Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., SHRM-SCP, is President and Chief Executive Officer of SHRM, the Society for Human Resource Management. With over 300,000 members in 165 countries, SHRM is the largest HR professional association in the world, impacting the lives of 115 million workers every day.
As a global leader on the future of employment, culture and leadership, Mr. Taylor is a sought-after voice on all matters affecting work, workers and the workplace. He is frequently asked to testify before Congress on critical workforce issues and authors the weekly USA Today column, "Ask HR."
Mr. Taylor's career spans over 20 years as a lawyer, human resources executive and CEO in both the not-for-profit and for-profit space. He has held senior and chief executive roles at IAC/Interactive Corp, Viacom's Paramount Pictures and Blockbuster Entertainment Group, McGuireWoods LLC, and Compass Group USA. Most recently, Mr. Taylor was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.
He is a member of the White House American Workforce Policy Advisory Board and chairs the President's Advisory Board on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. He serves on the boards of the University of Miami, Jobs for America's Graduates, the American Red Cross and Guild Education.
In 2020, Mr. Taylor was named one of Savoy magazine’s “Most Influential Black Executives in Corporate America” and later that year received the Distinguished Executive of the Year Award from the Academy of Management.
He is licensed to practice law in Florida, Illinois and Washington, D.C., and is a Fellow of the National Academy of Human Resources.
Earlier this week, I had the honor of addressing the largest gathering of HR professionals in history at the 2018 SHRM Annual Conference and Exposition. The record-breaking attendance in Chicago signals that our profession is serious about transforming and elevating the work we do and the workforces we serve.
There has never been a better moment to be in our business—the business of people.
SHRM President and CEO Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., with the WFPMA leadership in Chicago. From left, Bob Morton, Peter Wilson, Leyla Nascimento and Jorge Jauregui.
President Donald Trump said no one wins when people with criminal backgrounds are unable to adjust to life outside prison. It’s a waste of human capital, he said.
With today’s near record-low unemployment rate, HR professionals and employers are increasingly willing to tap underrepresented groups to fill the skills gaps in the American workforce.
The war for talent hasn’t spared HR. The leaders of our organizations are constantly working to recruit and develop the best and the brightest for this dynamic career. However, when I speak to audiences of business majors and ask how many of them want to pursue a career in HR, few, if any, raise their hands. Our profession has a prestige problem. That is our challenge.
People are the competitive edge in organizations. Winning companies are capturing the best talent, while others are falling behind because they can’t let go of their preconceived notions about hiring. By clinging to long-standing biases, leaders risk losing out on valuable employees who don’t fit the mold.
Today is Equal Pay Day, and SHRM has an important new public policy statement on compensation equity, the result of months of work by HR professionals led by SHRM.
Our prisons are broken. The United States is home to 4.4 percent of the world's population but nearly 25 percent of the world's inmates. And while the goal of incarceration is to produce law-abiding and rehabilitated citizens, 75 percent of released prisoners are arrested again after five years.
This morning, I challenged over 650 SHRM members and employment lawyers to elevate our profession. SHRM must fill a broader space than just the practice and procedures of HR.
Right now, Washington legislators and lobbyists are drafting proposals that will affect every American worker and family. HR professionals understand better than anyone how laws impact the real world of work today and tomorrow. That is why no major piece of U.S. legislation should be written without our say.
Friday night I had the honor to deliver the University of Houston’s 2018 Elizabeth D. Rockwell Lecture on Ethics and Leadership. This biannual series, created in the wake of the Enron scandal, exists to remind us that legal solutions are never enough to stop ethical failures. Culture always trumps compliance.
Amid the #MeToo discussions, the same question keeps cropping up: “Where was HR?”
