HR Industry Brief

To function, survive, and thrive in work and personal responsibilities during the pandemic, workers want flexibility. According to a new survey, they believe that their employers are listening:

• 83% of respondents say their companies are considering implementing a flexible worker program on a grander scale than prior to the pandemic.
• 73% say their company plans to evolve culturally to implement a hybrid work environment that involves both onsite and remote work.
• 42% said that managerial and employee training will focus more on how to lead and function in a virtual or hybrid work world.

In a recent survey of nearly 1,600 employees across the U.S., respondents are pretty much evenly divided between those who say better incentives improve employee morale and those who say salary boosts are a better motivator than perks. Among other findings:

• 62% say they would accept a lower salary in exchange for better workplace perks.
• 7% say they prefer higher pay.

According to new statistics, employers say they’re still hiring during the COVID pandemic. In health care, registered nurses, nurse practitioners, nursing assistants, and medical assistants saw hiring increases early in July. This trend continued for both RNs and NPs throughout the month. Healthcare jobs in general saw a steady increase all through July. In one survey, 23% of employed workers say they are taking on additional job responsibilities. They attribute this to staffing decreases in their organization. Interestingly, 83% of workers who currently have jobs say they are considering looking for a new position. As their reasons, they site a desire for a more flexible schedule or a pay increase. Read the full article. … [Read more...] about (8/26) Despite High Unemployment Rate, Only 14% of Companies on Hiring Freeze

The COVID pandemic has been devastating for senior care and senior living; and it has a tremendous impact on staff. However, there are some steps you can take to help improve morale, increase team confidence, and get everyone on a positive trajectory moving forward:

• Acknowledge what you know and don’t know. Find a way (such as a task force or committee) to share ideas and information, discuss challenges, and brainstorm solutions. Communicate regularly with staff and give them a clear pipeline for asking questions and expressing fears and concerns.
• Prepare to change course. Be agile and flexible as you learn more and things change.
• Over-inform. Provide updates, news, and information on a regular basis, such as daily departmental meetings or emails, weekly video messages from the CEO, and web pages specifically for staff to answer questions and find information.

Working at home, particularly for those who are new to functioning remotely, can be a challenge under the best of circumstances. There are some steps you can take to ensure technology glitches don’t add to their stress or detract from their productivity:

• Reduce cybersecurity risks. Institute zero-trust security policies to ensure that no one is trusted by mistake or default. Use adaptive multi-factor authentication processes to enable the flagging of suspicious attempts to access private data or accounts.
• Use early warning systems. Work with your IT team to implement tools that can automatically monitor employees’ at-home use of work technology and send them early warning signals or reports of problems.
• Find ways to gauge remote worker productivity. It may surprise you to learn that workers want this as much as you do. There is software that can help assess productivity and efficiency of remote workforces. This technology aggregates activity and … [Read more...] about (8/25) Creative Solutions to Remote Workers’ Technology Challenges

Worker healthcare costs are very much on the minds of employers these days. According to a new survey, large employers expect to pay more than $15,500 per employee for health coverage next year. This is more than 5% higher than this year. Among other findings:

• 80% of respondents say the believe telehealth will play a significant role in future care delivery. More than half say they will offer more virtual care options for employees next year.
• More than 90% of employers say they will offer tele-mental health services, and 54% plan to lower or waive costs for these services.
• Nearly half (45%) of employers view their healthcare strategy as an integral part of the workforce benefits efforts.
• Employers identified musculoskeletal conditions as contributing to skyrocketing healthcare costs, and 29% say the will offer musculoskeletal management virtually next year.

According to survey data, there are at least 3% of employees who feel they have no choice but to go outside of the organization to address grievances, problems, or conflicts. Although this is a small number, their concerns and frustrations could create a negative ripple effect throughout the organization. The most common issues these silent employees seek help on include:

• A manager’s skills
• Abuse and bullying
• Harassment or discrimination based on race, gender, ethnicity, or age
• Retaliation or intimidation
• Ethics or value issues
• Safety issues
• Performance evaluations

• Fear of retribution and retaliation by coworkers or managers.
• Fear for their own or others’ psychological and physical safety.
• Fear of or lack of knowledge to confront the power structure.
… [Read more...] about (8/20) The Silent Ones in Your Workforce (And How to Start Listening to Them)

A recent survey shows that employees who feel cared for by leaders say they have great job satisfaction, commitment, and personal accountability for work performance. Yet in light the implications of the pandemic, managers are more stressed, burdened, and frustrated by the challenges of overseeing remote teams. This has a negative impact on everyone’s wellbeing. Increasingly, companies are taking the time to rebuild teamwork and engagements through a variety of activities:

• Holding leadership boot camps to enable managers to thrive while they face ongoing uncertainty and disruption. Sessions address coaching skills to express care, appreciation, responsibility, and emotional intelligence.
• Normalizing mental health struggles. Companies are reaching out to workers to help them understand that feelings of struggle, stress, and anxiety are normal under the circumstances and nothing to be ashamed of. They are promoting mental health benefits, encouraging ways to … [Read more...] about (8/12) Benefits Are Not the Main Solution to Improve Wellbeing

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has revised its guidance regarding how long employees should self-quarantine at home after testing positive for COVID- 10 -- from 14 to 10 days in most cases. Specifically, the guidance says:

• Employees who test positive but never develop symptoms can end isolation after 10 days.
• Those who test positive and have moderate to mild symptoms can end isolation after 10 days if at least 24 hours have passed without a fever and other symptoms have improved.
• Employees who test positive and have severe illness may need to continue isolation for a full 20 days.
• Those who are exposed to the virus but are never tested and have no symptoms should continue to quarantine for 14 days.

In a new study, researchers identified several action steps employers can take to improve workplace age diversity and inclusion. These include:

• Add age to the company’s diversity, equity, and inclusion policy.
• Create an age diverse and inclusive talent strategy that develops all employees’ critical digital and cognitive capabilities, social and emotional skills, and adaptability and resilience.
• Provide opportunities for workers to stay and grow on the job over time.
• Invest in lifelong education and training to ensure that workers remain employable.
• Enforce policies to combat age discrimination and adopt age-inclusive practices.
• Be aware of unconscious biases and disrupt stereotypes across the continuum of age.
• Ensure that recruitment practices are inclusive and that hiring processes are “age-blind.”