Joanne Kaldy

Cybersecurity continues to be a top concern for companies everywhere, especially with so many employees working remotely and sharing data from a variety of settings. While you may have cybersecurity products and systems in places, your company’s data may be at risk if yo  don’t’ test for vulnerabilities down the digital supply chain. To prevent hackers from taking advantage of downstream vulnerabilities, consider the following:

• Don’t assume that products purchased for value-added features are also secure.
• Cybersecurity needs to be a priority up front; don’t assume you can just add it on later in the project. If you do, it could be too late.
• Concerns that customers won’t pay extra for cybersecurity isn’t an excuse not to implement it. Instead, work to educate everyone about the value of security and how it keeps their data, including financial and health information, safe.
• Teach product developers about security risks. Be prepared to … [Read more...] about (FEATURED BRIEF) Is Third-Party Software Leaving You Vulnerable to Cyberattacks?

To think that your organization won’t have to face an IT disaster or problem at some point is incredibly optimistic but also very dangerous. It is more important than ever to have a strong, current IT recovery plan in place. Toward this end, take a few steps:

• Frame your recovery plan in the context of risks. Identify the risks your company faces and how you can minimize each one. This will help ensure a practical plan that everyone can understand and embrace.
• Prioritize communication. You can’t afford a communications breakdown in the event of an IT disaster. Plan alternative ways of communicating with team members and other stakeholders in the event of an emergency. Make sure everyone knows about this plan and how it impacts them.
• Protect data continuity and backups. Data continuity means having alternative processes and infrastructures in place to enable IT operations to continue, even during a crisis. The first step toward this end is an … [Read more...] about (5/13) Building Effective IT Disaster Recovery Plans

1. Are employers required to offer emergency paid sick leave and emergency family medical leave, or can they offer one or the other?

2. If a company voluntarily offers emergency paid sick leave until September 30, 2021, is it required to reset the 80 available ours each employee can take?

3. Are companies required to offer the full 80 hours per every employee or is it acceptable to provide fewer hours?

4. What payroll tax credit can the employer receive if the company offers emergency … [Read more...] about (5/12 BRIEF) FAQs About Paid Leave Under the American Rescue Plan Act

Like everything else in the post-pandemic world, leadership will be different moving forward. Use these seven keys to master true leadership in times of uncertainty:

• Use visioning to see what others don’t. This requires the ability to integrate fast-changing variables, the capacity to anticipate with your eyes closed, and the desire to integrate the collective intelligence of others to identify and cultivate bright spots in dark times.
• Use conversations to connect with others. This may sound obvious, but it can be hard to find time to sit down and have meaningful conversations in stressful times. Slow down, talk and listen, and use these opportunities to build mutual trust and relationships.
• Listen empathetically. Realize that true listening involves genuinely wanting to understand what the other person is talking about and feeling.
• Stories are powerful. They shift the way we feel, act, and think; and they break down barriers and arouse … [Read more...] about (5/11) The Seven Keys to Unlocking Leadership Mastery in Times of Uncertainty

After a stressful, exhausting, and often tragic year, your teams may be struggling to be as productive as possible. You can help with four steps:

• Huddle in tiers. Have frontline workers meet at the beginning of the workday or shift, then supervisors meet 30 minutes later and managers 30 minutes after that. Executives meet last.
• Make more work visible. Use physical or virtual task boards to keep people focused.
• Create your own ‘bat signal.’ Help your teams recognize the difference between an issue or challenge and a true emergency, then respond accordingly.
• Align responses. Don’t assign tasks without giving people the resources and authority to carry them to successful fruition.

Automation and technology will continue to influence the American workforce moving forward. There will be a need for skilled, training, innovative workers. Now a new report predicts that the U.S. may experience a shortfall of 600,00 to 12.5 million workers by 2030. To prepare now for the future, your company can start with a few steps:

• Perform strategic workforce planning. Regularly assess the size, composition, and development of your workforce. Evaluate future demand based on strategic directions, then determine the gaps for certain jobs and skills. Proactively design the measures needed to close those gaps and develop measures to address evolving needs over time.
• Upskill and reskill existing workforces. Anticipate what skills will be needed for different positions and make sure workers get equipped with those now.
• Create a lifelong learning culture. Make sure workers understand that learning isn’t one and done. Give them regular opportunities … [Read more...] about (5/7) What the 2030 Workforce Will Look Like Without Reskilling

The pandemic has made business transformations more urgent than ever. However, this can be challenging, especially for more traditional organizations. To be a transitional leader, you need to create a deeper sense of purpose that guides strategic decisions and shapes workplace culture, repositioning core business, and creating new sources of growth. There are 4 actions transformational leaders need to take:

• Practice new mental models. This calls for visionary thinking, the capacity to identify and tackle complex problems, and the courage to make tough choices.
• Continually think about what your organization should become. Try to anticipate how employees and customers will react to change.
• Share leadership more systematically. Harness the organization’s collective intelligence, energy, and experience.
• Promise empowerment, then deliver it. It’s appropriate to encourage people to think, learn, and act differently, but give them the tools, … [Read more...] about (5/7) 4 Actions Transformational Leaders Take

Under President Biden’s American Families Plan, U.S. workers would get 12 weeks fo family and medical leave at partial pay. Among the details:

• The plan guarantees access to the level 10 years after the program’s start. It seeks to provider up to $4,000 per month and several types of leave for workers.
• If the plan passes, low- and middle-income families will spend no more than 7% of their income on “high-quality child care.”
• The plan calls for university preschool available to 3- and 4-year-lds.

Before you invest heavily in consultants or outside firms, look to your employees to help you promote a strong company brand. Here how:

• Realize that good branding comes from within. When your workers have a sense of purpose and feel valued, they can be great brand promoters and bring both customers and new employees to your organization.
• Stress authenticity. Talk about actual programs and efforts that demonstrate diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as employee wellbeing and health/safety.
• Empower your biggest promoters. The employee voice is three times more credible than the CEO when it comes to talking about working conditions, challenges, and solutions.