HR Industry Brief

If you have younger workers who have or plan to have children, you should look at how you support new moms. According to a new survey, many employers aren’t doing enough:

• 68% of 2,000 working mothers say lack of time to pump at work and/or the stress of pumping enough at work are significant challenges.
• 65% say they feel challenged getting milk home to their babies.
• Under half (40%) say their company has a dedicated lactation space or room with a locking door. Only 28% say this space is comfortable and well-furnished.
• Over a fourth (26%) say they have no space at work to pump. One respondent says she has resorted to pumping in a shower stall.

Getting caught up in the day-to-day challenges of work and life, it’s easy to forget to nurture, support, and charge up your employees. However, the best leaders do this on a daily basis. Make the time every day to:

• Listen to your employees. This means doing more than just asking how they are in the morning or how they like a new policy over lunch. Instead, ensure open channels where people feel free to share ideas, opinions, feedback, and suggestions on a regular basis.
• Encourage other interests. Acknowledge that people are more than just their jobs. Support their efforts to learn new skills, tackle new challenges, and serve as volunteers even if these don’t relate to their work.
• Allow for flexible work. While it’s true that not everyone can work from home, try to find ways to create work schedules that meet employees’ needs and lifestyles.
• Enable and encourage ‘intrapreneurship.’ Create a culture that rewards innovation and personal … [Read more...] about (3/6) 4 Ways to Make Employees Your Best Asset

In planning for ways to protect your residents, employees, and others from COVID-19, don’t forget to review your sick-leave policies:

• If you don’t have a communicable disease policy, consider developing one. This should address issues such as closures, isolation/quarantines, when visitors will be prohibited, how the organization will communicate news with employees, etc.
• Evaluate if absences are covered under federal, state, and local leave laws.
• Determine what symptoms could be considered a serious health condition. In the event of a possible pandemic, you need to identify symptoms that may trigger an employee’s right to take job-protected, unpaid Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave.
• Consider temporarily waiving certain policies. For instance, employers usually require written verification from a medical provider if a worker needs sick leave for more than three days. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is … [Read more...] about (3/5) Coronavirus Outbreak Prompts Employers to Review Sick Leave Policies

New technology can be a game changer and empower your employers to work better and smarter. However, if you don’t do the right research before you invest in tech, it could result in more roadblocks than solutions. Before you commit to a business technology purchase, get the answers to these questions:

• How many of your employees have LinkedIn skills in such technology? The answer to this will help ensure that you don’t end up with tech tools that will slow you down, require significant training, or interrupt workflows.
• How easy is it to use?
• What are the results of research and testing? What do the pros say about this technology? What do users say about it?
• Can you try it out and fail fast? You need to be able to get new tech up and running and determine if it’s not the right solution for you pretty quickly. In other words, there should be a short timeline to determine both success or failure.
• Have you studied and shored up … [Read more...] about (3/4) 11 Questions to Ask Before You Invest in a New Business Technology

Preparing for efforts to address COVID-19 can seem overwhelming for HR and other managers. However, there are eight questions you can ask to take you where you need to go:

• How can we best protect our employees from exposure in the workplace?
• When should we exclude workers or visitors from the workplace?
• Should we revise our benefits policies in cases where employees are barred from the worksite or we close it?
• Have we maximized the ability of employees to work remotely?
• Do we have reliable systems for real-time public health communication with employees?
• Should we revise our policies around international and domestic business travel?
• Should we postpone or cancel scheduled conferences or meetings?
• Are supervisors adequately trained?

Do you have a hair policy for employees? If so, you may want to review it. It may be having a discriminatory impact:

• Last year California became the first state to ban employment discrimination based on hairstyles. The Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair (CROWN) Act prohibits policies that discriminate against individuals with natural hairstyles. Several other states have introduced similar bills.
• Some employment attorneys say that policies banning certain hairstyles (such as Afros or dreadlocks) may be considered race discrimination. At the same time, a prohibition of long hair or requiring employees to be clean-shaven could discriminate against certain religions.
• Some companies may have hair-related policies for health or safety reasons. For instance, requiring that workers keep their hair short if they work around food, flames, machinery, or chemicals.
• All companies should have policies that protect workers from … [Read more...] about (3/2) ‘A Source of Tremendous Discrimination’: Why Hair Policies Matter

Between fears and uncertainty about the coronavirus (COVID-19) and the stock market turmoil, employees may be more emotional than usual. Some may even be disruptive; or their anxieties may rub off on others. Here are some steps to keep employees calm when crises and unusual stresses heighten emotion responses:

• First, de-escalate. Move the person to a quiet space and, if necessary, have someone (a counselor or manager) sit with the person, listen, and provide reassurance. If the person is disruptive and hurting morale and productivity, it may be useful to send the person home. Contact HR for guidance.
• Watch your own words and actions. Keep your personal fears and worries in check. It’s up to you to set and maintain the tone of the conversation. However, if you're having a difficult time, seek help for yourself as soon as possible.
• Plan ahead. Know the person, why he or she is so upset, and determine a line of conversation that is most likely to be … [Read more...] about (2/27) Managing Emotional Employees: 10 Tips for Keeping Your Cool

You find a great candidate for a job: experienced, energetic, committed. After an initial screening, you invite the person for an onsite interview. You never hear from the applicant again. You’ve been ghosted. This is a frustrating and too common situation in a job market where top candidates can take their pick of opportunities. However, it’s not hopeless. Here are some tips hirers can use to keep from getting ghosted:

• Make the hiring process quick and painless. If your hiring process is drawn out, candidates are more likely to get bored or distracted and move on to other opportunities.
• Establish a personal relationship with job candidates. Once a job hunter establishes a connection with you, it is easier for him or her to imagine working with you and less likely to seek other opportunities.
• Request follow-through in your job posting. Make it clear that you will let candidates know what is happening throughout the hiring process and when/if they … [Read more...] about (2/27) The Recruiter’s Guide to Not Getting Ghosted

A new social media campaign launched by Ad Age and Facebook is encouraging employees at all levels to ask their employers and HR departments about the company’s parental leave policy. Here’s why this is significant:

• A study conducted on behalf of The List, a group of 31 advertising and marketing executives, found that 75% of workers say that parental leave in their top three most important workplace benefits. In the same study, 91% of businesses define this benefit as “good for profitability.”
• If effective, this social media campaign will create broader awareness around both the ethical and business imperatives for companies to provide better benefits to working parents.
• Members of The List say they have personally seen the benefits of talking about parental leave in their own companies.
• By promoting this issue and increasing awareness, organizers hope this social media campaign will help employees at all levels strike a healthier … [Read more...] about (2/26) Paid Parental Leave: Advocates Urge Employees to #AskAboutIt

To date, there have been 2,000 deaths from the coronavirus (officially named COVID-19 by the World Health Organization), and it is spreading rapidly. Take a few minutes to remind your employees how to stay safe and healthy in the face of COVID-19. Start by ensuring that you have a pandemic plan that addresses:

• Workplace safety precautions.
• Employee travel restrictions.
• Provisions for stranded travelers unable to return home.
• Mandatory medical check-ups, vaccinations, or medication.
• Mandatory reporting of exposure, such as employees reporting to employers and employers reporting to public health authorities.
• Employee quarantine or isolation.
• Facility shutdowns.
• Details about how to communicate with employees about staying away from work when they are sick.