QUESTIONS” WHOSE MISSION IS TO SEEK OUT AND UNDERSTAND THE BRIGHT AND DARK SPOTS AT CISCO. that deliver higher value to our business and people alike, and revitalize our people experience throughout the enterprise.

This meant moving many people into new roles, including my entire senior leadership team who stretched into new areas and are delivering incredible results.

We asked, “Does the name Human Resources reflect what we do

and who we serve?”. The answer was emphatically, “No!” so we changed our name to People & Communities which reflects who we are; We are a workforce of courageous ambassadors to the company, our people and society.

Q. We are facing one of the

most harrowing and farreaching crises of our lifetimes.

Amid this coronavirus crisis, what should be the priorities of HR leaders?

As I talk to my peers, across the industry, we are all working hard to support our teams. This is an important time for us to focus on our people, drive transparency, lead with courage and build resiliency.

Our priority is always our people, not just as individuals but as a community. When we come together, we respond to crises in ways that were unimaginable before and create a chain reaction of positive impact. As HR leaders, we must build transparency,

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connecting people and information. Our people want to hear from us, and they are expecting candid answers to their questions, aligned to the greater good of the company and the world.

Q. Compared to other industry

leaders, what are the qualities that make Cisco special and unique?

Something that stood out to me 24 years ago, when I joined the company was our commitment to our customers. Our success with them is based on a common vision and trust in one another.

As a company we build trust by delivering on our commitments.

Similarly, as individuals within the company, we create trust one moment at a time.

We are serious about our platform to serve the community and empower our people to do good in the world. The ways we innovate and solve challenges to support

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customers and come together to help our community make Cisco special, and a company I’m proud to work at today.

Q. How would you describe your personal approach to leadership?

If you asked me this question a year ago my answer would be different because I believe leadership evolves. Early on, it was sometimes hard to share insights or areas of opportunity, but today I know this makes our people better and our teams stronger.

I’ve learned that you can’t be a one-size-fits-all leader. My accountability is to help each member of my team be their best. I understand each person’s strengths, challenges, and values so I can help them grow. I love to bring teams together based on their passions. This is when I see true innovation and breakthroughs happen.

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I work hard to listen to different perspectives, and I look for the people who will not tell me what I want to hear.

I LOVE TO BRING TEAMS TOGETHER BASED ON THEIR PASSIONS. THIS IS WHEN I SEE TRUE INNOVATION AND BREAKTHROUGHS HAPPEN.

Sometimes I will ask, “tell me the one thing that no one is telling me that I should know.” I don’t strive for perfection and I expect that in real change, we will make mistakes. This view gives my team the ability to push harder. We are in this together and we will continue to improve.

FRANCINE KATSOUDAS EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF PEOPLE OFFICE, CISCO Francine Katsoudas is Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer of Cisco. She plays a major role in the company’s overall performance, leading organizational strategy, promoting operational effectiveness, and elevating team performance through innovative leadership.

Photo: CISCO

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Bridging the Digital Divide Kathleen Wilson-Thompson, Executive Vice President And Global Chief Human Resources Officer, Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc.

he purpose of servant leadership, according to Kathleen Wilson-Thompson, Executive Vice President and Global Chief Human Resources officer at Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc., is to empower people. In an interview with The HR Digest, WilsonThompson talks about her personal leadership style and the power harnessing the digital transformation of COVID-19 era.

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Q. How has Walgreens Boots Alliance responded to the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure employee safety, managing relationships with clients, collaboration with industry leaders and internal workforce management?

Ensuring the health and safety of our team members, customers and communities is our top priority, and I will provide just a few examples.

We implemented a number of safety measures and follow local government guidance (whether the CDC in the U.S. or the NHS in

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the UK) and provided face covers, plexiglass shields, social distancing cues, frequent and deep cleaning and sanitizing, health screenings for team members, and more.

Q. There will be large portions

of the current workforce that will not return to a traditional office post-pandemic. How prepared is Walgreens Boots Alliance for that?

Actually, it’s important to note that most of our team members globally work in pharmacies, stores, distribution centers…. providing essential services to our communities. In our Support Office locations, we have maintained a smaller but consistent presence on campuses throughout the various phases of the pandemic, in accordance with local government guidance. We had invested in digital collaboration tools before the pandemic and were able to adapt quickly to

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new ways of working for Support Office colleagues who have been working from home.

Q. How would you describe your personal approach to leadership?

I am a long time believer in “servant leadership.” In this leadership philosophy, the main goal of the leader is to serve, and to share power and put the needs of team members first, to help your team develop and perform as highly as possible.

I am also a huge champion of diversity, equity and inclusion, and have been across the course of my career. We must all advocate for fairness and access to roles and opportunities at all levels, for all people, for everyone. I also firmly believe as a leader that actions must match intentions.

Q. What are some of the

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leadership lessons that have guided you in the current times of crisis?

We are living in extraordinary times, given concurrent “once in a lifetime” experiences converging within three months’ time: a pandemic, recession and the racial justice movement. We are an iconic brand company with more than 400,000 team members, spanning across the globe in 25 countries and territories.

There is a strong sense of responsibility for us, whether providing the essential services of pharmacy, health care and retail to our customers and patients across the world during the global pandemic, or whether we are a voice and catalyst for change as part of our commitment to racial equity – we can set ourselves out as an example of a company of diverse and respected team members, well cared for and

WE MUST ALL ADVOCATE FOR FAIRNESS AND ACCESS TO ROLES AND OPPORTUNITIES AT ALL LEVELS, FOR ALL PEOPLE, FOR EVERYONE. I ALSO FIRMLY BELIEVE AS A LEADER THAT ACTIONS MUST MATCH INTENTIONS.

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passionate about our work, showing the world in exemplary fashion how to be a part of the solution.

Q. What has been the most

challenging decision you’ve ever had to take in your career?

In my 17 years at Kellogg, I held positions ranging from Legal, to Operations, to Senior Vice President of Global Human Resources. Throughout my time, no matter the role, I was focused on engagement, decisions to help the business win, and building g r e a t relationships across every level of the organization. I took a calculated risk in my career at that time and left the legal department to accept an assignment in a Memphis, Tenn., plant as the Human Resources manager.

This assignment was highly impactful to my career as it provided invaluable

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operational experience including accountability for the entire plant’s people management processes. It was a very handson role – more operational than prior roles for me – and I found it to be an enriching experience that helped to inform some of my future roles in leadership.

KATHLEEN WILSON-THOMPSON EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT AND GLOBAL CHIEF HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICER, WALGREENS BOOTS ALLIANCE, INC. Kathleen Wilson-Thompson is Executive Vice President and Global Chief Human Resources Officer for Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. Prior to this, she was Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer for Walgreens since 2010.

Photo: Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc.

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COURAGE UNDER CHANGE Kristen Ludgate,

Senior Vice President, Human Resources, 3M

K

risten Ludgate, who leads 3M’s human resources team, talks to The HR Digest about the “15% culture” philosophy that has helped attract the industry’s most driven workers and how tough times can have a motivational impact on the workforce.

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Q. 3M is said to have a passionate work culture fit for the industry’s most driven workers. To what extent is that down to a successful ‘Culture of Innovation?’

3M’s culture of innovation definitely comes through in the experience and approach of 3Mers during their day-to-day work. That

culture rewards experimentation and encourages collaboration with colleagues around the world.

It also drives teams to explore new ideas through our “15% culture” philosophy, which empowers 3Mers to work on projects of their own choosing outside of their regular scope of work. All of this takes energy and drive, for sure, along with a willingness to learn,

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adapt and engage. More than anything, I would describe 3Mers as passionate. 3Mers are passionate about using science to solve some of the world’s toughest challenges.

Q. ‘Listening strategy’ is one 3M’s core strengths. Can you tell The HR Digest readers more about 3M’s recent Cultural Revolution and how the initiatives promote change within the company in practical terms?

We launched a new culture framework in 2019 to articulate what our culture is – and what we aspire it to be – with a focus on building on our strengths and committing to stretch ourselves into the future. The very first thing we did was deploy multiple listening channels to bring the voices of our employees all over the world into the process of defining our aspirational culture.

We crowdsourced globally, and

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received more than 200,000 ideas and reactions.

