Your employees may not trust you. Here’s what HR can do
Tom Starner, Human Resource Exeutive
As global uncertainty continues to affect organizations and their workforces, trust in the workplace is needed more than ever—but leaders appear to have significant work ahead of them when it comes to building that trust, according to a new study.
PwC’s 2024 Trust Survey found that just 67% of employees say they trust their employers, despite 86% of business leaders believing they are highly trusted by their employees. Likewise, 86% of executives say they “highly trust” their employees, yet only 60% of employees feel highly trusted by those same leaders.
Let’s Talk: Why It’s Time to Stop Avoiding Taboo Topics at Work
Avery Forman, Harvard Business School Working Knowledge
Few people enjoy talking about succession plans, performance problems, and pay, but sometimes you must. Christina Wing offers five rules for navigating thorny conversations in the workplace, and makes the case for tackling even sensitive topics, like age, health, and politics.
The human side of generative AI: Creating a path to productivity
McKinsey & Company
The number of employees who use generative AI is expected to soar, freeing many to focus on higher-level cognitive work. Can organizations use this moment to make jobs more people centric?
McKinsey recently surveyed a cross-section of employees as part of our continuing research into how organizations can improve workforce engagement, retention, and attraction (see sidebar, “About the research”). Respondents provided several intriguing insights that can help organizations as they build gen AI talent capabilities.
Avoid layoffs with strategic headcount management
Tushar Makhija, SmartBrief
While headcount represents 60-70% of an organization’s operating budget, it rarely gets the same level of scrutiny as other expenses like software. Strategic headcount management introduces this necessary rigor. It stresses the importance of structured approvals at various levels to ensure alignment with budget and goals. Such judiciousness has helped companies like Docker and Postman eliminate six figures worth of unapproved headcount spend, even as they scale rapidly year-over-year.
10 Trends Behind Today’s Talent Scarcity as the Global Workforce Ages
Eddy Goldberg, Franchising.com
The aging of the world’s industrialized nations will continue to exacerbate structural shortcomings in the labor market. As retirements intensify over the next several years and as workforce activity rates decline among older workers, talent scarcity will likely worsen, leading to challenges for employers to procure and retain the human resources they need to optimize growth.
3 Reasons For The Coming Leadership Deficit—And How To Fix It
Mark C. Perna, Forbes
But organizations today are facing a different challenge: Sourcing employees who are not only the stuff that leaders are made of, but who actually want to take a leadership position.
The 2024 Randstad Workmonitor study found that a third of employees (34%) never want to become managers. Like, never. Not only that, but 39% don’t even want to be promoted. Fifty-one percent are content with no advancement opportunities, if they’re in a role they like.
HR News Roundup: Quick Takes
- Family and Medical Leave Laws By State
- OSHA Fact Sheet on Workplace Mental Health (PDF)
- These 6 steps will help keep you out of sexual harassment hot water
- 7 Lies Women Have Been Told at Work That Hold Them Back From Success—And the Truth They Need to Know Instead
- What Can Ordinary People Do to Address Social Polarization?
- Eight ways to avoid blowing up at work
- DOL’s Final Independent Contractor Rule Returns to Six-Factor Test
- Can Miniature Horses Be in the Workplace?
- Final Warning: Are You Complying with OSHA’s New Reporting Requirements?
- Get Your Cholesterol in Check (30-day NYT gift link)
- Some Medicines and Driving Don’t Mix
- Don’t Underestimate the Power of Small Breaks During a Busy Workday
- U.S. Life Expectancy Gains Ground Despite Another Overdose Record
From the Lighter Side …
“All animals, except man, know that the principal business of life is to enjoy it.”
Good news for dog owners: Pooch Power: ‘Relax’ Brainwaves Begin When Folks Play With Dogs
Can a picture make you happy? NPR asked the photojournalists to look through their archives for scenes that capture a sense of happiness and well-being, from small uplifting moments to big bursts of joy.
Speaking of happiness, what would you do with one billion dollars?
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