SHRM Blog

Ask an Advisor: Annual Best Practices for HR Departmental Planning

by Deniece MastonOn April 26, 2022 0 comments

As an HR Knowledge Advisor, I often receive questions from members about what HR professionals should be doing at the beginning of the new year. This is an excellent time for HR professionals to set up their compliance reminders, reflect on the shortcomings and successes of the previous year, and establish professional goals for the new year. I have highlighted a few topics I often speak with members about when I discuss best practices with them.

Prepare for Upcoming Policy Changes

Many new laws take effect within the first few months of...

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How HR Analytics Can Leverage Performance Appraisal System

by Nandini SoniOn April 25, 2022 0 comments

Many businesses throughout the world employ HR analytics. According to Bersin by Deloitte’s 2017 High-Impact People Analytics research, 69% of organizations with 10,000 employees now have a people analytics team. When HR analytics is properly implemented and integrated into a company's structure, it may deliver significant benefits, with more and more businesses seeing a higher return on their investment.

Companies use it to track staff attrition, enhance the personnel supply chain, gather data to help decision-makers, and more. When used with a company's overall strategy, it can boost productivity, performance, and...

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The Great Response: 3 Secrets to Building and Blending Talent in a Time of Mass Employee Movement

by Stephanie NashawatyOn April 25, 2022 0 comments

If we’re in the midst of the Great Resignation, then it is time employers come up with a Great Response. Because like real estate, Corporate America is a seller’s market right now. And what’s being sold is talent. Put simply, demand for employees is higher than ever, making this a wildly competitive job market for employers looking to stand out.

You know the numbers. Tens of millions of employees have resigned, many without having new jobs lined up. Nine of 10 executives are experiencing high turnover. And, even today, ...

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Ask An Advisor: Terminating for Performance Issues?

by Robyn HopperOn April 20, 2022 0 comments

“Can I just fire this employee because of their performance?” Many human resource professionals are asked this question all the time, and it’s a question we receive in the HR Knowledge Center quite often, too.

Unfortunately, the answer really depends on the situation. Like most things in HR, situations are complicated, and many will fall within a “gray area.” So, what do we do with underperformers? I tend to ask myself a list of questions before going forward with termination, because termination may not be the only solution or outcome:...

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#SHRM22: Take Charge of Change: How HR Professionals Can Transition from "Reactive Change Receivers" to "Proactive Change Leaders"

by Barbara A. Trautlein, Ph.D.On April 20, 2022 0 comments

Consider this scenario: A major new change is coming to your organization! The executive team approved the change a year ago, a project team has been designing it for several months, and now it's ready to be rolled-out to the organization. You just got a meeting request to create a communications plan to inform the workforce of the changes. Just like that - wham - the ball's in your court!

Sound familiar? So often the Human Resource professionals I work with (at all levels - often including senior management ranks) lament that...

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Go Overboard on Onboarding: Why It’s a Good Idea

by Julie Schweber, SHRM-SCPOn April 14, 2022 0 comments

This week I received an interesting question asking how important onboarding is for new hires.

I have worked at organizations that have done a terrific job with onboarding and other organizations where it was not so terrific. I had an employer show me to my desk without introducing me to the team or telling me anything about the history of the organization. My onboarding consisted only of filling out the standard new-hire forms. It was a bit of a letdown, and I felt like maybe I had made a bad decision...

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Ask An Advisor: Managing Remote Workers May Be More Complicated Than You Think

by Katie BrennanOn April 14, 2022 0 comments

One of the biggest trends I’ve seen arising from the pandemic has undoubtedly been the “work from anywhere” mindset. Once both employers and employees realized that work could be performed effectively without sitting in a traditional office, things started to change. Some employers chose to close their brick-and-mortar worksites for good, while some workers decided to relocate to be closer to family or to live in a region with a lower cost of living.

As a SHRM HR Knowledge Advisor, I regularly receive questions from members regarding remote employees. Members...

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Data Analytics to Advance HR Practices for the Social Sector

by Daniel StokesOn April 13, 2022 0 comments

Data analytics has long been used by the private sector to provide a thorough examination of organizational performance in areas such as marketing, sales, and operations. However, the social sector has lagged behind in using data-driven approaches to support organizational goals, and this is also true when it comes to human resources. It is holding the sector back.

For more than a decade, First Book, a nonprofit social enterprise, has used data analytics to inform everything we do. Research directs our work with educators and advances our mission: to further educational equity...

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How to Build A Cross-Functional HR Team Culture that Works

by Ben FrasierOn April 12, 2022 0 comments

Whoever has managed a cross-functional HR team knows the challenges that often arise. As companies and their leaders transition from siloed and hierarchical structures to more project and team-focused management styles, the oft-touted panacea of cross-functional teams can sometimes prove to be tricky to implement and even trickier to implement successfully.

In fact, a Harvard Business Review study found that as many as 75% of cross-functional teams fail in several important criteria including working within the budget, meeting deadlines, satisfying the client, meeting specifications and staying true to corporate goals.

Add...

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You Snooze, You Lose – How to Move the Search Process Along in This Competitive Hiring Market

by Peter KesericOn April 7, 2022 0 comments

Our client found the perfect candidate for an open Vice President position and offered her a bump from her current salary and position. She assured us that she was only interested in this role and was not interviewing with other firms. But before she took the offer, she met with a former boss/mentor to discuss the new role. They decided to meet for coffee at 8:30 am. Ironically (or not so ironically as it turned out), she met him across the street from her mentor’s office. At 9:15 am, she was sitting inside her mentor’s office interviewing with the Vice President of Talent at her mentor’s firm. At 10:00 am, she was meeting...

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