We led focus groups, created advisory and steering teams, and engaged our executives in workshops and feedback sessions. In response, we created five culture elements that reflect what we heard. From there, we used a grassroots cascade to bring the elements into our teams, empowering all 3Mers to define how they would bring the culture to life.

It was not a top-down approach, even though this work was sponsored by our CEO and senior team. As we continue to bring our culture to life in our operating model and our HR practices, we continue to use surveys, crowdsourcing, focus groups and other tools to ensure our people are heard. For example, before launching a new performance review system this year – dubbed Performance Everyday and

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hinged on our culture elements – we used crowdsourcing and other tools to hear directly from 3Mers about how to best improve our approach.

Q. Do you see HR as a business partner or HR as a business driver?

Both! One of our four strategic priorities at 3M is People & Culture – because we know talent development, leadership, culture and organization effectiveness are all central to our business success.

As an HR team – and as business drivers – we bring strong perspectives, leadership and strategies on these topics, helping to define the People & Culture direction that will propel our company forward.

At the same time, HR cannot do this alone or in a silo. It requires deep partnerships with our businesses and functions. And, of course, the employee experience is created by the actions of leaders and

teams every day. While HR can help bring the right tools and frameworks forward to advance business goals, we are most effective when we have strong partnerships with the operating teams and create opportunities to strengthen the support we provide them.

Q. How is 3M responding to the COVID-19 crisis? What are your top priorities as you navigate through this crisis?

From the beginning, the safety of our employees and the public, including health care workers and first responders fighting COVID-19, have been our highest priorities.

3M has a high calling during the pandemic given our role as a leading producer of respirators and other PPE that is critical in the fight against COVID-19.

It starts with employee safety, education and support – these enable everything else, and

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are top of mind for me and my colleagues every day. We have put enhanced safety protocols in place, moved to remote work arrangements where we could, and added benefits and flexibility to help our employees manage work and their personal circumstances.

We recognize the different needs across our varied geographies, roles and workplaces so have continued to adapt and adjust as the pandemic has evolved.

Throughout, we have continued to listen, communicate and have prioritized flexibility.

Q. What is one leadership practice you wish to start as we buckle up for the ‘new normal?’

I’m thinking a lot about how to bring the best learnings from 2020 into the new normal, whenever that arrives. We’ve placed a big emphasis on psychological safety, creating space for people to 80

have a bad day or to share their personal challenges, and how we might better support them.

I think we’ve all gotten to know each other a bit more through hours of virtual meetings and the need for dialogue about working arrangements.

On my team, we’ve been more intentional about creating safe spaces to speak up.

Personally, I need to keep working on this. It’s so easy to forge ahead given how busy we all are, but making time to understand the personal needs of our teams increases effectiveness in the long run – and it’s the right and human thing to do.

In my role leading the team, I often think about what steps we can take each day to be more adaptive to the diverse circumstances of our team members all over the globe – whether it’s something as basic as respecting time zones or blocking time to think, or creating new

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ways to collaborate in ways all voices can participate, remotely or otherwise.

Q. What is your personal

approach to decisionmaking? Would you call it more analytical or intuitive?

I spent much of my career in the legal profession, so I definitely bring an analytical perspective for taking in information, assessing the situation, and considering solutions, risks and benefits. That said, my decision-making rhythm is more intuitive and iterative. I tend to see the big picture first, have an intuition about how to get

3MERS ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT USING SCIENCE TO SOLVE SOME OF THE WORLD’S TOUGHEST CHALLENGES.

there, take some time to get data and input, but also emphasize forward motion – to keep from getting stuck in the analysis phase.

This means being willing to adapt as you go.

KRISTEN LUDGATE SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT – HUMAN RESOURCES, 3M Kristen Ludgate works with 3M teams globally to activate its People & Culture priority through transformational culture, talent, and organization effectiveness strategies. In addition to her role as CHRO, Ludgate is the President of the 3M Foundation, lead 3M’s DEI and social justice strategies, and work on a number of enterprise issues—such as ESG, innovation, portfolio, governance, employee relations, workplace experience, ethics, and leadership development.

Photo: PWC

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FOSTERING A CULTURE OF EXCELLENCE MIKE FENLON,

Chief People Officer, PwC

s a global consulting leader whose success depends on client trust, PwC puts a high value on talent with passion, grit and vision.

From the vantage point of an extraordinarily lengthy career at the company, Mike Fenlon talked with The HR Digest about how the PwC’s “reimagining the possible” motto has helped forge an outstanding performance culture.

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Q. PwC is said to have a passionate work culture fit for the industry’s most driven workers. To what extent is that down to a successful ‘Culture of Innovation?’

We are a purpose-led and valuesdriven organization. One of our values, “reimagining the possible,” is at the heart of our culture and is an obvious imperative in the

digital innovation economy of the 21st century. We’ve invested $3 billion to transform our services, build new product development groups that are building products such as a Digital Fitness app for re-skilling, and a recent app for COVID-19 Contact Tracing - and deliver value to our employees, clients and communities.

However, innovation is not just

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about the investment - it’s a form of continuous learning, upskilling and the novel application of new tools and knowledge, requiring a culture of empowerment.

While many view this term as “management jargon,” it goes beyond encouraging people to speak up and share ideas.

Empowerment includes equipping employees with the knowledge, skills and tools they need to be successful.

Diversity & Inclusion is at the heart of our citizen-led innovation culture so all employees can contribute their ideas, to have a voice, and to be fully engaged.

We built a platform called “digital lab” which is a mechanism by which all employees can go to crowdsource, assess ideas and drive quality assurance with rapid scaling. We have leaderboards and recognition for contributors and users of this lab.

The overarching goal is for our

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people to be empowered to solve important problems both at PwC and with clients. We also want them to use their innovative skillset to address the urgent needs in our society, especially in areas that support inclusion and equity for all people.

Q. Can you tell The HR Digest readers how the cultural initiatives promote change within the company in practical terms?

We believe that to be your best at work, you need to embrace practices that energize you and be your best self at home and in your community. That’s why we launched Be Well, Work Well long before the pandemic and it has become even more important.

Part of that effort is for each team to create a plan for how they will manage their energy and wellbeing. These types of activities help create a culture where our people are encouraged to bring

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their best selves to work, have a sense of belonging and are supported through policies of flexibility and consciously working to better physical, mental, spiritual, financial and emotional well-being.

Our innovative benefits packages are leading in the business world along with employee resources that include flexible work arrangements and unprescribed sick time. We were among the first companies to provide a student loan paydown benefit in the US, which for example disproportionately impacts Black students, and to date we’ve paid nearly $40 million of student debt for our people.

We’ve also been able to adapt quickly throughout the pandemic and provide employees with enhanced benefits based on their unique situation. For example, we increased our back-up dependent care reimbursement program limit from $1,000 to $2,000 twice when COVID-19

first began, and again to offset the cost of emergency back-up child/family care no matter if the care comes from an agency, a friend or a family member. It can be used for child, spouse and adult/elder care when your usual care provider is not available.

We are also offering new tools for families working with kids at home, new virtual mental health resources and coaching as well as a range of flexible work arrangements.

Q. HR as a business partner or HR as a business driver?

Our People team at PwC are members of our business leadership teams in driving the strategy forward both for the long- and short-term. Now, more than ever, HR functions have an opportunity to accelerate talent strategies that support a culture of diversity and inclusion at all levels, accelerate innovation and adaptive change - and we advise clients in their Workforce of the Future.

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A timely example of this is the adoption of remote work arrangements and flexibility.

Digital transformation of processes and service delivery is essential, including talent acquisition, onboarding and learning & development. These are enablers for driving speed, value and lower cost for clients. We are also building a vision and strategy for the future of work, incorporating insights from our experience during this pandemic. Finally, the development of inclusive leadership skills is the essential leadership attribute for the 21st century, and understanding what that means in the context of virtual collaboration and relationship building.

Q. How is PwC responding

to COVID-19 crisis? What are your top priorities as you navigate through this crisis?

As a leadership team, we’ve committed to be guided by our purpose and values. In the 86

response to COVID-19 that means prioritizing safety and well being, and supporting our clients in a period of massive disruption.

We also told our people that we will only consider laying off employees as a last resort. We knew that grasping to protect profits this year may force us to lose out in both the short and long run by sacrificing our culture, values and innovation.

The health and safety of our people has always been a top priority at PwC, and throughout the pandemic that commitment has remained. We are actively listening to our people, remain transparent and are pivoting quickly to address urgent needs.

