SHRM Blog

Ask An Advisor: Pointers on Having Difficult Conversations

As an HR Knowledge Advisor, I often receive questions on how to go about having a difficult conversation with an employee. The reason why this topic is so popular is because many HR professionals feel uncomfortable when faced with having to speak to employees about matters ranging from performance issues to internal investigations.

I would like to share some methods that have helped me in planning for and conducting these types of conversations.

First, just breathe. This conversation is not comfortable for you or the employee. But you will be setting the...

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What if You Started by Redesigning the Onboarding Process?

While onboarding can be the most efficient tool to foster a great connection through shared stories and experiences, poor onboarding - quite common during the pandemic - has caused people to leave quickly.

Turnover can be at its peak during the first months in a company and especially in the first 90 days. Almost 40% of turnover occurs during an employee's first year.

In my experience as an HR leader, I had to revamp onboarding processes in large companies. And I can tell you that your attention to your new hires needs...

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Running on Empty

I’ve lived in the same house since 1991. It was the first house my wife and I bought on our own. Hard to believe that 31 years have passed !! One of the attractive features of where I live is that we have a half-acre lot. There are some massively mature trees scattered throughout, but the majority of the lot is the lawn.

As you know, you can’t keep up with growing grass. We live in the Midwest and we’re fortunate to have fairly consistent rain. I’m grateful for that because I...

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Defined Contribution 2.0: The Pursuit of Building a More Equitable Retirement Program

Defined contribution plans are one of the most common ways American workers save for retirement. Yet statistics show DC plans are not benefitting everyone equally. Data from the Federal Reserve, the Bureau of Labor Statistics and elsewhere suggest low-income workers, women and people of color tend to have significantly less access to retirement plans and accumulate less retirement plan assets relative to other demographics.

In terms of income percentile, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics is clear that employees in lower wage groups struggle across the board, with low access to, participation in, and take-up rates for defined contribution plans.
        
When it comes to gender, women in their retirement years have a median household income that is nearly $10,000 less than men in the same age group.

And the numbers are even worse across racial and ethnic lines, with Black and Hispanic households averaging...

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Hybrid and Remote Mentoring for Effective Integration of Junior Employees

Forward-looking organizations use hybrid and remote mentoring to solve one of the biggest challenges in hybrid and remote work: on-the-job training and integration of junior employees. Yet despite solving this major problem, such mentoring programs pairing recently-hired staff with senior employees are all-too-rare.

Instead of using this best practice methodology, many leaders simply complain about how hybrid and remote work undermines on-the-job training and employee integration, and try to force employees to return to the office. Senior leadership and management need to adopt the  best practices for leading hybrid and remote teams for mentoring employees in the future of work.

Remote Mentoring to Solve Junior Employee Integration
To address the problem of integrating junior employees in remote and hybrid settings requires an effective structured mentoring program. You need to pair up senior staff members with junior staff members for virtual mentoring sessions.

Make sure to have one senior staff member from the junior colleague’s...

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Ask An Advisor: How Technology Is Changing the Workplace

As an HR Knowledge Advisor, I received an interesting question this week about what technologies will disrupt workplaces in the future. As the number of COVID-19-related questions decline, I was happy to see someone in HR ask such a futuristic strategic question. But a look at the future requires a look at the past. Technology was the prime enabler during the pandemic. It powered knowledge industries to meet goals as well as maintain productivity and worker’s jobs. Workers adapted and became frequent users of Zoom, Slack, screen sharing and more. What were...

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The Great Resignation Skipped Us. Here’s why.

With the “Great Resignation” dominating national headlines and news broadcasts, the finer details impacting workplaces have been elevated to major national conversations. Even with a looming shift in the tide and a potential recession, employers must consider issues once left to the margins or only addressed by the most forward-thinking organizations, like mental health and wellness resources, pay transparency and how and why we bring staff together.

There has been plentiful coverage, over the last 18 months, of the ways companies can respond to a changing work environment in light of the...

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How Do You Engage and Retain Gen X?

As the economy remains resilient, companies are in a battle not only to hire capable talent, but also to retain the workers that are assets to the organization.  Much has been written about the impact of the Baby Boomers and Millennials in the workplace. However, what about the smaller Generation X cohort that is sometimes the forgotten middle child of the generations? While they may be outnumbered by the Millennials and Boomers, their influence has shaped US companies during years of technological advancement and corporate change. What are the characteristics of Gen...

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11 Ways to Celebrate Women's Equality Day (With a Hybrid Workforce)

Women's Equality is observed on August 26 in the U.S. Give one way a company can celebrate this national observance with a hybrid workforce.

To help your company to best celebrate Women’s Equality Day, we asked CEOs and HR leaders this question for their best ideas. From supporting local female-owned businesses to getting a panel of female senior leaders to share on a virtual platform, there are several ways your company can celebrate this national observance with a hybrid workforce.

Here are 11 ways to celebrate...

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4 Steps To Increase Retention During The Great Reshuffle

I first heard the term The Great Reshuffle while scrolling through Tiktok, like the cool elderly millennial that I am.  Headlining this new chapter in the American history book is the fact that two-fifths of the workforce are considering leaving their employer in the next year.

The Great Reshuffle is such an...

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