by CHRC | Jul 13, 2021 | Community, Compensation, Economy, Hiring, Human Capital, Inspiration, Jobs, Labor Markets
Lots of the country has been suffering from blistering heat.
Back in the days before most homes had air conditioning there was one really good way to escape the heat.
The movies.
If you weren’t around in 1947, you, too, may have missed “The Best Years of our Lives” which won multiple Oscars that year, including Best Picture and Best Director for William Wyler. The story begins with the unceremonious way in which three returning WWII veterans must find their way back to their shared hometown, bonding in the process. As the story unfolds, the viewer realizes that pre-war life didn’t necessarily dictate war-time rank, and that being a hero in one uniform, might not translate stateside. After watching our essential workers, who were called heroes at the height of the pandemic, it was uncanny to watch a wartime hero strive to earn a living wage once the conflict was over.
While there seems to be no excuse for NOT having seen this movie before, watching it now, as the U.S. is emerging from our battle with Covid, seems eerily fitting.
We’ve all been telling ourselves that never before have we had to deal with such a crazy labor market. That people have never had to readjust after such a life and death struggle; so many have lost loved ones. What about those that might never be 100% healthy again? How does our society and business world work around that? What about folks that have skills that are obsolete? How are workers supposed to retrain and reskill yet again?
Whether you are trying to escape the heat, sit out a rainy weekend, or finally understand why everyone raves about William Wyler and his films, “The Best Years of our Lives” will knock your socks off.
The U.S. has seen this show before, and after watching this movie, you will feel the resolve that we can get through this again, despite all of our collective wounds.
by Kate Evert | Jun 8, 2021 | Economy, Hiring, Jobs, Labor Markets, Recruiting, Unemployment
Many very smart people have been working overtime trying to make sense of the May jobs numbers. Economists have been poring over them. Journalists have tried to translate them – some to explain to those who aren’t economists, some to soothe the fears of the average American, and of course, some to play to their audiences.
Compensation consultants comb over the numbers looking for clues. Will they affect IT jobs? Will this relieve pressure over in another industry? Will job gains overall, regardless of industry, drive people back to stores and restaurants?
Suddenly the image came into focus. Regardless of who you are, economist, journalist, or comp consultant, we all keep looking to the past for contextual clues to interpret these numbers. That is about as sophisticated as the sorting toys that you gave toddlers in the 1960s.
But that is how everyone IS looking at the jobs numbers. “Oh, we have this many jobs openings and this many people out of work, so let’s just stack them up, and we know they will fit in this order. DONE.”
Kids sorting toys evolved. In the 1970s, toys emerged that required you fit several different shapes into the space. Far more analogous to trying to match skills and openings. Then came the toy with the crazy shapes fixed upon wavy wires – they wouldn’t stay in place, very representative of today’s labor force. Today, kids’ sorting toys are so complex that they demand collaboration, one of those soft skills.
We all need to get that simple ring stacking sorter out of our head. It will never be that simple again.
by CHRC | Oct 29, 2020 | Covid-19, Creativity at Work, Hiring, Human Resources, Innovation, Management, Strategy
By Margaret Jungels
Halloween’s upon us, but it’s not just ghosts, ghouls, and goblins that are keeping us up at night. Even without Covid-19, these recent months of wildfires, social unrest, politics, hurricanes, and murder hornets are enough to push even the most zen among us over the edge.
To top it off, amidst all this uncertainty, it’s time to start planning next year’s budgets! How do you predict anything about next year while still in a year full of “unprecedented times”? What costume or cape can you put on to possibly help with this task?
Good advice for our kids, is good advice for all of us right now: focus on what you can control and things that matter.
As your leadership team contemplates 2021, the things that you can control, and the things that really matter, reflect on how you have been able to survive 2020—your employees and their ability to adapt, innovate, and pivot weekly, if not daily. So, when thinking about how to budget for salary increases in the coming year, what should you do? What can you do?
- You can put together a process. Document the process. If you have a process from a previous year, review it, update it, and share it with everyone who touches it—people managers, finance, HR, and payroll. Make sure that people know what is expected of them, remind them in advance of due dates, and update the plan as you go. (This you can control)
- There’s a lot to think about when determining how to allocate your salary budget. How have labor markets changed in the past year? Do some departments or roles compete for talent differently than others? Has Covid-19 created hot or hard to fill jobs? But beyond all this, the issue of pay equity is here to stay. Allocate your salary budget in a way that advances pay equity. Let an analysis of current pay equity direct your budget allocation and drive changes to the way you pay, develop, and promote. Even with a relatively small budget, you can make sure that pay changes are advancing pay equity. (This matters)
And even though the world seems topsy-turvy, there’s still a lot that hasn’t changed. According to Willis Towers Watson’s 2020 North American Compensation Planning Pulse Survey, 84% of companies plan to deliver their pay increases on schedule. And while some companies (approximately 35%) plan to lower salary increases next year, the survey predicts a 2.6% average salary increase for non-executives—not so far off previous years. According to PayScale Market Trends the Technology and Transportation sectors remain strong and lead annual increase trends, but most other sectors are still doing relatively well. In some cases, even in Entertainment and Hospitality who have seen many layoffs, market rates of those who remain employed have been driven up.
Finally, two things we can promise you—we’re here to help you navigate these tricky times, and, we’ll save you some fun-sized Kit Kats for when we can meet in person again!
by CHRC | Feb 14, 2018 | Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Hiring, Human Capital, Recruiting
From my involvement with Best Buddies, I was aware that there were companies who hired people with intellectual disabilities. This story highlights that often these aren’t disabilities. These intellectual differences allow some employees to bring much needed skills to the workplace. Many people on the autism spectrum are better at pattern recognition and attention to detail.
For many years, my colleagues on the organizational development end of the HR spectrum have lamented that the traditional hiring process is flawed by interviewer bias. Companies like Microsoft are using a different way of interviewing people on the autism spectrum, but this is actually better way of screening most candidates and predicting success within a role and a company culture.
“Instead of the traditional job interview focusing so heavily on social skills, the company – Microsoft – has replaced it with a vetting process that lasts for weeks and includes team building exercises.”
Given the current labor shortages in certain areas, I don’t think we can afford to ignore any human capital, or an increase in turnover. It’s taking people on autism spectrum to bring out some of the better practices on the HR spectrum. Read More Here.
by CHRC | Aug 11, 2017 | Hiring, Human Capital
It’s the end of the week, and perhaps you are sitting at your desk wondering, “What am I doing here?” or “I gotta do something different, but what?”
People jest about doing a 180, but before now, did you really know exactly what that would be? The Upshot section of the NYT has developed this nifty little tool; using the Labor Department’s records on the required tasks and skills for each job to determine what each job’s opposite would be. All you have to do is enter your current job to find your opposite job!
Examining your opposite job does have some benefits. The article mentions that “breaking a job into its component parts helps us look beyond the obvious and think clearly about the things that people actually do.” It’s interesting to see what skills are used most or least for each job. Surprisingly, there’s even some overlap in skills for seemingly dissimilar jobs.
So enter your job, or a dream job, in the little box, to perhaps think outside the box! Read More Here