Specifically, we have increased our support in areas like well-being resources, caregiver support, flexible work arrangements, and the tools and support to work remotely.

Q. What is one leadership

practice you wish to start as we

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Inclusive leadership is essential.

Inclusive leaders create belonging, support all voices being heard in meetings (especially virtual ones!), build trust and deliver the best team outcomes. None of us should feel we’re going through this situation alone. These new circumstances can be stressful and make people feel uneasy for so many reasons.

With all the uncertainty, inclusive

leadership also means displaying empathy and building personal connections by taking a moment to celebrate small wins, opening up and sharing a personal story or some humor will help the team recharge. Respecting the need for down-time and flexibility helps build trust and foster a culture of caring at any time, but is especially important right now - and can enable us to be at our best in times of disruption.

WE BELIEVE THAT TO BE YOUR BEST AT WORK, YOU NEED TO EMBRACE PRACTICES THAT ENERGIZE YOU AND BE YOUR BEST SELF AT HOME AND IN YOUR COMMUNITY.

Practicing inclusive leadership and building trust also requires transparency - as an individual leader, and as an organization. For example, we recently released our PwC Diversity and Transparency Report to all our people and the public. We share our strategy, 14 data points and our aspirations.

And, finally, inclusive leadership includes recognizing our societal responsibilities. For example, PwC co-founded and launched CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion and it’s been a great privilege to work with other business leaders

buckle up for the new normal?

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to build more inclusive workplaces - and a more inclusive and equitable economy and society.

Q. What is your personal

approach to decisionmaking? Would you call it more analytical or intuitive?

Working at a professional services firm means that everything is looked at through an analytical lens and data-driven decision making. But I believe the best decisions are made when you take a human-centered approach. By combining data with what your people are telling you matters to them -- how they feel -- you have a much better chance of meeting their needs and keeping them engaged. I strive to constantly get input from not just our leaders, but our people, to make sure we are continuously listening - that’s when we get the best outcomes.

Q. What do you consider your most rewarding experience in professional life?

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Nothing tops the opportunity to work with and learn from my amazing colleagues and team members, including those across our global network, which spans 280,000 people and 158 territories. It’s a great privilege for me, and I’m continuously inspired by the work we collectively do.

Together, we’re driven to make a difference for all of our people, clients and our society.

MIKE FENLON CHIEF PEOPLE OFFICE, PWC As the Global Talent Leader for the PwC network, with offices in 157 countries and more than 276,000 people, Mike drove technologyenabled talent processes to support growth at scale. He founded “Aspire to Lead: PwC’s Global Series on Leadership & Gender Equality,” and led PwC’s Impact Sponsorship of the UN HeForShe initiative.

Photo: PWC

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DELIVERING MORE TO EMPLOYEES SHANNON BAGLEY,

Executive Vice President, Human Resources, Centene Corporation

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ow to create positive change in company diversity? What is the role of HR in driving the diversity agenda? What advice can a global HR leader give to small businesses treading the economic shock of the COVID-19 pandemic? These were only some of the topics The HR Digest discussed with Shannon bagley, Executive Vice President – Human Resources at Centene Corporation.

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Q. What are some ‘moments of truth’ that this pandemic has brought forward for Centene?

Even in the midst of uncertainty, I was taken aback by our organization’s incredible agility and speed in decision-making.

Centene leveraged its modernized infrastructure, which included automation and digitization

across multiple areas of the company, and its agility to enable prompt decision-making and swift execution of critical actions to ensure continued delivery of services for those we serve and our employees.

For instance, we transitioned nearly 90% of our workforce, over 60,000 people, to a work-

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from-home environment in less than a week. This included securing computer equipment, conducting remote working training, and activating an employee concierge team to assist with a full spectrum of HR and IT questions from employees. We wanted to ensure that employees had easy access to support resources and our “AskHR” team, along with our chat bot “Max” were helpful in providing 24/7 access to HR and IT professionals, at a time when employees were in need of critical information.

We also developed new benefits, many of which were in place within a couple of weeks of working remotely. We enacted 10 additional days of paid sick leave, new technology stipends to help cover the cost of home internet and /or personal mobile phone use, a premium payment for those continuing to work in the office and established a three month paid time off volunteer

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benefit, which enabled our clinical teams to receive full pay and benefits while volunteering in their local communities.

Our teams are compassionate and empathetic and we recognized that the workforce would need additional support during these unprecedented times. As such, HR worked quickly to activate our digital learning experience to accelerate well-being programs and offerings.

To ensure we could continue to serve 24 million individuals, nearly 1 in 15 Americans with healthcare needs, we leveraged our automated and digitized talent attraction infrastructure and shifted to virtual hiring fairs and video interviewing. We’ve hired nearly 7,000 employees across the country since midMarch 2020.

Q.

How do you approach tough decisions like cost-

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cutting, layoffs, etc?

We evaluate business needs and priorities in the context of other macro-factors (i.e., COVID-19) and make business decisions in the best interest of our mission and business strategy. When we execute those decisions, we ensure timely and transparent communication is provided to employees.

As an example, we recently closed a large acquisition in January of this year. Because we believe it is important to be direct and transparent with employees, we communicated business integration plans to impacted employees shortly after deal closure, regardless of the planned last day of employment, to provide employees ample time to plan for transition and look for new opportunities. Due to the impact of COVID-19 on the economy and job market, we enhanced our severance benefits, providing separation pay and subsidized medical coverage through at least the end of 2020.

We truly believe that treating people with kindness and respect is just as important on an employee’s first day joining the organization, as it is when an employee may exit an organization. We provide employees what they want for themselves and place significant focus on transition services (e.g. resume building coaching, job interview skill building, and job search support).

Q. Can you share with The

HR Digest readers some innovative HR strategies that allow Centene to compete for talent in America and abroad?

At Centene, every employee is a leader and is critical to our success in transforming communities. In 2020, we doubled-down on the development of our people and activated digital learnings for the full workforce over a series of months, focused on building skills to thrive in the evolving world of work such as; customer-centricity, digital dexterity, perseverance and resilience and end-to-end

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problem solving. Also in 2020, we repositioned our front line leader program, Igniting Leadership, to a virtual setting, which will connect with nearly 6,000 people leaders. Additionally, we are currently designing the leadership program, which will launch to all employees in 2021.

We also expect our Talent Attraction team to operate as advisors to our business leaders, helping them think through the talent they need to continue to propel our organization forward – and that includes continuing to ensure a diverse workforce to enable us to serve all of our stakeholders. Many of our advisors are Certified Diversity Recruiters and all of them have engaged in extensive Talent Advisor training, and we continue to upskill and outfit our team to lead this critical work with our hiring leaders.

Given the size and impact of our organization, we also have

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to think about how we scale all of this great work. We recently implemented a technology that helps us remain in contact with the millions of prospective employees in our Talent Community – many of whom joined our community through any one of the diversity channels we support. We now have the ability to keep our prospects informed of the work we continue to do to enhance diversity, inclusion and equity in our organization and in our communities.

Q.

As businesses and economies reopen postCOVID-19, what should be the priorities of business and HR leaders in terms of hiring and recruitment?

At Centene, we have reinforced our commitment to strengthening our workforce capabilities to ensure our people can thrive in the evolving world of work.

We recognize that in addition to skill development, we can

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also strengthen workforce capabilities by infusing talent into the organization and we’ve been intentional to ensure that we seek out candidates with certain skills (e.g. customer centricity, digital dexterity and end-toend problem-solving), as well

IN 2020, WE REPOSITIONED OUR FRONT LINE LEADER PROGRAM, IGNITING LEADERSHIP, TO A VIRTUAL SETTING, WHICH WILL CONNECT WITH NEARLY 6,000 PEOPLE LEADERS.

as capabilities aligned with our leadership model, in all recruiting and hiring.

In addition to being diligent in infusing new skills through hiring and recruiting, it’s important for organizations to ensure alignment of their people strategy with their business strategy. For instance at Centene, our HR Business Partners and Talent Advisors work very close with Business Unit leaders to ensure we maximize our opportunity to accelerate and drive our talent agenda, which is aligned with our business strategy.

We utilize a People Plan, which is our integrated human capital component of each business unit’s annual business plan, and leverages talent insight to inform actions and drive intentional talent results.

