This HR News Roundup covers compassionate leave, the feedback gap, Gen Z retention, DEI, leadership lessons, and more.
What Is Compassionate Leave and Is It Mandatory? An HR Guide to the Basics
Anuradha Mukherjee, HR Digest
Starting from the basics, what is compassionate leave? It refers to a workplace policy where employees are allowed to take leave from work to attend to personal matters that are serious in nature. It typically applies when there is a death, injury, accident, or serious illness in the family, and allows employees to attend to it without the additional burdens of work weighing on them. … Having the option of compassionate leave at work allows employees to either make arrangements for the incident that has occurred or just step away from work to grieve. Employees who are affected by such emergencies are rarely in a position to work to the best of their abilities. This means that there is little benefit to making their presence mandatory in the workplace during such periods.
What We Should Be Teaching Managers Right Now
Scott J. Allen, Ph.D., Alexis Zahner & Martin Gutmann, Big Think
It may sound obvious that direct supervisors shape employee experience. But what’s less obvious is just how much they matter. Gallup estimates that managers account for roughly 70 percent of the variance in employee engagement; McKinsey research shows that relationships with immediate managers are among the top determinants of employee satisfaction and performance; and Aon Hewitt reports that when leaders are engaged, their teams are about 40 percent more likely to be engaged.
The data does all the talking: middle management will make or break employee experience, and your organization’s bottom line.
Closing the Feedback Gap: Why Leadership Development Is Falling Short
Ian Bell, HR Daily Advisor
In many organizations, feedback is still tied to periodic reviews and delivered in broad terms. Phrases like “develop your leadership presence” or “be more strategic” are common. Similarly, when delivering reinforcing feedback, it’s common to receive comments such as “good job” or “great work.” While these may be well intentioned, these types of responses lack the specificity needed to drive change or maintain positive performance. Both parties may have completely different ideas as what it was that was “good” about the job or “great” about the work, which means the wrong behavior can inadvertently be reinforced.
Related: Why Leaders Lose Their Best People During Feedback Conversations
Gen Z Retention Relies on Building a Robust Learning Culture: 3 Ways to Get It Right
Sean D’Arcy, SHRM
Gen Z workers are entering the workforce with a clear understanding: developing new skills is required to keep up with the changing workplace. If they can’t find learning opportunities at their current company, they’ll start looking for an exit, impacting retention rates. Recent research has shown that on average, Gen Z employees stay at a job for only 1.1 years, the shortest time of any age group, with lagging career progress a main driver of the trend. At the same time, younger employees have had the sharpest drop in feeling that they have opportunities to learn and grow at work.
… If companies want to get out of the vicious cycle and help Gen Z employees stay and grow on their team, they must offer learning and development that meets Gen Z where they are and aligns with how they actually want to learn. HR leaders can get started with three simple steps.
DEI Under the Microscope: What HR Leaders Need to Know
Ashley Kelly, Megan Mitchell, and Sydney Selman, Arnall Golden Gregory – HR Daily Advisor
In the year since President Donald Trump issued a series of executive orders targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, the federal government’s approach has evolved from initial guidance to active investigations and other legal challenges to workplace DEI programs. Recent actions by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Department of Justice, and Federal Trade Commission signal that DEI programs must be carefully reviewed to avoid unlawful discrimination, even when well-intentioned. Employers that fail to adapt may face investigations, litigation, or reputational harm. For human resources leaders, this raises a pressing question: How can organizations maintain inclusive workplaces while staying compliant and avoiding increasing enforcement activity?
What Can Pope Leo Teach Us About Being Good Managers of People?
Jeff Nowak, FMLA Insights
As a management-side employment attorney, I spend my days in the weeds of the FMLA and ADA. Certifications. Intermittent leave. The interactive process. Reasonable accommodations. You know, the stuff that gets our collective hearts racing.
Based on my commentary from time to time, longtime readers of this blog also know that I care deeply about my Catholic faith.
So imagine my delight, ahem, bordering on disbelief, when I learned that Pope Leo recently took time to meet with the Italian Order of Employment Consultants—professionals who, quite literally, sit on the employer side of the table and help shape the day‑to‑day realities of working people’s lives.
How To Handle Conflict: 7 Secrets From History’s Master Strategist
Eric Barker, Barking up the Wrong Tree
Work conflict. Relationship conflict. Family conflict. Conflict is everywhere and I’ll be honest with you: I’m kinda tired of it. So what are we gonna do?
Well, today we’re gonna get some help from what may seem like an unlikely source: Carl von Clausewitz.
Yeah, the dead war guy. The 19th-century Prussian strategist who spent his time thinking about armies and violence, which sounds like it has nothing to do with you, a person whose most frequent combat scenarios involve passive-aggressive emails.
But the dead war guy is useful. Not because your marriage is Stalingrad. But because everyday human conflict has a heckuva lot more in common with war than you think.
HR News Roundup: Quick Takes
- Debunking the Top 3 Misconceptions about HR
- High-Powered Dads Are Spending Less Time at Work, More on Childcare
- Gartner HR Survey Finds 47% of Managers Say They Are Working Harder Than One Year Ago
- Leadership Lessons from The Boss
- ICE Updates I-9 Inspection Guidance
- Specialty Drugs Now Consume over Half of Total Drug Spend
- 1 in 5 Workers Said They Felt Pressured to Compromise Their Ethics
- I Asked ChatGPT for Unconventional Productivity Hacks
- The Calming Power of Pets: My Dog Is My Co-Regulator
- AMA Presses Congress for Guardrails on AI Mental Health Chatbots
- 25 Signs Your Employee is Looking for Another Job Before It’s Too Late
- Candidate Fraud: The Warning Signs HR Should Watch Out For
- Even Positive Life Transitions Can Affect Mental Health
- Travelers: Aging Workforce, New Employees Drive Complexity in Injury Claims
From the Lighter Side …
- Not yet ready for prime time? In the “technology speed bumps” category, this Atlanta neighborhood experienced an attack of wayward Waymos (YouTube). And this AI narration used in a wrestling promo has an AI meltdown trying to pronounce WWE (Facebook). The good news is that we still need humans 😉
- This “family rule” is short and sweet. We should all consider adopting this rule. (Instagram)
- The world was unified recently to celebrate the 100th birthday of Sir David Attenborough, champion, author, and broadcaster of natural history. Over his 70-year career (!!), Sir David introduced us to various aspects of the natural world through groundbreaking documentaries like Planet Earth and The Blue Planet. In celebrating his birthday, King Charles III enlisted the help of many creatures to send his greetings – see the video below. It’s a charming and clever birthday wish. Wonder why all the accolades? Here’s a link to a 3-hour compilation of some of the best and most unbelievable moments from his extensive body of work. And for an interesting look at how he got into this line of work, watch this interview: Inside the wild life of broadcasting legend Sir David Attenborough.
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