Through our robust talent solutions and continuous listening and HR analytical tools, we have significant talent insight to help leaders design local strategies

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and actions across four key areas of enterprise focus in their People Plan, including:

Deepening the talent bench and upskilling talent Enhancing the employee experience, engagement and culture Optimizing organizational performance Preparing for growth (workforce planning and org design) Q. What do you consider your most rewarding experience in your professional life?

My time co-leading Human Resources and helping build a Diversity and Inclusion Office has been incredibly rewarding and I feel I’ve lead with a defined purpose. When I took this role, I set out on a talent transformation,

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which would require a multi-year journey to modernize Human Resources, develop and bring best-in class professionals and position HR to be a catalyst of change, and to drive strategic business impact.

With the help of incredible HR and Diversity and Inclusion talent, we designed a new operating model, new organization structure, new systems, new talent analytics, reimagined processes, built talent infrastructure and launched new programs -- with an eye towards digitization, automation, scale and impact.

Today, it’s incredibly rewarding to see our multi-year roadmap come to life in how we connect with employees and business leaders to drive the people strategy, aligned with our business strategy. We have robust insight into our talent pipelines across the enterprise and we have talent infrastructure to continuously

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build these pipelines; thousands of employees engage in new targeted development programs and we are seeing the results pull through our succession plans and improved internal fill rates; we are listening to our employees and they are helping shape our programs and benefits; we’ve more closely aligned our pay for performance programs; and overall, our employee experience

MANY OF OUR ADVISORS ARE CERTIFIED DIVERSITY RECRUITERS AND ALL OF THEM HAVE ENGAGED IN EXTENSIVE TALENT ADVISOR TRAINING, AND WE CONTINUE TO UPSKILL AND OUTFIT OUR TEAM TO LEAD THIS CRITICAL WORK WITH OUR HIRING LEADERS.

is improving and we are seeing increased engagement and enhanced culture come through our various listening surveys.

SHANNON BAGLEY EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, HUMAN RESOURCES, CENTENE CORPORATION Shannon Bagley currently serves as Executive Vice President, Human Resources for Centene Corporation, a Fortune 100 multi-national healthcare enterprise. In this role, Ms. Bagley oversees the Diversity & Inclusion Office, Real Estate and Facilities, Security, and Human Resources. Ms. Bagley partners closely with senior leadership to establish Centene’s people agenda and develops people priorities to ensure alignment of Centene’s people strategy with its high growth business strategy.

Photo: Centene Corporation

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SHAPING LIVES, INSPIRING FUTURES TRACY KEOGH,

Chief Human Resources Officer, HP Inc.

hen Tracy Keogh was appointed Chief Human Resources Officer of HP Inc. she quickly emerged as one of the world’s leading figures in the technology industry. Talking to The HR Digest, Keogh describes “The HP Way,” the changing nature of the industry, and how she balances the heritage of an 81 year old company with her own fresh approach.

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Q. You oversaw the second largest split in business history (Hewlett-Packard Co. into Hewlett Packard Enterprise and HP Inc.), and under your leadership, HP is known to have a diverse and innovative corporate culture. Can you share your learnings and best practices with us?

The split was an opportunity for us to relaunch our culture and reemphasize our values as we built our new company. We thought of ourselves as a $50 billion startup as we reinvented all things HR – everything from talent management to development to rewards to hiring and employee experience. One of our best

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practices was questioning everything we did and then co-creating new solutions with our employees. That helped us clearly articulate the company we wanted to be – innovative, customer focused, collaborative and fun.

We determined what really differentiated our company, such as our commitment to diversity and inclusion, and used them to drive decision-making. That’s why we intentionally created the most diverse board of directors of any U.S. tech company (currently composed of 58% minorities and 42% women).

We must have focused on the right things, as we have seen employee engagement increase by more than 30% since we launched the company and we rank in the top quartile of peer companies.

Q. How are you going to shake things up next?

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There is no lack of opportunity to reinvent ourselves on an ongoing basis! Recent events such as the global pandemic have accelerated the work we were already doing in creating the workplace of the future. Mobility has accelerated and we are discovering new ways of working and supporting a fully remote workforce. We have never been more connected to our employees or their families as we navigate through these difficult and uncertain times. We are reworking all our HR strategies with these changes in mind.

We’re seeing many jobs becoming more automated in the future, so we are working to upskill and reskill our people as the world changes rapidly. Through our own internal HR “think tank”, HR Labs, we monitor megatrends that impact the workforce and then translate them into innovative employee programs.

For example, we’re rolling out a digital literacy program

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with our Chief Transformation Officer Marie Myers so all of our employees can stay relevant in the modern economy and accelerate our digital transformation journey.

The key takeaway is that we must stay agile and continue learning.

Q. We are facing one of the

most harrowing and farreaching crises of our lifetimes.

Amid this coronavirus crisis, what should be the priorities of HR leaders?

Never has HR been more important and I am so proud to see how the function has been standing up and leading through this crisis. The top priorities for HR include 1) keeping employees safe and healthy, 2) ensuring the continuity of our businesses, 3) communicating with employees transparently and authentically, and 4) supporting employees in every possible way to increase their productivity.

Starting in mid-March, we instructed HP workers worldwide

WE THOUGHT OF OURSELVES AS A $50 BILLION STARTUP AS WE REINVENTED ALL THINGS HR – EVERYTHING FROM TALENT MANAGEMENT TO DEVELOPMENT TO REWARDS TO HIRING AND EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE. to start working from home.

Since that time, we have only brought back essential roles (i.e. manufacturing and R&D) to work on site. For those employees, HP is taking measures to keep them safe, including travel restrictions, site visitor restrictions, in-person meeting postponements, requiring face coverings, physical distancing, alternate staffing shifts, safety signage, and enhanced cleaning

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and sanitization practices. We also have an in-house medical doctor who regularly hosts virtual office hours globally, to answer employees’ pressing questions.

With an ongoing pandemic, coupled with racial injustice and natural disasters such as the wildfires on the West Coast, none of us are immune to the mental and emotional toll of the crises we’re facing. Caring for employees’ mental health is critical. HR leaders will have to put more emphasis on that area if they haven’t already. We started offering mental health benefits to employees before the pandemic, but we’re now also offering virtual sessions on reducing stress and anxiety, practicing gratitude, meditations, and more as part of a new employee engagement program called “HP Spirit” born at the onset of the pandemic.

The goal of this program is to put employees at the center of everything we do and provide everything they need to stay safe

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and productive as we get through the pandemic together.

Q. Compared to other Silicon

Valley giants, what are the qualities that make HP special and unique?

I like to think HP is the best kept secret in Silicon Valley! And that is attributable to our people and values.

Our founders Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard are renowned for creating “The HP Way,” management by walking around, and the open-door policy.

They were very connected to their people and that spirit persists today. Our culture is not political but collaborative and non-hierarchical. Its essence is openness and respect for each other, which allows employees to bring their whole, authentic selves to work. This allows them to be more creative and innovative.

Naturally, diversity and inclusion are core to what we value, and

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are actually the impetus of our business strategy—because we believe that innovation, stemming from people of diverse backgrounds, drives business success.

We’ve been very intentional about embedding diversity across our business -- from creating a diverse leadership team and hiring underrepresented talent (in FY19, 63% of new hires in the U.S. were from underrepresented groups) to pledging to double the number of Black and African American executives inside the company by 2025 to influencing our channel partners to increase diversity and inclusion through the new HP Amplify Impact program.

Q. How would you describe your personal approach to leadership?

As a leader, my goal is to create an environment where my team can do their best work and have a great impact on our organization.

I want them to feel nurtured and

inspired, and to learn more from working with me than they could anywhere else. I am dedicated to teaching at all levels to create a world-class function. Over my career, more than 40 HR leaders who have worked for me have gone on to lead HR at other companies.

TRACY KEOGH CHIEF HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICER, HP INC. Tracy Keogh has worldwide responsibility for HP’s strategic human resources activities and employee communications. She leads all aspects of HR including workforce development and organization effectiveness, total rewards, talent acquisition, global inclusion and diversity, HR processes and information management.

Photo: HP Inc.

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By: CHELSEA SMITH, ATTORNEY, HALL ESTILL

Employees and Employers are in unprecedented times where they are having to juggle work and virtual school. Some schools have remained open, with restrictions. Others have gone completely virtual. And some offer hybrid approaches. Here we have a guide for Employers on the application of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FCCRA�) as related to managing work and leave options for Employees who have children at home who would ordinarily be in school or in daycare. This guide does not cover other qualifying factors for Employee leave under the FCCRA.

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Emergency Family and Medical Leave for Virtual School The FCCRA provides emergency paid leave entitlements in response to COVID-19. The FCCRA applies to Employers who have fewer than 500 full-time and part-time Employees in the United States. FAMILIES FIRST CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE ACT, PL 116-127, March 18, 2020, 134 Stat 178. If a private sector Employer has more than 500 Employees, then the FCCRA does not apply; however they may choose to follow it.

Under the FCCRA, Employees are able to take Emergency Family and Medical Leave (“EFMLA”) if the Employee’s child’s school is virtual. 29 U.S.C.A. § 2620. However, if a school is open but a parent opts to educate their child virtually, then they may not qualify. See

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DOL, Families First Coronavirus Response Act: Questions and Answers, at Question 63. The Department of Labor (“DOL”) has provided guidance that school instruction should be entirely online to be considered “closed.” Id. Additionally, if an Employee chooses to take EFMLA, the Employee should be aware that it counts towards their 12 workweeks of their regular Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) entitlement.

DOL, Wage & Hour Div., Fact Sheet # 28H, 12-Month period under the Family and Medical Leave Act. Note, that under the FCCRA, the Emergency Paid Sick Leave provisions are different than EFMLA. The Emergency Paid Sick Leave (“EPSL”) is an additional benefit to supplement company leave policies.

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Should an Employee choose to take EFMLA due to a child’s school closing, the Employee is entitled to take up to 12 weeks of leave and 10 of those weeks are paid; the first two weeks of that leave is unpaid. 29 U.S.C.A. § 2620. If an Employee has not used their two weeks of paid leave under the EPSL, then they may use those two weeks of paid leave (10 workdays) for the

first two weeks of EFMLA leave.

After the first two weeks, EFMLA is paid at 2/3 of the Employee’s regular rate of pay for the hours they would have been scheduled to work. 29 U.S.C.A. § 2620.

If an Employee qualifies for EFMLA and chooses to take leave due to a school closure for their child, then the Employee would not be working.

Emergency Paid Sick Leave The EPSL may be utilized by an Employee who has a child where his or her school is closed.

Under the EPSL, 10 workdays of paid leave are provided.

FAMILIES FIRST CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE ACT, PL 116-127, March 18, 2020, 134 Stat 178.

This leave can cover the first 10 workdays under EFMLA leave, which are otherwise unpaid, unless the Employee has already

taken EPSL. 29 C.F.R. § 826.60.

If the Employee has taken EPSL, the Employer can allow the Employee to use existing vacation, sick, personal or medical leave policy to supplement. 29 C.F.R. § 826.60.

Additionally, some states have passed laws with additional benefits for those Employees affected by COVID-19. If an

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Employee is taking EPSL, they are taking leave and would not be working or performing their

job duties while the leave is taken.

Documenting Leave and Intermittent Leave Should an Employee request leave to care for his or her child whose place of care or school is closed, the Employer must document 1) the name of the child being cared for; 2) the name of the school, place of care, or child care provider that has closed or become unavailable; and 3) a statement from the Employee that no other suitable person is available to care for the child. See DOL, Families First Coronavirus Response Act: Questions and Answers, at Question 16.

Some schools are doing an “A/B schedule” where the students go on staggered days and

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stay home and do virtual school on other days—categorizing students based on their last name. If this happens, a parent could use leave intermittently on the days their child is home.

The DOL notes that if the child’s school, place of care or child care provider are closed or unavailable on only certain days, as opposed to an entire week, then the Employee does not need to take intermittent leave if working on an alternating schedule that was agreed upon because each day of closure is a separate reason for leave, and thus the Employee would not need to take leave for a single reason intermittently. See

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DOL, Families First Coronavirus Response Act: Questions and Answers, at Question 21, 63, 98 and 99. As a result, the Employee would not need Employer permission to take paid leave on just the days of closure or unavailability.

Employers should be flexible during these times and can enter into voluntary arrangements.

In the event that a student’s school is virtual and both parents want to take off smaller amounts of time rather than one parent for the entire time, each

parent can use intermittent leave and alternate the use of it should both of their Employers agree. See DOL, Families First Coronavirus Response Act: Questions and Answers, at Question 63, 98 and 99. For example, one parent could be home and schooling children on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and the other parent on Tuesday and Thursday. The days the parent was not at home schooling, the parent would be at work performing his or her job duties.

Remote Work Options for Employees Schooling Children Some Employers and Employees have opted to allow work from home if the Employee wants and is able to do both virtual school and continue to fulfill their work obligations. Employers should craft remote work policies with

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appropriate forms should they choose this option. Remote work policies should include the process for requesting remote work options, the hours the Employee is to be available and working, what mode of

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communication should be used and the equipment provided to the Employee to carry out their work. It is also important for Employers to provide Employees with expectations and how they plan to measure performance of the Employee.

If an Employee can perform his or her job duties while having children do virtual school or homeschool at home, this would allow the Employer to maintain operations and the Employee would receive their regular rate of pay.

CHELSEA SMITH Attorney, HALL ESTILL

Chelsea Smith is a labor and employment attorney at the national law firm Hall Estill. She also serves as acting General Counsel to the Oklahoma House of Representatives. She provides advice, training and has been a speaker regarding compliance with employment and ethics laws. Lately she has been advising employers about issues surrounding COVID.

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VCS SEE GOLD RUSH IN HR TECH SCENE By: Anna Versai

Once upon a time, the HR tech scene was as dull and vapid as getting ghosted by a recruiter in a slow job market. A handful of companies dominated the market, all strong, pedestrian.

But recent years have seen an explosion of interest in the global human resource (HR) technology market, particularly in North America.

HR tech firms are flourishing as venture capitalists’ love affair with standard-setters in HR SaaS offering continue to grow.

According to HRWins by LaRocque LLC, venture capitalists invested $1.741 billion in HR tech companies during the first quarter of 2019 and $1.448 billion in the second quarter.

The first quarter alone attracted more capital than any quarter in 2018 and $677 million more than we tracked in all of 2017,� according to LaRocque.

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According to the global HR tech VC report for Q1 2019,there is a significant rise in investing in the HR technology market. Core HR software is projected to peak at a CAGR of 9.4% from 2017 to 2025, owing to extensive tech in managing employees across the world.

1.8B

90

1.6B

80

1.4B

70

1.2B

60

1B

50

0.8B

40

0.6B

30

0.4B

20

0.2B

10

0

0 2017 Q1

2017 Q2

2017 Q3

2017 Q4

2018 Q1

2018 Q2

2018 Q3

$ Amount

2018 Q4

2019 Q1

2019 Q2

2019 Q3

Deal Count

(Source: Global HRtech VC report) 114

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2019 Q4

2020 Q1

2020 Q2

Deal Count

$ Amount

Companies' Investments in HR Apps

The piqued investment interest in this space makes sense. Despite years of venture capital investment into promising HR technology companies, there are still a few challenges that yet remain unsolved, like: How can companies recruit talented candidates when unemployment rates are at an all-time low?

Why does candidate experience remain dismal despite the organization’s interactive approach towards hiring (e.g. YouTube recruiting channel, automated email response tools, etc.)?

Can organizations hire freelancers (or gig workers) instead of full-time staff, where can do you find them?

How are organizations supposed to reskill an entire workforce during challenging times such as the COVID-19 pandemic? And how do we figure out what skills of the future they are going to need?

These are important questions and venture capitalists are eager to support entrepreneurs who claim to have figured out the 21st century human resources management model particularly because the market is strong. A growing number of organizations have set aside significant budgets for the right HR SaaS tools and VCs believe that there is a lot of moolah to be spent.

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Quarterly Global HR Tech VC Comparison $1.8B $1.6B $1.4B $1.2B $1B $0.8B $0.6B $0.4B $0.2B 0

Q1

Q2 2017

Q3 2018

2019

Q4

2020

(Source: Google Trends Worldwide)

According to HR Technology Market 2019: Disruption Ahead report, an average large company has continued to spend $310 per employee annually which is a 29% increase over the last year.

Employee experience remains on top of mind for leaders. In fact, 91 percent of SMB leaders consider HR tech to be a critical factor in their business outcomes.

For example, Jobcase, a social media recruiting platform for blue116

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collar workers, bagged $100 million. AllyO, an artificial intelligence conversation recruitment platform secured $45 million. Built In, a Chicago-based tech recruiting and media platform raised $22 million.

This spending spree even during the pandemic suggests funding and deal activity are to hit new highs as more organizations find themselves in need of HR tech.

Startups offering hiring solutions are gaining quite the eyeballs. It has become a huge area of interest for VCs who believe organizations haven’t quite figured out how to manage the workforce. Sense, Jobble, and Instawork are some of these gig recruiting platforms that secured attractive VC deals in the past year.

HR SOFTWARE IS PROJECTED TO PEAK AT A CAGR OF 9.4% FROM 2017 TO 2025, OWING TO EXTENSIVE TECH IN MANAGING EMPLOYEES ACROSS THE WORLD.

Another area of interest is ‘skill development’ as organizations attempt to ready themselves for the “future of work.” Coursera stands as a testament to this trend as the online learning platform that offers degrees and certifications secured a hefty $103 million in April 2019 to reach its valuation past $1 billion.

Following suit are other learning and development platforms that have proudly attracted the attention and investment from VCs who believe HRM is undergoing a philosophical shift in how we must build the future talent pipeline.

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ARE VCS GETTING COLD FEET? The uncertainties of the COVID-19 crisis aren’t stopping VCs from investing in HR tech firms. A lot of ‘hot’ deals may seem like investors throwing money at the next LinkedIn or edX. However, many investment deals have been made in firms offering MOOCs – massive online open courses – and microlearning formats. Investors are keen to latch onto firms that provide new solutions.

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Bigger investment deals shouldn’t be seen as proof that the solution these companies offer will stick. A majority of companies in the HR technology space are still only tackling the most basic human resource problems. Whether it is hiring gig workers in larger volumes or training apps for the next leadership pipeline, these tools don’t actually help organizations reinvent the workflow.

But entrepreneurs will soon nurture hot and disruptive ideas as VCs continue pouring big money across this space. And while not all of these investments may pay off, organizations aren’t quite afraid to take a chance and experiment. There’s no harm in testing new software to see if it fits your requirements.

It’s the need to diversify and innovate this space that is driving crazy money. Even pure VC firms like Andreessen Horowitz and Acadian Ventures aren’t afraid of betting big. A significant number of enterprise software bigwigs, including OnDemand, Cornerstone, Randstad and Salesforce, are jumping into the game, investing the almighty dollar into promising startups to kick-start innovation.

Jason Corsello, founder and general partner of Acadian Ventures, says it’s an “’invest, watch and acquire later’ approach.” Let’s not forget that these are still VC deals and not acquisitions. One VC firm may still invest in one, two or three HR tech firms with similar solutions to figure out the real deal.

These VC deals are good news for companies seeking innovative solutions to address their human resource challenges. The piqued interest indicates there’s a lot of innovation happening under the surface and HR executives should be paying attention.

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By: Bhushan Sethi, Global People & Org People Co-leader, PwC

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, business leaders scrambled to he confidence to employees and customers about what mattered most – safety workplaces safe from the virus and people productive in their jobs demanded a ma of business practices. Leaders had to focus not just on profitability and productivity, mental health and well-being of employees in a time of intense anxiety.

As the pandemic rages on, schools reopen in fits and starts and a contentious political e as the US election approaches, organizations can’t afford to pull back on meeting being needs of their people if they want to be in position to recover faster. That m than just having a program here or there, but a corporate reset of how to measu and reward employees.

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elp provide y. Keeping assive reset , but on the

environment g the wellmeans more ure success

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60% OF CHROS SAY THEIR COMPANIES PLAN TO INCREASE SUPPORT FOR WELL-BEING AND MENTAL HEALTH OF THE WORKFORCE. PwC Pulse Survey, September 3, 2020.

World Mental Health Day is a good reminder to companies that one of their most precious — and precarious — commodities is their employees’ well-being.

And companies are moving to protect that resource: Some six

in 10 companies say they would increase support for mental health, according to a recent PwC Pulse Survey. About the same number are offering new benefits, including caregiver support, reduced hours and temporary leaves of absence.

And these firms also plan to change rewards, compensation and benefits strategy, the survey found.

The pandemic will end eventually, but its repercussions will likely dramatically change the way people work. That’s why every company should be pushing the reset button now — beefing up mental health and wellness services, finding new ways to measure success for employees and rethinking what genuine productivity looks like. Here are some key considerations:

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Prioritize well-being and mental health.

A recent study found that utilization of mental health services will likely increase as a result of the pandemic as employees tap resources for mental health issues, including new ones stemming from the pandemic.

The risk of burnout is high: 51% of HR leaders cite employee anxiety and burnout as the biggest challenge for delivering on workforce priorities.

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Workers aren’t just worried about losing their jobs or taking pay cuts.

They worry about their kids going back to school – or not going back to school. They fret over the upcoming election and its potential impact on their families and finances. They are concerned about their personal safety and that of their loved ones amid the pandemic. All of this contributes to how well employees perform. So communicate regularly and openly — from the top and across levels — about mental and emotional health benefits available to employees. Consider expanding the well-being programs you do have in place; it often makes good business sense to do so.

Know that not all productivity is the same, or sustainable.

A recent study found that utilization of mental health services will likely increase as a result of the pandemic as employees tap resources for mental health issues, including new ones stemming from the pandemic.

The risk of burnout is high: 51% of HR leaders cite employee anxiety and burnout as the biggest challenge for delivering on workforce priorities.

Workers aren’t just worried about losing their jobs or taking pay cuts.

They worry about their kids going back to school – or not going back to school. They fret over the upcoming election and its potential impact

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on their families and finances. They are concerned about their personal safety and that of their loved ones amid the pandemic. All of this contributes to how well employees perform. So communicate regularly and openly — from the top and across levels — about mental and emotional health benefits available to employees. Consider expanding the well-being programs you do have in place; it often makes good business sense to do so.

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Rethink how you measure business performance.

Profitability can’t be the only measure of success. Businesses need new measures to determine how well they are meeting their customers’ and clients’ needs. Consider all the factors facing your people, and assess how to improve the performance of your business — and of your employees now.

Consider including employee performance metrics for achievement against these new initiatives. Many companies, for instance, are creating new programs to encourage diversity and inclusion, a widely accepted societal benefit and business imperative. New metrics should measure employees’

performance in meeting those goals.As another example, the World Economic Forum recently released a new set of metrics focused on environmental, social and governance (ESG) indicators and disclosures for financial markets. Within those metrics, the “people” pillar reflects a company’s equity and its treatment of employees. Metrics can include diversity reporting, wage gaps, and health and safety.

Remember too, there are many ways you can help reduce stress and anxiety for employees in their day-to-day work.

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Encourage screen breaks and exercise time. Redistribute workloads to help people relax away from work most evenings and weekends.

Make a point to track vacations — and remind people of the value of

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taking that time. Lead by example in all these efforts, with those in authority and supervisory roles pushing the message through your organizations.

Sure, there will always be “heroes” in every workplace – the folks who believe that the office can’t survive without them.

Bosses need to send them a gentle message: It can. And it will while you’re on vacation. At PwC, we have implemented no-video Fridays where no one is expected to appear on camera for internal meetings. Our partners and staff have been challenged to reduce all meetings by 25%, and senior leaders have been very open about their use of available mental and emotional well-being resources. This is not just about rest and recovery, it’s about changing the way people work and care for themselves.

As the pandemic subsides, consider which changes you want to keep — there may be more than you think. Many employees will seek greater flexibility to work remotely. Those who plan to go back to the office will need restored confidences that offices are safe and that protocols are in place to protect everyone. Companies that manage these stresses and help their employees cope now will be better positioned to thrive.

Investing in employees’ mental health can help firms retain their leading talent as well as burnish their brand.

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A PRACTical APPROACH TO WORKFORCE STRATEGIES COVID-19 is the most severe crisis since the second world war: companies are losing workforce rapidly around the world. A structured workforce planning strategy can bring consistency into overall operations by putting people first.

By: Anna Versai

At the heart of any organization’s talent management strategy is headcount planning to ensure that it has the right of talent with the right skills. But hiring external talent isn’t always a viable option.

Factors such as internal budget cuts may dissuade organizations from making the hiring choices it wants to make.

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HIRE FROM INSIDE YOUR COMPANY

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During unprecedented times such as the COVID-19 crisis, organizations may take preemptive measures to survive the economic shock. With budget cuts, they need to rely on the existing talent pool within the organization than a new hire.

This is practical when certain teams or units at the organization are moving rather slowly, and thus, giving them the desired space to give up a team member to a different unit.

In many organizations there is still aversion to hiring from within.

Hiring managers have a laundry list of qualifications for the ideal candidate, and they may believe no internal talent can match those requirements. This may be true in a lot of cases

but the right approach to fix this is by reskilling employees who show potential. Many organizations are able to find a current employee with a similar skill set who can take over the role for a few weeks.

This could be an employee within a different unit who has less workload than their peers for the time being. Based on their work experience in the new role, they can inform the HR from an outsider’s perspective about what skills a candidate needs from day one and what skills can be provided through proper training & development.

As for the list of required skill sets, organizations need to realize that many of these skills are transferable. A candidate or an existing staff member who

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knows one software can easily acquire proficiency over another one.

Reskilling can prove to be a valuable tool and can help employees move to roles in the organization that weren’t available before. It is generally a time-consuming process to get people to reskill using whatever resources are available.

Another effective approach is to pick an employee in a team or unit that’s at risk of being downsized and offering them the opportunity to reskill with a new role in mind. This workforce strategy may motivate employees to learn new skills, and at the same time give them a sense of job security.

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WORKFORCE PLANNING IN TIMES OF DISRUPTION Hiring managers must consider scenario planning to surmise all possible outcomes and device strategies to address each of these different possibilities. For instance, if the demand for a service dropped by 60 percent due to the COVID-19 crisis, what would happen to the organization, and how could it be addressed if the organization discovered that the product in their supply chain was disrupted, how would it impact the overall business outcomes? Most importantly, what are the associated risks and outcomes of those risks?

A lot of times the way an organization addresses these needs end up costing a pretty penny, like hiring more people to address increasing business needs. In most cases, however, training existing workers may help fill the gaps.

Oftentimes, disruptions prompt

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organizations to impulsively and be

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react short-

sighted about their decisions. It’s important to remember that the

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immediate actions organizations take with workers will impact their future in the long-term.

This includes how workers view the employer, and whether the workplace is viewed as one that cares about their workers’ wellbeing.

For instance, reskilling or mobility programs, i.e. the process of moving workers to a different role in the company rather than laying off will help contribute

to the goodwill of the employer brand. The COVID-19 crisis is a boon in disguise for employers who want to actively partake in reskilling programs that weren’t put into place before. While it’s nearly impossible for some organizations to do this for all of their workers, most companies look to find the degree to which they can, the positive their employer branding will be.

HOW HR LEADERS CAN ADAPT As organizations consider their workforce planning strategies, these are the questions HR leaders must ask in order to make informed decisions. Will the reskilling program make talent more or less expensive?

Will it change the skill demands of the organization? In the current scenario, even if the organization is doing well, workers may feel threatened about their job security.

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THE POWER OF PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS Predictive analytics is a tool that allows organizations to accumulate and assess information on the external talent market. It can allow organizations to get actionable insights on how their competitors are handling the crisis.

Perhaps a competitor is hiring external talent with a new set of skills that would

prove to be valuable for the organization in the near future. With predictive analytics organizations can identify whether there’s room to explore newer ventures. For instance, a large number of organizations are now hiring gig workers which allows them to access talent from across the globe.

Make the most of tools In today’s job market it is important to ensure that organizations have the right people with the right skills to 138

support the evolving needs of their clients. In such a scenario, many organizations have opted for the ‘open-book management’

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style of running operations, which essentially allows talent to be actively involved in the process of forecasting key figures and ultimately their share in rewards the company earns from subpar

performance. This will also help create a sense of ownership within the talent pool and create an organization full of engaged workers who think and act like owners.

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A BALANC

EMPLOYEE BENEFITS FOR CA

People are living longer with more access to medical has resulted in many relatives and friends being thru and professional lives. What can employers do to se enact the dual role effici

By: Anna

There are very few people wh lives not taken up a caregi can range from just shopping doctor’s appointments, providi of finances and medicines or assisting in their daily tasks.

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CING ACT

AREGIVERS IN WORKPLACES

care and innovations and progress in medicine. This ust into the role of caregivers impacting their personal ee that this workforce is given maximum benefits to iently and comfortably?

a Versai

ho have at some point in their iver’s role. The responsibility g for essentials to arranging ing transportation, taking care r even a full-fledged role of

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In the U.S. today, one in six employees is a caregiver for a relative or friend and spends on average of more than 20 hours a week providing some kind of care.

Another survey says 20 percent of the population is engaged in some form of caregiving. Millennials currently make up 25% of caregivers and given greater longevity among aging and chronically ill family members, this number is bound to grow. Women are typically thought of as caregivers in society, but men now constitute 40% of family caregivers.

being reconsidered by almost all governments, family members will have to get more involved.

Hence, more people are going to find themselves balancing the dual

People have a longer lifespan with more access to medical care, innovations, and progress in medicine. So with time, more people will be forced to take up the caregiver’s role. And with the healthcare system overly stretched and social security benefits 142

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roles of work-life and caregiver.

That is why a caregiver benefit is essential in an organization as all employees can find value in it.

Seeing how this role is going to be a big part of work-life, employers

need to reconsider their human resource policies to work in this burgeoning need.

Caregiving leads to frequent absenteeism, sudden emergency calls, distraction at work, dedicating some hours arranging pickups, scheduling appointments, and more.

In addition to the impact of absenteeism and presentism on an employer, the stress and anxiety that accompany caregiving and a caregiver’s balancing act can take a toll personally and professionally on employees. Added to this is the fear of being considered not professional at work and not committed to the job.

The stress and anxiety can manifest in the caregivers falling sick themselves and in turn higher healthcare costs for the employers.

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When considering medical costs, turnover, and lost productivity related to absenteeism and presentism, caregiving can cost organizations up to $33.6 billion per year.

This is a vicious cycle where employees, if they do not get enough support, drop out of the workforce forcing employers to hire more talent and pay for more training.

With the incidences of caregiving bound to increase in the future, employers have a unique opportunity to support employees in this task in a way that can benefit them too in the form of an engaged and productive workforce, a competitive edge in retaining and recruiting employees, a reduction in healthcare costs and an increase in employee loyalty.

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There are some ways that the HR staff and managers can oversee programs and policies that can benefit the workers who are caregivers.

Foremost, the company has to have a culture of openness and

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employee-centric. If a worker feels that his requests for a more flexible work accommodation will be looked as an over-thetop request, then s/he will not be confident enough to come forward.

It’s critical that organizations reinforce and frequently review

recommendations from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to ensure compliance with nondiscrimination guidelines.

Employers should ensure that all managers are aware of the

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company policies regarding flextiming, leave policies, and benefits that employees can access and that the management is open to mutually beneficial arrangements.

“We are a business completely reliant on our people — doing our best and doing right by our people to support them throughout their entire life journey, whether

it’s bringing a child into the world or caring for an aging parent or caregiving for an unfortunate event — a sick child, sick brother or sister. We believe it’s good business to support our people and be there for them throughout their life journey, regardless of what the need is,” said Jennifer Fisher, National Managing Director for Well-being, Deloitte LLP.

PAID TIME OFF (PTO) PROGRAM Many companies have some combination of sick time, vacation, or family leave time that can be used when employees need to care for a family member. Others might provide assistance in applying for the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) time off.

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employees are provided with some form of paid leave while they are providing care. According to the National Compensation Survey conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 14% of civilian workers in the U.S. were able to access paid family leave in 2016.

Only 13% of employees in the private sector had paid family

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leave.There are certain sectors that do pay a decent compensation.

According to 2016 numbers, in the finance and insurance industries, 37% of workers have access to

some form of paid family leave.

But overall, 63% of those in the private sector industries still found themselves without a paid family leave option.

EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS (EAPs) EAPs are typically offered by an organization as part of their employee benefits program.

These can be in the form of assisted facilities for children on the premises, personal and family counseling, crisis intervention, access to corporate concessional programs, financial loans, and other assistance to help employees better balance work and caregiving responsibilities. “We

are

working

toward

implementing a caregiver platform. The platform will act as a single entry point for employees to connect with services and resources from specialized providers.

These services are focused on childcare, eldercare, special needs parenting, college coaching, and back-up care. We consider the platform a cross-generational benefit, as caregiving is an issue that cuts across all generations,� said a benefits specialist working in an energy utility company.

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FLEXIBLE SCHEDULING AND TELECOMMUTING Offering opportunities for employees to adjust their schedules or work from home as needed can alleviate a lot of the pressure for caregivers. The concentration

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on getting the work done rather than how and where it’s done can reassure employees that they will not be assessed on time taken off but on their inputs.

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HEALTHCARE ADVOCACY This can translate into offering periodic assistance of a healthcare expert who can assist with complex medical conditions, arrange for doctor references, locate nursing

homes, assist with Medicare, and interact with insurance and providers. This can be of immense help and save time and anxiety for workers.

Offering opportunities for employees to adjust their schedules or work from home as needed can alleviate a lot of the pressure for caregivers.

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THE FAMILY MEDICAL LEAVE ACT (FMLA)

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It allows workers to take 12 weeks of unpaid leave within a 12-month period, is available only to individuals who work for a company that has 50 or more employees. A person considering FMLA must have been employed at the company for at least 12 months and worked at least 1,250 hours in the period prior to an FMLA leave.

According to a 2013 Department of Labor report, only around 60% of employees meet the FMLA criteria.

According to a 2013 Department of Labor report, only around 60% of employees meet the FMLA criteria.

About 16% of eligible employees reported using FMLA, with 57% of those employees taking leave for their own illness, 22% for reasons relating to a new child, and almost 20% to care for an ill parent, spouse or child.States can enact their own paid family leave laws. California,

New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Washington, and in the District of Columbia have some laws in effect and there are legislations being considered in other states to implement the same.

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By: Anna Versai

The restaurant sector is notorious for having one of the highest turnover rates, at 81.9 percent as of 2019. According to economists, the employee turnover rate in the restaurant sector was 62.6% compared to a 42.4% rate in the private sector. But proper restaurant

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workforce planning strategies can help owners motivate employees to work harder, be happy and stay longer.

Lower turnover rates ensure that restaurants spend less time training new employees, which in the end saves money on onboarding and training costs.

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With the help of a well-devised workforce management strategy, owners and managers can retain good employees and keep them engaged on the job.

Most restaurant workers

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don’t believe that the job can become their career. The higher up the ladder you go or move to a fine establishment can be a potential career path.

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BEHAVIORAL ROUND Managers must carefully consider how to hire the right worker. This entails use of the criterion that allows the restaurant to vet candidates for job responsibilities, culture fit and job expectations. If a restaurant sees many workers are being lethargic, managers can opt for behavioral-based questions into the interview rounds.

Behavioral questions aren’t meant to direct. The question “Are you organized” may not help get the same response as something like “If I went into your room, what would I see?”

An organized candidate might end up being an exceptional host or hostess, while someone with a different set of strengths may be a better server.

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FUTURE GOALS We often view restaurants as a workplace with fewer benefits and low wages. The reality is quite different, and the benefits and compensation depend on what level of the restaurant you’re working at. A server at a fine dining establishment may value meaningful conversations to network with patrons, but at a casual restaurant the waiter value flexibility and money until they get an opportunity to move on.

A few questions to ask: What is your ambition in life? Are you planning to go back to school? Would you like to use this job as a ladder to a successful career in the restaurant industry?

High-end establishments with a welltrained wait staff mostly hire based on skills and years of experience.

Managers at casual outlets can

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employ the appeal of these places to retain staff longer. They can teach valuable skills needed

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to work at finer restaurants and provide them the experience needed to be eligible for such

well-paying. Not only would this benefit the employer, but also save money in reducing turnover.

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RETAIN EMPLOYEES Not all workers are looking to etch a career in the restaurant industry. This isn’t a negative point. Restaurants can still hire talent by enticing them to stay longer by learning what motivates workers. If a worker values a fun workplace, one way to keep them motivated and engaged by creating contests

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and keeping them entertained.

If a worker values stability due to other commitments then the restaurant can honor this by giving them the same time and hours each week.

Don’t say the job market is rough. You must look internally and find out what processes need to be changed.

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INVEST IN THE RIGHT TECHNOLOGY Restaurants are known for outdated technology. Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are now aware of the importance of embracing technology in order to grow through the crisis. Take a look at the most successful establishments like McDonalds, Pizza Hut and Chipotle that have invested in technology.

It pays off in times like these and helps them lead the pack.

The right use of tools and technology can make workers find their jobs most satisfying and provide employers a simple way to trade shifts.

When it comes to communications, owners and managers must consider worker preferences, such as texting, calling, etc. on the job. It’s a simple perk but goes a long way.

As long as the worker is

doing their job the company must provide benefits and perks that matter the most.

It’s imperative for the restaurant industry to create a safe workplace. According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission data, workers in the restaurant and retail industries are most susceptible to workplace harassment. Owners and managers must learn to deal with this and provide the right training to their workers to handle such situations.

It is no longer acceptable for managers to fly off the handle and yell at the worker. That’s not going to solve the crisis in the long term nor is it going to help retain workers. Owners and managers need to act as an HR person in order to handle the situation.

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Top picks of conferences and professional events around the world.

October 13-16, 2020

HR Technology Conference & Expo

Las Vegas, NV

In this world where things are changing daily and what you did before doesn’t necessarily fit today, HR Tech is committed to providing the HR community with what is needed now more than ever: avenues to see new technology to help during these times and expert guidance to help your team cope with the now and what lies ahead. As such in 2020, HR Tech is pivoting into an exciting new virtual experience that is FREE for anyone to attend!

FREE

October 21-23, 2020

CWC 2020 Compliance Conference

Orlando, FL

Reserved exclusively for members, CWC 2020 Compliance Conference delivers practical solutions to everyday workplace challenges, and features sessions led by attorneys, policy analysts, and association members with experience in designing, implementing, and defending compliance and diversity programs.

$825 - $950

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Host: LRP Publications, Human Resource Executive

Host: The Center for Workplace Compliance

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October 26-27, 2020

HRD Summit

Boston, USA

The HRD Summit will explore how we can shape the future direction of work, the workforce, and the workplace, and get inspired together as a community.

This event will cover areas like Defining the Leaders of Tomorrow, The Inextricable Link Between Inclusive and Effective Leadership, Reaching the Next Level in Human Performance with Neuroscience, Mind the Gap, Exciting a Range of Generations Through Your Wellness Program.

$995

Host: Contentive

October 26-30, 2020

ATD 2020 International Conference & Exposition

Virtual

Now is the time to invest in human potential and the capabilities of the workforce. Designed for Talent Development and HR/OD professionals and the people who lead them, you will learn new skills that will strengthen your organization so you are positioned to accelerate into the future.

$849- $1,099

Host: ATD

October 27-29, 2020

Virtual 2020 HR Conference

Virtual Event

Discover world-class presenters, cutting-edge California insight, thriving, multi-faceted community, and unique experiences that set the California HR Conference apart from other HR events.

$199- $399

Professionals in Human Resources Association

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November 1718, 2020

Global Mobility and Immigration Symposium

Virtual Event

SHRM’s Global Mobility and Immigration Symposium (GMIS) brings legal experts and government officials the tools they need to effectively navigate policy changes, adjust strategies within their organizations and truly harness their global workforce. Join government agencies, U.S. government officials, and Global policy leaders for two days of immersive learning, actionable ideas and proven solutions.

With Live Q&A sessions with speakers, tailored content recommendations, virtual roundtables through chatroom communities, new content each hour (available for replay), and more—the expanded online environment offers new opportunities and exciting features to enhance your experience.

$895 - $1,299

November 21, 2020

CIPD Student Conference Northern England

Leeds, UK

CIPD Student Conference Northern England provides the opportunity to the attendees to join for the CIPD Student Conference Northern England for a packed presentation agenda delivered by industry leading speakers, networking and relationship building with people professionals like you, understanding of the skills and knowledge required to help you excel in your career.

TBA

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Host: Society of Human Resources management

Host: CIPD

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